We've migrated from the labor economy of the 19th century through the knowledge economy of the last century to find ourselves in the engagement economy of the 21st century, according to John Hrastar, an HCA Business Advisor. The best talent, he believes, knows that they are a valuable and portable asset, not for their ability to repeat a rote process but because maybe they have influence in an industry with relationships and reputations that can be leveraged, or because they have exhibited an entrepreneurial prescience that has indeed allowed companies to capture new markets.
An apropos story from Hrastar: "I recently had a CEO tell me he was thinking about a strategic acquisition he was considering. The acquisition turned out to be a prospect he wanted to hire."
Intuitive Workers
"It's no longer a one-way street," he says. "Today, customers are demanding more input and companies must respond with products and services that serve a customer's needs. That engagement has a greater element of uncertainty. We need fewer algorithmic workers and more intuitive, experienced-based ones, sometimes called heuristic workers. Creativity, innovation and the ability to deal with uncertainty are key."
That goes not only for the human capital CEOs seek in others but for themselves, as well. Yet, it's often hard to know how to find that creative spark in others, let alone oneself, especially when there's no one to talk to.
Hrastar says that he often hears the same lament from CEOs. They need to take the company "to the next level." But often the next level is ill-defined because the CEO doesn't know what he or she doesn't know. Moreover, the problems CEOs think they know may be only symptoms of bigger challenges.
People and All That "Soft Stuff"
A CEO must understand the culture of his company and how his people connect to the market. Too often, the CEO either doesn't know how to use people to best advantage or lacks the skills to bring out the best in them. Then it becomes a matter of developing the tools to extract the best out of them. Leaders must be able to use the workforce as a strategic asset.
When first engaging with a client, Hrastar will often ask the CEO if there's anything on her desk or computer screen that relates to people. Often, the answer is no. That can be problematic, but not unique. "Too many CEOs say that people are their greatest asset, but they can't quantify or qualify the asset," says Hrastar. "The kind of data that are needed are often hard to get and even harder to utilize." Leaders need to understand the skills, expertise and experience their people possess to see if they can illuminate a way forward for the company. It's not easy. A company must collect the data and make them searchable. The good news is that the mere act of looking for this type of information can help companies ask questions they hadn't previously thought of.
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"CEOs enjoy having a peer who can serve as a sounding board for his relationship with his executive team and, more importantly, for his relationships with the board of directors, the chair and the individual members."
HCA Business Advisor
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Hrastar, who has been one of those lonely CEOs, in fact of multiple companies, says that often CEOs want advice, guidance and answers. A good advisor will spend a lot of time "listening profoundly" to both the CEO and sometimes the senior staff to better understand what might be holding the company back. "CEOs enjoy having a peer who can serve as a sounding board for his relationship with his executive team and, more importantly, for his relationships with the board of directors, the chair and the individual members," states Hrastar.
Enhancing Performance
A CEO also must be mindful of how to engage, develop and manage that executive team. Often the CEO with a full plate of his own responsibilities has scant time to deal with problematic performance or behavior of key direct reports. This challenge of course occurs at all levels of an organization.
The advisory work discussed above is very different from other executive and management development activities. These include training, mentoring and coaching. Among these, coaching is probably the most effective way to affect immediate and impactful change and improvement. "A good coach," HCA CEO and Managing Partner Ted Bruccoleri says, "works not on the strategic problems so much as the person who needs and wants to develop and enhance certain skills to achieve that 'next level' of performance in himself and his organization. A good coach doesn't supply answers necessarily but rather extracts revelations using the executive's own talents and experience to improve overall execution of individuals specific job performance or to ready individuals for the next level."
In our next issue, we'll begin our discussion about coaching and how such engagements are designed, developed and leveraged. Cathy Lange, who leads HCA's Leadership & Coaching Practice, will discuss the scenarios where coaching works particularly well. In later issues, we'll discuss specifics such as how to develop "executive presence" and "managing the moment."
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