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Dropinceo > Blog > 2024 > February

Positivity and Inspiration Marketing; the next big thing!

Which sells better; marketing scare tactics or positivity and inspiration?🤔

Given the toxic nature of society and everyone needs to be cured by a pill or 60 day program, I’m almost immune to these marketing / influence tactics.

Yes, people are more likely to buy if they think they have a problem and someone can solve it for them.

But that’s what everyone is doing and hence, is it really effective anymore?

An advocate and colleague shared how my articles are positive and they really enjoyed it. I so appreciate their thoughts!

Might we go against the status quo and put positivity and an opportunity mindset into the ecosystem?

What a novel idea, yet I’m spammed by marketers day in and day out about their services and how they can help me.

Why not try to inspire me and lift me to realize my fullest potential and maybe your service can guide me along the way?

Such a novel idea, but so many people follow what the gurus say.

Stand out and be different and project opportunity and positivity!

You Might actually be the next big marketing guru!

I’m trying to reach the people I can serve through insights and inspiration!

What will you do differently to have a greater impact today?

Be well and Happy Thursday!

-Deb

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Avalanche Leadership: How to avoid sending your team into a crisis

So many leaders never learn their lesson. They see snow and they send their team out to shovel. They see a blizzard and they give their team more shovels. They see an avalanche and realize they don’t have a crisis plan and see the team get swallowed up by the catastrophe. Once the people dig out, he gives them a shovel to clean up the mess. The lucky ones escape to warmer climates where it doesn’t snow.

Short sighted leadership ultimately causes the crisis because they have not put on their ski goggles to see what the real issue is.

Recently I dropped into a client who had a crisis and we’re solving the issue to get them back on track. They’ve even hired a top talent who will help them evolve their quality systems so they don’t have the same issue again. When they shared they hired this talent, I said I guess I’ll be handing over the reigns shortly. To this, they said “No”, and wanted me to stay for at least 2 more months. They saw the value in setting up a strong foundation and setting the next leader up for success. I’m grateful that they find value in my work and avoid a crisis again.

They could have been short sighted and cut my services and fees right away. However, these leaders knew that in order to avoid another crisis, they needed to assure a smooth transition; giving the new leader all the tools they needed to avoid the avalanche.

Given I’ve seen the pattern over and over and over again that leaders only fix symptoms or wait too long to ask for help, here are my best tips to avoid causing the leadership avalanche:

  • Step back and look at the landscape; if you see the same issues happening over and over again, what are the conditions that exist that enable the same issues to happen? That’s your job to ask those questions and be able to face harsh reality. Sometimes you or your predecessor set up the conditions to exist.
  • Assess if you have the capability or capacity to address the conditions that exist for repeat issues. This takes courage to accept the reality, it might not exist within your environment. Be the leader that asks for help sooner before it’s too late. Be the leader your team needs you to be.
  • If a crisis is looming, the cost of the clean up is far more extensive than the short sighted cost containment of doing nothing. What legacy do you want to leave? If you’re struggling with making the best decision, find someone to talk through the challenge.

For me, I’m excited that recently a few people in and outside my community have found me and reached out to use my services or start with a conversation.

These people see the rough conditions and want to avoid a crisis for which we’ve started to have conversations where I try to impart some immediate value.

If you are seeing the avalanche coming, are you giving your people more shovels or are you going to be the leader who helps them to avoid the avalanche all together? Failure to do anything, you become the Avalanche Leader and leave your legacy that people remember. I don’t want that for you. Let’s talk. If someone you know would benefit from this article, please share it so we can help others.

For more insights, please listen to my podcast airing on 2/23/24 and view the video so you see how I really feel about this topic!.

If you are a CEO who would love a partner to help you with a business challenge, be your #2 or help develop the team of tomorrow, let us partner in 2024.

Be well-Deb

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Leadership Lessons to Prevent a Crisis

Dear Leaders,
 In today’s edition, we’ll be delving into the pressing issue of handling a hiring crisis faced by business leaders. As companies across industries continue to grapple with talent shortages, CEOs and HR professionals are seeking innovative strategies to attract, retain, and develop skilled employees.

Join me as we explore solutions to one of the most pressing concerns facing organizations today.

Be Well,
Deb
The Spark
Ample, a company specializing in EV battery-swapping technology, is facing a crisis of skilled labor shortage at its manufacturing facilities in the Bay Area. As it aims to double its manufacturing workforce, it struggles to find workers trained to handle high-voltage machinery and complex robotics.
The Burn
The skilled labor shortage in manufacturing is a common problem for several reasons. Firstly, advancements in technology have led to an increase in the complexity of machinery and processes, requiring workers with specialized skills and training to operate them effectively. Also, traditional educational pathways may not always align with the specific needs of modern manufacturing, leading to a gap between the skills taught in educational institutions and those demanded by employers.
The Clean Up
To address this issue, Ample is collaborating with local community colleges to establish apprenticeship programs, allowing individuals to gain necessary skills without a traditional college degree. Despite the challenges, the company remains confident that these initiatives will help meet its growth targets and support the expansion of renewable energy goals in the United States.

 CEOs can address the skilled labor shortage in their companies through several strategic approaches:

Investment in Training and Development: Implement comprehensive training programs to upskill existing employees and prepare them for more advanced roles within the company. This can include on-the-job training, workshops, seminars, and tuition reimbursement for further education.

Partnerships with Educational Institutions: Forge partnerships with local community colleges, vocational schools, and technical institutes to develop tailored training programs that align with the specific needs of the company. This can involve sponsoring apprenticeship programs, internships, or co-op opportunities to attract and retain talent.

Promotion of STEM Education: Engage in initiatives to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at the K-12 level to cultivate interest in manufacturing and technical careers from an early age. This can involve supporting STEM-related extracurricular activities, mentorship programs, and educational outreach efforts.

Flexible Hiring Practices: Consider implementing more flexible hiring practices, such as hiring based on aptitude and potential rather than strict educational requirements. This can open up opportunities for individuals with non-traditional backgrounds or career paths to enter the manufacturing workforce.

Embrace Automation and Technology: Embrace automation and technology to augment the workforce and increase productivity. This can involve investing in robotics, artificial intelligence, and other advanced manufacturing technologies to streamline processes and alleviate the burden on human workers.

By implementing these strategies, CEOs can proactively address the skilled labor shortage in their companies and position themselves for long-term success in the manufacturing industry.
Fire Prevention Tools
Here are a few tools I’ve used when facing hiring issues within manufacturing organizations:

Learn from this Crisis and Repeat: The leadership responded properly realizing they own their destiny and investing in building talent as a long term strategy is the right thing to do. However, have they really learned anything? Where else in their organization might their be risks? Regulatory issues? Supply Chain Issues? Socio-economic changes? Where else could they set up a long term strategy to avoid having to react to a crisis? As a business owner myself, I realize my ability to provide services rests heavily on a robust network that I’ve grown from 800-8000 on Linkedin. As my business grows, I can respond to the changing needs of my clients

Resources should be valued as much as Intellectual Property: When a company creates a patten or a new technology, businesses are quick to protect it for longevity of the company. People are our greatest assets, yet we commoditize most of them and focus on a critical few. Why don’t they consider every resource as a valued asset and seek to protect them and be in service. When we take care of our people and capture their knowledge for future employees, we sustain the ups and downs of any labor shortage.
Change the mindset towards resources and make it a strategic imperative to preserve these assets

Focus on the culture and resources will flock to your company: Even more proactive than the strategy set forth to grow talent and pull them into an organization, what about being the employer of choice for which people are knocking on your door to get in. It’s tough trying to push through a labor desert, but if we could create “pull” like in lean methodology, obtaining and retaining talent would not be an issue. Take a look at smaller businesses; first and second generation owners who may bring in talent at lower price points, but people stay. Why is that? I’ve been in many of these organizations and the culture is nothing like anything I’ve seen in the larger companies. If we can get back to what makes a great culture, labor shortages just don’t exist.

Think about it!If you have thoughts on this, I’d love to hear from you and let’s continue the conversation!

For more insights, I propose to take a moment to get a copy of  The CEO’s Compass, where I very specifically speak to crisis management and how to use the Compass to get back on track. If you’re currently facing a crisis, let’s talk!
Want to be a master at navigating a crisis?
Here are just a few ways we can connect:
Connect on Linkedin
Subscribe to YouTube
Be a Podcast Guest
Ask Deb a Question
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Driving Efficiency in Leadership: Adopting Lean Strategies for CEO Success

Lean Initiatives will never work unless you start with a strategy to eliminate wasteful management practices.

Now don’t get scared, I’m not talking about chopping headcount! This is short sighted as a way to get financial gains, yet so many organizations engage in this proactiveness. Lean is about eliminating the waste that was created to serve leaders vs. the value added activities that serve the people that impact your customers.

If I’ve made you feel uncomfortable, I’ve done my job well!

If you’d like to learn more about doing Lean right, read on…

Let’s use a typical production example to explain what I mean.

An operator on the floor can increase their output to improve the workplace organization so a team is deployed to “fix” the symptom.

But why do the conditions exist to create a workplace set up that was not optimal? Was it a legacy set up? Was it set up with certain outcomes in mind?

Did we leave it up to the operator to create their own work standard?

Regardless of the history, the operator was not set up for optimal efficiency hence why we deploy Lean Methodology to “fix” the symptom.

But what are the management practices that allow the conditions of an inefficient workplace to exist for the operator for which we now need to fix him and his workplace?

The reason why this happens is that leadership is more interested in getting the equipment in place with the promise of efficiency and cost savings. They don’t take the time to understand the interactions with the operator..

Had leadership started from a place of how the operator had optimal conditions to leverage the efficiency of the new equipment, might there have been a different result?

Instead, we deploy consultants, hours of training of white, yellow, green and black belts to hurry, scurry and do the work and claim success when we save a few dollars here and there.

I’m not saying I’m anti-Lean, but had we dealt with the management practices at the top when deploying an organizational design, we might have realized the lean efficiency out of the gate?

Lean starts with a leadership strategy at the top:

  • What Management practices need to exist to set the organization up for success?
  • What Conditions exist to management practices that need to be mitigated to eliminate the opportunity for inefficiency?
  • And have we evaluated the Symptoms that exist due to the conditions to assure we identify the possible causes for inefficient performance?

It’s not about throwing more resources to find a solution.

It’s about setting up the right Lean Leadership Strategy so you don’t have to allocate more resources later due to short-sighted decisions.

One client of mine did not have regular leadership meetings to discuss changes in the organization and actions needed to mitigate risk. Then one day, a risk manifested into a crisis and now I have the good fortune to “Drop In” to fix the issue and set up the conditions to mitigate the risk in the future. Had the organization had the Management Practice of a regular leadership cadence, might they have seen the risk and mitigated the condition before the crisis happened?

Given this insight, let’s turn to your situation.

Have you deployed initiatives that fail to gain traction?

Are you now throwing money at bad hoping to get better?

Are you doubting yourself because you didn’t get the results you expected due to a poor execution strategy that should have dealt with management practices?

If this is you or someone you know, could we have a conversation to adopt these insights to your situation and set you up for success?

For the unfiltered, off the cuff discussion about this topic, please listen to my podcast airing on 2/16/24 and view the video so you see how I really feel about this topic!.

If you are a CEO who would love a partner to help you with a business challenge, be your #2 or help develop the team of tomorrow, let us partner in 2024.

Be well-Deb

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Your Marketing is Killing Your Brand and Trust

PSA: Your Marketing Strategy is Not Working!

I am so tired of the transactional based pitches on Linkedin.

Gone are the days of networking from a place of curiosity and seeking to learn how we can help each other.

How many of you are getting the pitch lately of
a) These are MY services
b) You may need MY services
c) Book a call with MY scheduling link

Ugh!!!! I’m so tired of trying to be nice and say no thank you so I’m just going to put it all out there.

Some of these companies have totally missed an opportunity.

Had they started from a place of truly looking to form meaningful relationships… I might have invited their CEO onto my podcast to reach a broader audience!

Had they started from a place of getting to know me…they might have gotten referrals to people they can serve!

Had they started from a place of just saying “Hello”, I might have said “Hello” back and say how can I help you?

But instead, marketing strategies are to mass market and hope 0.5% might say yes.

I’m just saying… anyone that starts from a place of saying “I just want to learn more about what you do, would you be open to connecting”, will more than likely get a “Yes, let’s connect”.

Anyone else out there mad as heck that humanity has fallen to transactional relationships?

Please leave your comments below.

And to those leaders who are using mass marketing for lead gen… please stop because it’s not leaving a good impression about your brand.

If you are truly interested in reaching the people you can serve, do the hard work and start one by one saying “Hello”.

Be well-Deb

#dropinceo#marketingfailures#relationships

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Bridging Generations: Mentorship for Stronger Teams

This past weekend, I was supposed to lead a team to a bonspiel in Detroit  (Barbara – 60ish, Deb 50ish, Julia 40ish, Krista 20-30ish). I’m sad to say, at the last minute I was very sick and had to find a sub for me as the captain (Skip) of the team. Luckily, they found Bethany (20ish) to be the captain. While they did not come away victorious, the picture of them smiling ear to ear was priceless. And so, the team’s age extended from 20’s to 60ish. Curling is a sport for any age to enjoy sportsmanship, the sport and even victory! I am grateful for the practice we had leading up to the event, leveraging their strengths and giving them the confidence, they can do this!  This is the beauty of mentorship and I so love it!

And in another curling story, friend Lauren who I curl with is about 20 years younger than I, helped me to get over my lack of confidence to make tough shots. After calling a challenging shot that I was very uncomfortable with, she came over to me and said “you got this!”. Needless to say, I made the shot and realized her kind words were all I needed. She’s curled fewer years than I, but her words are wise beyond her years and she helped me to find my confidence. .

And then I wonder, why can’t we have this same relationship in business, success through collaboration whether 20 or 60?

Such a shame that we lose sight of wisdom regardless of its source. Phyllis Weiss Haserot who is an expert in Cross Generational relationships and communications will be back on my show in a few weeks to discuss mentorship across the ages. Phyllis is many years wise in this area and years younger than I comparably with her vivacious energy.

Mentorship is ageless.

Gone are the days of thinking it is someone older and wiser than can cascade advice. The best advice can come from someone younger than us or even a peer. The key is are we open to listen and receive the mentorship?

If we lead with a mindset that mentorship can come from anyone regardless of age, cross generationally we can all reap the benefits of being open to receive from anyone who cares to give us sound advice.

And given that insight, might we set up mentorship based on wisdom and perspective vs. assignment based on age?

Might the organization be richer if we look through a different mentorship lens?

And lastly, if you haven’t cultivated a cross generational mentorship program; could it be the best investment in talent retention, development and most importantly, leaving your legacy?

I may not have been able to curl with my early experienced team this weekend, but I know I helped them to achieve their goals: Be safe, have fun and win a few ends. Additionally, Julia came back to me and said she had a great time and cannot wait to go to another bonspiel. Julia’s about 15 years younger than me, but through her words, she encourages me more to help others to build their confidence and take on the world. For her friendship and also her mentorship, I am forever grateful.

And now I turn to you? What is your legacy? Have you cultivated a nurturing environment through mentorship and might I say through a different lens not based on age, but by wisdom?

Do you or do you know someone who is having this challenge?

Would a guide help to navigate these challenges?

For the unfiltered, off the cuff discussion about this topic, please listen to my podcast airing on 2/9/24 and view the video so you see how I really feel about this topic!.

If you are a CEO who would love a partner to help you with a business challenge, be your #2 or help develop the team of tomorrow, let us partner in 2024.

Be well-Deb

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Agile and Lean: A Powerful Duo for Team Resilience

I could drop into a business blindfolded and identify the three barriers to having an Agile & Lean organization. Call me arrogant, but when I see the pattern repeat itself over and over again, I think CEOs need to take note of these blindspots. Too often their organizations are based on a shaky foundation of poor talent management, unclear authority and ineffective barrier removal to unleash potential. This is the invisible waste under any strategy that detracts from your impact and then you wonder why you can’t sleep at night.

Recently I dropped into a manufacturing company where I provided interim quality leadership in support of operations. It was chaotic and I was curious why I was being consulted on every quality issue; decisions that could have been made by the supervisors. I learned the previous leadership for whatever reason needed to be consulted on all rejections and investigations. In the process, I also learned their leadership was not conducive to building confidence in the front line leaders. It was a sad set of circumstances, but I sought to understand what was missing or broken.

Putting aside the leadership issue of the past, I realized my role was to remove the barriers for their decision making and eliminate waste in the process. Most leaders throw resources at a problem or stretch the existing labor until they call off. What I saw was a much different issue rooted in poor agility and a massive amount of waste. Here is what I learned and will now share with you.

Removing the blindspots in these three areas will enable resilient teams to be Agile and Lean:

  • Assess the talent and really see their value. Elevate them in their current role to give them back confidence. Plan to move those where their talent can be amplified. Your job is not to keep people in their places, but to move them up and out. Short sighted views would see this as a risk. However, long term thinking will recognize that you amplify their impact.
  • Establish levels of authority, capability & capacity – Too often we strip people of their decision making authority and the ability to think in a risk averse environment or a culture of micro management. If there is too much waste in back and forth between your line workers and leadership, take a close look at how the authority is assigned and remove non-value added activities. Give the leaders more strategic work vs. being down in the weeds.
  • Ways of working & barrier removal – give your resources a forum where they can escalate issues and solutions early and often. They become part of the solution based culture vs. one that is guided by rigid goal posts for which they could feel helpless to make a difference. As a leader you need to bubble up their challenges and your role is to be in service to make their jobs easier. Gone are the times of being cooped up in your office for hours on end. Your job is to be where the work is being done and do everything to help them.

Does this sound familiar?

Do you or do you know someone who is having this challenge?

Would a guide help to navigate these challenges?

For the unfiltered, off the cuff discussion about this topic, please listen to my podcast airing on 2/2/24 and view the video so you see how I really feel about this topic!.

If you are a CEO who would love a partner to help you with a business challenge, be your #2 or help develop the team of tomorrow, let us partner in 2024.

Be well-Deb

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