be an effective senior executive
- Manage Your Time Effectively
- Cultivate the Discipline of Self Review
- Be a Strong Advocate for your Function / Area of Expertise
- Be a Strong Team Player
- Manage the Relationship with your CEO
How do you become a world-class key executive? Based on their
experience as TEC Chairs and speakers, Lawrence King and Walter
Sutton offer five strategies for adding value to your
organisation.
Manage Your Time Effectively
Time management for senior executives doesn't just mean getting
more organised. It also involves making sure that you spend your
time in the highest-impact areas. King recommends a simple but
highly effective process called "time auditing" to ensure that you
work on the right things.
First, ask yourself three questions:
- In my position, what are the six most important things I do (or should be doing) each month?
- What are the six most important things I do (or should be doing) to build and lead my team/department?
- Is there any overlap between these two lists?
Next, take out your calendar and examine the relationship
between your most important things and where you spend your time.
When you find large gaps, adjust accordingly. King also recommends
reading "The Effective Executive," by Peter Drucker, which talks
about the importance of doing the right things, not just doing
things right.
Cultivate the Discipline of Self Review
Plato originally said the unexamined life is not worth living.
King believes that key executives should follow the same code of
conduct by engaging in self one-to-ones on a monthly basis.
- Once a month, schedule a one-to-one with yourself. Schedule it into your calendar and show up at the appointed time.
- Create an agenda for each self one-to-one and bring the tools of your trade - laptop, note pad, sales reports, monthly financials or whatever you need to get the job done.
- During your work time, create a list of the most important things you will accomplish during the next 30 days and how you will accomplish them.
- At the beginning of your next self one-to-one, review your list, check off what you actually accomplished and write down the steps you need to take to complete any unfinished items.
"Experiment with where and when to conduct your self
one-to-ones," suggests King. "At home, in the library, a cozy
corner in a restaurant or coffee shop - anywhere away from your
office that you feel comfortable and can work, without
interruption, on the most important things you need to get done
every month. Keep in mind that learning doesn't occur in writing
to-do lists, it occurs in reviewing the things you have and have
not accomplished and looking for ways to improve them."
Be a Strong Advocate for your Function / Area of
Expertise
Although key executives tend to perform well in their
technical areas, Sutton believes that most do not do a good job of
advocating for their part of the business. To improve your value as
a key executive, become an appropriate advocate for finance, sales,
human resources or whatever function you happen to represent.
Advocating your position doesn't mean playing politics or engaging
in turf-defending activities. Instead, says Sutton, it means
articulating the value your department/functional area brings to
the organisation and making sure your point of view gets heard and
acknowledged by the CEO and others on the management team.
"People joke about the conservative nature of CFOs, yet that's a
very healthy attitude to have around the table," explains Sutton.
"Even in a wild start-up, somebody has to think and act
conservatively. But if the CFO doesn't advocate for his or her
function, that opinion doesn't get represented at the table and the
entire organisation loses. In strong organisations, all the
functions get represented equally at the table. The key is to do it
in a way that supports the team as opposed to fractionalising
it."
Be a Strong Team Player
As a key executive, you must perform at a high level on two
different teams - the management team you're a part of and the team
of people who work for you. According to Sutton, serving the
management team well requires answering the following
questions:
- What are the rules for playing on this team?
- What, specifically, are we trying to accomplish as a team and how can we do it better?
- What do I contribute to the team and what are your expectations for me?
"If the CEO doesn't address these questions up front, don't
hesitate to ask," advises Sutton. "You can't play the game if you
don't know the rules."
Building a high-performing team of people underneath you requires
understanding the fundamental rules of team-building.
Manage the Relationship with your CEO
Perhaps the most important thing you can do, for your own
benefit as well as that of the organisation, is to manage the
dynamic relationship between yourself and your boss. Don't abdicate
that responsibility to your CEO. Instead, push the relationship as
needed and develop one that represents your views and needs with
authenticity and integrity.
"In order to manage the relationship, you first have to know the
rules of the game," explains Sutton. "However, many CEOs don't
understand this critical point, so if your CEO doesn't explain the
rules, don't be afraid to push in that area. You can't manage the
relationship if you don't know what your CEO wants from you and how
he or she expects you to play the game."
King agrees. He also acknowledges that many CEOs can intimidate
their direct reports, either consciously or unconsciously.
"CEOs typically cast a long shadow," admits King. "Some have very
aggressive, domineering personalities, but others can intimidate by
the amount of hours they work, the problems they take on and their
level of intensity. As a result, key executives are often never
quite sure where they are invited into, what they should and
shouldn't do or where they should move forward or hold back.
"Ultimately, your effectiveness as a key executive begins and ends
with your level of clarity around the CEO's goals and objectives
and how you fit into achieving them. You can sit back and say 'Yes,
boss, whatever you want,' and hope that you hit the target. Or, you
can take charge of the relationship and get what you need to
succeed."