A Senior Leader Mistake
Hiring People Just Like You
One of the costliest mistakes senior leaders make is hiring people who are just like them. The problem with this mistake is that it often results in senior leadership teams rewarding behaviors that are similar to their behaviors and criticizing behaviors that are often needed in the workplace.
It’s human nature to more easily get along with some people than others. But, when that tendency translates into our hiring practices it can have a negative impact on an organization’s culture.
Senior leaders influence organizational culture more than any other factor, and, if all senior leaders are thinking alike….well, then, no one is thinking at all.
Spending Too Much Time IN the Business
One of the costliest mistakes senior leaders make is spending too much time IN the business instead of ON the business.
When senior leaders focus too much time on the technical and tactical aspects of the business, and playing the role of project managers, they fail to look at the strategic aspects of the business and the longer term plan.
This typically results in ambiguity of roles and responsibilities and a lack of alignment.
Answer the following questions:
- is your product road map shorter than 3-6 months?
- is the strategic planning process hap-hazard and often unintentional instead of planned and consistent each year?
- are performance reviews a once a year thing?
- does your executive team regularly miss their quarterly offsites that should be focused solely on planning and strategic team building?
If you answered yes to any of these issues, it’s likely your senior leaders are focused too much IN the business and need to step back to work ON the business.
With 5.12 Solutions you are offered an alternative to stale, off-the-shelf training programs. As our name suggests, we strive to help people reach higher levels of success in how they lead, communicate, and collaborate so that their organizations can also reach higher levels of success and be more productive and profitable. We infuse our programs with energy and enthusiasm and use a variety of tools for growth that make learning unforgettable.
About the Author
Sal Silvester is the founder and president of 5.12 Solutions http://512solutions.com Working with teams is Sal’s passion. He has a unique perspective on team development and leadership gained through his experience over the past 17 years as an Army Officer, an executive at Accenture, and founder of 5.12 Solutions.
Posted in Management skills