Marcia's Leadership Q and A's: 4 tips for your team retreat

Thank you for submitting your leadership questions to md@mdaszko.com.

Q. As our team emerges from remote work and we re-enter the office setting, I think we will have new and different issues. To prepare, I’d like the executive team to meet for a management off-site or executive retreat. Is this a good approach and of value to re-energize our team?

A. Executive’s plans to schedule an offsite retreat in the next quarter, has catapulted 900% in the past month. Leaders anticipate a stronger need to meet and strategize. This will be followed by more team retreats to gather and revive their collaboration and focus.

I’ve facilitated thousands of leadership meetings, board retreats, strategic planning sessions and management offsite meetings for over 25 years. I believe they are of value, beyond comparison, with one caveat: they must be facilitated well (outside thinking and questions are imperative.) Address the aim early: why are you having the meeting with the team. There are many team meetings that are held; people feel good and experience a workshop-high, but there’s little progress or improvement back at work. If you want to learn, work, and strategize together to make a difference, it’s hard work. That’s the work of leadership!

I’ve surveyed executives and managers who have participated in offsite meetings and management retreats. Here are the key benefits they describe (there are many more): participants are able to open up, share, contribute, collaborate, build relationships, listen deeply, create more understanding and empathy, address not only problems but the root causes to long-term problems, and explore options, strategies, and plans; there’s a renewed focus and prioritizing on what’s important and will make a difference; new learning and ideas that are introduced (usually through experiential exercises and a variety of education techniques) are processed  with different perspectives; data and trends are studied to optimize your organization; there’s room to test ideas and discuss future opportunities and the bold impact you can have.

The team develops a new lens and are more resilient as they elevate to a new level of leadership. The results of an effective offsite are:

• an ability to address and focus on deeper issues and accelerate decisions;

• breaking down barriers between people and departments and creating a healthier workplace of trust and support;

• linking the current business to the future direction; and

• beginning to transform beliefs, plans, structure, and management style into innovative leadership and bold results.

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BIO:

Marcia Daszko works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to guide their leadership transformation to accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. She is a provocative keynote, breakout, and digital speaker for conferences and corporate events. She has been a strategic business advisor and management consultant based on Dr. Deming’s philosophy of leadership for 25+ years. An executive retreat facilitator and MBA professor, she is also the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.”  Contact Marcia Daszko for her help at md@mdaszko.com    www.mdaszko.com  

Marcia's Leadership Q and A's: How to Grow Your Business!

Thank you for submitting your leadership questions to md@mdaszko.com.

Q. What are the best tips for having or improving our competitive edge?

A. There are some easy answers, but few are implemented well. First, answer the phone! Second, if people are on hold, minimize the time; cut it in half—again and again, until the hold time is zero. Third, regularly call your number and understand what your customer experiences; then improve it. Fourth, if you interact in other ways with your customers, improve the efficiency and response time by email or text. Make it easy for your customers to interact with you, ask questions and get help and feel like you are committed to serving them.

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Q. How do we create an engine of growth for our company coming out of COVID or any crisis?

A. Answer what you want to accomplish with your organization (beyond being profitable—of course; you need to stay in business.) Your business grows when you have great ideas developed by your people who are excited to share their products and services with their customers. You achieve that when you invest in your people. How can you emotionally, physically, mentally support them? Ask them! What do they need to work together in the best ways and wow their customers and create new markets? Give them room to explore ideas, implement them, fail or accomplish more and move forward. Always stay future-focused.

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BIO:

Marcia Daszko works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to guide their leadership transformation to accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. She is a provocative keynote, breakout, and digital speaker for conferences and corporate events. She has been a strategic business advisor and management consultant based on Dr. Deming’s philosophy of leadership for 25+ years. An executive retreat facilitator and MBA professor, she is also the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.”  Contact Marcia Daszko for her help at md@mdaszko.com    www.mdaszko.com  

Ask Marcia Leadership Q and A's: 3 Key 2022 Success Strategies

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Q. How can our company maintain a competitive edge—or even survive—during these challenging times?

A. Over the past several weeks, I have met with several CEOS/Executives and spoken to a hundred more to assess the current status of their leadership and organizations. They ranged in size from small private companies and non-profits to multi-billion dollar global corporations. Common to all of the conversations were a few key points to maintain their pivotal leadership edge.

First, great leaders commit to only a few key strategies; the executive team identifies them; they communicate these strategies throughout the organization so everyone understands the direction they all need to work toward—together! Everyone develops a crystal-clear focus about how they can contribute to serve their customer during these times.

Two, the managers and employees obsessively support each other during these times. Every meeting, whether remote or in-person, begins with an authentic check-in: How are you? Anything else? It’s not superficial, and people feel cared for, respected, and a part of a family. Trust is a foundation and key characteristic in a robust organization. People struggle to work together if they don’t trust each other.

Third, the organizations who are navigating their way through these times (whether they’re struggling or booming) are seriously investing in education, training, and coaching for themselves and the staff. It’s a great time to schedule short, creative, fun interactions; deep thinking strategic sessions; and skills-building classes. Leaders are building up the camaraderie! They are focusing on meaningful work, not inefficient busy work—does the work have meaning or is it wasteful and redundant?  Leaders and their teams care together about improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the information, work, and communication flows.

With these three leadership strategies integrated with the business strategies, the ability to catapult to new levels and navigate through crises and to new opportunities, is powerful.

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Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!

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Ask Marcia Leadership Q and A's: Make better decisions, FASTER!

Thank you for submitting your leadership questions to md@mdaszko.com.

Q. The attendees in team Zoom meetings in our company rarely turn on their video. There are new members we haven’t even met. How do we get people to add the video?

A. Occasionally people cannot turn on their video because they are working remote and do not want to share their background. However, most organizational cultures encourage the staff to open their videos and engage. Often, leaders will expect high interaction and engagement from all of their team members.

It’s up to leaders to create the culture, values, and expectations for communication, interaction, and zoom calls. Great leaders communicate those values from day one of the recruiting and hiring processes. Do the new applicants match your culture? Do they want to participate and engage, and be part of the team and family environment? What does it tell you if some want to engage and others don’t? What is the environment that the leaders/owners want to build? Are the values and behaviors consistent? 

These are topics to discuss. Perhaps the leaders can have Town Hall meetings (on zoom or in person) and ideas will emerge. These are essential conversations. Without people feeling cared about and in an environment where they can contribute, engagement will decline and turnover will increase. What’s your next step?

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Q. Is it possible to meet goals without having numbers attached to them? We spend endless hours in meetings forecasting, budgeting, and making numerical goals. Sometimes we hit them; sometimes we don’t. Is there a better way?

A. Having goals that are focused, clear, and articulated are essential. But how leaders measure them can be distinctly different. Organizations do waste hundreds of hours a year manipulating numbers. That’s called tampering and ends up creating more variation in the system. If you’re not achieving the results you want, examine your statistical thinking. Are you looking at data over time when you are running your business or projects?

Setting arbitrary numerical goals, especially for measuring new products, services, or markets is guessing. Setting arbitrary numerical goals is also limiting. For example, a CEO told me he wanted to grow his business from $30 to $40 million. I heard him. Then I asked that he not share that numerical goal with the staff. Instead, we took the business from $30 to $300 million. Why set limitations on your numbers? If you do, your team will psychologically set that limit at $40 million, hit it, and then slow down.

Statistical thinking is paramount for executive and team leaders. Why is it so important? Because if you don’t understand it, you’ll make the wrong decisions! It might not be as important if you make a bad decision making a toy, but if you’re in healthcare, bad decisions can take lives and cause unnecessary mistakes (we’ve heard about them: a patient can have the wrong leg amputated.) Unfortunately, few people have been taught what statistical thinking means and how essential it is to running a business or projects. Traditional statistics are not helpful. If you need resources (books and workshops) to learn about statistical thinking for better decision-making, contact me, and I’ll refer you.

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Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!

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Ask Marcia Leadership Q and A's: Smart Women Say No to “Doing It All!”

Send any of your leadership questions to md@mdaszko.com

Q. As a woman executive, I’ve been so exhausted in the past year as I juggle the continual decisions with Covid, navigate my teams, and balance my personal life. My friends who are managers and I still seem to shoulder the major work and home responsibilities with children. What can we do to stay mentally healthy and fight the exhaustion?

A. Each professional and personal situation is different. While there are trends evolving, it’s extremely important to assess what the challenges are for you and your family. It’s a time to take care for yourself, your family, and your community. Don’t try to do it all; instead plan the ways to do small things to be self-caring for now. Identify all of the resources you need, and ask for or hire help. Prioritize what needs to be done now, and let other low priorities go.

It may be great to excel in a career or to grow a company. But is it the best time to do it all now? It’s not necessary or healthy to be a superwoman. The most important word in your vocabulary in certain situations is “No.” Many people need to learn to say no without remorse.

It may be time to prioritize caring for each other in a family, or on your team. But it is not the time to take on every issue or problem or opportunity. Show care by experiencing more peacefulness, better listening, more calm, and appreciation in small examples of happiness. Celebrate the small joys, and live a healthier life—for now.

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Ask Marcia Leadership Q and A's: The Power of the Leader’s Focus Drives Success

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Q. Our founder is very creative and full of ideas! That’s great, but we need to focus on getting customers and new funding for product development to grow the business. We talk to him and he nods, but then doesn’t focus. We’re floundering. What do we do?

A. Setting priorities and focusing on the business strategies to delight and impact customers is the job of management. Some great inventors and founders love creating products, but they don’t have the knowledge to run a business or lead their team.

The business needs an administrator and leader. Being a great engineer, accountant, doctor doesn’t mean the business can survive. This is the intervention conversation that needs to occur: by either the team, a respected executive, or the founder’s coach or mentor. Beyond a conversation, an action plan needs to be defined and implemented so the team can focus and the business can survive.

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Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!

Ask Marcia Leadership Q and A’s: Strategies for 2022

Q. What are some strategies that can give us a competitive edge in 2022?

A. Hope is not a strategy, so identifying what strategies can deliver high quality and a competitive edge for your customers is key. From the customers’ point of view, what matters? So many organizations are on the brink of closing for multiple reasons (while others are booming.) One of the most basic needs of customers is responsiveness. More so now than ever before, customer service and wait times are exasperating.

What if the leaders designed the systems to ensure that the phone gets answered immediately to make reservations, for technical support, or to select a new service? How long is the wait time? As I’ve suggested before, have your executives call in to your company and see how many times they get re-routed and how long the wait time is? Is it two minutes or two hours? Too many executives are out of touch with what is happening with their customers, the real measures of business success. Create an amazing, optimized system that responds to customers. Then adopt a continual improvement strategy and an innovation strategy for your customers and your business.

The 2022 Shift

Future forward! The disruption, good and bad, over the past two years has made us more aware and action oriented. We had choices, and some were challenging. 

While some people faced anxiety, depression, disillusionment, burnout, and fatigue (dealing with meetings, issues, and people), others acknowledged all of those feelings and moved forward.

2022 will invite us to rejuvenate, renew, and recharge. Our mental health has to manage the stresses we will face and the fear of the unknown. How can we be healthy, be excited, and be calm?

Here are a few tips (and add your own coping mechanisms—what works for you and what skills do you see working for others?)

1. PERSONAL ASSESSMENT. Assess your own wellness and adjust those things that need to improve. Check your time and quality of: your amount of good sleep; exercise; personal fulfillment and development; quiet time; supportive connections with others; seek professional coaching or counseling when needed; and your time management (focus and prioritize.). Make your plan to improve what needs to change. There are times in life when we can’t do it all, and it’s ok!

2. QUALITY. Consider the areas you want to contribute, make a difference, and what work feeds your soul. Make sure you have those outlets. Otherwise over time, you will feel drained and lose your energy. The more you are connected to what you want to do in life the more exhilarating you will feel. There are times we must adjust; find ways to adapt and pivot that will connect your with your same values and in different ways.

3. FUTURE THINKING. Problems don’t last forever. They are temporary whether they last for an hour or a year. The problems you had 10 years ago don’t exist today (unless you got stuck.) Think about the goal of being happy. Everyday, everything you do, ask: “Does this get me closer to happiness or further away? Keep learning, and keep moving forward. With your team (at home or work), keep learning and moving forward.

Influence and create the 2022 that you want to experience. 2022 has plenty of unknowns—every year does. But experience, adapt, learn and share, and move forward together. Let the year flow!

Contact us to learn about the mini-workshops, interactive learning sessions, Mastermind classes, and leadership/Board retreats we’re offering in 2022—in person and virtually, globally.

Ask Marcia Leadership Q and As: Handling Underperformers

Q. One of my vendors had a new hire who could not deliver the results we needed though we were patient for weeks. My team was getting stressed with her lack of timely communication and knowledge! She was: busy and utterly disorganized (busyness is not productive); overwhelmed and refused to ask her managers for help (driven by her own commission); not willing to collaborate or partner with her colleagues in other offices though we asked her to (she didn’t have the knowledge—she’s still in training, but thinks she knows more than she does!) After many attempts to communicate our needs with her, we fired her. Were there other options?

A. Firing this vendor-in-training sounds like the appropriate option. It is not your job to train another company’s employee, especially if you don’t have the knowledge. Second, her lack of customer focus put your team under stress and that’s inappropriate. With her arrogant attitude about knowing more than she did but refusing to use her own team to partner with for timely or relevant information, tells me she has a variety of fears, is greedy, or more concerned about herself than your needs. It could be a myriad of those traits. After you fired her, someone who cared about her customer would work to understand what she needed to improve. But if she’s arrogant or greedy, she’ll justify her poor customer service and make excuses, act self-righteous, and learn nothing in the process.

One option might have been to reach out to her manager and communicate what you needed and that you need better service. However sometimes that puts the employee in a precarious situation, or it’s difficult to even know who their manager is to share any feedback with. It sounds like you made the right decision for your team and company. When she was incapable or too immature to communicate with her team and yours and deliver, you made the wise decision to terminate the dysfunctional relationship. Some people learn; some will carry their immaturity forward. But making a wise decision ensures you have healthy boundaries. You’ll move forward.

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Holiday Invitation—Open Your Gift Now!

Celebrating you and the season!

Our Holidays bring a myriad of reflections on the ups and downs in 2021. Your gift is in your heart this year.

Many people have been more judgmental, impatient, reactive, and unkind in 2021. Did you have the space to listen and be kind to them?

Or did you also react with arrogance and self-righteousness? Others have dedicated their lives to be kind and helpful during this uncertain year.

Your gift in wrapping up 2021 is an Invitation to carve out a reflection time for yourself, even an hour or two. Take time from your BUSYNESS. (BUSYNESS can be a sign of a very disorganized work style that creates stress for everyone around you, especially your customers!) In your hour, ask: Am I a caring person?  Did I help or serve others in a way to make a positive difference—at home and at work? Did I help my colleagues or only take from them?

Your gift is a discovery! You may discover how you acted and are not proud of your behavior. ONLY YOU CAN CHANGE YOU!

OR your gift may be that you made a difference and are happy about your contributions.

However you discover your reflection of 2021, it’s your Gift! You can move into 2022 with new lessons, and take one or two ideas for making 2022 a new, better, kinder experience.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

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Contact us to learn about the mini-workshops, interactive learning sessions, Mastermind classes, and leadership/Board retreats we’re offering in 2022—in person and virtually, globally.

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Ask Marcia Leadership Q and As: Employee Engagement and Motivation

Q. How do I create more momentum with my employees?

A. Employee engagement and motivating employees are popular topics, but beyond the buzzwords, what do they really mean? Momentum like natural leadership and self-motivation comes from within. Some people search and discover it themselves. Others have managers or mentors who help them discover it.  Momentum is created in a myriad of ways and, you have the key! Here are a few ideas that I have seen work to build momentum and wildly successful businesses!

In independent and team conversations, inspire creativity. Discover what passions people have inside and outside of work so you can draw links. Have deep conversations about topics outside of the work topics. Talk about leadership, service, caring, customers, the future, new ideas, new products and services, innovation, expanding the business, ideas your team has seen other businesses and industries do. Choose a video or article and share it; learn together. Learning inspires learning. Periodically, invest in your people with workshops, classes, facilitated Lunch-N-Learns. Investing in your people means investing in your business. The more people learn, work, and improve together, the more momentum you’ll experience.

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Ask Marcia Leadership Q and As:

Q. My company faces a myriad of problems in 2022, but nothing that we haven’t been challenged with or that other business owners aren’t also dealing with: turnover, engaging employees, recruiting and hiring, training, etc. I’d like to kick off 2022 with more hope of success. What do you recommend?

A. The most successful business owners and managers understand that they own the business (system) that produces all of the solutions. However, they also understand that they don’t have all of the answers to business or customers problems. If they are going to tap in on the knowledge and ideas of their employees and “get their money’s worth,” they use their resources. How does a leader do that? Think of the issue; think of the link to the customer. What does the customer need?

Pose the problem to your team/staff. Ask them for the ideas to make the customer happy. As them how they would implement their ideas. Ask them how they would ensure that the customer is ecstatic with the results. It’s too often that management will assign a solution or manager to fix something or assume a problem has been solved, but the problem only continues to expand. Perhaps the teams focused on a symptom of the problem and not the root cause. Your organization needs to be obsessed with providing great quality and fast responsiveness to customers. You and your staff must understand what the customers really care about. Do you know and discuss what your customers really want and need (likewise have this conversation with employees)?

For example, your customers are the residents in a senior care facility. The staff spends time putting up holiday decorations (that elderly residents can’t even see well), but the slow service and tasteless food in the cold, drafty dining room is poor. The staff is putting in their best efforts decorating, but what the seniors care about (tasty food in a comfortable setting) is not being served. Result: poor quality and facility reviews, decline of the business. Understand the measures of your organization’s success—as it relates to your customers!

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Marcia's Leadership Q and As:

Q. As a manager, I’ve worked to develop my leadership, and I want to focus on helping my team members develop theirs and apply more leadership in 2022. How do I do this?

A. This is a strategic, forward-thinking question I love to read! Recent years have been full of uncertainty and challenges; the years have also delivered valuable lessons at a pace we never before imagined! Some managers cowered while others pivoted, adapted and stepped into their leadership. It is necessary for leaders to examine their own development, but one of their greatest responsibilities is to guide their team/staff in learning and applying leadership principles. How does this happen?

One of the best ways to help others develop their self-esteem and natural leadership is to pose an issue (hopefully that is connected to and can make a difference to customers.) In a meeting, deliver the problem, ask a few questions, and then sit back and listen. Give people time to talk, ponder, struggle, and share ideas—don’t interrupt. Observe their interactions. If they are discussing symptoms to a problem, it won’t be solved. After they’ve had some time to address the issue, ask questions to ensure that they are talking about the root causes of a problem, options to solve it, and ideas to apply their plan. When you feel they have discovered a good solution to implement together, have them summarize, acknowledge their contributions, and have them apply them. Schedule the follow-up meeting. Do this repeatedly.

Also schedule a variety of learning classes. They may be 90-minute Lunch-N-Learns (virtual or in-person if it’s safe) or a two-day retreat.  Periodic conversations where you ask questions about the person’s communication, developments, challenges, etc. are important so you really understand your team member and how to help them.

 Caution: there are thousands of books and videos about leadership, and I’d guesstimate more than 90% are full of hype, management fads, buzzwords, and “best practices” that I have seen take both Fortune 500 corporations and small businesses into struggles and their demise. Leaders need a foundation of theoretical management—it’s essential. Start with excellent resources (see resources on my website mdaszko.com), a coach based in systems and statistical thinking), a workshop or conference where team members can get some outside thinking and new concepts and tools. I regularly post relevant ideas on Linked In—follow me there for tips that can help your team.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Quickly Assess: Are My Managers A Team?

Q. As a new company president of a struggling company with 500 employees, the Board’s first recommendation is to assess all of my managers and evaluate if they are capable of working a turn-around. What should I look for in my team?

A. Assessing and understanding the whole organization is step number one. Talk individually to all of your senior managers and then as a team. Second, listen to as many employees as you can, in small groups and in a few Town Hall meetings. As you create your direction and vision for the company, circle back to your individual executives.

As you explore their thinking, you will hear some talk about the past and problems and barriers. Others will talk about opportunities, customers, possible new markets and products/services, and the future. Some may be stuck in the past; others are craving to create a new future. Your job is to inspire them to move forward together toward a new Aim. What is the purpose they have together? Articulate it. Do they see how they contribute toward it and lead others toward it?

Since this is a turn-around situation, you need your team to move fast. Mutual trust is essential. If you can trust and develop them quickly, move forward. If any will hold you back, express your concerns to him/her and what you need from them immediately. If they cannot deliver, it’s best to either find them a coach to help them transform, or respectfully remove them from the company.

There are leaders who can take action quickly and get the job done, often referred to as sprinters. They are visionary, full of creative ideas and anxious to implement them. For a turn-around you need sprinters (as well as in start-ups.) But to sustain and develop systems and processes that will continually be improved with data-driven decision-making in context, you need teams of people committed for the long term. These are marathoners. At different times, in different industries and organizations, you may need more of one group than another.

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Q. I’ve been promoted to my first management position with very supportive team members. My observation is that we work well together, but make decisions too slowly. How can we accelerate?

A. There are questions to consider when making decisions, especially rapidly. You want to make effective decisions, not reactive ones. Let’s consider the essential dots that go into making wise decisions. First, the Aim: what are you trying to accomplish or solve? Who are you serving with this decision? What do you currently know about the issue/process? Often decisions are made by opinions, off the cuff, with any qualitative or quantitative data. Look at data you have (or gather it) and look for stability, variation, or trends Over Time. What do you learn? What is the timeline or deadline for making a decision? Plan what you’re going to do and who will do what, make your decision based on the data in context, implement the decision, and then follow through. Study what worked, what didn’t. Learn together, adjust, fine tune, and modify. Decision-making is a process. Some can be continually improved. Think of all of the medical and technological research and breakthroughs. Others decisions are made immediately with the best information and thinking at the moment. These decisions are responses during a crisis situation. Determine how to quickly make good decisions and continually improve the steps. Practice helps.

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Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Quality—The Key Differentiator of Success

Q. Our senior managers are disconnected from what’s going on in our business. We have many complaints from customers, and nothing improves.

A. Great leaders and their organizations are connected to both their customers and employees and understand their needs. Successful organizations have leaders who create systems and communication channels to hear the voice of the employees and the customers.

Quality is defined by the customers; if product, service, or communication quality is poor and declining, the company is on its way out of business. Leaders need to transform its thinking and turn around. This only happens when leaders pivot and focus on what’s important: quality and service. Where is quality created? It comes from the vision of the Board of Directors and a leadership team working together.

When customers complain or disappear and they choose your competitors, it’s a reflection of poor leadership, strategies, or decisions. Often, it’s easy to see the decline and failure of billion-dollar corporations to small companies. An easy question to ask is: Are the leaders connected to the needs of their customers? Or is there so much complexity in the organization that customers who try to voice their complaints or concerns are not heard? It’s a priority for the management team to understand and address the system of customer feedback. Great leaders often spend more than 50% to 80% in conversation with their constituencies. How much time do you spend?

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Q. Where should executives and managers focus the most? On profits?

A. If leaders spend most of their focus on profits, they will lead a rapid journey to their demise. It’s a common belief to focus on making money and the bottom line. Unfortunately, that doesn’t deliver success or satisfaction. I often ask executives, “Is your company in business to make money? Is that your purpose?” A purpose for being in business is energizing, and it drives a team to deliver and serve customers. If leaders develop deep and meaningful relationships, loyal customers who can depend on an organization will repeatedly return. Think about your favorite vendors.

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Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!

Marcia's Leadership Q&As: What do you Anticipate & Plan?

Q. My company is doing well! How do I best make use of the good times? Should we save for the lean years, innovate, or try to keep the business stable?

A. My crystal ball for 2022 asks . . . what can you anticipate for your business in the next years? Strategic thinking, “what if we develop new markets, products, and services to meet future needs of people and society?” can lead to new possibilities and opportunities. On that journey you may navigate crises whether it’s responses to a pandemic, the economy, or an industry downturn. 

Your options are plentiful if you are future focused. Having some stable investments is good business and savings to weather some challenging times gives you some flexible time to plan and pivot during hard times. But you always need to invest in the business, too. Invest in your people, resources, technology—the foundation of your business. There will always be variation in the business, ups and downs. Plan for those so you don’t make excuses for poor decisions, lay off people, or hunker down. Fixed, fear-driven thinking can harm your business. Even in difficult times, there are booming businesses because innovative leaders get creative, assess what their customers or new markets need and then make it happen.

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Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!