Is Your HR Department Disappointing You?

If you’re a CEO like me, you have high expectations for everyone. I mean really high. If we work this hard, shouldn’t everyone? If we knuckle down and deal with tough problems, shouldn’t others do it with the same gusto? And if we can nail down value points and key indicators like a pneumatic hammer, why does it seem that others are pounding with rocks.

We aren’t the only ones. There are probably lots of people in your organization who feel ‘alone at the top’ of their team. It’s frustrating, but guess what: there’s no where it’s more frustrating than in HR.

Finance has the tools and the data to generate projections. And Operations can give you production metrics. Sales has the top line numbers. Even Purchasing can tell you how much money they’re saving as they upgrade the old coffeepot to the fancy barista station. But HR? Their hard measures are things that keep you up at night, like rising health insurance costs! HR’s other metrics- turnover, onboarding speed, and engagement – never quite seem to ‘measure up’ in terms of business value.

So consider this: all those other executive functions have tools that allow them to analyze needs, identify best options, and demonstrate solution value, while HR has disparate databases, training programs that don’t measure outcomes, personality tests from the middle of the last century, and metrics that neither speed nor simplify management decision making.

Here’s an alternative. Let them you know want them to have the tools they need to prove their business value. Then direct them to The Gabriel Institute and tell them to ask for your old friend Dr. Janice. I’ll take it from there.

Dr. J

P.S. Our solutions cost little, predict how people will perform in teams, build the strength and productivity of your human infrastructure, and deliver measurable business value. Just give HR a little time to learn how to apply them. You WON’T be disappointed.

The Real Score

People who think they can be everything to everyone fascinate me, especially when it comes to leadership.  This is a quiz designed to frustrate them because you have to choose only one from each pair.  Even worse, I’m going to ask you how you actually behave, not what you think you would do.  Are you game?

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A- My job is to inspire my team, so I have a vision I share with them that they can believe in.

OR

B-  My job is to motivate my team, so I give them rewards for a job well done.

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A- I spend some time most days focusing on what I need to do to achieve my vision.

OR

B- I spend some time most days focusing on achieving the desired outcomes.

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A- I know where I’m going and I expect my team is following.

OR

B- I frequently check in and herd my team so they don’t get lost as they work toward the goals.

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A- I explain what I want to my team as they seem to need it.

OR

B- I have documented very clear rules and I expect my team to follow them.

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A- I give my team wide berth to do their jobs in the way that makes sense to them.

OR

B- I am careful to set reasonable limits on how far people are allowed to deviate from my plans.

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A- I thank my team for being there.

OR

B- I praise my team for doing things well.

Add up your As and your Bs and don’t be too concerned which you had more of.  You are who you are: if you have more As, most people would say you’re more of a leader. If you have more Bs, they’d say you’re more of a manager.  One isn’t better than the other; they’re just different.

But that’s not the real score.

To get your real score, answer these two questions:

1- In how many instances was it very difficult for you to choose only one option?  (The more difficult, the more likely you actually are capable of doing both, which is, after all, what needs to get done if you’re going to have anything to lead.)

2- In how many instances did you think of someone else on your team who prefers the opposite of your choice?  (The greater the number, the more likely you focus on the team rather than yourself.)

The real score is that leadership happens when you’re not thinking about it.  It happens when you focus so much on supporting other people that they can’t think of you as anything other than a leader.

Three Leadership Lessons from Sports

No New Year’s resolutions, no preaching, no ‘rules’ – just some ideas to ponder.

1. You can’t lead the team if you’re not on it.

Soccer star Mia Hamm said, “I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.”  True in any sport and especially true on the entrepreneurial playing field. The leader must be as much in the game as the players.

2. Identify and develop undervalued players.

Think Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s (read Moneyball if you missed it.)  ’Talent’ is not just about skill and experience – it’s about teaming. ‘Scouting’ the resumes, interviews, and LinkedIn pages will give you lots of data about the individual. But in order to predict business success – no matter what the mission of the team – the right metrics are Coherence, Role, and Teaming Characteristics.

3. Know the difference between competition and coopetition – and when to use each.

If there were no Coopetition, there would be no draft, no free agency, and no player trades. And whether you love or hate the outcomes, Coopetition adds variety and produces better on-field Competition.  But when you ‘team’ with your competitors in hopes of mutual benefit, you had better stay on the high road. In this highly networked world, playing dirty tricks or trashing the competition is not just bad for business – it can have lethal impact on future opportunities.

Cheers to 2010 – the year that the winners’ circle starts spinning again!

Five New Thoughts on Interviewing, Plus One for CEOs

This post originally appeared on the Human Capital Institute blog and has been cited elsewhere.  Here it is, updated with the most critical thought for CEOs.

1- Shut up and listen:  Every moment you speak is a moment your interviewee is silent.  Unless you are interviewing someone who will be working for you as a mime, you aren’t learning anything while you’re talking.

2- Ask SPIN questions: Help your interviewee learn more about the position and company–while you’re learning more about them–by asking them value-centric questions.  Try using what sales guru Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling and many other books on business communication, calls ‘Implication’ and ‘Need-payoff’ questions.  ”What if you got this position and could do anything within reason to make it a success?”  ”Here’s a recurring problem (describe it); how many kinds of adverse impact on our business can you identify? This gives the candidate an opportunity to ‘dig in’ and actually sell themselves on the job opportunity, while giving you a view into their thinking and problem solving processes.

3 – Stick to a plan: Remember that an interview is a form of assessment.  If every interview follows a different path, they will not result in accurate or reasonable comparisons between candidates. Not only do you need to ask the same questions of each interviewee, you need to interpret their answers in the same way.  Furthermore,  if you don’t isolate the key message points and stay focused on them, it is all the more likely that the candidate’s physical characteristics, gender, race, nationality, style of dress, etc. will creep into the assessment–and before you know it you will be adrift in unconscious biases that can lead to future trouble.

4 – Pick a team player: Consider using an assessment that is designed to measure teaming characteristics.  Hiring has always been focused primarily on the characteristics of the individual candidates. Ironically, how well they will perform on the team doesn’t come to the fore until after the hire–and isn’t recognized as a failing until after the ‘bad hire’ has done plenty of damage.  You can’t really ask people how they ‘team’ and expect a reliable answer, so you need a way to predict how they will behave.

5 – Take the high road: Even when you’re having a tough day, remember that you are making decisions of critical importance to your organization.  You have direct influence on building and maintaining a human infrastructure that will determine the success or failure of the entire organization.  Take a deep breath, ask for a second opinion if you’re unsure, and always keep learning.

And for CEOs:

Remember, you are picking someone who will be teaming with you.  Do you know what your teaming characteristics are?  Don’t fight them: they’ve gotten you this far so don’t mess with success.  Just make sure the person you’re bringing in will be three things: Coherent, a Role complementary to yours, and someone with the kind of teaming characteristics that spell success on your team.  You’re building your human infrastructure so you may as well build from your own specs!

Are you a ‘Cvangelist’?

Rank has its privileges. One of them is that CEOs, and others at the C level, are privy to information that others can’t access. And it’s that exclusivity, or the illusion of it, that makes their status all the more tantalizing. The most important information, I’m beginning to think, isn’t the trade secret or the true state of the finances. I think it’s what we like and do and buy.

Analysts want to know where you’re having dinner, the color of the leather in your next ride (even better if that ride is on water or air), and what your future acquisitions will be. Most of them are satisfied with just knowing the “who* and *what*; the really inquisitive ones are interested in the *why*, and how that differs from what others – non-C’s – do.

I think the difference is that we’re used to thinking in terms of ‘business benefits’ and ‘long term valuation’ rather than the satisfaction of an ephemeral desire. And that’s what makes Cvangelists so important to emerging growth companies. We need more than buyers – we need evangelists. And when they’re at the C-level–Cvangelists–we know that they are buying and telling other people because they are focused on benefits and value.

I’m a Cvangelist for Virgin Atlantic. Please don’t ask me to go to London on any other airline. And I’m a Cvangelist for Whole Foods Market (I know they’re expensive — but the business benefits are my time saved and the long term value is my health). Mark. our EVP and former tech CEO, is a Cevangelist for MAC. (He’s got me convinced. This blog will be getting done on a MAC very soon.)

So why would you want to become a Cvangelist? Simple. The benefits are many.

1. You get to feel very cool, like the people who bought Microsoft stock (the stock – not the software) soon after the IPO.
2. You always have something *different* to say at CEO cocktail parties.
3. You have the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve promoted something that not only has immediate business benefits but also long term value.

How do you start? Well, if you want to join the very cool, always witty, highly satisfied Cvangelists for TGI Role-Based Assessment, just call me at 215-825-2500. Or email me at DrJanice (at) thegabrielinstitute.com!

Do you trust your executive team? Should you?

According to a recent Korn-Ferry survey I read about today, 47% of executives are dissatisfied with their jobs and 31% say they don’t trust their boss.

To put that another way, 47% of executives are not worth what you are paying them.  They aren’t satisfied and maybe that’s because they aren’t capable of feeling the pleasure of a job well done.

The 31% who don’t trust aren’t worth any more than the ones who aren’t satisfied.  People who don’t trust often can’t trust.  They get distracted by the wrong things and don’t keep their minds on the right things.

Can you afford to have people you can’t trust to do the jobs you need done?

You can’t afford not to assess them and figure it out.

Post-Labor Day post (postponed)

I was going to write something on Labor Day but entrepreneurial CEOs work 24/7 so there wasn’t time.  Not even much time to think about how many labor/management problems would disappear with better job-fit.  And management-fit.

Instead I dug out the tombstone from my late father-in-law’s 1960 IPO and brought it to my office, where it now stands as a reminder of the history of a company – and lives – destroyed by equal amounts of greed and entitlement on the parts of both an investment banker and a union leader.

Fast forward almost 50 years and I’m not sure much has changed.

When is Entrepreneurs Day?

Are you in ‘meddle’ management?

Not a typo.  I mean it.  Meddle management is on the rise, if what I overhear on the street is any indication.

It isn’t common behavior among CEOs – I mean, really, who has the time to micromanage people into creative oblivion?  But it’s rampant in the layers below, if I can believe what I heard in line at ye olde caffeine shoppe.

Young man #1 to Young man #2: My manager told me not to use staples but my paper clips are wearing out.  Is there some secret way to fix them?

Young man #2: Are you kidding?

Young man #1: No.  I hate working.

What’s wrong with this picture?  Is it YM#1 who has two problems (unusable paper clips and confusing pleasureable productivity with micromanagement)?  Or YM#2, who doesn’t seem very sympathetic?

Answer: The manager, of course.  Clearly a PWOC.  (Person Without a Clue).

CEOs read this book: The PWAC Manifesto.  And don’t add to the meddle management.

Just say ‘no’ to ‘yes’

There’s a long tradition of having ‘yes-men’ around to do your bidding.  Had two conversations this week from which I’ve learned that (a) ‘yes-men’ are still alive and well and working in huge, successful (at the moment) companies, and (b) CEOs are realizing that, in the long run, they stifle innovation.

Conversation 1 was saddening, though enlightening.  A clearly, painfully diffuse person reporting to a CEO with a definite tendency to be rigid was praised as ‘the best person I ever hired.’  Well, okay, rigid people like diffuse people – they are the original ‘yes-men.’  But you’d think he’d want to use hard data.  Actually, even if he did, I’d be suspicious.  I bet he does enough work to cover Mr. Yes’s backside.  Well, you can’t help everyone.

Conversation 2 was uplifting and enlightening.  A head of state (not in the US) was speaking to the CEO of a vendor and bemoaning his inability to find the right people for key positions.  He wanted integrity, productivity, and obedience.  I laughed with delight as the CEO related this.  These are the words of a Founder/Vision Mover.  This head of state is totally coherent and wants obedience yes – to his Vision, not his whims!  That’s just the basic respect due him.  But they hire by resume so they are probably attracting diffuse ‘yes-men’ who’ve never produced on their own.  Here’s one that can be helped.

Conclusion: ‘Yes-men’ may flatter your ego, but they will obscure your Vision.  Better a nice loud “no” every so often rather than being blind to the promises of the future!

Measuring the Value of a Workforce

A pair of White Papers on valuation of the human infrastructure of organizations are scheduled for publication by SHRM in the coming weeks and as word gets around my C level colleagues are asking me for the quick description of CHI Indicators.  Herewith is the executive summary:

Certain derivatives of an organization or team’s Role-Based Assessments are processed and the result is a set of indicators that measure the coherency  of the human infrastructure and some key ratios that provide for the fuller picture. This is analogous to the CFO’s balance sheet or the PE’s evaluation of a building’s (or city’s) infrastructure. It allows for the immediate identification of the causes of problems – bottlenecks, unwarranted high-risk behaviors, serious operational failures – and it provides the roadmap to fixing them.

Nothing like this has ever existed before.  It will change the way we lead, we manage, we plan, and we work.