A coaching client just informed us of their discovery that a trusted employee has been stealing from the company by manipulating and creating false transactions in the company’s business software. Luckily, another employee saw something questionable and informed the owners. After hours of examining and comparing transaction logs, it was clear who the culprit was, how it was done, and for how long it’s been happening. Damn…isn’t running a business difficult enough without having your own employees stealing from you – especially one from your trusted inner circle?

The owners were shocked and devastated to discover just how extensive their trust was violated by this key employee. To learn that thousands of dollars had been siphoned out of much needed cash flow is one thing, but to learn that someone you trusted intentionally stole from the company right under your nose is where the real and lasting damage is done.

Here are some no-compromise strategies to help you and the rest of your company through the aftermath of discovering that an employee has been stealing:

• Stealing is stealing: It’s not just taking money that qualifies as stealing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a box of pencils, paperclips, supplies, or products…taking something that doesn’t belong to you is stealing. Padding an expense account is stealing. Sleeping while on the clock is stealing. Just because it doesn’t “feel” like stealing to the employee doesn’t mean that it isn’t – stealing comes in many forms, and happens when greed and entitlement thinking overtake good judgment, ethics, and values. No compromise.
• Due diligence: It doesn’t matter how indisputable your evidence is, the first call you make should be to your attorney for guidance on how to handle the matter before confronting the individual with accusations of being a thief. Jumping in without proper legal oversight could potentially backfire on you with a defamation lawsuit, so it’s best to play it safe. Your next call should be to the police to report the alleged crime. The police will also guide you on what you should and shouldn’t do. The most important thing to do is document anything and everything related to the case.
• Fire and recovery: Before confronting the offender, you must decide on what you want the outcome to be. Unfortunately, you really don’t have many options. If your proof is questionable, you need to present your evidence and demand explanation. Note: Do not get sucked in by a sob story. If you reject the explanation, the employee must resign or be fired. If the proof is indisputable, the employee needs to resign or be fired. The offer to submit his/her resignation should be attached to the full recovery of what was stolen. Firing means pressing charges and recovery through legal means. Remember, every decision you make sets a precedent for if (or, unfortunately, when) you encounter this type of situation again.
• Confronting the offender: It is extremely important to contain your emotions and filter everything you say to avoid repercussions. This should be a formal meeting with a witness present to monitor what is said. Based on discussions with your attorney and the police, you may consider having one or both present. Nothing communicates the seriousness of the situation than having your attorney and police officers present. In fact, it may be best to turn the conversation over to them. That puts more stress on the offender and less on you. The meeting ends with the employee admitting to the offense by resigning or being fired.  Let the police handle it from there.
• Damage control: The ick from these situations doesn’t just get all over you – it gets all over everyone in the company. Word will spread like wildfire; therefore it’s essential that you brief staff as quickly as possible. It’s best to present a sanitized version of what happened. It’s important to take the high road and not demean the offender. Terms like “stealing” should be replaced with terms like “questionable transactions.” Employees are pretty savvy and will figure out what you mean. Prepare talking points to guide employees through conversations with customers, vendors, and others. The important thing is to contain the drama and for the company to move on. The impact should be controlled and the situation rectified properly – you simply had an employee who risked his or her job and reputation by stealing.  Now they are suffering the consequences.  Case closed.
• Learn from the lesson: There are more ways to steal from a company than you can imagine. Therefore, the best offense is a good defense. Rethink and rebuild your systems and procedures to plug the holes. It’s a shame that tactics like security cameras need to exist in the workplace, but they serve a purpose. They protect the innocent just as much as they prevent temptation.
• Continue to trust: The actions of one individual should never tarnish your belief in others. There are many employees that deeply care about your company and its values. Distrusting everyone will eventually cause distrust to embed itself in your culture. No-compromise leaders nurture cultures of high trust by practicing smart trust that comes from well-designed systems and procedures.

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Being the leader of a business is perhaps one of the most complex, rewarding, and often brutally frustrating professions. Leaders are constantly held accountable, subjected to relentless demands, and must always be at the top of their game. A true leader works tirelessly to drive the Four Business Outcomes: productivity, profitability, staff retention, and customer loyalty. But when you peel away all of the trappings of leadership, what it really comes down to is believing in people – and that’s where things start to get interesting.

A leader’s job is to achieve results through the work of others. They keep people and teams on task. They maintain order, direction, and momentum. But would you want to work for a leader who is solely driven by the numbers, in an organization where people are simply the means to an end? In turn, would you want to be that kind of leader? You will get your results, but at what cost to those you lead; and at what cost to the work environment, or company culture?

Here are some no-compromise strategies to help you maintain that vital balance between believing in people and achieving the right outcomes:

• The heart of a leader: Believing in those you lead is the hallmark of a true leader. Inspiring, coaching, guiding, correcting, and applauding individuals to achieve their full potential is a responsibility of all leaders. More importantly, it is the most fulfilling aspect of being a leader. Hitting a goal is a momentary “woohoo.” Helping and seeing an individual stretch, grow, and display that inner glow of personal pride in their work is the true reward of leadership that feeds your passion. Keep believing in people. You will have your share of failures along way, but the heart of a no-compromise leader always has faith in the people he/she leads.
• Mistakes are lessons: No amount of planning can eliminate mistakes. No policy and procedure manual will ever eliminate rule breaking. No system will ever be without flaws. And the bigger your list of consequences is, the more fear-based and antagonistic your company’s culture becomes. Leaders set the agenda, establish parameters, empower employees, and get out of the way. They encourage ideas and innovation. They view mistakes as learning opportunities. Yes, there will be those dumb mistakes that require a fierce conversation and documentation. But fear-based, dictatorial, and inflexible cultures are NOT the cultures that no-compromise leaders create.
• Attitude of gratitude: As kids, we seek affirmation and reward for our achievements. We commit to a workout plan or diet for the reward of feeling and looking better. We set goals to win. We help others because we want to – and it feels good. Working for a leader who keeps gratitude and appreciation locked in a safe feeds a pretty thankless work culture where nothing is ever good enough. No win is ever worthy of praise. A simple thank you, great job, woohoo, or atta-boy is a pretty simple and powerful sign of appreciation. Don’t say you believe in people if any of the above describes you.
• About being liked: Leadership is not about being liked. Leadership is about integrity, trust, mutual respect, appreciation, and accountability. If “being liked” is so important to you, leadership may not be your calling. You cannot say “yes” to everything. Sometimes, you have to make tough decisions on behalf of the company that will be unpopular. There will be times you will feel isolated and alone. This is all part of the reality of being a leader.
• Connecting: Communication and information flow is something that every business, no matter how successful and admired, can get better at. Leaders need to connect personally with those they lead. It’s amazing how even in small companies with just a dozen employees, true connections among staff can be a rare occurrence. When you’re consumed with achieving results and hitting your numbers, you are stuck in your box where employees are reduced to objects. They see and feel your indifference. If you don’t care about them – they don’t care about you. It’s just a job until something better comes along. Connecting is vital. Connecting is believing in people.
• The leader’s leader: Your job is to coach, inspire, and grow the company and its people. But who coaches you? Who keeps you on task and helps you to reach your full potential? Who can you really vent your frustrations to or talk with through your challenges? The most effective leaders have a coach. No compromise.

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Our lives are consumed with deadlines, “to do” lists, emails, deleting spam, meetings, interruptions, urgent problems, family … and that spectacular bucket list of things you want to check off before you check out. We all know that time is precious. It simply ticks by and cannot be recaptured. Nothing drives this reality home better than remembering that our time in this world is finite – not infinite.

It’s virtually impossible for leaders to be immune from time management challenges. Stuff happens and you need to lead in the moment. The world around you relentlessly tries to invade and capture bits and pieces of your time. Guess what? You do the same to those around you. It’s what leaders do. All it takes is for someone to say, “I need to speak to you for a minute,” and before you know it, half a day has passed and you are thrown completely off schedule.

So how do you capture more time to get your stuff done and have some life left over? Here are six strategies you can start using immediately … if you can find the time:

1. Make appointments with yourself: Chances are your calendar is full of appointments with everyone but you. If you have a project that needs to get done, schedule the time to get it done on your calendar. That time is yours. Do not give it up for anything but dire emergencies (the light bulb that blew out in the restroom, for example, is not a dire emergency). Show up on time and prepared to dig in and work. You’d be surprised at how productive you can be when given just two hours of concentrated, uninterrupted time. More importantly, scheduling yourself in this way takes care of the toughest part of a project – getting started.
2. Low-level vs. high-level stuff: If you’re continually frustrated that you’re not getting your work done, consider all of the things you have been doing instead. Entire days can evaporate when you spend your time completing low-level busy work and putting out fires. The truth is, you sometimes focus on the small stuff in order to avoid what you know you should be doing. You chose to do that low-level stuff rather than schedule time to complete the high-level activities that would feel so good to get off of your plate. It’s you who allows the world to interrupt and distract you. And when the world doesn’t do it, you do it to yourself. Got it?
3. Don’t do it all: The one thing that control freak leaders are consistently amazing at is driving those they lead absolutely crazy. Nothing is done fast enough or good enough. Everyone else must be blind because they can’t see what you see. People want to do a great job. People want to feel empowered and appreciated. But control freak leaders are never satisfied. Most of all, control freak leaders are rarely satisfied with their own work. It’s time to let go of some of the controls before it’s too late.
4. Rethink your “To Do” list: This is all about managing what you allow on your plate. Your plate is your schedule. You can fill it with lots of low-level stuff and look busy as hell while accomplishing very little. Or, you can fill your plate strategically with high-level projects that will lift your company to that elusive next level. Think about the value of work and projects before you add them to your plate.
5. Climb out of your rut: This one is simple. You don’t have time to get stuff done because you are stuck in your rut. Your rut is your daily routine and, being a creature of habit, you are comfortable in your rut – even if you don’t like it. Climb out of your rut by allowing yourself to master your time differently. Get to work early. Greet your team. Lead a huddle. Talk to customers. Just change it up for 30 days and see what happens.
6. Respect yields respect: If you want others to respect your time and your schedule, you need to respect theirs. Too often, leaders are the elephant in their living room causing roadblocks, interruptions, and disruptions. Leading is about getting out of the way. Leading is about empowering others to do great things.

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A coaching client asked me for advice regarding an issue with a team leader that had been using the company credit card for personal expenses. By the time the abuse of the card was discovered, the charge totals were quite sizable. There were repeated warnings when minor personal charges continued to show up on the monthly statements. The company has a “three strikes, you’re out” rule, and this team leader had used them all. My client said, “This leader is really good at aspects of the job, is valued, and an asset to the company overall. What would you do if you were me?”

I felt this owner’s pain with the no-compromise decision he must make. If it were not for the credit card abuse, this team leader would be perfect. But the bottom line is that this was a classic case of theft. Trust was broken. A team leader who was supposed to be a role model for others knowingly and repeatedly violated company policy. More importantly, this type of personal behavior regarding money and spending raises suspicion that funds could be missing elsewhere in the company. My advice was, “You have a three strikes, you’re out rule – not 3.5 strikes. There is only one choice to make here.”

Here are some no-compromise thoughts to help leaders work through these tough decisions:

• Bad choices have consequences: The owner knew exactly what my response would be. It’s hard to fire an otherwise good employee and it’s never easy to take someone’s job away after a long-standing, working relationship. But this team leader’s choices and actions took his/her own job away. It’s about taking responsibility for one’s actions. Leaders are human beings and have every right to feel compassion for an individual that they have no choice but to fire. But in such situations, leaders must remember that the employee brought this upon him or herself. Get it over with and move on.
• Explanations vs. excuses: If you’re speeding and get a speeding ticket, the fact remains that you were speeding in the first place. Blaming it on that lead foot of yours is just a pointless excuse. In business, mistakes happen and explanations are needed to determine the cause and prevent repetition, but there is a fine line between an explanation and an excuse. An explanation can include ownership of the error. An excuse is almost always an attempt to deflect blame onto any place other than where it actually belongs.
• All eyes are on you: There are countless examples of leaders tolerating intolerable behavior from one or more employees; lateness, bad attitudes, disrespect, missed deadlines, dress code violations, expense abuse, inappropriate behavior . . . the list goes on and on. The problem with tolerating intolerable behavior from certain individuals while holding everyone else accountable to the rules is that it creates a double standard. Double standards wreck company cultures in every conceivable way. It’s one thing to earn special privileges through performance and teamwork, but it’s something else to earn it through entitlement, indifference, or fear that a key employee will quit. Protecting the company culture is one of the most important duties of a leader.
• Ask the tough question: Every leader must deal with individuals whose performances and behaviors are no longer acceptable. It doesn’t matter if the employee is in an entry-level position or top management – when unacceptable performance and behavior is allowed to continue, it contaminates the company’s culture. And when coaching, counseling, and repeated warnings prove ineffective, it’s time to objectively ask yourself this tough “yes or no” question: “Is there any indication that performance and behavior will improve?” If the answer is yes, communicate exactly what your expectations are and the timeline. If the answer is no, it’s time for the employee to find another opportunity.
• It’s about your actions too: If you’re the owner of the company, you must be responsible for your actions too. Everything you read above applies not only to your staff, but to you, too. Too many owners justify their compromising behaviors and actions simply by saying, “It’s my company.” Yes, it IS your company and that’s every reason to stop being the one who’s getting in the way and harming its culture.

Being a no-compromise leader is all about being compassionate, fair, respectful, and trustworthy. It’s also about dealing with the tough stuff that comes with leading people and coaching them to achieve their full potential. When the behaviors and actions of a team member continually fall outside of what is tolerable for your company’s culture, it’s time to make the tough decisions and move on.

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Take a moment to imagine what your company’s performance would be like if it was built on a culture of accountability. What would productivity look like? What would profitability look like? What would staff retention look like? Most important, what would client loyalty look like? Without a doubt, your company would be leaner, faster, and fiercely competitive. That’s the good news. The bad news is that too many companies give a lot of lip service to accountability but fall short of the level of commitment and execution needed to create a culture of ownership in their companies. As a result, creating distance between status quo and extraordinary performance is painfully and incrementally slow.

Here are six no-compromise strategies to create a culture of accountability in your company:

1. Know what you’re getting into: As a leader, if you truly want a culture of accountability, you must understand that once you begin this shift, you are going to be the one under the microscope – not just your employees. If you’re one of those leaders that love to launch “this will fix my employees” initiatives, you’ve already failed. Why? You guessed it: accountability begins with the leader. If your pattern is to shift in and out of accountable behavior, you are going to need some no-compromise coaching to hold you accountable.
2. Let go of the anchors: You cannot shift a company culture in a new direction if you’re dragging a lot of frustrations, issues, and toxic waste along. The only way to move forward is to let go of the anchors by getting them out in the open and addressing them. The problem is, too many leaders don’t want to deal with or even see the anchors that hold them back. So why stir up all of that stuff? It’s simple really: everyone already knows the anchors exist. Hoisting them up and confronting them in the open is essential to building trust. No one will support the shift to a culture of accountability if trust is compromised.
3. Show and tell: Accountability means different things to different people. For example, for some it means showing up on time. For others it means it’s OK to show up late as long as they get their work done. A culture of accountability is built on a foundation of clarified expectations. Clarified expectations define the processes (systems) to achieve desired outcomes. People need to understand the rules of the game and what winning looks like. If not, don’t be surprised when your company starts taking on water because people were drilling holes below the waterline.
4. Get rid of the elephants first: Every company has elephants lurking around that get in the way of progress. Things like double standards, attitude problems, indifference, entitlement thinking, procrastination, and other compromising behaviors need to go. If you and your company have been tolerating the intolerable, it’s time to show that herd of elephants the door. I don’t know about you, but I refuse to sign paychecks for people that don’t like working in my company.
5. Create what you want: Creating a culture of accountability doesn’t mean turning your company into a military academy. Remember that accountability is about taking ownership and creating the right outcomes in a planned and efficient manner. You can design that any way you want. If you strive for a culture that’s fun and celebrates self expression, build accountability into it. If you prefer uniforms and structure, build accountability into it. If you don’t build the culture you want, you may not like the one that evolves on its own.
6. Don’t fear it: Accountability is not an ugly word or something to fear. The problem is that many leaders fear the push back and repercussions that may occur when ramping up accountability in their companies. If status quo isn’t working out so well and creating a culture of accountability can position your company to achieve extraordinary results … what’s there to fear? Yes, some employees won’t like the change and leave. Some will stay and resist until they get it or hit the road. Most will embrace the change.

In the end, creating a culture of accountability is not an option. It’s what great companies do. No compromise.

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There is nothing more common in business than launching a new project or change initiative. That’s how companies strive to remain competitive and adapt to changing market conditions. It’s how companies tweak current systems and build new ones to improve productivity and maximize resources. New projects and change initiatives must occur for a company to remain vital and relevant. However, the other most common occurrence in business is the number of new projects and change initiatives that fail.

As a coach and consultant, my job is to help companies achieve the right outcomes in what I call “The Four Business Outcomes”: Productivity, Profitability, Employee Retention, and Customer Loyalty. To achieve different and more desirable outcomes, new projects and change initiatives must occur. If the company is in dire straights, its ability to execute change with a high sense of urgency is put to the test. Unfortunately, it is the company’s inability to execute change combined with a low sense of urgency that causes it to be in dire straights in the first place.

Here are six no-compromise reasons why new projects and change initiatives fail:

1. Contaminated culture: Projects and change initiatives are at the mercy of a company’s collective thinking and behavior – better known as the company’s “culture”. It’s a beautiful thing to see a structured, disciplined, team-driven, and passionate culture embrace and execute new projects and change initiatives. On the other hand, it’s painful to watch a fragmented, contaminated, and dysfunctional culture attempt to accomplish much of anything at all. Contaminated cultures succeed in little other than creating drama and casting blame. If your company can’t get new projects and change initiatives across the finish line, you need to fix your culture now.
2. Launch button mania: So, your team is already juggling six important balls and you throw in a couple of bowling pins. Now they’re struggling. Bam … you have a great idea and you throw in a flaming torch. Bam … you have another brilliant idea and you throw in a chainsaw. Your team runs for cover and the whole mess comes crashing down. There is no plan. There is no time to adjust to ensure new initiatives hit their intended targets. The leader just keeps hitting that launch button, frustrating the heck out of everyone, and new projects and change initiatives keep crashing and burning. If your team ever says, “We tried that before and it didn’t work,” it’s a sign that you may suffer from launch button mania. It’s time to shift from reactive mode to proactive mode.
3. Launch button phobia: On the opposite end of the spectrum, fear of change and rocking the boat by hitting the launch button on new projects sends open invitations to a host of ugly consequences. Companies can’t grow when stuck in a holding pattern. New projects and change initiatives are so rare that staff push back on anything that interferes with status quo. Interestingly, launch button phobia stills brings about change by feeding frustration, discontent, and indifference. If this describes your company, it’s time to rock that boat.
4. Just do it: “Just do it” may be a great slogan for the Nike brand, but in your company, “just do it” is a short-sighted attempt to bypass clarifying outcomes. If a new project or change initiative is important enough to launch, it deserves the time and effort to be planned out. You may see it clearly in your mind, but your team needs to understand the whys, whats, hows, and whens that are integral with every new project and change initiative. “Just do it” sets employees, leaders, and companies up for failure. A leader’s job is to get things done by thoroughly clarifying outcomes so everyone is set up to win.
5. Pick eight: Consider beginning each year with just eight new projects and change initiatives. Eight may not seem like much, but it means launching two initiatives per quarter. That’s a big undertaking for any size company. If you only launch six of the eight, and those six are executed brilliantly and generate the right outcomes, that’s pretty darn good. Given this, what’s your list for the remainder of 2013?
6. Connect the dots: These days, everyone’s plate is full. Email boxes are overflowing and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to keep track of everything. It’s even harder to keep everyone on that elusive same page. At Strategies, we use a simple, powerful, and very affordable online project management system called Basecamp. Projects are initiated, defined, and shared among those responsible for getting it done. Every project has an owner and a deadline. Every to-do is assigned and has a due date. All correspondence, notes, files, pictures, etc., stay with that project. Everyone connected to that project receives notifications when any updates are made. There’s a master calendar for all projects, deadlines, and due dates for the next six weeks so everyone always sees what’s coming. Warning: Basecamp only works if you and everyone else is committed and disciplined to use it. Try it for 60 days free. Go to basecamp.com.

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Companies are very much like people. They are born from a union of ideas; they experience all of the awkward phases of learning to walk and develop basic skills; and hopefully, they grow up with much success. Like people, companies can catch colds – they face obstacles in health when it comes to performance issues, cash-flow challenges, and other problems that surface unexpectedly. Companies need to work out to stay strong and lean rather than heavy and lethargic. Companies can get sick and die.

As a leader, it is your responsibility to protect and ensure the health and vitality of your company. That being said, you are also the one who is ultimately responsible for making your company sick through bad decision-making, procrastination, allowing the company’s culture to deteriorate, poor cash management, and a host of other faux pas that leaders notoriously self-inflict.

Companies of every shape and size are susceptible to infection. The question always comes down to whether or not the company is healthy and strong enough to fight the infection off.

Here are six simple, yet intensely profound, no-compromise questions to test your company’s current health:

1. Are you the system? Systems exist to create predictable outcomes. Building, perfecting, and locking systems are tedious yet essential parts of ensuring the right outcomes. When the leader needs to micromanage daily work, the leader becomes the system. If you’ve ever uttered the words, “Can’t they just do their jobs?” you have become the system – and it’s not working for you, your team, your company, and your customers. If you are the system, your company is not healthy.
2. What is your company fighting for? People fight for causes they believe in. Fighting for a cause unleashes the most precious energy source a company can possess – passion. Passion drives productivity, innovation, efficiency, and the ability to achieve outcomes that others perceive as unattainable. If the vision, purpose, values, and guiding principles of your company do not ignite the passion of your team, your company is not healthy.
3. Are you managing cash flow? Cash is your company’s fuel. It’s hard to fight and win in today’s economic climate if your company’s fuel gauge warning light is flashing. Too many leaders don’t pay enough attention to cash management until their fuel tank is critically low. Repeatedly filling your fuel tank with borrowed money is dangerous because debt saps future cash. Maintaining a cash reserve of three to four months operating expenses is not something you dream about – it’s something to discipline yourself and your company to do. If you’re not relentlessly managing cash flow, your company is not healthy.
4. Is information really flowing? The human body possesses a sophisticated information flow system. The simple act of walking is a coordinated effort of information flow and execution. In most companies, information flow is best described as constipated. Information may flow to some areas, but only trickle or bypass others. Think of information flow as “what, why, how, the score.” The right outcomes occur when expectations are clarified, processes are defined, deadlines established and agreed to, and progress is monitored via feedback or the equivalent of a scoreboard. Invest the time and energy to ensure information is flowing to every nook and cranny of your company. If it isn’t, your company is not healthy.
5. Is your GPS turned on? I use GPS navigation in my car, on my iPhone, iPad, and the Garmin on my road bike. These days, it’s almost impossible to not know where you are and if you’re on course to your intended destination. Do you know your company’s present location on its three-, five-, or ten-year plan? What are the ten initiatives you plan to complete this year? Which benchmarks and critical numbers are meeting expectations and which ones need focused attention? If you don’t know precisely where your company is, your company is not healthy.
6. Can it endure? As a human being, your time on earth is finite – so is your time as leader of your company. In contrast, a company can and should endure long after you’re gone. The ability to endure is the ultimate indicator of the health of a company. Are you building a company capable of enduring or a fortress to support your ego? Are you building a company that is growing in value – and does your Balance Sheet prove that it is? Are you grooming your replacement? Are you letting go of the reigns and allowing your leadership team to be accountable? The most important thing for a leader to remember is that he or she is not the company. The company is a living entity with its own vital signs and purpose for existing. If your company cannot endure beyond your leadership, it is not healthy.

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Employees get set up to fail more often than you think. It’s never done intentionally – it just happens. Tasks are poorly defined. Desired results are sketchy. The chain of command looks like a pile of broken links. Training is inconsistent and inadequate. There are leaders that actually expect employees to know what they’re thinking … and to execute their nonverbal commands perfectly.

Some employees try their best to deliver what they perceive they were charged to do and get chewed out when their performance doesn’t match unspoken expectations. Others give it half an effort knowing they can’t win. The end result is always a demoralized team and de-powered culture that is capable of so much more. Once a pattern of getting set up to fail settles into a company’s culture, getting things done takes more time, money, and resources. The company springs leaks that it cannot plug up fast enough.

When Strategies does onsite No-Compromise Leadership sessions, we interview employees. That’s when we hear the other side of the story as employees vent about their frustrations with the company and its leadership. Don’t get me wrong – these aren’t “rip the leader to shreds” sessions. Rather, they are open and honest opportunities for employees to express their concerns with the practices, thinking, and behavior of the company and its leader(s). It’s no different than leaders expressing their concerns about employees. Everyone wants the company to be the best it can be – to be set up to win.

Here are some no-compromise strategies that will have your employees set up to win – and power up your culture at the same time:

• It’s NOT the economy: It’s easy to blame the “getting by with less” economic times we live in, but that’s just an excuse. The recession is behind us so stop holding on to the recession mindset of gloom and doom. The recession taught companies to be efficient. It didn’t give permission to short cut information flow, training, and the need to clarify expectations. It just taught you to do those things efficiently. Stop looking backwards at tough times. Look forward and you’ll see a world of limitless opportunity. No compromise.
• There’s not enough time: This is an even bigger excuse than the economy. Yes, you’re busy because you’re stuck in a routine that includes plenty of inefficient use of time. Translation: you don’t have time because you don’t make time. You have time to properly plan and launch projects, give feedback, conduct performance reviews, and coach your team members to get better. I’ve got to call you out on this one: you don’t make time for things that you don’t like to do. It’s the harsh truth, but you’re not alone. Replace your “normal” routine with one that includes the tasks you might not necessarily enjoy, but that you must be accountable for as the leader. No compromise.
• Clarity is the precursor to excellence: Great missions have a plan with extreme clarity on the ultimate outcome. Excellence is an outcome. It is never the result of good luck, easy work, and wishful thinking. In my No-Compromise Leadership book, the first of the ten tenets to become a No-Compromise Leader is to “have absolute clarity about where you’re taking your company.” Think of it as a vision statement on steroids. Take the time to deliver absolute clarity to your employees on what needs to be done and you’ll be setting them up to win big time. No compromise.
• Put the hammer down: It’s easy for leaders to fall into that mode where they nitpick and point out EVERYTHING that’s wrong in their company. Frustration builds and you wind up wandering around your company with a hammer looking only for what’s not right, and whacking it. Surprise: you’ve turned into Darth Vader and succumbed to the Dark Side. Leaders that play the everything that’s wrong game not only set their employees up to fail, they set themselves up to fail. Never succumb to the Dark Side. No compromise.
• Learn your lessons: Mistakes are lessons to be learned from. When the same mistakes keep occurring, you’re not learning. You’re not examining the process or system that lead to the mistake. Systems exist to create predictable outcomes. The rule is, and always will be: If you don’t like the results you’re getting, change or tweak the system. No compromise.
• Divide and conquer: My friend Jack Stack has a great saying, “With every pair of hands, you get a free brain.” Command and control leaders stifle the talented, capable and innovative members of their team. The same goes for the BIG EGOs that want all the glory and recognition. I may be the CEO of my company, but my work has me on the road lecturing and coaching most of the time. My team at Strategies corporate office is small and efficient – kind of like my own Seal Team Six. My mobile phone rarely (if ever) rings with problems I need to solve when I’m on the road. They know the mission, and solving problems is something I trust them with. This allows me to do the work I love. If this doesn’t sound like your leadership style, it’s time to change. No compromise.
• It’s about execution: It’s easy to knight yourself as the leader, but it’s something entirely different to grow into an effective and accountable leader. If you cannot hold yourself accountable, you will never be able to hold those you lead accountable. If accountability is not a strength, it’s time to give Strategies a call and get into our No-Compromise Leadership coaching and training. No Compromise.

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You design systems to ensure predictable outcomes.

When systems of any kind are compromised, inconsistent results occur. Material waste, labor cost, missed deadlines, upset customers, and stress all impedes forward progress. When inconsistencies get out of control, media coverage can do major damage to a company’s product, service, and reputation. Anyone taking a Carnival cruise anytime soon? I think not.

Here are some no-compromise strategies to purge your company of costly inconsistencies:

• Leadership allows it: I figured I would nail this one first because leaders, no matter how much they despise inconsistency, watch it occur everyday in their companies and do little or nothing to address it. Systems and standards of performance must be built on a foundation of shared accountability. Accountability is doing what needs to be done and taking ownership in the success of the company. Fact: too many leaders are uncomfortable leading with a high level of accountability. I’m not suggesting a company and its culture can’t be fun – I’m simply stating that accountability is tough work. Tony Hsieh’s book “Delivering Happiness” is his story of building Zappos’ fun culture. However, Amazon didn’t acquire Zappos in 2009 for $1.2 billion because it was all fun and no profit. Fun cultures can most certainly be accountable cultures. Leaders allow “average is good enough” in their companies.
• It’s not for everyone: Just as some leaders find leading a high accountability culture out of their comfort zone, many employees can’t deal with it either. Succeeding in a high accountability culture requires a solid work ethic and determination to excel. Sadly, there are employees that just want a job and a paycheck, and view showing up and going through the motions as good enough. Sorry but if you keep that employee on payroll, you continue to buy mediocre behavior and performance every time you hand them their paycheck. I don’t know about you, but I refuse to spend money on that kind of behavior.
• Factor of Ten: The “Factor of Ten” is my way of shining a laser beam on the importance of training and coaching your team members to master your systems and processes. You can’t hand them a manual or show them a video module and expect the level of mastery necessary to eliminate costly inconsistencies. Training and coaching is non-negotiable. Inspecting and correcting is non-negotiable. Taking personal interest in guiding employees to achieve their full potential is non-negotiable. Achieving world-class performance and status begins with world-class training and coaching. No compromise.
• Ditch the Micro: Micro-management is what inexperienced, control freak leaders do. It’s exhausting, stressful, and stifling for leaders that do it and the poor souls that try to function under it. Micro-management is a culture based on distrust and finding fault. It wears people down rather than building them up. It de-powers rather than empowers people to take responsibility and initiative. Got all that? Good. Stop micro-managing. Let go of some of the controls and see what happens. Give your people an opportunity to shine. Coach them when they make a poor decision. Celebrate them when they achieve a win.
• Your “World Class”: Define what world class means to you and your company. Engage your employees in the process so they have ownership in the definition and the outcome. Attach that to your company vision. Make it a focal point for the next six months. Talk about it. Meet about it. Have constructive dialogue about it. Begin living it.

In the end, it’s about being the best based on your own terms. No compromise.

Contrary to popular belief, change resisters don’t exist to drive you crazy – even though they can and do. Change resisters simply deal with change differently than most. They lock into patterns of thinking, behavior, systems, and cultures that become their “normal.” They get good at functioning in their “normal.” They know everything about their “normal.” And then change comes along, often with a wrecking ball, and starts knocking down their “normal” to replace it with something new and foreign. Their natural response is to protect their “normal” by resisting change.

Here are some no-compromise strategies to deal with change resisters:

• Avoid escalation: Just as the natural response for change resisters is to push back on change, the leader’s natural response is to push back on the resistance. As both sides dig in their heels, things can get pretty ugly and funky and spread throughout the department or the entire company. Yes, ultimately the change initiative must prevail, but escalating too fast will have that wrecking ball busting up a lot of other good stuff in the process.
• Change is a process: Your raving loyal fans, because they trust you, will follow you into the fury of change. (God bless raving loyal fans.) Fence sitters need to really see and understand the change before they jump onboard. Change resisters not only need to see and understand the change, but they also require a deep understanding and extensive coaching to bring them over to your side. Consider this: it may require ten times more attention to get change resisters to change than it does fence sitters.
• Understand resistance: Think of change as putting a “Closed for Renovations” sign on everyone’s comfort zone. Change resisters feel vulnerable and threatened. Even if the old way is inefficient, they’re good at it. It’s like trying to break a habit – it takes time to adapt. Relentless communication, coaching, training, and reassurance are all necessary to engage change resisters in the process of change, and as a result, you’ll boost employee confidence and diminish any fears. Exclude the change resisters and you’ll just widen the gap and feed resistance.
• Veteran employees: Old habits do die hard – especially with veteran employees. Compared to new employees that you can mold like clay, some veteran employees seemingly require a hammer and chisel to change. Many veteran employees are mentors and embody the culture and spirit of the company. Get them into the change initiative early. Help them understand their mentor role in helping the rest of the team embrace and adapt to change. Keeping veterans on the outside is a surefire way to make your veterans feel unappreciated and irrelevant.
• Shrink their audience: Change resisters like having an audience they can preach their defiance to. I call this the “Boohoo Tribe.” Keeping your change initiative focused, on course, and positive will build your “Woohoo Tribe.” As the change initiative spawns small wins that turn into big wins, the Woohoo Tribe celebrates. Boohoo Tribe members see the progress, excitement, and fun and begin defecting in droves to the Woohoo Tribe. Gradually, change resisters lose their audience and stand alone.
• Decision time: Eventually, it’s time for you and the change resister to decide to either move forward together or part ways. How quickly decision time arrives depends on the magnitude of the change initiative, the level of resistance, and the state of the company. When a company is in need of major change to survive, the patience timeline for resisters may be rather short, perhaps days or weeks. Sometimes specific change resisters have been tolerated for years holding the company and its leader hostage. Those change resisters need to move on by choice or invitation. In most cases, if a change resister refuses to join the Woohoo Tribe a few months into the change initiative, it’s time to cut them loose. Keeping them onboard is a major compromise.

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Please share your thoughts with me about today’s Monday Morning Wake-Up. Click above to comment.

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