Articles
After an exciting year serving as 4Liberty's CEO and reflecting on my time on the job, I am eager to share some of my key learnings and observations.
It is hard to fathom that it has been one year since I stepped in to lead 4Liberty as its CEO. As I reflect on this year, I can say that it has been challenging and rewarding. I came into this role after more than 20 years in the utility industry, and I felt ready to lead the company to the next era of growth. I joined the team with a tremendous amount of excitement and anticipation. I am proud to say that I am as enthusiastic and eager as I was a year ago, and I’m also a little wiser.
Here are a few of my observations:
1. Establishing values and purpose early sets the tone and gives the company a platform on which to build culture. I had the benefit of time to research and ponder the role before I officially stepped in to lead. I knew the kind of CEO I wanted to be and the kind I didn’t want to be. Within 30 days of taking the helm, I was able to articulate what our company values would be. I knew we had a critical role in enabling clients in the energy transition. I knew where we needed to harness our strengths and where we needed to strengthen ourselves to compete. I wanted to use these values to drive performance, culture, and our unique value proposition. I rolled out the 4L’s of 4Liberty:
2. Flattening an organization delivers on its promise to improve communications and break down silos. One of the first things I needed to do was take a 6-levelorganization structure and flatten it to 4 levels, with only two or fewer levels between me and every employee in the company. If we value 4Listening, we needed to open communications and give everyone in the company a voice. We also needed to build up the role of the Manager in our company. Our managers directly oversee the daily deliverables to our clients and manage most of the employees in the company. We won’t be successful without successful managers who are set up for success with proper training and spans of control.
3. Feedback from your client is critical. Finding the right people to give direct feedback was not as easy as it sounds. For the first four months, I only heard about the great job we did. As I kept working across clients and tapping into those senior enough to be direct, I learned that we had some real areas we needed to improve on, and quickly. That feedback was truly a gift, and it afforded us the opportunity to work inside the company to correct and adapt rapidly. For example, this feedback directly led us to invest heavily in a comprehensive new onboarding program.
4. You won’t regret making hard decisions related to performance. Asking for client feedback also led to insight that we had some efficiency and performance issues to address. It’s not easy to make decisions to eliminate positions. The surprise (or maybe not such a surprise) is that morale improved by making these changes. I can speak firsthand and with proof that high performers want to be surrounded by other high performers.
5. Setting strategy is a fluid process. After a few months, I thought our strategy and value proposition were clear. After spending more time working with clients, it has become clear that our value proposition is more nuanced than I initially gave it credit for. Our business is not simply Program Management Office (PMO) to deliver projects on time and on budget. We are consultants that can handle tough problems, tricky/neglected projects, and turn them around to run more efficiently. We deliver problem-solving, accountability, and efficiency. We deliver the desired end outcome for our clients.
My ultimate learning is that setting a new culture takes time, but it’s worth it. Patience has never been my best virtue but learning more patience and watching the results take shape is incredibly rewarding.
Sharelynn Moore, CEO
