LSA Global Insights Newsletter

July 27, 2019

22 Questions Every New Manager Should Ask on Day One

New Managers Need to Hit the Ground Running on Day One

Based upon feedback from thousands of new managers, we have identified the most important questions new managers should ask on day one if they want to be set up for success.

Too Many New Managers Are Not Prepared

The shift from being an individual contributor to taking on the role of manager is huge. Unfortunately, very few new managers are well prepared to succeed without a lot of management training and support.

A recent McKinsey study found that nearly 70% of senior executives are only "somewhat" or "not at all satisfied" with the performance of their companies' front-line managers and that 81% of front-line managers are not satisfied with their own performance.

Even Experienced Leaders Stumble

Leadership can be daunting. But there are steps you can take that will minimize leadership mistakes and maximize both your performance and the performance of your team. Those steps are the same for new managers who are in over their head and for leaders who have been leading ineffectively.

Questions New Managers Should Ask On Day One

Smart leaders invest the time and energy to understand the current situation, complications, and implications of their role and their team from day one.

Here are twenty two questions new managers should ask, and answer, from the start. The questions are divided into categories of Alignment and Focus, Decision-Making, Resources, Information, and Interpersonal.

10 Alignment and Focus Questions New Managers Should Ask

How is my boss' success measured?
Has the team been achieving its objectives?
How do the team objectives map to overall company priorities?
Are individual and team goals clear?
Does everyone know how success and failure are measured?
Are rewards at the individual and team levels clearly understood?
Is everyone clear on their roles and responsibilities?
Have inter-dependencies between team members and key stakeholders been identified?
Is work organized in a way that clearly leads to accomplishing individual and team's goals?
Do we agree upon who our key stakeholders are?

Read the Remaining 12 Questions New Managers Should Ask

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

12 New Manager Tools to Rise Above

Effective managers create organizational alignment by ensuring strategic clarity, building high performance cultures and differentiating top talent.

At a strategic level, good managers set the right course, create clear goals, roles, success metrics, and career paths.
At a cultural level, good managers commit to making it a great place to work and value people as their most important resource while ensuring that their direct reports are held accountable and recognized for their contributions.
At a talent level, good managers consistently attract, develop, engage, and retain top talent that fits.

Download 12 Research-Backed New Manager Tools Now

June 29, 2019

3 Signs of Good and Bad Strategies

3 Signs of Good and Bad Strategies

Ineffective Strategies Hinder Growth.

Too many leaders settle for strategic growth plans that won't work. Why? If leaders do not understand the difference between good and bad strategies, their strategic plans are flawed from the beginning.

Strategies that lack an understanding of the key challenges that need to be overcome, or that have an insufficient focus, or that take an unrealistic approach are just wishful thinking.

The best leaders know not to settle or be fooled by a bad strategy - one that does not represent the hard work it takes to design and implement a good strategy.

3 Signs of a Bad Corporate Strategy
A bad strategy is likely to be loaded with slogans and wishful thinking. A bad strategy:

Fails to Address the Organization's Real Problems
A bad strategy fails to address the true root causes of stalled growth, ineffectiveness, and sub-par performance. They also tend to underestimate unintended consequences and the inevitable time delay between action and results.
Tries to Do Too Much
Strategic planning should not reflect a laundry list of "to do's" or strive for an unachievable summit. A company's strategy should focus on the critical few attainable strategic actions that will make the most difference. While every business can benefit from improvements on multiple fronts, plans that are diluted, confusing, or impractical do not work.
Is Misaligned
Strategies that are misaligned with the company culture, or with the people who must execute it, or with the market forces at play are just swimming upstream. Bad strategies tend to fight the natural flow of how work gets done and the capabilities required to be successful.

A Good Corporate Strategy

A strategy that can be effectively followed and that can guide an organization toward a successful future has three fundamental elements.

Voice of the Customer

"Having tripled in size and recently merged, LSA helped our executive team to increase our level of strategic alignment, solidify our new direction, and push our agency forward. As we look to rapidly scale, the clear and actionable critical few strategic moves combined with how we differentiate ourselves has really set us on a great path to success. This is exactly what we needed to get to the next level."

Matt Britton | CEO | MRY, a Publicis Groupe Company

About LSA Global

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

12 Leadership Tools to Rise Above

Effective leaders grow their people and the business through organizational alignment by ensuring the strategic direction is clear, by building a high performance culture and by attracting, developing, engaging and retaining top talent.

At a strategic level, good leaders set the right course and create clear goals, roles, success metrics and career paths.
At a cultural level, good leaders ensure that the way work gets done is not only healthy, but 100% aligned with the business strategies.
At a talent level, good leaders consistently attract, develop, engage and retain top talent that fits.

Download 12 Research-Backed Leadership Tools Now

May 29, 2019

How to Sell Value versus Price to Land Big Deals

The real winners in complex and high stakes sales situations focus on customer value, not price - even when price is a critical factor.

How?

Top sellers know that buyers ultimately care more about the value that they receive than the price. A less expensive product or service that doesn't fit their needs or that adds more risk or complications is usually not worth it - you get what you pay for.

Defining Value During the Sales Process

Value is truly in the eye of the customer or buyer. In order to make an important and material purchase, a buyer has to fully understand how the tangible and intangible benefits outweigh the fully loaded costs.

If your sales team is feeling pricing pressure, remember that while price is an important piece of your value proposition, it is only one component of the overall buying decision.

What really counts is your ability to fully deliver what matters most.

The Role Your Value Proposition Plays

Your unique value proposition should be an essential part of your brand positioning, messaging and go to market sales strategy. Every sales rep should be able to clearly articulate what sets you apart from the competition to your target clients.

An effective value proposition answers three key buyer questions:

1. Relevance

How your offering will tangibly improve their situation in an area of high importance.

2. Differentiation
Why your offering is uniquely better than any other available alternative - is it better, faster, or cheaper?

3. Proof
What specific evidence do you have that your claims of superiority are accurate?

Defining Customer Value is Dynamic

The best sellers understand that their value proposition may need to be customized according to the needs of each customer. Not every buyer is the same; they have different needs, come from different backgrounds, occupy different situations, have different working styles, fulfill different roles, etc. High performing sellers intimately know their target customers and know how to craft a unique value recipe that is nuanced for each individual customer.

And because high performing sellers intimately know their target customers, they know that the unique recipe for customer value has important nuances across customers.

Read the Rest of the Article Now

Sales Toolkit to Stay Above the Competition

Effective sales leaders grow revenue and profits through organizational alignment by ensuring the go-to-market sales strategy is clear, by building a high performance sales culture and by attracting, developing, engaging and retaining top sales talent.

At a strategic level, good sales leaders set the right course and create clear goals, roles, success metrics and career paths.
At a cultural level, good sales leaders ensure that the sales culture is not only healthy, but 100% aligned with the sales and business strategies.
At a talent level, good sales leaders consistently attract, develop, engage and retain top sales talent that fits.

Download Sales Toolkit Now

April 26, 2019

New Manager Toolkit

At a strategic level, good managers set the right course, create clear goals, roles, success metrics and career paths.

At a cultural level, good managers commit to making it a great place to work and value people as their most important resource while ensuring that their direct reports are held accountable and recognized for their contributions.

At a talent level, good managers consistently attract, develop, engage and retain top talent that fits.

Get field-tested manager tools to outperform your peers.

Get the New Manager Toolkit Now

March 23, 2019

6 Field-tested Steps to Restructure Your Team

Effective organizational structures help teams to perform beyond the sum of their parts.

Before restructuring their team, leaders should be clear about what their current and desired organizational structure encompasses in terms of goals, roles, tasks, and processes used to organize the flow of work. This includes the underlying relationships and beliefs required to get work done on a day-to-day basis.

Can Restructuring Solve Your Problem?

Periodically and for a variety of reasons, it makes sense to reorganize your team to unlock value or to fix a problem. While team reorganizations sound like a relatively fast and concrete way to solve complex problems, a recent McKinsey survey found that over eighty percent fail to deliver the desired benefits on schedule.

And teams that have been through a reorganization often report higher levels of stress, lower levels of productivity, and decreased levels of employee engagement. So while structural change sounds like a smart way to improve collaboration, communication, and performance problems, team reorganizations are fraught with performance and people challenges.

The Top Reasons to Reorganize Your Team

As with any change, there is typically a specific catalyst that drives the need to restructure a team. The most common reasons reported by our clients include:

Realigning functions and people to new strategic directions
Adapting to changes in leadership
Solving collaboration, communication, decision-making, or performance problems
Reducing costs
Refocusing priorities
Unlocking potential in terms of efficiency or effectiveness
Keeping up with the fast pace of external change
Aligning confusing or contradictory goals, roles, scope and success metrics

Why Up to 80% of Team Reorganizations Fail

Any reorganization upsets the status quo. And change is likely to be at least resisted and at worst feared and fought. Like most major corporate change initiatives, team reorganizations typically fail due to employee resistance driven by a combination of:

Lack of a compelling reason for the change
Unclear vision for success
Ambiguous or misaligned goals, roles, or success metrics
Contradictory cultural norms
Misaligned leadership
Insufficient resources or capabilities
Inability to monitor progress and continuously improve

Is your reorg set up to succeed?

Read the 6 Field-tested Steps to Restructure Your Team Now

February 23, 2019

Sales Toolkit to Stay Above the Competition

At a strategic level, good sales leaders set the right course and create clear goals, roles, success metrics and career paths.
At a cultural level, good sales leaders ensure that the sales culture is not only healthy, but 100% aligned with the sales and business strategies.
At a talent level, good sales leaders consistently attract, develop, engage and retain top sales talent that fits.

Download Sales Toolkit Now

3 Things to Get More from Your Sales Team

The highest performing sales leaders know how and when to apply the right amount of performance pressure.

Sales leaders are expected to get the most from their sales teams in terms of revenue, margin, win rate, cycle time, portfolio mix, client satisfaction, and client retention.

Sales Leaders Want More from their Teams

To achieve results, most leaders report wanting and needing more from their teams to reach their targets. This is no easy task. Sales leaders also report struggling mightily with how far and how hard to push their teams to meet ever-increasing expectations.

On one hand, sales leaders want to reach for the stars and exceed expectations. On the other hand, they do not want to push too hard or too fast and risk losing people, respect, or clients. Their concern is valid.

The Definition of Performance Pressure

We define performance pressure as how much your sales force feels the need to improve performance. Sales performance pressure increases when you ask for more and when you have high consequences for success or failure. Conversely, sales performance pressure decreases when you ask for less (or are unclear about what you are asking) and when you have minimal consequences for success or failure.

How to Strike the Right Balance

So how do sales leaders strike the right balance when they want and need more? Like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, some sales performance pressure is too much, some is too little, and some is "just right." It depends on your specific sales objectives and situation.

Regardless of the amount of sales pressure you put on your team, the right amount of performance pressure is a necessary component to getting the most out of your sales force. Unfortunately, too many sales leaders try to create urgency when they believe their team is not pushing hard enough without understanding what it takes to set them up for success. Pushing your team too hard can result in burnout, disengagement, under-performance, and attrition.

Smart sales leaders know that performance pressure must be carefully monitored and balanced by other factors. If you create too much or too little performance pressure, it will not matter if you have the "right sales people" or a "great sales strategy" or a "strong desire to grow." You will most likely not get the results you want.

To understand the right balance of performance pressure for your sales force, pay careful attention to three areas before you try to increase levels of urgency and performance.

Read About the 3 Areas to Balance Now

January 26, 2019

Change Management Toolkit to Link Strategy and Results

Effective change leaders design, mobilize, and transform their organizations by linking strategy and results.

At a strategic level, good change leaders set the right course and create clear goals, roles, success metrics with their key stakeholders.
At a cultural level, good change leaders ensure that the culture is not only healthy, but 100% aligned with the desired changes.
At a project level, good change leaders set their teams up for project success.

Download Change Toolkit Now

Are Your Managers Making Decisions that Move Your Strategy Forward?

The Real Decision Makers

While most agree that the executive team is responsible for setting the strategic direction, too many employees are confused about who is responsible for moving the strategy forward. We believe that the real engine of strategy execution resides with line managers who make day-to-day decisions.

Line managers are "on the ground" and close to customers. They can readily see what needs to be done and when. To meet increasing customer expectations, there is often little time to follow lengthy and time consuming protocols or to wait for decisions from the C-Suite.

Ineffective Decision Making

When managers are disconnected from what matters most and how work should be accomplished, even well-crafted strategies can falter. Ideally, each and every decision throughout a company should help to move the strategy forward. Are your managers up to the task?

What This Means for Business Leaders

If you want your managers to make the right decisions, you need to connect the dots between where the company is headed, how the work should be accomplished, and their unique contribution and purview to make it happen.

To improve decision making:

Be Clear: Clarify decision-making authority so managers know where, when, and why they are free to make decisions
Be Thoughtful: Develop decision-making guidelines and protocols so managers know how to make decisions
Be Smart: Hire and develop managers capable of making meaningful decisions at the right level
Be Open: Allow for independent execution in pursuit of corporate priorities and encourage the constructive debate of ideas

The Bottom Line

A leadership team can announce a strategy, but that strategy will only be fully executed if line managers understand it, believe in it, and can make aligned decisions. Leaders need to actively involve managers in the strategy design and then connect the dots with the right decision-making guidelines, skills, and empowerment to succeed.

To learn more about creating the management capabilities to move your strategy forward, download

7 Management Actions to Create Alignment with Goals