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Newsletter

Enhancing Executive Effectiveness
Volume 1, Issue No. 10
October 2000

By

Dan Coughlin

This issue will cover four main areas:

  1. Last month's question: If one of your major clients faced financially difficult times and couldn't afford you for the rest of the year, what would you do?
  2. Hot Issues For This Month: Development Versus Results
  3. Questions For Top Performers
  4. Resource Recommendation For Top Performers

LAST MONTH'S QUESTION

Here are comments from Rick Miller, Account Executive at Consolidated Communications Directories:

[Miller, Rick] I would look to the future. If the client is a major client then there is a very real possibility that they have played a part in my success, and the success of my company. I would address their needs for the remainder of that year and I would move forward with the intention of handling those needs. As to their affordability of my services, that is where the future comes in. By allowing me or my company to handle their needs when they were sound, they showed that they had a significant amount of faith in my company. By returning that show of faith, and standing by them when they need it, I would foster an incredible amount of trust in what was probably an already stable business relationship. The monetary losses of the now would be far surpassed by the rewards of the future. This would include both the current Major Client as well as the future major clients that would result from the reputation that these actions would build for me and my company.

Essentially, I agree with Rick. In today's business world, value-added relationships are the key. Value is anything that increases the chances that the other person will be successful. If you have a strong relationship with a good client and they fall on very hard times, then to walk away from them at that point would signal that you were only in it for the money. The word "relationship" implies long-term. It also implies commitment. If you are worried about your finances in the short-term, then you probably have too much business wrapped up within one client. In this case, be sure you are not becoming an employee of your client. Be a value-added peer. Both in terms of your own professional and financial growth, maintaining a good relationship is a key to long-term success. I recommend you read, The Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema.

HOT ISSUE FOR THIS MONTH: DEVELOPMENT VERSUS RESULTS

Somewhere in the history of business someone thought that doing more training automatically meant achieving better results. The corollary of this theory became, "Let's assign a fixed dollar amount for training and development, invest this money every year, and, presto, we will become more successful." However, there is a fundamental fallacy with this approach: training and development focuses on activities, but businesses focus on profits. Consequently, a company can spend an incredible amount of money on training and development and yet suffer financially as an organization. Of course, the next corollary becomes, "We will save money by not investing in training and development." Again, this is a fallacy. That is like saying a professional football team would save money by tearing their training facility, eliminating training camp and canceling all preseason games.

The key is to clearly connect the desired business outcomes with the training and development so that the latter produces the former. It is not enough to know how to do something. It is crucial for the employee to understand the connection behind what they are learning at the moment and how it will affect the success of the business. This is true regardless of the type of development: classroom session on a technical skill for hourly workers, seminar on leadership, executive coaching for top management, etc.

The first step in any development situation should be to identify what is the desired business outcome. Then decide how you will measure progress toward the achievement of this outcome. Then decide on the value of achieving this outcome. Only then can you determine the type of training that will be needed and the reasonable investment for that training.

Without this connection between business outcomes and the development of skills, a great deal of money will be poured into the "black hole of training and development." Then at the end of the year, the question will be, "What did we expect to get for our investment?" This should be determined before any investment is made. Otherwise, how will you know you are driving the business forward by doing the training and development?

QUESTIONS FOR TOP PERFOMERS

In working with a client, you come to find out that they are stealing from their corporation. They say, "Just between us, I've been able to turn in $250 a month for the past year of receipts that I just made up. The dollar amount is so small that no one has caught on to what I've been doing." What do you do now? Send your thoughts to info@thecoughlincompany.com

RESOURCE RECOMMENDATION FOR TOP PERFOMERS

Here's a book that I'm currently reading that I think is terrific. It is called The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. It was written back in 1966, but I have found about 95% of the ideas are still applicable today. One of my favorite quotes is the following:

I soon learned that there is no "effective personality." The effective executives I have seen differ widely in their temperaments and their abilities, in what they do and how they do it, in their personalities, their knowledge, their interests - in fact in almost everything that distinguishes human beings. ALL THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS THE ABILITY TO GET THE RIGHT THINGS DONE.

He also says that not every manager is an executive, but a non-manager can be an executive. The key differentiator is whether or not the person uses their ability to make decisions that enhance the organization.

I think you'll enjoy it. Take care and have a great month.

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