Leadership perfection is not required to win championships

Leaders, breathe a sigh of relief!

The Kansas City Chiefs proved an important lesson for leaders and teams of all kinds: perfection is not required to win championships.

The Chiefs won the Super Bowl this year and last year. Quite the feat, as repeat championships had not been accomplished in almost twenty years. And, the KC Chiefs ranked 31st out of the 32 teams, which is three down from last year, on the NFL Players Association Report Cards. (source)

Last month, lessons learned from the Chief’s ownership leadership failures were shared. (link)

This time, let’s focus on lessons to learn from the dichotomy.

How is it possible for the same players to win the Super Bowl and rank their organization so low?

A similar contradiction happens in business frequently. Have you worked where…

🤷‍♂️The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) does not agree on strategy 100% of the time? Yet, the company is profitable.

🤷‍♀️Or, have you seen a project leader work well with a team of indirect reports to complete a project on time and within budget (or close!), even when executives show little interest in the project?

🤷Or, where leaders pit people or projects against each other in their silo’ed ways?

Companies are profitable in spite of the way they operate sometimes, aren’t they?

The NFL Players Association Report Card this year showed the Chiefs players rated their Head Coach Andy Read an A+, the highest score in the whole league. They gave their ownership an F-.

Yet, they won their second championship in a row just a few weeks prior to the release of the report.

Victory is more likely when the leaders are aligned; however, the Chiefs show victory is possible when alignment is not 100%. They give hope to teams and leaders in business.

Here are 5 ways success can happen when players do not trust organization ownership or leadership at the highest level:

1.  Trusted Head Coach. The players rated their Head Coach, Andy Reid, the highest score of all NFL team coaches, A+. The players rated the Chiefs ownership an F-, last in the league. The players may overlook issues with ownership because they believe in Coach Reid’s ability to guide the team to success. They may trust Coach Reid more than they distrust ownership.

For businesses: A dedicated and skilled management staff who work directly with the employees can help create a positive and focused team environment, which people prioritize over some issues with ownership or executive leadership. As the data shows repeatedly, people leave managers, not companies. They stay for that reason too.

2.  Talent and Team Chemistry. The Chiefs have a talented roster with good chemistry across the board. One of the best examples of the team’s relationship was displayed after this year’s Super Bowl. One of the local channels continued the coverage for hours it seems, and it showed Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes congratulating every player at their locker. Their relationships and trust may enable them to overlook dissatisfaction with the ownership.

For businesses: Does your company have a talented roster with good chemistry? Are there strong leaders throughout the company? If not, work on that. That’s where culture comes in. You can influence the culture when you understand the truth of it, which is what Coach Reid does.

3.  Internal Motivators. The Chiefs players can focus on their love for the game, desire to win, commitment to each other, and personal improvement. Focusing on their intrinsic motivation can enable them to put aside issues with ownership during the season and playoffs.

For businesses: Your initial reaction to this might be to think how different your work is because it’s not a game like football that people grew up playing for fun. Or, you might dismiss it because there’s no trophy after projects are completed. Well, why not?

Reassess your culture. If people are hungry for victories, how can you create victory celebrations instead of moving at the speed of sound to the next project? And, I know some of your companies do have roles people played as kids—bankers, doctors, nurses, gamers, wedding planners, stylists, and more! Don’t overlook the love of the game and winning—find out more about the intrinsic motivators and how you can appeal to those. From a leadership standpoint, that can be one of the best parts of your job.

If you don’t appeal to what motivates your people, another team will.

4.  External Motivators. The Chiefs players may find external motivators, such as fan support, beating rivalries, or proving critics wrong to be more compelling than their grievances with team ownership.

For businesses: Your people have extrinsic motivators also. They may be motivated by industry visibility, recognition at a company meeting, or inclusion in a board meeting. Remember, you are trying to understand what motivates them, not you. Don’t judge them. Seek ways to enable your people to have more fulfillment in their work through intrinsic and extrinsic motivators that inspire them, and they are more likely to perform better.

5.  Focus and Professionalism: The players know a high level of professionalism and commitment to their craft will help their team win and will help them land with a new team if that’s needed after the season. Their focus and professionalism may help them rise above challenges posed by discontent with ownership.

For businesses: Recognize when someone is focused on self over team, doing the minimum needed to earn their paycheck, or when their behavior changes. They may have stopped offering ideas for improvement, for example. These are signs of discontent, which may spread throughout your team and lead to more exits than you desire. Prevent such discontent in the first place when you can. In lieu of that, prepare for the hard conversations and have them sooner rather than later.

Companies can learn from the Chiefs. The NFL’s Chiefs showed success is possible when the players love their Head Coach and feel differently about the team’s ownership.

While success under such circumstances is difficult and not sustainable in the long run, short-term victories could be possible if the players manage to compartmentalize their issues with ownership or senior leaders and focus on the game.

Your main take-away should be how you can help your players focus on the game no matter what else is going on within the company.

3 lessons learned from McDonald’s Kiosk Training Level 1 (that I made up for my Dad)

My dad has been quite a trailblazer throughout his career. He had an office in our home long before WFH was the hot demand. He created new models for sports management and auto financing, among other things that became commonplace years later. In recent years, he has worked to become as tech savvy as he needs to be—no less, no more.

Last week, was a big one: Dad wanted to learn how to use the kiosk at McDonald’s.

He goes to the same McDonald’s every morning and called upon me as the family leadership development expert to teach him how to order from the kiosk. Here are the three key lessons I learned throughout this ordeal, I mean, wonderful experience😊:

Lesson #1: Put others at ease by linking the new experience to a familiar one. In advance of the training he asked of me, we spoke about similar experiences he had. For example, he had ordered from Amazon online. He described the steps he took during that process, and I said it would be similar on the kiosk. He had seen the kiosk, so we also talked about how it might differ. The discussion gave him comfort and calmed any internal anxiety he may have had. We all have some anxiety when tackling something new, right? Putting him at ease in advance was helpful because he was less anxious when we arrived at the kiosk training.

Lesson #2: Confirm the intention and purpose. Repeat the purpose to ensure clarity, and listen to the other person. We had some confusion about this one. I thought the purpose was to learn to order on the kiosk, but the very specific purpose Dad had was to get coffee for $.99 using the kiosk.

In my excitement for him to learn something new, I did not listen well, and it impacted the training.

Once the lesson began, Dad was rolling along pressing dine in, coffee café, regular coffee, and hold up! The price was $1.39. The kiosk did not say anything about $.99 coffee. He realized an ad he saw for the app promised the lower price for coffee. I offered to download the app on my phone right then, but he was frustrated already. He could not accomplish his purpose, so he was finished with the lesson.

I was frustrated because he still wanted the coffee—and so did I!—but he did not finish the order. He walked away from the kiosk to use his gift card at the counter instead.

I was bummed because he did not finish learning how to use the kiosk. He was bummed because coffee would not be $.99. There would have been less frustration if we had been perfectly clear about the intention ahead of time.

(For the record, the frustration level was like a two out of ten. We were laughing, not angry. We realized the moment and were not taking it seriously.)

Lesson #3: Be clear about the measure of success. Clarity of purpose impacts measure of performance. Since he did not complete the training, the special pretend Certificate of Achievement made especially for him on Canva sat secretly in my handbag. He was not going to get the certificate because he did not complete the order via the kiosk.

He did learn some of the steps, and that was a big deal for him. He got far enough to view the menu, select his preferred item, and place the order. Upon further consideration, he did earn the certificate for McDonald’s Kiosk Training Level 1!

Acknowledging progress was important. Look how proud he is! (He was being extra corny, but still!) There was no need to hold back the fake certificate just because the training did not go as planned.

Lighten up and look for opportunities to praise progress. Don’t be stingy with praise when it has been earned.

The praise, along with clarifying the purpose and connecting the training to something familiar, will help when we return in a few days for McDonald’s Kiosk Training Level 2!

Are there situations you’re facing when the same three lessons would be useful:

1. Put the other person at ease by linking the new thing with something familiar. This could be if you are asking for a budget increase for new staff or to improve a product feature.

2. Clarify the purpose of meetings. Wow, this is an enormous time-saver. I bet it would reduce the need for half of the meetings on our calendars! If the purpose is to give information, send an email instead. If the purpose is to gain support, do the topics and timing align with that purpose?

3. Link purpose to metrics to performance. Be clear with everyone about what success looks like. This can save time also because people will be working together to accomplish one thing instead of having different goals.

 A little reflection about those in advance can save time, build relationships, and speed progress. Every leader can use those now, including trailblazers learning new things.

Leadership Lesson from our dog: the best way to handle conflict

The sound of our dog getting sick got me up extra early yesterday. As we sat together while the rest of the house slept, I pondered the many things Bebe has taught me our six years together

One of the most important things she has taught me is to go toward conflict. That's not the same as to love conflict. Let me explain what she does, what she taught.

Maybe your dog does this too.

As the Chief Wellness Officer, Bebe is within a few feet of me in my home office every day, as many of you know from our Zoom meetings.

Throughout the work day, Bebe needs attention, a treat, or a walk. Most of the time, I need a break too, and we take fifteen minutes together. But, on extremely rare occasions, her needs are too frequent, she becomes whiney, and my patience wears thin.

Of course, I do not react harshly to beloved Bebe. But my annoyance is poorly masked as I repeatedly tell her to wait.

The amazing thing she does, the lesson, is: When she knows I am annoyed, she comes to me. She goes toward the conflict.

 When the natural tendency would be to shrink from it, give a stern side-eye, and sulk out of the room, Bebe comes to me instead.

She wants to be sure we are good at all times, even when she recognizes frustration. The funniest thing happens when she comes to me: I apologize to her, pet and kiss her, give treats, and go for a longer walk!

The conflict works out better for us both.

I noticed this behavior a few years ago and have put it into practice with people I care about.

Now, obviously, there aren't too many people I work with who love me as much as Bebe does, or vice versa, but it works!

Go toward the conflict when you feel it. Get back in sync. Make sure people know you didn't mean to be annoying, frustrated, or rude. Or, if they were frustrated, touch base about what’s up with them. Stop by, call, or send an e-mail to clear the air and move forward with grace and greatness. You might notice the relationship is even stronger afterward.

Some wording to consider could be…

• “My apologies for being frustrated earlier. The timeline change made me nervous, but we are on top of it and there’s nothing to worry about after all. Thanks for your understanding.”

• “It sounded like you may have been concerned about the timeline earlier. Can I help?”

Wording that does not help…

• “I’m sorry if you were put off by my frustration earlier.”

Do you see how that apology does not take responsibility for my behavior? Don’t blame them for your rudeness or for noticing it. Take responsibility for your behavior and appreciate their understanding, if that was the case. No more, no less.

Bebe has taught me many things about leadership, friendship, and love. Sometimes I marvel at how simple the lessons are when I just slow down and pay attention like on a Sunday morning.

The world would be better if we could all be the persons our dogs think we are. I’m going to work on that more.

The truth about Google's culture and 5 take-aways for all company leaders

When companies make the news, there often is more going on than meets the eye, and the truth comes out eventually.

For example, Google was the darling of company culture for years with its nap pods, slides, free food, dry cleaning, bikes, and on-site clinics. And more. Google became the standard and inspired all the Silicon Valley tech companies, along with companies all over the country, to one-up each other with their cool offerings to get top talent to join.

To the un-trained eye, it looked like Google cared so much about its employees. Just a year ago, Google touted its increased parental and caretaker leave policy as the Chief People Officer said they wanted to offer “extraordinary benefits” for their people.

Apparently, as Google expanded its leave and staff, it did so without any strategic thinking about its stakeholders, especially its customers. Now, it’s parent company is in the middle of laying off 12,000 employees. As laid off Googlers exit, they get 16 weeks of severance, along with two weeks of pay for every year of employment with Google.

The severance is decent, but one issue came to light last week.

Late last week, Google was in the news for not honoring that new leave policy for people who have been laid off during their approved leave. For example, one woman who just had a baby learned via text that her job was eliminated, along with her maternity leave. Just one hundred people are affected, yet Google is not covering what it said it would cover. (Source: CNBC, Google nixes paying out remainder of maternity and medical leave for laid-off employees, by Jennifer Elias, March 17, 2023)

People plan their lives around company promises, yet Google gave no regard to the promises made to their people. That’s a warning to all current and future employees: you cannot trust Google.

To someone highly experienced with company culture, it was clear as Google’s culture grew from being “bros in a garage” to manipulating people so they would work longer hours and stay with the company longer.

It was never about the people. Google proved it. Pay attention and learn from them.

Five lessons to learn from Google’s culture behavior this week:

1. Strategic planning is crucial when adding people. Strategic thinking would consider what happens if/when customer demand changes. If Google, and Meta, DocuSign, Twilio, and others, had been more strategic prior to hiring all the extra people over the past few years, they would not be in the midst of the downsizing now.

2. Align your company culture with values it intends to keep. List the values and how those values are lived every day—be specific, not pollyanna’ish. Then, design the culture to support the values.

3. Be honest when promoting your company values and culture. Your company doesn’t have to be fun and creative. Lots of people do not want to work at a high-energy place like Google. Understand your culture and communicate about it honestly. At least that way, you are more likely able to keep your promises.

4. Keep your promises. If your policy says people get leave, and someone applies for it, and it is approved, honor that promise. Backing out alerts people to the fact that you do not keep promises. And, they will relate to you accordingly.

5. If you care about your people, then care about your people honestly. You can share hard news, but don’t lie or cover up downward trends. When cultures are really about manipulation, the undercurrent of distrust will infiltrate everything. It takes up so much time and stifles anything good.

Sometimes companies succeed in spite of their practices instead of because of them.

Google will survive this PR disaster. It will go on to make billions for its CEO and investors. It could do more good, like it says it wants to, if it approached its culture more genuinely. Companies can do both: care about people and profit. There’s all kinds of research that proves it—you can google it.

Learn from McDonald's: A blurry moral compass leads to years of costly issues

When the CEO's moral compass is blurry, you can bet the ethical one is too.

McDonald's, who has access to all the resources in the world, has been dealing with a serious culture breach caused by the failed moral compass of its former CEO for more than four years.

Two days ago, McDonald’s plight was in the news again because the SEC charged the former CEO with misleading investigators about reasons for his firing in 2019.

Let's consider the impact of the issues McDonald's has been facing, so you can be prepared just in case:

⚫ If someone breaks the rules in one area, you can bet they break or bend rules in other areas too. For example, if it's okay to bend the rule about one relationship, like the former CEO did, they are likely to bend the rules about other relationships too.

Beyond that rule, however, you better keep a keen eye on other rules because the relationship rule might not be the only one broken.

⚫ Others look up to the CEO and will follow along breaking rules too. If it's okay for the CEO, others will think it is okay for them to break rules related to relationships, exaggerate expense reports, lie on client project hours, skip recording PTO usage, and more.

⚫ Lies are expensive. McDonald's spent millions of dollars and countless hours because of the former's CEO's behavior. And, they still are! Does your company have either of those to spare?

On a personal note, how humiliating it must be for one’s ongoing moral failures to put grown adults in the situation of having to call the law firm and insurance company to explain the situation.

⚫ The reputation damage to the brand is embarrassing and costly in other ways too. Top talent does not want to work for a company that allowed that kind of behavior. When poor behavior is accepted, people lose trust in the decision makers. They will not bring their A game when trust dissipates.

The message sent to other top employees (and all employees) is that leadership is weak, values don’t matter, and money over purpose. No one brings their best in those circumstances.

In some cases, customers will lose trust and take their business elsewhere too. Now, McDonald's probably did not lose many consumers over the former CEO. Their great french fries far outweigh the impact of the former CEO to consumers. Most companies’ products and services don’t have that luxury.

There are companies out there with very similar issues right now. Here are a few indicators of culture issues.
◼ No women on the SLT. Or, the one or two top women keep leaving, to be replaced by men.
◼ The company's attorney or other leaders lie in meetings about culture. Obviously, there is more cover-up happening.
◼ When asked about a company, and heads turn, eyes bulge and people whisper, "Oh, you don't want to know about that place." In that case, pray for people who work there and move on because the person whispering is probably right.

Company culture goes way beyond people being nice to each other.

We are able to dig deeper and help leaders face the bigger issues that can damage their companies, reputations, and legacies.

We work with leaders to help them avoid the pain of McDonald's. McDonald's has all the resources in the world, and a costly culture breach happened there.

What resources does your company have? Reach out privately if you need one.

In the meantime, be on the lookout for blurry compasses. Don't let someone else's blurry moral compass blur your own.