The shareholders or members typically elect the people who will serve on the board of directors. In a small firm, the board of directors is usually comprised of the business’ owners and family members. In larger organizations, the boards are comprised of interested individuals from disparate backgrounds and industries that, theoretically, represent the organization’s customer or membership base. The board’s responsibility is to guide the overall direction of the organization and to be the ultimate decision-making authority on strategic matters facing the organization. The company president or CEO reports to the board. The board of directors has voting power and full authority to override the decisions of the President/CEO. The board can hire and fire key staff—including the President/CEO. A board of directors directs the actions of the staff and of the organization.

Unlike the more commonly known board of directors, advisory boards are typically comprised of persons who—individually—are providing counsel to the business owner. These individuals may be attorneys, accountants, business consultants, human resources specialists, marketing professionals, etc. Each provides expertise and guidance to the business owner separately. An advisory board simply provides a way to pull these various advisors together on a monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual basis. Then, as a group, they can discuss the issues facing the company and can oft times determine quick solutions to strategic company issues. These advisors are not elected and they have no voting power. They are asked by the business owner to serve as a member of the advisory team and are paid for their advisory board services (as the board is usually a continuation of their current services). Their job is simply to advise.

I often suggest to my smaller clients that they start an advisory board when they are not yet comfortable with the idea of expanding or creating a board of directors for their company. Determine what is right for your organization and then invite them, advisors or directors, help you lead your organization to success.

Remember: Advisors advise—Directors direct.

If your organization is like most, the added pressures of employee vacation schedules can compound stretched-to-the-limit holiday work requirements. With some employees out of the office on vacation, some trying to cover the work of those who are on leave, and others trying to get caught up when they return, there’s a direct impact on the focus and efficiency of your organization. Because of this natural cycle that hits many companies every year, it’s critical that you regroup now with your team to re-focus everyone’s attention on where you’re at and what you’re working towards—the Vision.

Want to promptly reshape your employees into a “team” focus with a unified, strategic goal? Follow these five steps:

1. Reiterate clearly what the organization’s vision of success is and what the organization’s current position is in attaining that vision
2. Review with each department how critical their success in meeting their production and service goals is to the entire organization
3. Review with each employee what each individual’s goals are and how they directly impact each team’s and the organization’s success
4. Remind everyone in the organization, that the key to success is consistency in their focus on the organization’s vision of success
5. Develop specific strategies (with due dates) for regaining the focus with everyone.

If people know specifically what they’re working towards and the specific strategy to achieve it, success is in sight. Now’s the time for success.

Her question honestly stunned me for a moment because of its simplicity and its importance. If we, as business owners, do not know which positions in our company are key, how can we ensure we have those positions properly staffed, trained, and supported now and into the future? If we do not have our key positions solidly staffed and operating effectively, what might we anticipate about the rest of the positions in our company?

From the perspective of most consultants and businesses, key positions are typically those positions that sit in the C-Suite: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Information Officer (CIO), and chief of anything else, as well as other members of the executive and senior management teams. From my perspective, a key position is any position within an organization that has no double. Basically, any position within your company that you only have one person filling the slot. This could be your CEO, your Director of Sales, your Office Manager, your Maintenance Supervisor, or your Mechanic Level 3.

My definition of key positions obviously creates more key positions, but for any organization to do effective organizational and employee planning, you need to take into account all of those situations where one person currently holds all the knowledge of his or her position. If he or she leaves your company, you do not want your organization held hostage because no one else knows how to do that job—be it the CEO’s or the Maintenance Supervisor’s.

It is crucial that all key positions be reviewed to ensure employees (in key positions) are:

1. Documenting critical procedures (i.e., not limited to procedures that only this position handles or knows how to do).
2. Identifying and training a handful of other employees on the critical procedures to ensure others know how to do or at least know how to access the information to do these critical procedures.
3. Identifying and developing others who could step up or step into their position when promotions occur or if needed for an unanticipated reason.

Key is not a label exclusive to the folks working in the fancy offices. So, who exactly is key to your company? That’s easy—a key person is anyone who holds the (one of a kind)(one and only) key to running any area of your business.

Copyright 2006 & 2011 – Liz Weber, CMC – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com

When I arrived for our first meeting, she was talking on the phone, with two other lines on hold, and she was sitting in the midst of piles of files and papers. When she completed her three immediate phone calls, she unplugged her phone so we wouldn’t be interrupted again. I invited her to outline her unending To Do list for me. I saw that many of the items she considered important were not important, at all. They simply needed to be addressed at some point in the future.

It became very clear to me that she was spinning out of control as she attempted to do everything immediately. And because of this energy-draining behavior, she was losing sight of what was truly important—leading her department toward its goals. I recognized the signs: she was about to either melt down or burn out. By expending so much of her time and energy doing things that were less significant (but quicker fixes), when she actually faced something truly critical, she was too tired and worn out to give it her full attention. In other words, somethings were put off until she had more time and energy to deal with them.

It was time for this Dragon Lady of Accountability™ to point out to this new manager that if she expected to successfully hit her target goals, she needed to make a change—from the buckshot approach to the bullet approach.

When you shoot buckshot from a shotgun, the pellet explodes upon firing. It spreads buckshot everywhere with the anticipation one or more pellets will hit the target. The remaining pellets are wasted or hit unintended targets. A rifle, on the other hand, sends a single bullet at its target. A focused rifle shot sends its bullet (i.e., its energy) at one thing and one thing only. The new manager was throwing her energies all over the place just to get something, anything, done. She had been working on projects that were important to her, but they were really items that no one else would care about in the long run. Because of this buckshot approach, she was only making small improvements here and there; however, she was not addressing the serious problems that would have domino-like ramifications if not addressed properly.

We started by re-prioritizing her To Do list. We focused on addressing the most serious and the most far-reaching issues first. As we worked through this exercise and identified her critical path, we were able to eliminate many items from her original, unmanageable list. Some of those discarded items became non-issues; others were resolved indirectly once the overarching problems were addressed.

If you feel overwhelmed with everything you have to do, ask yourself if you are working on things that really need your attention now or are you working on things that are quick fixes. Are you doing busy work instead of focusing on the things that will move you closer to your goals? Are you using buckshot or a bullet to hit your target?

Copyright 2002 & 2011 – Liz Weber, CMC – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com

Let’s talk about visions first (because the vision always comes first):

1). A vision that works creates a clear picture in every person’s mind when they hear it. During a client’s initial planning session, I asked the senior team what success looked like to them. After they shared several ideas, the owner of the restaurant leaned back and said, “I just want that parking lot full of cars.” Here’s the vision we developed together:

By November 1, 201X, Cedrick’s parking lot will be full five nights a week with the vehicles of customers who are enjoying a memorable dining experience. (Client name has been changed.)

What picture do you see in your mind? What do you anticipate the chef, wait staff, busboys, and bartenders see? Because of the simplicity of this vision, any employee can look out into the parking lot and determine if it’s full and if they’re moving towards their vision. If there are empty parking spaces, each employee knows he or she had better ramp-up service to ensure current customers are well served so they not only want to return, but they tell others about Cedrick’s fabulous restaurant as well.

2). A vision that works is concise. It can be easily understood and remembered by everyone in the organization. The two classics I share with my clients are:

Number 1 or 2; fix, sell, or close. (Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric)

2000 Stores by 2000 (Starbucks – Achieved 2200 stores by the end of 1999)

These examples are very short, but very powerful. They were also tremendously successful.

3). A vision that works can also answer the question, “How do we know when we get there?” Re-read the visions listed in points 1 and 2 above. Do you see how you could easily track progress towards or away from these visions? We can easily count the number of empty parking lot spaces, we can track our position in our respective industries, and we can track the number of stores we’ve opened. We don’t even work for these companies and we understand what they’re trying to accomplish because their visions are so clear. These vision statements work because they’re clear and focused. They work because they’re tangible and measurable. They work because they allow all of the employees to see the future.

Now, let’s focus on the mission statement:

Unlike the vision statement, which creates a clear picture of what we want to accomplish or become, the mission statement, clarifies what we do as an organization—why we exist—what purpose we serve. That’s its job. The mission statement clarifies for everyone who works with us, and those with whom we interact, just exactly what business we’re in. I tell my clients, “Aunt Clara needs to be able to understand this. Keep it simple.”

1). A mission that clarifies is clear, simple, and understood by anyone who hears it. Many organizations have nebulous mission statements:

We are committed to delivering the highest-quality, state-of-the-art services and products that support our customers while servicing them with honesty, integrity, and professionalism.

That’s all well and good, but what do you actually do? Upon hearing that statement, Aunt Clara’s probably going to say, “Oh that’s nice dear.” But don’t be surprised when, at next year’s family gathering, she asks you what you do for work. (Actually, if you shared such a mission statement, poor Aunt Clara may just avoid you in the future.)

Now, here’s an example of a good mission statement:

The Board of Supervisors of Elections for Washington County’s overall mission is to assure that all eligible citizens are provided the opportunity to vote in local, state, and federal elections, and to monitor and verify the voting procedures in Washington County. (Washington County, Maryland)

Isn’t that clear and easy to understand? It’s well written and it states very simply why your organization exists and what purpose it serves. When she hears this, Aunt Clara will probably say, “Well you’ve got a very important job then don’t you?”

2). A mission that clarifies helps every employee understand the potential breadth of his or her core job responsibilities – regardless of position titles. This is where the mission statement turns into a management tool. Now, not only is the mission statement a way to clarify why the organization exists, but it also allows you to utilize in your position descriptions that great catchall phrase: “…and any other duties as assigned.” What this means is: As long as an employee is accepting a paycheck from your organization, he or she is, by default, bound to support your organization’s mission.

3). A mission helps send a clear, consistent message to your market and prospective customers on what your organization does and how it could help them. Simple, short mission statements also serve as advertising bites. When placed on your website and company brochures, they become mini-advertising blurbs for prospective customers to determine what your organization does and if you can help them. Also, simple, clear mission statements help your employees spread the word about your organization. This is particularly important if your employees wear uniforms or company shirts imprinted with your company name and logo. Since your employees are walking billboards for your company, don’t you want to ensure that each “billboard” is sending the same message out into the marketplace when they tell others what your organization does?

To wrap up: Vision and mission statements really do have two different meanings and serve two different purposes. If you do not delineate between the two, believe me when I tell you that all you’ll end up with are confusing and ineffective vision and mission statements along with an incomplete and useless strategic plan—your most important leadership tool rendered mute. Vision statements work when they’re clear and focused. They must be tangible, measurable and allow all of your employees to see the future. A well-developed mission statement is clear, simple and understood by anyone who hears it. It simply states why your organization exists; what purpose it serves, and what services or products it provides. It should be so clear and basic that Aunt Clara will finally understand.

Want to ensure your organization will survive the current leadership and be able to provide a livelihood for its employees and products to its customers in the future? Create an effective strategic plan. Start with the vision.

Copyright 2011 – Liz Weber, CMC – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com

As you read that first paragraph, could you relate to the urgency of needing food—now? How many of you actually started to get hungry and forgot whatever else you had been working on? As humans we have a limited ability to effectively focus on more than one thing at a time; however, when we do focus intently on something, we direct our energies and often achieve our goal.

As managers, many of us need to develop or strengthen our abilities to maintain a single-mindedness of focus so we can more effectively achieve our business goals. We cannot rely on tunnel vision or be work-obsessed. Instead we need to develop a consistency of focus to ensure that what we are focusing our minds and energies on, are issues that will keep propelling our organizations and us forward. Because if the things we are currently focusing on won’t move us forward, this Dragon Lady of Accountability asks: Why are we wasting our energies on them?

If you need more and better-trained employees, how much time have you spent actively recruiting them today? If you need to increase sales, what have you been doing today to generate sales? If you need to re-align services to better meet customer needs, how much time have you spent today making the necessary changes? These examples sound rather basic, but you would be amazed at the number of organizations exerting an all-encompassing grumble about these or similar issues daily, and in the end only addressing them half-heartedly. The one issue that seems to be the main problem area is, consequently, downgraded and addressed as a third, fourth, or fifth-level matter. With that less than stellar level of focus (and energy), how can one hope to effectively and quickly resolve any problem?

To gauge your ability to focus your single-mindedness, ask yourself and your management team these two questions:

1. What is the most pressing issue facing our company (your department)?
2. What specifically have we done today to address that #1 pressing issue?

If you’re not feeling the same sense of urgency for your most pressing issue as you did with the ‘hungry for lunch’ example above, that should be a pretty clear indication to you that you are not as focused on your pressing issue as you should be; and therefore, you’re not putting as much energy towards it as you could be.

Be more single-focused by becoming as hungry to achieve your business goals as you are to get your lunch.

Copyright 2004 & 2011 – Liz Weber, CMC – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com

Too often, we leaders fail to clarify for our employees how OUR actions tie into and align with the overall strategic plan. To employees, our actions tend to have, what I call, ‘The Moth Effect.’ Have you ever tried to catch a moth that’s flitting around a light bulb?  There’s absolutely no pattern to its flight path as it bobs and weaves all over the place trying to get to the light. For me, catching it becomes a true and tiring challenge—ultimately, I just want to let it go.

When we, as leaders, project The Moth Effect, our employees and team members see us as unfocused, scattered, and out of control. They see no strategy management, no pattern to our actions and no connection to the overall organizational goals. As they chase after us, trying in vain to follow our ‘lead’ and support our latest priority, they tire. Not surprisingly, through sheer frustration, they ‘let us go.’ They detach from us; they detach from their jobs; and, they detach from the organization. That’s the ultimate in leadership failure, because (as the Dragon Lady of Accountability keeps telling you) you can’t be a leader if no one wants to stay connected with you and follow.

So how do we as the leader keep them engaged, attached, and connected? We need to ensure that the employees know the strategic plan of the whole organization and their department. They need to be clear about their individual part in the plan and what OUR part as the leader will be. Further, when we show employees how we follow the plan, it sets a solid example to them as to the value of strategic planning.

Clarity and alignment in our role, as well as theirs, is vital. Letting employees know what our responsibilities are and then fulfilling them also lets them know that we are willing to be held personally accountable for our position’s responsibilities. We’ll be held accountable just as we hold them accountable to fulfill their positions’ part of the plan. And fewer chaotic and misaligned actions mean fewer chances for confusion, lost productivity, and disconnected employees.

Avoid the moth effect. Let your employees know what you’re doing to help the organization succeed. Act as one of the team by clarifying your role and helping the team stay connected. Hold yourself to the strategic plan. Hold yourself accountable. Hold yourself up as a leader.

Copyright 2003 & 2011 – Liz Weber, CMC – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com

Yesterday after giving a speech on leadership, I had lunch with several business owners. All of their businesses generate revenues of $5Million to $50Million in annual revenues. These are small but substantial businesses with 50-200 employees each – not solo-entrepreneurs.

During my presentation, I had noticed most of the audience members taking notes, nodding, or otherwise paying close attention to my comments on strategic planning, leadership styles, and organizational development. So it was again ironic, when many of the individual questions they asked of me during lunch were questions that clearly indicated they were operating as entrepreneurs not business leaders. They were behaving as doers – not leaders. All but one of the business owners is intimately involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. All but one said they often feel as if they’re hamsters: Always running to play catch-up just to keep up. When I asked my lunch mates collectively, “So why are you in business? Why are you doing all of this work? What’s it all for?” Only the one owner answered confidently, “I’m creating a business I can pass on to my children, so they can live the lifestyle they want.”  The others’ responses were along the lines of, “We need to make money so we can retire some day.”

I understand that last sentiment. However, it’s not enough if you want to be an effective leader for your company.

• Effective leaders realize creating a business is more than simply providing quality products or services so you make money. That’s expected.
• Effective leaders realize creating a business means creating a strong, viable entity that can survive without the founder or owner being intimately involved day-to-day or involved at all.
• Effective leaders realize creating a business is about what the employees need so they can work with purpose and effectively to serve the customers and the changing market.
• Effective leaders realize creating a company is thinking of the company as something separate from themselves. They need to view their businesses as entities others will want to take ownership of and engage with. They need to create a vision, a future for the company. It’s hard to do that when you’re the business.

So in reality, even though they were nodding and taking notes during my speech, most of the business owners I met didn’t really understand the importance of strategic planning or succession planning. They understand the idea, but not the necessity. They understand the concepts of leadership, but deep in their guts they just don’t “get them.”

Until business owners create a clear vision of what the future of their businesses will be, they’ll continue to play catch-up just to keep up. Instead of leading, they’ll continue to be deeply involved in the day-to-day operations doing things their employees should be doing. And, from my experience, they will never stop wondering: “Why am I doing this? What’s it all for?”

Copyright 2011 – Liz Weber, CMC – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com

Needless to say, when new clients hear my response, their troubled facial expressions often indicate they are thinking, “She’s trying to sell us additional services we really don’t need.” No, I am not. But I am trying to save you money and time. These days nobody can afford to do a lot of unfocused, wasted work.

Think about it for a minute—what is succession planning?

• Succession planning is not figuring out who is going to step into someone else’s position when that person retires.
• Succession planning is really determining what skills, knowledge, behaviors, and values you will need in key positions in the future to ensure your organization continues to grow and succeed according to your strategic plan.

Therefore, doesn’t it make sense to have a very clear strategic plan in place so you know what skills, knowledge, behaviors, and values you will need? Then you will be able to determine what key positions you will need. Once you know what positions you’ll need, you can develop specific position descriptions that define what skills, knowledge, behaviors, and values the individuals who will fill those key positions must develop or possess.

By focusing on developing the skills, knowledge, behaviors, and values of individuals who may move into key positions, you will, by default, create an organization that takes a more holistic approach to succession planning and employee development. Instead of the traditional succession planning process (i.e., plugging a person into an empty spot), you will create a pool of individuals who possess much broader-based skills and knowledge, and who also exhibit the behaviors and values held dear by your organization.

So you see, you can’t develop your future leaders and key positions until you know what type of organization you expect them to lead. And you can’t plan for succession options until you plan your organization’s future.

Succession Planning Reminder: First determine what you need—a true strategy for success.

Copyright 2006 &  2011 – Liz Weber, CMC – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com

To implement any major business plan successfully, expect to spend several months to several years in the actual implementation process. Why? Because in addition to “simply” changing the way your business operates, you have to change your employees’ behavior patterns along with their attitudes—and that all takes time.

It’s relatively easy to re-set a production line or relocate an office. The real challenge comes into play when we have to help our employees understand and support a new way of doing business. In actuality, plan to spend 3 to 4 times as much time training for new behaviors as opposed to training new business procedures. Employees can quickly learn ‘How’ to perform a new or modified task. It is the ‘Why’ do they have to do it the new way that can create problems for all of us.

I’ve helped several manufacturers initiate employee project or product teams. For many people, working in somewhat, self-contained teams, is a new concept and, therefore, not the norm. Furthermore, where resetting production lines is relatively straightforward, helping employees understand ‘why and how’ the line resets and ‘why and how’ teams will benefit them is not. Because we’re trying to change behaviors, this process will take time, training, and communication (in abundance).

As old as each of your employee’s is, that’s how many years he or she has been developing specific behavior patterns. So when we ask them to learn a new procedure, and possibly, modify their behaviors and beliefs to implement the change effectively, there is resistance. Intentional or not, the resistance is there. Think about it. We are forcing people to behave in ways that are not normal to them and, to most of us, “not normal” is wrong.

The solution: We have to help to develop a mindset that the Change Is Normal—the act, the journey, the move from here to there (physically or behaviorally)—normal, normal, normal. Because (listen to me now) unless we keep an intense focus on changing behavior patterns before, during, and after the business changes occur, we will not be able to successfully implement any plan.

Copyright 1997, 2002 &  2011 – Liz Weber, CMC – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com