75% of Companies Don’t Know If They Have The Talent Needed To Create Value. Do You?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by

Sheila Madden, CEO, Madden Coaching & Consulting

6 Questions All Executives Should Be Asking Themselves

1. Does everyone on my team and in the organization know our strategy and are they aligned and committed to do what it takes to execute it successfully?

2. Do  I have the right talent in the right places (in the world as well as in the organization) doing the right things to successfully execute our strategy today and in the future?

3. Do I know if we are operating at maximum organization capacity? Do I know the breakthrough and the breakdown points?

4. Do I have succession plans in place that ensure a continuity of leadership, product development  and productivity?

5. Do I have the leadership bench-strength we need to continually attract, develop and retain key and very expensive talent?

6. Do we have an integrated talent strategy that ensures that we always know the answers to these questions and have a proactive plan?

Should You Fire Your HR Leader?

HCI (The Human Capital Institute) and Taleo conducted a study and found that less than 25% of organizations could answer these types of questions about the talent they needed to sustainably create enterprise value.  That is a 75% failure rate. I don’t know any executive who would tolerate that kind of performance.

If you have an HR Leader who is not relentlessly asking you these questions and providing the tools and metrics to measure how effectively the organization understands and has solutions to these talent issues, you may want to think about replacing him/her.

Why so harsh? Because until you can answer these questions affirmatively and have integrated talent programs in place to ensure maximum performance and joint success between the organization and the people who make it up, instead of money you will be  taking one thing to the bank: under-performance.

The Upside Potential

A good talent strategist and good talent intelligence will give you the opportunity to quickly and positively impact:

  • Revenue, top and bottom line
  • Stock performance
  • Productivity e.g. revenue per employee
  • Ability to hire the best talent
  • Innovation across the organization
  • Value creation: financial, emotional, intellectual and social

What value would you be creating in your organization if you could increase each of these metrics by 5, 10, 15 percent?

The What And The How

We all seem to agree and understand ”what” needs to be done to generate value for an organization and its stakeholders.  We know we need great hires, high levels of engagement, wonderful corporate cultures etc.

The “how” is where things go a bit sideways. The fact is that ”how” is as much of an art as it is a science. It requires a strategic understanding of business, a visceral understanding of people (whom I have continually said are the most complex technology in the world) and the wisdom to optimally navigate the complex inter-relationships that have to come together to create success.

Did Someone Say “Cake”?

Other than that, it’s a piece of cake! But just in case you might want some help, Madden Coaching & Consulting is here to serve you. I have developed a stream-lined tool that ensures the following:

  1. CEO and exec level team visibility into the level of alignment of talent to strategy
  2. A simple tool through which each senior leader and their teams discuss and define needed skills, identify gaps and formulate proactive action plans
  3. The ability to identify and develop high potentials and create needed leadership bench-strength
  4. A staffing roadmap that will allow proactive candidate and pipeline development
  5. A way to measure the quality and productivity of new hires

Let me know if you would like to talk about how this tool and process can help you accelerate value creation for your organization.

Sheila Madden is the CEO of Madden Coaching & Consulting where she coaches and consults with leaders of high growth companies, individuals wanting to live an extraordinary life and new college graduates who are ready to launch their careers with competence, confidence and character.

2012 Copyright Madden Coaching & Consulting. All Rights Reserved.

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10 Ways To Succeed As A Leader: Coach Madden’s Top 10 for 2012

Posted on January 5, 2012 by

Sheila Madden, CEO, Madden Coaching & Consulting

Do you ever notice that genuine leaders never stop saying “yes” to life? When good things are happening they celebrate but continue moving forward and no matter what adversity faces them, they find a way to transform it and create something good.

Fundamentally, that is what leadership is. It has nothing to do with titles, paychecks, spans of control or expectations.  It has everything to do with who someone is on the inside. It has to do with the character, creativity and promise with which they approach every single person, situation and day.

Old Made New Again

In 2011 we experienced a leadership crisis that spanned the globe and seemingly touched every industry and sector of the world economy.  We could not have asked for a more perfect catalyst for waking us up to the reality that the world we live in today requires a new kind of leadership. The odd thing is, this new kind of leadership is really the old kind of leadership.

The Universal Truths of Leadership

There is no question that the velocity and volume of challenges that we face today are growing and will continue to grow. No one can claim that we will see a reduction in complexity on any level any time in the foreseeable future.  And ironically, if we’re honest, we also have to admit that the more we learn, the less we actually know.

Leadership isn’t about having all the answers to these dilemmas and questions. It isn’t about being able to anticipate, plan or solve all problems before they happen…that is impossible. It isn’t even about those qualities we often hear used to describe great leaders: charismatic, inspiring, visionary. While those are all wonderful characteristics, they are usually the result of something more fundamental and basic.

When it comes right down to it, just as there are universal truths about life that we have seen repeated in philosophical and spiritual traditions since the dawn of humankind, there are also universal truths about what makes for great leadership. Indeed, there are certain behaviors that have consistently provided inspiration and the opportunity for achievement. They are the same behaviors that have also provided stability and that have guided people successfully through all types of turbulent times.

Coach Madden’s Top 10 Basic Leadership Behaviors for 2012:

I don’t pretend to know what all of those behaviors have been or could be. But I’ve put together my picks for the Top 10 basic leadership behaviors for 2012:

  1. Tell the truth, always.
  2. Keep your word to everyone.
  3. Be humble, especially when you have the right to feel proud of yourself.
  4. Don’t let fear of failure stop you, ever.
  5. Be genuinely curious and lead from that state of mind.
  6. Hold yourself and others accountable for actions and results.
  7. Convert failures into productive insights and actions quickly.
  8. Daily ask yourself “what am I not asking, seeing or doing that I need to?”
  9. Tend to your physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing regularly to be at your best and ready for any opportunity or challenge.
  10. Never forget that you, your organization, family, community, environment and world are interconnected. Act accordingly.

Take the Challenge!

Some might say that this is too simplistic. Some might say it is too idealistic. Perhaps they would be right, but perhaps not. 

Here is the real question: What might change if each of us, and leaders all over the world, practiced these 10 behaviors for the next 12 months?

 My challenge to each of us as leaders is to try this. Let’s get back to basics and see how doing so just might unleash the creative response we need to make 2012 the year that great leadership leads the world to an unprecedented economic turnaround and to  renewed confidence and respect for leaders around the globe.

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How Extraordinary Leaders Communicate: 7 Principles of Fierce Conversations

Posted on November 10, 2011 by

Sheila Madden, CEO, Madden Coaching & Consulting

As I watch the staggering inability of the world’s leaders to communicate with integrity and to engage people in solving the problems we face, I am reminded of one of the best leadership books I have ever read: Fierce Conversations, by Susan Scott. 

Does the word “Fierce” scare you? It shouldn’t. The lack of it is what should scare the living daylights out of you.  As defined on the book’s cover “fierce” means “robust, intense, strong, powerful, passionate, eager and unbridled.”

I must admit, I like these words a lot. I would go so far as to suggest that these words describe some of the core competencies of life, in addition to leadership.

Gradually, Then Suddenly

The book starts with a quote from Ernest Hemingway’s, The Sun Also Rises where one of the characters is asked:

“How did you go bankrupt?”

He answers, ”Gradually, then suddenly.”

As you watch the indictments and sentencing of so many world leaders do you wonder how they lost their way so quickly and completely? For most,  it was probably gradually, then suddenly.  First there is one little white lie, then a lie of omission soon to be followed by a lie plus an act of commission.  The battle is lost with the first white lie. 

As this cycle spirals out of control, what is most disheartening is the ability of people to convince themselves that what they are doing is right.  Lying is not right, and it never will be. Failed leaders have been unable to have fierce conversations with themselves and, you have to wonder, who wasn’t willing to have the fierce conversations with them and call them on their behavior. In either situation, the result? Integrity shattered.

Guilty Of Any Of These?

Not all examples of breaching integrity are like those we are witnessing in daily headlines. In truth, we are probably all guilty of compromising our integrity at one time or another to differing degrees. We prefer to not think of it this way, but are you guilty of any of these? 

  • Ever not speak up in a meeting when you disagree with what is being said?
  • Ever pretend to agree with your boss when in fact you think his/her idea or strategy is flawed?
  • Ever pretend to agree with your boss or colleagues, then act in complete defiance of what you said?
  • Ever not resolve an issue directly with a colleague, boss or friend but then complain about it behind their back?
  • Ever fail to call out behavior that lacked integrity or worse, violated policy, practice or the law?
  • Ever fail to look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself the truth?

Here are Susan Scott’s 7 Principles of Fierce Conversations that when practiced will help prevent these pitfalls.

  1. Master the courage to interrogate reality.
  2. Come out from behind yourself into the conversation and make it real.
  3. Be here, prepared to be nowhere else.
  4. Tackle your toughest challenge today.
  5. Obey your instincts.
  6. Take responsibility for your emotional wake.
  7. Let silence do the heavy lifting.

How do you even start fierce conversations?

The book is chock full of good tools. Try these questions next time you want to have a fierce conversation:

  • What are we personally pretending not to know? What is our organization pretending not to know?
  • What is the most important thing we should be talking about today?
  • How have we behaved in ways guaranteed to produce the results with which we are unhappy?
  • What topic are you hoping I won’t bring up?
  • What is the most important decision we’re facing? What is keeping us from making it?

What’s The Difference?

The positive benefits of being able to have fierce conversations in our organizations are substantial. Take a look at these examples and decide in which environment you would prefer to lead and work.

  1. Focusing on activities or focusing on results?
  2. “Us versus them” or high levels of engagement?
  3. Being overwhelmed by complexity or being able to resolve issues collaboratively and quickly?
  4. An organization culture of “terminal niceness” or one that effectively confronts and transforms negative behaviors?

In a recent TED talk that Susan Scott gave called The Case For Radical Transparency, she shares this verse from a poem called “A Ritual To Read To Each Other“, by William Stafford:

“If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.”  

The poem ends with:

“For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give–yes or no, or maybe–
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.”

When You Can Lead Yourself With Integrity, You Are Ready To Lead Others

Our lives are a series of relationships, the success or failure of which happen one conversation at a time. Extraordinary leadership is the result of having fierce conversations with ourselves first and then with others. Only then can any of us hope to provide the caliber of leadership that our organizations need and desire.

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20 Habits That Can STOP You From Being An Extraordinary Leader

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

Sheila Madden, CEO, Madden Coaching & Consulting

Wisdom from Marshall Goldsmith & Peter Drucker

One of my favorite leadership books is Marshall Goldsmith’s, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”.  I particularly like the chapter on the 20 habits that can keep leaders, and subsequently their organizations, from being extraordinary and reaching their full potential.

Goldsmith shares a great quote from Peter Drucker:

“We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.”

What Might You Need To Stop?

I ask my coaching clients to take a spin through this list of 20 bad leadership habits before we meet. It is a very helpful tool to use for becoming more self-aware, targeting areas where you need to improve, and thus, being a more responsible and impactful leader. Do you need to stop any of these habits?

  1. Needing to win too much
  2. Adding too much value….your 2 cents to every discussion
  3. Passing judgement
  4. Making destructive comments
  5. Starting with “No”, “But,” or “However”
  6. Telling the world how smart you are
  7. Speaking when angry
  8. Negativity, or “Let me explain why that won’t work”
  9. Withholding information
  10. Failing to give proper recognition
  11. Claiming undeserved credit
  12. Making excuses
  13. Clinging to the past
  14. Playing favorites
  15. Refusing to express regret
  16. Not listening
  17. Failing to express gratitude
  18. Punishing the messenger
  19. Passing the buck
  20. An excessive need to be “you”

Extraordinary Doesn’t Mean Perfect

Being an extraordinary leader isn’t about being perfect. It is about:

  1. Regularly and honestly examining your leadership behavior
  2. Asking for feedback
  3. Understanding the impact your behavior is having on people
  4. Having the courage to do what needs doing to change what needs changing

Check out the book and other helpful resources of Marshall’s:  http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/html/marshall/books.html

Posted in Extraordinary Thinking: Leadership Insights From The Masters & Mystics, Latest Leadership Research And How To Apply It | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Why Organizations Are Failing And 4 Ways To Fix Them

Posted on August 21, 2011 by

Organization and leadership models have failed to keep up with the evolution of the workforce. The result? An astonishing under-performance of most organizations and billions of dollars being spent on solutions that fail because they focus on symptoms instead of the real problem.

What has changed:

We are no longer a world of factory workers willing to be cogs in a wheel and be told what to do, how to do it and when to do it. We are an interconnected complex global web of knowledge workers, people who make their living by thinking. Some interesting facts from the McKinsey 2010 Global forces study. In the U.S. alone:

  • 85% of new jobs created in last decade require complex knowledge skills
  • Brain power e.g. Intellectual property, brand value, process know-how, generated more than 70% of all US market value over the past three decades.

The Symptoms We Keep Misinterpreting As The Problem:

We are continually informed by the prevailing journals of leadership that people are becoming more disenfranchised with their leaders and organizations and that what is needed is for leaders  to “drive” more engagement, productivity, innovation and performance.

  • Gallup: engagement is at an all time low. 75% of employees are not engaged, 25% of those actively disengaged/hostile
  • Roper: only 2% of investors believe CEO’s are “very trustworthy”. 72% believe wrong- doing is commonplace in companies
  • Gallup: big business is the societal institution trusted the least by Americans at 16%.
  • Hay Group: Sr. Executives are banking on leaders “driving” increases in productivity, creativity and innovation to meet aggressive 2011 goals. At the same time the majority of them acknowledge that “driving” these increases will cause more disengagement, turnover and hostility…but they are going to do it anyway

The Real Problem:

If you are reading this, you are a knowledge worker. Do you need to be “driven” by a leader to achieve anything? Probably not. And yet:

  • Our current organization and leadership models and structures are still reflective of the 19th and 20th Centuries and operate under the assumption that people need some outside intervention to succeed and would not otherwise do so.
  • They continually fail because they refuse to realize that today’s knowledge workers are people who are self motivated, desire meaning and purpose in life and work, will not tolerate being treated as less than whole, are capable and creative sources of insight, intelligence and creativity.
  • Despite trying, you cannot “drive”, “control”, “command” or “manage” creativity, productivity or innovation. You must inspire it.

4 Common Sense Solutions:

The first thing we need to do is change our assumptions about people. We are all perfectly capable of:

  • Leading ourselves
  • Engaging ourselves
  • Creating and innovating intrinsically
  • Succeeding organically
  • Fulfilling our potential naturally within the context of an organization’s purpose

Second, Redefine organizations. Try this:

Organization: a transpersonal entity that exists to serve a defined purpose in the world which catalyzes the highest level of thinking and behaving in order to achieve its goal. United States President John F. Kennedy had the idea when he said: “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”. In other words, have a purpose that is bigger than any one person and eliminate the opportunity for dysfunctional egocentric behavior.

An organization defined this way has 3 components:

  • A Vision (the dream)
  • A  Mission (the  purpose)
  • A Business Model (what products and/or services are provided, what customers are served, what problems are solved, how value is created: financially, experientially, socially

Third, redefine/create organization culture in such a way that it creates the context within which people participate and simplifies the complexity inherent in the operation of any organization.

Organization Culture:  The operating system designed to define and enable the necessary behaviors, beliefs and thinking that will prove most efficient in the execution of an organization’s unique reason for existence.  Culture is not the “touchy feely” part of an organization.  It has 6 critical and interdependent components that must be masterfully orchestrated to optimize organization performance:

  • Strategy: the roadmap to achieve the goals
  • People: the technical, leadership skills and behavioral talent needed 
  • Values: the moral compass or unique character that guides daily behavior and decision-making
  • Structure: the way in which the interdependent work and people are organized in order to continually sense and respond to markets/changes and execute well
  • Process: the governance that provides clarity and focus on HOW things get done in order to achieve the organization purpose
  • Systems: The mechanisms for collecting real-time information for agile response

Fourth, and most important, Create A New Model of Leadership:

20th Century                                                     21st Century

Adult-child                                                       Adult-adult

Command and control                                    Trust and engage                   

Leader as necessary driver                           Leader as welcomed catalyst

Individual egos                                                Transpersonal collective intelligence

Predict and control                                         Sense and respond

Drive/Manage                                                 Inspire/allow

THINK!

When things break down it is not a crisis, it is an opportunity to find more advanced and effective solutions. It only becomes a crisis when we keep trying to solve the problems we face with the same thinking and behavior that created those problems to begin with, which is what we are doing right now.  

I spent the first 12 years of my 30 year career with 100-year-old IBM. One of the first things I received when I joined the company was a small notebook designed to be carried around with one word on the cover: THINK.

It is time for us to THINK  in order to evolve our organization and leadership models so that we can unleash the human potential within for the financial, social, emotional, intellectual and environmental good of all.

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How Executive Coaching Accelerates Leadership Success

Posted on June 28, 2011 by

Sheila Madden, CEO, Madden Coaching & Consulting

My clients count on me to accelerate their success by being:  

1. A trusted, strategic business thinker with a passion for partnering with them to consistently achieve extraordinary results

2. Someone who has an unending ability to see their full potential and the ability to coach that potential into reality

3. Someone who has an uncompromising commitment to integrity, respect and to telling them the truth with kindness

4. The ability to always see the humor in life and a knack for helping them to see it as well

Navigating Complexity

We are living in a very complex time. Our global, interconnected world is asking more of leaders than in any other time in history. Working with an executive coach gives leaders the opportunity to have someone they trust help them parse through the complexities they are facing and to gain clarity on the most beneficial courses of action.

Unlike in the past when coaching was used as a remedial effort to improve poor performance, most coaching today is focused on accelerating the success of an already successful and /or high potential leader.

What can leaders expect to achieve with executive coaching?

  1. Increased competence and confidence
  2. A greater ability to engage global talent to deliver markedly better financial results
  3. Win the new global war for talent. People want to work with leaders who are effective and who can help them be successful
  4. Accelerate innovation & more rapidly launch new products and services
  5. Create performance based cultures
  6. Make extraordinary leadership part of the organization DNA

How the coaching cycle works with my clients:

  1. Motivation: Usually there is a tipping point event, e.g. new leadership role, new strategy, new market opportunities,  new company, lifestyle change that motivates an executive to look for a coach
  2. Inspiration: Once engaged with clients I get to know their personal and business goals and guide them through creating the vision of what is possible and desired
  3. Gap Analysis: Next I work with him/her to clarify the delta between their vision and their current reality. This provides us with the foundation for a roadmap to success
  4. Extraordinary Achievement Roadmap: Here we work together to prioritize and set specific goals to fill the gap
  5. Understanding and overcoming obstacles: Change never happens without  coming face to face with the thing that is holding someone back from extraordinary achievement. This is where we develop an understanding of what needs to shift in thinking, behavior and actions in order to achieve success
  6. Learning and practicing new approaches: Practice really does make perfect. Executives need the privacy of a coaching partnership to try new ways of leading and to get direct, honest and compassionate feedback
  7. Experiencing extraordinary results:  Once extraordinary leaders experience success, they typically raise the bar which starts the cycle again

What’s the ROI?

Executive coaching works and it pays, for when executives and leaders are performing at their highest level, it exponentially increases overall organization performance. That is why corporations like Google, Goldman Sachs, Juniper Networks and others are spending in excess of $1B/year on coaching in the US alone.

A recent global executive coaching study done by the International Coach Federation and PricewaterhouseCoopers which included 2165 coaching clients in 64 countries found that:

  •  20% of survey respondents had a return of 50X the initial investment
  • 28% had a return between 10-49X initial investment
  • The median company return was 7X initial investment

The success of executive coaching is why we are seeing the investment in it growing and the global reach expanding rapidly. Just like coaches of professional athletes, a great executive coach can work with successful executives and help them expand their capabilities to achieve their fullest potential, and in turn, that of their organization.

If you are interested in learning more about executive coaching, please feel free to call me at 831 277-4919 or email me at sheila.madden@maddencoaching.com

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Executive Compensation That Drives Accountability & Success

Posted on June 6, 2011 by

Sheila Madden, CEO, Madden Coaching & Consulting

Nowhere do you get what you pay for more than with executive compensation.

This blog is Part 3 of my series on the 5 Steps To Ensure Executive Success.

If you want to set a room on fire with passionate debate, mention executive pay. Many people got their first purview into the world of executive pay during this economic crisis and were horrified at what they saw. The number one culprit? The convoluted relationship, or lack thereof, between pay, performance and accountability.

The Macro Issues:

Todd Gershkowitz, senior vice president of Farient Advisors, an executive compensation consulting firm, did a nice job in an article on DailyFinance.com which summarized the key areas that need to be considered when creating effective executive compensation plans.

  • Risk evaluation:
    Evaluating the relationship between compensation and excessive risk taking
    behavior
  • Transparency:
    Taking steps to restore shareholder trust through transparency,
    demonstrated reasonableness and adherence to good governance guidelines
  • Alignment: Determining how to deliver demonstrable alignment between performance and pay, with a particular focus on the mix of pay, the choice of performance metrics and the goal-setting process around those metrics
  • Incentives:
    Redesigning long-term incentive programs, given shifting perceptions of the
    value of equity (stock options in particular)
  • Communication: Engaging in more proactive, direct, open and two-way communication with shareholders about compensation philosophy and plan design

The Micro Issues As They Pertain To Executive Success and Blog #3:

I am not an executive compensation expert so this is not about the technical mechanics of all the factors that go into creating compensation plans. Rather, it is focused on how to ensure the alignment between the plan and the outcomes to drive executive accountability and success. It starts and ends with the basics.

  • Have a written set of specific goals with deliverable dates and the metrics that will be used to assess them. This should include financial deliverables (revenue, expenses, cash etc…) as well as operational deliverables.
  • Make sure LEADERSHIP, the “how things get done”, is included in the goals in addition to the specific “what needs to get done”. Executive performance failures result primarily from lack of emotional intelligence, not technical competence. If you want to have a highly engaged and innovative workforce and be able to compete for the best talent, make sure that your operational goals include leadership expectations and specific goals.
  • Weight the goals in terms of priority for the time period defined. This should clearly communicate what is most important and where/how the executive should be focusing her/his time and resources. It may also change depending on the opportunities or challenges the organization is facing.
  • Assign financial remuneration (cash, stock etc) by category.  Whatever reward is being used, indicate the specific target and stretch opportunities within each category.
  • Review the plan to make sure that you are focusing, incentivizing, aligning and rewarding the deliverables that will create business value and individual success. 
  • Cascade the goals, with the same respective weighting and financial remuneration, throughout the organization. This will insure alignment of all resources (talent, capital, equipment, R & D etc…) to the agreed upon deliverables.

Next blog: How Coaching Accelerates Executive Success

To read how to Live An Extraordinary Life, please visit http://liveanextraordinarylife.net/

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