Workforce and Leadership

After several corporate relocations and living in the big cities of both Nashville and Phoenix, my wife and I came back to the southeast part of the country where most of our friends and family are, and where I conduct a significant part of my business. After an extensive search for our next place to live, we found ourselves in the small city of Opelika, Alabama. It conveniently neighbors Auburn to the east and is less than 90 minutes west of Atlanta.

Recently, I attended an event at the Opelika Chamber of Commerce . While there I discovered the City's motto, "Rich in Heritage With a Vision for the Future." Typically, I am not one for mottos and dismiss them quickly, yet this one seems to fit just right. Southeast Alabama is certainly rich with heritage. That easily satisfies the first part of the motto. During the Chamber event, I listened to Helena Duncan . She is the President and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama . She speaks with great passion for the economic development of the state and proudly cites where Alabama is out pacing many other states in the country in a variety of business segments. At one point she cited CNBC's 2024 Annual Competitive Study that found that Alabama was the "Most Improved State for Business." That checks the second part of the motto of having a vision for the future. One of the most significant reasons for this recognition is Alabama's surging workforce.

As soon as Helena mentioned this fact it triggered me. Thoughts immediately went back to every moment of corporate growth I have witnessed. Every time we add more people we need more leaders. Where do the leaders come from? Who develops and coaches them? Usually, I see one of the following three scenarios occur. First, we put someone in that seat who is simply a manager thinking they are a leader. In fact, managers are usually quite the opposite. They are task oriented people and usually - not always but usually - lack the vision to help others achieve long term aspirations. Several times, I have seen a manager, who thinks they are a leader, stand by the front door as people walk in for work and say, "it's 8:07, work started at 8:00." Don't believe me? Meet me in person and I can tell you names and places - not that I actually would, but I do know them. If you want to crush the spirit and morale of your workforce have a manager stand over the shoulder of an employee while telling them all the things they are doing wrong. They walk around with spreadsheets telling you that you are 17% behind but don't ever help you close the gap. Not a leader.

The next example is when we take a superstar performer out of their role and make them the leader, or worse add it to their existing role. Basically, we have taken someone who excels at their job and removed them from it. This is common in sales. We take a great salesperson and make them the sales leader. All we have really done it taken our best salesperson off the street and put them in an administrative role in which they don't have the same level of skill. Now your sales team is less powerful and the management of it is average on its best day. One more thing, that superstar salesperson now makes less money as the leader than they did in sales. How do you think that works out in the long run?

The last scenario is the rarest. Investing in someone who actually studies the art of leadership to partner with the team that enables everyone to travel a path of success. To me, one of the tenents of leadership is getting others to a place they didn't believe possible to achieve. As a friend of mine who owns several successful restaurants tells me, "my restaurants aren't successful by accident." That brings all the questions to the surface. Do you lead your workforce by accident? Is your business successful by accident? How sustainable is that? What if you made the investment in someone whose sole purpose is to drive a culture where everyday they energize and reinforce the processes that help people win?

Organizations get caught up in the perceived high cost of investing in leadership, whether it be hiring talented leaders, coaching aspiring future leaders, or hopefully both. Organizations should be examining the higher cost of being average. Business stakeholders should be asking, "what is the cost of being average - to your workforce, your organization, and yourself?" Have you ever seen a great employee leave because of a below average manager or poor leader? We all have. What is the cost of that?

Great leaders know that mediocrity is not an option especially when it comes to leading their workforce. Alabama is rich in heritage with vision for the future. That vision fades when we fail to lead the workforce in a positive and constructive manner. Invest in leaders who know how to help others become successful. The return on that investment is immeasurable.