The Three Faces of a Leader – Stage 4
In Stage 4, the leader ideally spends 10 percent of their time and energy wearing the Visionary Face, 70 percent wearing the Manager Face, and 20 percent wearing the Specialist Face. Stage 4 is characterized by a leader who is actively developing a management team that leads strong departments.
In Stage 4, the leader ideally spends 10 percent of their time and energy wearing the Visionary Face, 70 percent wearing the Manager Face, and 20 percent wearing the Specialist Face.
Stage 4 is characterized by a leader who is actively developing a management team that leads strong departments.
In earlier Stages, the leader wore the Manager Face by managing the work and the staff. The difference in Stage 4 is that the leader is managing managers, who are then managing the work and the staff. The size of the company requires an organizational structure that formalizes a management team. While this management layer is critical, it also introduces a layer between the CEO and the staff. That’s why it’s so important that the leader is training, growing, and hiring strong managers. The managers should be encouraged to lead solid departments, developing an expertise about their functional area that may even supersede the leader’s.
Implementing and advancing the organization’s processes and systems is a major focus in Stage 4. Leveraging the leader’s knowledge and expertise to others in the organization comprises 20% of time spent wearing the Specialist Face. Additionally, continued involvement in business development activities is a common Specialist activity for a Stage 4 leader.
Wearing the Visionary Face, the leader must stay in touch with where the organization is headed. Mindful of a clear vision of the future, the leader must then ensure that the management team understands the vision so they can share it with their departments to maintain staff buy-in.
Even though the ideal allocation of time and energy among the Three Faces in Stage 4 is similar to Stage 3, it’s still common for a leader to have grown the organization through Stage 3 into Stage 4 without having transitioned away from a Specialist focus.
Leaders who fail to spend appropriate time in the Manager Face routinely face burn-out in Stage 4 with an organization that remains owner-centric. The organization is running them, rather than the other way around. Their management team is underdeveloped and docile, lacking the authority to fulfill their critical role in what should now be an enterprise-centric business. Without a strong management team, the organization’s growth potential is stunted—limited by the leader’s personal restraints of time and energy.
Three Faces of a Leader Misalignment
The CEO of a medical interpreting services company excels at bringing in new business. She is a natural networker who is consistently able to close deals. She’s also a talented interpreter, and even though her company has grown to 42 employees, she still loves that part of the work. She has made close connections with many of her clients and while she has managers responsible for certain hospitals, she tends to get contacted directly by the client when there is a problem. She also tends to make herself available to clients because it’s easier, in her mind, to simply take care of it herself.
The CEO has ambitions of growing her business to be the primary provider of medical interpreting services in the entire metro area. She’s frustrated, though, by the consistent need to work directly with her clients. She wants her managers to take the lead with customer service and quality issues so that she can focus on sales, writing proposals, and expanding the business, but they aren’t stepping up to do the job.
This CEO has overlooked the important role that she plays in developing her managers. After putting them in place, the next step she needs to take in this new stage of her business is to coach and mentor them. Rather than spending so much of her time selling, she should be developing a sales manager who can take the lead in that area. And rather than shortcutting her managers’ authority, she should equip her management team to handle issues with clients and enable them to find their own solutions.
The concepts from this article were taken from The Professional Stage: Organizational ReWilding Rules for Business Growth. Available through The ReWild Group and Amazon, the book explores this and other concepts in-depth while providing illustrations to help business leaders incorporate the ideas into their organizations. Get your copy today to learn the rules for growth for companies with 34-57 employees.
Gates of Focus in a Stage 4 Business
Stage 4’s Gates of Focus are Process, Profit, and People.
In Stage 4, getting scalable processes and systems in place is critical to facilitate future growth. Businesses that progress past Stage 4 without adequate attention to processes and systems will pay the price in later Stages. One of the most significant ways that a leader can focus on Process is by putting in place well-trained, professional managers who are capable of building strong departments. These managers should have the experience and skills to implement the building blocks necessary for their department to deliver high levels of quality in the functional area the department serves. These building blocks include scalable, trainable, and repeatable processes and systems.
Stage 4’s Gates of Focus are Process, Profit, and People.
In Stage 4, getting scalable processes and systems in place is critical to facilitate future growth. Businesses that progress past Stage 4 without adequate attention to processes and systems will pay the price in later Stages. One of the most significant ways that a leader can focus on Process is by putting in place well-trained, professional managers who are capable of building strong departments. These managers should have the experience and skills to implement the building blocks necessary for their department to deliver high levels of quality in the functional area the department serves. These building blocks include scalable, trainable, and repeatable processes and systems.
Systems facilitate the consistent execution of Process. Leading effective interdepartmental planning sessions, identifying the organization’s master processes, and allocating revenue to implement new processes and systems are ways that a leader can successfully focus on Process.
Profit remains second priority in Stage 4 as the investment in process and systems require additional capital compared to previous Stages. Those processes and systems will support the growing volume of revenue and profit generation in the future. Profit is also important because the number of employees almost doubles from Stage 3 to Stage 4, which greatly increases expenses related to human resources.
People falls to third priority during this process-heavy Stage. Again, being third on the list does not make People unimportant for a Stage 4 business; it simply means that the other two gates require more energy and focus at this point in time. A failure to prioritize Process and Profit at this Stage will end up negatively impacting the company (including its employees) down the line.
Business leaders embracing these Gates of Focus should be constantly thinking about how decisions will impact the scalability of their business. Their energy should be focused on the development, refinement, and testing of processes and systems.
Gates of Focus Misalignment
The owner of an HVAC business has been operating for eight years and is experiencing rapid growth thanks to a boom in the housing market. The company has expanded over the past 12 months from 38 to 53 employees. As someone who is a natural salesperson and good employer, the CEO has been able to successfully win new business and both recruit and keep quality employees. He assumes that his business will function in the same way it always has, just on a larger scale.
Within a few months of scaling up, though, the business seems to be falling apart. The chaos intensifies by the week—conflicts with scheduling increase, invoices are either unsent or unpaid, and the warehouse is filling up with a growing inventory of parts and equipment. The increase in the number of crews and an expanded service area has overwhelmed the manual scheduling system. A backlog has quickly developed as they struggle to optimize crew schedules, which has led to an increasing number of customer cancellations. The Accounting Department is desperately behind in invoicing clients, causing cash flow issues. With so many people in the field, and no real way to know what inventory is on hand, everyone keeps buying and then storing excess inventory. The profitability of the business is falling, even as revenue is rising.
This CEO has focused on People and Profit up to this point, resulting in a growing top line and employees who like working at the company. The business has been able to get away without well-developed processes since it was less complex. The recent growth spurt into Stage 4 has multiplied the complexities of the business to a point where the systems and processes that served the organization in the past are no longer sufficient. While the CEO wants to increase profit by expanding his customer base and service areas, he isn’t able to efficiently service them without updated processes.
The concepts from this article were taken from The Professional Stage: Organizational ReWilding Rules for Business Growth. Available through The ReWild Group and Amazon, the book explores this and other concepts in-depth while providing illustrations to help business leaders incorporate the ideas into their organizations. Get your copy today to learn the rules for growth for companies with 35-57 employees.
Builder-Protector Ratio in a Stage 4 Company
In Stage 4, the ideal Builder-Protector Ratio is 3:2, which means confidence is slightly higher than caution. The 3:2 ratio in Stage 4 reflects an organization that is once again ready to embrace change (after intentionally slowing down in Stage 3), but at a slower pace than in Stages 1 and 2.
In Stage 4, the ideal Builder-Protector Ratio is 3:2, which means confidence is slightly higher than caution. The 3:2 ratio in Stage 4 reflects an organization that is once again ready to embrace change (after intentionally slowing down in Stage 3), but at a slower pace than in Stages 1 and 2.
This graphic shows that in Stage 4 the bar for Protectors has decreased from its highest point in Stage 3. The Builder bar is now larger than the Protector bar, which means that the organization is exhibiting a higher degree of confidence than caution. The foot is back on the gas pedal to ensure the company has the momentum to grow.
This change is not a dramatic shift, however, from the balanced Builder-Protector Ratio of Stage 3. The organization’s confidence is still not as high as in Stages 1 and 2. A more moderate level of confidence is required to support the measured level of change the organization will need during Stage 4 as the management team is more formally developed and scalable systems and procedures are installed.
The organization requires additional structure to ensure that the influx of new employees doesn’t create too much caution. The leader can encourage confidence throughout the organization by establishing clear roles and responsibilities, a professional management team, and scalable processes and systems.
With an increase in confidence from Stage 3, the organization with a 3:2 Builder-Protector Ratio is once again confident and ready to intentionally set in place the human, procedural, and systems infrastructure needed to scale the business through Stage 4 and beyond.
One common misalignment in Stage 4 is an organization that never took its foot off the gas pedal in Stage 3. In this situation, the organization has continued to embrace constant change. When such an organization reaches Stage 4, it is often battered and worn out from the exhausting pace of change; that’s why it’s critical to focus on the infrastructure that will be needed to support its future growth, limiting change to only what is absolutely necessary.
A second situation that causes misalignment in Stage 4 comes from organizations that failed to make the transition from owner-centric to enterprise-centric, which ideally should have occurred in Stage 3. This organization is commonly lacking a strong management team to which the leader can delegate responsibilities. The result is leader burnout and stalled growth, which commonly shows up in a Builder-Protector Ratio that is too heavily weighted towards caution.
Finally, organizations that remain overly cautious in Stage 4 can be a result of adding a large number of new employees. If this increase in complexity is not met with clear structures, processes, and systems, the new hires can result in an increasingly protector-dominated mentality. If the organization is unable to increase the confidence of new and existing staff, the company can stall or retreat to Stage 3.
The key to building confidence in Stage 4 is the infusion of proper infrastructure into the organization, which provides structure, clarity, and focus. This proves to a growing team that the future for the organization is bright, and that leadership is successfully navigating the changing rules that come with growth.
Builder-Protector Ratio Misalignment
The CEO of a non-profit community pantry has slowly built up the organization to almost 50 workers, including volunteers. Located in a central part of the city, the pantry partners with churches and other local businesses to get regular donations and has expanded to include a soup kitchen that provides hot meals once a day. The CEO is passionate about her work and stays long hours at the facility to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
In order to manage the increasingly higher volume of work, she has promoted people within the organization to management roles. They are dedicated employees whom she trusts, but she doesn’t have confidence that they can fully maintain operations without her oversight. Opening the soup kitchen felt like a risk, but things have stabilized recently as everyone has grown to be more comfortable with the systems and procedures. However, when she is approached about adding another pantry location, she can’t bring herself to do it. As much as she wants to service another segment of the community, she is stretched too thin as it is, and knows she wouldn’t be able to keep up with three separate locations.
This CEO is still trying to run an owner-centric organization. The only way for it to continue to grow and expand is if she is willing to take at least some level of risk. With an ideal Builder-Protector ratio of 3:2, she needs to be willing to train and trust her managers to take on the day-to-day operations of the business. While there may be some short-term bumps along the way, the payoff over the long run will be a larger, more resilient organization that can serve more people across the city.
The concepts from this article were taken from The Professional Stage: Organizational ReWilding Rules for Business Growth. Available through The ReWild Group and Amazon, the book explores this and other concepts in-depth while providing illustrations to help business leaders incorporate the ideas into their organizations. Get your copy today to learn the rules for growth for companies with 35-57 employees.
Leadership Style Blend in a Stage 4 Business
The ideal leadership blend for Stage 4 is Coaching, Affiliative, and Pacesetting.
The ideal leadership blend for Stage 4 is Coaching, Affiliative, and Pacesetting.
Primary Leadership Style: Coaching
The Coaching leader communicates a belief in people's potential and an expectation that they do their best. The coach regularly provides feedback and instruction and is willing to put up with short-term failure if it furthers long-term learning.
The Coaching style is critical in Stage 4 because it supports the development of professional managers. Stage 4 requires the leader to personally involve themselves in the growth of their direct reports, including investing time developing the management team.
In the Professional stage, developing a professional management team—or at least making progress in that direction—is the most critical requirement.
Secondary Leadership Style: Affiliative
Affiliative leaders build tremendous loyalty and strengthen connectedness by recognizing that employees have individual value. The Affiliative style is needed in Stage 4 to create an emotional connection between the employees and the organization because the number of employees has increased so rapidly. A leader can use the Affiliative style to affirm that no one has become “just a number.”
The organization should have successfully completed the owner-centric to enterprise-centric transition in Stage 3. In this more established phase as an enterprise-centric business, the Affiliative style serves to heighten team harmony and improve communication.
Creating a harmonious environment where employees feel valued is critical as the organization continues growing.
Tertiary Leadership Style: Pacesetting
Pacesetting leaders hold and exemplify high standards for performance. They set the bar for success and show through their actions both what it looks like and that it’s achievable. This is critical to set clear expectations for a management team that is taking on more responsibility in Stage 4 and beyond.
Without a leader continually finding ways to improve and grow people in the organization, a larger organization can become stagnant. In Stage 4, a Pacesetting leader is needed to keep the organization moving forward and constantly improving.
The most common misalignment in Stage 4 is a leader who fails to adopt the Affiliative style. This can be a challenging style to learn, especially for leaders who excel in the Commanding or Pacesetting style. The absence of the Affiliative style results in a team that does not feel connected or loyal to the organization or the work, which can result in high turnover and disengaged employees.
The second most common misalignment is an over-reliance on the Commanding and Pacesetting styles. While Stage 4 does recognize Pacesetting as a tertiary need, leaders who employ Commanding or Pacesetting as their primary leadership styles at this Stage will be less effective. Developing a capable management team that leads strong departments is critical, but good candidates for those management roles may choose to leave if they are being led with Commanding and Pacesetting styles.
Leadership Style Blend Misalignment
The CEO of a skincare company has grown the business successfully to 49 employees. She is proud of her company culture and the fact that everyone’s voice is heard, no matter their position. Despite the increasing size of the business, she wants to hold on to some of those core values that they started with. That’s why she makes it a priority that no big decisions are to be made without consensus from the entire team—especially decisions regarding the products themselves.
While the staff are appreciative of the importance placed on their opinions, the managers are becoming increasingly frustrated. They don’t have clear direction on initiatives and it’s almost impossible to make decisions. Their frustration comes to a head when the rollout of a new product line is delayed. Despite months of conversations, deliberations, and compromises, production was halted at the last moment when the CEO decided there wasn’t enough unity of opinion to move forward.
This CEO is still trying to lead using the Democratic style, which was necessary in Stage 3. It is no longer serving the best interest of the company, however. With nearly 50 employees, it’s simply not practical for everyone to have a say in every decision. If she continues in this direction, she risks losing her management team, which is struggling to get anything accomplished. The company cannot handle continued setbacks in getting new products to market.
The concepts from this article were taken from The Professional Stage: Organizational ReWilding Rules for Business Growth. Available through The ReWild Group and Amazon, the book explores in-depth this and other concepts while providing illustrations to help business leaders incorporate the ideas into their organizations. Get your copy today to learn the rules for growth for companies with 35-57 employees.
Stage 4: Complexity Drives Need for Experienced Managers
In a Stage 4 company, comprised of 35 – 57 employees, the changes that occur are exponentially more impactful than anything the company has experienced to date.
In a Stage 4 company, comprised of 35 – 57 employees, the changes that occur are exponentially more impactful than anything the company has experienced to date. So, when we look at Stage 4, addressing the change becomes the top priority and the focus must be on getting processes and infrastructure in place to manage this Stage of Growth.
The key objectives of Stage 4 include:
Hiring or training up a professional management team
Establishing a shared project management process
Creating strong, performance-driven departments that compete between each other
Keeping a pulse on the company’s health by establishing a KPI Flash Sheet
Focus first on Process, then Profit, and finally People
Don’t Just Throw People At The Problem
In many companies, as the leader reaches this Stage, activity levels within the company increase ten-fold and the leader starts throwing people at the activity. The irony is that when they do this, they create a more complex organization that is more difficult to manage. As a result of throwing people at the problem, they end up in Stage 5 too quickly and find they haven’t set the necessary systems in place to create a sustainable infrastructure to handle these new levels of complexity.
One of the primary ways to address this problem is to hire experienced or professional managers. A leader may want to start with their sales area or their operational area first. By bringing on managers who know what their job is – individual who have been there, seen it and done it – a Stage 4 company stands a better chance of getting the necessary systems in place needed to manage this Stage of Growth. If you decide to promote managers from within your organization rather than via outside hires, it will be critical to provide them structure education and training to help them be effective managers. (Are you in Stage 4 and need Effective Managers? Learn about ReWild Group’s Exceptional Manager Program)
One of the goals in Stage 4 is to strengthen internal departments – work on making them individual fiefdoms in which there is friendly competition among the different departments. By strengthening the internal structure and operational efficiency of individual departments, the entire company becomes stronger. Having strong managers of these departments to define and implement the necessary small department structures will be key to successfully navigating through this Stage.
The Rules
Some of the Non-Negotiable Rules of Stage 4 are:
Make sure Business Development has an effective marketing campaign management system, a repeatable sales process, and a systematic customer care program.
Set in place an advanced daily, weekly, and monthly KPI Flash Sheet.
Allocate 5-10% of gross revenue to identification, acquisition, and implementation of new systems and processes.
Hire or train professional-level managers in every department who are responsible, accountable, proactive, and committed, and who set in place solid department infrastructure and processes.
Create strong, performance-driven departments that compete with each other.
Professional Leadership
The biggest risk for a leader in Stage 4 is to think they are saving money by not hiring great talent and not getting the necessary systems in place. The CEO at this Professional Stage must put their ego aside, invest the time and money, and either hire or train strong professional managers. Having a strong management team in place will help the company through this Stage of complexity, as well as set the company up for future success. Failing to invest and grow this critical layer of the organization will cause the company to stall or potentially implode.
In Stage 4, the business needs the leader to empower the team, value employees as people, and continually find ways to improve.
Stage 4 sees the leader spending 70% of their time as a Manager, 20% as a Specialist and only 10% as a Visionary.
Coaching is the Stage 4 leader’s primary style of leadership, which is blended with Affiliative and Pacesetting.
As the complexity of an organization increases, it becomes even more important that the leader fully understands the health of their company. Financial statements only supply periodic information and really doesn’t go into much detail about the company’s operations. At this Stage, having a KPI Flash Sheet in place is vital. This tool is used to collect key indicators that tell the daily, weekly and monthly story of what is happening in the company. If KPI’s are not being utilized at this Stage, the leader and their team are flying blind, forcing the leader to go back to a trial and error mindset, centralize authority and not utilize the competency of the experienced management staff.
Some Classic Challenges that are a signature of this Stage are weak project management, difficulty diagnosing problems, employee turnover, not getting systems in place, and seeing the organization uninformed about company growth. A well-intentioned leader is not as effective as a well-informed leader and understanding that they must begin to hire people that know more about certain aspects of the business than they do is the most successful step a leader in this Stage can take to assure the company’s future success.
