Repeated lectures are not nearly as effective as well enforced consequences.
When I worked as a Joint Venture Leader inside a General Electric start up, I delivered a less than stellar quarter in my first 90 days. I had significant line up issues in the one-year old business and I was hesitating to make the tough decisions.
My CEO spent an hour on the phone letting me know, with lots of certainty, what her expectations were for key leaders. Results Matter. It wasn’t 100% butt chewing. She made sure I knew that I had complete authority to make changes to the team, suppliers, whatever I determined was necessary. I needed to deliver a positive trend on profitability, or my successor would have to figure it out. The consequences were very clear.
As a business owner, this is a soul wrenching experience for me and many of our clients at XM Performance. How can we create effective consequences for our small business leadership teams without creating unhealthy fear?
The truth is, the clearly stated consequence of “go figure this out Ross or your successor will”, worked very well. I made the tough decisions, reorganized the team and started moving in the right direction.
Who is going to challenge you to make your next breakthrough?