Executive Leaders: What’s your value proposition?
A value proposition for leaders? Is that even a thing? You’ll find the answer in each of your managers’ attrition rates.
I was inspired to look at value propositions for leadership after reading articles by Paul Myers MBA and Julia E Hubbel on the topic as it related to products.
If senior leaders and managers spent as much effort in building their leadership teams as they do building products, we might find companies where people thrive. Instead, egos take over, and individual contributors slowly turn into clock-watchers and job hunters, praying for the day when they discover a company that values their skills and talents.
Don’t get me wrong, I think employees are generally valued, but more in terms of a commodity, a production line contributor in an order-taker world. Particularly for knowledge workers, this is the kiss of death for a successful employer-employee relationship.
Value Proposition at the C-Suite Level
Corporate Presidents and Chiefs, your value proposition as an employer determines your ability to attract and retain talent. Period. I don’t work for you, and this isn’t one of your bs-filled “town halls,” so let’s get real. Forget about salary, benefits, and perks. If your HR department can’t do some basic market research, well, start there and then come back to me.
As a senior leader, your value proposition lies in the leadership team sitting below you on the org chart. Mid-level managers and directors have a relationship with the people making the wheels turn in your business. What are you doing to develop their skills so they can maximize the value of each of your employees? How are you ensuring your middle managers are effectively motivating and developing the employees they manage? Anything?? Likely not.
Picture this:
Your company is interviewing a great candidate. This woman has the experience and skills you desperately need, but she’s in demand and is in a position to pick and choose among offers from several different companies. Why should she choose your company?
Because after you get through all the details on the position and what she can bring to the table, you start talking about your management team. You tell her the investment you’ve made in the training and development of your middle managers. You share how your managers work with their teams, tell her about some amazing things other employees have accomplished, and explain how her ideas will be evaluated and integrated into the team roadmap.
Now it’s decision time. In evaluating her offers, your company stands out. Not only did you meet the basic market requirements for the position, you’ve convinced her that she’ll have the autonomy to do what she does best, but the team support she needs to take appropriate risk. She believes her new manager cares more about using her experience and skills than massaging his own ego. And, she trusts your company provides an environment where she’ll be challenged and be able to grow professionally.
It sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? Maybe. If you don’t look at the money. Poor leadership can cost your company millions in attrition and reduced productivity. And that’s every year. Yeah, each bad manager you refuse to develop or dismiss can cost you a million bucks a year. Ready to talk about a leadership development program yet?
I’m going to steal these three questions from Julia E Hubbel with minor modifications:
1. What is the problem your company solves for employees? Hint: it’s not salary and benefits.
2. How does your management team provide the solution? Hint: it is about employee value and engagement.
3. Do you really know what keeps your employees, or potential employees, up at night? Hint: they’re not tossing and turning in bed; they’re looking for jobs.
I am 100% in agreement with Paul Myers MBA and Julia E Hubbel about the necessity of a VP for products. But until you get a team of employees that give a damn about your company, and stick around at your company for more than a couple of years, it won’t matter. So let’s expand the concept of value propositions and start thinking about it terms of the employer-employee relationship, too. For your employees, your company is their product. Yes, employees are your customers, too.