EXECUTIVE RECRUITMENT

Nine Hallmarks of a Strategic CEO Evaluation

The opportunity is to shift the focus to being more practical and pragmatic and to implement a practice that accelerates strategic dialogue and boosts board/CEO alignment

Few board responsibilities have more potential for positive organizational impact than evaluating CEO performance. When done well, this process can generate ongoing powerful and meaningful conversations between directors and the chief executive and align them all in the same strategic direction.

In the Filene Institute report, “Tracking the Relationship Between Governance and Performance,” researchers concluded, “Of all the measured relationships, the only governance practice that yielded a strong positive correlation with actual ROA performance was whether boards felt they had an effective CEO evaluation in place.”

https://filene.org/learn-something/reports/governanceperformance

At the same time, many boards are uncomfortable conducting these performance reviews, and many CEOs are unhappy about the way they are done. There is typically minimal dialogue between the two parties and no clear direction to guide the CEO’s performance going forward. Both sides tend to see this process as a necessary—but not necessarily useful—exercise.

At the end of the day, the board-CEO relationship does not need another archaic construct or arduous process putting unnecessary strain on the conversation. The opportunity is to shift the focus to make these evaluations more practical and pragmatic and to implement a practice that accelerates strategic dialogue. The nine hallmarks of a strategically designed and utilized CEO performance evaluation include:

1. Reinforcing Strategic Priorities

First and foremost, the CEO performance evaluation should be viewed as a tool or an action item that further facilitates the manifestation of the strategic plan and its priorities. The process of identifying the characteristics and skill sets the CEO needs to lead the credit union stimulates rich conversations among directors. It provides a framework to align directors and the CEO behind these attributes and to guide discussions throughout the year.

2. Taking a Longer View of What Matters Most

Identifying those measurable key characteristics and solidifying the performance evaluation method should be designed to reach “evergreen” status. You don’t want to spend a lot of time and effort developing a survey and process that is relevant for this year but needs to be completely overhauled next year. This requires an upfront investment of time and commitment of energy by both the board and CEO to ensure the input and output rise to the level of significance to thrust alignment into the future.

3. Encouraging Continued Growth

The challenges and opportunities before your credit union are ever-changing, so the CEO will need to develop new skills and knowledge to keep pace. An effective evaluation process not only acknowledges but encourages the need for growth. The recognition that some capabilities will be a work in progress over several years gives the CEO permission to not be perfect and instead embrace a growth mindset and seek out developmental opportunities. This is in contrast to implying that a five out of five (or whatever scale you’re using) across the board is the expectation. Putting it another way, if your high-performing CEO receives an abundance of fives out of five, his or her first thought is likely, “Well, that feedback is not helpful.”

4. Talking Through the Basis for Evaluation

We recommend that the board plans a frank discussion of survey results before delivering the evaluation to the CEO. The objective is to uncover and get the alignment opportunities squared away so the board can speak with a unified voice once the evaluation is formally, and even informally, delivered.

For example, if most directors strongly agree that the CEO demonstrates a specific characteristic, but one or two board members strongly or even slightly disagree, that disparity presents an opportunity for at least one person to learn something. It may be that directors on one side of the issue or the other have information that is not universally known but should be shared. More than once we have witnessed a director acting on incomplete information, which shows up as a negative scoring on the CEO’s performance evaluation. Even in this occurrence, at least one person learns something. Again, the goal is reaching board alignment on the CEO’s past performance, providing a framework to guide his or her future performance.

Along the same lines, the board’s submission of the formal evaluation to the CEO should be followed up with a conversation in which the executive can ask clarifying questions. The directors and the chief executive can discuss at this meeting which characteristics are working very well and further understand any areas where there’s a significant difference between the board’s performance ratings and the CEO’s self-evaluation.

5. Incorporating a Management Component

The CEO could adapt the evaluation instrument for use with his or her executive team to gain additional performance feedback. We don’t see this happen often, but it can be an illuminating exercise if the managers and executives involved in this process believe that the CEO is open to and looking forward to honest feedback, learning and growing, and doing the right thing as a leader. Without a super duper foundation of trust already in place, this process will likely not produce useful input. It could do more harm than good if not proctored correctly.

6. Supporting Succession Planning and Executive Recruitment

In the five-year roadmap of best practices we recommend for the years leading up to the CEO’s planned retirement, the development of a robust evaluation methodology can help ease the transition for the next chief executive. Having a strategy-focused, high quality evaluation process is also a big selling point for high-caliber candidates as a sign that the board is committed to being in an ongoing partnership and accountability conversation (risk vs. rewards).

When boards don’t have an effective process in place during a change in leadership, that gap places an extra burden on the new CEO. Incoming executives have so much to do already that the need to co-develop a new evaluation system with the board (or likely do it on their own) may feel like throwing a bag of bricks to a person treading water. To say the least, it’s not helpful.

7. Revealing and Supporting Directors’ Perspectives

One of the most surprising elements of a comprehensive evaluation process is that when directors are assessing the CEO’s characteristics, they ultimately learn that their assessment is actually a reflection of themselves. Each director’s submitted opinion reflects what was retained in his or her mind or colored by his or her perspectives.

In our practice, we’ve witnessed a CEO doing X, the board witnessing X, and then six months later a director then negatively dings the CEO for not doing X. It just was forgotten. It happens. Conversely, if a single director’s evaluation calibration holds a lower or extremely high bar for success, that’s likely a reflection of the director as a person. You’ve heard it before, “I never give someone a five out of five as a matter of principle.” The point being, make sure that everyone is on the same page about the methodology. This is an important process, and directors should be conscious of how and why their opinions have been formed.

8. Acknowledging That ‘Learning’ and ‘Action’ Are the Operative Words

Learning only occurs when a relatively permanent shift takes hold and produces new actions. Providing examples of historic and desired future learnings and actions allow CEOs to understand what to do with the historic evaluation and cognitively situate themselves in the future. This may sound like, “The general themes of the CEO’s performance and requests for future action include the following… .”

9. Facilitating a Stronger Board-CEO Partnership

In short, an effective evaluation methodology is not a once-a-year assignment but an organizing system to guide ongoing interactions between the board and chief executive. A well-designed and executed evaluation process guides the coordination of elements throughout the year, both for the board and the CEO. Applying a strategic level of intentionality paves a smoother path for improved performance across the credit union and for serving the members–which, of course, is what the work of the board and CEO is all about.

Apply It to Your Boardroom

What do you like about your board’s current CEO evaluation process?
What does your CEO like about your board’s current CEO evaluation process?
Which of the nine hallmarks outlined in this article might help your board do a better job of strategically evaluating your CEO?

Where To Find Your Next Superstar Employee

Every chief executive officer (CEO) wants superstars in his or her company. Superstars are high performers, innovative, creative, and they deliver outstanding results. Superstars are highly sought-after performers who make their managers look great.

If superstar employees are sporadically hired throughout the organization, there is the risk of a superstar mentality that creates isolationism. An entire department might end up revolving around one person rather than developing teams of people to be mutually accountable to deliver results. Teams of superstars step in for one another, are cross-trained, and live with norms of success for all.

Single superstars are difficult to retain if the team doesn’t have a superstar mindset. Superstars want to work for superstar companies that attract, develop, and acknowledge high performers throughout the organization.

Being a superstar means doing the hard work, being an ongoing learner, and demonstrating tenacity, problem-solving, and creativity. Superstars continually accessing potential are committed to performing excellent work, are honest to self, and display strong ethics and values. Superstars have above-average emotional intelligence, are optimistic, possess confidence and not arrogance, and, hustle to meet deadlines.

Ask these questions in your next human capital strategic conversation.

Why would we want anything less than teams of superstars?
What would be different if organizations were committed to hiring superstar employees in every role?
What would be different if training and development were rigorous in creating learning organizations with embodied problem-solving, creativity, self-accountability, and empowered employees who use their talents and gifts?
What would be different if we refused to hire anyone who does not demonstrate a superstar mindset and action?

Your next superstar employee is in two places. First, he or she probably already works for you and needs some coaching to advance to the next level. Second, if you look for superstars, they will come. Update your recruitment practices. Change the language in your job postings to welcome superstar employees. Finally, promise and deliver on ongoing learning and personal and professional growth.

Deedee Myers
PhD., MSC, PCC

Preventing Day-to-Day Disasters In the Boardroom and Executive Suite

Disasters are more preventable when the right questions are asked by the right people at the right time. Most of us have heard stories about boards dismissed due to mismanagement and CEOs being asked to leave because of mistakes that were made that should have been better managed.

Yet, overplayed diplomacy, social loafing, silent disagreement, and groupthink impedes curiosity, rigorous dialogue, and futuristic and strategic thinking in any room, including the boardroom and executive suite.

CEOs might cringe when I suggest that board members ask more questions, articulate powerful statements, and be inquisitive. A high-performing board member knows when and how to ask the right questions at the right time. Most often, the right questions are strategic in nature, clarifying, or sense making. For example, “If we continue with double-digit loan growth year after year, what does this mean to our risk position in three years?” That question produces a different quality of conversation in the boardroom than this question: “Should we contribute $500 or $750 to the Urban League?” Or, “What services will our members need in the next three years that we currently do not offer, and how will we be positioned to make those offers?” versus “Why is this budget item over by $3,000?”

Here are recommended questions to ask regularly in the boardroom and executive suite. The more frequently we ask these questions, rather than once a year for a one-day strategic planning session, the greater the success will be for the membership.

How certain are we of our conviction about the organizational values and vision?
What gives us resilience and courage in the face of uncertainty and adversity?
What talent do we need to ensure our membership thrives in the future?
What are we doing well that aligns with our competitive advantage?
What do we need to improve our abilities to move the organization forward?
How do we keep ourselves motivated and encouraged?
What questions should we ask to uncover our blind spots?
How prepared are we to handle unanticipated complex problems that confront our organization?
What are our beliefs about how the board should govern?
What are our beliefs about how the CEO should lead?
Where do we think the organization should be headed over the next ten years?

Mood Matters

A great conversation happens with the right questions, exchange of ideas, and productive moods. Check your intention and mood before diving deep into a tough question. Moods that are expansive, vulnerable, and curious make it easier to ask the right questions at the right time and will produce rich conversations and outstanding results.

Deedee Myers, Ph.D.
Founder/CEO
DDJ Myers

Bullying or Be Humble and Kind

Last Tuesday I was driving to the airport to have lunch with two of my sons when this Tim McGraw song called Humble and Kind came on the radio. Normally I play music in the background, but I was compelled to listen to McGraw’s lyrics, and they were timely.

Early that same morning I had an executive coaching call, and the client was in tears. She said her manager and peers were bullying her about her perspective on diversity. We worked through the challenge, and she left the call recentered with a declaration on how to move forward with dignity in interactions with her manager and coworkers.

After I completed the call, my heart was troubled because there is bullying in my children’s’ schools, the workplace, in the news, and even on airplanes. It is important to me to guide and support children so they are kind; likewise it is equally important to me to help leaders create engaged, supportive, and equitable work cultures. In my deeply reflective space, I had questions: Where do we unintentionally bully? When are we so resolute in our perspective that we come across as a bully in the boardroom, team meeting, or performance review? Do we come across as a bully when we don’t get our way at work? How are we creating dignity for ourselves and others?

There is a fine line between being a bully and being kind. McGraw says:

“Hold the door say please say thank you

Don’t steal, don’t cheat, and don’t lie

I know you got mountains to climb but

Always stay humble and kind

When the dreams you’re dreamin’ come to you

When the work you put in is realized

Let yourself feel the pride but

Always stay humble and kind…

Bitterness keeps you from flying

Always stay humble and kind”

The Workplace Bullying Institute reports that 72% of workplace bullies are bosses. Bullying in the workplace creates a hostile work environment, which is not helpful for a sustainable organization. I borrowed this list of workplace examples of bullying from The Balance.*

● Denying an employee access to resources, assignments, projects, or opportunities

● Little or no feedback on performance

● Withholding information essential to performing one’s job

● Failing to invite someone to an essential meeting

● Threatening job loss

● Excessive monitoring or micromanagement

● Assigning tasks that cannot be completed by deadline and setting unrealistic and impossible goals

● Interference or sabotage

● Treating a worker differently than peers and coworkers are treated

● Excessive, impossible, conflicting work expectations or demands

● Inequitable and harsh treatment

● Invalid or baseless criticism, faultfinding, and unwarranted blame

● Accusatory or threatening statements

● Humiliation, public reprimands, or obscene language

*https://www.thebalance.com/types-of-bullying-2164322

I hope this blog helps each of us increase our sensitivity to workplace bullying, support corrective action, and be humble and kind.

Deedee Myers

Founder/CEO
DDJ Myers

Game Changer Competencies Make Progressive Boards

Boards across the industry realize that the levels of engagement and competencies of the past will not satisfy the future needs of the organization. The change they are seeking will not be satisfied with just a new assessment, tool, or technique; the change requires a systemic and sustainable process that is sometimes transformative. A new mindset is required regarding how boards frame issues, challenges, and opportunities; engage and stay in dialogue; and build a relationship with the chief executive officer (CEO).

Progressive boards engage in dignified and lively debates on central and critical issues, staying away from the tangential and inconsequential. High-performing boards require input and strategically oriented questions from each board member, whereas recent research suggests that 50-70% of directors prefer just to listen, and only 11% willingly engage in dialogue. The newly evolved board agenda and packet is designed to stimulate higher-level thinking while keeping a watchful eye on important metrics of safety.

The board-CEO relationship is a generative partnership, often called constructive and collaborative. The key word is partnership rather than just one party establishing the vision and strategy and passing it to the other party to inform and/or implement. Both parties co-create the vision and agree on the path to success and conditions of successful stewardship of the membership.

Members of a generative partnership will step forward and backward, step on each other’s toes in a dance of leadership, and learn while moving forward. Two-way feedback between the CEO and the board is constructive, direct with dignity, and focused on the intention of effective leadership. Progressive boards practice epoche, stepping outside of their perspective to deeply listen to others’ points of view and then courageously make and implement the right decision. Tough decisions are made and then mutually supported by all to the external community, membership, and staff.

Progressive boards can self-manage rather than being a time sink for management, checking their e-mail and digital devices in a meeting rather than deeply listening to what is important and how they need to add value. A progressive board easily reflects, to those outside the boardroom, the current and target membership demographic. Members join boards because they have value to offer and their opinions are needed; progressive boards effectively engage each director and the collective group, utilizing the skills and expertise of each board member rather than hearing just one or two dominant voices.

Progressive boards have optimal structures including ideal composition and committee structure. The board understands and acts on board member duties, including board and CEO succession. Each committee has a purpose and outlined conditions of success. A clear distinction exists between decision-making lines between the board and the CEO, and the progressive board self-manages when any member steps over the line into the domain of the CEO’s responsibility.

Progressive boards enhance the nominating committee to include board development, board succession, and rich and robust onboarding. No longer can any board member say, “I am the newest and defer to others.” Progressive boards insist on new members adding value on day one and provide the support mechanisms for an onboard program such as board buddies, post-meeting check-ins with the chair, and learning plans.

Think about the progressiveness of your board. How is it progressive? How should it be more high-performing? What needs to shift in your boardroom to ask higher-level questions that get the heart pumping of everyone in the room? How is complacency of even one board member serving the membership? What will awaken your board to be rigorous, strategic, and keep pace with your high-performing CEO?

Our board development, succession, and recruitment process enlivens the boardroom and ensures that the best available talent is retained, recruited, and onboarded.