Tip of the Spear Ventures

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The Leadership Challenge: Burnout

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The Point: As a leader, you’ve experienced burnout. I’m not talking about physical burnout where you can’t take another step from exhaustion. What I’m referring to is the emotional exhaustion that results in depersonalization and decreased personal accomplishment at work. Perhaps it’s the latest project approaching completion, or maybe the promotion that passed you by… We started thinking here at the Javelin Institute and Tip of the Spear Ventures what exactly is behind leadership burnout and what (if anything) can be done to successfully turn a leader from burnout to a blaze again. So, in this post we’ll explore the leadership challenge of burnout… Enjoy!

Burnout: The Good, The Bad and Mostly Ugly!

Leadership burnout is best characterized by emotional exhaustion that results in both depersonalization and decreased accomplishment/results in the workplace. The emotionally exhausted leader is overwhelmed by leading to the point of feeling fatigued, unable to face the demands of leadership, and unable to engage their stakeholders. The burned-out leader often develops a sense of cynicism, detaching themselves from work and viewing stakeholders – especially subordinates – as objects along the way.

Fatigue, exhaustion, and detachment culminate in the leader experiencing burnout to the point where they no longer feel effective because they have lost their sense to contribute meaningfully. The growing trend of leadership burnout should be identified as a threat to strategic plan adoption for most organizations.

Burnout and Safety

Unless you’re in a clinical setting as a leader, your performance is rarely one where decisions made (or a lack thereof) are life or death for individuals or organization… Or is it? Characteristics of the new economy’s leadership environment, including time pressure, lack of control over work processes, role conflict, and poor relationships between groups combined with personal predisposing factors (i.e., bias) and the emotional intensity of work put leaders at high risk. From my executive coaching conversations, I estimate the prevalence of leadership burnout range from 10%–70% among leaders (SVPs, VPs, Directors, Team Leaders, etc.) and 30%–50% among senior leadership (CEOs and CXOs – COO, CFO, CHRO, CRO, CMO, etc.) If you/your organization are not looking at the signs of leadership burnout (Further broken down in the next section), an intervention should be staged to address the topic.  Afterall, my experience shares that most leaders view their burnout as a threat to stakeholder safety because depersonalization is presumed to result in poorer interactions with them (Often causing lower communication effectiveness and poorer initiative results). However, typically the signs of leadership burnout go undetected or unaddressed.

Burnout Perspective

At one of the organizations I work with, 40% of the leaders surveys reported at least one symptom of leadership burnout. Burnout rates (unsurprisingly) were higher for those who rated their leaders unfavorably. My survey also found that even with exceptionally high customer experience (CX), customer satisfaction, and net promoter scores, leadership quality accounted for roughly half the variable in such scores. So, what exactly are the signs of leadership burnout? The following list of burnout signs is from Psychology Today, broken down into (1) Physical and Emotional Exhaustion, (2) Cynicism and Detachment, and (3) Ineffectiveness and Lack of Accomplishment:

Physical and Emotional Exhaustion

  • Chronic fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Forgetfulness/Impaired Concentration and Attention
  • Physical Symptoms
  • Increased Illness
  • Loss of Appetite
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Anger

Cynicism and Detachment

  • Loss of Enjoyment
  • Pessimism
  • Isolation
  • Detachment

Ineffectiveness and Lack of Accomplishment

  • Feeling of Apathy and Hopelessness
  • Increased Irritability
  • Lack of Productivity and Poor Performance

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the leadership challenge of burnout. Best characterized by emotional exhaustion that results in both depersonalization and decreased accomplishment/results in the workplace, burnout poses a risk to be managed in the workplace. By knowing and recognizing the signs of burnout, leaders can address or seek assistance so as to maintain organizational and career course/trajectory.

Sam Palazzolo

PS – 2020 will be here before we know it, and I see some disturbing Leadership-trends taking place. If you’d like to receive a white paper I wrote on “5 Ways Your Leadership Will Succeed in 2020” CLICK HERE.

PPSS – As we crossed-over the halfway point of 2019, I’ve launched my most aggressive initiative to date. It’s a 501(c)(3) structured nonprofit that provides Executive Education to allow you to become the BEST leader possible (NOT Good, NOT Better… BEST!). If you’d like more information, please watch the following 2-minute overview by CLICKING HERE or plug this URL into your browser: https://javelininstitute.org/welcome-to-the-javelin-institute/

The Leadership Challenge: Judgement

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The Point: What type of judgement do you have as a leader? Is it sometimes good, sometimes bad? And in those judgement-times, how do you go about deciding which way to choose? After all, there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way when it comes to judgement (especially when you consider the outcome of your decision making!) We started thinking here at The Javelin Institute and Tip of the Spear Ventures, how are we using judgement to the fullest capacity when it comes to our leadership? So, in this post we’ll explore the leadership challenge of judgement… Enjoy!

You Will Be Judged on Your Judgement Abilities

Larry was a mid-level leader working for a Fortune 100 organization. We were assigned to conduct one of our Centered Executive Coaching initiatives with him (Specifically, our Stakeholder Centered Coaching engagement). Part of our Stakeholder Centered Coaching engagement consisted of conducting a 360-degree assessment, whereby Larry and Larry’s Stakeholders (Those he reported to, his peers, and those that reported to Larry) would all gage his effectiveness as a leader. The 360-degree assessment was conducted, and the results were in… and they were not pretty!

It turned out that Larry’s opinion of how effective he was as a leader differed dramatically from the opinions of his stakeholders. While there were a lot of potential reasons for these differences of perspective being present when it came to Larry, it turns out that the primary culprit for his stakeholders ranking him lower was his judgement (or his ability to accurately judge a situation, assignment, personnel, etc.) Larry was being judged based on his abilities to judge!

The Single Most Important Judgement Topic

I’ve seen a lot of leaders from a consulting perspective. One question that I used to ask a lot (and am considering bringing back out on the road with me) is “What keeps you up at night?” When I asked Larry this question, he had the following to say:

“What keeps me up at night as a leader is my ability to properly judge a candidate regarding when it’s not working, and we need to make a ‘should they stay, or should they go?’ decision. In my mind, this is the single most important judgement topic.”

 It turns out Larry is not alone. According to an Inc. Magazine article, roughly 70% of leaders are concerned about their ability to hire and then effectively decide if they should fire personnel. Most leaders would rather err on the side of “stay” and prove to themselves, as well as their stakeholders, that they did everything they could to keep the individual (Apply resources, provide training, etc.) before sending them packing.

I worked with Larry to not only establish judgement criteria which would significantly alter his success rates, but also revamped their hiring/onboarding process as well. The results were that he soon had less turnover, but the turnover he did conduct was done in a logical/objective manner.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the leadership challenge of judgement. We all are going to be faced as leaders with those moments where we have to decide. It’s the outcome of these judgement decision-moments that others will look to gage our success/failure rates. Insuring that you have a logical/objective methodology when it comes to applying judgement is crucial to your success as a leader.

Sam Palazzolo

PS – 2020 will be here before we know it, and I see some disturbing Leadership-trends taking place. If you’d like to receive a white paper I wrote on “5 Ways Your Leadership Will Fail in 2020” CLICK HERE.

PPSS – As we hit the halfway point of 2019, I’m launching my most aggressive initiative to date. It’s a 501(c)(3) structured nonprofit that provides Executive Education and Coaching to allow you to become the BEST leader possible (NOT Good, NOT Better… but BEST!). Launched in July 2019, I’m allowing 10 people in my network to “test-drive” the offering. If you’d like more information, contact me at info@javelininstitute.org.

The Leadership Challenge: Receiving Recommendations – 5 Tips!

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The Point: Receiving recommendations can be tough for a leader. For example, the Ides of March are best known for their recognition of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44BC. Said to have been warned by a seer earlier in the month that “Harm will befall you by the middle of the month,” Caesar did not heed the seer’s warning. Instead, Caesar later seeing said seer postulated “The Ides of March are come” as if nothing was going to happen after all. To this the seer replied “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.” So we thought here at Tip of the Speer, what recommendations are you as part of the leadership challenge not heeding? Where would you be if you did implement/execute such recommendations? So hopefully with far less dire consequences, in this post we’ll explore the leadership challenge of the Ides of March, along with 5 tips to help you as a leader in receiving recommendations… Enjoy!

Leadership Challenge Receiving Recommendations 5 Tips
“Aye, Caesar; but not gone.”

Eidibus Martiis (On the Ides of March)

The Ides of March are best known for their recognition of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44BC. Caesar, who was on his way to the Theatre of Pompey, was ambushed by as many as 60 conspirators who lay in wait to stab him to death. A gruesome end to what most consider a glorious life.

But did it have to end this way for Caesar? What if, and only if, he had accepted the recommendations provided by those around him? Would Caesar have succumbed to similar fate?

Accepting Recommendations (Harder than it Looks!)

Whether giving or receiving recommendations, logical flaws and information inaccuracies complicate our thinking. After all, the leadership challenge of receiving recommendations should look to identify their own blind spots, when and how they should provide recommendations (as well as receive perhaps!), recognize the recommendation giver in stature (they should be giving, and you should receive/follow them, right?), and lower defense shields (This coming from the guy who’s famous for first-word reactions of “No!”)

5 Tips to overcome the Leadership Challenge of Receiving Recommendations

Below I describe 5 tips to help with the leadership challenge of receiving recommendations. Keep in mind, there are challenges for the leader on both sides of the giving and receiving recommendations framework, but for our purposes (and to show support to Caesar) we’ll focus on receiving recommendations:

Tip #5 – Overstepping Subject Matter Expertise (SMEs)

The advice of Stephen Hawking (RIP Stephen!) would be greatly appreciated in the physics realm. However, Hawking’s advice in the cost accounting realm would not be so welcomed! While I’m all for cross-training providing exposure to other parts of an operation, I am not in favor of those that don’t attain the 10,000 hours required for SME status providing recommendations on topics they are unqualified to do so. Assessing who the message is coming from could be considered half the battle here. However, the other half would be in identifying even though the individual lacks SME, is what they are offering (recommending) appropriate because of their fresh-take perspective?

Tip #4 – Problem Recognition

What if you’re receiving a recommendation on something where no problem exists? Why would you receive it, and from whom would stoop to a level so as to “throw rocks at glass houses?” I can tell you from experience that recommendations are a lot like opinions, everyone seems to have one. So with this in mind, kindly assess if the recommendations direction is towards something that really needs to have modifications conducted upon it.

Tip #3 – Maintaining Ego

There comes a time when each of us is faced with a leadership challenge. They seem to never end for some of us, never arise for other leaders. Part of the foundation of these challenges could very well lay in not putting aside our egos as leaders. Pride, circumstance, etc. all play a part in sometimes not receiving recommendations as well as they should be (or as they were intended to be).

Tip #2 – Discerning Communication Quality

Does your radar or judgment of the recommendations received go off or lower dependent upon who provides it to you? It shouldn’t! As one of our leaders used to share with me all the time, “Trick me once, shame on you. Trick me twice, shame on me!” The moral here is you should judge each/every recommendation received, including judgment for the individual/group providing it.

Tip #1 – Bungling the Recommendation Aftermath

So you either take or refuse recommendations as a leader… Then what? I am convinced that regardless of if the recommendation is taken or refused, if in so doing success was the aftermath then sharing is done naturally (After all, like Caesar, success has many fathers!) However, if failure is the outcome then responsibility is cast wide with no one assuming lead. Business being business, we should conduct decision autopsies on what has worked/not worked and the recommendations provided.

SUMMARY

In this post, we’ve explored the leadership challenge of receiving recommendations on the Ides of March, along with 5 tips for leaders to qualify such recommendations. Keep in mind, that in addition to his role as leader of the Roman Republic, Caesar was also recognized at the time as being the Pontifex Maximus of Rome (chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs) and a priest of Vesta (Goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion). Perhaps in light of the Theatre of Pompey outcome he could have been more adept at receiving recommendations!

Sam Palazzolo

Leading at the Tip of the Spear Lunch Offer

Mergers & Acquisitions: The Problem with Acquisitions – 3 Tips!

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The Point: The usage of acquisitions to divert and reshape corporate strategy has never been more prevalent than in today’s new economy. Today, many leaders prefer purchasing a company as a way of creating easy access to products, technology, markets, management talent, or assets as less risky and faster than picking up similar goals via internal endeavors. So at Tip of the Spear Ventures, we put our M&A hats on and wondered “What is the problem with acquisitions?” After all, it would appear to be not only in vogue, but a relatively easy approach to accomplish organizational growth goals. So in this post, we’ll explore Mergers & Acquisitions: The Problem with Acquisitions along with providing 3 tips… Enjoy!

Mergers Acquisitions Problem Acquisitions 3 Tips

M&A Headquarters… We have a Problem!

It is now very clear that there is a difference between (1) acquiring a company and (2) making it work! There are countless M&A corpses strewn along the business super-highway as reminders. As leaders, we need to understand how to manage acquisitions better and not looking beyond conventional advice.

To make acquisitions work, most analysts often stress one of two methods. First of all, the strategic fit between the target and its acquirer, and secondly how important the proposed subsidiary can provide/adapt to the parent organization’s technique (or modus operandi).

M&A Round Peg in Square Hole

The need to meet an organizational fit between the two companies was what the other approach stressed on – that is, by matching corporate cultures, demographic features, or administrative systems. The success of an acquisition is guaranteed if the degrees of strategic and organizational fit are enough.

Most often, friendly acquisitions that follow this advice fail to work, why? Managers can gain insight into this question on the real acquisition process and not the strategic fit or organizational fit.

3 Tips That Affect the Result of the Process

Recent research reveals three tips, or factors, inherent in the process can affect the outcome:

Tip #1: Fragmented Perspectives

As a result of analysts and specialists involvement in a specific ability and independent goals, fragmented and multiple views of the agreement may occur. General managers may find it difficult to integrate these perspectives. Most of the time, analysts with specialized skills and managers dominate the process of acquiring a company. It will be difficult for managers to support a generalist grasp of the transaction just because of the need for complex technical analysis and number of tasks to complete.

Tip #2: Integrating Perspectives

When the momentum to close the deal is increasing, it can force closure prematurely and thereby limit any consideration of integration issues. The challenges of fragmented perspectives are conquered by top executives if active roles are performed during the acquisition process. Strategies to structure balance among different groups and interests to ensure the proper analysis of integrated sets.

Tip #3: Some Ambiguity Issues

Most of the time, buyers and sellers were unable to resolve some important areas of ambiguity before agreements are complete. Financial analysts and researchers often describe acquisitions as acts of strategic calculation. In sharp contrast, those involved directly with the acquisition process always point to powerful forces beyond managerial control that increase the speed of the transaction.

So What Exactly is the Problem with Acquisitions?

The factors above may manifest acquisition plans, which might be over an extended period, or amid transactions, which will probably be in haste. For every procurement, supervisors ought to consider what factors are making the procedure accelerate and recognize transparency between corporate strategy and other factors like the interests of personal profession or special groups and personality issues – all these intertwine in most cases.

SUMMARY

This is the perfect moment senior leaders need to reevaluate their assumptions about acquisition actions in a principal way – neglecting this will cause a problem with acquisitions. Preservation reassessment by the boards and executives in both purchasing and target organizations with regards to the procurement’s purpose and their capacity to gain benefits in the long haul from the proposed combination may uncover different issues that each party ought to know about. Building up superior understanding of the inconspicuous but useful role that the acquisition procedure plays in the outcome of procurement is an imperative piece of the first reassessment.

Sam Palazzolo

Leading at the Tip of the Spear Lunch Offer

Business For Sale?

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With the continued expansion of the economy, there’s no time like the present for would-be entrepreneurs to consider launching a business (Especially when you consider the recent tax and regulatory reform). Tip of the Spear Ventures’ Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Business Advisory Service was established to (1) assist those desiring to purchase a business, as well as (2) those business owners looking to exit or sell their existing business.

Business for Sale_Mergers and Acquisitions

A recent UBS study titled Q1 Investor Watch Report, reports that nearly 60% (58%) of sampled wealthy investors would consider starting a business. The report also reflects 52% of existing business owners are looking to capitalize on the robust economy and sell within the next 5-years (20% would like to create a succession plan whereby heirs would take over the business responsibilities, while 18% say that they will opt to simply shut the business down). Why the large percentage of business owners looking to exit? The study found 2 succession reasons in particular:

  1. Succession plans whereby the business would be turned over to heirs reflect that these successors would rather have cash in the bank versus ownership in the business (82%).
  2. Millennials also reflect a propensity to hold back and not run a business, citing business ownership and entrepreneurship are simply too stressful (80%)

Tip of the Spear Ventures’ M&A Business Advisory Services seek to assist both those looking to purchase a business (Buy-side) as well as those looking to exit their business (Sell-side). Our services combine the best of counsel ranging from M&A expertise, Accountancy, and facts of Legal matters.

To find out more about Tip of the Spear Ventures’ M&A Business Advisory Services,please contact us by phone @ 855.97SPEAR (855 977 7327) or email: info@tipofthespearventures.com.