Bill built Spruce Ridge Services from the ground up. Literally. Thirty years ago, he was in the dirt, pouring the footings for his first building. His management team has been with him since the early days. Like a second family.

Last year, Bill’s health forced an unplanned exit. His daughter Sara assumed ownership and replaced him as the CEO. Sara is liked by the management team but has only actually worked at Spruce Ridge for a few summers while in college. Following college, she worked as a CPA in a national firm.

Sara is excited. She feels responsible for her dad’s legacy as well as the welfare of her employees. But she’s uncomfortable with how loosely Spruce Ridge is run. Bill had great business instincts. “Flying by the seat of his pants” worked well for him. For the last handful of years, Bill coasted on past accomplishments and relationships. Now, momentum is lost. Financial performance has dropped year-over-year for the last three years.

Poor performance was managed by deferring needed maintenance on the buildings and equipment. The team hasn’t felt the financial pinch. Most of the managers are her father’s age. It does appear that they have adopted Bill’s “coasting” mentality. Hustle makes more of an appearance in old war stories than today’s business. Sara’s gut tells her that this is a recipe for failure but isn’t’ sure how to turn it around. She needs her team on board. Will they accept change? What happens if they don’t?

Appropriate Expectations in a Working Relationship

Most people want to be valuable in a successful organization. Few people are interested in being viewed as dead weight. Few are interested in working in a dying organization. But…many leaders allow both their teams and organizations to avoid a long hard look in the mirror. This doesn’t do anyone any good. The performance needed requires a change from what has been acceptable for years.

Start With Respect

Respect – or being treated with respect – is a core human desire. There is a difference between feeling respect and treating someone respectfully. It’s an important but useful difference. You may or may not respect someone’s abilities or contribution. But it is possible to offer them a respectful way of relating.

Start with treating others with respect. If you need to fight battles in your workplace – don’t make them be about how you relate. Part of respect includes recognizing workplace traditions and culture. It honors and remembers the stories of the past. But being respectful doesn’t mean allowing the future to be restricted by the past.

Reminding or Defining Values, Vision, and Purpose

Your values, vision, and purpose (or whatever words you like to use) are how organizations begin defining “who we are and why”.  I’ve written extensively on this. You can read more here.

Creating clarity here is a powerful reminder for everyone of why they are there. It’s also defined as your true north, your bearings, for the future you want.

A rigorous conversation on this causes people to reflect, “Do I want to be here?” For many people, the conversation will be a reaffirmation of their commitment. For some, they realize, “I’d rather be doing something else”. This is a good thing.

Defining Alignment

Goals. Priorities. Decisions. Policies.…. Sara should put everything into alignment with the stated values, vision, and focus. All efforts should be tightly aligned and focused. Ideally, all activity will help manifest your values, realize your vision, and achieve your focus. Minimally, it shouldn’t conflict.

At no point should you allow activity that undermines progress in what you’ve stated is important to you. But you will need to define what alignment looks like in practice. Not everyone will just know. This kind of exercise tends to energize a team. It helps them remember both their why and gain a concrete sense of how. For those that this doesn’t energize, it is a clue that they and the organization may be growing in different ways. This is ok.

Read more about alignment here.

Define Performance Expectations

Sara needs to be clear about what is expected, in terms of performance, from everyone on her team. Performance expectations, especially for management, should be outcome-focused.

Most job descriptions are input-focused. “Be able to use Excel, type 80 words per minute, operate heavy equipment, and lead staff meetings.” Not outcome-focused, “Successfully manage projects to completion by deadlines”. Or, “Increase sales by 10%”. Just asking, “What will success look like?” helps.

I’ve written more about how to hold others to account here.

Creating Off-Ramps

This process may cause some of her managers to be on-board and ready to take the hill with Sara. Others may realize that they aren’t interested. Maybe they realize they just really liked working with Bill. Or they just don’t have the energy to pursue another big challenge. It’s ok.

• It is good sales strategy to get a clear Yes or No from a prospect quickly.
• It is good coaching strategy to create a clear decision-making fork in the road for your client.
• It is good leadership strategy to clarify the vision and the culture – so people can decide if they share it or not.

You serve your team if some realize that they no longer identify with where your organization is going, or what it will take to get there. This isn’t a failure. It’s just a change. For many people, it’s that late in life nudge out of the nest. The freedom to pursue the vision they actually want. Sara can serve her team well by creating off-ramps for those who no longer want to travel this road.

Summary

It’s not easy to turn a company around. But consistent and respectful clarity will take you further than you expect.

Take good care,

Christian

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Further reading:

How To Create a Culture of Accountability

Vision Building Sprints

If you or your team are wrestling with defining your vision and would like help, I’m offering the opportunity for a “Vision Sprint”. This is a dynamic calibrating exercise. We will tightly dial in on your vision for the year and the key steps you need to take to get there. I’m offering either individual sessions ($2500) or team sessions ($4000).

Contact me at christian@christianmuntean.com if interested in learning more or setting up a time.

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The Value Builder System™ is a 13-minute online questionnaire that evaluates your business on the eight factors that contribute more to its attractiveness and value. These factors are scored on a scale of 1-100. Businesses that score over 80 are likely to command 70%-100% higher value than others.

THE LEADERSHIP COACH Podcast

In my podcast, THE LEADERSHIP COACH, we explore effective, high impact and enjoyable leadership. We talk about personal development and the attributes that all effective leaders possess. I interview other leadership experts who share their knowledge and tips to help you build the confidence to lead and learn the habits of good decision-making.

Opportunities

Free Resource: How To Accomplish More Without Doing More is a workbook I created to walk leaders through a process of helping you own your calendar, liberate your time, and still get more done. Download it for free!

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