Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leaders Embrace Change

Q. Why do some people resist change? We need it to improve!

A. There are several reasons why people resist change, and I’ll share the most common reasons. First, people don’t resist change; they resist being changed. They feel they have no voice in the decision to change, yet it may impact them. They will also resist it if they don’t see any benefit to the change.

Second, people resist change when they feel fearful. The most common fears are: losing control, uncertainty, losing freedom, the unknown, failure, or not being included to contribute. Even if the problems could be solved or the situation could be improved, the lack of certainty will make people resistant. People can be more comfortable with the problems they know than the new solutions that will impact them and cause the unknown.

Third, personally people may lack the confidence to adapt. They may be afraid they cannot learn a new way or technology, so they resist it. The comfort zone, the status quo is an environment that lacks rapid improvement, openness to learning and sharing, and progress. More importantly, while mere change may occur, people can change back.

While improvement requires change, not all change is an improvement. That is why transformative change is the most important kind of change that executives must lead. Transformation is hard and essential in any organization. Great leaders embrace the changes that not only make improvements, but take the organization into the future.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Do You Really Have Teamwork?

Q. Our company has our executive, project, and process improvement teams. But most teams struggle, have dysfunctional behaviors, and are slow to accomplish their goals or any significant results. One of our cultural values is collaboration, but how do we make it real?

A. Collaboration and teamwork are listed as important values in many organizations. However, there are multiple barriers that deter teamwork. Some barriers are a lack of leadership, respectful behaviors, a clear aim, focus, relevant data to make decisions, and more.

A list of words (values) without any discussion or leadership to make the behaviors and communication consistent and real, is meaningless. Leaders are accountable in creating a workplace where collaboration thrives. The foundation is respect, the ability to listen, hear and discuss diverse perspectives. When people understand that the goal is to constructively dialogue and work together to generate and expose as many possible solutions to problems as possible.

When collaboration and teamwork are not thriving, the work culture is open to internal competition, fear, criticism, judging, bullying, and blaming—and eventually an organization self-destructs and fails. People don’t want to work in a place that tolerates bad behaviors.

Great leaders communicate and model acceptable behaviors and do not tolerate poor language or behavior. If necessary, they transform their culture. It’s hard work, but it is the job of leadership.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Saving a Struggling Team or Business

Q. Some of our teams have struggled, but now our company is struggling. How can we turn these around?

A. At various times, teams and organizations struggle, flounder, and some fail. It’s not uncommon, but for the staff and customers involved, it can be disheartening, frustrating, or catastrophic. In the Bay area, 90% of startups fail. And of the corporations listed on the first Fortune 500 list in 1955, more than 70% of them no longer exist. Failure is an option. But does it need to be?

To guide you in how to turnaround a team or business takes an assessment of where you currently are and how you got there. What are the root causes that took you on this declining journey? Someone who is knowledgeable in business systems can assess your situation and give you some insightful perspectives. Your openness to learning and trying some new approaches will be needed for your success. If you want to do what you’ve been doing, you’ll continue to struggle.

Consider what you’re trying to accomplish on your team and how it contributes to your business. Deeply understand your customers. Talk to them, and watch them using your service and products. How can you serve them better? How can you support them? Is it easy to contact you if they have a problem?

Most struggling businesses or teams are not clear with what they need to do Together; don’t have free-flowing information or communication; lack focus or training or the materials to do the job; and have too many barriers and internal competition to excel. Look at how decisions are made. Do you look at data over time? What is the culture? Are people happy about delighting your customers?

Connect the dots. Your team is like a jigsaw puzzle, and the pieces need to fit together. The more self-aware you are, the better. Put the problems out on the table. Listen to the ideas from everyone to improve.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Workers Return—Create a New Culture

Q. Our workers are returning to the office. How can we optimize this change?

A. Change can be difficult. People resist change if it is disruptive and they perceive they face loss. It may be loss of time, freedom, or the ability to make better choices for their lives. 

On the other hand, change can be embraced if the changes lead to improvements and enhanced relationships and communication. The vision of the improvements need to be clearly communicated. Too often communication is unclear and not shared. No one know all of the answers through changing times, but together people can work through issues and learn to make a difference.

As workers return to the office, the more that leaders and teams share and share ideas, concerns, and problem solving, the more all will benefit. Leaders will create a new environment and realize that the culture they had years ago and over Zoom will pivot. Together they will create a new culture with a new direction, energy, and determination. The question will elicit new responses and creativity. What people need across an organization is connection, empathy, and respect. 

The new behaviors will flow from leadership all the way through an organization and to customers. Flow is essential. Look for hurdles and barriers, and remove them together. People at all levels will be adjusting both in their personal and professional lives over the next months. Facilitate new possibilities and learning for better outcomes.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Pivot Your Topics For Your Strategic Offsite

Q. We’re preparing our agenda topics for our Fall leadership offsite meeting. If we’re not discussing the business metrics for two days (as you suggest in your columns), what do we talk about?

A. I love this question! An off-site can include 30 minutes on the end of Day Two to discuss your metrics. Management will say, “we’re in business to make a profit.” Is that why you started your business and why and how you manage it?

Yes, care about sales and profits! But, if you FOCUS on metrics, analytics, the bottom line, the details, you can drive your employees away and your business into the ground. Instead focus on optimizing all the significant parts of your business so they work together—and the outcomes are better numbers. Reread that sentence!

There are significant issues to discuss, debate, discover, and plan for. Start with your own leadership. Great leaders are self-aware. How do you continue your own development and communication? How do you create a healthy workplace? How do you invest in education and training? Do you have a direct flow from what you do to delivering high-quality service and products to customers? How do you know?

Ask strategic questions first. Are you getting the results that you want? Most of your conversation is about the strategies and methods you use to achieve your aim. Name the issues you face: cybersecurity, economy, risk and financial management, etc. Make your plan, and meet again soon.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Why Your Employees Leave-And What To Do

Q. As the business owner in a stable industry, I’m puzzled at our continuing employee turnover. Why don’t we have more stability?

A. Your clarification about being in a “stable industry” is helpful. It alerts you that your turnover rate is not common. Some industries such as hospitality may experience more turnover because they have a higher percentage of students.

A high turnover rate in a “stable industry” signals to look internally for the causes. Really assess your leadership style, your managers, and the rest of your team. There are a couple of ways to do this, to truly understand the causes of problems.

One method is to hire an outside resource/consultant who can objectively interview and observe how the company operates; how managers lead; and how people communicate, problem solve, and make decisions. The assessment can help you see and understand what’s happening and propose solutions.

Second, if you and your team can be objective and honest, you can delve into some tough conversations about the quality of your leadership, communication, culture, trust, interactions, and effective problem solving. This is challenging because a team is too close to these topics to be objective enough. Even if they can identify the issues, how to solve them is elusive. If the team had the answers, they would have already solved the problems.

Choosing the second option generally puts off the inevitable: you need an outside perspective. A knowledgeable facilitator can help you address the root causes and navigate your issues for better solutions.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Mixed Messages Demotivate Workers

Q. Our manager reviews our work so much that we miss customer deadlines. When we ask for help, he says he hired us to do our job, but then doesn’t let us and is critical. What do we do?

A. An effective manager will communicate clearly what results are needed to meet a goal or deadline to serve the customers. A manager who trusts the team will ensure they have what they need to do the job (training, equipment, materials, etc.) The team can work together and decide how they will accomplish the work, and who will do what to achieve the results needed.

When a manager reviews the team’s work and continually makes changes or changes direction, the team’s morale can be deflated. While the team members may be open to learn, they also feel pride in their work. To continually have it changed or criticized communicates that the manager doesn’t trust the team members to do what they were hired to do.

A manager who doesn’t trust the team members has an issue with fear that needs to be addressed. If someone can’t trust, fears drive their behaviors. Common fears are: losing a job or the business, losing control, change, failure (or success), making mistakes, and speaking up. Many of these are compounded and can nearly paralyze progress because micro-managing behaviors become common.

It's imperative that leaders identify their fears, name them, and work to reduce their fears and build trust. Discussing fears is a great way to diffuse them.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Close the Gap for M&A Success

Q. Our Board and leadership team have just committed to doing more M&A deals in future years. How can we be successful?

A. Merger and Acquisition deals are fairly common whether for a Fortune 50 corporation or for small private companies as they consolidate. There are multiple reasons for acquiring other corporations: to expand the technology, products, and new regions and marketplaces; and, to rapidly add employees (often in highly technical careers, specific industry knowledge, better access to customers, or marketing and sales connections.)

Corporations have internal M&A teams or hire CPA & legal firms with this specialized expertise. When corporations are identified to acquire or merge with, these teams do their due diligence: assessing their industry/product fit; and their financial and legal ramifications. There are multiple steps in the process for the team to ask, “Does it make sense to proceed?”

But these answers take courage to discuss, debate, and let go of a deal that doesn’t make sense. Also, the deal might make financial sense, especially for the executives involved who will reap phenomenal benefits. But as many studies have proved, 70 percent to 90 percent of acquisitions fail. Why? And if you want to acquire another corporation and merge, what can you do to succeed that most executives obviously aren’t doing?

The focus and decisions about doing an M&A deal are mentioned above. But why they fail is because executives are only leading part of the job. Financial, legal, and even market/product due diligence is not enough. Those are only a small part of what’s needed to succeed.

The essential and most often missing part of the M&A deal process to be successful is the lack of due diligence and the development of an Integration Plan before the M&A deal is signed! There needs to be due diligence for leadership, communication, culture, decision-making, speed of decisions, customer experiences and relationships, commitment of Quality and responsive service, etc. This process provides critical information to the boards and executives about whether and how to proceed and succeed. With this information, a framework and plan to create and integrate a new System that can deliver successful results and a new collaborative culture, is possible. Without it, M&A deals will continue to deliver a high rate of failure.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Measuring Effectiveness of Systems

Q. We have hefty marketing expenses, but how do we measure their effectiveness?

A. Start with your customers. Do you have a customer profile, or multiple customer profiles if you serve different categories of customers? If you try to market with a shotgun approach to try to reach everyone, you can throw your money away.

First, focus. Learn and understand who your customers and potential customers are. Build communication channels with them. What channel works for them: a phone call, personal email, ad, social media, article, event, trade show, webinar, video? What do they need, and what do they want? How do you serve them to meet their needs?

The more focused you are, the more connected you are to your customer, the more progress you both can make. It’s a win-win partnership. Help each other learn and grow.

The most successful businesses really understand their customers and design their work to meet the needs of the customers. Customers rave about their experience and return for more satisfying experiences.

They also are your best ambassadors. Do your customers tell their friends about your products and services? That’s your free, organic marketing. It’s the most powerful! Your customers decide what your brand is. They position you in the marketplace.

Your most important measures are not analytical and minute. The most important metrics are actually unknowable. Decide what your business team will do to delight others.

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Q. Our founder is full of ideas, but the business is barely surviving because we start one project and get re-directed to stop and put our attention on a new project. How do we manage our frustrations of not being able to finish a project?

A. The job is not for you to manage frustrations. You can, however, speak up about the lack of project completion. It impacts the team’s and customer satisfaction, too. Productivity wanes, and profits decline.

The founder’s creativity and ideas are gifts. But taking ideas to market is innovation. A healthy business succeeds when there is a decisive process about which ideas to pursue; choose the team to engage; and provide the focus and resources to proceed. Clear direction and communication are fundamental ingredients for progress and success.

Two very different systems (generating ideas and innovation) are created and managed to be successful. Too many ideas that create a culture of continual chaos becomes frustrating and unsatisfying for the people whose energies and work are continually re-directed. As frustrations grow, turnover will also increase. People want to experience joy, satisfaction, and meaning in their work.

The role of the founder (or another leader and the team) is to focus. Be clear about the purpose of the organization and what needs to be accomplished to achieve it. The more focus there is, the more success the business may experience. Also, the leaders’ communication and direction is relevant and essential to achieve a competitive edge.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Make Better Decisions, Have Better Control!

Q. Making wise decisions in our teams is challenging. How can we have better control of our business?

A. There are multiple ways to make better decisions and secure better control of your business results. First (and this may sound easy, but it’s not), change your language. There are buzzwords that management and their staff have adopted that get you into trouble. Some are: empower, align, change, maximize, execute, arbitrary numerical goals. All of these come from linear thinking. Yet how people work together on processes and in organizations is non-linear. That means all the parts are interdependent, not in silos. That’s why it’s important to find the barriers and fears in your company and reduce them. A consultant with an objective perspective can assess and give you recommendations within a week.

Second, look at the decisions you make. What works, what doesn’t work? Do you make decisions too fast? Or too slow? Do you look at any data over time? Do you understand how the data are generated? What’s the context? Most often, people react to situations and make decisions too fast. Others are uncertain, have a fear of making mistakes or having failures; they take forever to make a decision. Look at your process for making decisions; improve your process. Make more and more decisions and see what you learn.

Third, when you are discussing solutions to problems, don’t start with ideas. Start brainstorming the questions you have, what you know, what you need to learn, and what you’re trying to solve and how it will make a difference. Then discuss possible options and ideas. Will those ideas address the symptoms to the problem or the root causes of the problem? The faster you discover the root causes and understand those, the faster you can solve a problem so it doesn’t keep recurring.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Back to the Office Transitions

Q. My company expects us to return to the office three days a week. Those days feel unproductive. What’s happening?

A. There’s wide variation in back-to-the-office experiences. Some work teams are taking advantage of being back in the office together to focus, collaborate, and have more robust discussions (with more defined facial expressions and body language than noticed on a Zoom call.)

Some companies are designing and scheduling experiential learning classes. To invest in the professional development of their staff. Project teams are conducting large group progress discussions. Employees are optimizing the office time to re-build relationships, socialize, and accelerate their goals.

Other groups find that people are in the office and still are isolated and on Zoom calls so there is little interaction. Others are re-socializing, catching up after years of disconnection or are meeting new colleagues in person often for the first time. Work productivity may initially wane as comradery, relationships, and trust emerges—all qualities that will be important for important decision-making in the future.

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Q. My friends and I wonder how we should show up for interviews. Some say casual attire is acceptable; others believe a suit is needed. What’s acceptable?

A. Especially post-pandemic, when we’ve seen executives, celebrities, and news anchors in their athletic clothes, we often prefer “always casual.” And my answer is, “It depends—a little.”

If you prefer to go to a meeting more casual, remember if you’re meeting people for the first time, “You have one time to make a first impression.” Think about that. How do you want to show up? Will you be a team member who will collaborate, or do you want to stand out and not fit in? What role do you have?

Think about the first impression you want to make. Think about the industry, the company, the locale, the culture you may be invited to join. Think about how you can be respectful and yourself. Take the elements into your decision. When I attend a meeting, have a conversation, give a speech, what role am I in? Do I need to lead? What might that look like? Am I entering a research department with a lab coat, or am going into sales in the banking industry?

One of my mentees was having his first interview in a mid-size company. As a college athlete, he didn’t have any business casual clothes: no slacks, dress shirt, blazer, tie, or dress shoes. He invested in a few of these things. Being neat, clean, and presentable is most important. Then he made what he wore a non-issue. He didn’t want clothes to be a distraction. He wanted a conversation about his contributions to the company and his desire to learn and grow. He got the job.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Problem Solving Isn’t Enough!

Q. Important change can start anywhere in the organization. Is that true?

A. There are various kinds of change, and change can start anywhere. Process improvements and small changes can often happen quickly. Incremental, progressive changes are positive. But are they enough for an organization to survive, thrive, compete? No.

Mere change (traditional or transitional changes) may be helpful. But mere change is not enough. Individuals and teams may make changes that result in improvements. But mere change may result in making a change, then not liking it or agreeing on it, and changing back. Mere change may cause fear—the fear of change, and people who are concerned about what they will lose, will resist change.

When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, can it change back? No. It has transformed. And to continually improve, innovate, and survive, leaders must transform themselves and their organizations. If not, your organization is on its way to struggle, flounder, and decline . . . it may take months or years. It depends.

The third kind is change is essential for survival. Transformation, transformational change must start at the top of the organization. Why? Leaders are accountable for the system (organization) and its success. It’s up to leaders to create, optimize, and continually transform the system.

Employees could improve, change, and tinker with any processes. But they could not transform and save a company. What employee teams could have saved Kodak, Blockbuster, Montgomery Ward, PanAm? None. The results of your organization (good or bad) are the reflection of leadership.

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Q. We’re enmeshed in problem solving but seem to have the same (and new) problems over and over. Are we doing something wrong?

A. Entrepreneurs build companies to “solve a problem.” Companies grow and are more and more full of problems, waste, and complexity. Executives and their teams have a better opportunity.

Think about, how do we prevent problems? What if we had a different system, a different way to address challenges? Search and discover the root causes of your problems. Discuss options to prevent the problems from happening. You may find a treasure of new understanding. You may be able to anticipate and prevent unwanted challenges before they occur. The more strategic your thinking is, the smoother your operations may run.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: What Matters to YOUR Customers?

Q. Our executives are driving us hard to grow the business numbers such as revenues, numbers of locations, customers, etc. However, with their drive for numbers, they don’t seem to care about our quality or delivering what our customers have paid for. My team is uncomfortable with the lack of ethics and customer responsiveness. What do we do?

A. Your company is on a path of decline. When executives lose their strategic compass, they shift their focus to numbers. By trying to manage a business with myopic conversations about forecasts, budgets, cost cutting, incentives, and sales, they forget their purpose is to serve the current customers. When current customers feel ignored or do not receive the value for what they have paid for, the reputation suffers, and the customers will disappear. What grade would your business get today?

Internally a business begins to implode when customers aren’t served and employees see and hear the complaints from customers--they disconnect. The business suffers without a collaborating team. Devastating company traits emerge: internal competition, silos, poor communication, waste and complexity, a lack of workflow, etc.

There are multiple symptoms of poor leadership. People try to solve the same problems for months and years because they’re working on the symptoms, not on the root causes. The leaders are asking the wrong questions. It’s time to step back and ask for help outside of the company to get a new perspective and transform the company before it fails.

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Q. As a frequent customer of great restaurants, airlines, hotels, etc., I am surprised when some companies seem so out of touch with their customers! Why?

A. Leading any business can be a tough job. The key to success is developing communities of both employees and customers who are loyal. Why do some restaurants, manufacturers, airlines, etc. have such loyal communities?

The answer is easy! Leaders who focus on providing quality in everything they do build loyalty for their organization—inside and out. The challenge for executive teams is to be aware—and stay aware of what matters to their customers, focusing on those few key quality characteristics, and creating the systems and processes and culture of employees who are thrilled to delivering that level of excellent quality.

Start conversations about, what’s important to our customers? How do they define a quality experience? Everything that is important to the customer then becomes some of the measures of success. The measures may be speed of service, responsiveness, care and engagement, cleanliness, safety standards, innovation, and more. It’s up to leadership to connect the dots from defining the key traits that matter to the customer and the operational flow that makes the customer think, “Wow!”

The two traits your best customers want to feel are: focus on delivering the best quality consistently, and care about their experience. Two winning traits: quality and service.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: New Pivot for Effective Communication

Q. Our employees (and managers, too) are struggling re-connect in the workplace. How are people re-connecting?

A. Management is leading and guiding their staff into a new workplace. People have been challenged in the past chaotic years. Communication models and styles abruptly changed. As we pivot back toward in-person workplaces, communication has changed again. Oftentimes people initially feel uncomfortable re-connecting with others. They’ve been more isolated; meetings have been in a singular dimension (with zoom-similar platforms), and they’ve grown accustomed to that. It's a habit that people have adjusted to, but it’s not necessarily had healthy outcomes.

Some people are also craving being with other people—and when they meet their conversations are robust and insatiable! Initially they may re-engage slowly—and then—WHAM! They open up, and their conversations are very focused, deep, productive, and meaningful. Together they can make faster progress toward their goals.

When people have the in-person experiences, they develop bonds where they commit to helping and supporting each other. They don’t blame others for mistakes; they see actions that are sub-optimal as great learning experiences. Together they learn and move forward.

Effective communication enhances deeper connection and better relationships. People build trust with each other! Employees love to work where they have some flexibility and independence; are appreciated and recognized; and are self-motivated to contribute and make a difference.

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Q. As people come back to the office, how can we develop our healthy culture?

A. The more people engage with the company values (recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes), their teams, and their customers, the healthier the culture can be. As people return, whether it be for a day a month or week or full-time, management should create some interactive, two-way communication exercises on a consistent schedule. It may be monthly or quarterly, but to expedite creating connection and relationships, more often is better for an effective foundation.

Town hall meetings are effective when there are some clear messages shared by leadership. Create open opportunities (in small groups) for people to share ideas, brainstorm, and discuss issues, possible solutions, and opportunities that may be worth pursuing. People need to feel heard and have an impact.

Beyond hearing ideas (and any feedback from employees or customers), the most important outcome is that leadership (and team leaders) makes a plan to take action. Prioritize and focus on quick wins that will make a difference to those you are serving. Then implement the tougher solutions that are consistent with the aim of the organization.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Do You Really Know What Customers Need?

Q. How do we understand our customers better?

A. Success means creating communities! Having a community of customers means developing connections and interactions with those people who use and like your product. One example is the Ring doorbell video. When it was invented, big competitors could have easily overtaken the small startup’s product. But the founder and his team integrated the Neighbors’ service so that neighbors could share their observations and surveillance of their property with others. Having this product and service was a key differentiator.

Understanding your customers and their challenges and problems means connecting with them and listening to them. That does NOT mean scheduling time and then giving them a demo or Power Point presentation. Instead, ask questions. Do at least 80% of the time together listening and asking questions—and more questions. Watch how they use your product or service. Hear what frustrates them.

Polls, surveys, focus groups will provide weak feedback. To understand them, co-create new products and services for them. They are your community, your ambassadors for your future. The strength of your connections and relationships will create the strength of a healthy organization. And use this process with your employees (your internal customers), too.

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Q. Our company has had a decline in customers in recent months, but we’re not sure why. What do we do?

A. Think about the quality and value that your customers need from you. Did you provide it in the past and now something has changed? What do your customers need from you (choose the top three most important traits of your product or service)? Do they expect speed, safety, product quality, continual innovation to solve their problems, fast responses?

Whatever they need is your top priority. Do you have the leadership thinking, the team, the resources, the mindset to deliver it? Can your team draw a direct line from what they do to what the customers need? Or do the barriers inside your company get in the way of serving the customer? So often what customers want and need are so clear from the outside perspective, yet the complexity and waste inside the company is overwhelming. People are stuck in the minutia, the details, the analytics. Instead, they need to ask and answer the basic questions: what do our customers expect, and how are we at delivering it to provide the ultimate experience and satisfaction?

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Growing Your Business

Q. While we’re not in a recession, it seems spending is tightening. How do we grow our business?

A. There are multiple ways to grow your business. First, don’t buy into “recession thinking.” There will always be ups and downs in the economy. But remember, some of the greatest companies started and grew during a depression or recession. Grow! No excuses! Pivot as needed.

Your current customers are key. The executive team and front-facing people to customers (sales, marketing, and customer or technical service) need to develop relationships with customers. Talk to them, observe them using your product; be with your customers. What do they experience? What frustrates them? Learn from them. Bring the lessons back to your company to solve their problems.

Leverage the needs that your customers have, and create better products and services to improve their experiences. Delight the market. Your customers are your ambassadors. They are part of your marketing arm.

Then innovate! What new and different products and services can you design to create new markets? Keep inventing. Be fast. See what works and throw away what doesn’t.

What is your differentiator? Build better and differentiated products that your customers are excited about, and grow your business.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Navigating the Business

Q. The economy is strong, yet corporations are laying off. Shall our management team layoff, too, in anticipation of slow times?

A. The issues that businesses are facing today are escalated by outside factors. Some factors are outside of a business leadership team’s immediate control. But it does have a choice about what news to perceive, how to perceive it, and what reactions or actions to take.

Ideas and actions (right or wrong) can become contagious! One company starts a new policy; others follow suit. Is it healthy? Does it make sense? Are decisions and choices thought through strategically from the purpose of the company to the decisions that impact the customers? Not often enough.

To make your decisions, check the facts, not opinions. Dig deeper than the day’s headlines. Do you want to make decisions based on the data and information about your organization, your customers and their needs, and your industry over time? Or do you want to jump on the fear bandwagon and react to sometimes false perceptions?

High technology corporations have rolled through layoffs for decades. They inflate their hiring, then re-adjust. Or they start a new product line, decide to discard it (and the people working on that product line) and shift to a new product line. Variation exists in everything.

Some corporate leaders are loyal to their employees. Others lay off employees on a whim. Executives wonder why they have absenteeism, employee turnover, disengagement, and quiet quitting. Root causes for problems are often easy to see and understand.

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Q. In recent years, it seems we business leaders have had to react to a myriad of challenges from the pandemic to inflation to the labor shortage to bank failures. Neither college nor decades of experience prepared us for these. How do we best navigate them without burning out?

A. With any unforeseen challenge, first take a deep breath, and pull your team together and lead them through a collective deep breath—seriously! Quickly share and assess the feelings people are experiencing. Acknowledge them.

Second, assess the safety of your team, customers, finances, etc. What do you immediately need to address? You may take rapid actions or within an hour or a day.

Third, discuss the questions you need to answer and what you know. What are the facts; what you need to further understand to make decisions; the impact on your employees; what your customers need, and the impact on the business. Ask, what can we anticipate for the short and long-term? What decisions do we need to make? What actions do we need to take? What’s our plan for today, tomorrow, this week, and going forward?

Fourth, based on what you need to accomplish together for all involved, focus your team and communicate often. Use the PDSA model: Plan what to do now; Do it; Study what worked and what didn’t work; Act to keep what works and let go of what doesn’t; then PDSA again. It is a model for rapid learning, communicating, making decisions, and moving forward.

As you navigate a crisis, your mindset is critical. Be future focused. Don’t get stuck in the past. Later it is important to discuss what you could have anticipated. And discuss what you can anticipate in the future. What can you do to be better prepared for a crisis? It is the role of leadership to anticipate. Great leaders have a plan for a pandemic, bank failure, recession, etc. When you have a plan, modify it with the reality of the moment.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leave Your Legacy—Plan Your Future!

Q. My retirement from a management position is approaching at the end of the year. How do I prepare?

A. There are two major things to consider.

The first is: What is the legacy you want to have? Think about whom you want to mentor before you leave, whom you need to train or communicate with and what work processes need your attention before you depart. What guidance will your team and colleagues need to continue your work? If you have customer-facing relationships, introduce your team to the customers so there is a smooth transition and they can begin building an effective, trusting relationship.

The second is: How do you want to spend your retirement? Some people want to play golf or travel. Some want to read, garden or do home improvement projects. Others intend to spend more time with friends and family. Still others want to get into volunteering and philanthropy work. Many will discover new hobbies or follow passions they didn't have time for while working.

Preparing for retirement is a beautiful time to start with a clean sheet of paper — maybe a flip chart — and dream. Be creative and start creating Chapter Two in your life. If you haven't had interests or hobbies outside of work — a common situation — seek a legacy and retirement coach to guide you through the process. It will be very fulfilling!

There are lots of things you can do: Explore new interests. Give back to your university or trade association. Discover new projects nearby or abroad. Learn a new instrument or language. You'll also find plenty of opportunities to do things such assisting the elderly, helping out in classrooms and serving your community. The possibilities are endless.

Corporations have internal M&A teams or hire CPA & legal firms with this specialized expertise. When corporations are identified to acquire or merge with, these teams do their due diligence: assessing their industry/product fit; and their financial and legal ramifications. There are multiple steps in the process for the team to ask, “Does it make sense to proceed?” But these answers take courage to discuss, debate, and let go of a deal that doesn’t make sense. Also, the deal might make financial sense, especially for the executives involved who will reap phenomenal benefits.

But as many studies have proved, 70 percent to 90 percent of acquisitions fail. Why? And if you want to acquire another corporation and merge, what can you do to succeed that most executives obviously aren’t doing?

The focus and decisions about doing an M&A deal are mentioned above. But why they fail is because executives are only leading part of the job. Financial, legal, and even market/product due diligence is not enough. Those are only a small part of what’s needed to succeed.

The essential and most often missing part of the M&A deal process to be successful is the lack of due diligence and the development of an Integration Plan before the M&A deal is signed! There needs to be due diligence for leadership, communication, culture, decision-making, speed of decisions, customer experiences and relationships, commitment of Quality and responsive service, etc. This process provides critical information to the boards and executives about whether and how to proceed and succeed. With this information, a framework and plan to create and integrate a new System that can deliver successful results and a new collaborative culture, is possible. Without it, M&A deals will continue to deliver a high rate of failure.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Will Your M&A Deal Fail or Succeed?

Q. Our Board and leadership teams have just committed to doing more M&A deals in future years. How can we be successful?

A. .  Merger and Acquisition deals are fairly common whether for a Fortune 50 corporation or for small private companies as they consolidate. There are multiple reasons for acquiring other corporations: to expand the technology, products, and new regions and marketplaces; and, to rapidly add employees (often in highly technical careers, specific industry knowledge, better access to customers, or marketing and sales connections.)

Corporations have internal M&A teams or hire CPA & legal firms with this specialized expertise. When corporations are identified to acquire or merge with, these teams do their due diligence: assessing their industry/product fit; and their financial and legal ramifications. There are multiple steps in the process for the team to ask, “Does it make sense to proceed?” But these answers take courage to discuss, debate, and let go of a deal that doesn’t make sense. Also, the deal might make financial sense, especially for the executives involved who will reap phenomenal benefits.

But as many studies have proved, 70 percent to 90 percent of acquisitions fail. Why? And if you want to acquire another corporation and merge, what can you do to succeed that most executives obviously aren’t doing?

The focus and decisions about doing an M&A deal are mentioned above. But why they fail is because executives are only leading part of the job. Financial, legal, and even market/product due diligence is not enough. Those are only a small part of what’s needed to succeed.

The essential and most often missing part of the M&A deal process to be successful is the lack of due diligence and the development of an Integration Plan before the M&A deal is signed! There needs to be due diligence for leadership, communication, culture, decision-making, speed of decisions, customer experiences and relationships, commitment of Quality and responsive service, etc. This process provides critical information to the boards and executives about whether and how to proceed and succeed. With this information, a framework and plan to create and integrate a new System that can deliver successful results and a new collaborative culture, is possible. Without it, M&A deals will continue to deliver a high rate of failure.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Hire a Strategic Advisor to Assess Your Organization

Q. Since you’ve been consulting with Boards and executive teams for decades, what are a few key gems you’ve learned from your clients?

A. This is a beautiful, reflective question. One company president in Hawaii pointed out the power of “anticipate.” Every leader needs to scan their environment, industry, and society and frequently assess what’s happening and what could happen. My client at PBS told his team who believed “we can’t do it” that if they had a need, they should do their research, create a plan, and make a proposal to do it. He was open to any innovative ideas that had a sound plan that they could implement together. 

Another CEO showed that he was not above answering his own phone—no gatekeepers, no screening. He was open to possibilities. Many times, he’d say “No thank you to sales pitches.” But there were times, he’d schedule an appointment to hear more, or he’d engage with a job seeker and soon they’d be a new employee. In summary, great leaders are open to and create possibilities.

Q. Data science has become big business. On reflection, I simply want to know how to measure success?

A. There’s a purpose for data science and analysis. First, it starts with the questions you want to answer. It’s significant to look at data over time to learn about the process, the trends, and what you can learn to make better decisions. The analysis is essential in specific industries and functions: science, medicine, engineering, etc. 

To run a business, there’s a far smaller need to chase and chart an overwhelming amount of data. When management does that, they often get mired down in complexity. They miss the vision and opportunities they need to assess and make a reality.

A simple, but most powerful measure of success is quality in everything you do. Both qualitative and quantitative measures are essential. Leaders start with the customer (internal and external.) What’s the voice of the customer? Step back and ask, “if I am a customer of our products and services, what are the most important expectations we need to meet?” What is the definition of quality for the customer: products and service, speed, responsiveness, support, problem resolution, communication and clarity, our brand and reputation? 

Quality of relationships, trust, transparency (in actions, not words), and the flow of work and information is the foundation. Improve, innovate, and have a sustainable workplace that delivers great quality is fundamental to serving customers. 

It is rare that leaders can hold up a mirror and really understand how well their organization is doing, and what it needs to do to be better or competitive. Just as you go to your doctor for your annual physical or take your car in on its maintenance schedule, great leaders ask someone from the outside to assess and scan their organization. What can an outsider so easily see that a management team cannot see? Get an annual checkup and be open to hearing about the barriers to faster success.