Two days back I was admonishing my Senior Manager-Shradha(name concealed) stating that she was not doing what she was supposed to do according to her role and more often than not, I had to get into it filling in this gap for her which indeed was not my job. I also went further to state that because, I was doing her work, I was unable to give time to things I needed to focus on from a business point...
Shradha looked at me in the eye and with a pause mentioned something which shocked me--"Don- that's because you love to do such things". Now whatever we may say, we as CEO's, generally don't like being wronged and often we get into defensive justifications to disclaim such expressions from employees. But I held back and told Shradha, "I have the option of getting upset but will choose not to get defensive and retort if she explains and justifies her comment and if she could not convince me, I would attempt to convince her!!
No prizes for guessing who got convinced in the process, of course the CEO always wins such bouts, that's a privilege and a perk for all the risks we take as an entrepreneur, but Shradha's comment began to sink into me to comprehend what she really meant and often this happens with most of us; the dilemma between What we love to do vis a vis what we should be doing ..
As entrepreneurs, the biggest disadvantage is that there is no one to correct us, we often get into a zone of doing things we like doing or are habituated, this could be different things for different people, like some entrepreneurs like excessively going into micro details of controlling the last penny, some like to excessively get into administrative tasks including why attendance of people on a given day is low, or attendance and punctuality with reports and calls to be made including sophisticated setups like CCTV for surveillance, expenses of people, seeking perfection in policies which really don't carry such significant impact etc etc etc Of course all these are important, undoubtedly... the question is, Is it worth your time!
I can go on with several examples but often a lot of time expended on such aspects means that other things are not getting the deserved attention which would strategically benefit the company, These are the "Need to Do" actions like aggressive marketing and business development strategies, rigorous review systems, branding, improving the quality of MIS, Embedding good behaviors as a culture, talent audit and review, digitization maturity etc Invariably and naturally we procrastinate such matters for a later date when everything is streamlined.
This reminder of what I should be doing vs what I am naturally polarized to is something that every CEO needs to remind oneself and the best starting point is have KRA's and goals for the CEO itself which cascades from the strategic/operating plan. A dashboard is another good example..
Bluesky's association with several CEO's convey that some indeed get it right and never get their eye off the big picture, some know they need to change but are not clear how to come out of the day to day trivia and some are blissfully unaware or in self denial..
I do hope you will start today assessing this aspect sooner than late. Tough times need tough actions and this indeed is a tough action....
Do share your views and experiences
Shradha looked at me in the eye and with a pause mentioned something which shocked me--"Don- that's because you love to do such things". Now whatever we may say, we as CEO's, generally don't like being wronged and often we get into defensive justifications to disclaim such expressions from employees. But I held back and told Shradha, "I have the option of getting upset but will choose not to get defensive and retort if she explains and justifies her comment and if she could not convince me, I would attempt to convince her!!
No prizes for guessing who got convinced in the process, of course the CEO always wins such bouts, that's a privilege and a perk for all the risks we take as an entrepreneur, but Shradha's comment began to sink into me to comprehend what she really meant and often this happens with most of us; the dilemma between What we love to do vis a vis what we should be doing ..
As entrepreneurs, the biggest disadvantage is that there is no one to correct us, we often get into a zone of doing things we like doing or are habituated, this could be different things for different people, like some entrepreneurs like excessively going into micro details of controlling the last penny, some like to excessively get into administrative tasks including why attendance of people on a given day is low, or attendance and punctuality with reports and calls to be made including sophisticated setups like CCTV for surveillance, expenses of people, seeking perfection in policies which really don't carry such significant impact etc etc etc Of course all these are important, undoubtedly... the question is, Is it worth your time!
I can go on with several examples but often a lot of time expended on such aspects means that other things are not getting the deserved attention which would strategically benefit the company, These are the "Need to Do" actions like aggressive marketing and business development strategies, rigorous review systems, branding, improving the quality of MIS, Embedding good behaviors as a culture, talent audit and review, digitization maturity etc Invariably and naturally we procrastinate such matters for a later date when everything is streamlined.
This reminder of what I should be doing vs what I am naturally polarized to is something that every CEO needs to remind oneself and the best starting point is have KRA's and goals for the CEO itself which cascades from the strategic/operating plan. A dashboard is another good example..
Bluesky's association with several CEO's convey that some indeed get it right and never get their eye off the big picture, some know they need to change but are not clear how to come out of the day to day trivia and some are blissfully unaware or in self denial..
I do hope you will start today assessing this aspect sooner than late. Tough times need tough actions and this indeed is a tough action....
Do share your views and experiences
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