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A lesson in patience …

Like the rest of Penn State’s illustrious alumni I was in blue and white heaven this weekend when the Lion’s blowout victory against Michigan State gave us the Big 10 East title.

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After years of controversy following the revelations about Jerry Sandusky, finally there is some good news about the football program.

But the tale of this year’s team and more importantly their head coach is a lesson in personnel patience.

After a 2-2 start, many Penn State fans and boosters were calling for head coach James Franklin to be fired. The call for firing wasn’t because Franklin is a bad coach; he has a respectable 24-14 record over 3 seasons as the Penn State head coach. Franklin’s issue is one that many of us in the corporate world face – impatience of stakeholders.

Like the Lion’s record during the first two seasons, solid is no longer acceptable in the business world. Focusing on long-term growth isn’t rewarded as much as short-term profitability. Wall street commands returns today, much like the boosters command wins now. While this thinking may satisfy those who need to drive immediate returns, what it doesn’t do is built continuity, which leads to long-term success. Amazon spent years doing this to perfection, always focused on long-term strategic growth, without sub coming to the pressure of driving short-term profitability. Amazon now dominates the way people shop, they believed in their vision and were patient with their progress.

So before you begin to write off anyone in your organization who is just “solid”, ask yourself with a little patience and continuity, could this person help your organization build long term success? Before you write off any strategy or initiative are you sure you’ve done your due diligence and evaluated the opportunity to drive long-term success?

Fortunately for Nittany Lions fans the university and athletic department saw fit to be a little patient with coach Franklin after the 2-2 start this year. Fortunately for the entire university community this patience paid off with eight straight wins and a Big Ten East title.

WE ARE PENN STATE!!!!

Share your thoughts or push back if you disagree – lamont@digitalsince99.com , @digitalSince99

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The culture conquerors …

Everyone loves to talk digital transformation these days, but what you should be focused on is cultural transformation. So often, people are the killer to any successful change initiative. So before you start going agile or experience mapping your entire operation, you need to get a real handle on your current state of corporate culture. While digital transformation is neither linear nor easy, without starting with culture change, it simply doesn’t work.

  1. Be realistic

If you work for a long-standing organization, chances are the culture wasn’t built in a day, so you won’t change it in a day. Being a change agent takes time. You might be the catalyst for change but never actually get the opportunity to see it all the way through. This is particularly daunting when you are with an organization that has been fairly successful with its existing culture. Often times with these sorts of organizations you are not only fighting against the change, but you are also fighting against complacency.

  1. What’s in it for me

Critical to any change initiative is to get those who you need to influence to see what’s in it for them personally. Try getting a teller to agree to promote mobile banking if they believe that mobile banking is going to cost them their jobs, nearly impossible. However, get them to focus on the fact that studies show mobile customers are retained longer, are more profitable, and have higher rates of cross-sell thus earning them more money in the long term and you have the tellers sold.

  1. Allow others to influence the change

No man (or woman) is an island and there has never been a cultural change initiative that was successfully implemented by one person Like the TV show Survivor, forming alliances when promoting cultural change is critical. One of the easiest ways to get others to help you influence cultural change is to enlist their help in defining the change. Particularly in the corporate world too often people keep their ideas to themselves for fear of not receiving just credit. This is absolutely the wrong approach; even CEO’s who are change agents need the right alignments to generate change. The best leader’s, take pieces of recommendations from others that they then use to drive the change required to conquer culture.

  1. Evaluate your talent

This is a critical step in any change initiative. If you want to change culture, do you have the right people to not only lead the change but to sustain the model? This is a critical question for organizations to ask themselves. What is the talent like at all levels? Can we retrain our people or do we need to bring in external resources. If external how much and how fast? There is a delicate balance between strategic turnover of talent and all out talent mutiny.

People, not process, not investments, nor technology are the make or break variable in the cultural change equation. When you do the right thing and ensure realistic goals, involve others, showcase benefits and ensure the right talent mix you are off to a good start with cultural transformation.

Share your thoughts or push back if you disagree – lamont@digitalsince99.com , @digitalSince99

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People are people…

If I can be obnoxious for a second, one thing I have been very good at over the course of my career is leading people. The thing to remember about people is that; they are people! People with different backgrounds, experiences, feelings and emotions, so to be sure you’re successful leading your people you have to remember it. Here are five habits I’ve added to my people leading tool kit over the years:

  1. Walk the talk

You want your people to follow you? Well get out in front of them and lead! One of my favorite movies Gladiator is such a great example of this. Russell Crowe’s character, general Maximus is the leader of his troops. Yet when it’s time for the great battle, Maximus and horse are out in front of the troops as they meet the enemy. The behaviors that you want your team to exhibit have to be behaviors that you demonstrate – consistently.

  1. People are different, treat them that way

There is no one size fits all way to lead people. The people that report directly to you or those you have to lead in various forums are all different. Their personalities are different, priorities are different and in many cases their motivators are different. The only way to treat people differently is to get to know them on a personal level. What works for some people in terms of motivation, may not work for all. The best leaders I’ve known are the ones who know their people well, strengths, weaknesses, and motivating factors and they use these insights to drive success.

  1. Provide critical feedback

Too often, you find leaders who mince words rather than giving candid, critical feedback. Frankly, you not only do your organization a disservice but also the colleague a disservice when you aren’t candid with feedback. Everyone, no matter how good you are has room to grow. You certainly want to praise your high performers but let’s not forget to talk to those high performers about development opportunities. The best performers in the world whether they are athletes, entertainers, business persons, etc. focus on ways to improve in the areas they are not as strong at or skills they are missing. This is what makes them better performers, understanding growth opportunities and always striving to get better. Help your people to always get better by providing critical feedback.

  1. Praise is good

Everyone wants to be recognized for his or her work. A little recognition goes a very long way. Often, you’ll find leaders who recognize their teams for major accomplishments or projects and programs that are highly visible. However, leaders can’t forget about those everyday heroes on their teams that help keep the lights on or keep the ball rolling. Recognition can come in a variety of ways, whether its a quick “that a boy or girl” email, a handwritten note, a lunch, some snacks, whatever you can do to let your team know you appreciate their work no matter how big or small.

  1. Show genuine concern

The people that you lead, will feel better about you as a leader if they feel you genuinely have their back. Show genuine concern for your people, their well being and the well being of their families. Talk often about their career aspirations and help them get to where they want to go. Provide them with the tools and training necessary to give them both the ability and opportunity to leave your team, but treat them well enough so that they don’t want to.

Your concern as a leader should actually be about your people first and the business second. While controversial in some respects I believe if you treat your team well, they will treat your customers well, your customers will continue to be a patron of your business and your bottom line will grow. Here is that same line in a math formula

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Share your thoughts or push back if you disagree – lamont@digitalsince99.com , @digitalSince99