“Don, you spoke of a return on leadership…so tell me, just what is my return for taking the time to target and map the core of my team? What do I get back, and what’s in it for my organization?”
‘Bring Out the Best’ Program Participant
A very strong statement. A healthcare manager-practitioner participating in one of our live sessions laid the above challenge down last week. Within our workshops we often utilize the process of ‘targeting the core’ of a workgroup, much as I discussed in my last two blogs. One targeting technique includes literally mapping the members of your team as to where they fit on the distribution curve of performance and interpersonal impact – problem at one end, core in the middle, and high potential on the other end. Upon hearing the question asked above, we used the group’s own data to provide a relevant, tangible, data-based answer.
The more than sixty participants in the room were asked to anonymously hand in a ‘post-it’ giving a percentage estimate of the time they typically spend every week on recurrent, ‘problem’ situations. The 60 participants worked in 12 different companies and government organizations. The problem situations were defined as repeated instances of problematic behavior or performance within their own workgroup. The data was staggering.
The average response was 20.3 percent! More than one day in five – self-reported by over 60 practicing leaders – was spent on recurrent, seemingly irresolvable ‘problem’ scenarios!
All of you that have been blessed with the benefit of a lengthy personal relationship can readily identify certain conversations you have with your significant other – that seem to occur over and over again. You know your part of the script, they know their part – and you repeatedly engage in acting out the script in real life, to little or no resolution. What we found out in last week’s session was that that same dynamic also plays out at work. If they’ve had certain discussions with team members once – ‘they’ve had them a thousand times’ was the way they put it. So, what is the cost of this repeated, pointless dialogue…and therefore if eliminated or reduced, what is the return on effective leadership?
Let’s set two parameters first:
- The U.S. average work week still comes in at approximately 40 hours
- The U.S. median annual income totals just over $50,000 (in 2013 it was $51,017).
Given the above, the possible return on effective leadership can be estimated by multiplying the roughly 20 percent of our time spent on ‘problem child’ situations; by the 2,080 hours available in the average U.S. work year, and by the $51,017 median annual income. The cost and return on leadership then:
Over 422 hours per year – per participant (given 60 participants in the room, that’s more than 25,000 labor hours expended this year just by those in attendance)
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Over $10,000 in salary every year – per participant (with 60 participants in the room, more than $620,000 in labor cost expended just on recurring problem scenarios!)
Targeting your influence can reap massive rewards. Don’t miss out.
