Seven Critical Leadership Questions for 2009

Planning:

1. How many leaders have experience running lean and profitable operations in tough economic times?

a. What motivates them to perform at their best?
b. What support do they want from senior management and HR?
c. Do they want a coach to help them achieve demanding goals?

2. Consider the leaders with less experience managing in tough economic times. Do they have the skills required to inspire change and create accountability. Some areas to consider include:

a. Conflict resolution, especially about how to manage limited resources
b. Confronting poor performance and gaining agreement on a plan for improvement
c. The 5 leadership practices identified in ‘The Leadership Challenge’1:
    i. Inspiring a Shared Vision
    ii. Enabling Others to Act
    iii. Modeling the Way
    iv. Challenging the Process
    v. Encouraging the Heart

3. Evaluate your performance management system:

a. How often are goals reviewed? Is this adequate to ensure that everyone is on track?
b. How confident are executives to provide effective performance reviews for employees?
c. How often does the company identify top performers and under achievers?
    i. What opportunities are there for top performers?
    ii. How long are underachievers retained?

Communication:

4. Who are the leaders that influence the majority of employees’ performance? Consider the three types of people identified in the book ‘The Tipping Point’2

a. Salespeople: charismatic leaders who communicate the company’s plan;
b. Mavens: experts who make people more confident that a plan will work because the details have been carefully analyzed; and
c. Connectors: leaders whose teams interact with the majority of employees and coordinate work among business units

Action:

5. What is your company’s “bottleneck” 3? Consider the people whose project turnaround time most affects other employees’ productivity and the company’s rate of generating income.

a. Calculate how faster project turnaround time at the “bottleneck” impacts the profitability of the entire company.
b. How can leaders improve their teams’ efficiency when using resources from the company’s “bottleneck”?

6. What support and feedback will managers receive as they implement cost cutting initiatives?

7. How will achieving goals be recognized?

By taking action to support your leadership now, you can utilize necessary resources, and prepare for any changes your organization may face in the 2009.

References:

1James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner, Tom Peters. The Leadership Challenge: How to Keep Getting Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations. ISBN-10: 0787902691 Jossey-Bass, 1996 (1st edition).
2Malcolm Gladwell. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. ISBN 0-316-34662-2 Little Brown, 2000.
3Eliyahu M. Goldratt, and Jeff Cox. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. ISBN 0-88427-061-0 North River Press, Great Barrington, MA.
 

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