Not Just Any CEO Peer Group, Make Your Choice Wisely

Though it’s good to be the ultimate power, it can sometimes be devastating as well. Who can understand this statement better than a CEO of an organization? 

While reading an article on Forbes, ‘The Worst CEO Screw-ups Of 2012’, I got to know about some CEOs who have to lose their powers and influence for inefficient performance, continuous losses or for some decisions going wrong.

The list includes some reputed and renowned names including Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy; Brian Dunn, former CEO, Best Buy; Robert Diamond, CEO, Barclays; Stuart Gulliver, CEO, HSBC among others.

Though a CEO sits at the top in an organizational hierarchy and is the most powerful identity, he is lonely at the same time. He has a panel of experts and board members to seek advice and counseling but there are some situations when he would require the experience and expertise of someone of the same stature and role.

I am talking about CEO peer groups where CEOs can seek resolution to their problems and concerns from like-minded people. No doubt, a CEO association or CEO group is a great place to help CEOs deal with their woes but the purpose can be solved only if you knock at the right door. With so many CEO associations around, it gets very difficult to zero on the right one.

This article provides some suggestions on how you can choose a good CEO peer group.

Attract Varied Expertise

Look your CEO associations that offer a wide range of skills and expertise so that you can seek advice on different elements of business ranging from a how to build a start up to exit planning.

Stay Small

For a CEO group, the ideal size is 10-15 members. In a relatively larger group, it may have to wait for long to get heard or find a resolution to your query.

Secrets are meant to be kept

The clause of confidentiality is the most important factor to be considered before joining a CEO peer group. At times, you may have to disclose your secret strategies or plans to seek suggestions or feedback from the group.

Therefore, make sure you join a reputed CEO group that strictly follows the oath of confidentiality.

Non-competitors should join

It is very important to ensure that your peers in the group are from non-competitor businesses so as to avoid any conflict of interests.

Good Facilitators

The effectiveness of a CEO association is assessed by its facilitators. Know in advance the facilitators in your group and what expertise they possess.

Ideally a facilitator should be capable of making a conversation interesting, resolving conflicts, responding to queries and building a healthy atmosphere.

The Brain Trust is an Executive Peer Group constituted of up to 16 non-competing business owners/CEOs and top executives.

Brain Trust CEO Conferences benefit you through the combined experience of other business leaders from non-competitive domains and the expert facilitators.

Adopt a Broad-Base Appraisal Policy to Control Attrition

Why do employees leave? 

Answers are plenty but they do not provide complete solutions as different individuals have different needs and requirements. Some employees prefer to leave a job because they don’t like the work culture. Some may not be satisfied with the salary or appraisals. Some are not happy with their co-workers while some may have some other problems.

Say for instance, you hire a new employee and his training period runs for six months. During these months, he simply adds to the cost-to-the-company as he is not fully involved in the production. 

If the same employee leaves after 2-3 months of being confirmed then this investment turns into a loss for the company as it fetches the company virtually no returns.

Attrition to some extent is good for the organization as it helps you get rid of non-performing resources. However, it becomes a real problem when it goes beyond the desired limit or draws away your performing workers. 

In this blog, we will discuss the major reason of attrition – the lack of motivation – which in turn, results in employee dissatisfaction. 

Controlling attrition is not just about retaining employees. In fact, it is the act of retaining the resource you actually want to retain or in other words, identifying workers who are actual assets to the company! 

‘How to motivate employees’ is an oft-repeated question. Is appraisal a foolproof method? But then, you can’t appraise every employee equally. Then how do you recognize the deserving person? 

According to an article by Josh Bersin, published in Forbes, “tenure-based rewards systems have virtually no impact on organizational performance”. 

The article further states, “companies that scored in the top 20% for building a “recognition-rich culture” actually had 31% lower voluntary turnover rates (this is when good people leave on their own).”

Make the appraisal system more flexible and broad

Most companies recognize and reward their employees on the basis of productivity numbers, which however, should not be the only criteria for appraisal. You can satisfy and motivate some employees by evaluating and rewarding them under these criteria. 

But going simply by numbers and output to judge performance may make you ignore other deserving employees, who have say expertise in client handling or trouble-shooting during crisis, as such qualities are not exactly quantifiable. When such performances go unnoticed, it suppresses their skill and desire to work in the company. 

Recognize employees who are result-oriented as well as self-motivated and most importantly, well-behaved. You can reward an employee when he deals with customers efficiently at the time of a particular problem.

This way, you can satisfy and motivate a broad set of employees who are specialized in one or other domain.

Realize the Importance of Business Ethics

In the present world, every organization requires a code of conduct or business ethics to have an identity of its own. A business code of conduct clearly defines organizational value system and the behavioral guidelines for the people who are associated with the organization.

Implementation of business code of ethics – establishing a set of core values and behavior for staff – boosts organization’s corporate governance efforts. It helps staff stay aware of the right course of action; hazards of following unethical behavior pattern; and the hierarchy for the flow of information.

Business ethics defines core values to maintain a harmony in the organization. Since business ethics represents the company’s stand towards corporate social responsibility, the reputation of the organization also depends on it.

Here are some ways that can help a CEO establish business ethics in his organization:

Prepare the Policy Document

The management should ensure that there is a detailed structure of the ethics program clearly mentioning the code of conduct for employees. The business ethics should include additional policies that address diversity, sexual harassment, workplace aggression, equal opportunity at all.

Design Implementation Strategies

The success of a program depends on implementation strategies. It is the responsibility of Human Resources (HR) department to ensure that code of conduct is mentioned in the appointment letters so that new joiners know the importance of business ethics.

It is a good practice to display the business ethics on notice boards, entrances or other preferred sites. HR should also conduct workshops, quizzes and training session to make sure that employees are aware of business ethics. Business ethical issues should be dealt strictly and serious action should be taken against the defaulters to set the example.

Training & Awareness

Communication is the most effective technique to implement the Code of Conduct successfully. There are number of ways to ensure that staff and external stakeholders are aware of business ethics and are following it.

A few are listed below:

•  Design and develop class room training material including PPT presentations, handbooks, teaching  manuals and illustrations for educating the employees on the detailed policies.

•   Take the help of questionnaires, ethical tests, and case studies to check if your staff cares about the     business ethics.

• Publish relevant cases of ethical dilemmas on the intranet

• Make sure the business ethics doc is available on intranet and every staff member has an access to it.

• Let your staff know how much you are serious about the business ethics by circulating the information if someone is terminated for misbehavior.

If you are looking for detailed guidance about drafting and implementation of business ethics for your enterprise, executive coaching can help you. CEO club offers executive business coaching on how to run your business operations smoothly. Apart from guiding you on business ethics, a CEO group provides you practical solutions for different business issues.

Take Advantage of Social Media For Your Business

Over the past decade, the way people communicate and connect with each other has changed radically thanks to social networking platforms.

No business owner or a serious marketer can overlook the importance of the web. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and the newly launched Google+ are the top most platforms for creating a buzz about your products, services, events or announcements.

Unfortunately, many business owners fail to take proper advantage of such mediums. Creating a strong online presence for your brand or business, you would have to be visible on social media sites. The biggest advantage of a social media site is that it connects you to your target audience directly- potential customers, shareholders, and rival companies.

You can post comments on Facebook, post tweets and re-tweet on Twitter, or start a discussion on any of the sites. In real time, you are able to get in touch with potential customers, understand what they are looking for, present them solutions in the form of your products or services, find out if any of your customers are unhappy with your products and respond to customer queries.

Using social networking sites for business purpose is cost-effective. Not only does it help you attract new customers and keep in touch with the existing clients, you also can hire new employees. You can even recruit potential candidates by posting job vacancies in your company on Twitter or Linkedin accounts.

You will be amazed to receive a good number of responses in real quick time. You don't have spend money on recruitment consultants. A job post on Linkedin social networking site where qualified professionals are always on the lookout for good opportunities is a good source for hunting for skillful and talented people.

Social media has changed the way people read, discover, and share information, and news. You just need to use your corporate business skills to take advantage of social media and launch a successful marketing campaign.

Apart from social media, you also have to look out other avenues to improve yourself and upgrade your knowledge. As a business owner, you need to keep updating yourself to stay ahead of the competition. Joining an executive business coaching or a corporate business coaching can help you get in touch with experts, share ideas and learn innovative ways to take your business to new heights.

Make sure the language you use on the social networking sites is simple and appealing to your particular target audience and captures the ethos of your firm. For instance, on Twitter you can use casual language whereas on Linkedin, your style of writing needs to be professional and business like, so post your content accordingly.