FOCUSING ON LEADERSHIP--PART 3

This week we focus on two more key leadership qualities and they are

HANDLE PROBLEMS PROMPTLY---This is one of the most difficult areas for most entrepreneurs to attack. Most can handle problems with customers or lawyers or bankers without much difficulty, but handling employee problems, especially at the management level is one area that just doesn't get done well most of the time. Of course it can be difficult dealing with customers or lawyers or bankers but most entrepreneurs will jump right in and address the issues. By the same token if they are having a problem with a management employee they will procrastinate until many times damage has been done to the organization.

As I say this I was guilty as charged when I owned my contract cleaning company. For some reason, I thrived on dealing with pressure from customers and other outside forces but didn't always deal with important and delicate employee issues. As I write this I can recall about 10 instances through the years where I should have acted promptly on an employee issue and didn't.

Now having said that, one of the most frequent issues I am presented with when doing consulting work for contract cleaning companies is the client wanting me to terminate a top management person in their organization. Quite frequently it is the individual with the longest tenure and more often than not it is a relative---a sister, brother, son, or daughter. They just can't bring themselves to "pull the trigger" on the decision that has to be made. If they pay me to do it then they can tell the individual, "I paid big dollars for this consultant and he recommended this be done and if I'm going to pay the big bucks I need to follow the advice". Not true but it gets them off the hook.

I should mention here that I fired my wife twice and she quit once. I also fired one of my sons once and he quit once. How come I could fire my family who I love dearly and not terminate a non-relative who probably deserved to be history for many more serious reasons. Just lucky, I guess.

Incidentally, do you see how closely this leadership quality is associated with the second one on being a decision maker? Good leaders address problems head on and make the decisions needed in a prompt, orderly and most of the time, accurate manner.

MAINTAIN YOUR FOCUS---Hopefully you have established a sound business plan and have committed to focusing on customer satisfaction, not just service. You have a huge job as the leader of your company to maintain the focus of where your company is headed at all times.

Rest assured, many distractions will occur as you grow your company. Many so called "opportunities" will arise that you will be tempted to "take advantage of " but it is your responsibility to address the one big issue of DOES IT FIT WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH AND WHERE WE ARE TRYING TO GO? Always maintain that focus for your organization.


So far we have covered 4 important leadership qualities-

HONESTY

BEING A DECISION MAKER

HANDLING PROBLEMS PROMPTLY

MAINTAINING YOUR FOCUS AT ALL TIMES

Next week we will conclude our discussion on leadership qualities with what may be, next to honesty, the most important leadership quality of all. I hope you will join me for this important discussion.

Don't forget to join us for the FREE pod casts every Monday morning at www.tripodcast.com. You can sign up there to receive an e-mail to remind you every time a new pod cast is posted.

Also, I hope you are making plans to join me at the BSCAI Executive Seminar in Scottsdale May 11 and 12. You can still make reservations by going to www.bscai.org. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at this exciting event.

Till next time and MAKE IT A GREAT DAY.