Are You An Effective CEO?

As a CEO, are you adding real strategic value to your company and team? Or do you spend most of your time fighting fires and doing other peoples’ jobs?

Do you feel confident that you’re being effective? Or do you feel stressed and uncertain about the job you’re doing?

In my previous 5 Minute Growth Tip article I discussed how, for a company to grow and thrive, it needs to evolve how it operates to address the increasing complexity that comes with growth, and how getting the executive team aligned, leading, executing and performing is the foundation for making that happen.
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But at the root of all that is the CEO.

The CEO leads the way and creates the conditions for the executive team to do the work it needs to do. If the team is not where it needs to be, change needs to start with the CEO.

So how can a CEO improve their own performance and become a stronger leader of their team and company?

There are several elements to this.

​First, a CEO needs to define and clarify their own role. One tool we’ve found that works well for this is a CEO job scorecard. It includes the purpose of the CEO role, the key results, metrics and targets that define success, the ongoing responsibilities, or high level activities, that a CEO should carry out, the authority they have (if they are a hired CEO versus the owner), and the behavioural competencies needed to achieve the results and carry out the responsibilities. 

​Secondly, the CEO needs to assess themselves against this job scorecard in order to identify the areas where they are strong and the areas they need to develop in. This involves simply rating themselves using a five point scale on each metric, responsibility and competency in the job scorecard.              

Various assessments can also be helpful to determine how difficult or likely it will be for you to develop in those areas. Some useful assessments are the DISC profile, the Innermetrics Values profile, Patrick Lencioni’s Ideal Team Player assessment, and the Visionary-Integrator framework outlined by Gino Wickman, CEO of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).

Third, the CEO needs to plan for their development. This involves identifying the most important areas for them to develop in, and what methods will work best for them to learn in those areas and successfully turn that learning into sustained skills. An individual development planning tool can be helpful for considering and evaluating the various types of learning and skill development options available for a CEO.

It can help a great deal to engage a business growth coach to support you in developing your CEO job scorecard, assessing yourself against it and with other assessment tools, and with putting an individual development plan together. One of the most valuable things a coach can do is share observations of things you may not notice about yourself and challenge you to grow in areas that might be uncomfortable for you.

So, where do you get started? By clarifying your role as a CEO.​

We'll cover that in more detail in our next 5 Minute Growth Tip article.

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If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.