Don’t Be Dull

As a leader are you sharp or dull?

Return on Leadership – Quantum Leaps for Leaders

How do you get the best return on your leadership? Do you spend your time with your top performers or your “B” players? What kind of increase can you bring about?

To Plan or Not to Plan, that is the Question

By Carl Moellering

When asked about planning, the famed comedian Will Rogers said, “Planning is critical… cause you gotta remember to always drink upstream from the herd.”

I think all of us would ascribe to the Will Rogers thoughts about planning. The urge to plan comes after we’ve tasted the water ” below the herd” and decided is not what we want. Suddenly, planning takes on a new urgency.

I remember the first strategic planning exercise that I attempted when I owned a construction company. We hired a well-known Chicago firm and they came in and developed pages and pages of useless material in big binders. The fee they charged was astronomical. The binders stayed on the shelf gathering dust.

I decided there had to be a more effective way to strategic planning. For me, it started with understanding the purpose of developing the strategic plan.

Simply stated, it is simply good business practice. The purpose is to be able to develop the best overall course for the organization and proactively determine how we can best utilize and maximize our resources.

Next, it is vitally important to remember that this is a continuous process. Not only is it a continuing process, but it is a learning process for the entire organization. The business plan and the budget must be derivatives of the strategic plan.

In short, a good strategic plan answers these questions:
• What are the results needed to accomplish and follow our vision?
• What products and services do we offer to meet these results?
• What products and services should we be offering in the future?
• How can we best maximize our resources?

The outcome should be a handful of strategies that the business can undertake over the next one to three years.

The benefits are that the business will become more on to the oriented and the team of more focused. The process itself builds team spirit and morale. A good facilitated process should encourage stretch among the people and consensus among the team.

Our facilitated process is designed be very interactive, focused on results, and produces useable strategies that can position your organization for the future. It is your way to “drink upstream from the herd.”

Right Talent to Reach The Next Level

By Tom Mollering, VP & Executive Coach
In today’s economy, every business executive, owner, CEO and president should be asking themselves one important question: “Does my company have the talent to take this business to the next level?”

If the answer is no, you probably want to begin looking for people with the right talent, but if the answer is yes, then employee retention should be at the top of your list. With employee retention statistics that prove your best employees may be sitting on your payroll while patiently waiting for the “right” job, you need to be sure that you are managing employee retention with specific individuals in mind and long-term goals in place. After all, 55% of job seekers are currently employed. These employed job seekers may be comprised of your most talented employees.

Employees Are Not All Alike
As a good leader you know the strengths and weaknesses of your employees, but do you know what motivates them? In employee retention studies, it has been found that money is NOT the reason most employees leave a job, which seems contrary to popular belief. In a recent study of over 19,000 job seekers, only 19% said money was the reason they were looking for a new position. Instead, more popular reasons included stress, mismanagement, lack of room for advancement and lack of employee development.

In order to effectively manage employee retention, it is important to determine the core values of each individual. What drives them to take action? What keeps them engaged and motivated? What needs do they have that should be fulfilled on the job?

Employee Retention Must Fit Your Corporate Goals
Developing an employee retention strategy that is specific to each individual must start with an in-depth look at your company’s long-term goals and what it needs for success. It may be helpful to answer the following questions:
• What is the next level?
• What skills do we need to get there?
• Who has those skills and what skills are missing in the company?
While it is not an easy task, it is an important step in the process of creating an employee retention strategy that will help you meet your long-term goals. Perhaps you will find that job roles should be re-organized, skills of certain employees are better utilized in another way, or certain employees are key to future success. Once you have determined how your workforce needs to adapt to meet company goals, you can implement an employee retention strategy that ensures your best talent is there to help you reach the top.

Over Managed – Under Led

So few leaders even realize how much time they spend managing and fire fighting rather than leading. “Control” is an interesting leadership issue. Find out about power under control in this edition of Quantum Leaps for Leaders…