A Force for Good - Part 5
I'm going to end the "A Force for Good" series of posts by combining some insights from "Forces for Good" and "Good to Great", another management book that I read recently. Although I haven't gone through all the tips covered in "Forces for Good" I think combining the most relevant remaining points from both books will make for a more interesting and engaging post.
"Good to Great" is the result of a massive study of good to great for profit companies. Good to great companies are defined as those whose stock returns started out roughly equal to the general market or average competitors, but after a transition point, their returns beat the general market significantly. If you imagine a graph where the x axis is time and the y axis is return on investment of 1 dollar, good to great companies start out with a flat line, and then suddenly at a certain transition point the slope of the graph takes off. The authors identified 11 good to great companies and studied what happened during the transition points that led to such immense growth.
All good to great companies were led by level 5 leaders during the transition point.
The picture below shows 5 levels of leadership, as described by the authors. A level 5 leader embodies a paradoxical combination of professional will and humility. He (or she, but I'll stick with "he" here for simplicity) sets high performance standards, but questions himself before anyone else if these expectations are not met. He sets the company, and not just himself, up for success. A level 5 CEO may spend a large amount of his time recruiting, vetting, and training his successor to make sure the company sustains its momentum. A lower level leader may spend much less time thinking about succession, focused only on achieving as much as possible during his term.
The authors point out that good to great companies never have the "genius with 1000 followers" model, which is where the entire company is based on the innovations and ideas of a single individual and the other employees are simply his helpers. This model is unsustainable and actually sets up the company for failure once the "genius" steps down.
When a level 5 leader finally achieves success, he is never boastful, especially about his own leadership capabilities.
I personally strive to be a level 5 leader, both in RB and my other team-based pursuits. The authors' description of level 5 leadership resonates strongly with several of the personality traits that I strive to embody: humility, graciousness, supportiveness, get-stuff-done mentality, and ambition.
The book spends a chapter talking about "confronting the brutal facts of your reality". They offer a few tips to help companies ask and answer the tough questions that are holding them back. There's one tip that I want to share that's closely related to level 5 leadership, in my opinion: conduct autopsies without blame.
Mistakes will be made, some bigger than others. When big mistakes are made, post-mortem analyses is useful to determine what went wrong and how the same error can be avoided in the future.
I believe that these post-mortem examinations of negative results are actually one of the most instructive parts of being in an organization. Being a part of RB has given me the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them while I'm still young. While I've learned a lot from our successful projects, it's the mistakes I've made that I find myself reflecting upon most often. Most young aspiring global health professionals don't have the chance to engage in hands on health delivery, especially internationally, until much later on in their careers. Mistakes can cost lives, especially if you're running a hospital, directing a public health nonprofit, or managing a state health department. The more mistakes I make now, the better prepared I'll be in the future to take on a high level leadership position where the stakes are large.
But the key to performing autopsies is to not assign blame to any individuals. This is relevant for two reasons. First, level 5 leaders do not blame their employees, because they always consider themselves mainly responsible for negative outcomes. After he introspects, the level 5 leader will have a positive, encouraging, and thoughtful conversation about what could be improved.
Second, blaming is often interpreted as a personal attack (even if it's not meant that way), which is especially unwarranted when working with passionate, motivated individuals. A level 5 leader has the intuition to discern to what extent employees recognize their mistakes, and shape their discussion accordingly. Yelling at your most dedicated employee likely only worsens the situation - if he's your best employee, he probably cares a lot about the company and already feels bad for his mistake.
Find the best passengers for the train
Both books highlighted an important lesson about hiring: pick employees for their personal qualities, not for their skills. Skills can be learned and developed, but passion, work ethic, and dedication cannot be taught. "Good to Great" also offered useful suggestions for knowing when to fire someone. Ask yourself two questions: would you hire them again? And if they told you they were seeking another opportunity, would you be disappointed or secretly relieved?
"Good to Great" talks about creating a rigorous culture, as opposed to a ruthless culture. In a ruthless culture, employees are primarily concerned with outperforming their coworkers out of fear that they may lose their job if they don't. While a ruthless culture may lead to productivity, it is not sustainable nor is it conducive to good employee morale. None of the 11 good to great companies had a ruthless culture.
A rigorous culture is characterized by productivity unhindered by fear and unhealthy competition. All the employees know they are valued, and thus are motivated by doing good work rather than competing for their job. This reminds me of a TED talk I watched by Simon Sinek where he talked about how a certain company dealt with layoffs during the recession. They needed to save $10 million dollars, which they could have done by laying off 200 employees (this may be what a ruthless company would have). Instead, because the CEO felt that each employee was truly valuable to the success of the firm, he mandated that all employees take 4 weeks of unpaid vacation during the next year. Employees who could afford to take more time off ended up trading vacation weeks with those who couldn't afford to go without work. They ended up saving $20 million, and employee morale hit an all time high. That guy is a level 5 leader for sure.
"Good to Great" offers 4 tips on how to create a rigorous culture.
- when in doubt, don't hire. Don't settle for less just because you're pressed for time. You're better off spending the extra time now to find a great employee that will stick with you for a long time than hiring a sub par worker who you'll have to spend more time replacing after a short while.
- if you feel like you need to make a hiring change, act fast. Don't be inclined to give third and fourth chances. Once you feel like you have to closely manage someone, you've made a hiring mistake.
- sometimes, moving someone to another position is better than firing them
- assign your best workers to your biggest opportunities, not to your biggest problems
I highly recommend anyone interesting in management to read these two books. They are also two books that I would recommend buying, because they are useful reference texts.
