Umair Haque Director of the Havas Media Lab speaks on “Constructive Capitalism.”  This is an excellent view that will give every leader valuable insights on how to reinvent themselves to succeed in an emerging new era in business.  Take the time to watch this – it will support you as you consider how to rethink your approach moving forward.

Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 – Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.

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While we are not out of the woods yet and still need to focus on job creation – the economy seems to be in a steady recovery with more growth expected by the middle of this year.  The question that will start being asked is where is the most leveraged place for us to invest now that business is getting better?   Well, I have what might appear to be a self-serving response to that – focus on developing the capacity of your executives and key emerging leaders!  I do not care who you hire to do this as long as they are worth their weight and have proven processes that will enhance the impact of your leaders.

When done well – development has a very direct return on investment.  One of my earliest entries provides a first step in determining your leadership development strategy.   The key is to be targeted in your approach and to hold who ever works with you accountable for real measurable results.  But when done well – the research shows the value of investment:

• Booz Allen Hamilton’s own research shows a 650% return on investment from their executive coaching program ¹

• Extraordinary leaders generate four times the results over good leaders in areas like profitability, employee loyalty and customer retention ²

If you have no real strategy or leadership development program – find yourself a seasoned and results-focused executive coach and take a test drive!  If the coach is worth their weight – the leader being coached should be generating results greater than your development investment within 90 days as long as you have also picked the right executive to develop (see our blog article on the one remaining stumbling block in executive development).

Yes, the past year was tough and we are not out of the woods yet AND the ones who will get you out of the woods faster are your executives – especially when they have the principles and critical approaches that only a great executive coach can provide.

I work in a lot of corporate as well as public sector settings and I am always amazed at the intellectual horsepower found among corporate executives, partners in professional services firms and SES leaders in the Federal Sector.  Unfortunately, this intellectual horsepower goes partially untapped because of one thing -  the lack of regular feedback.  This is certainly not true for all organizations yet in our experience it is for most.

Can you imagine the implication if guided missiles, satellites, GP-S’s, or your own body’s temperature gauge had no feedback mechanisms built in?  Bottom line, they would not work and in the case of the later the lack of a feedback mechanism would lead to death!  Now look at your organization and ask yourself -

• How effective are we at giving each other constructive feedback?
• If and when we do – what impact does it have on our performance and profitability?
• What, if anything, keeps us from having a more feedback rich culture (e.g. we are too polite to each other, we live in silos, etc.)?

Here are some common challenges that hinder an organization’s ability to improve performance through feedback: Read the rest of this entry »