Will the Chief Behavior Officer emerge?
Posted on 08-26-09 by NXT Editor. Category: Viewpoint
In the past two decades the role of the CXO has emerged. Most recent and popular addition is the CRO, the chief Risk Officer. May be it is time to appoint a Chief Behavior Officers or a CBO?
While we are still in the heat of the financial and economic crises many debates take place about the cause and remediation. Some call for more regulations, other say we need to focus on our leaders and managers themselves (and their remuneration).
Our viewpoint is that regulations and guiding principles are important but often they are a remedy for events that already happened. How to react in situations that are new and unprecedented? This is where our value systems and norms come into play. They drive behavior and so does compensation.
What every sales person is taught: “compensation drives behavior”. In other words the way you are being paid steers you in that direction. It sounds simple to design a compensation framework. The reality shows it is not. In such a framework, or” compensation plan”, the future cannot be anticipated. Continuous monitoring and adjustments are necessary, as well as deciding what is “reasonable”.
The CBO must take an independent position and keep the focus of the leadership and organization on it desired behavior. The role basically ensures and sustains the implementation of values that many companies have identified for themselves.
Leadership and behavior have been subject to research for a long-time starting in the 1930’s . In the middle of the twentieth century there was a prevailing belief that people were born leaders and the research studied the traits that such people showed. When it was not possible to reveal a generic set of traits researchers looked in behaviors or leadership styles. Many views on leadership have since emerged. As leadership authority and Pulitzer price winner, James MacGregor Burns said: “leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth”.
Where does this leave the CBO? Desired behaviors can be captured in policies and standards to a certain degree. The role of the CBO offers opportunity for additional reflection and judgment, a guardian of a company’s principles and values. To be influential the position should be independent.
Our viewpoint is that regulations and guiding principles are important but often they are a remedy for events that already happened. How to react in situations that are new and unprecedented? This is where our value systems and norms come into play. They drive behavior and so does compensation.
What every sales person is taught: “compensation drives behavior”. In other words the way you are being paid steers you in that direction. It sounds simple to design a compensation framework. The reality shows it is not. In such a framework, or” compensation plan”, the future cannot be anticipated. Continuous monitoring and adjustments are necessary, as well as deciding what is “reasonable”.
The CBO must take an independent position and keep the focus of the leadership and organization on it desired behavior. The role basically ensures and sustains the implementation of values that many companies have identified for themselves.
Leadership and behavior have been subject to research for a long-time starting in the 1930’s . In the middle of the twentieth century there was a prevailing belief that people were born leaders and the research studied the traits that such people showed. When it was not possible to reveal a generic set of traits researchers looked in behaviors or leadership styles. Many views on leadership have since emerged. As leadership authority and Pulitzer price winner, James MacGregor Burns said: “leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth”.
Where does this leave the CBO? Desired behaviors can be captured in policies and standards to a certain degree. The role of the CBO offers opportunity for additional reflection and judgment, a guardian of a company’s principles and values. To be influential the position should be independent.
Other News
- Assessments Provide Actionable Analysis for Restructuring
- Bye Bye Consultant
- Shell Announces Major Restructuring
In the past two decades the role of the CXO has emerged. Most recent and popular addition is the CRO, the chief Risk Officer. May be it is time to appoint a Chief Behavior Officers or a CBO?
