Go for it


When he’s allocating costs, Michael Corley considers his office to
be overhead.

“We don’t make any money here; all the money is made out
there,” says the president of Progressive Employer Services.

And because all the money is made “out there,” Corley makes it
a point to get out of the offices of the 160-employee administrative
service provider and get to where the work is actually happening.

His philosophy of proactive managing has led the company to
2006 revenue of $47 million, up 142 percent over 2003.

Smart Business spoke with Corley about why you sometimes
need to stop analyzing a plan from every angle and just go for it.

Q: What are the key skills that a leader needs?

You’ve got to have an understanding of the business, the capabilities of the employees and the company, because you’re obviously
going to want to institute a change in direction or something new.
You’re always trying to get better, and you want to balance that. If
you don’t have an understanding of what your company is capable
of, you could demand too much, and then you’ll have failure.

You’ve got to be able to see the bigger picture. Functional line
managers see things in the world, as they rightly should, but you’ve
got an obligation as a leader to balance that versus the needs of the
entire organization. You’ve got to be able to execute. You can’t just
think about it. You’ve got to create momentum.

Q: How do you create momentum?

If you sit here and you analyze something to death, you don’t
start it. You don’t even know if it’s going to work. If you sit there
and try to plan something 100 percent to perfection, you’re not
going to get anywhere.

Get to 70 or 80 percent and launch it. Get it going, and then see
what happens. If you’ve got good people, things just seem to fall
into place. You seem to hit or exceed what you intended to do.

Here’s an example: We’re talking about implementing some technological changes. They aren’t so fancy from a technological perspective, but from a process perspective, it’s a change. So, there
are some reluctant people. We think through the ramifications, you
do your due diligence, and then you say, ‘Let’s launch the doggone
thing.’ There’s limited downside risk, there’s only upside opportunity. Get that thought process going.

Q: What mistakes do executives make, and how do you avoid
them?

A big one is forgetting where and how the work is getting done
and by whom. I know there are a number of folks who are making
this business happen on a day-to-day-basis. They are truly the No.
1 asset. You’ve got to make sure you’re involved and they know
you’re involved.

Too much change is another mistake. If you’re removed from the
day to day, it’s easy to change things. Well, now you’ve got to turn the
ship — no matter how big or little (the change) is — and show people
you can operationalize that change. It can be daunting if you’re not visible, if you’re not involved.

Another mistake that can be made is thinking the people in the
organization understand what you are communicating and your
actual intent. There’s always a gap in communications, but you
have to go to great lengths to make sure people are hearing in the
same manner you are intending them to hear.

That’s a conscious thought process for executives. They’ll say,
‘That’s what I said, that’s what I meant,’ but that’s not how it was
received.

Q: How do you narrow that communication gap?

You preach and preach and say the same thing many, many
times. You do it in different settings to create opportunities for
feedback. I’ll meet with small groups of employees; I’ll meet with
the entire group. I’ll meet one on one with people, I’ll go grab somebody I know and ask them, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’

What I’m trying to find out is how they received the message, so
I know how it’s being received. It’s a proactive approach to understanding there is a gap. There is a gap, that’s a given. You have to
understand what the gap is and adjust accordingly.

Q: What is the greatest business lesson you’ve learned?

Be humble. We’re all human beings, nobody’s better than anybody else. You’ve got to empathize. You really should like people.
And if you don’t like them, you should act like you like them.

Have some humility and give credit where credit is due. CEOs are
like the president of the United States; they get too much credit
when times are good, and too much harassment when things aren’t
good. But in those good times, you’ve got to be humble and recognize the people who do the job.

HOW TO REACH: Progressive Employer Services, (941) 925-2990 or
www.progressiveemployer.com