4 Ways Leaders Transform Organizations (Regardless of Title)

A couple weeks ago, I received a thoughtful reply to one of my newsletters:

"I hope you will be able to address how to effectuate the change you want to see within an organization where you are not part of the strategic decision-making...not everyone can be the CEO and be in the know... I do hope this newsletter is for mid-level leaders as well.”

Here's how I see it:

The things that make a great CEO are the same things that make a great LEADER—no matter the title.

I was recently interviewed on the role of the CEO on Your Work Friends podcast with Francesca Ranieri and Mel Plett—it was a blast.

On the show, I shared my story—which went something like this:

I never planned to be a CEO. I didn't have a career path mapped out. I trusted that if I did great work, did right by people, and focused on becoming the best leader I could be, good things would happen.

And then one day... I found myself as the next CEO of Baker Tilly.

Today I want to share four things I believe all great leaders excel at.

They are the things I focused on before my time as CEO, during, and continue to coach and advise leaders on today.

Do these things consistently and you can help transform your team, your department, your organization, and your career.

1. Align People to a Vision

Great leaders need to organize and inspire people to strive toward a destination different from the current reality. Chad - something just clicked. Before I became CEO, I led or build BT’s international services platform. This was totally an evangelizing exercise. And in doing so, I build something from scratch AND built trust with my partners which was a major reason I was considered for the CEO position. Discuss this week.

Now, if you're the CEO, you are responsible for setting the vision of the entire organization (with help—you don't have to do it alone).

If you aren't the CEO, you have the opportunity to rally your team (however big or small) around the company's vision and goals.

In fact, you even have the opportunity to tailor the company's vision to make it more tangible and relevant to your department/team etc.

Look, people need to know where we're going and believe you are the person to lead them there. So you've got to be able to communicate the destination and make it feel real for people.

Take time to understand the organization's vision and strategy and think about how YOUR team plays a role in helping the greater org achieve it.

Then, help your team members understand how THEY can make an impact within your department and therefore make a greater impact on the organization.

If your team makes a meaningful contribution to your company's vision and goals, good things should happen for all of you.

2. Push People to Achieve Things They Never Thought Were Possible

I believe the role of a CEO (and therefore any leader) is to enable people to do more than they think they can do.

The greatest leaders are multipliers for their teams. They enable the team to achieve 3x, 5x, 10x what they thought was possible.

Sometimes that means helping people do things they aren't even aware of doing.

Look, we all have limiting beliefs. We all suffer from imposter syndrome (me included) and it often gets in the way of elevating ourselves to achieve more or pursue greater opportunities.

I wouldn't have made it to the CEO chair if other leaders hadn't called me to greater opportunities BEFORE I thought I was ready.

In fact, I remember when I was pushed into a role to build Baker Tilly’s international services platform. My predecessor as CEO encouraged me to take the leap and when asked, “What is it?’, he responded, “I don’t know and you’ll figure it out.”

There’s a lot of lessons there, but I will tell you that saying “yes” to that opportunity ended up being a primary factor in how I eventually became CEO.

If you want to be a transformative leader, you need to be the type of person for your team as my predecessor was for me.

So, be intentional about:

• Investing meaningful time with team members to understand where they want to take their careers.

• Taking notice of people's innate skills and abilities. What do they excel at?

• Dedicating time to thinking about how to elevate people into new roles or responsibilities.

To me, this is one of the most fun and rewarding parts of being a leader.

You have the opportunity to elevate people to greater impact and play a pivotal role in their professional and personal development.

3. Prioritize the Development of the People You Lead

I remember a time I was on a monthly 1:1 call with a leader who oversaw a certain geography in our organization.

He said to me, "Wow, this is different. I'm used to having to defend the numbers."

See, he always sent an agenda and came prepared for our meetings—which I greatly appreciated.

At the beginning of each meeting, he would start going through the P&L and talking about production, hours, etc.

In one of our first meetings, I stopped him.

"I appreciate the time you've put into this AND I don't want to talk about this.

If I have certain questions about the numbers, I'll ask.

I want to talk about you. I want to talk about the people. I want to talk about any difficult things you are dealing with. I want to talk about strategy. I want to talk about how I can help you achieve more."

From my experience, many 1:1's between leaders and their reportees are focused on directing them and talking about things that have already happened.

That's not DEVELOPMENT….or leadership.

That's focusing on what's urgent (and often in the past), not what's important.

Development means taking intentional time to work on the business AND work on the person.

How is the person doing? What do they aspire to do within the organization? What areas are they looking to gain more experience? What situations can you talk through together? How can you help them achieve more?

That's development.

If your time with your team members is full of status reports and reviewing documents or decks, you're missing the opportunity to help them grow exponentially.

Great leaders prioritize the development of the people they are leading.

4. Have the Necessary Difficult Conversations

Look, they are called difficult conversations for a reason. They're hard.

I get it. I've had hundreds of them and it still doesn't mean they are easy.

Just because they are hard doesn't mean they aren't necessary.

I once wasted 5 years of someone's professional life because I was afraid to have a difficult conversation. I regret it to this day.

I wasted years of their professional life because I didn't allow them the opportunity to grow—which, in this case, would have likely been by them finding a new organization that would have been a better fit.

I put it off because I didn't want to hurt the person.

I knew I could fix it by conjuring up new positions, titles, and responsibilities.

Looking back, I hoped I could fix it and ‘knew’ I couldn’t.

I continue to see the leaders I coach and advise struggle with this because they're afraid of causing short-term pain.

Think about it, though…if you’re really here to empower people to be the best version of themselves, don’t you think having a hard conversation can help someone get there?

I do. Because I’ve seen it happen countless times.

It’s often the hard conversations that illuminate people’s blindspots and shortcomings.

And although it may hurt in the short term, it allows people to grow.

If we hold back from having these conversations then we aren't allowing people to receive feedback and make incremental changes. Those small changes can lead to massive growth over time.

I bet you can think of a difficult conversation (or a few) that you need to have.

Make it a priority to have one of them this week.

Great Leadership Doesn't Include a Title

To go back to the initial question that started this email... you don’t have to be the CEO or be part of the strategic decision-making team to make an impact on your organization.

Your ability to lead people and create differentiated results doesn't hinge on a title.

It starts with making the intentional choice to act as a leader.

1. Align people to a vision

2. Push people to achieve things they never thought were possible

3. Prioritize the development of the people you lead

4. Have the necessary difficult conversations

These four things are accessible to everyone to start implementing this week.

Like many things, it all starts with a little intentionality.

With intention,
Alan D Whitman