Published on: Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Powering Individual Decision-Making Improves Company
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Report from World Business Forum, New YorkCompanies improve when they acknowledge that coaching their team members to be great decision-makers 5 to 9 (pm) is as important as teaching them to be great decision-makers 9 to 5.
Speaking during a private event to a select audience of World Business Forum attendees, Daniel Harkavy, executive coach and CEO of Building Champions, asserts it takes more than just a focus on the tactics of the business to create a culture of intentional decision-making. You have to acknowledge that if people can be successful 24/7 — at work, at home, in their relationships — they will be more committed to the company and more important, to you. "People don't leave companies, they leave us; People don't join companies, they join us. And they need to know you are focused on their success."
"We produce great software to run successful businesses," says Len Finkle, SAP North America, regional vice president for eastern North America. "But it is our core value proposition to help our customers become the best run businesses they can be."
For individual leaders, Harkavy says there are five key behaviors to remember as you seek to become a more intentional coach for your team:
- Know your long range vision and talk about it at least 50 percent of the time.
- Control your interruptions so you can think, focus.
- Have a process for communicating vision and coaching your team in better decision-making.
- Take notes to help pay attention and to ensure clarity of outcomes.
- Fight to remain interested and engaged.
Building a culture of powerful decision making begins, Harkavy says, with vision. It's not enough he warns, to have vision, but leaders must be the vision. "Our team members today want to know with clarity who we are and what we will become." Not just a single vision, but what Harkavy calls "bi-focal vision," which is vision that can focus on today's fight while keeping our eyes on what we are going to be in the future. "When our team members are focused on the vision and clear about the decisions that need to be made, they can perform at their best."
Lauryn Franzoni
Lauryn Franzoni is vice president and executive director of ExecuNet’s membership, leading the group’s proprietary research initiatives, website and publication content, membership and customer acquisition, executive career management resources, and the building of mutually beneficial communities of interest. By harnessing the power of the collective experience of our members, we assist business leaders in connecting with each other, with new ideas and opportunities, and we provide them the expert insights, education and pragmatic assistance they need to further their careers and help their organizations grow.
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