UNLEASHING YOUR TEAM
BY : VERNE HARNISH CEO OF GAZELLES , AUTHOR
“ After all , the bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle !” bottle ! The FACe tool provides a list of seats ( functions ) that all organizations must fill . The people who fill these functions must pass three tests :
1 . THEY FIT THE CULTURE
2 . THEY DON ’ T NEED TO BE MANAGED
3 . THEY REGULARLY WOW THE TEAM WITH THEIR INSIGHTS AND OUTPUT .
Once the accountabilities are assigned , a company must designate one or two key performance indicators ( KPIs ) each senior leader needs to focus on dayto-day . Then a company must decide on a handful of results accountable to each function ( i . e ., who is accountable for revenue , gross margin , profit , cash , etc .). These outcomes represent line items on the financial statements . When completed , this one-page accountability tool helps you diagnose where you have people and performance gaps on the leadership team .
UNLEASHING THE POWER OF A TEAM In the case of Temple Lifestyle , using the form was challenging at first . Like many founders , Magnone had stayed in the habit of wearing many hats — a vital survival skill when he first co-founded the company in 2008 — long past the point that it was beneficial to the firm ’ s growth .
The firm had never designed a senior leadership team , however , so Temple Lifestyle needed to do that first . Under the guidance of Gazelles Certified International Coach Les Rubenovitch , the company quickly created a new , fivemember executive team . They assumed the accountabilities on the form .
“ When you ’ re building a business and it ’ s growing quickly , there are many things you have to do ,” says Rubenovitch . “ Sometimes you don ’ t pause and say , `I don ’ t need to be involved in this anymore and can push accountability down to my team .’” The FACe enables the pause that is necessary , he says .
And no one has balked at taking on more accountability . The rest of the team was actually hungry for more , says Silvestri . When the company held its second quarter meeting , says Silvestri , the relief among the executive team — now freed to contribute to their full capacity — was palpable . “ Everyone at the office feels a lot more involved in what is going on ,” she says . That was not surprising , says Rubenovitch . “ They were granted autonomy , authority and independence and were able to increasingly fulfil their potential ,” he says .
A HOLISTIC APPROACH The company didn ’ t use the FACe in a vacuum . Working with Rubenovitch , the executive team got clear on the goals the company is trying to achieve and what key performance indicators mattered to its growth , such as development of its own brands , so it could include these goals in the FACe .
Doing so represented a welcome step forward from the past , when , says Silvestri , “ everyone was on this boat and no one knew where it was headed .”
Still , the process of clarifying the company ’ s strategy was not easy . “ It was mentally draining but also exhilarating ,” says Silvestri .
Nonetheless , the results have had a dramatic effect on the company culture , she says .
“ Everyone feels such much more aligned ,” she says . “ It gave them a reason to come to work that was beyond getting the work done .”
To stay focused on its goals , the company has used other elements of the Scaling Up system , such as daily and weekly huddles and offering leadership and management coaching to its executive team . “ The more we learn , the more we want to know ,” says Silvestri .
The company is has now moved on to uncovering its X Factor — the element that provides an exponential advantage over all of its rivals . “ Our growth is great ,” says Silvestri . “ Now we ’ re trying to figure out what sets us apart from everyone else .”
The answer may be the positive culture it has already created . When a new hire recently went through the interview process , she was so impressed with what she saw that she sent a glowing email to the CEO and department manager about how wonderful her experience has been , says Silvestri . “ It ’ s been really nice to hear ,” she says . +
Verne Harnish is founder and CEO of Gazelles , a global executive education and coaching company , Verne has spent the past 30 years educating entrepreneurial teams . He ’ s the author of Scaling Up that uses approaches honed from over three decades of advising tens of thousands of CEOs and executives .
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