CONNECTICUT LIBRARIES
April 2004, Vol. 46, No. 4
In the fall of 2003, I received a free trial subscription to the Wall Street Journal. Over the months of my subscription, I noticed that several book titles stubbornly held their places on the Journal's best seller list, so I decided to check out a few. I almost skipped Execution because it was co-written by the chairman of one large corporation for the CEO's of other large corporations. Still, there was something about that subtitle, "The Discipline of Getting Things Done," that appealed to the library administrator in me.Larry Bossidy is chairman and former CEO of Honeywell International and past chairman and CEO of Allied Signal. Co-author Ram Charan is a consultant and advisor to senior executives of Fortune 500 companies. If you filter out issues like profit, Six Sigma, revenue stream, and the like, the authors have something to offer to library managers. While organizations regularly blame failure on poor strategy, the authors believe that, in most cases, poor execution, not strategy, is the problem. They use examples of business successes and failures over the past decade to bolster their view.
Bossidy and Charan have little tolerance for leaders who formulate visions, but leave it to others to carry out those visions. They are critical of business leaders who are not deeply engaged in their organizations. While "disengagement" is a luxury few library directors or department heads can enjoy, they may still appreciate the authors' three building blocks to execution: 1. Practicing the leader's seven essential behaviors; 2. Creating the framework for cultural change; and 3. Having the right people in the right places.
Let's start with essential behaviors. Knowing your people and your business comes first. Leaders must stay in touch with the day-to-day realities of their business. Leaders must understand that subordinates' perceptions, perspectives, limitations, and interests color information they give to their superiors. So, good leaders go where the action is. Leaders must insist on realism and be realistic themselves. Managers are often excellent at articulating their organization's strengths, but blind to its weaknesses. Setting clear goals and priorities requires that goals be few in number. More than 3 or 4 goals cause staff to compete with each other, slowing progress. Failure to follow through is a major cause of poor execution. When a meeting ends, the leader must make certain that everyone knows what decisions were made and who is accountable for doing what by when. Leaders must reward the doers. While public institutions complain about the difficulty of doing this, apparently, for-profit companies do not do much better. Leaders not only set priorities and give orders, but also use their experience to expand people's capabilities through coaching. Great leaders help staff correct problems and learn from the experience.
Knowing yourself is the authors' final essential behavior. They describe it as "emotional fortitude" and see it as comprised of several core qualities. Authenticity means that you, as a leader, are the same as what you do and what you say. Leaders have self-awareness: they know their strengths, but also deal with their behavioral blind spots and learn from their mistakes. Self-mastery helps leaders keep their egos in check, take responsibility for their behavior, and maintain their integrity. Good leaders exhibit humility. They listen to others because they do not have all the answers, and they share credit.
Building block number two is creating the framework for cultural change. Not surprisingly, the authors' approach is activist, not philosophical. For them, cultural change gets real only when your organization's aim is execution. They say, tell people clearly what results you want and discuss how to get there. Discussions should be robust and realistic, with open-minded people sharing honest opinions and the leader modeling the behavior he expects of her/his people. When people are productive, the leader rewards them. When they come up short, the leader provides coaching, withdraws rewards, reassigns them to other jobs, or, ultimately, lets them go.
The final building block is "the job no leader should delegate-having the right people in the right places." Bossidy and Charan note that leaders often claim that people are their most important asset, but fail to act accordingly. Leaders, too often, are not engaged in the people process. They may be overly ready to select personnel with whom they are comfortable or accept general recommendations from others without asking specific questions about the candidate's behavior and performance. Bossidy shows his belief in this building block by personally calling references. He asks his own questions: How does the candidate set priorities? For what qualities is she/he known? What is his/her energy level? Does the candidate get excited about doing things, or prefer philosophizing? Does the candidate include his/her people in the decision-making process?
Bossidy and Charan hire leaders who can execute. They advise all managers to do the same.
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