‘Best practices’ can help with leadership issues

Q. We need help hiring a more proficient staff. We have tried several methods to hire able, professional employees, but none have worked well. We seem to always come up short. We are desperate and need help.

A. Charles Ginn, in his recent book “Best Practices: Follow the Leader to Become a Leader”, stated owners of small businesses are entrepreneurs who don’t play “Follow the Leader” easily. But adapting a “Best Practices” approach to managing your employees may be one of the best ways to become a leader in your market or industry.

Ginn studied what the top 10 percent of American companies have in common, and identified five human resource practices these companies consistently use to make them successful. Each process, system, or approach he addresses is a practice your company can adopt.

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However, before implementing these best practices, it is important to realize that for them to bear fruit, they must be rooted in a healthy, nurturing environment. This fertile soil, as we might call it, which is shared by the top companies is a “getting better” agenda that recognizes the value of their employees to their success equation. They realize that the key to growing a successful business is not in markets, technology or opportunity, but in the ability to attract, select, develop and retain the right people.

And, they base their actions on that knowledge. They recognize that leadership style (the way managers motivate employees, make decisions, gather and use information, manage change initiatives and handle crises) influences an organization’s “climate” and can account for nearly one-third of their companies’ financial performance.

So, what are the best practices they implement? Five human resource practices shared by the best are:

1. Selecting the best talent, behavior and attitude, and, putting it in the right place. Do not simply hire warm bodies!

2. Setting and aligning individual work goals with company objectives in mind. This should start during the interview process.

3. Building trust and instilling loyalty. You must walk the talk.

4. Coaching for results. This is not a once-a-year activity, but an ongoing activity.

5. Using influence, not power. Power is great for short-term results and for a company not planning on being here tomorrow.

You may not be surprised to learn that when it comes to leadership, there is no “silver bullet” or “one-size fits all” approach. The good news is that managers and executives can fine-tune their leadership skills by using whichever of the following basic leadership styles maximizes their effectiveness at the time and still be a great leader.

Researchers describe managerial modes as:

n The coercive style: Used by military men and mothers of rebellious young ones everywhere. This style is perhaps described as “Do what I say not what I do, and do it now.”

n The authoritative style: Used when you want to persuade others rather than order them, this style effectively says, “Come with me.”

n The affinitive or servant-leadership style: Also known as “People come first,” this leadership style was best exemplified by Sam Walton, who drove the same pickup truck for 30 years and preferred spending time with greeters rather than managers when he visited his empire of Wal-Mart stores.

n The democratic style: This style aims to obtain consensus, or at least a strong feeling among followers that they have a voice in decisions.

n The pacesetting style: With this approach, the leader sets high performance standards for him or herself and encourages employees to do the same.

n The coaching style: In this mode, the manager focuses on personal development rather than immediate tasks in order to develop consistently high performers.

Some authors it would be beneficial for you to read are: Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great”; Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, authors of “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done”; Robert Greenleaf, who coined the phrase “servant-leadership”; Stephen R. Covey, author of “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”; Marcus Buckingham, who urges us to focus on strengths and manage weaknesses; Tom Peters, who directs readers to improve their companies by first improving themselves in his book, “Re-Imagine”; and anything from Development Dimensions International, which provides research-supported products and services that help companies build highly engaged work forces.

A striking observation gleaned from this huge body of material is that the researchers who approached their work from different perspectives and sometimes with differing intents appear to have arrived at the same or very similar conclusions concerning the need to focus on people and their potential rather than products and processes. Their findings about the human resource practices of the best performing companies can provide us with a road map for success.

Russell Disberger is a founding member of Aspen Business Group, a Northern Colorado-based specialty consulting and venture capital firm. He can be reached by e-mail at russell@aspenbusinessgroup.com, or at (970) 396-7009.