My recent post, “In the Gap”, stirred a great stream of emails from Seattle CEOs and Execs, which inspired me to press on with this topic.
Critical business gaps are a universal challenge, especially for “first company CEOs”. Because performance gaps are new and always changing, trial and error is the only way forward in the journey of becoming who a CEO is meant to be. The following comments on my last post from readers can give us a closer look into this journey:
“We’re moving more quickly than we can sustain, and we don’t have anyone who owns these growing pains.”
“I know in my company many times over the years, we would set programs and goals and then over time we lacked follow through.”
“I have two people with a very long tenure. They seem to go in and out of being engaged in the business, the executive team, and their teams. I don’t know what is causing it.”
The graphic below helps me clarify the relationship between the individual, the culture, and what happens next. Culture is the word we use to symbolize “who we are together”. A bent culture will eventually bend new employees and new plans. Everything eventually is conformed to culture.
Company culture may be intangible, but results can’t hide. When the tension builds around a performance gap, leaders are naturally motivated to find quick fixes. However, more potent solutions can usually be found by first asking questions like “Is there something I’m unable to see and why?”
I once worked with a local Seattle company who unfortunately, continues to suffer needlessly in a “cycle of waste”. A “first company CEO” led this substantial business, but his formation had stagnated. In hindsight, I see how the company culture rebelled against structure and as a result, the company’s performance remains marginal to this day and their long-term existence is threatened. I did not have the experience then that I do now so I wasn’t able to help. I wish I had a do-over, but in my work that rarely happens.
Now to my point: Company culture reflects the progression of the CEO’s personal formation journey (who am I?) and a “first company CEO” is naturally searching because the performance gaps are often new and changing. Until these experiences accomplish their purpose, changing and experimenting is the only way forward. You may be thinking – how can I accelerate my formation? The antidote is receiving help from others on this same journey.
In my recent Vistage CEO Peer Group meeting, Mark shared, “I am constantly churning through different scenarios in my mind and I’d like to be free from this burden. How can I change?”
Every CEO in the room became quiet when they heard Mark and I realized that each had had an epiphany. Subconsciously, they too, were constantly churning through scenarios in their heads – they were preoccupied!
When I’m preoccupied with the disease of introspection, I can’t see what is right in front of me. In this moment I have nothing but a reaction to offer – I am blind to “what is”.
By sharing this truth, Mark accelerated his own formation as well as the other “first company CEOs” in his Peer Group meeting.
When a CEO shifts from unaware to aware, the next question becomes more potent – “what now”. Mark woke up that day in his Peer Group and he set the stage to be more aware and engaged with his senior team.
As always, I’d love to know your thoughts. Jim@peer-place.com
Jim
