Tag Archives: Entrepreneur

Leveraging Our Network: Referrals

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

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Referring someone for a position is an opportunity to assist not only them, but another member of our network who’s looking for a person with that specific set of skills, talents, and knowledge.

It goes without saying, however, that referring someone or a company when we have reservations about their ability to succeed can not only contribute to their failure, but can reflect poorly on the person who gave them a chance, and damage our credibility.  The good news is, when we’re called by a colleague and asked the proverbial, “Do we know anyone who is looking for a …”, if no one immediately comes to mind we can usually honestly say we don’t.

When we’re seeking a referral, we have a better chance of getting the one we want if we carefully define why we’re seeking the referral, what we have to offer, what company needs that product or service, and who in that company can make the decision.

For example, we read in our local business journal that Smith’s Engines just won the contract to design and manufacture engines as a sub-contractor on a multi-billion dollar defense contract.  Our company is in the business of providing aerospace design engineers and has had success augmenting the staff of several other defense contractors.  We believe the person who can either make or influence the decision is the Vice President of Engineering.

We could certainly figure out who that individual is and place a cold call … but so could every other engineering firm in our space.  Instead, we check through the simple database we keep of the more than 500 members of our network to determine who knows the Vice President of Engineering at Smith’s Engines and ask our colleague for his advice on the best way to get in front of him and for his referral.

Recently I was leading a consulting engagement and two members from another team became available.  Their project lead called me and asked if I could find a place for them for a few weeks while she worked on securing another opportunity.  She wanted to be certain the two of them would be available for additional work if she was successful.  We chatted for a few minutes about each of their capabilities and figured out how they could temporarily contribute to my engagement.

They turned out to be two powerhouses who came in and after ten minutes of introduction got right to work.  Because of those two capable people we were able to exceed my clients’ expectations.

That other project lead put her reputation on the line when she referred two members of her team.  Her willingness to do so; however, said it all.  In an industry where we’re all independent practitioners, referrals are risky because while one bad referral won’t end your career, it can cost you the good will of someone who would have brought you work down the line.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

The Executive’s Network: Building our Peer Group from Previous Organizations or Affiliations

14 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Executive Toolbox, Networking, Setting Yourself Up for Success

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Peers with whom we’ve previously worked, attended school, or worked toward a common purpose can be valuable members of our network.  Our shared history provides a common ground and a known resource for information, references, and referrals.

Since we’re no longer in the same organization, and in some cases, not even in the same geographical location, finding a method for keeping in touch that benefits both parties can be a challenge.

Social media, EMAIL, and messaging have largely replaced telephone calls and the U.S. Mail as the channels for staying in touch.  However, the investment in time required can be significant and often, impersonal.

The good news is, believe it or not, most of us have this issue in common – we really don’t have the mindshare and focus to support a huge network.  We can, however, support people in our networks on an individual basis when we have the opportunity or wherewithal to promote their corporate image.

Consciously looking for opportunities to endorse, introduce, reference or refer a member of your network is a surefire method of maintaining long-term relationships with our peers.  Even when someone doesn’t reciprocate it keeps the line of communication open between the two of you.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

The Executives Network

21 Tuesday Feb 2017

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In the book still often credited as being responsible for creating more millionaires than any other, Think and Grow Rich, originally published in 1937, Napoleon Hill advises readers to assemble a group of masterminds.  He defines the purpose of this group as, “Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for attainment of a purpose.”

Building that network is a lifelong undertaking, yet for most of us, the only time we have energy or make time to invest in building our network is when we’re looking for our next job or client.

Even with the availability of social media, making the time to keep up with people we’ve worked with can be a challenge, particularly when there aren’t enough hours in the day as it is.   I know I’m not alone in admitting that when I’m fully engaged with my work I have little mindshare left to invest in keeping up with my previous clients and colleagues.

However, networking is like exercise … an investment in our future selves.  The more we stay connected to the people with whom we worked, learned from, and with whom we share a common set of experiences, the better we get at what we do.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in 2017.

Focusing Our “Grow the Business” Initiatives: Portfolio Management

04 Tuesday Oct 2016

Posted by in Executive Toolbox, Increasing Your Revenue, Learnings from the Management Consultant, Leveraging Fortune 500 Business Practices

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Last week we talked about Governance as the first tool to use to align our “Grow the Business Initiatives”.

The second tool for optimizing our business is a Portfolio Management Process.  Our portfolio of projects can be thought of just as we think of our financial portfolio.  Part of our portfolio is an investment in our future, part is insurance against potential unfortunate events, and part is necessary to cover our day to day needs or “just to keep the lights on”.

There are two steps to setting up a Portfolio Management Process:  A Process and Method for Ranking Projects and a Resource Rationalization Process.  Let’s explore each in more detail.

  1. A Process and Method for Ranking Projects

A set of criteria every project can be measured and ranked against should be developed and agreed upon by the Governance Team.  Typical criteria for ranking include whether a project:

  • Increases Revenue or Margin
  • Improves Customer Satisfaction
  • Improves Safety
  • Improves Quality
  • Improves Manufacturability
  • Improves Productivity
  • Reduces Risk
  • Reduces Overhead
  • Addresses Obsolescence

All of the active projects in the company should be ranked against the weighted set of criteria and a prioritized list should be developed as the starting point of the organization’s Project Portfolio.  

2.  Resource Rationalization Process 

Resource rationalization is a process that allows us to determine what percentage of time our employees are spending in their “run the business activities” and who has available time to help us to pursue “grow the business opportunities.”

At many companies there are systems in place for employees to enter how they’ve spent their time.  It goes without saying that most employees will account for the amount of time they spend at work with no slack time.  For these systems to account for that behavior we should insure that both routine activities and projects can be selected when employees are reporting their time   This approach, over time, provides us with a picture of how much “grow the business time” is really available. because when a project is completed we can readily determine the average amount of time each member of the project team was allocating to that project and make the assumption the same amount of time is now available to work on another next project.

Of course, availability isn’t the only criteria that must be considered when allocating individual resources to a project.  The functional skillset and the level of expertise should also be considered.  Many organizations use project management software that allows them to build and manage their resource pool so they can determine if and when resources will be available.

If no such system is in place but there’s an automated payroll system, that’s a good place to extract the names of the employees, often by department and skillset, then work with the leadership of each department to determine who’s spending what percent of their time on what project.

If we’re doing this exercise for the first time it’s not unusual to find there are hundreds, if not thousands, of hours every week being expended on dozens of projects that have little visibility at the executive level.  More often than not, this is an indicator of a healthy organizational culture with committed employees who are working to grow the business.

Communicating to our organizations that our intent is to harness and focus that energy so the organization can support those projects that are most important is essential to avoid demoralizing those who have shown initiative.

When we have to put a worthy project on hold because there aren’t resources with the required skill set available to complete the project, we need to communicate, particularly to the people who have invested time and energy in that  project, that the project is still in the approved  portfolio awaiting resources.

When enough resources of the correct skillset are not allocated to each active project, it creates resource churn.  We’ve all been in the position where we had multiple projects or activities to complete.  The time it takes to move from one activity to the next and remind ourselves where we left off is unproductive time.  The more projects or activities we try to work on the higher the amount of unproductive time.

This is where the Governance Team begins to make their real impact.  Suspending projects that are  not resourced, based on the priority set by the team, increases the velocity of the active projects, providing a higher level of predictability of when those projects will be complete.

Increasing Our Personal Productivity

29 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by in Executive Toolbox, Learnings from the Management Consultant, Setting Yourself Up for Success

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We’ve all had days when, at the end of the day, we’re driving home with the feeling we’ve accomplished absolutely nothing.   Seize that moment!  That moment of dissatisfaction can serve as the motivation we need to make the changes necessary to increase our personal productivity.

When a team of management consultants works with a company one of the tools they use is “Day in the Life Of” (DILO) studies.  These studies are conducted with managers to determine what percent of their time is spent in value added versus non value added activities and are conducted with enough management team members to reflect what’s going on in the company.

When I conducted my first set of studies I was shocked to find an average of only 24% of my client’s time was spent productively.  However, after conducting and reviewing hundreds of these studies for dozens of companies it was apparent that, in aggregate, the management of most companies spends less than half their time productively.

Having said that, in almost every company I discovered there are people who spent their time more productively than the average, some of them dramatically.

As a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, I set out to determine what tools and practices these people have in common and have found some commonality:

  1. They have a method for optimizing what they accomplish that works for them.  Their method might be one they personally developed or one of the recognized methods such as The Eisenhower Method, The Pomodora Technique, or Segment Management.
  2. They spend less than 100% of their workday “running” the business in order to carve out time to grow the business and make operational improvements.
  3.  They have an effective method of managing meetings, both those they chair and those they attend.
  4. They have a decision making model that provides a framework for how they make decision.

Over the next few weeks this blog will explore each of these so when we have that moment of dissatisfaction we can leverage these tools to increase our personal productivity.

Leah Ward-Lee is a management consultant and business writer based in Dallas, Texas and the author of $1,000 Start-Ups.  Her next book, The Executive’s Toolbox, will be released in early 2017.

The Executive Toolbox: Executive Presence

11 Monday Jul 2016

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Executive presence is that certain something that causes other people to recognize an executive as a leader.

It provides the confidence that an individual will be able to perform as an executive. Without it, even extremely competent people can be overlooked for leadership positions.

One example that comes to mind is a client I recently coached. This woman had been with a company since its inception – more than twenty years. She had advanced to a certain level and stopped. Although she was widely respected for her ability to “get things done” and was often called upon to “do the impossible” when a project was in trouble, she was devastated to find she had not been selected for a new executive position.

The day she learned she’d not been selected she came to see me.  I have rarely seen someone so devastated.   She was at a loss to understand why, after all her contributions and hard work, she wasn’t selected. I had been working with the organization for some time, been privy to the selection process, and had worked with her on several initiatives.

We had a quiet conversation that day about her presence and the need for her to develop an executive presence. To her credit, she approached her new boss and asked for support in that area.

Conversely, extremely competent people who have demonstrated their loyalty and commitment to an organization, but don’t exhibit executive presence, yet are selected for executive positions can put an organization at risk if they’re selected for positions where they lead others.

This is often an issue in organizations who have complex technical products or services. Executives in that type of organization rise through the ranks based upon their technical contributions but, when promoted to a leadership position, can fail because they lack the necessary executive presence required of the position. Wisely, some organizations resolve this by promoting these individuals to higher level technical staff, versus line positions.

Executive presence can and should be developed; however, few organizations today make the investment in their employees. Regardless of the level of executive presence you currently possess you can; however, improve your own executive presence by first understanding the components and then developing and executing a program of growth.

In Jane Goudreau’s, October 29, 2012 article for Forbes magazine, she defines the three traits necessary for executive presence as: Gravitas, Communications, and Appearance.

Put simply, gravitas is the manner in which you conduct and present yourself, based upon who you are as a person, and as a leader. Too often executives confuse gravitas with hubris or bravado, both of which will eventually produce negative results, either professionally or personally.

Gravitas is not developed overnight – at least for most of us. It’s best learned by examining your current conduct and style and deciding to develop that part of who you are. For some it helps to have a model or balance set of standards to work toward.

The second component of executive presence is communication. An executive’s ability to write, speak and present his ideas and information clearly will either propel him through the executive ranks or stop his career progression.

Additionally his ability to understand the audience for each piece of communication and tailor the approach and message appropriately is key.

Finally his ability to listen to others, get to the crux of what they’re trying to communicate and comprehend is an important skill.

The third component of executive presence, appearance and its importance to career progression, is often under estimated to the detriment of many executives’ careers, which is regrettable as it is the easiest of the three to master.

Basic grooming is expected of an executive in most companies, and can be the topic of break room chatter when an executive violates basic grooming standards.

An executive’s wardrobe doesn’t have to include $800 suits; however, clothes that are clean, appropriate for the work environment, well fitted, and not dated are expected.

One of the most important elements of an executive’s appearance is the one least talked about – presentation. The manner in which you walk into a room, the banter in which you engage, your overall attitude toward you colleagues and subordinates overrides anything else that you do.

Presentation includes your behavior. More than one executive has missed out on an opportunity or lost a job due to their behavior. Even small infractions many executives consider “executive privilege” such as being late, breaking appointments, or participating in office gossip, can reflect on an individual’s characters and be seen as an absence of executive presence.

As an executive you are always a role-model. Everyone you come in contact with judges your company by you.  As an executive and business owner I, for one, need to remind myself of that every day before I walk out the door.

The Executive Toolbox: Capable and Committed Team Members

27 Monday Jun 2016

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A team that is capable is able to achieve what they need to do efficiently. A team that is committed is dedicated to achieving the team’s goals.

To be successful, a team, and each member of the team, has to be both. Very often, as a consultant, I’ve worked with clients to make the distinction between capable and committed to enable them to determine the best approach to use with a team member who isn’t performing at an acceptable level.

Using the simple:

CAN DO (Capable)/CAN’T DO (Not Capable)

WILL DO (Committed)/WON’T DO (Not Committed)

model I ask the client to assess if the person CAN DO their job, meaning does he currently have the skills and knowledge that allows him to do is job efficiently. If he CAN’T DO the job, is it a situation where even with additional experience or training he would still be unable to perform at an acceptable level? If he CAN’T DO the job because he’s inexperienced or hasn’t had needed training, does the organization have the ability and capacity to assist him in gaining the needed experience or training or are both better served by replacing that employee?

If an employee WILL DO the job he’s been hired to do he’s made the commitment both to himself and to the organization. If an employee WON’T DO the job he’s been hired to do, it’s essential to understand why, particularly if this is due to a change in his performance.

Regardless of the employee’s role in the organization, the person who can most effectively influence an employee’s performance is his boss – regardless if his direct boss is a first line supervisor or the CEO.

I’ve often heard it said, “People don’t work for companies, people work for people.”   Insuring manager’s at all levels encourage and reward employees who CAN DO (are capable) and WILL DO (are committed) their jobs and address issues when employees CAN’T DO (are not capable) or WON’T DO (are not willing) is essential.

Most of us have worked in at least one organization or for a boss who either spent all her time addressing the issues of those who were not capable nor committed and spent little energy on the employees who were both, or, ignored the issues of the non-performers and non-committed, and moved their work to those who were capable and committed.

Leveraging that experience to understand the importance of addressing those issues consistently and fairly so we can retain those who are capable and competent is an important tool for your Executive Toolbox.

The Executive Toolbox: Building Team Accountability

21 Tuesday Jun 2016

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Successful teams take accountability for the results they achieve, both as a team and individually. This doesn’t happen accidently. The ability to build accountability with your team and each member of the team is a skill an executive needs to master in order to be successful.

Executives often find it difficult to hold their teams accountable, yet most senior executives and business owners I’ve worked with have no problem accepting accountability for the business results of their organization and, when asked, will candidly admit they expect to be fired, or lose their business, if they don’t meet the business goals.

In examining why executives are reticent about holding their teams and individuals accountable I’ve found executives often don’t feel confident they set the team up to succeed. In order to build that confidence there are some key components that, when put in place, help a team to succeed:

  1. The Goal: A SMART goal that is sustainable, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based.
  2. Alignment around the Goal and Commitment to its Achievement:  It’s essential that the team be aligned about what they’re trying to achieve and committed to its achievement.
  3. The Plan: The plan needs to include what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and who needs to do it.
  4. Assignment of Accountability: The team needs to agree who is accountable for each component of the plan.
  5. Metrics: There needs to be a core set of metrics or measures in place that show progress against the plan.
  6. The Review Process: There needs to be a process in place to review the progress against the plan so course corrections can be made.
  7. Course Corrections: The wisdom and willingness to make timely mid-course corrections.

With these elements in place much of the ambiguity that can cause problems is removed and the team has a higher probability of success.

The Executive Toolbox: Building Trust

13 Monday Jun 2016

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In his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni puts trust as the foundation for building a strong team. However, in today’s corporate environment executives I’ve worked with often feel there’s no one they can really trust.

Although sometimes this is warranted, building a team who you can trust and who trusts each other is an executive skill that can be learned and honed over the course of a career.

It would be wonderful if when taking on a leadership role you could give a little introductory speech to your team and proclaim, “This is a team that trusts each other,” but it doesn’t work that way. No team can learn to trust their leader or each other by proclamation. It’s a choice each team member must make, but it’s the job of the leader to set the example and initiate the process.

It’s even harder to build trust with a team who has been working together, has a low level of trust and isn’t consistently performing at the needed level.

It’s important to recognize that as an executive or business owner you affect the team dynamic by how you interact with your team and with each member of the team.  Changing the way you interact will change the dynamic.

One method that can be effective is to set 30 minutes aside for three consecutive days to do this exercise:

Day 1: Make a list of your previous bosses and rank them highest to lowest by how much you trusted them. What were the personal attributes of the leaders you ranked highest? How did those you rank highest interact with their team? With each team member? With you?

From this analysis write out your personal definition of the attributes you admire in leaders.  

Day 2: Complete a personal assessment. What are the personal attributes you have and exhibit that will cause your team members to trust you? What attributes do you need to develop or exhibit? How do you interact with your team? How do you want to interact with your team? How do you interact with each team member? How do you want to interact with each team member?

From this assessment write out a statement of what attributes and behaviors you want to further develop and exhibit.

Day 3: What one change can you decide to make in your behavior or interaction with each of your team members? By picking one change to make, acting upon it you, then sticking with it, you’re planting the seeds that will grow into trust.

Write out the change you are committing to. You don’t need to tell anyone what change you’re making or why unless you choose to. Some of the most profound changes I’ve made or seen others make were made based upon a personal decision and commitment. Often those are the most powerful, particularly when it comes to building trust.

The Executive Toolbox: Building Effective Teams

06 Monday Jun 2016

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Business owners and executives who enjoy long term success don’t necessarily need to be adept at team building but it’s certainly easier to be successful if you’re not going it alone.

A team is a group of people who have a shared goal or goals. Those goals may be as simple as working together to run a successful business so the team can all continue to be employed or more complex such as discovering the cure for the Zika virus.

When asked to describe the attributes of an effective team, one of the firsts attributes I always list is trust. If a team doesn’t trust each other they spend energy and cycles making certain that each other is holding up their end of a commitment. Conversely, ineffective teams actively seeking to prove who isn’t.

Another attribute is accountability. Every member of the team has to be accountable for meeting their commitment to the team and the team has to be accountable, as a whole, for meeting their commitments.

Additionally, the team must be capable and competent. Without the necessary knowledge and skill to get the job done – whatever it is – success can be elusive.

Finally, the team must communicate openly and honestly.

Those four attributes aren’t all it takes to be a successful team, but they’re certainly a good place to start.

This week let’s challenge ourselves to find one way to:

  1. Earn trust and to recognize when someone does something to increase our trust in them.
  2. Demonstrate that we’re accountable and recognize when someone succeeds in holding himself accountable.
  3. Increase our knowledge or skill of a topic and recognize when someone is working to increase his knowledge or skill.
  4. Communicate openly and honestly and recognize someone for his open and honest communications.