As we discussed in our last post, leaders cannot achieve their business goals without the commitment of their constituents. This commitment is essential because, in fact, it is those constituents that actually achieve the goals, not the leader. The leader may set the target, but the constituents make it happen. The leader enables teams of people to work effectively together to achieve those goals. The Pharaohs of Egypt did not build the great pyramids. They said what they wanted done but it was the effort of many constituent groups that got it done. The US President Kennedy did not put a man on the moon. He set the target but it was the effort of many constituent groups that got it done.

So, who are these constituents whose commitment leaders must earn? Very simply, they are any group of people who have a stake in what you are doing. They are the people who will be affected by the direction in which you, as the leader, are taking them. They are the people who will contribute to getting there. They are the people who will be asked to give something to the effort of achieving those goals, and who will also be likely to gain something by achieving them. Equally important, and frequently not considered, is that any one of those groups of constituents has the power to derail the effort if they so choose. So, managing their commitment is essential to success.

The most obvious group of constituents is Employees. Through most of your career Employees will be the group of constituents to whom you will pay the most attention. They produce the products and services you sell. They are the group you will see and interact with the most.

An equally important and obvious group of constituents is Customers. They buy the products or services you sell. In any function, at any level, we all have customers. This includes internal customers as well as external. At any level we all have a boss. That boss is a customer. That boss is paying us for performing a service as does any other customer.

Perhaps somewhat less obvious is the constituent group of Owners. Owners provide you the capital to operate your business. Certainly in a publicly traded company everyone has Owners because of the existence of Shareholders. Privately owned companies do not have shareholders but certainly have owners. An exception to this concept may exist in a privately owned company in which the CEO is also the sole Owner of all interests in the company. He/she may not have any Owners as constituents. That is a rare case that most of us will not have to worry about.

Another less obvious but very powerful constituent group is Regulators. This constituent group allows you to operate your business. Every business is regulated in some way if by nothing more than the local tax authority. What may also be true is that some leadership positions at very low levels may not have to deal with external regulatory authorities. However, there are also internal regulatory authorities that set the policies and guidelines by which the business operates.  All employees must operate in accordance with company policies and procedures and so are subject to the interests and concerns of their internal regulatory authorities.

Finally, the least obvious constituent group is the Community in which your business is operates. This constituent group gives you a place in which to conduct your business. Depending on the type of business you are in determines the extent to which you will interface with the community.

…any one of those groups of constituents has the power to derail the effort if they so choose. So, managing their commitment is essential to success.

Employees, Customers, Owners, Regulators and Community are the constituents whose commitment is so critically important to the success of your business. There are, of course, exceptions to each of these descriptions. More importantly, there are subcategories of each constituent group. For example, assume for the moment that you are the CEO of an organization. Your Employees, as a constituent group, means everyone from the Senior Management Team to the entry-level production worker just starting out his/her career. There are many different layers of people within that constituent group who have a different perspective and understanding of the business. Awareness of this distinction is important.

Understanding and meeting the needs of each of these constituent groups is essential to earning their commitment and achieving the goals and objectives of the business.  So, what are their needs?  That is a subject of a future post…stay tuned.