Yes, I’ve been on the road with limited on-line access for a while!
Things always seem to break when you need them most. You know, the car does not start the day you are running late to work for an important event or to the airport for a flight. What if you had a 100% effective back-up plan for all possible contingencies?
A week ago, I got a new executive boss. There was no doubt he would be very curious and inquire about everything. I, on the other hand, was headed out on an international supplier Program Management Review cycle through Poland, Czech and China. Following my return, we were headed out on a two week holiday road trip.
So how does one deal with such a combination crisis? Easy, develop and recruit people more talented than yourself. (Remember - A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s.) The team is handling the transition without a bump in the road. The team we grew is ready to lead without me and is performing amazingly. Each individual is more talented than I with great combined capability.
Would your organization be able to cover your four week absence? Would you trust them to break-in your new boss?
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Another case for great talent
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11 comments:
This is the ultminate test of the success of any leader. Our main task is to build a team who can function optimally without us interfering. Then we can spend our time developing and growing them and the business.
I took a leave of absence for 6 months to care for our son who has Downs Syndrome. My team did get four weeks "advanced warning" to get aligned before I left, but they were very successful in my absence and after I got back, I actually decided to move on since they were able to continue to grow the business and organisation without me. I moved on to new challenges. A great experience to see people rise to the occasion and then just stay there!
The flip side, of course, is that poor leadership becomes almost a self fulfilling prophesy Through lack of knowledge or insecurity, a poor leader will not hire or develop talented people. A poorly lead team will always view decisions made by weak management with scepticism even when those decisions are sound. A team with little confidence in their management will not feel confident to take responsibility for, or find solutions to problems. Productivity and customer service will suffer.
The silver lining is that UTC at a strategic level understand the value of confident problem solving teams. Poor employee satisfaction scores quickly highlights poor management. Gotta love ACE
Agree with you. Get the right talents and delegate correctly, that will help the organization growth.
I really like the idea of A's hire A's and B's hire C's. This is s true and I have seen it play out in my own life and work. It is such a blessing when it does. I am glad to hear that you are enjoying the benefits of wise decisions. Well done. Thanks for the example and tip.
You mentioned being on the road with limited web access. I am wondering if you had thought about a guest post to help fill some of the schedule. I am interested in it if you are. Let me know.
high quality work done . very nice!
Nowadays the big problems are solved by equipments of professionals where all reman to the same time. Gold ACE. A good boss is the fact that his absence is obvious less
Neil's Insight: I noticed in two of the comments for John Bishop's issue over coverage during a key executive's absence, the ACE acronym (Achieve Competitive Excellence) was mentioned. As a former Pratt employee, I served as an "ACE Pilot" for a short period of time. Our Metrics Board displayed ACE centerstage. And all were trained in its methodologies. We even had ACE T-Shirts. Surprisingly, the two people that commented about ACE didn't seem to have a background with UTC. I wonder how they knew about the program .... word of mouth possibly.
I believe that one of the most important aspects of ACE dealt with hiring of people. We effectively applied the Do's and Don'ts. And we empowered the employees to make decisions on their own. I for one never felt apprehension about whether things would get done while I was absent, as John Bishop stated. UTC trains leaders. If you are lucky enough to be hired by UTC, take full advantage of all they offer in training and education programs.
I'd be ok with my second in command... But I would "trust AND verify... Lou
@ Neil
UTC Fire & Security own the Chubb brand worldwide. Chubb Monitoring and Response Services (CMRS) is one of the many many companies under the Chubb umbrella
Having joined Chubb after it was acquired by UTC I do not have "legacy blinkers" on and have been able see the opportunities and value of what UTC offers in terms of training, development and employee engagement and have myself benefited from the ESP. I have also seen the the effects of poor leadership first hand and I believe the inclusion of an employee satisfaction score in the ACE certification is a good method of highlighting and correcting poor leadership.
While I agree with the point of the post, I disagree with the explanation. As we drive to develop sustainable cities (reference UTC Sustainable Cities Campaign), we need to become less dependent on inefficient transportation, i.e.. the automobile. Why should the pedestrians be restricted to the sides? The roads also belong to people, horses, and bicycles, not just the automobile. Our roads are what create vibrant communities. This is all destroyed by automobile traffic. Part of the problem we have in the United States with our road system is that it is designed specifically for cars, which promotes unsustainable sprawl and unsafe streets.
When I look around where I live, I am appalled. The community was created to accommodate people driving cars only. No sidewalk, no pedestrian crossing, just plain streets where, if you want to take a walk, you have to be careful of automobile traffic at all time. Not mentioning if ones want to ride a bicycle. There you really take your life into your own hands.
We complain that we have a society of obese but to go shopping you have to take your car if you live in the suburbs. On top of that, once you are parked in front of the store you want to visit, most of the time people will take their car to go to the next store half a block away on the same strip mall. That is what I call habit.
I lived in Europe for almost 14 years and I go on working quite often there and you see people walking all the time. You go down town, you park your car if you need it, and walk around to do your shopping since you are in a town not a strip mall with a huge parking lot. Here, my aunts who are in there 80s, went they want to take a walk, they go to the mall. Too bad but I think if there were more sidewalks and bike paths, people would be in better physical shape.
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