Archive for the ‘Coaching’ Category

CEO’s know that they have to be the coach to the key people within their organizations.  But sometimes when you think coach, you might start to believe that you are not the best person to do the job.  After all, you work hard to hire people that are better, smarter, more effective, more efficient, and often more experienced in certain disciplines of business than you are.  Still, even the best people in your organization need the guidance, direction, and focus that coaching brings.  Simply put, your coaching helps your people stay focused on the basics and motivates them to improve performance.  The bottom line here is, the CEO has to be the coach, and when you are coaching, you have to coach with a purpose.

Here’s a tip:   First, if you’re not doing one on one coaching with your key people, plan to get started right away.  If you are already doing regular coaching sessions with them, make sure you set a clear agenda for your coaching sessions.  Use a coaching journal that lists all of the high impact initiatives that they are working on.  Make sure to have them come to the coaching session prepared to review the list of items on their list with you.  When you coach, be sure that you coach with a purpose and have the agenda in mind.  Make sure that the agenda is focused on how to improve performance, accomplish key objectives, and increase efficiencies or effectiveness.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

CEOs, we all know this rule applies to many different areas of leadership.  We could list them, but the one that comes to mind for me here is the boundary we create when initially hiring an employee.  We define these boundaries when we apply a job description to the position.  This is the tool we use to define what the employee needs to do, what responsibilities they have, and their level of authority.  Of course, a job description is a living document that needs review.  From time to time, you might identify gaps in position development and training needs not being met.  You may find that it is time to review, refresh, and even rewrite the job description.

Here’s a tip:  Sit down with one of your key managers or ask them to sit down with one of their department employees.  Go through the original job description for their position line-by-line.  This will immediately show how much of the work you originally hired them to do is actually being performed.  Work with the manager or employee to make adjustments to the job description and outline measures to make sure that they are being fully successful.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

I once had a CEO Client who asked one of his department managers to create a budget for the balance of the year.  The manager said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”  One week went by and it wasn’t done.  Then two weeks…then three weeks…and finally about a month had passed with no results.  This CEO, during one of our coaching sessions, said that he had a manager who refused to give him the budget he had requested.  I asked the CEO to do two things:  First, go back and have the employee explain how he had understood the assignment.  Second, have him explain how he was going to go about completing it.  As the CEO listened he discovered that manager did not know how to get the job the done.  He was more than willing, but because he had never produced a department budget before, he just did not know how.  Now the “AHAAA” that the business owner got, was that the manager didn’t know how he was going to do it.  The manager was willing to take on the task, but he was not able because he did not know what to do.  Once the CEO discovered the problem, he was able to provide training for the manager and the budget was quickly produced.

Here’s a tip:  The next time you delegate anything to one of your key people, ask them those same two questions.  First, ask them to repeat back to you just what it is they believe you are requesting them to do.  This way you will be certain that they understand the assignment.  Second, ask them to explain their plan for how they will go about doing it.  If they cannot answer either of these two questions well, you will know that you need to do some training before they will be ready to take on the task.  By following these simple steps you will make sure that your team members have both the willingness and ability to accomplish the tasks you set.

I am Ruben Estrada, this has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

It never fails to amaze me how many business owners do not have strong measurement systems for their managers and employees.  Especially since setting and tracking key impact numbers at the department level is one of your most powerful tools to motivate your managers and employees to succeed.  To make this work, the CEO needs to set a goal or establish a standard for success.  The manager or employee is responsible for tracking and reporting against that goal or standard.  Tracking will allow them to see where they actually are.  With very little involvement from the CEO, other than keeping that number in front of them or having them report the number to you, they will always know where they stand with regards to the goal you have established.  In our experience, once a CEO “gets” this rule and implements these measurement systems, their team begins to work more effectively to produce the results desired.

Here’s a tip:  Think of one department in your company right now that could be improved by better measurement.  Identify one key impact number in that particular department that they could track on a regular basis and feed up to you.  Set a standard or a goal for what that number needs to be and then encourage, support, and train your people to achieve that standard.  The form of tracking will depend on the company and the department.  In sales, you could measure number of sales.  Maybe you will want to measure your pipeline values.  Or in your world you might want to start measuring the number of customer’s that have called in with complaints or problems and track the reasons for their problem.  You may want to measure the number of pieces coming out of a certain department in production, or perhaps your gross profit by individual job.  The key to success is to have the people responsible to produce the numbers take ownership of the measurement and reporting of those key numbers.  If you do this well, you will be amazed at the impact it has on your business. Remember, people respond to what you measure.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

Often when I am coaching a client, the client will talk about how they struggle with getting people to get things done as they should.  It may be that something has been delegated to the manager or employee and they are just not following up as they should, or in some cases the employee or manager has some responsibilities in their job description that they are just not getting done.  Inevitably the coaching conversation circles back to one key issue.  I ask the client, what have you actually done to make sure the manager or employee is fully aware of the problem and the solution?  Have you told them directly you are not happy with their performance and how they can improve?  Do they know exactly what is wrong and are the instructions for finding success clear and defined?  Quite often in the response to these questions I hear things like, “Yes I have told them.” Sometimes I hear “I told them about a month ago and they just haven’t improved.”  In most cases I find that the problem is built on the assumption that because we told our people to do something; they’re going to get it done.  I have discovered that telling is usually not enough.

Here’s a tip:  A great tool for developing the people in your organization is to establish the practice of following a regular, ongoing coaching journal.  The coaching journal is an easy tool to develop and a powerful means to motivate and track success for your people.  Even better, it can be very simple to create and maintain.  Some of our clients just use a notepad with the team member’s name on top and every time they meet with that person they write down the things that the team member is committed to do.  Once you have the tasks identified and written down, give a copy to the team member so they have a documented record of what it is they are working on.  Now they can be focused and certain of their direction.  The coaching journal is also a great tool for follow up and for employee development.

Of course, you can also create a more formal system.  We use a web-based coaching system with our clients to integrate the tasks and objectives of every key team member into a coaching journal that allows the CEO to see individuals as well as the entire team and keep their finger on the pulse of the business all in one place.  Whether you use an informal system like the notebook or a formal system like our online Coaching Journal, what you do with the journal is take the assumption out of your team’s success strategy.  Remember, to lead successfully you need to tell, document, and follow up.  Your tools should support all three.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move.

Please click here to Listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

Often when I am coaching a client, the client will talk about how they struggle with getting people to get things done as they should.  It may be that something has been delegated to the manager or employee and they are just not following up as they should, or in some cases the employee or manager has some responsibilities in their job description that they are just not getting done.  Inevitably the coaching conversation circles back to one key issue.  I ask the client, what have you actually done to make sure the manager or employee is fully aware of the problem and the solution?  Have you told them directly you are not happy with their performance and how they can improve?  Do they know exactly what is wrong and are the instructions for finding success clear and defined?  Quite often in the response to these questions I hear things like, “Yes I have told them.” Sometimes I hear “I told them about a month ago and they just haven’t improved.”  In most cases I find that the problem is built on the assumption that because we told our people to do something; they’re going to get it done.  I have discovered that telling is usually not enough.

Here’s a tip:  A great tool for developing the people in your organization is to establish the practice of following a regular, ongoing coaching journal.  The coaching journal is an easy tool to develop and a powerful means to motivate and track success for your people.  Even better, it can be very simple to create and maintain.  Some of our clients just use a notepad with the team member’s name on top and every time they meet with that person they write down the things that the team member is committed to do.  Once you have the tasks identified and written down, give a copy to the team member so they have a documented record of what it is they are working on.  Now they can be focused and certain of their direction.  The coaching journal is also a great tool for follow up and for employee development.

Of course, you can also create a more formal system.  We use a web-based coaching system with our clients to integrate the tasks and objectives of every key team member into a coaching journal that allows the CEO to see individuals as well as the entire team and keep their finger on the pulse of the business all in one place.  Whether you use an informal system like the notebook or a formal system like our online Coaching Journal, what you do with the journal is take the assumption out of your team’s success strategy.  Remember, to lead successfully you need to tell, document, and follow up.  Your tools should support all three.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Click to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

You know CEOs; at the CEO level we realize that success is really about getting results from our people.  Over the years CEOs have tried many different ways to get this done, but the CEOs at the top of their game know that the best way to get the most from your people is to be a great coach.  And to be an effective coach, you need to be consistent.

Here’s a tip:  Set up your coaching system to include regular scheduled times to meet with each of your key people.  Even if you meet for only a half an hour or so, make it happen every time it is on the calendar.  Keep an agenda based on an ongoing list of tasks and initiatives that your people are working on.  When you coach based on this agenda there is never any question as to what you expect them to do.  Follow up on the task or initiative list every time.  Be consistent. What you’ll find is that coaching will become part of the culture within your organization and your managers in turn will start doing coaching with their people.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

We all know at the top-end of the Executive Maturity Curve the effective CEO spends 5% of his or her time doing the doing, 45% planning and that 50% of an effective CEO’s time is spent in delegating and following up — getting results through others.

Here’s a tip:  Look on your calendar at the next three weeks coming up.  See how much time you have planned for personal one-on-one coaching sessions with your people, for staff meetings, and for project update meetings.  How much of your time is preplanned to delegate and follow up so that you can get results through others?

We do what we plan to do.  This is Your Next Move.

Please click to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

You know CEOs; we all get caught up at times in doing a whole range of things that are administrative in nature.  Some of the things that come to mind are managing our own calendars, scheduling our own appointments, and following up on tasks that we have delegated to others.  No doubt these are all important activities, but it is not necessarily true that we need to be the person to get them done.  In fact, it is probably not the “highest and best use” of our time to do some of these things.  Instead, I delegate these tasks to Linda.

Here’s a tip:  Every CEO needs a Linda.  Linda is that key person in your organization who is responsible for keeping the CEO’s administrative life in order.  They may be your Executive Assistant, or perhaps the Chief Administrator.  Whoever they are it is important that they work directly for you.  They need to be someone that you can entrust with sensitive company information, someone you can trust to keep your information confidential.  They should be someone that has your best interests in mind, or, as they say on the street, “someone who’s got your back”.  When you have your Linda you have that one person in your organization who can give you the freedom you need to make the best use of your time.

Next time you sit at your desk doing some administrative stuff; ask yourself the three questions that my mentor used to ask me:  What are you doing?  Why are you doing it?  Who do you have on your team that you could delegate it to?

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Click here to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

I once had a mentor in life who firmly believed that if you didn’t effectively delegate to your key people, you were actually depriving them of opportunities to grow both personally and within the organization.  The tip for this topic comes from the way he used to manage me.

Here’s the tip:  When he would walk by my office he would ask me three questions.  He would say “Ruben what are you doing?  Why are you doing it?  And don’t you have someone else in your organization that can get it done for you?”  Try this with some of your key people.  Then sit back and watch them grow.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Click to listen to the CEO Rule of Week