An introduction to the Series…The Five Commitments of a CEO

Within every organization there lives a culture that either works for them or works against them...the difference between a success and nurturing culture and one of disappointment and dysfunction. Enhancing and optimizing your culture should matter every bit as much as other performance indicators that you use to measure your company’s success.  

As a first step, you need take the temperature of your organization on a regular basis to ensure that it is performing at an optimum level. This also allows you to take a read on how individual employees are performing…are they just showing up and going through the motions or are they fully engaged and excited to be there?  If those two statements are the bookends of corporate culture then regularly tracking the temperature will be a significant performance indicator for you. Accountability should not be viewed as a punishment but rather as an indicator to track and measure performance.

Something else to consider is that sometimes as leaders we can get caught up with focusing just on results and therefore can leave ourselves open to having employees disengaging and just doing what’s asked, protecting themselves rather than doing what’s best for the company.

Leaders create the culture and the culture creates results. If that is true then what are you as a leader doing to create a significant sustainable culture of results?

I believe that there are Five Commitments that a CEO needs to consider if they want to build a culture like the one I’ve outlined above.

These Five Commitments are:

1.    Empower Staff

2.   Stoke your Hires

3.   Mentor and Sponsor

4.   Embrace Conflict

5.   Commit to Connect

Below is a brief description of each commitment. While you are reviewing them you need to ask yourself which ones do I naturally excel at and which ones do I find most challenging.

1.       Empower Staff

The first of the Five Commitments is Empower Staff…believing that you need to build a team of “go to employees” that can develop and execute strategy and change the performance of a company. What are you doing to empower them?

2.       Stoke Your Hires

You have an effective and purposefully driven process for hiring new employees and, once hired, motivating them to be the best that they can be…a process that sets him or her up for ongoing success?

3.       Mentor & Sponsor

When thinking about this...I would like you to consider who inspired you in your business career and who are you inspiring in your organization? With that thought in mind…are you an effective Mentor? What about a Sponsor? Sponsoring is separate from mentoring and is all about speaking up for a person with potential who is not in the room.

4.       Embrace Conflict

The concept of not only tackling problems but also embracing them! You enjoy dealing with conflict and recognize…that when a problem, crisis or awkward situation arises you tackle it head on realizing that embracing conflict is essential for success.

  5. Commit to Connect

You are always seeking opportunities to connect with people whether they’re your customers, suppliers, friends, and community leaders or people you randomly meet. Connecting creates opportunities and prosperity!

If you are going to embrace the Five Commitment concept then you also need to understand and commit to the key three elements that support a successful implementation.

  Understanding – Do you fully understand them?

  Self-Awareness – Are you fully aware of your leadership style?

  Commitment – What is going to be your level of commitment?

Each of these ideas will be covered in detail in the Series “The Five Commitments of a CEO”.