The CEO Six Overview: Priorities That Matter Most
I remember the first time I didn’t respond to a teammate’s emergency with the instinct to do the work for them. It was out of necessity because I was so overwhelmed. I felt liberated as my teammate solved their own problem. When you are the CEO, people line up at your door with questions and emergency decisions needing to be made. Often we will take on their work because we don’t know a quick answer; we figure we need to do it ourselves in order to move the business forward.
It turns out, we aren’t helping the business move forward when we do the work for our teams. We are slowing our business down. The best action we can take is to train, empower and trust our senior teammates to suggest solutions, make decisions and execute them. It may feel like we are slowing our businesses down, but slowing it down today will result in a well-oiled machine later. Put the right people in the right positions, empower them to lead, remove barriers to their success and get out of their way. They are going to make mistakes, and if they are the right people in the right positions, those mistakes will be important learning for the future of the organization.
When we stay focused at a high level on The CEO Six, we honor the expertise of our teams. We build a sustainable organization. The CEO Six includes Purpose, Culture, Data, Senior Team, Board and CEO Growth. Staying focused at a high level means 1) analyzing progress and 2) asking questions. As you analyze and ask, you will invite deep philosophical conversations with your team to understand the state of The CEO Six, and create a dynamic space to design better results together.
Here is a deeper look at the six priorities:
PURPOSE: In order to grow an organization, you must understand why your organization exists. Check out Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle Ted Talk. Once your activities and culture are aligned to your purpose, growth becomes easier in all aspects.
CULTURE: What can you and your team do to ensure your employees love their work lives as much or more than their personal lives? It is possible to accomplish this while meeting your other organizational objectives. In fact, a highly desirable culture will help you reach your other objectives with greater ease and speed.
DATA: If you are only looking at the bottom line, there’s a world of opportunity for your business to grow. From Key Performance Indicators like retention of your staff, customers, donors, investors, etc., to tracking product/service performance - data has a way of creating profound conversations which lead to innovation.
SENIOR TEAM: I used to see my senior team as a group of people I had to manage, and one day I decided I wanted a senior team that managed me. Doing this requires you to put the senior team at the forefront of the organization. Prioritize their relationships with each other, and prioritize their professional growth. This will cultivate a collective conscience which is a group of brilliant, values-aligned people who wrestle with the biggest issues of our organization in an effective and trusting way. They will treat tension as an indicator that a new solution is needed, and thus opportunities will form where problems once existed.
BOARD: Organizations with boards have something in common - a group of people who are not doing the day to day work, sometimes have little related expertise, yet have ultimate authority and an interest in the success of the business. This can be a time-consuming management challenge for any CEO. With the right structure and systems, a board of directors can be a priceless asset to the organization.
CEO GROWTH: I believe organizations grow at the rate their CEO’s grow. And if you are not dedicated to your own growth, the organization will be stagnant. That may come in the form of learning new skills and challenging long-held beliefs which no longer serve you.
First step: look at your calendar and assess which meetings help you stay focused on The CEO Six. Empower others to take and lead the meetings which don’t.
In future blogs, I will dive deeper into each of The CEO Six priorities. Until then, stay focused on what matters most!
Want to go deeper into The CEO Six?
Purpose: First Priority of The CEO Six