Leadership and the Glass Ceiling
February 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Businesses often start with a tight-knit group of people that have a common vision. If successful, the business grows, sometimes for many years, and the core leadership team remains the same, hiring below them as required. As the business grows, the requirements of the specific leadership disciplines evolve, many times well past the capabilities (or even desire) of the person in the role. Suddenly the business stops growing at its previous rate, frustrations increase, culture is impacted, and what once was fun and exciting is no longer so.
In most cases, the company has hit a Glass Ceiling where the leadership team no longer fits the needs of the business. This is much like a sand-lot baseball team that was really good until it started playing more professional teams. The shortstop always played shortstop, why shouldn’t he continue? Leaders form a bond with many of their early department managers. They like them, and because of the bond developed tend to overlook the gaps in capabilities. In many cases, the personnel filling key leadership roles have zero prior experience in their current discipline. Many times the company leader themselves have never been in the position they are now in, and therefore are struggling on their own to rise to the new demands of the business.
Probably the single most common reason for hitting this Glass Ceiling is the inability of the business to modify its team and talent to fit the current needs. Just like a ball team needs to constantly review each player’s capability, a business must do the same if it wants to maximize performance. From the leader on down, a business’s ability to grow and prosper is completely in the hands of the team. And if leadership turns a blind or un-educated eye to this situation, performance will suffer.
On an annual basis, it is essential that job descriptions for all key positions are reviewed and modified on the basis of what the business needs to go to the next level. How would these descriptions read if you were hiring for each position now? This must be done irrespective of the person in the role. Then, descriptions must be matched against the current personnel, and if they don’t match changes must be made.
In my experience, some early-stage personnel continue to rise to the challenge and evolve at the pace needed. Some would rather not. And some, although they would like to, simply cannot rise to the occasion. If you want to continue to maximize the performance of your company, you need a top performance team. Remember that “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.” Review your team against what you need, and put the best players on the field every day.
