Free Agents

Company loyalty 50 years ago was a dominant force for the global economy. My father and grandfather were very loyal to their companies and almost felt a obligation to stay with their companies regardless good or bad. Today that is not and option and employees are really becoming "free agents" just like athletes going to the highest bidder. The problem with this concept is the most money does not always translate into the largest opportunity. Here are a couple of things to think through when you have filed your papers for free agency.

• What is the responsibility and scope of this role
• Will I be challenged both professional and intellectually
• Is there opportunity to change roles and if so how fast
• Who will I be working for and what type of a leader are they
• Is the business growing or focused on efficiency

The reality is companies cannot count on an employee staying for a significant amount of time. If they hire the right people for the right roles the have a better chance at staying, but not a guarantee. However most people leave roles because of their manager so regardless of pay if you are not treating people right they are going to leave. Since employees are not loyal there is no reason not to be honest as it is too costly for a company to have attrition.

Sales

There is a reason a majority of the CEO's have a former sales background. This is because they likely value the ability to build relationships, deliver presentations and take risks that have high rewards. Most people do not take a sales job thinking "I Want To Sell." In my case I was SOLD on the idea this was a starting point to a larger role. I have no regrets!

Sales is what makes the world go round. Politicians, Attorneys, and Teachers are all selling whether they believe it or not. They are trying to get their point across and hoping that others will follow their lead. However if you asked either of these professions if they are sales people they would all say no.

Sales does not have to be brutal and the most effective sales people in the world have an ability to build a relationship and rapport quickly. Does this sound like some of the same characteristics a leader has, it should. There are some people that are very data driven, process oriented and technical and they do not think they have sales ability. I would argue everyone has a sales ability ultimately to be successful in sales it is not rocket science. You have to have passion and knowledge of what you are selling. If you have each of these and you can build rapport you will be the next rainmaker.

Talent Upgrade

I have worked in some very aggressive corporations in which talent upgrade was a constant theme. Almost to a fault in some regards as the bottom 10% was constantly forced out of the organization or into a different role. However in some companies today this is not the case. There is nothing worse for a young aggressive talented person to join a corporation that is built upon tenure.

I have worked with some extremely talented people in my career. These are the people that if I were starting my own business I would want them on my team regardless of the business venture. In my opinion successful people are successful regardless of the task at hand. However when developing talent especially at the management level the manager demographic should mirror the employee population. For example if the organization is built with a sales force under the age of 30 does it make sense to have some one leading that group who is 50? I would argue there is little in common and the relationship might struggle. The same goes for all forms of demographics. Once you have found talent you will find it is colorless and does not have gender as anyone can be successful.

Talent upgrade does not come easy and there are a couple questions you need to think of:

• How are they performing today vs their potential?
• How do they fit into the business plans for the future?

If either of these questions have negative responses it is likely this is an area to upgrade the talent at this position. If you want to grow as a leader you have to surround yourself with talented people. If you decided not to make these tough decisions it is likely you might fit into one of the 2 questions above.

Show Me, Dont Tell Me

An area in business that is lacking is the ability to teach and coach people to higher results. In many organizations today leaders gather together and come up with ideas without gaining feedback from the peoples that it will be impacting. The other challenge is if the leader is not willing to step up and lead by example there will be absolutely no buy in.

As a leader you need to be able to show people how to accomplish the goal before you can hold them accountable. In most cases manager hire people and hope they can figure it out. The problem with this approach is the employee immediately will begin to feel they are on an island without help. Furthermore if their leader has never proven they can do the job (ex. make sales calls) they will not think the goals are realistic. If this continues results will decline and belief in the leader will diminish.

If you want to make an impact trying doing your employees job for a day. Show them you can do the role and be successful. Regardless of the end result you will likely build a relationship with your employee and build trust. On the other side of the coin if you need help and you ask your supervisor to show you rather than tell you. If they cannot deliver or worse refuse to try might be a good time to ask why?

Vision

Each and every day a leader must think about the vision that he/she is creating. More importantly what are they going to do to inspire, engage, and motivate people around them toward the vision. As a leader you have to have a clear vision for where you see the direction of the business or organization and remain firm with the vision.

If your vision is to be the best supplier of widgets then every decision you make for the organization has to have a correlation with this vision. In some cases leaders fail by creating a compelling vision and then 6 months later change the vision or focus. As this happens you will lose momentum and eventually lose productivity and efficiency.

Creating a vision is not as difficult as many organizations make it out to be. The process of implementing the vision is highly complicated but the vision itself should be simple. "We want to be a global leader in technology" great vision the question the leader then has to ask is how and why? After you have created a vision that is understandable remain consistent to not deviate from the vision. You will have to make changes to the process but the vision should remain consistent.

Acting the Part

There are times when leaders have to "Act the Part." What does this mean? Well in my opinion it is the responsibility of a leader to build a network of people and strengthen his/her internal community. When I think about the word community I am not stating the zip code in which you reside, this might be part of the community, but I am thinking about the people that you can have an impact on each and every day. As a leader there are going to be times you have to "Act the Part."

People want to be led and if at any given moment they do not feel you are a capable leader you will have lost trust in your community. For example in business their are many after hour social gatherings and most times these include alcohol and appetizers. It is the responsibility of the leader to set the tone if the leader begins to do keg stands the group were certainly follow. Sure people might have a great time but what type of reputation has been set? In these situations it is great to think about your people and how would they appreciate you spending time with them. Time is so valuable and we rarely have enough of it to "act the part." There are times in which everyone has to let loose but this should only happen in the confines of your closest of companions.

"Acting the Part" does not mean changing who you are or what your values might be. It simply means treating people with dignity ad respect at all times. If this is something that a person really has to work at odds are they are not a leader and will never be one. Leadership is not easy; it is challenging, but if you genuinely care about people you are likely to have success. Remember to "Act the Part" because whether you like it or not everyone is watching!

Strengths

So much is written about people's strengths that it can be very overwhelming. How do you manage to someone's strengths if you are not able to identify them or uncover them. It has been my experience that you have to dig deeper than knowing the person on a professional level you have to know them on a personal level. Who are they? What are their core values?

For myself as an example I have spent my professional career in sales and sales management. However one of my personal strengths is the ability to build relationships with my staff quickly and develop them as leaders. If you looked at my resume you would probably say this person is a pure sales person and how would they fit into our organization?

As a leader you have to find out what makes people tick. In my example I would rather spend 10 hours a day working with people, reviewing strategies, implementing ideas however a majority of my time is spent working on sales and business development. Leaders need to build a relationship with their staff and engage in these conversations on a regular basis. As people's lives change so do their goals and aspirations. A very good friend of mine was a high level executive who had all the perks (company car, expense account, large salary, and bonus) then he had a child and all of a sudden these were not as important. He decided to leave this role and satrt up something on his own to spend more time with his family. I guess the morale of the story is if you are engaged with your team you will know when these changes take place. You will be more likely to make proactive changes than reactive changes. As a leader it is not enough to hit the numbers you have to build deep relationships that can stand the test of time.