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Tag: Management Style

  • I Made My Company Boss-Free. Here Are 3 Lessons I Learned. | Entrepreneur

    I Made My Company Boss-Free. Here Are 3 Lessons I Learned. | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Bosses are taking a lot of heat these days. How bad? A 2022 GoodHire survey paints a pretty bleak picture: Eighty-two percent of respondents said they’d resign because of a lousy boss. The same percentage claimed they could do their job without any supervision at all.

    Maybe it’s time we let them.

    If the idea of a boss-free business sounds preposterous, you probably haven’t been introduced to teal leadership principles as identified in Reinventing Organizations by former McKinsey & Co. player, Frederic Laloux. The teal framework is based on three pillars — evolutionary purpose, wholeness and self-management — and teal businesses follow what’s called servant (or conscious) leadership, a decentralized style that’s not based on hierarchy, status or formal power. Instead, self-direction built on fluidity, trust and experience drives a teal company forward.

    Morning Star is a prime example of a teal organization that’s made significant in-roads (as well as headlines). Morning Star, a global powerhouse among tomato processors, is entirely driven by self-management. Workers don’t report to higher-ups at Morning Star — they report to each other, and the result is significant profitability.

    When my own company implemented this style, we quickly learned that teal organizations look vastly different from their top-down counterparts. Instead of “listen and obey” leadership, employees feel empowered to participate in decision-making. Since there are no silos, transparency and innovation become the norms. As a result, people feel psychologically safe and accountable. We noticed our employees sharing more ideas and taking more risks, which naturally positions the organization to evolve.

    For many of us, myself included, the shift to teal away from other colors can feel awkward and even counterintuitive at first. Most are familiar with companies that value pyramid-structure hierarchies and processes. Nevertheless, we were able to flip the script with teal leadership, and you can too.

    Here are just a few of the lessons I learned along the way:

    Related: Psychological Safety in the Workplace Is More Than Being Nice

    1. Prepare yourself to lead in a different capacity

    Because the move to teal is often a radical shift, you’ll need to prepare yourself. The teal model works, as evidenced by the success of our own company and others, such as Patagonia. However, teal can’t be successful if you’re not 100% behind it.

    I admit that getting rid of direct-report meetings and changing the traditional hierarchy felt uncomfortable initially. In time, however, I lost my feelings of uneasiness. As employees opened up and pushed their performance, I saw a surge in organizational learning, creativity and productivity. Give yourself the time and grace to do likewise, and see for yourself.

    Therefore, spend some time educating yourself on what teal organizations look and feel like. Afterward, you can prepare yourself to lead in a different capacity. For me, preparation looked like asking myself important questions: What can I let go of? What don’t I want to let go, and why not? Then I examined my answers and discussed my concerns with others.

    Becoming more aware of the perception I create within others was also a critical step. My German directness, for example, can sometimes be perceived as stern or demanding, which isn’t always constructive when trying to shift away from old leadership structures. Being aware of how others might respond to my tone or actions has helped me embrace and adjust to teal leadership and build some new skills in the process.

    2. Seek out resources, coaches and mentors

    Coaches and mentors who’ve “been there and done that” were incredibly valuable on my journey to become a teal leader. Remember: We’re not superhuman. Personally, I’ve found it’s always easier to reflect on the self with the help of others. Trying to leave my own biases behind and reflect on myself honestly is so much harder when I’m alone. If teal isn’t something you’ve been taught or have lived before, finding others to bolster your learning is a game-changer.

    Moreover, seeking out resources from people who’ve been in similar leadership or transitional situations can provide much-needed assurance and validation. Hearing someone you respect was also apprehensive when they switched to teal leadership gives you permission to feel uncomfortable as well. It also helps adjust your expectations and coping strategies to best support yourself and others.

    The more you understand the teal “lay of the land,” the more you can help others around you understand it, too. Most employees would enjoy more autonomy, less bureaucracy and a more human-centered working experience. Gallup research from last year shows that 58% want to be able to leverage their unique talents. Teal can give your team members those key opportunities to stretch their skills.

    Related: 5 Famous Business Leaders on the Power of Mentorship

    3. Don’t be afraid to change up internal assessment tools

    You probably have an established way of assessing current employees at your organization. So, what happens when you become teal and no longer have manager check-ins or direct reports? Well, the assessments you relied upon would no longer be necessary. The true game-changer is when you find out that traditional performance evaluations lead to the opposite of valuable feedback — and honest peer feedback without a penalty attached makes it much easier to be honest and help each other grow.

    Accordingly, you’ll have to replace these assessments with any number of diverse alternatives that thrive within teal structures. For instance, because teal companies are self-directed, feedback between peers is a crucial part of the process. Constant feedback helps provide a better sense of whether teammates are working well together and following up on promised commitments. Tracking time spent on projects can also help keep everyone aware of what’s happening and how responsibilities are being handled.

    Changing your company to a non-traditional structure won’t happen simply or quickly — but it can be done. To become a transformative leader of a transformative organization, you must think beyond the boss ethos. With teal, you might just find the agility you’ve been missing to propel you and yours to the next level. And even if you don’t want to go completely teal in the end, these three steps will undoubtedly help you and your organization.

    Related: 5 Reasons Companies Thrive When Everyone Gets to Lead

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    Timm Urschinger

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  • Is Your Leadership Style Like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk? | Entrepreneur

    Is Your Leadership Style Like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk? | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Isaiah Berlin, a prominent 20th-century philosopher and historian, popularized the foxes and hedgehogs metaphor in his 1953 essay “The Hedgehog and the Fox.” This metaphor, rooted in ancient Greek poet Archilochus’s fragment, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing,” categorizes thinkers and leaders into two distinct groups: foxes and hedgehogs.

    Foxes possess a versatile set of strategies, adapting to various situations with ease. Hedgehogs, conversely, focus on a singular, overarching vision that drives their decision-making process. By understanding this metaphor, modern business leaders can harness the strengths of both foxes and hedgehogs to navigate an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world.

    Related: What True Leadership Is All About

    The foxes and hedgehogs metaphor explained

    Berlin’s metaphor offers a unique perspective on leadership styles, providing valuable insights into how different leaders approach decision-making, problem-solving and strategic planning. Foxes are characterized by their ability to pursue multiple objectives simultaneously, adapting their strategies as circumstances change. They are pragmatic, flexible and responsive to new information, enabling them to thrive in complex and uncertain environments.

    In contrast, hedgehogs are singularly focused on a central idea or vision that guides all their actions. This unwavering commitment to their core belief can result in remarkable achievements but can also lead to spectacular failures if they are unwilling or unable to adapt when circumstances change. Hedgehogs are often characterized by their tenacity, determination and uncompromising dedication to their vision.

    Leadership lessons from history: Xerxes and Themistocles

    Examining historical figures through the lens of the foxes and hedgehogs metaphor can provide valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of different leadership styles. Two such figures are Xerxes, the King of Persia, and Themistocles, the Athenian general.

    Xerxes exemplifies a hedgehog leader. With a singular goal of conquering Greece, Xerxes amassed a vast army and embarked on an ambitious campaign. However, his single-minded focus on conquest and inability to adapt to changing circumstances led to the disastrous Battle of Thermopylae. The small Greek force led by King Leonidas held off the Persian army for several days, ultimately exposing the limitations of Xerxes’s strategy. Inflexibility and overreliance on numerical superiority contributed to the failure of his invasion.

    In contrast, Themistocles embodies the adaptable fox. Recognizing the importance of naval power, Themistocles guided the Greeks to victory in the Battle of Salamis, where the Persian fleet was defeated. Themistocles’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances and his diverse range of tactics highlight the characteristics of a fox. His strategic acumen played a crucial role in defending Greece against the Persian invasion, demonstrating the benefits of adaptability and diverse tactics in achieving success.

    Related: 4 Leadership Lessons I Learned From a Marine Corps General

    Modern business titans: Steve Jobs and Elon Musk

    In the world of technology and entrepreneurship, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk represent the quintessential hedgehog and fox, respectively.

    Jobs, driven by an unwavering commitment to innovation, revolutionized the tech industry with groundbreaking products like the iPhone and iPad. His passion for design and perfectionism played a significant role in shaping Apple’s distinctive brand identity and the company’s extraordinary success. However, his stubbornness and insistence on pursuing his vision led to conflicts and setbacks, including his temporary departure from Apple in 1985. Despite these challenges, Jobs returned to Apple and led the company to even greater heights, showcasing the power of a hedgehog’s conviction and focus.

    Conversely, Musk demonstrates the fox’s adaptability and versatility, pursuing various ventures from electric vehicles to reusable rockets, and from solar energy to neural interfaces. Although he certainly has goals, such as making life multi-planetary and reducing humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels, his ability to pivot strategies, learn from failures and embrace diverse approaches contributes to his continued success. As the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Musk exemplifies the fox’s ability to navigate the complexities of multiple industries simultaneously.

    Related: 6 Leadership Best Practices to Empower Your Workforce

    Implementing the foxes and hedgehogs framework for modern leaders

    By embracing the foxes and hedgehogs framework, modern leaders can strike a balance between adaptability and conviction. Here are five actionable insights for incorporating this metaphor into leadership styles:

    • Embrace adaptability: In today’s fast-paced business landscape, change is inevitable. By remaining open to new ideas and embracing change, leaders can foster agility and responsiveness within their organizations. This adaptability enables organizations to capitalize on emerging opportunities and respond effectively to unforeseen challenges.
    • Craft a compelling vision: A clear and captivating vision can guide leaders through uncertainty and change. By establishing an overarching goal, leaders can maintain focus and drive their organizations toward success. This vision serves as a north star, helping leaders and their teams to navigate the complexities of the modern business environment.
    • Cultivate a diverse skill set: By developing a broad range of skills and experiences, leaders can ensure they possess a versatile toolkit for tackling new challenges. This diversity enables leaders to draw from a wealth of knowledge and expertise, empowering them to make well-informed decisions and implement effective strategies.
    • Acknowledge the limits of conviction: Overcommitting to a single strategy can lead to catastrophic failures. Leaders should remain aware of potential pitfalls and remain prepared to pivot when necessary. By recognizing the limits of conviction and embracing flexibility, leaders can minimize the risk of failure and maximize the potential for success.
    • Foster a learning culture: Encouraging continuous learning and growth within organizations can lead to ongoing evolution and improvement. By fostering a culture of curiosity, experimentation and learning from both successes and failures, leaders can ensure that their organizations remain at the forefront of innovation and progress.

    Striking a balance for optimal leadership

    Although the foxes and hedgehogs metaphor provides valuable insights into the characteristics of different leadership styles, leaders must recognize that adopting a purely fox-like or hedgehog-like approach may not be the most effective strategy. Instead, striking a balance between the strengths of both foxes and hedgehogs can empower leaders to navigate the complexities of the modern business world with confidence and skill.

    By embracing adaptability and cultivating a diverse skill set, leaders can effectively respond to new challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities. At the same time, maintaining a clear and compelling vision can provide a guiding framework for decision-making, ensuring that leaders remain focused on their organization’s long-term success.

    Isaiah Berlin’s foxes and hedgehogs metaphor provides modern business leaders with a valuable framework for understanding and implementing effective leadership styles. By harnessing the strengths of both foxes and hedgehogs, leaders can effectively navigate today’s complex business environment. Ultimately, embracing adaptability, crafting a compelling vision and fostering a culture of continuous learning will drive organizations to new heights of success. By applying the lessons gleaned from historical figures like Xerxes and Themistocles, as well as modern business titans like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, leaders can develop a balanced approach to leadership that maximizes their potential for lasting impact and achievement.

    Related: Are You Being Too Soft as a Leader? You Might Need to Try a Different Approach

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    Christopher Myers

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  • Why CEOs Need ‘Love’ In Order for Organizations to Survive | Entrepreneur

    Why CEOs Need ‘Love’ In Order for Organizations to Survive | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I saw Cirque du Soleil’s “Love” in Las Vegas recently — a show that combines the troupe’s famed dance and performance athleticism with reinventions of various Beatles hits — and two messages came through that I thought leaders needed to remember.

    First is the song title, “All You Need Is Love,” and the second is a famed Lennon lyric from “Strawberry Fields Forever,” which goes, “Living is easy with eyes closed.”

    Why bring these up?

    My job is to strategize with leaders so that they can adapt to necessary organizational, environmental and societal shifts toward the UN’s 2030 “Countdown” environmental agenda. Now, you may have already switched to “living with your eyes closed” just reading that, considered moving on to a topic less confronting instead, yet the takeaway messages remain: Love, denial and avoidance.

    Put simply: To survive, we need to start anew

    Many people are struggling with work. Polycrises, seemingly never-ending stop-start change, return-to-office fears, injustice, new market forces, impending layoffs and reliably depressing climate reports have resulted in too many of us living in a “survival mode,” and that’s not good for business. But, in truth, love is all we need if we want to thrive in the world of work. When we fall “in love” with a tangible, aligned company that’s mission is connected to our reality, we all come together — and the result feels a lot like, well… love. We commit, we grow, fight for what’s right, and generate a feeling that we can accomplish anything, whatever the weather. Add an organizational environment of psychological safety, and you have geometrically enhanced the ability to collaborate and innovate in their very best forms.

    Related: 10 Billionaires Stepping Up to Fight Climate Change

    How eyes are opened

    My job is to help leaders move from “eyes closed” to “invigorated.” Executive coaches like myself (with a career of navigating economic shifts since the ’90s) naturally turn to a tactic of providing leadership “stem cells” (aka a renewed sense of energy) to organizations ready to reinvent themselves.

    To help in that effort, companies like McKinsey, PWC and EY provide data about new economic realities for organizations to adapt and move forward. And at least one aspect of our future is clear: The era of hypergrowth during Covid-19 has passed. We are now in an environment in which it’s vital to create a business that can sustain itself through new and harder times.

    A simple, scalable model: the OGSM

    I’m currently working with Francois (not his real name) — a senior leader in a major global energy company who is driving innovation amid significant post-pandemic global forces and through a disruptive reorganization. As I learned during my MIT program in 2022, energy is everything, so I knew only too well that his work is important to every person on the planet. In our discussions, Francois described a former boss as narcissistic and gaslighting — seemingly caught in a loop of creating disharmony in his team and organization. Critically speaking, this boss’s narcissistic behavior loop actually set the world back.

    Then along came a restructuring, including more internal staff mobility. Francois is now with a new team that uses the OGSM (for “objective, goals, strategies and measures”) framework to make critical strategic moves so that the re-formed organization can deliver across various horizontal sectors.

    With this new role, Francois feels like he belongs. He is feeling “love,” is happy to contribute and is in a psychologically safe environment that fosters competition-busting and market-leading plans. It now feels completely authentic for him to be in a “quadruple-espresso mode” of future-proofing — both for his global organization and its customers. Being free to communicate with “radical candor” and strategic rigor enables him to do what he always wanted: make a difference.

    Related: Is ‘Green Hydrogen’ the Future? This Minnesota Gas Utility Thinks So.

    How the model works

    The OGSM model is simple and scalable and in essence, is a reminder for a whole organization to rally behind the CEO. Important components include:

    • Objectives from the CEO

    • Goals from the executive leadership team

    • Strategies from that same executive leadership team, alongside directors and managers

    It’s vital to keep in mind that OGSM actions need to be interconnected, each piece feeding into the other, so an organization can move forward as one. The “O” (objective) also needs to be announced by the CEO so that every C-leader is accountable for driving this mandate. This “O” runs right through every goal, strategy and measurable outcome.

    How can leaders reboot their style?

    Leaders make a leadership style choice every day, and their behaviors indicate their style. The narcissistic leader defends legacy processes, systems, products and methodologies to stay gainfully employed, and their teams often feel disrespected and confused about the direction of the company. Authoritative, servant, transactional and empathetic leaders, meanwhile, prefer to grow and identify key objectives to be successful, while socializing it at pace and revolutionizing their organization for the environment it’s functioning in. The problem is, with so many conflicting objectives in an era of perma-crises, it’s time leaders got back to basics — and this is not a task to be scoffed at.

    Ever since my career at Sony’s PlayStation division in the ’90s, I found the most successful leaders have a sense of urgency in adapting to a new environment. They provide evidence that their goals will be correct in the coming years, and demonstrate that they are aligned with the primary objective of the CEO. Such a person drives change and will relate with every business group to evangelize and socialize — ensuring people understand both tasks and focus.

    Related: Smart Tips for Setting and Actually Achieving Your Business Goals

    The OGSM cycle is a delightfully simple yet exquisitely effective approach, the result of which is everyone being in synch to move an organization along the right trajectory.

    Key facets:

    • Understanding the prime objective of the CEO

    • Creating strategies that are aligned with (or go beyond) that objective to achieve competitive advantage and long-term sustainability

    • Being highly transparent about goals and how to measure them every quarter

    • Reviewing them with a coach and C-leader every 30 days to see if they need to be adjusted

    • Reporting market forces that will impact an organization’s “big O”

    • Repeating the above steps after the introduction of every important new idea and/or piece of data

    • Supporting other colleagues in understanding the prime objective, and a willingness to debate fearlessly to avoid defensive and derailing thoughts and behaviors (watch out for people defending old beliefs that are no longer relevant to the CEO’s objective)

    Now, get your mission, get back to loving your work and do it with eyes wide open!

    Be advised that common OGSM side-effects may include: an engaged, motivated and loyal workforce; an uptick in customer sentiment; a renewed sense of purpose; a sense of happiness (even love); and saving the planet.

    Related: 7 Tips for Loving Your Career and Working With Passion

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    Caroline Stokes

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  • If Your Leadership Style Is Ever Judged By Others, Here’s 8 Things You Should Do | Entrepreneur

    If Your Leadership Style Is Ever Judged By Others, Here’s 8 Things You Should Do | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Managers are expected to be resilient and take bad feedback gracefully, but these are skills that don’t come naturally to everyone, of course. Being criticized by a team, for example, can be particularly hard for managers to swallow.

    These practical steps will guide you through that challenging process, and help turn the tide toward learning and professional betterment.

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    Joanna Kulbacka

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  • 8 Positive Actions You Can Take After Getting Negative Feedback From Your Team

    8 Positive Actions You Can Take After Getting Negative Feedback From Your Team

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Managers are expected to be resilient and take bad feedback gracefully, but these are skills that don’t come naturally to everyone, of course. Being criticized by a team, for example, can be particularly hard for managers to swallow.

    These practical steps will guide you through that challenging process, and help turn the tide toward learning and professional betterment.

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    Joanna Kulbacka

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  • 5 Tips for Managing Asynchronous Work in Your Organization

    5 Tips for Managing Asynchronous Work in Your Organization

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Is “async” — asynchronous work — anything more than a buzzword? After all, email, the ultimate async tool, has been the most popular form of business communication for 20 years. So, why is everyone suddenly talking about async work? In short, the normalization of remote work means we have been forced to think more deeply about our working styles than ever before. Pandemic-inspired “Zoom fatigue” has got us all questioning whether there is an alternative to the synchronous work orthodoxy.

    What do we mean by async work?

    Async work is a working style in which work communication need not occur in real-time. There is no expectation that team members will immediately “jump on a call” to solve a problem. The benefits are clear: It facilitates flexible working hours, better enables work across international time zones and often allows team members to focus better.

    What async doesn’t mean is fewer deadlines, no calls and no team meetings. In most fields of work, there are occasions when everyone needs to communicate face-to-face or voice-to-voice in real-time. Async and synchronous work are better seen as two ends of the same spectrum, rather than completely distinct working models.

    Within our company, we have operated effectively with both synchronous and async styles for different business units. Below, I offer five tips based on my own experience of managing async work:

    Related: How to Create an Asynchronous Work Culture

    1. Apply the async model selectively

    The async working model is probably not appropriate for every part of your business. For example, we would never apply async to our customer care team. When our customers have problems, those problems are time-sensitive and need addressing immediately. It won’t do for team members to only read a customer query three hours after receiving the message.

    The key is applying async strategically and selectively: Async has been fantastic for our international marketing team. Once-a-week team meetings are sufficient for coordinating our social media, advertising and web content while leaving space for the “deep work” that can suit those tasks — it’s difficult to write a technical white paper, for example, with constant distractions.

    2. Implement an async work strategy

    Effective async work requires means having an intentional async strategy in place. This ensures that everyone knows what is expected of them in a working style that may be unfamiliar. This should include:

    • Communication requirements: For example, it might be best to mandate that communication only occurs through designated channels. If Slack is the designated channel, but workers can also form WhatsApp groups, it becomes more difficult to enforce the async model.

    • A “designated meetings only” requirement: As mentioned earlier, zero meetings is usually an unrealistic goal for an async workflow. But a once-per-week or once-per-fortnight targeted team meeting can be effective where agendas, time limits, minutes and follow-ups are mandated. Outside those designated meetings, there should be no expectation that meetings occur.

    Related: How To Manage an Asynchronous Work Flow

    3. Optimize your communications tools for async

    It is best to apply different tech solutions to the async and the sync working parts of the business. Most obviously, team video calls (whether on Zoom, Skype or another app) need to be kept to a minimum in the async working style. Instead, team members need to regularly use async tools like Loom for video, Yac for voice messaging and Slack or Teams for messaging.

    Less obviously, perhaps, consistent rules need to be applied to how those apps are used: You can’t integrate Slack into async work if there is a (perhaps unspoken) expectation that teammates will be constantly checking Slack throughout the day and responding to messages.

    It’s better to have a rule about how quickly people need to respond to messages (e.g., twice per day) and then allow (or even encourage!) the team to keep notifications muted the rest of the time.

    4. Prioritize project tools

    Async work can only be truly successful if there is visibility across the team for key deadlines and if tasks are appropriately assigned. ClickUp, Asana and Monday are all effective at enforcing team accountability for deadlines.

    A special shout out to ClickUp’s “watcher” feature. I have found this particularly useful for giving team members oversight of tasks they are not directly participating in. This can be more effective (and less boring) than having to hear about the actions of other team members in a Zoom meeting.

    Related: Why 2022 Is All About Asynchronous Communication

    5. Ensure effective documentation

    Async doesn’t work without effective documentation. Everyone needs to know where to find relevant information, that the information is trustworthy, and that appropriate accessibility protocols are applied.

    This means having a central “knowledge base” with an organized and accessible file structure. This could be maintained through simple tools like Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox — or more premium tools like Confluence.

    Async is an effective approach for some types of work, but it has to be managed effectively. To do this, I recommend that async work is only applied selectively, that a robust async strategy is put in place and that the tech stack is optimized. It’s also important that async work is supported by the right project tools and comprehensive documentation.

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    Antoine Boquen

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