LEADERSHIP ROT ... Is It Present in Your Organization?

How deep is the rot? This is what a prominent CEO recently asked me after he dug into the business where an underperforming executive was asked to leave…finally.Too often, business leaders resist getting their team’s house in order. The reasons vary from blissful ignorance to selective denial about what they’ll find when they start to tear down the walls.We’ve all done it. We know we have people problems on our team, but “it’s not that bad.” We’re comfortable. Who wants to dig into something that may be worse than we thought or add more chaos if our intuition is correct?Truth is, “comfortable” isn’t good enough. And as your company’s success grows, if you do not build proper problem-predicting muscles, your problems will become bigger and more complex. At the very least, they’ll slow your growth and cause more train wrecks later.I own a house that was built in the 1800s in a great location. I didn’t want to tear down the house, but I was terrified to begin remodeling because who knew how much damage, expense and headaches we would find as we dug in? When we finally got started, the rot was deep and had spread over time. The fact is, we were living in a house that wasn’t fulfilling our needs and was downright dangerous, to begin with: it kept us cold in the winter and hot in the summer. But we’d gotten comfortable. When the house is built up to its full potential, it will fulfill our dreams, be safe and be the home we truly deserve. It’s the same with your business.KNOW THIS: You’re not really growing a company unless you’re growing leaders. No business in the history of businesses has ever outgrown their leaderships ability…either the business suffers or the leaders are switched out for leaders with greater ability so the business can continue to grow. Harsh but true! You cannot get complacent or turn a blind eye to yours or your leadership team’s evolution. It’s critical to constantly pay attention and assess yours and your team’s ability to lead at the next level. Today’s superstar will be tomorrow’s shooting star, if they do not intentionally grow their leadership ability.FEEL THIS. Dealing with people is personal. You’ve hired these people, you trust them, and they are part of the reason you’ve been successful. If they can’t cut it and you have to let them go, it impacts their families. You may have no real reason to doubt them. But you owe it to yourself, your employees, your shareholders and customers to be honest and open to what’s truly going on. Do you have the right people to get you where the company needs to go?DO THIS: You must continuously define and show what success looks like. You must give yourself and your team every opportunity to learn and grow as leaders. Do skip-level reviews, give regular feedback, help team members understand how they MUST evolve to the next level in their careers. If someone is doing a great job, let them know. Then determine if you’re providing every opportunity you can to create a great leader out of that top performer.So what, now what? If you suspect you have a problem on your team, it’s likely much worse than you think. You cannot let it scare you into inaction. Your biggest fears give you the biggest opportunities to grow. But you cannot create a leader in a day; it has to be done daily. You must work now to create the leadership team you’ll need in a year.Be honest. Dig deep. Uncover the rot. Because unearthing the rot, before it spreads, is the only way you’ll reach your leadership and company’s full potential.