| To build a business demands that the leadership | | | | - No focus |
| know how to separate the symptoms from the | | | | - No or limited motivation |
| problems to drive the needed organizational | | | | - Personality conflicts |
| change. Unfortunately, many small business | | | | - Poor communication |
| owners, entrepreneurs and executives due to | | | | - Poor teamwork |
| poor communication and no strategic plan create | | | | - Power struggles |
| expensive silo solutions that actually diminish the | | | | - Reactive vs Proactive Thinking |
| energy and ability to achieve organizational goals. | | | | - Time management |
| In the book Fail-Safe Leadership by Linda Martin | | | | - Turf wars |
| and Dr. David Mutchler, the authors address some | | | | - Work ethics |
| of the change management challenges every | | | | Now review each change issue and place a check |
| organization faces on a daily basis regardless of | | | | mark in the box if it is an issue for that specific |
| size through a simple leadership audit. This audit or | | | | group. Quickly, you will see where you need to |
| organizational survey allows the decision-makers | | | | plan and execute aligned solutions. |
| to begin that separation of symptoms from | | | | For example, if the accountability change issue is |
| problems and recognizes that these issues are | | | | only being experienced by the customer service |
| due to leadership issues within the organization. | | | | employees then a solution focusing only on this |
| The good news is that you can construct your | | | | group of shareholders makes sense. However, if |
| own survey. First, identify the basic general | | | | at least two or more of the shareholders are |
| shareholders within any organization. These may | | | | experiencing accountability issues, then the solution |
| be separated as follows: | | | | must address all involved if the organization truly |
| - Customer Service Employees | | | | desires to reach the desired end results. |
| - Production Employees | | | | By recognizing up front that the solution must |
| - Sales Employees | | | | meet all the involved shareholders prevents the |
| - Support and Technology Employees | | | | common silo-solution that appears to breed |
| - Executive Management | | | | additional silo solutions. Organizations must have |
| - Management & Supervision | | | | aligned and coordinated efforts. Silo solutions are |
| - External Customers | | | | just the opposite. |
| - Vendors/Suppliers | | | | Why this audit is called a leadership audit is |
| - Community | | | | because leadership must be the vehicle that |
| Place these as separate columns across the sheet | | | | drives the change in the organization. Hence, it is |
| of paper leaving the far left column for the | | | | leadership's responsibility to conduct the audit. |
| common management change issues. | | | | Usually after conducting this simple assessment, |
| Then begin to list the changes issues facing your | | | | the executive leadership team may determine |
| organization in the far left column. These may | | | | that a full organizational assessment is required. |
| include the following, but are not limited to just | | | | Implementing such an assessment should be: |
| these issues: | | | | - Affordable |
| - Accountability | | | | - Aligned to a national quality criteria such as |
| - Can't do attitudes | | | | Baldrige |
| - Consensus driven decision making | | | | - Documented for a proven history (reliable and |
| - Disconnect between training and results | | | | valid) |
| - Duplicate work efforts | | | | - Quickly executed |
| - High waste of resources, time or energy | | | | - Representative of all levels within the |
| - Inconsistent goal achievement | | | | organization |
| - Inconsistent quality work | | | | - Verified with one on one face to face interviews |
| - Limited diversity of thought (no out of the box | | | | P.S. If you find numerous check marks within |
| thinking) | | | | your leadership audit, this does not mean that you |
| - Missed results consistently | | | | have Now is the time to close those gaps so that |
| - No alignment of efforts | | | | you can reach that next level of success. |
| - No direction | | | | |