PrimeGenesis Blog
IBM’s Sue Hed Shows How Early Wins Get You ‘Ahed’ of the Curve
1. Select one or two early wins from your milestones list:
Choose early wins that will make a meaningful external impact.
Select early wins that your boss will want to talk about.
Pick early wins that you are sure you can deliver.
Choose early wins that will model important behaviors.
Pick early wins that would not have happened if you had not been there.
2. Establish early wins in your second month and deliver by your sixth month:
Early means early. Make sure you select early wins in your first 60 days that you and the team can deliver by the end of your sixth month. Select them early. Communicate them early. Deliver them early.
Make sure the team understands the early wins and has bought in to delivering them on time.
This will give your bosses the concrete results they need when someone asks how you are doing.
3. Over-invest resources toward early wins to over-deliver:
Do not skimp on your early wins. Allocate resources in a manner that will ensure timely delivery. Put more resources than you think you should need against these early opportunities so your team is certain to deliver them better and faster than anyone thought was possible.
Stay alert. Adjust quickly. As the leader, stay close and stay involved on the progress of your early wins and react immediately if they start to fall even slightly off track or behind schedule.
4. Celebrate and Communicate Early Wins:
As your first early wins are achieved, celebrate the accomplishment with the entire team. This is important and should not be overlooked.
In conjunction with your communication campaign, make sure your early wins are communicated as appropriate.
The Economic Impact of Integrity Hits
One of the definitions of integrity is "unity" - congruence between actions, words, and beliefs. Most would tell you that integrity is a good thing. Unfortunately, many of their actions don't match that sentiment. Many people are...
Royal Caribbean’s CEO Exemplifies How to Leverage Milestones
Richard’s emphasis on milestones is not a surprise, as ship builders have been leveraging milestones’ emotional impact for millennia. Ship builders celebrate “keel laying” as the formal start of construction, naming, stepping the mast (accompanied by placing coins under the mast for good luck), christening (accompanied by breaking a bottle of champagne over the bow), a whole range of trials, “sail away”, hand over, and my personal favorite – onboarding the new captain.
As Richard explained to me,
“If you don’t establish early on key milestones – long-term milestones rather than the short-term milestones – you get caught in the ‘next week’ syndrome. I can’t think of a project that we are doing or have done (during which we do not) get to a key point and everybody says ‘We’re going to know so much more next week or the week after.’ And so the focus shifts to next week or the week after and we all desperately wait for that period. Meanwhile the longer-term milestone goes by the wayside.
So what we tend to do is say we need to know where we’re going. We need to know what we expect to have at the end. And so we talk a lot about our end point rather than waypoints.”
Creative Briefs Enable Creation
It's counter-intuitive, and neither a core onboarding skill, leadership skill, nor something you'd normally cover during executive training, but creative briefs are an extraordinarily effective way to free creative people to create. Similarly, clear...
How CEO Sam Martin is Driving the Imperative to Overhaul A&P
In particular, Sam reviewed what had made A&P a great company across vast distances:
Innovative spirit
Development of the core people including management
Focus on the customer
He then mapped out the imperative and went to work, implementing the various aspects of the plan:
Announcing the closing of 25 stores to “strengthen A&P’s operating foundation” (August 13)
Hiring Paul Hertz as EVP of operations (August 18)
Hiring Carter Knox as head of HR (August 19)
Installing Jake Brace as Chief Administrative Officer because of his “successful turnaround experience” (August 21)
Appointing Tom O’Boyle to head merchandising, marketing, and supply and logistics, completing the team to lead the “turnaround initiative”
By the October 22 earnings call* Martin was able to say with confidence that “there should be no doubt that this management team is moving with urgency.”
Google's Quest to Build a Better Boss and Onboarding
Adam Bryant's latest piece in The New York Times on Google's Quest to Build a Better Boss is well worth reading. It goes into detail on what Google has found to be the 8 rules to being a good boss - in priority order. Image via Wikipedia While we're...
Overcoming Passive-Aggressive Behavior in the Wisconsin Senate
Image by Getty Images via @daylife Leadership is about inspiring and enabling others to do their absolute best, together to realize a meaningful and rewarding shared purpose. It is not about de-motivating and blocking others' efforts. This is why...
How the Red Cross’s Charley Shimanski Inspires Others with Communication at the Heart of the Mission
Charley physically and emotionally puts his arms around people and draws them close to him, making them feel better about themselves. He does this face-to-face, one-on-one, and with his equally inspiring boss, Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern. Both of them reinforce the notion that disaster response is at “the heart of the Red Cross’s mission”. He reinforces this message continually in large groups, interviews and through his Twitter account – warning people of risks, cajoling them to help and complimenting good work.
Traction Revisited: Navigating the Ins and Outs and Ups and Downs of Career Cycles
Event | The Wharton Alumni Club (New York) | George Bradt | March 9, 2011
Altering Balance of Consequences: An Essential Part of Transition Management
Image via Wikipedia Changing behaviors is tough. Three helpful leadership skills include: Assessing the current context and culture Mapping the supporters, detractors, and watchers Moving everyone one step, starting by turning the supporters into champions This...