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How to Prevent a Crisis with 7 Principles of the CEO’s Compass

June 15, 2022

According to Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) 2021 Global Crisis Survey, 62% of businesses used their crisis plan in response to the pandemic and 95% of the businesses reported their crisis management plans needed to be improved. Is Crisis Management a compliance activity neatly tucked in the corner until you need it or an integrated conversation into our daily / weekly / monthly operational conversations? Based on that 95% statistic, I think it’s time to wake up leadership to the harsh reality that their job is not done until they apply the 7 Principles of The CEO’s Compass.

When I’ve dropped into Crisis events over the last 20 years, I have found a common theme amongst leaders. They have a false sense of calm because they can check the box on their compliance activities. They’re getting results (most of the time) and their team is loyal (or perhaps complacent). This calm before the storm is common and those that don’t respond quickly to a changing landscape (loss of a leader, changing customer requirements, changing customer perception), they find themselves moving down the Crisis Scale from being in Control, down to Chaos and finally Crisis. When I’m finally called into bring things back into Control and move them up the scale to Continuous Improvement and further into a Competitive Advantage, The CEO’s Compass provides you the direction of where you’re off track and how to make course corrections:

Framework of The CEO’s Compass to Navigate to Peace of Mind

Purpose – test the landscape and ask if people understand the purpose of the company in the context of their job function. This is an indicator that cascaded communications are effective
Performance – no longer the lagging indicator of results (quality, service, safety, sales), but leading indicators of closing the capacity, capability & confidence gaps of your team to meet the purpose of the company.
Past – if you or your direct leadership team cannot articulate the deep culture that each individual brings to the table, go find out now. In doing so, you pay respect to the individual and their unique qualities that made them special and the right to be part of the organization
Pride – building on understanding one’s past and their culture, you need to go the extra mile and understand their unique gifts and intellectual property they have. Whether you use them or not, by asking the question, you pay respect to the individual, they tend to be more loyal and you never know when you may need to leverage those gifts. Leaders that skip Past & Pride simply have a transactional workforce and they leave their minds & hearts at the door to your business.
People – developing the mindset & skills of your people fall on you to remove any barriers to enable them to reach their full potential. Ensure you have a robust program that starts with strategic investment in your people through 1-2-1’s and capability development.
Process – the dynamic between individuals and functional groups is as important as people development. Without coaching team dynamics and leveraging each other’s skills, you will fall victim to wasted time and lost revenue due to process inefficiencies.
Platform – a leader who has an evolving team and moving towards high performance needs to provide them with tools to assure they can maintain high performance. Often tools that enable good decision logic, prioritization and accountability are critical when your people are taking on more work and need to increase their efficiency & effectiveness else they’ll burnout. 77% of people surveyed in a Deloitte survey say they’ve experienced burnout.

I can assure you that most leaders are off track on 2-3 of these guiding principles to prevent a crisis. There is nothing in here about a crisis, communication or risk mitigation plan as typically developed by your Crisis Management Officer. If you’ve not shored up the compass, you become the 95% statistic of the company not being prepared and needing to make improvements. For the team that is navigating towards Peace of Mind, the 8th compass point, the Crisis is the opportunity for which their fullest potential will be realized.

If this insight was helpful, share this article with others. If you have a unique challenge and wish to have a complementary conversation, please reach out to me. I love helping C-Suite leaders of today and tomorrow reach their career goals.

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Is Your Team Loyal or Complacent?

June 10, 2022

The worst thing that can happen to a leader is to have a complacent workforce. You may be getting your results and the team is perceived as loyal and dependable. However, underneath the tip of the iceberg is a crisis brewing. The crisis becomes the inability for you as a leader to navigate, should anyone leave the organization or possibly become obsolete because your team simply doesn’t care to grow. You’re lulled into a sense of calm when in actuality you’re doing a disservice to the people in your care and the organization you lead. For my audience that may not be a leader of others, the content in this article can be valuable tips for you to take action before you become obsolete.

Planning for a crisis instills a sense of urgency and a risk mitigating mindset. When it comes to a complacent workforce, it is a crisis in the making. It is a matter of time before the planets line up and you have challenges in achieving your results.

Let me refresh you on the Crisis Scale so you understand my reference:

5 – Crisis: You’re losing customers, resources, competitive advantage
4- Chaos: You’re not losing customers yet, but you’re in fire fighting mode and trying to survive another day.
3- Control: You have everything in order and achieve your results.
2- Continuous Improvement: You continually seek new ways of performing
1- Competitive Advantage: Your customers are asking you to share your best practices.

Framework to ensure your team is loyal vs. complacent:

Challenge them with Breadth or Depth – For the subject matter expert, give them a project in a new area for which they have less expertise. For the generalist who knows a lot in many areas, give them a project where they need to increase their knowledge & impact in a specific area.
Push them out of the nest – Make it part of their development plan that they need to move to a new role every 1-2 years. It forces them to prepare for the change and capture their tribal knowledge to share with the next person. It also builds new skills in anticipating change.
Create a sense of urgency – Start the dialog to let them know they’ll need to grow in breadth and depth and ask them to come with suggestions on where and how they’ll do that. It creates more value for the organization and it makes them more valuable. Without creative input brought to the conversation can be a condition of employment and a good review.
Where a career ladder is not established suggest alternatives – If someone is at the top of their career position (i.e Director of procurement), suggest areas where they can work in different areas of the business that are downstream. This may include working in Operations or Quality where the output of their current role in procurement has an impact on those other functions for which they can add value as well as learn.
Help them discover opportunities before they experience a crisis – This is especially important to the less senior employee who has a thirst for knowledge. Often they leave the company because they become bored. However, if you create an “apprenticeship” model for which they rotate every 6 months, you keep them interested and engaged.

The impact of this framework is creating a workforce that is loyal to you or the company because you simply cared. You cared about them as a person to seek additional value from them and invested in their learning. They become loyal to you and will bring their “A” game to the challenges and even more important, you will leave a legacy in the minds of people in your care. After all, the loyal connections we make are far more important than simply the results of a complacent workforce.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service and then get you to this week’s insights:

The Five Steps for a Successful Crisis

June 5, 2022

Want to skip to the how-to? Find my framework here: https://bit.ly/3m5yFNu

In response to a potential recall, the response team assembled waiting for the results of our investigation. The inventory team was able to account for every location of the product both in-house and at customer sites. The customer service and sales leads were ready to advise customers of a potential disruption and course of action to mitigate the supply. While I hate to admit it, I was grateful for legal counsel and corporate communications ready to advise next steps in managing stakeholders and industry perception. When the meeting was done, I was able to confirm all systems functioned as expected and we successfully completed our mock recall. This wasn’t a real situation, but it could have been.

While no one wants to live through a crisis; whether product related, natural disasters or a cyber security threat, knowing you can successfully survive a crisis can afford a leader peace of mind. The key question you should ask yourself is, do you know all your systems work as expected?

As a senior leader if you are reading this, have you given all your people the tools needed to be successful in managing a crisis? If you’re an expert within an organization, have you ever tested everything to be sure it works vs. checking the box and saying everything is in place? What is written down on paper and neatly tucked away vs. reality in action are two different things.

I never want anyone to have to go through a crisis, but for some it is a testament to good planning and testing your systems. For others, it may be their demise for which they ask the question, “How could this have happened?” I want you to be prepared and give you something to think about how to be successful in managing a crisis.

Framework for a Successful Crisis

Prepare your People for a Crisis – this is far more than simply a fire drill or annual training. Leaders need to integrate conversations about crisis and risk management in everyday conversations. Ask yourself if you are comfortable speaking about it, ask your people what then need to be successful and ask an expert to get the additional insight you need to assure your systems are designed well.
Planning for a Crisis – once you’ve curated all the expertise and documented the systems to manage a crisis, again ask your people if they understand their role in response to a crisis. This goes far beyond the annual on line training needed for compliance and checking the box. I’m talking about true conversations with people to confirm understanding and their important role in supporting crisis management.
Pressure Test the Crisis – the schools see the value of preparing children to respond to emergencies, but other than a fire drill at work, I don’t see many companies testing their systems. In the world of flavors & food manufacturing we regularly conduct “mock recalls” to test our ability to manage a crisis to mitigate any harm to humans. At your next leadership meeting, ask your team what systems need to be pressure tested to give you peace of mind the team is prepared?
Post mortem the Crisis – after the event is complete whether real or simply a pressure test, always evaluate what worked and what did not. Be sure to give thanks to those that engaged and how they performed. When things didn’t go as expected, seek the opportunities that can better prepare the team. No one likes a crisis and there is often emotional damage in response to such an event. Leaders need to not only take the situation seriously, but the people dimension is critical to get through the current crisis and future events.
Performance Improvement to close gaps in the Crisis – this is where a lot of companies simply move on to business as usual and lack the structure to keep gap closure top of mind. This is as critical as your top line growth initiatives. Failure to close gaps in your crisis management system will be your next gravely expensive line item on your P&L; negating all the work you did for top line growth.

For those who have a keen eye for how I structured this framework, I leveraged the continuous improvement methodology of PDCA (Plan, Do, Check and Act). Whether you’re a Senior executive or a specialist on the front line, PDCA is a sound method for ensuring systems perform as expected. If you’d like to learn more about preparing your team for a crisis or learning more about the PDCA framework for continuous improvement, let’s schedule a call to see how I can partner with you.

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service. Click if you’re thinking any of the following:

What Peanut Butter Can Teach Your About Your Business

May 26, 2022

Your time is valuable, so I wanted to share a few quick links so I can be of service. Click the link if you’re thinking the following:

What Peanut Butter Can Teach Your About Your Business

I gasped as I read the news about a peanut butter recall and I thought to myself: “Thank goodness that’s not me.” In a past life, I was faced with such a crisis for which we mitigated a significant event, but I never wanted to go through that again. Yet, some senior leaders are aware there are inherent risks in their business, but de-prioritize work to avoid such an issue because they think “That will never happen to us”… and then the unexpected happens. Let me remind you of the 1993 Jack in the Box E.coli outbreak that killed 4 children and infected 732 people and the impact it made on so many lives.

Why do C-Suite leaders take the knowledge provided by their subject matter experts and not act on those risks? Some leaders choose to ignore the risk because they don’t give much credibility to the people they hire to highlight those risks. To them it’s just noise and they don’t feel the pain yet. For some leaders, funding or resources could be an issue for which they may defer to invest hoping that time is their friend. Wise leaders may seek mitigating actions to lessen the risk until funds or resources can be applied. The sad truth is when you roll the dice and the risk becomes a reality, leaders take the victim’s position and ask a naive question: “How could this have happened?”

The peanut butter recall is the tip of the iceberg. This is what got out and potentially negatively impacted people or at the least a significant inconvenience. This is all serious, but do people realize how serious? What about all those small risks that exist in our businesses for which we hope our systems don’t let bad things into the market and impact our customers? However, are we sure that all systems are always working and there is no risk?

I know leaders must make decisions everyday based on the information at hand and making the best decisions possible that support people, the business, the community, shareholders and consumers. It’s a daunting job they face everyday, but what could be done now to be more sure tomorrow than you were today that you’re not the next peanut butter story in the news. Not everyone makes peanut butter, but we all make decisions in our business everyday and provide products or services to our customers.

Framework for avoiding risk in your business

Ask the 3 most important people about where there is risk. Ask yourself, ask your team and ask an advisor. You already know 80% of the risk, your team another 15% but that 5% from an external view may be the one that bites you if you don’t know it’s there.
Qualify & Quantify the risks in your business that will drive action. Unless it’s documented, prioritized and assigned an action, you’re following yourself that you have a risk mitigation plan.
Pressure test the risk and make sure all your controls perform as expected, rinse and repeat. As leaders, we need to trust but also verify your controls are effective. Find a way test your systems vs. auditing or simply relying on data. Taking a blind eye to what is lurking below can be your biggest mistake.
Be the leader that your consumer needs you to be. Make sure you can see your end consumer and picture the worst thing that can happen if you don’t mitigate the risk. It could be as small as the battery running out on a toy for which you visualize a child crying due to disappointment. A better leader is the one that can visualize the child who is run to the hospital because the battery broke and injured the child. The child needed you to be the leader and avoid the risk. If you didn’t mitigate the risk, you need to ask yourself if you should be a leader.

The next step is up to you. It may sound simple and you have “people” that take care of this for you. But are there experts in your care that have been escalating risk, but you’ve not been listening or taking serious action? Do they know how to articulate what is really a risk vs noise and how can you help them to give you the information you need to make good decisions? All of this takes time and I could be a resource for you to help you to look at your business and be sure you are not the next peanut butter story to hit the news.

If you would like to download your own copy of the framework for avoiding risk in your business click here.

Resources

Good Reads

Individual Advantages: Find the I in Team by Brian Smith – I’m reading this book right now and can’t wait to get into the details. I’ve met the author and I’m connecting again in June to share what I learned from it. The core of this is that we rise to our leadership roles because of the hard work we do. But the greatest legacy we can leave is to work with our teams and elevate them for a lasting impact. We need to find the true gift that we or “I” have as our advantage to move people.

Good Music

Megan Wofford – Awake – I’ve always been averse to risk and never took chances. However, with maturity, taking a risk is what can propel you forward. So I know the article I wrote can be a bit scary, but there is an upside to risk, especially investing in yourself. Lately, in building my business I’ve been taking calculated risks for which I’m starting to see the fruits of my efforts. This piece called “Awake” is smooth and reassuring that life has a way of smoothing things out if you take the right calculated risks.

Good Advice

For more inspiration, Listen & Subscribe to The Drop In CEO Podcast

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Is it Time to Empty Your Silos?

May 20, 2022

A video message from Deb (and Reagan) about Silos, Watch now

When President Reagan said in 1987 “Tear down this wall” it made all the sense in the world. Let communities interact with each other towards a cause greater than our own. And then there is John Knotts who wrote Overcoming Organizational Myopia who said, “Silos must exist for an organization to operate–we want them to exist.” Given these two messages, I wonder if it is time to empty your silos… or not? And while I continue to ponder this question, my dog Reagan in the back is digging a hole to find the mole. While breaking down the dirt barrier, will the resolution be a good one or an untimely demise for the mole?

This begs the question, why do we have silos in an organization and how do they help or hinder us towards our goals? Independent functions who audit other functions or compliance need to be a “silo” to provide valuable information back to the business. We are often “scared” of audits for fear of what they’ll expose. We have firewalls to defend data integrity so that nothing bad happens. We have closed-door meetings that are necessary to allow confidentiality when discussing critical business matters. Walls exist and over time have gotten to be mysterious, secretive and constructs for which information may or may not flow. Given this conundrum of what is necessary vs. what is not, let me provide a framework for you to decide whether you should empty your silos?

How to decide if you should empty your silos:

You should empty your silos when:

information flow is late, incomplete or inaccurate.
time is wasted waiting or extra meetings to clarify needs.
the customer is negatively impacted by poor performance (internal customers included.)

You should NOT empty your silos when:

checks and balances are necessary to confirm compliance standards are met (i.e audits.)
centers of excellence, innovative groups or areas of high creativity need to work independently to achieve high impact results in alignment with predefined inputs from other “silos.”
where Legal or Regulatory requirements are necessary to be independent as a risk mitigation control.

There is a theme in the first section; all the activities that result in Waste. If you’re a student of the 8 Wastes, you’ll know what I mean! I love this funny video from Paul Akers.

When it comes to not emptying silos, it relates to all the activities that help you sleep at night. You may not always understand what they do and how they do it, but are grateful that they do the critical work they do and are independent of other functions.

The leadership lesson is this: We talk about breaking down silos, but we need to ask better questions to determine what functions & processes serve the business and how we benefit from them.

In the case of the mole that Reagan was after; he has lived to see another day due to the dirt barrier. It may not make sense to us why there are holes and mounds in my lawn. If we ask the mole, he may impart great wisdom why he exists and the silo that separates him from Reagan… but that’s for another day.

Building new skills takes practice and I want to be there for you. We cover this framework in our Drop In C-Suite Academy which is still accepting students for enrollment. If you would prefer a 1-2-1 approach, I can also offer my coaching services. I can also create a custom approach to come into your organization and provide & mentor the skills as your partner.

One more resource for you – my Drop In CEO Podcast episode on “Powerful Words for Influence” you may find helpful in messaging big ideas.

For more information about The Drop In C-Suite Academy (CS) dedicated to the aspiring C-Suite leader, simply register to get on the waitlist, email me or connect with me for a quick chat. I can’t wait to help you be successful and reach your goals!

For more resources, you can listen to The Drop In CEO Podcast or check out my book The CEO’s Compass will help you get on track in days not months.