Our reader poll today asks: How open is your leadership team to new strategic directions?

• Very: They’re happy to shift to a new strategy that makes more sense 25.85%
• Somewhat: It takes strong effort to compel change 37.64%
• Not very: It takes a massive market shift to get them to move 26.40%
• Not at all: Don’t even bother talking to them about new directions 10.11%

Moving with the market. 62% of you expressed a willingness on your leadership team’s part to shift strategy as the market shifts and new opportunities emerge. A word of caution here – be sure you’ve set out a clear mission and vision for the organization to serve as a north star. Without that, you risk meandering and getting distracted by the latest trend instead of driving your organization to a chosen destination. Being too willing to change course can put you at a disadvantage versus more focused competitors. For those with leadership teams less willing or even unwilling to shift, recognize the market is always moving. Either you change your business or the market will change it for you with the latter being significantly less desirable. If they’re unwilling to move, show them a cost of inaction – what does their world look like in the future if they don’t take action today? Sometimes seeing that stark future picture can spur them into action.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Our reader poll today asks: How effectively do you help your teams arrive at their own solutions rather than giving a solution to them?

• Very effectively: Almost everything we do is the team’s idea 17.52%
• Effectively: I help them often but sometimes drive my own solution 71.89%
• Not effectively: My solution often dominates the conversation 7.37%
• Not at all: I almost never use the team’s solution and always default to mine 3.22%

Let them own the solution. While the majority of you responded that you let your teams develop and implement the solution to a problem, there is a pretty strong hint of leaders driving their own solutions. While you’re responsible for leading the team, it doesn’t always have to be your solution. Sure, your solution might be the best one but is it significantly better than the one the team generated? If there’s only a marginal difference, try letting the team run with theirs. They’ll be more excited about it, learn more effectively from where their plan had shortcomings, and be more invested in the outcome which should lead to better execution and higher engagement. Reconsider your role in the problem solving process and move from problem-solver-in-chief to being the enabler of your team building, executing, and learning from their own solutions.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Our reader poll today asks: How strictly do you enforce contract terms when someone backs out of a deal?

• Very: That’s what contracts are for. There need to be consequences 42.22%
• Somewhat: If it’s last minute with no good reason, we’ll enforce. Otherwise, not really 41.21%
• Not strictly: We’ll only enforce terms in the most egregious cases 13.56%
• Not at all: We may as well not have signed a contract 3.01%

Terms matter. A large portion (42%) of you strictly enforce contract terms when one party backs out of a deal and another large portion (another 41%) enforce them if it’s a last-minute change. Contracts have consequences. Parties should expect to be held to the terms of an agreement. The implication for you is, as you’re going through a contracting process, be sure everyone clearly understands all the terms and that the triggering of a penalty clause won’t cause excessively punitive consequences. Make consequences proportionate to the offence otherwise you run the risk of permanently damaging a relationship or getting pulled into litigation which may be seen as a cheaper option than paying the penalty. Fair contracts with reasonable consequences are always a best practice.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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