January 2024

Individual Leadership: Problems Without Solutions

It’s common to hear leaders tell their teams not to bring them problems without solutions. The intent is correct as leaders want to encourage proactive behavior and ownership. But in practice, this often shuts down individuals who don’t have a solution or have a solution they know you may not like. It also shuts down opportunities for you to work through thorny issues with your team, particularly where solutions require greater creativity or cross functional collaboration. Instead of insisting on a solution, get your people to focus on defining problems clearly and completely before they bring them to you. Problem solving efforts often fail because problem statements are poorly constructed. That makes good solutions hard to come by. I stand by the expression: “A problem well-stated is half-solved."

Organization Leadership: Rules for the Matrix

Tis the season for re-orgs. Greater complexity and specialization make the matrix organizational structure more appealing than others today. It provides a hybrid approach, combining the benefits of deep functional expertise with accountability for results of the business unit. If you want to make the matrix structure work for you, here are two simple (but often difficult to follow) rules.

1.    No dotted line relationships. If an employee reports to one leader and has a dotted line report to another, this only demonstrates who loses when there is a conflict or difference of opinion. Use two direct lines to illustrate that it is the job of the leaders to collaborate and prioritize.

2.    No silos for the matrix. The matrix or dual reporting relationship starts and stops at the senior leadership level. All reporting relationships below senior leadership are singular. This prevents many of the typical struggles in cross-functional efforts.

There is no perfect organization structure. They all have advantages and disadvantages. But if you want to run your business efficiently and effectively with a matrix, this is how you avoid unnecessary drama.

If a picture is worth more than 183 words (this section), here is an illustration of both ideas. Credit to Herman Vantrappen author of The Organization Design Guide for providing me with a version that works for us color blind folks.



New Podcasts

I’ve been a guest on a number of podcasts in support of The Growth Leader launch. Here is one that I think you will especially enjoy. Whitney Johnson, co-founder of Disruption Advisors, is a longtime colleague, mentor, and friend of mine. Since Whitney’s podcast centers on personal disruption, we went deep into some personal stories that I haven’t shared often. Which made this interview quite different than any other I've done. Whitney is a gifted interviewer and I hope you enjoy it.

You can listen on the Disruption Advisors website, on Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts! I’m currently updating the media page on my website where I’ll be sharing more of these podcast appearances soon.

Perspective: January

For most of my life, I’ve been a fan of New Year’s resolutions. I relish the clean slate of a fresh year, the possibility to change and improve, the opportunity for life to be even better in whatever ways I choose. January has always felt like a natural catalyst for improvement as the page turns from one year to the next. But the past few years, I’ve felt rather exhausted by resolutions. I remain a huge believer in personal and professional growth, and I’m certainly not against setting goals. But I’ve decided to take January to think more deeply about my resolutions for 2024. Call it the contemplation stage of change. I think it’s worth spending a little time to consider what my focus needs to be before I commit to too many resolutions that will likely be abandoned by spring. In the meantime, I’m not doing a Dry January, but I may, as my wife suggests, try a “Damp January.” Baby steps, right?

LinkedIn Live

Please join me for the first LinkedIn Live of the Year. The topic will be Leading Your Business to Growth in 2024 and will highlight a few of the concepts from The Growth Leader. I hope you can join me! And I’m keen to hear what topics you consider most useful and valuable. Contact me here to let me know.