- Topic: Transforming the culture of your organization by providing organizational clarity!
- Time: 10min read
- Takeaway: To create a healthy & thriving culture, put the Right People in the Right Seats!
- Tool: The Core Values + The Accountability Chart + The People Analyzer Tool = Right People in the Right Seat
- Tip: Get with your Leadership Team to clarify your organization's Core Values, then build the right structure (with the right roles for each seat), then fill the seats!
- Try: Analyze 100% of your people to see if they are the right person in the right seat!
*Would you rather learn by watching a video instead of reading? Check out my teaching video here:
In his book "Good to Great" Jim Collins popularized the idea of "right people" in the "right seat." But what does that actually mean? How do you actually do this within a company? In this article, I will explain what right people in the right seats means, why it matters, and most of all - how to do it!
What does "right people" mean?
- Right people means that each team member fits the core values of the company. 100% right people in your organization means 100% of your team consistently exemplifies and models the company's core values. That is what having the right people means.
What does "right seat" mean?
- Right seat means they are in the seat that is best for them, best for the department, and best for the company! For the greater good of the company, what's the best seat for that person? They are in a seat that lines up with their God-given unique ability. They absolutely love doing the work that is required of that seat! They not only love doing it, but they are freaking good at it! Most of all, they have the bandwidth to do a great job at it!
- It's like a chess game. You want to position your pieces on the board in the right area so that you have a competitive advantage. You can't use a pawn for attacking multiple spaces ahead. That might be work better done by a rook or a bishop who can travel differently on the board.
- It's also like a tennis match. The ball comes over the net and you run as hard as you can to the right spot! You are in a great place to hit the ball back! But your body is turned slightly in the wrong position. You hit the ball, and it goes out of bounds. You need both placement (being in the right spot on the court) and positioning (your feet are set, your racket is up, your core is torqued, and your eyes are on the ball).
- Bottom Line: think placement and positioning!
The right people for your organization means they embody and exemplify your organization's core values. These are a set of guiding principles by which your organization operates and makes decisions! They help with building and sustaining the right culture for your unique organization!
Here are some additional questions that help clarify and simplify what is at the essence of this question:
What exactly are Core Values?
- They are a set of guiding principles for your organization.
How do you use your Core Values?
- They allow you to attract great people and repel the wrong people.
- You can use your Core Values in your hiring, firing, reviewing, recognizing, and rewarding your people!
How do you create your Organization's Core Values?
- Trick question! You don't "create" them you discover them! Follow these simple steps in the Core Values Exercise! For a deeper dive into this exercise, check out chapter 3 in the book "Traction", chapter 4 in the book "People" and chapter 3 in the book "Get a Grip". Also, you will get MORE out of this exercise if you use an EOS Implementer (teacher, facilitator, coach).
- As a Leadership Team, get in a room with a whiteboard!
- Take 5 quiet minutes to answer this question: Who are the BEST employees that have ever worked at your organization? *Don't list anyone that is on the Leadership Team
- Each Leadership Team member is trying to identify and list out who they think the best employees are (past or present)!
- Take another 5 quiet minutes to each describe what makes that employee you listed such a good employee!
- Describe their character, why you chose them, and what attributes & behaviors they demonstrate on a regular basis.
- Share this list with your Leadership Team and create a giant list!
- Now that you have a giant list (20+), find a way to narrow the list!
- At EOS Worldwide, we suggest using the Keep/Kill/Combine method!
- Starting with the first item on the list, ask "Do we want to Keep this? Kill it! Or can we Combine it with another Core Value?"
- Do this with every single Core Value on that list.
- You may need to do this several times until you narrow it down to about 10.
- Read this article here to help!
- Also, check out pages
- Use the Core Values Trap filter mentioned in Patrick Lencioni's article called "Make your values mean something"
- Are these supposed Core Values that are in front of you accidental? Are they aspirational? Are they permission to play?
- Continue narrowing and refining until you get a "first cut" of 3-7 Core Values!
- Don't get stuck on wordsmithing these! Perfection is the enemy here. Get 80% agreement and make a decision!
- Use the People Analyzer tool to "test" each of your current Leadership Team members!
- The key here is to be brutally open and honest. For the greater good of the organization and that person, evaluate and analyze each member of the Leadership Team one at a time.
- This is not a time to provide detailed feedback but just go with your gut. You and that Team Member can talk deeper about the reasons for your evaluation of them at a later time.
- The main purpose of this is to see, are these Core Values really Core? To answer yes, the majority of the scores should reflect more +'s than +/-'s or -'s.
- Create a standard called "The Bar"
- Determine which of the Core Values are an ABSOLUTELY MUST have a + and which ones would be more acceptable for a +/- because we are all human.
- Ideally each employee is at a + for all your Core Values, but give grace and be flexible - we all fall short.
- If you get stuck, go back to the basics. Go with your gut. Which of these 5 Core Values would you die on a hill for?
- The goal is to establish The Bar to have slightly more + then +/-
- Example: If there are 5 Core Values you would shoot for 3 +'s and 2 +/-'s
- Employees should be at or above The Bar to be a right fit for your unique culture!
Here are some additional questions that help clarify and simplify what is at the essence of this question:
- "As an organization, who are you at the core?"
- "What's the DNA of your organization?"
As an organization, you now have your official Core Values! You can use the People Analyzer tool to officially test each employee to see if they are the right person! Remember, the answer to that question, "Is this person the right person for our unique organization?" is found by measuring them against The Bar. To answer yes, they must be at or above the bar!
The concept of the "right seat" is all about placement and positioning! Once you have established that yes, your organization does in fact have all the right people, then you can begin to test them with this question, "Are they all in the right seat?"
To best test this question, consider first building the right structure and then focus on placement and positioning of your people. Think Accountability Chart + GWC Tool = Right Seats.
What is an Accountability Chart?
- It is an "Org Chart" on steroids!
- It is a way to structure your organization looking at forward 12 months at what the ideal structure should be (identifying the major functions), then clearly identifying the 5 main roles for each function (5 roles), and then filling the seats (putting the right people in the right seats).
- It is a way to create and sustain organizational clarity!
Why is an Accountability Chart important for your organization?
- It is an effective tool to use for increasing organizational clarity, driving stronger accountability, and eliminating silos.
- It is a way to get 100% of the right people on the right seat for your entire company!
- Right People = they understand and live out your company core values
- Right Seat = the GWC (get it, want it, have the capacity to do it) the 5 most important roles for their seat
- When something goes wrong, all heads turn to one seat.
- It creates clear accountability and clear channels of communication. (aka Organizational Alignment and Accountability)
- Why? Because everyone knows who is responsible for what and who reports to who!
How do you create an Accountability Chart?
Do this WITH your entire Leadership Team and preferably with a guided Coach (EOS Implementer). For a deeper dive into this exercise, check out chapter 3 in the book "Traction", chapter 4 in the book "People" and chapter 3 in the book "Get a Grip".
- Build the right and best structure for your organization in 12 months!
- Structure first, then people!
- If you had NOTHING to do with this company, how would the organization need to be set up and structured ideally in 12 months?
- Do this WITH your Leadership Team (not in a silo). It will take about 3 hours. But it is worth it!
- Establish what the major functions are that truly run this company.
- Each seat has a function and eventually will have a person in that seat. But remember, NO PEOPLE yet! Just think "function" - what should this company look like and how should they operate 12 months from today?
- Identify, clarify, and simplify what the 5 most important roles are for each major function.
- A role represents the activities and/or actions that make up that major function.
- Keep it simple. What does the Sales/Marketing Function do? Narrow it down to 5 roles.
Phase 3 - Fill the Seats!
- Now that you and your Leadership Team have created the ideal structure (the right and best structure) for this company in 12 months, it's time to fill the seats!
- Look at all your current employees and ask "Who is the BEST person to put in this seat?"
- Come up with a list of several people that you and your Leadership Team think could do a great job in that seat!
- Then, use the GWC tool to "test" each potential person.
- G - Do they "Get It?" ("It" is referring?to the 5 roles. Do they actually understand EACH of the five roles inside and out?)
- W - Do they "Want It?" (Do they LOVE doing those 5 roles day in and day out?)
- C - Do they have the "Capacity" to do it? (Currently, if we put them in that seat, would they have the bandwidth to do a GREAT job on all 5 of those roles?)
- Get each Leadership Team member to be open and honest about those questions. Evaluate each potential person. Whoever has the most "Yes"s by their name is the winner. Ultimately the Integrator decides.
Here are some Key Questions to help you in this exercise:
- What does this company need to look like in 12 months? (Forward thinking)
- What is the RIGHT and BEST structure for this organization 12 months from now?
- What are the major functions that truly make this organization operate?
- What are the five most important roles for each major function?
- Who do we have currently that BEST GWC's?each seat?
How do you use an Accountability Chart?
- Use it to solve any people issues.
- Use it to simplify how your company is structured.
- Use it for driving accountability for who owns what, who reports to who, and to clarify the chain of command and lines of communication.
- Use it to review, recognize, and reward your employees.
- Use it to solve people's "capacity" issue by developing them to delegate and elevate.
You know now what the right people in the right seat means, why it matters, how to establish it, and how to use this concept to build and sustain your company culture! My challenge to you is this:
- Analyze 100% of your employees of your organization!
- Do this as a Leadership Team and also have each individual employee analyze themselves!
- Then take the average score of the Leadership Team and meet with that individual for a Quarterly Conversation. (This should the direct report leading this conversation)
- If they are "off track" (not at or above The Bar or if they don't answer YES to GWC), have an open and honest conversation with them. Apply the 3-strike rule.
- If they are "on track" (at or above The Bar and they are a sure YES to GWC and doing great work!), review, recognize, and reward them! Do this publicly! Be specific!
- In order to do this challenge, follow these 3 steps:
Step 1 - Create Company Core Values as a Leadership Team!
Step 2 - Create an Accountability Chart as a Leadership Team!
Step 3 - Evaluate every single employee using The People Analyzer Tool!
*Public Action - Comment on this post share your key takeaway from this article!
*Private Action - Direct Message me on LinkedIn and let's set up a 15min connect call to debrief this article and clarify the challenge!
- When making a decision about the Accountability Chart, think "For the GREATER GOOD of the company, what's the right decision?"
- As much as you can - Simplify! Keep things clear and simple! (We tend to overcomplicate it! - What is the right and best structure - the simplest?structure - for our organization in 12 months?)
- Review, evaluate, and update your Accountability Chart at least every quarter! (Don't let it get stale and outdated!)
- When creating it, think, "Structure first, then people!"
- The Accountability Chart should be helping you streamline and simplify your lines of communication?throughout your entire company!
- When something is "off-track" - all heads turn to that one leader that is accountable (everyone knows who does what and who reports to who)
- The Accountability Chart creates greater freedom for members of the Leadership Team because they begin to see where, how, and who to delegate and elevate?to!
- To take your company to the next level - find ways to develop leaders of leaders.
- If you are in multiple Seats, you are the bottleneck of your company!
- Having a complete Accountability Chart should eliminate silos and increase organizational clarity and protect a health culture!
- The one Seat that you can customize to fit that specific person in mind is the Visionary Seat!
The Houston MCE EOS Implementer Group
Traction – by Gino Wickman
People - by Mark O'Donnell
Get a Grip - by Mike Paton
The Monthly Facilis EOS Collaboration Virtual Meeting Group
