Building a Winning Team
I recently had the privilege of hearing Jack Welch speak. He was the keynote speaker at the NC CEO Forum and Jack did not disappoint.
Based on his book Winning, Jack shared a number of practical insights that would benefit anyone in a leadership role.
First, as a differentiating value, Winning means victorious; succeeding through effort; reaching a desired goal. This is not to be confused with simply celebrating a win. It’s a value embraced by those that like to achieve their goals, and be rewarded accordingly.
This is a value for leaders.
My favorite piece of insight that Jack shared was what I now refer to as the Values/Numbers Matrix.
Values/Numbers Matrix
In building a winning team, Jack verbally described what he sees as a useful decision matrix. In particular, he was referring to the evaluation of business unit leaders.
To be part a winning team, everyone’s actions and behaviors must support the organizations stated values. These values need to be explicitly explained with clear examples of what behavior is acceptable and what is not.
It’s also critical to be “hitting the numbers.” If sales and profit targets are not being met, then the business unit will eventually fail.
In this model, there are only four possible options when evaluating the leader of a business unit.
1) Invest in Training & Coaching. When you have a great team that lives the values, but is not hitting the numbers, they need help to win. This is the time to invest in coaching for the leader and training for the team. This is when the right support is needed to help the team win.
2) Reward Success. When a team lives the values and is hitting the numbers, they need to be compensated fairly and acknowledged publicly. Success rewarded will bread more success. And it will also motivate other leaders to aspire to winning.
3) Fire them – fast. When a leader’s actions and behaviors are in opposition to the stated values and they’re missing the numbers, you can’t fire them fast enough. It also sends a signal to others that you mean business.
4) Let them go. According to Jack, this is the most difficult group. They’re hitting their numbers, but their actions and behaviors are not aligned with the stated values. Just like bad drugs, these leaders are killing you – slowly. You may be getting short-term gains for long-term pain. But the right action is to let them go. It’s best for the future of the organization and it sends a signal to other leaders that the values are serious and behaviors are being observed.
An important message that Jack was communicating was to NOT treat all leaders the same. This also applies to all managers and employees. Those who live the values and can hit their numbers should be rewarded the most. Everyone else is either working to win, or working their way off the team.
Can you see application for this Values/Numbers Matrix in your business? If not, why?
Does your team embrace the value of winning? How do you support this value without sacrificing your other values?
Today’s value was selected from the “Freedom-Prosperity” category, based on the e-book Developing Your Differentiating Values.
