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The War for Talent – Pandemic Focus

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The Point: There is a “War for Talent” right now as we come through (hopefully!) the pandemic. Call it a result of the “great resignation” or whatever you’d like, there is a shortage of qualified applicants for each job opening. Nowhere is the war for talent with a pandemic focus greater than at the leadership level! So we started asking ourselves here at Tip of the Spear, “What exactly is this war for talent, and more importantly what can the C-suite do to offset this war during the pandemic?” So, in this post we’ll explore the war for talent with a pandemic focus and provide several tips, techniques, and tricks for success… Enjoy!

The Zeroing Agency at Tip of the Spear Ventures Corporate Culture and Ethics to solve the War for Talent - Pandemic Focus

Happy Holidays… You’re Fired!

Joshua (name changed to protect the innocent) was a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) for an SMB company. He was a true “success” story if ever there was one, having rose through the corporate ladder over his 20-year career starting as an entry-level business development representative and ultimately sitting in the sales c-suite chair. And just like that, it was over! A private equity firm came in and bought the company from a baby boomer leader 6-months prior. While they “talked” of keeping him in the CRO Chair, the “walk” was parting ways with him during the holidays (“Happy Holidays… You’re Fired!”)

The War for Talent during the Pandemic – Where’s Your Corporate Culture and Ethics?

The relationship between corporate culture and ethics is complicated, but there are many ways to improve it. While it is true that ethical companies have a higher level of satisfaction with their work, there are also some ways to make the culture more effective. First, signal an ethical environment within the organization. Doing so conveys the message that voicing your values is a viable option and will increase employee morale. Second, you can create a better working environment for your staff by making your workplace more pleasant.

Whether or not your company is committed to ethical behaviors is important, but your espoused culture is often different from the real one. For example, aggressive sales personnel may be rewarded, while conservative sales personnel are not. This could result in problems with revenue classifications. Moreover, the pressure of the real culture could have prompted Texas Instruments to correct these problems. Considering this, the relationship between corporate culture and ethics is a complex one.

What’s the Bond between Corporate Culture and Ethics?

To create a healthy bond between ethics and corporate culture, you should start by identifying your company’s core values. Then, write an organizational mission statement or code of ethics. Remember to reference your company’s culture in this statement, as well. Even if your business is already established, you might still need to create a mission statement for the new company. Ultimately, you need to change your corporate culture to help the employees work better together.

When it comes to a firm’s value, ethics are a crucial factor. If the culture is not ethical, it will detract from the value of a company. A strong corporate culture encourages employees to perform at their highest levels, but an unethical culture discourages employee morale and creativity. A company’s value will be decreased by 1.4% if it does not promote ethical behavior. The importance of ethics cannot be overstated.

Show Me a Compensation Plan, I’ll Show You Behavior/Performance

A company’s culture influences employee behavior, compliance, and integrity. Developing an ethical corporate culture is essential for a company’s success. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a big deal. While a strong company culture can benefit the bottom line, ethics are a critical component of a company’s culture. The more ethical the workplace, the better the company will be. In addition to fostering a positive workplace environment, an ethical company culture will also promote a more productive and innovative work environment.

In addition to its importance in society, corporate culture affects the company’s performance. A healthy company culture emphasizes the values of people. It is an essential part of a company’s culture. It also affects the company’s reputation. Having an ethical culture is essential for the success of an organization. The best way to do that is to encourage employees to do what is right. It will improve morale and productivity.

The War for Talent – How to Improve Inherent Corporate Culture and Ethics

There are many ways to improve corporate culture and ethics. The top executives should be held accountable for their actions, while managers and lower-level employees should be held accountable for their actions. They should also be evaluated for their moral values, and rewarded for doing the right thing. The key is to ensure that all employees are rewarded for doing the right thing. However, this is not easy. But if everyone works hard and is ethical, it will be much easier to increase the company’s profits.

The way top management conducts itself is also important for a company’s morale. Senior management should be an example of ethical behavior. They should be an example to all employees. If they aren’t, it will be difficult to promote a good corporate culture. A good culture will inspire confidence and trust in employees. This will help the company avoid ethical problems. This is important because the wrong culture will only make you look bad.

Lastly, there is the connection between corporate culture and ethics. Some organizations have a very good and ethical culture. Others are very un-ethical. While many people don’t want to be a criminal, they will not do anything that would violate the law. This is why corporate culture and ethics are so important. They are linked and can influence each other’s behavior. By making sure that everyone understands the importance of these issues, they will be more likely to do the right thing and be successful.

SUMMARY

In this post, we’ve explored the “War for Talent” taking place right now as we come through (hopefully!) the pandemic. Call it a result of the “great resignation” or whatever you’d like, there is a shortage of qualified applicants for each job opening. Nowhere is the war for talent with a pandemic focus greater than at the leadership level! We’ve explored how the key to successfully offsetting this war is corporate culture and ethics, powered by a comprehensive compensation plan. While this might not have saved Joshua’s CRO position at the aforementioned SMB organization, it should be a lesson the SMB organization pays attention to as they drive forward (Joshua should also ask these important corporate culture and ethics questions during his interviews for future employment!)

Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Leadership Challenge: Cyber Security

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The Point: What used to be a problem only for organizational information officers (primarily Chief Information Officers or CIO’s), now the leadership challenge of cyber security spans the horizon for organizations. In doing so, cyber security is every leader’s responsibility regardless of function performed. In this post, we’ll examine the threats associated with cyber security for the leader of today/tomorrow… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: Cyber Security

Cyber Breach… You’re Fired!

The well-publicized cyber breach associated with Target in 2014 should have served as a warning alarm for leaders everywhere (Here’s an article to refresh your memory: “Target CEO Fired – Can You Be Fired If Your Company Is Hacked?“ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericbasu/2014/06/15/target-ceo-fired-can-you-be-fired-if-your-company-is-hacked/#5df21d7f7bc1). Once upon a time, cyber security was the role/responsibility of those residing exclusively in IT (Information Technology) or Information Systems, and leaders therein (CIOs in particular) were typically focused on for blame (Keep in mind, few were/are actually released due to this sensitive role in organizations). However with the advent of “leadership-less” organizations and other human resource strategies now leaders residing anywhere within an organization have the opportunity to breach exposure (See my previous post on the concept of “Holacracy” like at Zappos here: https://tipofthespearventures.com/leadership-challenge-holacracy-like-zappos-5-tips/)

So regardless of your leadership position (elevation within the org chart) or primary department affiliation (IT, Finance, Marketing, etc.), you too could be called on the carpet for information systems security failures which occur within your organization.

Cyber Breach Solutions

With the advent and implementation of all this technology, leaders today need to do it the “right” way. What is the “right” way? You have to have the right protocols in place. You need to insure that you have a full-robust set of controls in place. But how do you as a leader insure that you have the right solutions?

Analysis of exactly what your cyber strategy (How do you want to interact with your clients? What’s your technology that allows you to do so? What are your operational components going to look like?) can lead to diverse approaches so as to safeguard data.

The development of a cyber security program that allows you to be in control, have the right types of messaging and protocols in place if (when?) there is a breach so as to remediate them very quickly is imperative. For example, right now when you examine current breaches that take place, what is their source (Could be individuals, rogue nations, etc. that are responsible). But moving away from the “Who?” that is doing it and identifying the “Why?” they are doing it will allow you to focus/create appropriate security strongholds around such data.

SUMMARY

Cyber security isn’t just business as usual anymore. Regardless of where you work within an organization, keeping in mind cyber breach issues will allow you to more thoroughly manage your business and keep cyber under control. In this post we’ve examined the leadership challenge of cyber security. Knowing what you know now, there should be greater focus placed on keeping organizational information safeguarded and career paths plotted and progressed.

 

Sam Palazzolo

www.BloodSweatSpears.com

 

 

The Leadership Challenge: Radical Candor

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The Point: Do painful truths create faster growth, deepen trust, and build long-term relationships? This is the promise of a management technique known as “Radical Candor.” Popularized by high tech firms, the approach recommends cutting through the political correctness of conversations and therein allows for a more truthful dialog. But is the truth often clouded and dependent upon perspective of the truth-giver? In this post we’ll examine Radical Candor and provide 4 tips to assist in overcoming the leadership challenge of radical candor… Enjoy!

 The Leadership Challenge: Radical Candor

Let’s Be Honest… I’m a Jerk!

How many times have you found yourself in a situation where as a leader you should have zigged, but chose to zag due to the political climate of your organization? If you’re like most of the leaders I work with, you’ve probably fallen to the pressures to conform more times that you wish to admit. Enter the management concept known as “Radical Candor” where you no longer have to cow-down to conflict! Sounds pretty good right?

Radical Candor allows a leader to say what they want to say when they should be saying it. In other words, you have the right, no make that the duty/obligation to tell your stakeholders what they are doing wrong and why if/when you perceive it to be so. I’m not certain what you’re picturing in your mind, but my first image is that of the boss smoking a cigar and blowing smoke in my face… Pure humiliation results (in its purest form of course) and the receiver of such Radical Candor can only revamp their resume and begin their career search.

I Speak the Truth… Therefore I’m Right?

Radical Candor not only allows leaders to share from their perspective what happened, but also provide course corrections. Corrections that in and of themselves may very well be career course corrections. But what if the leader that practices this “speaking of the truth” has the situation misinterpreted? What if they simply don’t understand what’s occurring? Perhaps worse yet, what if they harbor a grudge/ill-will against the receiver?

As a leader there are times when you simply have to make the call and decide which direction is the best given the information you have at the time. You might be making the right call, but then again you very well might be making the wrong one (In which case hopefully you’ve read my previous posts regarding decision making and course correction!) As judge/jury/executioner of the corporate mission/vision/values a leader puts themselves in the perilous plight of having to determine right versus wrong. While business decisions involving dollars and cents might seem relatively easy, the stakes increase dramatically when it’s time to comment on the behaviors/actions of those around you. So should you do so without holding/bighting your tongue?

4 Tips to Overcome the Leadership Challenge of Radical Candor

The following 4 tips should act as assistance guides so as to overcome the leadership challenge of radical candor:

Tip #4 – Be Slow

You’re going to have the opportunity to provide radical candor feedback for nearly every sentence/action taken by your stakeholders. I’ll encourage you to be slow and more importantly go slowly when providing such feedback. I’ve seen way too many managers that jumped the gun (so to speak) and provided feedback prior to understanding everything (and yes, everything is needed!) Not only should you get all your facts in order, but perhaps comment after a pattern of events occurs.

Tip #3 – Be on the Same Radical Candor Page

Imagine how odd it would be for stakeholders to receive such radical feedback without the knowledge that their leader was invoking such leadership rules? It would not only surprise most, cause some to question your mental faculties, and at the minimum create a few human resources complaints! Share with your stakeholders the methodology, intended outcomes, and rules of the road so to speak at the onset of installing Radical Candor.

Tip #2 – Simply Say Thank You!

One of the most valuable tips I ever received was from Marshall Goldsmith (Yes, that Marshall Goldsmith who is the world’s leading executive coach to Fortune 100 C-Suite Leaders). He encourages the leader to respond to feedback with a simple thank you. No defending/deflecting what was said… No getting beet-red in the face… Just a simple thank you. Now you might want to buckle-back and get more details later, but in the heat of the moment say thanks.

Tip #1 – Reciprocate Radical Candor

Radical Candor can be great feedback to receive, but know as a leader that the most highly functioning organizations that adopt the technique allow for two-way communication of honesty (brutally honest that is!) Not only are you expected to dole out such candor, but part of the gift is also receiving (Your welcome!)

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the management technique of Radical Candor. While the leadership challenge at hand might seem like no challenge at all, for those that engage in such open/honest dialog with their stakeholders there is always, always, always more at stake than meets the eye.

 

Sam Palazzolo

www.BloodSweatSpears.com

 

The Leadership Challenge: Firing – 10 Tips!

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The Point: You knew it was coming, but you didn’t want to see it (let alone admit it once it happened!) Be it for purposes of production, professionalism, or personal reasons, firing associates should always be looked upon as a leaders final reproach. A reproach that must take into account the best interests of the individual experiencing the employee firing. So in this post, we’ll explore the leadership challenge of firing and provide 10 tips to allow for leadership success… Enjoy!

 The Leadership Challenge: Firing - 10 Tips!

Hire Slow… Fire Fast!

I worked with an organization that had what I would consider tremendous turnover primarily in their sales team. The turnover rate hovered at nearly 300% annually. While a certain amount of “churn” in a sales team can be expected (perhaps even desired?), this level appeared to be excessive.

In speaking with the sales leadership (they did the hiring), they had a process for hiring that was reminiscent of the Wild West! It appeared as though anyone, and I do mean anyone, that entered the hiring funnel that could pass minimal skills tests including fogging a mirror would be offered employment. It was of little or no surprise therefore that turnover was more often than not the result of these poor hiring moments.

From Love to Like to Letting Go

“Sam, anyone can fire employees. It takes a real leader to be able to work with people and lead them forward” were the words shared with me by my leader upon assuming leadership responsibilities for the first time. While it’s been nearly 20+ years since I first heard these words, the adage is just as appropriate today as it was then.

But what happens to cause employee dismissal? Is there a specific tipping point that causes irreparable harm to occur for the leader that just isn’t recoverable from? Was it them (the employee getting fired or the leader) that’s to blame? Firing for the sake of firing takes guts, but my experience has seen far too many firings occur because the leader is simply gutless!

10 Tips for Firing Employees

Herein are ten tips for firing employees that I’d ask you to consider prior to taking this last ditch effort in the employment lifecycle. Consider them to be ten bases that need to be run out prior to calling the employee out in the game of work:

Tip #10 – Process Training

Perhaps performance is the issue identified for employee dismissal. If so, provide training to the employee so that they know the process they are expected to conduct.

Tip #9 – Establish Performance Criteria

Having everyone on the same page is crucial, especially when you consider performance criteria. As such, establish performance criteria employees are expected to perform.

Tip #8 – Review Performance

From the “Establish Performance Criteria” above, you have shared what levels employees are expected to perform at. Now it’s time to conduct reviews of said performance to insure compliance with those expectations.

Tip #7 – Involve HR/Legal

If you are considering firing someone, you’ll want to bring in the human resources and legal professionals. They will assist in insuring that proper organizational and government (state/federal) rules are complied with.

Tip #6 – No Surprises

Earlier I said that “You knew it was coming, but you didn’t want to see it (let alone admit it once it happened!)” so insure that those employees being dismissed know in advance that things are not going well and perhaps a parting of the ways might be in everyone’s best interests.

Tip #5 – Consistency Counts

When releasing associates, insure that you are applying consistent expectations as well as firing mechanics… Your HR folks will be glad you did!

Tip #4 – Keep it Private

If praise is meant for a public forum, this antonym should be conducted in private. If you’ve followed the previous five steps, there shouldn’t be any surprises for any/all involved.

Tip #3 – Fire the Right Person

Make certain that you have provided all the process training and tools required to be successful on the job. Establish the difference between able (they understand the job) and willing (they want to perform the job).

Tip #2 – Insure They Exit

How many times have you seen a firing take place, only for a cloud of disturbance to be leveled on the organization on there way out because no one escorted the individual from the organization properly? Odds are if you’ve fired someone in the past, and not escorted them out of the building the cloud blew in badly.

Tip #1 – Maintain Dignity/Pride

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, dismiss people in a manner that allows for dignity/pride to be maintained (or at least try). Avoid being mean for mean’s sake.

SUMMARY

It’s the job of a leader to lead others. However, some simply aren’t meant to be lead. The best leader I ever worked for employed a 4-sentence dismissal that typically went something like this “Bob I want to talk about you/your affiliation with us here at XYZ Company. You know based on previous conversations that this just doesn’t seem to be a good fit for either of us. As such, we’re going to allow you to go be successful somewhere else. Thank you and best of luck.” When it’s over… It’s over!

 

Sam Palazzolo

www.BloodSweatSpears.com

 

The Leadership Challenge: Deconstruction – 5 Tips!

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The Point: If you are attempting to build leadership in your organization, you know just how difficult that can be. Who to select, what to instruct, and how to verify lessons learned/implemented are amongst the leading-edge decision points to be made for a successful leadership development program. But rather than work from the bottom of the org chart up, what if we went from the top down? In this blog post we’ll examine the leadership challenge regarding deconstruction, or how you can deconstruct top performers within the organization to identify key success characteristics to be replicated… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: Deconstruction – 5 Tips!

Leadership Autopsy

Building good leaders is hard, let alone great leaders. This was the central theme of a recent client visit where our task at hand was to develop a leadership development program. What exactly makes a good leader in this organization/division/department/role? If you’ve ever struggled with identifying that those characteristics look like, then welcome to the club. Most Human Resource Managers that lead leadership development initiatives will tell you that there are typically a common core set of characteristics/behaviors that those who are successful exhibit.

So if we know what success looks like, why is it so difficult to pinpoint the individual leader who achieve success characteristics/behaviors? One potential way is to receive input from the stakeholders themselves, rather than the individual leader. While the successful leader achieves great results, they typically can’t explain/replicate their exact methodology/reasons for. This is similar to promoting the super star associate to manager/leader level and seeing their performance not translate in their new role. Why the failure? The answer is simple… They either didn’t have the same passion/skills/knowledge to do so.

Deconstruction Tip Tools

So here is a list of 5 of my favorite deconstruction tips or tools for leaders to look for in order to replicate their success:

Tip #5 – The first tip I’ll share is to conduct a behavioral assessment. Behavioral assessments are good tools that “snapshot” who you are and what you’re comprised of (One of my favorites is from Hogan Assessments). Across a constant/similar characteristic categorization you then have a baseline measuring starting point.

Tip #4 – Conduct an employee/stakeholder survey of the leader with targeted questions pointed at key characteristics (identified in their behavioral assessment) for further input on not only what is important, but the how of execution for those important characteristics.

Tip #3 – Filter characteristics that are most important to the leadership development initiative at hand by comparing supporting position level with organizational mission/vision/values. In other words, if you have a characteristic that does not support/goes against what your organization stands for, you’re better off leaving it out.

Tip #2 – Align with a top tier leadership development methodology. There are a lot of schools of thought regarding what a leader should consist of and how they should learn therein. Top programs that come to mind are any Top 20 MBA program’s Executive Development sessions. While not nearly as long (most are 1-2 days versus 2-years of MBA school), these sessions provide laser focus on important leadership development topics. Presented by faculty that are considered subject matter experts (as well as typically consultants for example organizations), there can be a great transference of leadership knowledge.

Tip #1 – Implement your program and measure success much more frequently than an annual survey. Conduct weekly 1:1 (one to one) meetings, poll stakeholders for feedback, and observe for results.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve examined the leadership challenge of deconstruction and provided five tips. While most leadership moments are worked from blank whiteboard to full whiteboard with initiative details/processes spelled out, sometimes a better approach may be to just start at the top and work your way down by deconstructing successful leaders.

 

Sam Palazzolo

www.BloodSweatSpears.com