4 Ways Leaders Can Stay on top of the Issues
by David Lee
“So if you’re sitting up in your office somewhere, how did the people think you or others would know? When we didn’t know.”
That’s Commissioner Bud Selig speaking at a conference on the state of professional sports hosted by the Wall Street Journal explaining why he and major league baseball owners were ignorant about steroids that altered the competitive balance of the game for more than a decade. While Mr. Selig and others may have been wrong about performance enhancement drugs, he is dead wrong about one thing: “If you stay in your office, you won’t know anything!”
Leaders owe it to organizations to be on top of issues. They do this by being present and available to their people wherever and whenever they are needed. That begins by leaders mastering the issues, not just through briefing books but by getting out into the field and talking to people. Here are four ways to do it.
Study up. Know the issues facing your company. In most
instances this is pretty easy for most senior corporate
leaders because they are huddled in meetings or are drowned
in briefing books. Their challenge then becomes one of
sifting through the “tsunami” of information and putting it
into an intelligible construct that will enable them to
frame issues, ask questions, and make decisions.
Listen up. Once you know the background, clarity will come
from visiting with key stakeholders, including customers and
employees. Customers will tell you in an instant how well,
even better how poorly, your product or service is
performing for them. Employees too, when granted permission,
will talk about what they see and hear. And if they feel
safe they may even venture a few suggestions.
Inspect up. Here’s a technique that Franklin Roosevelt used. As an assistant secretary of the Navy in the Wilson administration, he personally inspected ships and shipbuilding facilities. He loved it. For managers, it may mean visiting factory floors and personally using products that your company produces.
Follow Up. There is no use doing your homework if you will not hold people accountable. Winston Churchill, as Prime Minister, was a master at following up on details, getting answers from aides, civil servants, and generals to questions he had asked them previously. It is important to act on that information to make certain people follow through on initiatives to which they have committed.
“A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world,” wrote novelist John Le Carre. It is important to make the effort to know your people and their issues so that you are aware of what is going on. You cannot know everything, but a leader must know much about important things all of the time." - John Baldoni
Remember that "Success is not a destination, it's a journey." Zig
Enjoy your journey, this week. David
