Stop choking on the dust

I attended an ASIS International breakfast (Qld Chapter) this week which featured a guest speaker, Robbie Sinclair who is also a friend of mine. He spoke about the need for, and value of, security professionals acquiring and maintaining leadership and management skills. His presentation is below.

Asis presentation robbie sinclair 2012 v1

 I walked away from the morning having consumed significantly more caffeine than is probably good for me; reflecting on the need for security professionals and others to align their outcomes with those of the business. As leaders and managers, we need to ensure we are also good followers.

I often see people get very frustrated by an inability to gain organisational commitment, budget or other resources when their proposal is important and should be a priority. What they may not realise is that there are also many CEOs who also get frustrated when they get approached by managers and subject matter experts who articulate very well the specifics of what they think is needed without understanding their internal customer (in this case the CEO). 

We often complain about the sales person who tries to sell something we don’t need or something that is outside our own budget (even if it is shiny and new). Why do they waste my time? Don’t they know I can’t afford that? Don’t they know I would never use that? Don’t they know I have other priorities at the moment? 

If we take the time to reflect on our own experiences, we should come to realize that the CEO has many internal (and external) ‘sales people’ who are trying to tell him he what he needs. The most painful thing is that the CEOs strategy tells these people what he needs most, what drives the business and what road the organisation is travelling on yet many fail to see this. 

Understanding this, will help us provide solutions that are appropriate to the path being taken. A boat is no good if the path is not over water and a truck is no good if we are travelling light.

 Investing the time in understanding the CEO, the Board and the rest of the team helps us get engaged and make progress (not to say you should not expect potholes and bumps). Sometimes, you may just need to repackage what you are passionate about, compromise or realign your efforts to supporting the boss and making sure you don’t get left at the back of the pack, sucking in dust while everyone else has fresh air and good health – so to speak.

If you have read the strategy, business plan and engaged in setting the priorities but still can’t get results, perhaps you should just ask how you can help… and make sure you are looking at the same map and travelling the same road in the same vehicle.