Manage the Gap and Lead Effectively
On February 27, the latest in the Catapult Groups Webinar series featured Bill Wagner, consultant, business owner and author of “The Entrepreneur Next Door.” Bill spoke on “Managing the Entrepreneur’s Gap.” Here are highlights from his presentation. The full webinar is available here.
It takes certain skills and personalities to be a CEO or what I call a “Level 5 Leader.” What qualities does a Level 5 Leader possess?
- Needs to be strong-willed, self-confident and fairly independent
- Highly results-oriented
- Able to troubleshoot, problem-solve and have a strong strategic vision
- The ability to collaborate, to build consensus, to work well under pressure
- To have empathy or the ability to fake empathy
- Ability to deal well with ambiguity
Each of us comes with our own unique skills and personality. Sometimes there’s a gap between the leadership skills we possess and the ones needed to effectively lead an organization. Successful leaders learn how to manage that gap either by gaining the skills to fill that gap ourselves or hiring others to fill it. Only by better understanding that gap can we be better at our jobs.
Whose resignation would you accept?
CEOs make “people decisions” all the time and these decisions often have the greatest effect on the organization. We hire people because of their strengths, but we fire them for their weaknesses.
If each of your direct reports submitted their resignations today, would you accept them or convince those people to stay? If you’d accept those resignations, it’s probably time to think about getting them additional training or getting them off the bus. You want the right people with the right training to fill the gap we’re talking about. The goal is for everyone, from the leader to front-line staff, to perform at a much higher level.
How are you wired? How are members of your team wired? When you know the answers to these questions, you raise the level of predictability (and efficiency). We need to know who we have issues with, what those issues are, and how to fix them. Then we can effectively manage the gap.
Are you ready to join other CEOs, managers and senior-level executives in a confidential group setting, where you’ll be challenged and rewarded like never before in your professional life? Learn more about becoming a Catapult Group member today.
