Let’s Do Management Development
Meet Tom and Will.
Tom lets a small smile escape. “Yes…buying this business IS exciting! This company has real potential. The numbers are good. Solid. But it has not even begun to make as much money as it can make. Soon I will know just what that potential is with the research, time and effort that I put into it. The former owner saw this potential, too – but the time was perfect for him to turn it over to someone else. He’s ready to play more now. We have a contract for him to advise me. Works for both of us. I am ready to go!
I got my Personality Strength Assessment (PSA)© when I was still working for my old company. Right away I saw what I could not see before: I will never really be happy I run my own company. Now that I have bought it I can use everything that I have learned at other companies to make this company even more profitable.
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) Will is poised like a race horse ready to hear the starting shot. He is well trained in management development systems in the Fortune 500 companies he has worked for before. And an MBA. So he’s wondering what my management style is. How he will have to change to adjust to my leadership.
If he checks out like I think he will, I want him to grow operations way beyond what most people here today visualize is possible. He can already visualize what’s possible here – I see that.
I have a Management Development Plan.
1. Management and operations people need to use their personality strengths in ways that fit how mine work, so I will get their PSAs©.
2. I will hire an outside company to get a confidential management and employee Survey to tell us (1) what the company culture is, (2) who’s happy here and who’s not and why, (3) what is working, (4) what is not working, and (5) what they think will work.
3. I will look at what I need to do right away, and in the next one year, five years, ten years, and twenty years. Outside consultants like an Executive Coach will give me objectivity. They will work out the rough spots out with executives and managers. That way I don’t have conversations with people that they have trouble forgetting.
4. When Will has things running the best way that they can run with the improvements that we make then I focus on what we can really do. We will get streamlined to handle much more business than we are handling now. We will put lean engineering and manufacturing in place and cut costs everywhere so that as we add more business we also increase the profit margins.
First, I need to know about the personality strengths of my people. Although I had a pretty good idea of what I was good at, my PSA© gave me a really sharp focus about my relative strengths and how to intentionally apply them to get my best results. I’ll get the COO’s PSA© first since he runs the day to day operations. He gets out a huge volume of work; but I am concerned that he may be Aggressive in how he pushes people. His PSA© will tell me how he gets the work out.”
As you see the CEO’s and COO’s PSAs, what can you see that the CEO can do to groom the COO to increase the profitability of the company?
Print out these test results for Tom and Will so that you can look at these test results while you read more about what they do on this website.
Tom was glad when he saw that this company was for sale – it has a reputation in the industry for producing good products and having good service. Clients are happy. And the company makes money.
The management and employees are really glad that the new CEO is doing a Survey. They say exactly what they think is working and is not working. Tom likes a lot that he sees on the Survey Results, and there are areas for improvement.
The company culture has strengths and weaknesses.
The Good News: People are proud of the products and service. They respect that the COO gets the work out. His Objectivity and Restraint/Seriousness (both at 60%) show that he studies facts and is serious about getting a top quality product and giving first class service. At 94% in Theoretical Value he examines a large range of possible solutions, makes a short list, selects the best solution and carries it out, and makes a nice profit doing that.
The Bad News: The COOs Dominance at higher than 97% of us creates problems in his leadership that he would not believe before he looked at his PSA© and the Survey Results. His Deference is higher than only 30% of us, his Cooperativeness is higher than 18% of us, and his Aggression is higher than 90% of us. People reported on the Survey that they wondered if what they think, feel and know is important to him. This set of strengths has served him well in other company cultures. He is always motivated to do what works.
Tom hires an Executive Coach for Will. Will learns tools to increase his Deference and Cooperativeness. He also learns and applies more techniques of getting things done through people. Now he practices them in place of Aggressiveness. Everyone sees the this work.
Next, the VP of Marketing will get his PSA©. Knowing what his PSA© reveals will help Tom make his long range plans to streamline operations, cut costs, and then greatly increase the amount of business. Tom is interested to see what insights a comparison of the COOs PSA©, the VP of Marketings PSA©, and his PSA© give him about how to increase profitability and market share. See this kind of Chart at Edward’s, the CEO’s, and VP 2’s PSA©s: The Executive Team at Get a Second College Degree©. Click it on the Home Page.
Is Tom still glad that he bought the company?
Yes. Tom loves going to work every day. He thinks aloud, “I know some guys who have sold their companies and would find it fun to help me here. They can be advisors or board members.
Like my friend Ted who just sold his equipment company (On the Home Page clickSell a Business to My Children or Someone Else© and Enjoy My Retirement©). Ted met a brand new business owner at the Small Business Administration (SBA) that he is having fun helping now. Of course, Ted and these other guys know more guys. I like golf, too. But it’s just more fun to make money. Won’t we have fun?”
Can I use our PSAs© to do management development?
Sure. Use your PSA© to make a chart like this and make your Management Development Plan.
You already learned a lot about how a CEO can use a PSA© to do management development by reading about Tom and Will. You know a lot about your current situation.
1. Print out this explanation of Tom’s and Will’s PSAs© and how Tom uses them to do management development. Scan this and save it as a document in a folder named “PSAs© in My Management Development Plan.”
1. If you haven’t already done so: Print out Tom’s and Will’s PSAs©. You can print out this case study, too. Scan them and save them as a document in a folder named “PSAs© in My Management Development Plan.” After you get your PSAs©: Use them to help you understand how to use your PSAs© in your management development.
2. To order your PSA©: Go back to the Home Page. When you take your tests: Think of yourself as you are when you are at your very best.
3. After you get your PSAs©: Use it to see how to use your executive’s and manager’s personality strengths to streamline operations and increase your profit margin.
4. The more you think about your strengths and those of your executives and managers the more you will see how to make them work together.
