CEOs, Do Your Job!
In good times or bad, employees need to know that their company leaders trust that they know HOW to do their jobs, that they possess the talents, as well as the skills needed; to change on a dime to compensate for what has become the unexpected work-world. From day-to-day, workers don't really know how the market will fare, how customers will respond to new product launches or if their customer base is going to expect what they expected in the past. What they do know is HOW to do their job and the CEO should be encouraging innovation and decision-making at the lowest levels in the organization.
Unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership. CEOs, owners and presidents of both large and small companies must support the idea that their workforce is capable, with appropriate guidance, coaching and feedback to do the job they are being paid to do. If the CEO, who is usually focused upon setting the vision and mission for the company, is starting to poke around in customer service or shipping, there is really a bigger problem with how employees are being coached and held accountable for results.
The CEO's role should be the company's communicator. The CEO needs to let employees know what to expect and how the company is preparing to respond to the unexpected. The less time they spend keeping their eye on the compass, the more opportunity there is for significant failure, loss of profit or worse yet, total demise of their once stable companies.
As leaders, we all like to think of ourselves as the people who have the ability to save companies from suffering through another slow month or another downturn so we resort to "hovering" to ensure that employees are bending over backwards to keep and retain customers, make the right decisions as it relates to providing reasonable concessions, but what is happening with this level of scrutiny is that employees are becoming less empowered. They are not taking responsibility for results because the CEO is nicely filling that gap.
Now more than ever, CEOs, executives and company leaders must trust in the fact that they have provided a firm foundation for their employees to succeed. If they have not, then it would be best to focus energy and time on a stronger performance management system that acts as a beacon for measuring how well employees are performing their job functions, how well they are contributing to the company's strategic goals and for how well they are responding and behaving according to the company's operating principles.
Employees want and need their CEOs to keep their eye on the horizon and stay out of the details. By doing so, they create an atmosphere that continues to reward achievement and individual accountability.
CC Consulting helps CEOs and company leaders develop performance management systems and create effective plans to implement their vision. Contact us to learn more about our CEO services.