As soon as John leaves the office, Chad swivels to his computer screen. He knows he's received an e-mail from Lynne. He saw it out of the corner of his eye while he was working with John, but he won the inner struggle and left his BlackBerry alone. As soon as John left, Chad whirled around to see the message from Lynne.

Re: Re: Re: SPREADSHEET

I'm glad you're on top of this. Keep me posted about what happens.

Lynne

This is really good news for him. Lynne is letting him know that she will stay on the sidelines, giving Chad the Boss the chance to kiss and make up with subordinate Phil—a very valuable team member. Remarkably, she chose not to castigate Chad for letting the situation get so out of hand that Phil thought he had to escalate the issue up to her. She realized the achievement-conscious Chad was probably sufficiently mortified by Phil's e-mail. She saw no money in stepping on his neck; and she was right.

This type of brief, clear, and insightful e-mail message has won Lynne the respect of all the division managers. They like having her as a boss because she's patient, allowing them to find their own way. The division heads envy her quiet strength; they watch how she can accomplish a goal, sometimes with nothing more than a nudge or two. She is also very explicit about what displeases her, just as she had been when she reprimanded Chad for using his BlackBerry during her meetings.

Lynne's e-mail tells Chad that she expects him to come to a reasonable resolution with Phil, and then let her know what it is. Politely and with a gentle hand, she has put him on notice to perform. Chad notices the power and leadership Lynne packed into this simple note. He realizes that if he could have composed an e-mail like this, it might have convinced Phil to get the numbers he needed, without a whimper of displeasure from the head of the West Coast group.

Chad is relieved as he checks his calendar for his next appointment. He sees a meeting in the conference room with his management team to go over updates to the Strategic Plan.

Mike has been looking forward to this meeting ever since he saw it in his calendar at home this morning. He even mentioned it to his wife during their morning breakfast ritual. Each day, the two compare notes before taking off in separate directions. Over coffee and cereal they each discuss the most significant part of the upcoming day. Today's choice for the morning sharing session was easy for Mike: He told her about his strategic planning update session. He loves the process of deciding what is most important and how to make it happen. His 10 am hour is devoted to an update from the strategic planning retreat that was held three months ago.

Every member of his management team is already in the conference room when Mike comes in, right as the meeting is about to start. Once again, he hasn't budgeted his time well. It would have demonstrated stronger leadership for him to be one of the first to arrive, rather than the last. Oh well, the day's not over yet, he reasons. Mike measures his leadership performance on the hour, but he never congratulates himself too much for good work or indulges in self-flagellation if he screws up. He sees what works and tries to do it again in the future. When something doesn't work he takes notice, then he quickly lets it go.

The six managers in front of him have their flimsy GBC bound planning workbooks open. It seems to Mike that they are all talking at once. This is going to be fun, he thinks, delighted at the energy in the room.

"Okay, Kim, you're running this party," Mike says. "I'm ready when you are." Kim is in charge of production for Mike's division. She's very strong at logistics, but rough around the edges on the communication skills front. His employees complain that she is abrupt and bossy, even though she's usually right. That's why he put her in charge of managing the planning process this year. He felt that both he and the other managers could benefit from watching her organize a large project. He also wanted the opportunity to see her communication skills in action with her peers. It would give him another chance to coach her. He'd been giving her specific direction after watching her in production meetings, but he wanted to see how she handled being in charge of a project when everyone in the room was her political equal.

"Okay people, let's get right to it," Kim begins. "I'm going to start with a review of the tasks that have projected completion dates coming up in the next 60 days, then we'll refresh our memories on the longer-term projects. After I'm done, we'll go down the short-term list, with updates from each of you who are in charge of each task. We'll wind up with hearing from any of you with longer-term tasks who are off schedule. We'll all pitch in to help you solve the issue. If everything is progressing well on your task, we'll leave you off the agenda until the next time we meet, in two months."

This is classic Kim, Mike thinks, at her best and her worst. It's a great agenda—just the kind he likes. Hit the headlines, tackle what's in front of us first, then discuss longer-term items, but only if they need attention. It's focused, productive, and results-oriented communication. Not only that, this is the second time the group has been prepared by Kim over what they will be working on this morning. A week ago, she sent a brief, bulleted e-mail spelling out what the format of the meeting would be, and she asked for input from everyone on the list. Each manager responded with a line or two about their role, so she knew what was coming. Mike noted how Kim had been preparing herself and the others for the meeting. It was the type of behavior he needed to adopt. He hoped the others also took note of her pattern of organization.

But the "Okay, people" opening was a disaster. Just two words could undermine so much good communication that was to come. Mike has been working to excise these supercilious expressions from Kim's meeting lexicon. He realizes he isn't winning her over yet. She still isn't convinced that "Okay people" will not only hit a lousy note with her direct reports, but it will out-and-out tick off her equals in the room. The introduction would have been much stronger with just the pure and simple, "Let's get to it." He makes a mental note to keep pressure on Kim to dump the patronizing patter.

Chad runs this strategic planning update meeting for the same reason he runs the sales meeting. He's the boss. Bosses lead the meetings—especially important ones like this.

All his managers seated in the big conference room have their heavy strategic planning binders in front of them. Chad has all the detailed notes from his division strategic planning retreat three months earlier, along with the mission and vision statements, SWOT analysis, action items, and assignments bound together in a classy portfolio he picked out himself. He wants this plan to project strength and power. He had lectured that it should stay on top of every manager's desk, for a quick reminder and easy reference for all.

Every one of his managers followed Chad's instructions and kept their binders right next to the phones. Most found they made for elegant coasters.

"Let's start with why we're going through this," Chad says. "I know it's hard to get away from your daily headaches and issues to spend time on strategic planning, but, to be perfectly honest, this is should be considered even more important than the current fires you are now putting out."

Thanks for being perfectly honest, Chad; we all hate it when you lie to us, Jody, the head of sales, thinks to herself. She finds Chad's frequent use of "honestly," "frankly," and "to be perfectly honest," a glaring sign of Chad's weakness as a leader. Yeah, he's smart; but how smart is he really, she wonders, when he keeps repeating disingenuous words that irritate us so much?

"Remember that strategic thinking is needed to guide and complement tactical actions. We react all day long. Strategic planning gives a chance for us to reflect and figure out our goals and aspirations so we can be the best we can be," Chad says. He's right; but this doesn't do much to set the tone for the meeting.

Now he sounds like an army recruiting ad from the 1980s, Jody sniffs, before shaking herself out of her sarcasm. Chad's not a bad boss, she reminds herself, just completely clueless sometimes. She turns her attention back to the classy strategic planning portfolio in front of her.

"Okay, Item Number one: our Pacific Rim initiative, which we had agreed we would make a decision on today. Rueben, this was your baby." Chad looks up from the strategic planning notebook and turns to Rueben. "Tell us where stand on this. What have you uncovered?"

Rueben is Chad's Marketing Chief. His task is to study the size of the customer markets and compile important data the group will need to decide whether to invest the time and resources necessary to move forward. About five years ago, they branched out into Western Europe with mixed results. The group—and especially Chad—wants a lot of data from Rueben to help make this a good decision. If they decide to move forward, they will have to prepare a separate business plan with projections and budget to submit to corporate. If not, they'll take it off the table for eight quarters, maybe more. Both EVP Lynne and CFO Andy at corporate have shown a lot of interest in this item.

"Well, I'm starting to feel like we should go to the next level with this one," says Rueben. "My initial research shows, from a demand point, there's no question we should move forward. Here are my figures on the size of the current market, including demographics, broken down by country and the anticipated growth in the next few years, despite the overall economic climate. We look good here."

"Fantastic! Good work, Rueben!" Chad consciously compliments him, with almost a shout to demonstrate his intensity. It's the wrong decision. He pushed the praise button too early, before he had all the information. "Keep going. What else do you have for us?"

"Well, that's the problem," says Rueben. "I'm not done with the competitive analysis yet. I don't know if our current cost structure and price points are going to work. My initial research shows that there are about 15 international players in this space. Unfortunately, with the Meadowvale meltdown, I've only had a chance to study a couple of them. I'm going to need some more time. I'll have all the numbers by our session in the next quarter. I'm really sorry about this, but, to be truthful, we're really lucky I've been able to get anything together for the meeting with everything that's been going on." Rueben is contrite; it's easy to see he does wish that his report was complete. "I hope everyone in the room understands I'm doing absolutely the best I can on this."

Rueben's failure to complete his task on time places Chad in a real leadership bind—when, just a few seconds ago, he went on record praising Rueben for his market analysis. Chad can't shift gears and admonish him so quickly after the praise. That would be inconsistent—one of the key criticisms from his 360 last Friday.

Rueben let the team down by not finishing his work; but he has a good excuse. He rescued the Meadowvale account by jumping in quickly and logging some long hours to resolve a nasty dispute between the sales and production units on this key account. Because of Rueben's quick thinking and dedication, Meadowvale was happy with the last project. In the end, Chad's division had made a decent—though not great—margin on the deal. The dispute initially caused a huge uproar and lots of finger pointing within the division. Now hurt feelings are starting to mend, and Rueben has played a key role in the return to normalcy.

But Chad is embarrassed that he didn't find out until this meeting that Rueben wasn't on schedule with the Pacific Rim report. This analysis had to be completed, regardless of what else was going on in the division. Now Chad will have to explain to Lynne and Andy he was behind on the Asian initiative. He wishes that Rueben, a talented and energetic employee, would have at least given him a heads-up. Together, they probably could have figured out how to get everything done despite the Meadowvale implosion.

It hadn't even occurred to Rueben to let Chad know ahead of time that he wouldn't be able finish his Pacific Rim research assignment. Chad had ordered all hands on deck to rescue the Meadowvale project from disaster; so to Rueben—and everyone else—that meant to put every other task on the back burner. This fire drill had taken everyone off task—not just Rueben. In fact, Chad's weak leadership communication and frequent, overly strident directives causes many managers to go with what would keep him happy at the moment, instead of focusing on the mission of the division. So it seems to everyone, including Chad, that Rueben has performed well under the circumstances. He pitched in and saved a critical customer relationship and important revenue dollars. Chad decides to take an appreciative tone.

"Okay Rueben, I see why you need more time," Chad soft- pedals. "Speaking for myself, and I'm sure everyone in the room, we understand you are doing the best you can, always. We really appreciate your efforts not only on the Meadowvale stuff, but on everything you do for us. That goes without saying."

There's lots of nodding around the room and plenty of encouraging smiles. Chad thinks the positive vibe is good news. But it isn't.

Chad blew a tremendous opportunity here. He took a weak—and easy—position, instead of doing the heavy lifting it takes to be a strong communicator. He should have mildly praised Rueben for the initial work, but also told him and the team that a missed assignment—especially without warning—is hurtful to all. He sent a clear message that missing a deadline is acceptable—as long as you have a good excuse. Chad's acumen with numbers and financial "if/thens" are of little use to him in this critical leadership moment.

Kim does a nice job of going through all the headlines of the goals that were established three months ago. She turns to Larry, the head of HR.

"Larry, please give us an update on your progress. You committed to providing an in-depth analysis of our employee satisfaction scores. What do you have for us?" Kim asks.

"Well, a few surprises, actually," Larry says. "Let's go over the bullet points. Kim has them on the second page of the booklets." Everyone turns to the right page. Efficiency expert Kim had taken big flip chart pages with all the deliverables from the strategic planning meeting and boiled them down to an efficient little booklet. She and her assistant printed, collated, and bound together the follow-up workbook in the supply room over coffee one morning a few days ago. Mike marvels at how easily Kim cut through a myriad of details and produced just the right package that would help them concentrate on this important meeting.

Larry is the boss of Human Resources for Mike's division. It is a good fit for him to take on the task of providing an analysis of their employee satisfaction scores.

The team's number one goal in the next year is to make sure they have a game plan to attract and keep the best players in the industry, not only nationally, but internationally. Everyone had agreed that the first step should be to find out exactly what current employees like and don't like about the current operation and culture. But the type of information they were seeking called for a series of face-to-face interviews with a wide variety of employees. Larry had put forth the idea in the strategic planning meeting and quickly volunteered to take it on, in addition to his regular workload. It required hours of extra work, but he welcomed the challenge.

"Well, the good news is that we're right on the spot in terms of pay and benefits," Larry explains. "Nobody in the interviews spent a long time on salary issues, even though we gave them plenty of openings. We're regarded as reasonable and fair with our employee compensation, according to our people and what they hear from their friends at other companies. Some of the newer competitors pay more than we do. But they don't have the track record we do, or the corporate support that we have being one division of a larger company."

"Is that why I don't see any recommendations in terms of compensation?" Kim asks. Boy, Kim is good, Mike thinks. She put two and two together faster than anyone else in the room.

"That's right. We don't need to look at making any changes there. Pay is not an issue for us; we're right where we should be. But I do want us to consider investing more in training, based on some of the surprising things we heard in the interviews."

This catches everyone off guard in the room, except for Kim, Mike, and, of course, Larry. The others are surprised because Mike's division already provides a ton of training for the entire staff at all levels. And the management decided they'd do a lot more than just provide continuous training for every employee; a year ago they had required 24 hours per year of approved continuing education or critical skill set training for every employee. In fact, Larry made the 24-hour requirement an important part of every employee's yearly review format.

"The training requirement that we were concerned about everyone being able to handle with their hectic schedules, apparently isn't enough," Larry explains. "They want more." No one in management had anticipated this.

This is a delightful bit of news. The training mandate had come with the caveat that every employee was still responsible for all of their normal responsibilities, even with 24 hours—3 full workdays—lopped out of the year. You couldn't miss a deadline just because you had a training class. You had to make it work, one way or another.

"How much more do they want?" Louis, the sales manager, asks.

"Well, this is going to floor you," Larry answers, with a smile. "More than three quarters of the people we sat down say they want it upped to 48 hours." The managers look at each other; the room is still for a moment. Kim and Mike already know about the requests for more training because they wound up helping Larry with the interviews. About a month after the strategic planning meeting, Larry had asked for Kim's advice on his employee interview deliverable. He told her he was worried he wouldn't be able to complete it on time for the update meeting. "The Palmer termination may take a lot more of my time than we anticipated," Larry said. "Looks like he and his attorney want to go to the mat on this one. Depositions may start as early as next week."

Like all the managers, Kim knew that Palmer firing thing might turn out like this. The legal process was starting to heat up, and that meant Larry would lose huge blocks of his schedule over the next three months.

He went on. "But I'm still in a big jam on these employee one-on-ones from the strategic planning session. Doing these in-depth interviews is critical to finding out what powers our 'Sat' scores."

"Okay, I think I remember we agreed on 30 interviews during the planning meeting. How many do you think you can get through in time?" Kim asked.

"I can make it through more than half. I can do 20 of them," Larry said. "But I'm going to need help with the other 10. I won't be able to touch them with all the legal stuff going on."

"Okay, Larry, let me think on this for a few days," Kim said.

By the end of the week, Kim had approached him with a solution. Kim would take six of the interviews off his plate, while Mike had agreed to do the last four. That would give Larry the 30 interviews he needed to find out what the employees really wanted out of the division.

Now, two months later, the management team is right on track to take action on Larry's important findings. With little debate, they decide to meet the employees' ambitious request halfway by increasing the mandatory training and continuing education requirement to 36 hours. Ellen says she can find the budget dollars for the outside trainers and classes, if the other managers can give up their employees' time and still stay productive.

Everyone is on board, and Mike signs off on it, saying the new training hours mandate will be effective starting day one of the next fiscal year. Over the last year, he has pounced on every one of his managers when they missed a deadline to which they had agreed; and he wasn't reticent about doing it in front of others.

"When you miss a deadline, it tells all of us you didn't think you had to do what you said you would," Mike would fume. "If you need help, ask for help loudly and early, long before the deadline. We will pitch in as a team and help you out—every time! I promise that you'll get the help you need. If you still can't make the deadline, at least we'll know it ahead of time. And we can make adjustments."

He would always end with the same direct and powerful statement: "Any missed deadlines had better be because of some type of serious family emergency. Otherwise, I'll know you don't think you have to do what you say you will do; and that is you telling us not to trust you."

So when Larry first sensed that the Palmer case was going to gobble up his time, he knew just what to do. He went straight to Kim, the boss of the strategic planning process, and he found he even didn't even need to ask for help. Kim beat him to the punch. She immediately gave Larry the help he needed by rolling up her sleeves and taking on a burden of the task. When Mike heard about the jam Larry was in, he gladly took four of the interviews from Kim. Mike's team had accomplished the first task they had taken on as a part of the strategic planning process. It all worked out so well because Larry knew he could and had to ask for help to get his job done.

Larry's report energizes the room. Six of the next seven managers follow suit, delivering valuable information and reports that provide the baseline for the managers to make decisions and formulate the next step of actions. During the headline portion at the meeting's beginning, Kim had let everyone know that one of the managers was running late on one task. But she and Mike had known about it for more than a month; the three of them had already figured out how to get back on track. The rest of the team volunteered some helpful ideas and short cuts as well in an attempt to help the manager get caught up on the task in time for the group's next quarterly meeting.

Mike is pleased as the meeting breaks up, and he takes a few minutes to praise Kim for a number of specific successes she fostered. He also tells her no more "Okay people" remarks. She smiles, admits it was over-the-top "bossy," and then reminds Mike that she is still a "work in progress." He agrees and says he'll keep coaching her.

Rueben's Pacific Rim report set the stage for the rest of the strategic planning update. Chad's management team had committed to completing six tasks by this date; but only two of them have been wrapped up as promised. The other four are in various stages of development and aren't quite ready for next steps. Just like Reuben, the champions of each one of the tasks has made significant headway, but they finished far short of completion. And, like Rueben, they all have compelling excuses.

Chad feels that since he let Rueben's failure go without correction, he can't do much to show frustration or displeasure with the others. He starts to feel the same irritation he experienced at the dry cleaners early in the morning. But now he is experiencing a different reaction. Three hours after complaining about the woman at the dry cleaners to his wife, he is becoming more introspective.

He does have strong people on his team, ones who care about the operation. Rueben's efforts are a great example. We're not getting the job done, and maybe it's me, not them, he thinks.