Role of CEO
[[article is in in draft mode, being published over next few days, so keep checking back for more]]A surprising information gap typically exists between defining the sub-orinate roles within a Company and that of the role of the CEO itself. Lots of time goes into (or should go into), creating formalized job descriptions and objectives for the leadership team, middle management and each individual employee. The best companies, review performance and create structured compensation plans (as applicable to the roles). But for some reason, this level of effort tends to be missed (sometimes even avoided) for the CEO role itself. How does this hinder the effectiveness of the CEO? Doesn't it make it harder for the Board and the CEO to operate from the same play book? How does it affect the way in which the CEO is compensated - no role definition, no success/failure measures to go by? Where does the CEO go to understand the role so that he or she can grow strong as its holder?
This article is written for both the CEO (or aspiring to the role) as well as to Board members who may want to improve the chances of business success by expanding how they can help pay attention to the details and formality of the CEO role to support the incumbent succeed.
Leadership and Trust
The CEO is the main leadership role in most organizations. The team depends on the CEO to know what to do, to know when to do it and, probably most importantly, to manage all the politics that most organizations have (regardless of size). Effective leadership is one of the most valued assets a business has. Teams follow effective leaders, they stay focused on what needs to get done, they put in extra effort when needed, they increasingly share the passion of the leader, communication is improved and much more. CEOs who do not bring leadership and trust to a business, can still succeed (although rarely) but they need to build a different team operating model which is not covered by the materials of InsideSpin (contact InsideSpin if you want to discuss further).
If we consider a biking pelaton as an analogy for the importance of leadership, the CEO is at the front of the pelaton. The main difference from biking, is the pelaton always drafts off the CEO and the CEO does not really have the opportunity to rotate that role to get some rest. So, to avoid tiring out the CEO, a business needs to keep in mind some very critical factors: