President’s Message: Good Leaders Don’t Know Everything. They Know What “Good” Looks Like

Source: Chris Berleth Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce CEO/President

There’s always something new competing for a business leader’s attention. New technology, new regulations, new workforce challenges, new customer expectations -- all which demand time and attention. Keeping up with those changes is part of leadership, but so is making sure we don’t lose sight of the fundamentals that make organizations successful in the first place.

That is the idea behind the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce’s Business Leadership Forum on November 4^th. This year’s theme, “Back to the Basics,” starts with a pretty simple premise: good leaders don’t have to be experts in every part of their business, but they should know enough to recognize good work, ask good questions, and set the right expectations for the people who are.

Think about how most organizations actually operate. A CEO doesn’t need to be the company’s HR professional, and a department manager doesn’t need to understand every detail of the tax code. Not every leader is going to be the best salesperson in the room or know the ins and outs of a commercial banking relationship. But when you are responsible for leading an organization, you need to have some understanding of what good practices look like in each of those areas. You need to know enough to recognize when things are working well and, sometimes more importantly, when they aren’t.

That is the standard we want to explore at this year’s Forum. Throughout the day, we’ll hear from professionals in banking, human resources, taxes, sales, community health, and leadership, with each conversation focused on some of the basic practices that help strong organizations stay strong.

Let’s talk about HR for a moment. Our panelists will share their expertise in hiring and retention, managing difficult employee situations, documentation, workplace culture, and trust. You may have an HR professional who handles many of those things every day, but that doesn’t make them separate from leadership. Moreover, you may not have an HR professional at all, which makes it even more important to understand the basics of managing and caring for your team well. How an organization treats people, communicates expectations, handles problems, and builds trust is ultimately shaped by the standards its leaders set.

This applies to the Sales world too. Our “It Takes Two to Sell” session will look at a sale from both sides of the table, exploring what earns a buyer’s attention, how a seller builds trust, what causes a customer to disengage, and how to move a conversation beyond price and toward value. Even if you don’t carry a sales title, there is tremendous value in understanding how your organization builds relationships with customers, listens to what they need, and follows through on what it promises.

Banking, taxes, workforce issues, and community health may seem like very different subjects, but they all influence the decisions business leaders make. Our goal isn’t to turn anyone into an accountant, an HR expert, or a professional salesperson in a day. It is to expose leaders to good practices in each of these areas so they can return to their organizations better prepared to lead the people who do that work.

That is also why it makes sense to close the day with Jake Morrison of Lead EZ Solutions and a conversation about leadership styles. Leadership is the thread that connects the entire Forum, because knowing the fundamentals is only useful if leaders can put that knowledge into practice through the people and organizations they lead.

Asking someone to step away from their business or organization for most of a workday is a real commitment. Most leaders can fill every minute of a day without trying very hard, so an event like this needs to offer more than an interesting speaker or two. Our goal is for people to leave the Forum better equipped to lead than when they arrived.

Maybe that means recognizing an HR practice that needs some attention. Maybe you leave with a better question for your banker or accountant, a different way of thinking about a customer conversation, or a clearer understanding of something happening in the community that affects your workforce. Just as valuable may be the opportunity to spend the day with other local leaders, hear how they are approaching similar challenges, and have conversations that are difficult to fit into the normal rush of a work week.

There will always be a new trend, new tool, or new challenge demanding our attention, and successful leaders cannot afford to ignore what is changing around them. But chasing what is new without being good at the fundamentals is not much of a strategy either. Good leadership still requires sound judgment, clear expectations, strong relationships, accountability, and an understanding of how the different parts of an organization work together.

Sometimes preparing for what comes next means taking some time to make sure we’re still doing the basics well. One of the advantages we have in Columbia and Montour Counties is that we don’t have to look far to find people doing these things exceptionally well. On November 4, we’re bringing many of those leaders together to share what they know, challenge one another, and help all of us get a little better at leading. I hope you’ll join us as we go Back to Basics at this year’s Business Leadership Forum.

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The Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce represents local employers in supporting vibrant, sustainable communities in Columbia and Montour Counties.  For more information about the region’s top businesses, visit www.columbiamontourchamber.com.