We have made a mistake by thinking that the way to value somebody is by the number of hours they put in instead of the value they generate. If you hold them accountable to generating a certain amount of value, and you measure them by the value you create, then you are shifting the focus to what really matters.
Tony Schwartz
CEO, The Energy Project
AnthiaCumming/iStockphoto
You and I hear it all the time: “Leaders are readers, and readers are leaders.” The seeming implication: You’re a poor leader if you aren’t reading an hour a day or more about leadership.
I don’t know about you, but this makes me anxious. The peer pressure to be reading the latest inspiring leadership tome—or even to catch up on a few of the excellent books written in just the last five years—can seem oppressive. My days are chock full helping my coaching clients lead, serving on social sector boards and committees, and leading in my church. How do they—how do I—keep up?
I just want to say one word to you.
Podcasts. Continue Reading…
Ann Seacrest, executive director of MilkWorks
Social sector leaders face a ridiculous double standard. They’re expected to create as much or more value than the for-profit sector, and solve frightfully complex problems. Yet they often must do it without basic resources the for-profit sector takes for granted—like talented executive assistants who multiply the effectiveness of the leaders they serve.
In this article I interview Ann Seacrest, founding executive director of MilkWorks, a community breastfeeding center in Lincoln, Nebraska, designed to help mothers breastfeed their babies. After 10 years in the trenches doing what a founding executive director does—everything!—Ann hired an executive assistant for 10 hours a week. Here’s a look into how she made that decision, and how it’s going.
I spoke with Ann because in my work with social sector leaders, I see people so tied to their desk work that they can’t be getting out and networking, telling the organization’s story, drawing in more clients, and drawing in more financial support. The drawbacks are obvious:
There is a better way: Hiring an executive assistant, even for just a few hours a month, to take on those administrative tasks that are important, but don’t represent the best use of the chief executive’s time.
Without further ado, the interview:
John: Why did you hire an executive assistant?
Ann: Well, you know I’m one of the original founders of MilkWorks and we started out as a really small organization and we’ve grown. [For] some of us, our roles have grown incrementally and they’re overwhelming us …. So this is a part of a step in that way to look at how do we (let?) the organization continue to grow and evolve down the road and deal with the fact that I’m kind of burning out. Not burning out on wanting to do the job, just having way too much to do.
I do a lot of small things that are really integral to the running of an organization. So I knew that there’s no way I can keep doing all this, that I can keep managing everything. But yet it’s really hard in a non-profit to decide to take that money and put it into stuff that’s not directly programs because everybody wants administrative costs to be kept really low. But I think with me it just came down to I had to take a small, tiny step.
You know, I’m doing the executive assistant really in order to try and get me to do the things that are most important for the organization.
[E]xecutive directors need to be looking at the big picture. They need to be the visionary instead of down in the trenches doing all those small things. But when you start an organization, that’s where you are.
John: And what are those?
Ann: Well, it’s really general oversight of the organization. I need to be managing the other people in the organization and not doing the small stuff myself. But that’s hard to get to when you’re someone who did all that stuff yourself, to all of a sudden now really have people in place who can do that. … So I’m spending more of my time guiding the other people of the organization instead of doing it myself. In other words making sure we have good staff in place for all of our programs and really stepping in and helping to guide different program areas when they’re kind of struggling or when the staff in them are struggling.
John: Does having an executive assistant allow you to get out in the community more and be developing the public’s trust, be developing those relationships that will lead to more resources?
Ann: Well I mean I think … the hardest part is that’s the type of stuff that gets shoved aside when you have little things that need to be done. In other words when your mailing list isn’t up to date or your job descriptions aren’t up to date, that kind of thing, it’s really hard to take that time to go out and develop the organization in the community more because you’re bogged down by the day to day stuff that needs to happen. But if that day to day stuff doesn’t happen, you know, the organization’s going to fall apart. I mean you can’t do good fund development if your mailing list isn’t up to date.
It’s that doing the nuts and bolts of the organization versus representing the organization. And no, you verbalize it very well, that. And that’s the hard part that I think anybody when they start or they’re involved in an organization, you just don’t ever imagine how much work goes on keeping an organization alive. And it’s really hard to do that as well as represent the organization out in the community. But yet that part out there doesn’t earn you money but yet it’s also the part that you have to do to enhance your funding and stuff. Because it’s those chance encounters and things that oftentimes lead to more financial security for the organization. So…
The MilkWorks logo.
John: What challenges did you have?
Ann: I think the hardest part is for someone that’s used to doing so much themselves, it takes time to even stop and go, okay, what can I give her to do? …
It’s kind of like with your kids, you know? You think okay, do I stop and work with my kids about picking up their room or do I just pick it up myself? Because then I know it’ll get done the way I want it to get done and I don’t have to deal with anybody else and I can do it exactly when I want to do it. So that’s part of it is trying to really figure out okay, what can she do, what can I pluck away that she can do and how do we make that work? And also give up a little bit of that if it’s not done exactly my way, it’s okay, which is a huge part of it.
John: What are you able to do now, Ann, that you weren’t able to do before? What have been some concrete, preferably mission-enhancing changes that have occurred as a result of having an executive assistant?
Ann: It’s freed up my time from doing a lot of these small little detail things that need to happen and allows me to you know, look at the bigger picture; be more visionary, spend more time in the community. I mean it’s even like going to Cause Camp, you know that’s a really hard thing to do as an executive director because that’s taking six hours of a day and trying to go, okay, is it more important to spend those six h ours there at Cause Camp … getting inspired … talking to some people. Or, do you know what I could do with six hours? … It frees you up from doing some very time consuming, small things and allow you to look more at the big picture, which is executive directors need to be looking at the big picture. They need to be the visionary instead of down in the trenches doing all those small things. But when you start an organization, that’s where you are.
John: Did you have any specific objections to the cost from the board, or from your personal advisors saying essentially, “It’d be better to spend this on a program”?
Ann: Well, no because we’re doing it so small. I mean we’re starting out with just a tiny little step, I mean she’s just working 10 hours a week right now. And I think that’s a big part of it is just start really small. And that way I don’t think it stresses anybody, you know?
John: What’s been the key to success in employing an executive assistant?
Ann: [W]e started out small, because I didn’t want to all of a sudden say, “Okay, I have to take this person and they’re working 30 hours a week, how am I going to fill their time?” I did not want that pressure, I did not want that pressure at all. So on purpose we started out with someone who had the potential to increase their hours but was willing to start out very small, so the idea being that she and I could try it out and I don’t have to worry about… Because the last thing I want to do is guarantee her 30 hours a week and then me be spending time trying to find her stuff to do …. So I think that was a crucial, crucial thing, is to start out small. And it also gives you the ability to find out, do you like working with them?
John: What advice do you have for other leaders considering hiring executive assistants?
You’re … going to have to find the right person who basically isn’t saying to you, “Well I need 30 hours a week and great benefits.” You’re going to have to find someone who has that more flexible ability to say, “Yeah, I want to work 10 hours a week but I’ll flex up to 20 if you need me.” But that’s not uncommon in non-profits, that you find some people like that.
[Also] pick someone that you think you could work with because if you’re handing stuff over to them you have to feel like they’re someone that you can trust to do it well. So sometimes it’s just a matter of an issue of finding the right person.
How could you use an executive assistant to help advance your organization’s mission? Please tell me in the comments.
Your registration includes a 16-page workbook full of resources for a strengths-based approach to board leadership.
Social sector board members, get inspired Friday for a new year of mission impact at my workshop, “Board Responsibilities, Strengths and Impact.” At this low-cost Human Services Federation BoardTalk workshop, you’ll:
At the workshop you’ll receive, and we’ll work through, a 16-page workbook full of resources for taking a strengths-based approach to board leadership, recruitment and development. Here are the details on the workshop:
To register, go to http://hsfed.org/boardtalkreg.php.
Do you want to lead the way toward big and lasting mission impact this year? It starts with you, the social sector board member. See you Friday.
Take quick action to avoid analysis paralysis and lead:
It is said–though probably apocryphal–that Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest explained his victories by his “getting there firstest with the mostest.” There is valid reasoning in getting there first. Life is about success not perfection. The first one into a market often becomes the leader, correcting imperfections later. Life-saving decisions and interventions are best done rapidly. Speed is often associated with intelligence when complex tasks are involved. You can’t be slow to pay the bets at a craps table in a casino. Try to improve your speed. Most people can identify an “i” even if it isn’t dotted. When you’re 80% ready, MOVE!
Source: Alan Weiss’ Monday Morning Memo, a quick hit on leadership and consulting best practices. Subscription recommended.
Photo by ff137
If some people see your Big Hairy Audacious Goal as a snowball bound to melt away on a hot day, and others think you are whacked, you are on the right track.
Big Hairy Audacious Goals are BIG. How big? Big enough so you can only take them from impossible to possible by transforming yourself and your organization. They’re so big:
Big Hairy Audacious Goals are those achievements passionate leaders dream about and others scoff at.
(Blatant self promotion: Big Hairy Audacious Goals are best achieved with a leadership coach who may at first be the only one who believes in you, who thinks your idea isn’t whacked and can easily survive a hot Phoenix day. I am such a coach, and you can read more here about how I help make Big Hairy Audacious Goals possible.)
I got the two quoted points above about snowballs and whacked ideas from Dean Rotbart of Buzzsnatching, who shows people how to get national attention for their promotional efforts. He argued those points (and several others) separate a compelling, attention-grabbing idea from one that’s just ho-hum.
The same things, it seems to me, separate that ho-hum reach goal you might feel obligated to pursue from the Big Hairy Audacious Goal you passionately dream of pursuing.
Is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal cold and whacked enough? Tell me about it in the comments.
–
My thanks to American Marketing Association Lincoln for bringing Dean Rotbart to Lincoln. If you live anywhere near Lincoln, AMA’s excellent monthly educational luncheons are not to be missed.
I tell my coaching clients everyone needs a coach—and now I have a handy sports anecdote to back it up. NPR’s Morning Edition reports that the Red Storm of St. John’s has a shot in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for the first time in nearly a decade. A key factor is basketball oracle Gene Keady, who serves as an advisor—read, coach—to St. John’s Coach Steve Lavin.
Need a coach of your own? I work with professionals so passionate about an Big Hairy Audacious Goal that they’re eager to transform themselves and their organizations to realize it. Contact me for a free consultation.
Performance expert Tony Schwartz.
A note to leaders: You, yes you, are human, and you therefore carry and transmit emotions that sap your own and other people’s ability to create value. You create *reverse value propositions* that slow your progress toward the Big Hairy Audacious Goal you want for your organization and yourself.
What drains productive energy from you and others? Feeling devalued, or devaluing others. That’s according to performance expert Tony Schwartz, whose “How your value is critical to creating value” webinar I watched today so I could create some value for my professional coaching clients.
“Value” is getting repetitive here, no? Let me clarify that we’re talking about two kinds of value:
Tony says energy drains from you and others when you feel devalued (not accepted, acknowledged, respected, worthwhile) because: Continue Reading…
[T]he greater the sum total of strategic thinking and thinkers in the organisation the more readily and effectively it can respond to and take advantage of the vast array of changes occurring in today’s … environment.
How can this strategic thinker use everyone's input? Photo: iStockphoto
Can an organization’s entire staff and its stakeholders think strategically even when individuals don’t have the necessary competencies? Yes. Leaders can aid their own strategic thinking and foster it in others by compensating for individual deficiencies. They can use small pictures, free people from distractions, and keep data in the room.
Why involve people outside the leadership circle at all? Why consult your staff and your stakeholders? Darden Graduate School of Business Professor Jeanne Liedtka writes, “[F]ar-sighted leaders are finding ways to make planning processes more open, creative, and inclusive and, in the process, are linking strategic thinking and strategic planning more powerfully.”2 Strategy writers long have urged organizations to seek input from staff closest to the stakeholders, but why bother with that extra layer when you can reach stakeholders directly with a One-Day Consensus Conference?
The strategic thinking leader draws as many people into her or his organization’s strategic thinking as possible. But strategic thinkers have competencies not everyone in the organization possesses. The strategic thinker must see the forest and the trees, focus intently on goals, and think experimentally. We can look at each of the competencies to see how we can involve people who don’t have them—and discover that in doing so, we make the strategic thinking leader’s job easier. The strategic thinker’s competencies are:3 Continue Reading…
