 Questions to ask when things
 are not going well
As previous readers know, Lead From the Inside Out not only applies
to the individual person but also to the individual team, group,
division, company, and organization. In an excerpt from Amir
Hartman’s book Ruthless Execution—What Business
Leaders Do When Their Companies Hit the Wall, Hartman
outlined some concrete questions for a leader or company to ask
when things are not going well. Part of being able to go inside to
access one’s inner wisdom is to tap into what is staring you
in the face. These questions are strategic and tactical. Answering
these questions enables the business manager to make informed
decisions. The same type of methodology can be used for the
individual.
How is the business managed?
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Do you have a cost and working capital management program that
is driven throughout the business? It’s not about managing
by the numbers (i.e., historical results); it’s all
about managing to the numbers (i.e., future
expectations).
In other words, if your business is failing or not meeting
expectations, ask yourself: What are your expectations? Do you
have your goal or expectations in front of you when you make daily
decisions? Having the overall expectation as your goal will help
prioritize where you are spending precious time and resources.
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Do you have a proactive and disciplined approach to identifying
and assessing potential acquisitions and divestitures? Before
you tune out because you’re not in the market for
acquiring another company or selling one that you own, consider
how this makes sense to what you spend and what you sell.
Is your approach to purchasing capital items based on a
disciplined approach with a determination using information from #1
as to how well it will advance you to your goal? Or do you merely
try to sell as much as possible and buy whatever you’d like
to help you do that?
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Do you regularly assess whether the corporate center is adding
distinctive value to each business unit? The corporate center
isn’t an ivory tower or the Tower of Babble. It’s a
decision-making, communication, support, and coordination
system.
If your administrative and support staff don’t resemble a
collaborative communication and support center for decision making,
this is the time to ask questions and consider making changes to
the structure.
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Do you effectively and swiftly manage out non-performers? You
can’t get the most from your top talent if they have to
deal with non-performers.
This may seem cold and hard, but unless your business goal is to
make everyone happy first and then hopefully the money will follow
. . . You must take an objective look at your personnel and their
performance levels to goal. This is not to say that you fire anyone
who doesn’t measure up, but it might be a good time to
consider whether they fit a given position or need to change. At
the end of the day, if your business doesn’t make money,
everyone will go anyway.
Applied to an individual, this is the same process as taking a
closer look at your blind spots and bringing into the open things
that hold you back but that others may not be aware of.
An individual will rise to his or her level of self-awareness,
not beyond. Therefore, it is worthwhile to spend time expanding the
awareness of:
- Each person
- Each manager
- Each team
- Each department
- Each division
- Each company
- Each organization
 Living with choices
Every choice we make each moment of the day
becomes a part of who we are forever…
thoughts, words, actions…good, bad, and ugly.
—Anonymous
We are the product of the choices we make…not of the junk
that happens to us. We are measured not by what we must face, but
on how we face it.
—Kay Meekins, Editor of Biz Life Magazine
Jeff Opdyke, well-known Wall Street Journal columnist,
recently wrote about choice and the courage it took to live with
what one chooses. He had written for years in his “Love &
Money” column that his wife had selflessly followed his
career and that he would willingly do the same for her when the
time came. The time came swiftly and unexpectedly a few months ago.
A New York writer, his career flourished living in the middle of
activity in New York City. His wife was from Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, and had a life-long dream of serving as a
hospital’s chief nursing officer. When the offer came, it
meant that they would need to move to her hometown of Baton Rouge,
which was a far cry from the fast-paced big city newspaper
lifestyle they were both used to. He gulped and chose this time to
follow her career.
The point is that talking about what you are going to do is nothing
like actually doing it— it takes courage to follow through on
what you say. He was faced with two choices: “I can keep to
the comfortable side of the street and retain ties to my employer
in some fashion, or I can shed that security and strike out on my
own to fashion a new career. Either strategy offers risks and
rewards.”
Like many of us, Jeff tried to work through the pros and cons. On
one hand, he would work less, make less, and they may have less to
save for retirement. On the other hand, he would have a job, the
cost of living was less than in New York, and his wife would be
happy and would be making more money.
What helped Jeff have the courage to make his decision in the long
run was that he included his wife. She helped him clarify what he
wanted and helped him to see how they could both get what they
wanted, even though they were taking a risk that it may not work
out the way they had planned. At the end, he felt satisfied with
the way he worked through the process. What happens next remains to
be seen.
Based on “Heading Home: Now What Do I Do? by Jeff D.
Opdyke, Wall Street Journal Sunday, September 5, 2004 from
the Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale
 Tips for running family
businesses proactively
Owning and running a family business can be a difficult
proposition. When conflicts occur, they may not only be
operationally related, but they also may be related to the complex
web of family personality and dynamics. Deciphering what is going
on is nearly impossible from the inside. It is sometimes necessary
and more efficient to hire someone from the outside to help counsel
and coach the family into more civil behavior. At a minimum, it is
addressing the issue objectively. In the long run, it can provide a
strategic framework for handling conflict and stress in the future.
In other words, this is another way to be proactive rather than
reactive as mentioned in the Inner Wisdom section of this
newsletter. James Lea, a Chapel Hill-University of North Carolina
professor, is a family business author and advisor. He advises
family-owned businesses to follow these simple rules to be more
proactive when dealing with conflict:
- Family members may not perch themselves above the ebb and flow of normal working relationships.
- Family members must take their leadership responsibilities seriously but also respect others.
- Family members should appreciate the special opportunities the family business provides them.
- Family members may use only the staff, space, and facilities needed to do their jobs.
- Family members should take pride in the family name but never confuse “family pride” with “class privilege.”
 Six qualities to successful
partnerships
What does it take to have lasting relationships with customers and
friends? Chip Bell, author of Customers As Partners,
identifies the following six qualities essential to successful
partnerships. These seem to fit friends and co-workers as well.
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- Abundance
-
The noncompetitive nature of an effective partnership means that
each partner approaches the relationship believing that
increased contribution to the partnership allows both parties to
prosper. As with love, the more you give, the more there is.
Working together creates increased abundance.
- Trust
-
Trust is associated with reliability, assurance, and a track record
of fidelity. Partners need to be able to count on each other.
- Dreams
-
Effective partnerships enjoy a shared vision that results in mutual
gain. A collaborative vision is the crucible in which parts are
mixed for results favored by the “owners” of each part.
- Truth
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An effective partnership values candor and openness. It involves
having the courage to ask for feedback as well as the compassion to
give feedback.
- Balance
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There needs to be a focus on equality; not necessary a 50-50 split,
but one that causes each party to assess joint dealings as balanced
and fair to everyone involved.
- Grace
-
Just like great family and friendship relationships, there needs to
be an overall sense of calm and composure. While there may be
occasional uproars and intermittent conflict, there is an
ever-present ease and repose.
-
For more information about these points of Leading From the Inside
Out or programs that are offered by Common Boundaries, please call
or contact us.
 How we can help you
Common Boundaries Consulting & Communications
Promoting powerfully authentic leadership for the organization
and for the individual.
We support active planning to attain individual and organizational
goals. Our programs can support either with a curriculum that
includes:
- Team-learning
- Leadership Skills I and II
- Consultative Skills I and II
- Team Learning and Conflict Management
- Cultural Change and Cultural Transformation
- Individual and Group Management Coaching
- Women’s Leadership Skills: Gender-specific Leadership Issues
- Personality Assessments: Myers-Briggs, Kiersey Temperament model, SDI, and others
- Outdoor Motivation/Education Coaching
- Image Studies, Individual and Group Coaching (Long and Short-term coaching available)
To find out more about our consulting and programs, please see our
Web site www.commonboundaries.com, or
contact us at 954-385-8434.
September 15
Wachovia
Winston-Salem
September 16-17
Leadership Columbia Retreat
Camp Gravatts
Aiken, SC
September 18
Take Charge By Taking Risks
UNC-Greensboro
Leadership Conference Keynote
Greensboro, NC
September 19-20
Charlotte, NC
October 11-18
New Delhi, India
Union Internationale Association de Alpinisme
General Plenary Assembly
For USA Climbing
November 18
Leadership Columbia
Columbia, SC
November 24-29
Mexico City, Mexico
 What is conversation?
Dialogue is a conversation in which people think together.
Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards; it creates new
cards…it’s like a spark that two minds create.
Listening is a key component to conversation. It involves
developing an inner silence, in order to provide a field of space
in which ideas can emerge.
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There is nothing like hurricane force winds driving limbs and water
into windows to remind one that hurricane shutters are a good
thing.
