A manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate. A leader’s job is to inspire and motivate. The biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they motivate people who work or follow them, and this sets the tone for most other aspects of what they do. Managers have subordinates; leaders have followers.

The best supervisors and executives are both managers and leaders. They realize that you cannot buy hearts, especially when a difficult path needs to be followed, so they act as leaders too. Here are other common attributes:

Managers can become better leaders by focusing on people. A great first step is working to understand the different needs that motivate people, and recognizing that the same rewards don’t motivate everyone in the same way. This can be done by listening carefully to others to learn what motivates them. Another key to people-focused leadership is to make sure you communicate clearly so they understand how their work contributes to a larger goal.

Leaders create productive teams that draw the best from people. They effectively coach teams in collaboration, consensus building, and conflict resolution. Those who are being “managed” are really looking for a leader they trust and want to follow: someone they know is working for the greater good – for them and for the organization.

I attended a breakfast meeting for a local Boys & Girls Club chapter. The stories shared hit me emotionally but, more importantly, reminded me of why I do what I do. The kids and young adults who benefit from the program succeed in life mostly through pure determination and often against the highest odds. They’re an inspiration for all of us, and each one of them is a leader in their own way.

This is an ideal learning lesson for the business world. Just like the Boys & Girls club program directors, business leaders should always be looking for the hidden potential within their employees; potential which often remains untapped.

It starts with the right belief about people and determination to make a difference.

“Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe.”  (Winston Churchill)

There really are just 3 key principles for developing leadership talent that will deliver sustainable organizational performance and results. First, recruit the right people based on workplace culture and job fit.

• Know Who You Need: talent assessment; succession plan; and alignment to strategic direction
• Structure Your Approach: pre-hire assessments; defined hiring process (behavior based); and discipline
• Hire the Right People: skills; experience; behavioral traits; interests; and attitude

Employees need opportunity for development,

• Identify High Potential Talent: look for hidden, undiscovered potential
• Succession Planning: not just for the executive level – all leadership positions and key roles/responsibilities
• Customized Training Programs: classroom; executive coaching; online e-learning; video-based training; reading and discussion

…and must feel a sense of belonging and engagement.

• Direction: chart the course for employees
• Culture: create a working environment that drives engagement
• Development: provide professional development opportunity
• Coaching: coach employees for high performance

Winston Churchill also said “Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential.” Apply these three principles consistently and leadership talent in your organization will flourish.

Why would you hire a personal trainer when anyone can use the same exercise equipment without assistance? One reason is to have someone knowledgeable help select the right sequence of exercises to meet your defined goals. Based on progress, personal trainers make adjustments to client exercise routines. Also, meeting with a personal trainer each week adds an element of accountability. Their presence ensures commitment and provides motivation.

The benefits of a business or executive coach are exactly the same. Delivering expertise and providing accountability, desired results are much more likely to be achieved. Use of executive and business coaching is increasing because it’s a cost effective means of achieving phenomenal results for individuals, teams and businesses.

According to a recent survey of US companies (58% small and medium sized) the following benefits are attributable to business coaching:

• An increase in productivity
• Improved customer service
• Increased retention of senior people
• Reduction in costs
• Augmented bottom line profitability

The survey also reported that the individuals who received coaching saw improvement in:

• Working relationships with their direct reports
• Working relationships with their manager
• Team-building
• Reduction in conflict
• Business Relationships with clients

The first step in determining whether a business coach makes sense for you is to determine how serious you are about achieving your goals. Commitment is critical. If the commitment is there, you will benefit tremendously from the expertise and accountability an executive business coach can provide.

Like football, business revolves around plans, people, action, and various ways to measure success. Statistics, metrics and measures tell the story. It’s now the end of the first calendar quarter. How do you and your team measure up to expectations? Yes, those expectations you set for yourself, and your team, when you created your strategic plan or business plan. What’s working and not working? Do you need to adapt and change course?

For some, this will be a friendly reminder. For those of you now ransacking your office to find a copy of your plan, this should be a wakeup call. Find your plan and follow along!

Company goals and objectives: While typically measured over a 12 month period, don’t wait until the end of the year to see how you’re doing. By then, it could be too late. Look to measure progress. For example, if one goal is to increase market share this year, you should be well on your way. Is your progress YTD acceptable?

Company performance indicators: This is your company’s dashboard: specific measures you should track regularly. They fall into one of four categories – Customer Satisfaction, Organizational Culture, Internal Operations, and Financial Performance. Examples include revenue, profit, on-time delivery, customer acquisition, and employee retention.

Department goals and objectives: Similar to company goals and objectives, departmental goals will also include improvement initiatives. Using the market share example, suppose reaching your goal requires increased manufacturing efficiency or a new product line –responsible departments should be tracking and reporting their progress.

Department performance indicators: Every department needs to perform and do their part. Measuring departmental performance drives accountability and improves the organization’s value stream – cross functional performance.

Employee performance: Employees need to be growing professionally – that is, if you want them to keep them. This goes beyond meeting basic  job specifications. It’s about talent management.

Everyone on a football team “knows the score.” There are no secrets about what’s being measured. Consistency and transparency are critical for measuring business performance too. Make sure your team knows what’s being measured and how success is defined and your accomplishments will grow quarter by quarter.

Consider a performance review as a series of opportunities. A performance review is an opportunity to focus on the strengths and the needs of the employee, chart employee progress, and reprioritize goals. It’s an opportunity to build relationships, encourage open discussion, seek ideas for improvement, and provide positive motivation for employee engagement. Attitude is everything.

A meaningful and productive performance review will provide the following:

• For the employee: a clear understanding of what is expected and what needs to be done to meet those expectations
• For the employee: a chance to openly discuss aspirations and seek guidance, support or required training
• For the supervisor: an opportunity to identify and articulate the employee’s strengths and weaknesses
• For the supervisor: clearly link individual employee objectives and expectations with broader organizational objectives
• For the supervisor: an occasion to form a more productive relationship based on mutual trust and understanding

For the company, a consistent, positive and productive approach to performance reviews offers many advantages, including effective communication of the organization’s objectives, engaged employees who know they are valued, an increased sense of cohesiveness and loyalty, ideas for company improvement, the identification and development of future leaders, and improved overall company performance.

Here are a few practical suggestions for supervisors

1. Share performance review processes and related documents when the employee is hired.
2. No surprises!  If an employee is surprised by a supervisor’s performance assessment, the supervisor is not being effective in their day-to-day communications. Supervisors should ensure that communication and feedback is frequent and on-going.
3. Have separate meetings for performance reviews and merit increases.
4. Supervisors should emphasize the links between the employee’s efforts and the success of the organization overall.

One dictionary definition describes a supervisor as “One who supervises; one who is in charge of a particular department or unit”. Being in charge of a business unit is comprised of two important elements:

(1) The supervisor must be able to run and manage the business; the focus being on process, systems, structure, and performance measures;

(2) The supervisor must be able to inspire and lead the employees; the emphasis being on morale, workplace culture, and professional development.

Eventually, one without the other always ends badly. Many argue that the failure of Merrill Lynch in 2008 was, ultimately, a failure of leadership at the company.

I find that the majority of supervisors today are elevated to their position more for their technical (running the business) track record rather than leadership capability. Considering this imbalance consider SKYE’s Leadership ABCs as a framework for building the soft-skills side of the equation:

A. ADAPTIVE: Learn how to communicate with different personalities. Becoming more adaptive to and understanding how people are motivated and influenced is invaluable with today’s diverse workforce.

B. BALANCED: Find the correct balance between working “in” your business (running it) and working “on” your business (improving it). The chaotic nature of the former often eliminates the time for the latter. Also, balance must be achieved between holding employees accountable and helping them grow professionally. This is not simple with some people – you know who they are.

C. CAPABLE: Employees need a role model to help them master the “technical” aspects of their job and become influential communicators. Learn to facilitate problem solving (not solving problems for them) and be the communicator others aspire to be – they will follow.

Incorporating this framework into your company’s leadership philosophy will produce better supervisors, more satisfied employees, and superior business results.

WHY?

• It aligns thinking and decision making from top to bottom
• It provides visibility on company goals and objectives which allows others to align their respective efforts and performance targets
• It sends a message to employees “this is the direction we are headed – help us succeed”
• It creates a business atmosphere where people truly understand how their work contributes to the company’s success
• It helps create an engaged workplace culture
• It works; it’s what successful leaders do

HOW?

“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.” Howard Aiken, computing pioneer, IBM

Ask any business executive how many times they need to repeat a strategic message before it is effectively absorbed by their organization and their eyes will roll. In one of my recent conversations, the number was “17.” This may seem exaggerated but it’s consistent with my experience. The ways in which you communicate are equally important. There are more opportunities than you may think:

1. Company Meetings: This is an ideal forum to provide the highlights of your strategic plan (overall direction), and to reinforce your mission and values. However, don’t expect many questions. Most people are not comfortable speaking up in this setting. Smaller group settings will stimulate better dialogue.
2. Department Meetings: Employees want (and need) to know how company goals and objectives trickle down to them. This is a perfect opportunity for department heads to discuss the impact it will have on the department and how success will be measured.
3. Team Meetings or Discussions: There are a variety of projects and programs occurring at any given time during the year. Respective leaders should reinforce the value of these projects back to the specific elements of the strategic plan.
4. One-on-One (coaching) Dialogue: Helping employees understand how their work contributes to the company’s success is a critical part of creating an actively engaged workforce. This can be planned or off-the-cuff. Either way, ongoing employee feedback will keep them focused on and aligned to what is most important.

And finally, “rinse and repeat” – this is not a linear exercise. Communicating your business plan and strategic vision is an ongoing interactive process of learning, development, and growth for your employees – all of them.

At your Sales Team kickoff meeting the significance of this new outlook cannot be overemphasized. However, the theme shouldn’t be about “resolutions” – you must be focused exclusively on goals. Resolutions tend to fade faster than daylight in New England in January. Well defined goals are different. They are specific, measurable, attainable and for a finite period of time. Because they should be written down, ownership is established and maintained.

Too often goals are presented or “announced” by management—the classic top down approach. However, effective goals are developed with input from the bottom up. Failure to do so too often prevents true buy-in by the Sales Team.

Assuming your organizations’ goals have been developed properly, early in the year and as part of the roll-out, managers must meet individually with Team members. Sales leadership is about coaching and leading—not just managing.

Team meetings (as opposed to individual meetings) should take place at least quarterly. As you kick off the New Year, set expectations for these meetings and reference potential topics that should be of interest, such as competitive updates, sales practices – what works and what doesn’t, etc. Topics that are geared toward helping the Sales Team succeed will also help keep motivation high. Too often managers gear meetings toward only what is important to them.

This year, commit yourself to LEADING your Team to get the results you want. Let your competition make the mistake of simply managing….

In summary,

1. Goals—not resolutions
2. Top down AND bottom up goal-setting
3. Individual meetings to coach and lead (not manage)
4. Develop Team meeting topics of importance to THEM—not you
5. Commit yourself to leading this year

According to The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, here are some situations where coaching could provide significant value to your organization:

• Does your organization have a shortage of talent? Developing the skills of current employees through coaching can be a more desirable and cost effective solution when compared with the risk and expense of recruiting external candidates and “importing” skills into your organization.
• Did your business start small and grow? Skills required to manage larger businesses are fundamentally different from those necessary when businesses are very small. But these skills are not acquired automatically; coaching can help fast forward the process.
• Do you have valuable technical experts who need to develop other skills? Certain employees may be very difficult to replace due to their specific technical knowledge or client relationships. Helping to develop this human capital such that it can thrive in your organization is more beneficial and cost effective than trying to replace their knowledge or replicate their relationships.
• Is it difficult for your leaders to “get away”? Most businesses cannot afford to have leaders away from work for extended periods of time. Coaching offers targeted, timely development on identified issues/areas that can be fitted into the individual’s busy schedule.
• Are significant organizational changes taking place? Mergers, acquisitions and reorganization of any kind can necessitate shifts in behavior and attitudes. Coaching facilitates changes required to fit with new structures or cultures.
• Have there been recent changes in job roles? New jobs usually require new skills and abilities. Business coaching can help people adapt and excel in their new role.
• Do you need to provide support for future leaders or senior executives? As you groom managers or executives for leadership roles, keep in mind they too will likely need to enhance their skills for the new role but may be reluctant to voice their needs. Outside coaching provides a confidential and safe development option with the advantage of an objective perspective.

In recent years coaching has evolved into a tool widely recognized to rapidly increase leadership effectiveness and levels of personal and professional achievement. It’s something to strongly consider for your organization as 2012 approaches.

As I was preparing to speak at a recent event, I noticed a quotation stenciled on the conference room wall. The quote, from Nolan Bushnell, an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari and the Chuck E. Cheese’s chain, really grabbed my attention. It says plenty about the significance of putting ideas into action:

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”

I believe that strategic plans are “ideas for companies” that must be shared and, most importantly, put directly into action. The challenge lies within the core of Mr. Bushnell’s quotation, and that is doing something today. Almost all strategic planning efforts produce a well-structured and nicely written document. But many plans are kept a secret and often end up gathering dust on bookshelves in the executive suite. The concept of “today” is completely lost.