Leadership: Overlooked & Under Cooked

Our typical M.O. - whether it's in an interview or when we're plotting a career path - is to focus on the tangible "hard skills" that generate quantifiable results in sales, profits, efficiencies, payroll, networks and new store openings.

The less tangible and hard to measure "soft skills" of leadership, developing people and cross functional teams are often skimmed over because it's hard to put your arms around something you can't see or measure.

We tend to focus on the symptoms and look for solutions that can be bought, systems & processes that can be changed or discounts to drive traffic. But a shift in thinking to address the cause always boils down to developing the people responsible for the business.

It's common to see people development on the resume of operations people - staffing is one of the biggest challenges everyone faces today. However, it's rare to find that kind of accomplishment in other roles like marketing, IT, accounting, real estate or even franchise sales.

What gets measured, gets done. We need to start addressing things like verbal & written communication, time management, delegation and the almighty art of networking. We'll need to create road maps and check lists and incorporate those into monthly or quarterly reviews for every team member in the organization.

The result? Expect to see higher levels of engagement, people speaking up the ladder, a willingness to go the extra mile, reduced turnover AND an ability to fulfill the idea that great people attract great people.

That's how you build a great brand.

Of course, this is only my opinion, but it's one I value highly.