People.... Yep, ya gotta have some skills

Yes, in order to be a successful executive, you do have to have some people skills. And, simply because you have made it to the executive ranks, you have likely demonstrated at least some modicum of skills.

My research tells me that the most important people skills for the new executive include: motivate, teach/mentor, and empower. The people skills are actually tied very closely to other skills within the model…. Such as vision and execution.

For example, the executive must have the necessary skill to motivate employees so that they all successfully execute the strategy of the organization. In order to do this, the executive must also be willing and able to mentor his/her people. Mentoring always includes providing employees with opportunities to grow and develop. It is only by growing and developing can people become successful. And the organization succeeds when its people succeed. Trite, but true.

On a side note, one of my survey participants pointed out that there must also be self-development by the executive. So true. Just like the need for an organization to have employees that are growing and learning, it is similarly necessary for the new executive to continue to grow and learn -- either through formal development programs or self-development. It is unfortunately the tendency of executives, once they reach a certain rank, to begin to believe that they don’t need the development. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. You can’t possibly know everything you need to know, even after years and years in a position, at a company, or in an industry.

The executive must also have the skill (and some would say fortitude) to empower his/her people. Yep, this is a tough one. How many times have you found yourself just doing a task because you believe that it will take much longer to show someone else to do it? If you take that road, you will find yourself, over time, “the doer” of the organization…… As an executive, you are the strategist, not the doer. So yep, it may take longer to teach someone the task --- the first time. But the next time, and the next, and the next….. Well, you have someone who knows how to do it without you looking over their shoulder. And you have a happier employee because they’ve grown/developed and learned something new. Win, win.

What does it come down to? Well, your organization is in existence to succeed (whatever your company‘s definition of success is). That can only happen with a concerted group effort -- effort that comes from employees that take the initiative allowed and encouraged by the executive.

One final note. Never, never become the executive or manager that people fear. One of my previous posts (12-28-09 Should Told Me #3) talked about the manager that generated fear in the organization. Yea, in the short-run you might succeed with this attitude. But, you will ultimately be that manager or executive that you see….. You know, the one that has been side-tracked to an insignificant job, is now irrelevant, or has even been fired.

Take the time to check your people skills. Have you developed someone today? Did you empower someone to try something new? You may have had some sort of people skill or ability to get promoted, but it never hurts to continue to check and hone those skills.

Cheers!

Participant Observations (or the inside skinny)

If you have been reading along with me, by now you know why I did the research, background for the research, what the research was, and some preliminary results. Today, I’ll take a look at some general observations made by the participants.

The participant observations came as I was analyzing the data by demographic category. For example, within the execution function, the only intersection of agreement between males and females was the ability to be decisive. As related by one executive, “many/most times decisions are elevated due to lack of a clear-cut ‘answer’. Being able to listen to opposing arguments and make a decisions is critical to executive leadership. If it was easy, the team would have already decided”. But I also learned that as important as being decisive is also to have the skill to delegate not only a task but also the decisions related to the task. So the “skill” isn’t a narrow focus on decision-making. It is expanded to acknowledge the need for the executive to understand when he/she should step up and make the decision as well as know when to delegate the decision to other levels.

When I analyzed the results based on the level of the executive respondent, I discovered that within the vision function, there is clear agreement that as a person moves into the executive ranks, he/she should must also move from the day-to-day (or tactical) management to a longer-term or strategic view. One executive told me, “in my first executive assignment, I focused on solving day-to-day problems and the organization I led did not have a clear, well-communicated strategy. This limited the effectiveness of the organization and sent the wrong signals about what was necessary for long-term success”. Clearly, it is important for the new or aspiring executive to figure out how to make the transition to strategic management.

Within the functional organization demographic, I found agreement that the new executive must have, and use, the skills of empowerment and teaching/mentoring. The responses relative to this went from the purely practical (if you don’t empower, you end up doing the day-to-day stuff), to the more esoteric idea of ownership and buy-in. One executive summed this up very well, “if you are the smartest (or busiest) person in the organization, you probably need to make some changes”. Wise advice, indeed.

One theme I heard, over and over, in the structured and in the open-ended questions was relative to the communication function. These executives could not stress enough the need to have the skill for establishing interpersonal relationships, which they tended to use interchangeably with the skill for development personal networks. In addition, they approached this need via varying avenues. For example, one executive discussed the need to create a sound network within his/her peer group -- “I wish I had been more incisive about the fragile egos and personalities of existing executives”. Solid peer-to-peer relationships would have allowed him/her to ask questions or challenge ideas without creating defensiveness. Another application of the networking skill concerns getting work done through the “right channel” within the organization -- or more specifically, getting the right support to get an idea moved forward. “At the executive level, decisions often get made based upon trust and relationships. There aren’t always policies, procedures, or protocols in place to drive decisions that need to be made. They’re based upon a mutual trusting relationship.” Clearly there is a need for the new and aspiring executive to carefully (and honestly) build his/her network of relationships. This idea of building your network is clearly a critical factor for the success of an executive.

Next time? How the conceptual model morphed from a concept to a final model for executive skills and traits.

Cheers!