OK, maybe not a dollar a day – but I’ll bet it’s less than you think.
Few will argue against the importance and value of true leadership. In most all cases, effective leadership is the core of organization success. Still, many firms – particularly smaller ones – struggle with the cost of leadership – in time, effort, and dollars.
But what if you could have it – strong, effective, and sustainable leadership – with a lot less investment? Interested?
For the first sixteen years of my career I worked at Exxon Corporation (today Exxon Mobil). Exxon is of course a very large multinational company, but (like design engineering and technical firms) is primarily made up of (and lead by) engineers. Exxon focused extensive resources on leadership development – identifying, training, mentoring, and developing talent. For very large organizations like Exxon, the big leadership challenge is selecting the best candidates, marshalling these through a necessarily involved, diverse, and broad path of experiences, and transitioning them into high value positions (without disrupting the core business). And this is true for all types of very large organizations – not just companies, but also with politicians, generals, and pontiffs too.
Since leaving Exxon, I’ve spent a dozen years now working with much smaller companies – and translating the leadership philosophies, approaches, and programs of larger, highly successful organizations into the realities of smaller firms. Effective leadership is of great importance and value to AEC firms of all sizes. Moreover, I believe (as I’ve claimed before) that the question of succession (who’ll run and own the firm tomorrow) is the most important – and biggest threat – facing tens of thousands of architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting firms today. In my view, very many (perhaps 50%) of these firms will eventually fumble their opportunity for successful transition, and either lose much of the equity value of their firms – or go out of business all together. [For those keeping score, let’s be clear: I’m talking about 60,000 AEC firms that are today (though they don’t know it) toast – “dead firm walking.”]
Here’s what I’ve discovered along the way: 1) all successful leadership development programs (regardless of the organization’s size) include a complete recipe of ingredients – the important component parts; 2) firm owners/leaders must avoid the temptation to skip any of the important steps; 3) the operative concept of success is scale – adjusting the size of the program to fit the context of the business.
I’m drawing a distinction here between scale and scope – the latter a concept quite familiar to AEC professionals. Adjusting the scopeof leadership development (in the small firm) would imply cutting out ingredients. This is not what smaller organizations need – their strategy must include a full scope, though smaller scale, leadership development effort (all the parts, with a pinch less of each in the mix). And there’s good news for smaller firms: sustainable leadership development programs are ‘cooked up’ in crock-pots, not frying pans. A successful small firm program is built slowly, over time – one step now, another later – and thus can be matched to the resources available in the organization.
Here are three recent examples of what I’m talking about – small but valuable steps that client firms I’m working with have taken, to move their efforts ahead:
1) Profile – This 100-person, west coast environmental consulting firm created a two-page document entitled Profile of a Leader, and in it described the traits, talents, skills, and attitudes that senior owners desire in the firm’s up-and-coming leaders (and owners). The profile provides a clear definition of leadership for this firm, and allows each employee (or recruit) to better understand the goal – and their fit with it. Isn’t clarity of objective always a plus?
2) Personality Type – This 75-person, east coast engineering firm had all managers take the DISC personal assessment tool – and then share their results in a workshop on management effectiveness. Increasing awareness of self and peers (strengths and shortcomings, preferences and styles) is helping this team to better align with each other and with staff – and with driving this cohesion to the bottom line.
3) Alignment Meeting – A dozen senior managers of this 300+ person, multidisciplinary firm gathered for an intense and challenging two-day session, focused on improving team strength and alignment with the strategic vision. Having made considerable progress with clarity, cohesion, and communication – the group now anticipates gathering in similar sessions on a regular, quarterly schedule. Next up for this group: driving the alignment message deeper into the organization.
One organization that’s taken leadership development to a higher level is Shive-Hattery www.shive-hattery.com, today a strong and successful, nearly 300-person multidisciplinary A/E firm operating from seven locations across the Midwest. Not long after assuming the top spot, President and CEO Tom Hayden developed the company’s impressive leadership program – complete with offsite workshops, (substantial) required reading and preparation, interactive group discussion/debate, and ongoing learning and application back on the job. The company has hosted these sessions now for more than fifteen years – with nearly a hundred members in the alumni group. And the breadth and reach of this program has been a critical factor of success in Shive-Hattery’s decentralized, autonomous, and primarily locally led and driven business model. Tom’s personal passion is written all over this program, and the results speak for themselves. The company has enjoyed a particularly successful run in the last decade (with 2010 the firm’s second best revenue and profit year on record), and is today very well prepared – both for the business challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and for the leadership succession and transition that eventually will come.
There are many more examples of high-value leadership development – strategic planning, team building, training and development, mentoring, job rotation, succession planning – happening today in hundreds (perhaps thousands) of AEC firms. For many of these organizations, the value of developing leadership is much greater than in transition alone – solving the ‘who’ll run it tomorrow’ problem. Indeed, this value is both visible and obvious in the best of the best firms: successful leaders are also producers – strong role models, gifted mentors, outstanding client managers and business developers, and thoughtful stewards of the firm’s plans and resources. In short, effective leadership hits the bottom line.
But even though the proof is visible, still it’s safe to say it: not enough AEC firms are doing it (leadership development) – and not enough of those who are, are doing enough of it.
And though the cost may be (a little) more than a $1 a day – leadership development programs do work for organizations of all sizes. Any firm of any size (50,000, 5,000, 500, 50, or 5) that’s focused on growth, development, and success – must take action now to build and nurture its leaders. Small firms can start small – larger ones can take on more. All that’s really need to start is a measure of motivation, a dash of courage, a pinch of planning – and a crock-pot. And maybe a $1 a day.
Cheers!
John
