Leaders Develop Leaders in a System

Q. Every year seems to be a continual struggle in my business although financially we are doing well. The challenges create stress and internal and external competition. What do you recommend?

A. After observing about 15 Silicon Valley companies (from start-ups to some Fortune 500 corporations) over the past few months and hearing about their issues, I see a trend I hope leaders can reverse. There certainly is stress coming from all directions, from internal issues to traffic to inflation to the high cost of living, etc. For decades, I've seen that people are working hard and putting in their best efforts and long hours, but they are doing the wrong things. They are deep in complexity, busyness, a lack of focus, details, and minutia.

Leaders work ON the System that the employees are working IN. That System produces the results, not the people. That's a strong, yet powerful mindset shift few leaders are aware of. Performance management (holding individuals accountable) is one of the big trends (management fads) in recent decades, but it is sub-optimizing the system.?An imperative leadership concept, system optimization, is essential! Yet, I rarely hear executives talking about at all! Leaders are accountable for the performance of the System (their company.) Instead, too often each department focuses on its own silo. HR focuses on creating programs or tools such as wellness,?performance appraisals, benefits and rules, or mentoring and coaching, but these programs are tinkering around the edges. They will not help company leaders significantly be healthy and lead, attract and retain employees, one of the biggest issues facing corporations. Leaders must learn about Systems thinking.

Q. My team has been continually growing in size over the past six months.?How do I ensure that this continues and that our core values are communicated as we scale?

A. You hit the nail on the head. You have the answer: communicate more and with diverse methods.?Acknowledge and recognize the people and teams working together to achieve the goals and serve others.?Be creative so they can all contribute.?Ask questions and explore and experiment together. Discover what’s possible as you scale.