Event Recap: Leading Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Team to Exceptional Results

Written by Innovate New Albany@InnovateNA9 years ago

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Business leaders face difficult challenges, and one that’s common to us all is lack of time. There is a constant demand for quality results, and only so much of us to go around. How can we reallocate our time and get everything done?

During Innovate New Albany’s luncheon presentation on August 7, Mike Figliuolo, founder of thoughtLEADERS, LLC, offered a solution. He says leaders need to be smarter about how they spend their time interacting with members of their team. Leaders can achieve better results for their companies by using a Leadership Matrix.

The Leadership Matrix is a way to identify the type of employee you have based on their results and the leadership capital, or time and attention, that is required to support them in their role. Employees can enter the matrix at any point, and be moved to a more productive role with the right leadership tactics.

The Leadership Matrix helps leaders decide where they need to invest their time to improve individual results. There are four quadrants:

1. Exemplars. These are your most desired employees, because they produce high results and need limited leadership capital. They are the “rising stars” and “domain masters” of your organization who consistently deliver results and seek ways to improve.

2. High Cost Producers. These employees deliver high results, but also require high leadership capital. They are good at what they do, but may be “squeaky wheels,” lacking the confidence to make decisions and always asking for guidance. High cost producers may also be your “steamrollers” who are productive, but cause friction within your organization.

3. Passengers. Mike refers to passengers as the “stowaways” or “joy riders” that seem busy and social at work, but produce low results. They are not proactive, and it’s difficult to identify their results and expertise.

4. Detractors. Detractors require high leadership capital but produce low results. They may be “slackers” that prefer to demonstrate competence instead of results, or “square pegs,” who have the desire and motivation to do well, but don’t possess the necessary skills to be successful.

Mike thoroughly discussed each of the Leadership Matrix boxes. He advised the group on how to identify performance patterns, the leadership approach to take, and the leadership tactics to make each type more productive. He offered many examples of how employees can easily move within the matrix.

Motivating employees through the Leadership Matrix helps your team evolve and grow. The result is a more efficient and productive team, and more time for you to concentrate on other parts of your business.

For more information about the Leadership Matrix or thoughtLEADERS’s training, coaching and consulting, email Mike at figliuolo@thoughtleadersllc.com, or visit their website at www.thoughtleadersllc.com.

Innovate New Albany, the city’s incubator for technology startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses, features 16,000 square feet of space within the New Albany Business Park’s Signature Office Building, 8000 Walton Parkway.