Would you agree that all great leaders make mistakes? When leaders do not take the people side of the business seriously, the leadership mistakes are more dramatic and have bigger impact. Perhaps if leaders had a list of the biggest mistakes made, more leaders would be apt to avoid them.
We can search the great annals of history including our historic media industry to be specific. Here’s one celebrated debacle…
A few years ago in the Delaware’s Court of Chancery Walt Disney shareholders sued at the time the Walt Disney Company’s CEO, Michael Eisner (and seventeen current and former directors), for giving Michael Ovitz (then President of The Walt Disney Company) an excessively rich deal when the company hired and quickly fired him—more than $300,000 a day in severance for his allegedly incompetent 454 days as president.
Ovitz was a Disney board member when he was fired, so he is, in a fine irony, one of the eighteen co-defendants. Ovitz was paid $140 million in severance because even though the powers at be didn’t think he did a great job, he wasn’t so terrible that he could have been fired for cause.
It can be argued that in Eisner’s legacy even he himself drove away renowned executives that have risen to other ranks in our industry including Jeffrey Katzenberg, Gerry Laybourne, Susan Lyne (Desperate Housewives, Lost), the Weinsteins of the famed Miramax company, and also Pixar’s geniuses.
The carnage that is left from mistakes is of course certainly the roadmap to growth and learning. The old adage says, “there are no mistakes in life, only lessons to be learned.” That’s a lovely sentiment, however if you are part of the leadership “roadkill” it’s not so much fun.
What if there was a better, less costly way? Wouldn’t we all be interested?
As someone who consults and coaches media leaders on leadership development, I became increasingly interested in what mistakes hold media leaders back and would potentially cause great damage to the people side of the business.
I have a personal inherent belief that people are the backbones of organizations and are the ones who really make everything happen. Without taking time and care to be devoted to your workforce you are completely sunk.
Here the top three mistakes found from examining over 20 companies in the media industry. Thus far, these are the top three:
1)Leadership development not linked to development plans; little to no leadership and on-going development planning - 89%
2)Caught up in the day to day without bigger picture in mind – 89%
3)Actions, plans and priorities have little to no link to daily work – no clarity on company’s strategy and expectations (when an employee does the work, don’t know what happens to it after its done) – 84%
Let's unpack the first mistake:
1) Leadership development not linked to development plans; little to no leadership and on-going development planning - 89%
I was meeting with Joe, a senior executive several weeks ago and we were discussing the concept of development planning. I like Joe because he is focusing much of his attention and energy on refining his team and putting processes in place to ensure he has a high impact team. He’s looking for people processes to ensure the success of each individual on the team.
Joe said, “You know Esther, I think it’s a wonderful idea to have development plans for senior executives, yet who is going to take the time to do it? I don’t think my boss will and doubt his boss has asked him to do this.” Then Joe posed the question to me, “Don’t you think as senior level leaders we should know what we are doing and don’t need anything like this? It sounds like a good idea, however I don’t think it’s practical.”
Joe brings up a good point. Having an on-going development planning process isn’t easy. Having a process and a plan for focused and on-going leadership development is something that takes time and effort. And it’s true, it’s time consuming and surely high-level execs may not want to invest the time.
There’s a difference between having a plan for development and no plan for development. There’s a difference between having developmental goals and no goals. Statistics show when you have a goal, especially one written, you are more likely to achieve it. Plus, if you invest people around you into helping you achieve your goal, you are certainly more apt to achieve it.
I liken it to…Steven Redgrave. Steven Redgrave is considered to be one of the greatest rowers of all time. He is also referred to as the greatest Olympian of Britain. He has won gold medals in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games, 1988 Seoul Summer Games, 1992 Barcelona Olympics, 1996 Atlanta Summer Games and in the 2000 Sydney Summer Games at the age of 38, Redgrave won his fifth Olympic gold medal.
Just imagine if Steve would not have had roadmap for his development as an Olympic athlete? There’s no doubt Steven Redgrave was a talented rower. He won the Junior World Rowing Championships as a kid, and went onto win 27 of the highest awards in rowing. However, having a plan, and a coach or someone to work with him to create a plan for achieving gold medal status, he achieved this and so much more.
It’s no different for a media leader. When you create measured development plans with key motivators that cause action, then you know you are getting somewhere. Planned, systematic and dedicated check ins ensures accountability and serve as core indicators to demonstrate progress. What do you get when you put development planning in place? A culture of inflamed people development.
Here are some tips:
• Create development plans
• Meet regularly – every 60 days for check in, development and motivation
• Ensure the person being developed can clearly see measured progress
• Prepare for these meetings and ensure a follow-up – be ready to ask developmental questions
• Let the person being developed drive this process
Let development planning be your roadmap to your own organizational goal medal!
No comments:
Post a Comment