It All Starts at the Top
For more than twenty years now, I've heard John Maxwell emphasize that "EVERYTHING rises and falls on leadership." I even remember when Uncle Ben gave similar counsel to Peter Parker, aka Spiderman, saying, "With great power comes great responsibility!" If we really want to impact those things that are killing our profitability, especially in the highest risk areas, and achieve actual quantifiable results, I can't think of a better way to start than with a top-down approach!
I found an article on Forbes.com called "Ineffective Leadership and the Devastating Individual and Organizational Consequences," which opened with this:
Have you ever been so stressed at the thought of continuing to work with an ineffective leader-a "bad boss"-that you become physically ill? If so, you are not alone.
After detailing how poor leadership can make an employee's life suck and providing quite a bit of statistical data to back their claims, the author went on to state, "In addition to the individual outcomes, it also leads to organizational issues of lost productivity, employee absenteeism, safety issues, turnover and increased healthcare costs." Let's be honest: someone running a company doesn't have to care about the people who work for them to see how much profit they're losing once they've sifted through enough articles like that. And I'm sure we could both make a long list of names of the folks we've interacted with throughout our careers who wouldn't give the slightest bit of attention to John or Uncle Ben but would most certainly break down walls for a couple of extra nickels.
There are a ton of things that can be done at every level of an organization that can have a significant impact on any given profitability killer. We'll be working through several of them individually soon, but we'll never see the full benefit of any if we're not willing to start at the top! I'll share Maxwell's wisdom once more, just in case you missed it before: "EVERYTHING rises and falls on leadership!"
While the owner of a company or the folks in the C-suite won't necessarily touch every area of the business that needs this kind of attention on any given day, they do indeed set the tone for everyone throughout the organization reporting to them. What they place a priority on becomes the focus of their direct reports, and that continues down the line. So, if we really want a great return from accepting the great responsibility that comes with that great power, it will be critical for us to provide a top-down leadership model. Let's look at some examples...
Exponential Impact
The author of that Forbes article continued supporting the idea that It All Starts at the Top by citing Gallup's "State of the American Manager" report, sharing that "one in two employees has quit their job because of a bad boss at some point in their career. Seventy percent are thinking about and/or actively looking for a new job due to a lack of support and recognition." John Maxwell made a similar point in Leadership Gold by saying, "Some sources estimate that as many as 65% of people leaving companies do so because of their managers... The 'company' doesn't do anything negative to them. People do. Sometimes coworkers cause the problems that prompt people to leave. But often the people who alienate employees are their direct supervisors."
While each statement points to retention, something we'll unpack in quite a bit of detail soon, both should serve as eye-openers to the overall effects of poor organizational leadership! An article called "6 Ways Poor Leadership Impacts Your Business" makes this statement early on: "Poor leadership is a huge liability. The actions of a poor leader lead not only to missed targets but can destroy the entire culture of a company." The author goes on to share the following FIVE ways (yes, you heard me right...FIVE) you can see poor leadership impacting your business:
1. Loss of motivation to work
2. Poor sales performance
3. Lack of ownership and transparency
4. Mismanaged resources
5. Poor work culture
For what it's worth, I went through that article multiple times, trying to find the sixth way, but the only reference I saw was in the title. Here nor there, I suppose...
What I did pull from going through these points several times was that each has a real financial impact on an organization. Unfortunately, each can be difficult to quantify, and even when they are, the proverbial finger is nearly always pointed to some cause other than leadership. As I've said before, it's so much easier to place blame on a thing than it is to do that pesky thing called accepting personal responsibility!
For now, the case I want to make isn't tied to any one of those things or even any of the ones we break down into detail later on. It's more about how poor leadership at the top of the organization in any one of those areas can set the tone for what occurs at every other level. The trickle-down effect can make a minor issue at the executive level exponentially more costly by the time it impacts a frontline employee. If nothing else, the numbers are much greater-but even the most minor issues tend to grow as they're passed on from one level to the next within the company.
I want you to consider how much direct and ongoing attention any of those five things I referenced need under the best leader you've ever worked with. Now, how about with the worst? I doubt your answers are very different from mine...
A simplified translation of Luke 16:10 says, "Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things." When it comes to top-down leadership and how those high-risk areas can kill our profitability, we rarely deal with small things at that point. That said, I believe the things we-as executive leaders in our organizations-will need to do to address any of those issues are much simpler than we often think!
Leading Is Hard But Not Complicated!
You will never hear me say leadership is easy, especially the leadership necessary to run a large organization effectively. What you will hear me say from time to time is that it's actually damn hard! In fact, I've often heard John Maxwell joke about the book he has scheduled to be released immediately after he dies called Leadership Sucks. Please don't misunderstand me or the title of John's future book-we aren't suggesting that leadership is not complicated or difficult! Leadership is hard not because of the painstakingly complex work involved but because ensuring we're the best example we can be for the people who count on us to lead can be a heavy burden. When we genuinely care for those people, and I don't believe we should ever accept a role leading others if we don't care for them, the level of responsibility is high!
If we want to make an exponential impact as we address the things that are killing our profitability, we need to recognize that every action we take to exemplify genuine servant leadership to our teams will carry from the top down. When we invest time into how we communicate with our teams, individually or as a group, the leaders reporting to us have a clear example to follow. When we're intentional about being responsive to those who need our time and attention-regardless of how tough it may be to provide it for them at that moment-it demonstrates how they can do the same with those they're responsible for leading. And when we show our team members that we've always got their best interests at heart, not only are they likely to be incredibly engaged, but they'll rarely consider a position anywhere else!
While effective communication and responsiveness doesn't [Editor1]require fancy credentials or following complex procedures, they're most certainly things we'll need to weave into what's likely a hefty workload. That's where it can get pretty tricky! On any given day, we will face pressure to choose the task that urgently needs our attention over the individual asking for our ear. As high-level managers, executives, or business owners, there will never be a shortage of issues demanding us to be hands-on. But if we don't balance those tasks with a healthy dose of time for the people around us, we can expect to see that trickle down to every other level of our organizations.
If each new level of leadership responsibility is all about the money that comes with it, there will never be enough money to be worth what it will take to earn authentic influence and buy-in from the teams around us. That said, when we focus on the impact we can have on each individual instead of the perks that may come our way, we can build a culture that thrives and provides rewards that can't be had any other way. Will it be hard? Absolutely! But if we're being honest, having a crap culture where mediocrity is the best anyone shoots for, and no great people want to be a part of, is stinking hard too! At least when we're willing to engage in the challenging but extremely simple steps required to lead well, the results pay off over time. Unfortunately, this requires many at the highest levels of their organizations to change how they view a few things.
[Editor1]I'd clarify what things you're referencing --- being responsive?
