The Builder/Protector aspect of the 7 Stages of Growth is a measurement within an organization of confidence vs. caution. It’s a critical measurement tool for a CEO and his/her leadership team to be able to assess the organization’s ability to accept change, react with confidence to that change and help the organization achieve its stated goals.
Why should you care about what your client’s B/P Ratio is? A good leader works from solid information. Making decisions, determining how well the organization is performing, and knowing how the ‘behind the scenes’ culture is impacting productivity are all impacted by a balance of Builders and Protectors in an organization.
A Builder mindset creates new ideas, takes on new initiatives, and finds ways to expand the revenue and profitability of the enterprise. A Builder chooses to challenge and improve the way things are done. They are risk tolerant and highly supportive of growth. A Builder tends to be confident in the financial strength of an organization and hold a high degree of confidence in the organization’s processes and systems.
When an organization is strong financially, when communication exists from the bottom up and the top down and is done consistently, and when employees feel valued in an organization, it’s much easier to maintain and or build a Builder mentality. Also, certain positions in an organization may be more Builder-centric. The leadership team in an organization may tend to be made up of more Builders because these people have the pulse of the organization at their fingertips and have control over their own destiny.
A Protector mindset is cautious and prefers to slow down the pace of change. They are risk averse and highly suspicious of growth. Protectors may not feel confident in the organization’s financial strength and are slow to embrace the optimism of the future. They tend to be suspicious of new markets and the stability of such. Protectors tend to keep the brake pedal on even during times of rapid expansion and react cautiously to leadership’s ability to take the organization forward.
Protectors tend to evolve more noticeably when there is a downturn in business, either from internal issues or external issues. When there is an attitude of fear in the workplace, Protectors emerge and begin to apply the brakes to new ideas, resource requests and change in general. Companies want Protectors in certain positions, such as controller, accountants, CFOs. A healthy mix of Protectors is beneficial as they help apply the brakes when things start going too fast and decisions are being made too quickly.
An interesting article from Gallup indicated that a make-or-break trait for organizations during tough times is resilience. They note that especially during any crisis, it takes an exceptional level of resilience for companies and their employees to thrive amid uncertainty and a disrupted climate. Their recent study of 62,965 business units and teams, published in the peer-reviewed science journal Human Performance, “reports that favorable job attitudes have a stronger relationship to organizational outcomes in bad economic times than they do in normal or good times.”
That study which looked at the mid-‘90s through 2015 which included two major economic recessions (2001-2002 and 2008-2009) evaluated how key cultural attributes impacted profitability, productivity, customer perceptions of service and employee turnover. The conclusion was this: Favorable job attitudes have a stronger relationship to organizational outcomes in bad economic times than in good economic times. Resilient cultures survive.
The reality is a strong Builder-Mindset will create confident cultures. When the leadership of an organization creates a culture that is open and honest in how they communicate, recognizes the value that each and every person brings to the organization, isn’t afraid to take on tough issues and difficult conversations, and holds people accountable to clear expectations, that confident culture (Builder Mindset) will survive and even thrive when times get tough.
The ability for the Stages of Growth X-Ray process to help uncover a company’s Builder/Protector Ratio can be an effective process to bring teams back together during challenging times. These are just a few reasons why you should care about a company’s Builder/Protector Ratio.
On the GCS Membership Site there is a slide deck called Builder/Protector as a Hidden Agent. Find it under the Resources Tab, under the 7 SOG Tab, under the Training subhead.
http://gcspecialists.com/member-dashboard
In this slide deck I help you understand how the B/P hidden agent can help:
Get people talking about the growth plan
A CEO engage others in making decisions
Build trust
Improve communications
A CEO release control to key employees
Create defined values
How a CEO sees reality
I explain how to help a CEO assess their own B/P ratio by simply asking a series of questions and being aware of the staff voltage in their organization. I provide you with marketing messages to help you position this powerful hidden agent and use in a presentation, a lead generating webinar or a blog post.
Remember, thriving and resilient cultures endure through good times and bad. Help your CEOs to create and maintain a confident culture by understanding their Builder/Protector Ratio.
Your success. My passion.
Laurie Taylor, FlashPoint!
