Our Inevitable Doom

You are driving down the road searching for the park where you know you can sit and read surrounded by nature, away from the city noise for a few selfish moments with yourself and nobody else.

You take the right turn that you know will soon open up into this vision of the park that you had been dreaming of all week, looking forward to this moment on your weekend. But alas, rather than the beautiful park, you find a marsh-land with nowhere to sit and relax. What a disappointment. But you know it is somewhere around here. You remember from years ago when as a young man you stumbled across this oasis, that now you are so yearning for.

Easy you say, so you reverse back out of the path and track that took you there and right before you took the right turn. You stop for a moment, re-visit the beautiful park in your mind's eye and after a short while you once again, take the right turn to find what?..... Obviously the marsh-land. But you are sure that those many years ago, this same path took you there. Surely that passage of time has not transformed that oasis into this stinking sludge.

And after repeating the same process a few times.... you give up!

Well, those of you still reading.... know that you would never go through this process as after you first attempt you would certainly do something different like, try a different route, call a friend, etc.... but it seems futile and downright stupid to repeat the same action expecting a different outcome...

Well not so stupid it appears...... we seem to keep investing our hard-earned cash in organizations that continue to make the same mistakes, vote in Governments that apply new rhetoric to same old practices and as Leaders....... are we more or less driving down the same path expecting a different outcome? Somebody defined this as a sure sign of stupidity!

You see, as Leaders most of us do. Yes, we might put different make-up on it, but the essence of what we do is the same. Why? Well, because this is what is expected by the investors that continue to invest, the Board Members that continue to hire CEOs of the same ilk and our staff that continues to support our misguided actions even though intrinsically they know they are off-the-mark.... and so do we Leaders by the way, know this.

Sounds like a viscious cycle; our inevitable doom! And if we do not break it, another GFC or the one after will.

The truth is that in every crises there is always a handful of Leaders that understand this and operate outside the norm (effectively listening to and trusting their essence, their purpose, the intuitive voice inside) and create something new, sustainable and initially apparently unorthodox.

The crises (so the opportunity) is here NOW! Which choice are you making TODAY?

• take the right turn, yet again!
  
• listen to the voice within!
  

The choice is yours. History shows that there are very few that take the second choice, (they are called Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson), so the choice is simple but certainly not easy!

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting

The Tribal Organisation

In the early noughties, silos and the destruction of these was all the talk in management consulting circles; get rid of the silos; flat structures are more efficient; silos are insular and should be dismantled........ I know, I was there actively participating in the destruction!

I await with anticipation each and every article illustrating Seth Godin's business insight which is a great source of education for me, and I recommend that as a Leader you could do a lot worse than doing the same. His concept of tribal communities is as accurate as it is timely in a web-centric world where sites like Facebook, Twitter and others have shown the power of tribes bound by similar interest themes. So I guess this is a case of back-to-the-future, except this time it is not merely a Hollywood fantasy!

So, did you ever consider that your organisation is already prepared for this world. And what if I was to suggest that the most cost-effective and fast method to unleash the power of your organisation is in fact to give power to these silos, bound by the same interest themes, simply by renaming Silos, Tribes. And I do not say this light-heartedly.

The themes of these tribes are for you to choose to build teams around. More likely than not, your organisation, independent of the many thousands of dollars of management consulting fees, still operate in Silos, except now they have gone underground protecting themselves from the wrath of management and management consultants, in an effort to protect productivity. And let me suggest that instead of, yet again disrupting natural organisational evolution, by spending management time rebuilding tribes, you reward Leaders within your organisation that identfy their silos/tribes; but there are a few rules.

Rules for effective tribes:

• Leaders of tribes are not necessarily Managers
  
• Tribe Leaders need to be protected from traditional managers
  
• Importantly, how are they creating and supporting the collective. Meaning how are they ensuring that they are a community of Tribes rather than Silos!
  
• Tribes could be cost centres as well as profit centres
  
• However, they need to clearly identify themselves as such
  
• Whether they are the former or latter, they need to clearly identify and articulate their purpose and how it delivers to the organisational vision
• Tribes that operate outside of the organisational vision are not to be repremanded
  
• Instead they should be asked to come-up with research to show validity for operating outside the vision (this could in fact be the Tribe that is creating your future).
  
• This divergent Tribe could be managed in a number of effective ways:
  
• integrated back into the Vision due to validity
  
• operate within an R&D environment if deemed opportunistic
  
• funded as a separate business
  
• sold-off as an idea (maybe to a keen venture-capitalist)
  
• Remember that they have had to first define their purpose and so have clear objectives

However, whatever you do, do not let a traditional manager convince you that they are just a run-away team intent on destroying the business; this would tell you more about your manager than the Tribe.

So, make it your business to ensure that your managers are Leaders, primarily facilitating the networking of these Tribes to create a collective that is bigger than the sum of individuals, rather than intent on disrupting the, often, great work within these Tribes.

There obviously are other (maybe not so obvious) aspects to Tribal Organisations that can be specifically developed for your organisation. However, before you go about potentially disrupting your Tribe, ask yourself if in fact they are an effective Tribe and should you need further support on Tribal Organisations, contact TribalOrganisation@CxOconsulting.com.au.

And if you are not yet convinced, ask yourself this question; "Why did we believe that flat organisations worked better". Surely the answer to this is that we watched small flat-structured entreprunerial organisations eat our lunch through their dynamism and effectiveness. What we did not realise is that in fact it was the outdated hierarchy based on greed that was destroying value and holding back earnings potential, and not necessarily the silos.

Aren't a group of small businesses merely Tribes with a different name. So shouldn't you be cultivating your Tribes and allowing them to be dynamic and responsive by loosening the schackles of hierarchy?

Another author that best describes the difference between Directive and Transformative organisations is Tom Voccola. Feel free to click here to download a free copy of his brilliant "The Accidental CEO" eBook (PDF).

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting

Do not engage recruitment firms that drop their prices to get your work!

Instead, engage those that charge the higher fees.... and only once you have seen (not just been presented) their recruitment process.

Now that sounds counter-intuitive especially in these times of belt-tightening.

As part of our services, at CxO we mentor many Great Executives that as a result of the Global Meltdown, have found themselves unemployed, fine-tune their CVs and hone-in their recruitment process skills (from a candidate's perspective). We call this service, LeaderRecruit®. Many of them have not been on this side of the recruitment process for years or ever!

We are comitted to these individuals, as many of them are the architects of our future once an organisation recognises their worth, and because this is a basic humane thing to do.

The unfortunate reality is that many would not get their CV's read by a human being, let alone responded-to or called-upon. Why? Well because until we ensure that the right keywords are included, dispersed throughout the text, their CV's would not make it through the electronic filters utilised by these so called recruitment specialists.

Some time ago, I saw that these great CV's were not getting any responses (beyond the automated emails) and so I approached collegues within the recruitment industry to understand what was happening. I was shocked and disgusted that some of these firms have the audacity to charge 20% plus and supply the sort of service they do. Let me explain.

I was told that, in most cases, when CVs are received by the firms, they are first-up automatically scanned and searched for key-words and only the top 10 or so that qualify get reviewed by a human being. The rest (based on candidate's approval) end-up stored for future reference, which seems a waste of time when it is the same software that re-scans them. So forward the clock to today and the higher unemployment; recruiters are inundated by great CVs and the number of "inappropriate" rejects is even higher.

This is not good enough, not for the candidates and especially not for the clients.

The appropriate recruitment process is an expensive one and requires the appropriate funding and it is your responsibility as a client to ensure that your money is spent wisely by these firms. Let's say that you are recruiting a $150k role. At 20% this is a cost of $30k, before expenses such as advertising in the papers, etc. I imagine that you would like the best candidate for your money and that you do not want the best candidates screened out of the process before they get viewed by a specialist recruiter.

Ensure that your next recruit is the best recruitment decision you ever made, ask for an unsupervised walk-through to understand the recruitment process at your chosen firm. Make it your business to find-out first hand from the candidate interviewers within the firm as to how they get the CVs they recruit from; and if they electronically screen most of the CVs out, sack them. I would expect that if I was paying $30k, that the Job Ad would be professionally written to only attract the appropriate candidates and that in any case all the ones that meet the basic criteria, (namely CV and Intro letter), are studied by the recruitment specialist. If there were 200 of these, then this would cost an estimated reading and rating time of $4,000.00. I would certainly expect that.

So, be a Leader, you have 3 choices as we see it; go to a cheaper recruiter as in any case you are bound to get a more tailored service; go to a greedy recruitment firm that charges too much for a piece of software that filters your best candidates out; or select the firm that gives you back the value for your money and follows-up on all candidates. In fact at best you have 2 choices, the former and the latter. I would go with the latter as long as I have seen with my own eyes how the process works, rather than finding out about the process from some gong-ho power point presentation that rarely lives-up to the promises.

Now here is an idea! A recruitment firm that does not utilise screening technologies but employs staff instead, to give better service at the right cost to the Client. It's a win-win all the way; Clients get better candidates, candidates feel heard and receive the appropriate respect/advice and we employ more people at the recruitment firms that are now able to maintain their higher fees.

If you or one of the recruitment firms you have utilised, employ this or a similar non-electronic process, then please let us know so we publish them in our next newsletters.

Oh, and by the way, these are indeed tough times; so make sure you do get your discount, afterall.

Happy recruiting.

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting

Tasks are for computers!

We have created technology that takes-over menial tasks, speeds them up and adds levels of accuracy unheard-of until the advent of computers.

So why is it that we are still task-focused when it comes to our staff? Not that task definition and measurement is not important; it is critical. However, you employ human beings, not computers; human beings that are able (and to let you into a secret, are rearing to add their purpose and passion to the task at hand) to do those tasks and add so much value, if given latitude and when empowered.

How do you best leave your competition in the dust, when you are in the same industry, more-or-less offering the same products and services with a similar cost base? The no-brainer answer is by improving productivity.

Aldo Grech CxO Consulting

Transparency = Improved Bottom Line

Unless you believe that people actually turn-up to work to contribute positively, and are able to manage those few that do not, you end-up being a policeman with a very depressed and unproductive non-transparent organisation.

Where-as, the truth is that if your people are spending too much time on personal things like personal email and extensive coffee-breaks, then this tells us more about the organisation than about the people. And seeing we are at the helm of our organisation and Leading it, we need to take full responsibility.

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting