Lincoln Leadership Lessons

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."  --- Abraham Lincoln

There is a new movie about Abraham Lincoln simply titled, Lincoln.  I haven't seen it yet, but the reviews are favorable.  If they portray him correctly, some really good leadership qualities should be revealed.  I know we can apply at least four of them this week.

1.) The first one that we should consider is Lincoln's tenacity for patience and perseverance.  He had an end goal in mind and he saw it through to the truly bitter end.  Lincoln refused to compromise on any front and kept his eye on his ultimate goals.

2.) Lincoln lived up to the nickname Honest Abe.  He refused to pay cash for votes on the 13th Amendment, which was the custom at the time. Instead, he paid personal visits to key figures from both parties going after their hearts with personal pleas for justice rather than filling up their pockets with cold hard cash.

3.) Lincoln had a humble heart, what most business management consultants and writers, including Jim Collins, say is part of the makeup of a great leader.

4.) Finally, Lincoln kept communication short and to the point.  The Gettysburg Address, which is perhaps the most famous speech of all time, was a mere 246 words and took two minutes to deliver.  As Abe himself once said: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to speak out and remove all doubt.”

Firing Your Own Mike Brown

"I could never have imagined that firing 67 people on national television would actually make me more popular, especially with the younger generation." --- Donald Trump

Los Angeles Lakers Basketball Coach Mike Brown was fired last week. The grounds for termination: 1-4 record. That's right, the team he coaches lost four basketball games. Doesn't seem like grounds for termination so early in the season and if it were not for a signed contract, he might have an unfair termination case. The issue is not whether he is good at his job, but whether he can rack up an impressive season for the Lakers franchise. This is the case for most coaches in the professional world of sports. Though you might be a good coach, you are only as good as your current season.

What about your coach? (translated manager, supervisor, team leader, COO, CFO, or president). What has he or she produced for the company lately? Are they providing what was agreed upon in relation to profits, productivity, increased customer base? Is there a win/loss record of 1-4? Do you need to fire them? Can you fire them?

Most business leaders are facing these questions on a regular basis. Though they might not verbalize them or see them in any particular sequence, they are always there, waiting for answers. How do we analyze these questions to put them in perspective for our overall mission? Here are four tips to use for determining if we need to replace our "coaches":

1.) Use bench marks. Regardless of whether you have a signed contract with your manager or other leader, agreed upon bench marks are extremely helpful in determining the performance of your leader. If you and the leader know what those bench marks are, there is no confusion on what is expected.

2.) Use regular meetings. Communication, that nasty word that is always blamed for most business problems, is the best tool to use with your leaders. Two-way communication cuts off problems before they arise. Issues of performance are addressed and reasons for mistakes are communicated and resolved before more damage can occur.

3.) Call time out. When serious problems seemingly appear out of nowhere, it is usually because you haven't made the time or taken the time to pay closer attention or the information you've been given hasn't been all that accurate. This is the time to halt the presses, call time out, take a break and look around. Identify the problem or issue, uncover why it happened, then take action. The action may need to be termination, but if you've stayed the course with tips #1 and #2, you probably won't have to resort to firing.

4.) Determine needs. Be on the constant lookout for helpful information, training aids, classes, seminars, needed technological equipment, anything that can help your leaders to do a better job. Ask them to help you help them. If they lack training in an area or feel uncomfortable performing a particular task (this should have come out during multiple interviews, but too late now), provide the necessary skill training to get them up to a better level. Too often I see business leaders work against their own leaders as if it were a competition. This is a business you are trying to improve, perfect, and make productive and profitable. Take these four tips to heart and know that your leaders are worthy of second chances, and of salvaging for the next season.

Trick or Treat

Whenever I am asked by business leaders if they should reward employees or make them feel like they are about to lose their jobs, I always have the same response: "Uh?"  What are they talking about?  Why do we business leaders feel we must trick our employees into doing the right thing?  The principle I teach in this respect is to treat employees how you would want to be treated.  Too simple?

Let's look at the choices that we have.  We can either trick our employees into submission or treat them well and expect a good outcome.  If we've prepared properly going way back to the time we saw the need for an employee, we would have properly sought the right candidate, interviewed several times, providing the proper training and orientation, and then continue to treat the employee with respect.  If we've hired the right person, all is well.  If the employee still takes advantage of us and turns out to not be who we thought we hired, then we let that person go, learn a lesson, and move on.

Keep it simple and treat your employees with respect.  Don't trick them into anything.  The smart ones will reciprocate and offer respect and the other ones will either not like the culture and leave or you will have to remove them.  Stick to your integrity guns and don't play games.  Your wise, good employees see right through that.

Winning Like Lance Armstrong... Without Cheating

 "There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the Chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."  --- Sam Walton

 
Lance Armstrong was a hero to many not just in the cycling community, but the entire sports community as well.  He was also seen as an American hero representing the United States in the Tour de France and many other international racing venues.  Armstrong was recently stripped of his seven Tour wins for having used enhancing drugs to give him an edge in racing.  I'm certain there will be more to this story unfolding over the next several months, but if true, Armstrong ruined what was a good run of winning.  He wasted all of that hard work training and sacrificing over many years. 

As business leaders, we also work hard and sacrifice and scratch and claw to create a winning team with a winning streak.  As we've witnessed over recent years, business leaders also get caught cheating on their way to the victory podium.  Some started out on the right foot and were even surprised when they began to spiral into the depths of unethical play.  They took shortcuts and used performance enhancers that ate into their otherwise strong integrity.

I see three tips that can keep business leaders on track for winning the natural way:


1.) Build a team of enforcers.  Whatever Armstrong did or didn't do, he probably wouldn't be in this mess if he was surrounded by a caring team that held him accountable for his actions.  A good team supports its leader.  When you build your team and share your vision and mission for the business, everyone on the team knows what it takes to get from point A to point B.  Shortcuts usually don't exist and if they do, team members should examine them to make sure they are not landmines on the path.  Team members need to be empowered to correct wrongs when they see them as well as correct other members when they are going off course.

2.) Practice self-preaching.  We all get tempted from time to time and it is easy to let our guard down when we are tired at the end of the week (or even the beginning!).  Reading good business books, magazines, or listening to a podcast from a successful business person is helpful.  It is like having a cheering section encouraging us to move forward on the straight line.  Writing good business quotes and taping them on the mirror or office wall serves as reminders for the course we need to continue on.

3.) Teach others.  A known prescription for people that are hurting is to go help people who are hurting.  Helping at a women's shelter, feeding the hungry, or volunteering at a hospital helps to speed up the healing process.  So too with balancing on the beam of business ethics.  Teaching or mentoring young business leaders on the importance of building a business with integrity actually helps to strengthen your stance on building a winning team naturally, and with no performance enhancers.  Teach others so that you can continue to increase your reliance on good business practices.

Action in Leadership

Business leaders today have so much on their plate in trying to lead their team toward success.  Good leadership requires that all stakeholders are considered when making business decisions.  The community, the customers, the stockholders are all vital considerations to the success of the business.  However, the smart players look at their roles as having a responsibility for their employees first.  The most successful businesses have business leaders who always look at their employees as not only good and needed assets, but as part of a growing family working toward a common goal or mission.  This is a great responsibility business leaders should not take lightly.  It means that if there has to be layoffs, that as a business leader, you hurt for those being let go and that you do all that you can to provide for them and their families.  I realize this goes against the grain of what is widely accepted today as good business sense, but it in fact creates a healthier bottom line.  It also means that when an employee is hospitalized that you visit them, care for them, and make sure their needs are met.  It doesn't mean that you rely on Cigna or Aetna to handle it.  It means that when your employees fail, you train them; when they succeed, you celebrate them; when they cry, you taste salt; and when they are in danger, you do everything in your power to protect them.

Included in protecting your employees is to protect them from an abuser.  That's right.  It is your job.  We still have many business leaders in our community who believe that domestic violence means "at-home violence."  I could easily sway business leaders by spouting off statistics like $75 billion is spent annually by businesses due directly to domestic violence.  Sixty-eight percent of the costs from assaults and 63 percent of the costs from self-inflicted injuries were in males aged 15 to 44.  Do you have any males in that age range in your workforce?  I could let you know that while working or on duty, U.S. residents experienced 1.7 million violent victimizations annually from 2000 to 2007 including 1.3 million simple assaults, 325,000 aggravated assaults, 36,500 rapes and sexual assaults, 70,000 robberies, and 900 homicides, and that workplace violence accounted for 18% of all violent crime between 2000 to 2007.  I could also share that most of the $75 billion in costs associated with violence were from lost productivity ($64.4 billion), with the remaining $5.6 billion spent on medical care.  I know that those figures have an impact and that it does get the attention of business leaders, but it shouldn't take that information to sway you to do the right thing.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month.  If you have not taken any action to protect your employees and to educate your team on domestic violence, please do so this week.  It doesn't take long and it doesn't cost you.  It is a simple three-step process:

First, simply adopt a domestic violence policy to include in your employee handbook. This policy provides guidelines and resources that you can customize for your business.

Next, assign a point person to act as a liaison between the victim (we consider them "survivors"), and available resources.  This person is not a counselor, expert domestic violence professional, or law enforcement officer.  It is a person with a heart who cares for others.  This is the person that the employee/survivor can turn to for help.  The point person simply opens doors for the survivor.

Finally, go through a short training class through Harbor House of Central Florida.  These loving folks will come to your office and provide your staff with the proper training and resources.  This seminar teaches you how to recognize domestic violence and what to say and not say to the survivor.  The course will open your eyes.  I had one business leader tell me before the course that he doesn't have any employees in his workplace with bruises or bleeding lips.  After the course, he was amazed at his lack of understanding.

Please do the right thing.  Implement the policy, assign a point person, and take the class.  Show responsibility for your team members.

 

Dancing with the Stars

"Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers." --- Stephen Covey

Business leaders who are afraid to offer incentives to those employees that go above and beyond with great customer service, taking up the slack for an absent employee, saving the company money with a creative idea, or closing a big sale are missing a wonderful opportunity to build a greater team. Some business leaders are hesitant to single out employees for fear of hurting the feelings of those not performing so superbly.

Here are four good points to keep in mind when it comes to rewarding great performance:

1.) Make a spectacle. Make it known to the entire organization about the employee receiving the award. The award doesn't have to be expensive, but should be something that makes the employee feel appreciated. Gift cards, trophies, time off, dinner for two, and anything else that is above his or her normal salary. Gather the team together give a presentation.

2.) Make it easy. You've hired a lot of different personalities with different work habits. They might not fit your mold or what you think an employee should look like, but if they are getting the job done leave them alone. In fact, make it easier for them to exercise their individuality and creativity. If an employee requests different working hours because she must pick up the kids from school, try to accommodate. If the employee works better in the later hours, rearrange his hours so that he can be more productive. Give a little and watch for big returns. Yes, you may have some take advantage of you, but if you've done your homework in the hiring process, they will be few and far between.

3.) Make it happen. It takes work to recognize excellence. It will require monitoring, motivating, and rewarding, but it is worth it. Some companies start a recognition program only to drop it a few months or a year down the road. Keep it going for the long haul. Your employees will appreciate your efforts and your company will be rewarded with greater productivity.

4.) Make a point. Recognizing employees shows the entire team that better service, quality productivity, and loyalty to the company mission is appreciated. Make your stars shine to others so that everyone knows it is possible. Develop enough stars and you will be dancing the sweet dance of success.