CEOs’ top role: Get the most out of your employees

It takes a village. Use your resources wisely.

When talking strategic direction, we often talk in terms of the role of the CEO and what he or she must do to encourage greater productivity and alignment. We don’t focus as much on the role of the employees, although we all know we’d be nowhere without them.

We understand leadership starts at the top and an effective leader encourages employees to act in a manner consistent with the goals of the firm. This is much easier said than done. Empowering your employees to rise up to meet and carry out the strategic plan is not a single person’s job. It takes a village– a village of departments and individuals.

Good questions to ask yourself daily are, “What am I doing as the leader to encourage staff to work effectively toward company goals?” “Am I reaching employees and supporting them so they can connect the dots between daily activities and long-term goals?”

As a former principal of an A/E and an engineering firms, CEOs and my Division Manager peers who demonstrated actions to the answers during every meeting and conversation were the most effective.  They clearly communicated the commitment they had toward the goals, which kept staff aligned and focused.