A common frustration amongst CEOs is that when they promote internal Managers to C-Suite Executives, they often receive lackluster results. A lot of times, Managers are exceptional with operations, management, and overall performance of their respective departments, but struggle to make a successful transition to the C-Suite.

 

Why is that?

As a Manager, there are different expectations attached than with a C-Suite Executive.

As an Executive, a CEO is expecting Game Changing Value that affects the organization’s bottom line in a real way. These new expectations require new conversations and different skill sets, knowledge bases, mindsets, and ways of being (behaviors, actions).

Managers usually have different role and responsibilities, and typically different views and perspectives than C-Suite Executives.

Managers tend to be short-term, task-orientated, day-to-day thinking, immersed in the day-to-day. They focus more on the immediate future and generating action.

C-Suite Executives focus on the long-term and view decisions from the vantage point of “how will this affect the organization as a whole”, “how is the company aligned or not aligned”, and “what opportunities are out there to capitalize on, and what potential threats do we need to be aware of?”

Overall, C-Suite Executives think strategically and analyze situations and information from a strategic point of view.

Thinking strategically is a mindset shift. It is not simply adding new skills, learning a new technique or following a new set of steps to achieve a certain outcome. A mindset shift is thinking differently and developing new perspectives and views. The transition of Manager to C-Suite Executive requires going from a concentration of just a department, team, or area of concentration, to a focus on the organization, and viewing situations and experiences from a mindset of how it affects the entire organization.

This transition can be quite difficult and will likely require some training and support from the CEO to the future Executives on what Game Changing Value means to the organization.

 

What is Game Changing Value?

It is new ideas and possibilities that affect revenue and profits positively, or reduce organizational costs – basically, it is bottom-line value.

For example, introducing new, innovative technology to the company that creates a new product that leads to a new revenue generation stream that did not exist previously.

Finding a new way to utilize large equipment that increases overall equipment utilization and generates increased revenue and profits.

 

How does a CEO make this conversational shift of tactical to strategic with Managers?

Here are 3 questions to ask:

1. Finish this sentence – “Strategic Thinking is…”
2. What are 3 ideas or possibilities you see that could lead to game-changing value for the organization?

Definition – Game Changing Value to the organization means to create a meaningful, sustainable difference to increase revenue and/or profit and reduce costs.

Example: 15% increase in revenue, make new subsidiary arm of business profitable, and reduce organizational expenses by 15 – 20% without reducing personnel or sacrificing quality.

3. How could you turn your game-changing ideas and possibilities into reality over the next 3 – 5 years within the organization? Include any data, research, or related information to support your ideas.

This exercise is a great way to begin having higher level, strategic conversations that can lead to action. When a CEO provides this level of support to new, emerging C-Suite Executives it shows a high level of care and commitment to the future growth of both the individuals and the organization.

 

Leadership Challenge:

Make a request from your C-Suite Executive Team to come up with 3 – 5 Game-Changing Value ideas and possibilities for your next Executive meeting.

How does a great leader become a great leader?

How does an entrepreneur go from being great at what he/she does to being great at managing the operations of a company?

Transitioning from one state to another involves being a true learner. When you embrace being a true learner, you make a commitment to grow, develop and evolve yourself to close the Performance Gap between the leader you are now to the leader you want to become.

 

What is the Performance Gap?

The Performance Gap is the space between the leader you are now, and the leader you want to be. Within the Performance Gap there is Resistance that shows up as Resignation, Complacency and Cynicism.

All 3 dimensions of resistance cause leaders to get stuck and frustrated.

When a leader goes into “resistance mode” their mindset becomes narrow and their focus is on “what’s wrong”, “nothing works”, “it’s hopeless”, versus being open-minded and creating momentum through new possibilities and taking action, and asking themselves and others, “what if” or “how can we?, which encourages different perspectives and new ways of thinking.

 

The Performance Gap

When you make the commitment to become a learner, you also make a commitment to embrace the “Performance Gap”.

When you embrace learning you are going to encounter moving from being comfortable to being uncomfortable. While this is often quite challenging, it is also the most beneficial growth.

The mindset and language of a present leader versus a future leader.

Leadership Challenge:

Review situations where you or your team has shown resistance to ideas or change, and discuss what could possibly happen if the resistance was removed.

When someone says, “we have a great company culture”, or “we need to improve our company culture” – what are they really saying?

What makes up a company culture, and what makes it desirable or not?

At Awesome Journey our definition of a “Healthy Culture” is:

“A Network of intentionally designed conversations that are built from the organization’s core values and mission/purpose statement to drive a set of specific behaviors to create the right outcomes like quality products, service, people, and teams.”

Your organizational culture lives in your conversations and language, and the outcomes you are able to achieve together.

A sign of a healthy and happy culture is a lack of negative background conversations.

Background conversations are water cooler talk and side conversations where true feelings are often revealed, frustrations are aired, and disengagement brews.

If there are background conversations occurring, they will dominate all internal conversations in your organization, and they will strain and hinder trust, engagement, communication, and performance in negative ways.

Organizations that have “Healthy Cultures” are able to leverage their culture to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Bridgewater Associates The whole organization is committed and aligned to living by a set of principles to become great. This alignment creates a shared culture that is understood and practiced daily. Some of their guiding principles: Be radically open minded Give and receive Real-Time Feedback to my colleagues Own your outcomes to be great Hold yourself and others accountable See problems as an opportunity to learn Book about their healthy culture is entitled, “Principles”, by Ray Dalio (CEO)

Google Google’s belief that “High Performance Teams Need Psychological Safety” is the guiding force behind their culture, their commitment, and their secret to building great teams. Some of their guiding principles: Radical Candor – “Caring Personally and challenging directly” Constant Innovation – through collaboration, time to dream, fun and give staff Challenging problems to work on = innovation Intense Hiring Process to attract the best people

Disney From personal experience, the Disney culture is real and deep – it makes you truly believe you are in the happiest place on earth! Some of their guiding principles: Defined language that is embedded into Disney personnel that creates a unique experience for all staff and their guests Customers/visitors are called “Guests” Staff are either “on stage” or “off stage” – commitment to magical atmosphere Staff in research and design are called “Imagineers” All staff are called “Cast Members” Deep commitment to training staff to be great through Disney Institute Commitment to live 4 core values – Safety, Courtesy, The Show & Efficiency Clear understanding of ideal target client and world-class value and service

Barry-Wehmiller Some of their guiding principles: Clear set of core values to support staff – Leadership, People-Centric, Transformation & vision that fosters “Care, compassion and human connection Deep commitment to learning for all staff through “Barry-Wehmiller University” their foundational course is entitled, “Truly Human Leadership” that all staff take Clear set of Guiding Principles that is driving 12,000 employees with revenue around $2.8 Billion They are in Demand! Book about their healthy culture is entitled, “Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family”, by Robert Chapman (CEO)

Pixar Some of their guiding principles: Extraordinary results in the marketplace – 15 Blockbusters that went from idea to being in the theaters in 5 years (Disney’s average is 7 years from idea to theater) Deep commitment to creativity through collaboration, challenging the status quo, being great when you show up to play, and embracing real time quality feedback through their “Daily Review Process” Achieve greatness through High Performance Teams Core principle that makes greatness at Pixar is – “Everyone must have the freedom to communicate with anyone!” Book about their healthy culture is entitled, “Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation”, by Linda Hill

A Healthy Culture creates a differentiating factor that is almost impossible to compete against. A company can compete on price, service and products, but they cannot simply copy your culture (network of conversations), which makes culture incredibly powerful.

 

Challenge:

In your next Executive Meeting initiate a dialogue about all the different conversations that are impacting your organization (two examples – meetings and onboarding new staff).

Are the conversations in these meetings built on your company’s core values and mission/purpose statement?

The Las Vegas Golden Knights (Knights) roared onto the 2018 hockey stage and left with a bang as they competed in the final round for the Stanley Cup again the Washington Capitals.

Although the Knights ultimately lost to the Washington Capitals, their stunning first-year achievement of making it to the Stanley Cup Finals deserves a celebration and reflection on what may have taken the team from obscurity to almost winning the biggest prize in the NHL.

The Knights were the epitome of the power of teamwork and what creates a high performance (HP) team. They created a system and placed the right people in the right spots. The players were able to play based on their strengths and where they excelled.

7 Components of a High-Performance Team:

1. Trust – They can be very real and honest with each other

2. Clear Vision – There is alignment on what the envisioned future looks like. Everyone is pulling in the same direction.

3. Clear Understanding of Roles and Responsibilities – Everyone on the team knows why they are there, what they bring to the team, and how their contributions bring value and are necessary to achieve the vision and goals

4. Enthusiasm and Fun – Genuine liking between the people. It is said that if people like you they are more likely to buy from you. The same goes for HP teams. If you enjoy spending time with and working with people, the chances of experiencing great success together is much higher.

5. Challenge Each Other and Provide Feedback – Everyone gets stronger when ideas are challenged and there is regular feedback, both positive and constructive.

6. Cohesive through a Shared Language, Way of Being, Attitudes, Desire for End Result – When a team is cohesive, they are individual puzzle pieces that have found their perfect spot. They are one piece of a larger puzzle, and without that piece, there is a gaping hole that leads to an incomplete picture.

7. Mindset of Intention vs Expectations:

• An intention is taking a stand and serving a purpose (internal focus).
• An expectation is a prediction, with attachment and assumption around conditions and situations (external focus).

When you come from an intention, the language shifts from “this is how good we should be” based on external factors, to “we can achieve anything” based on internal factors. This language shifts the conversation to “we have no boundaries, no constraints, and no limits” which dramatically shifts your mindset regarding what you can and cannot do. It leaves no space for “but”, it only has space for “how”.

HP teams function and perform through a commitment to something larger than just a goal or objective. The commitment becomes the driving force behind the perseverance and dedication necessary to achieving greatness. It goes beyond a goal, beyond a success metric, and beyond achieving an objective: it’s your purpose, it’s your stand – there is no plan B!

Well-designed structures and systems can turn a team from good, great, to amazing, simply through the trust the team has in the system and a commitment to an outcome regardless of whether it seems achievable or not. HP teams are usually functioning within structures and systems that are designed with the intention of delivering excellence and to create the desired outcome.

The Las Vegas Golden Knights = Welcome to Impossible

The Knights were an expansion team made up of players that were plucked from other teams that were willing to give them up. They started as misfits with a desire to prove what they could do.

From the outside and on paper, the Knights should have been D.O.A. and fighting to be noticed in the fiercely competitive NHL, but between their GM, coaching staff, playing structure and system, and lots of empowerment, they were able to put the right players into the right roles that would enhance their strengths and align to the other players around them.

“It’s a credit to coach Gerard Gallant’s philosophy of having a well-conditioned, confident group of forwards who work well together, focus on short effective shifts, and exude confidence on the ice – all while, as he reiterates it daily, playing 200 feet of hockey. “

 

Leadership Challenge:

Where does your team need to upgrade their commitment to being High Performance?

What does it mean to be stuck? Being stuck means you are unable to move forward and generate action.

When a company, team or organization is not achieving its goals, fulfilling its promises or producing the desired results, the first place to look is at its leadership.

Effective Leaders generate ACTION.

Effective leaders create and direct the path for the team and organization. They empower and guide others to create the conditions that enable the organization to generate action to move forward.

Absent conscious action, we find leaders reacting, frustrated and analyzing why there’s no action, or panicking over the lack of action; lots of activity, but no action and few results.

For many leaders, they often get stuck but are not aware of it.

 

What causes Leaders to be stuck?

Leaders get stuck when they move from being empowered to being entitled. In fact, we say they’ve become a VERB. Listen carefully; it is easy to hear a VERB.

Example:

I arrive for a client meeting and I am told that they have mis-scheduled my appointment. I leave upset so I call my assistant and blame her for not confirming the appointment and wasting my time.

A VERB is an acronym – a way of Being.  It is who we become when we get stuck.

A VERB is an acronym for:

V = Victim – (This is a persistent complaint: no one appreciates me)

E = Entitlement – (I deserve ___________.)

R = Rescue Me – (Someone needs to get me out of this mess)

B = Blame – (It’s not my fault, something’s wrong with you, them or it.)

VERBS are enforced by your perceptions of how things “should” be. That little voice in your head that says:

“There is a way things should be, and when they are, things are right. When they are not that way, something is wrong with you, them or it!”

A VERB finds you STUCK in this reinforcing thought:

Why did this happen to me?

What’s wrong?  

Who’s to blame

(someone else or circumstances)?

Breaking free of your VERB mindset requires transforming your reinforcing thoughts with a new ACTION language:

What happened?

What’s missing?

What’s next? 

 

What Happened?

If you are committed to action, observe only what was said or what was done. Notice if you begin to ask “why” something happened. That leads to an interpretation or assumption, not a FACT.

Focus again on only “What Happened?”

Be aware of your interpretations or assumptions. They move you into a story that distorts the facts and keeps you stuck.

To generate action, focus only on what was observable.

Stop, pause, and declare:

What happened, then look at the facts and what was said.

Example:

You are excited to share an idea with your boss. You stop by her office to share your cool idea and she says, “Not now, I am too busy to talk, get back to me later!”  You leave dejected. Immediately you begin to think: “She rejected me, or I feel lack of appreciation.”  You might also think: “Why bother, my ideas are not important to my boss.”

Notice that you are now thinking about “what this means.”

Stop, pause and return to “what happened?” In this example, what happened is what was said: “My boss said she was busy and to get back to her.”

 

What is Missing?

Here you are concerned not with “what is wrong or who is to blame” (which is where most leaders go when a problem or failure occurs), you are focused on discovering “what’s missing” which has something to do with a key conversation.

Fundamentally, a conversation for action is missing.

Key conversations for action include a Request, a Promise or an Offer.

Example:

So instead of getting wrapped up in your own story, you simply make a clear request to your busy boss and ask, “When would be a better time for us to discuss my cool idea about marketing to new potential clients?”  And your boss comes back with a promise to meet you at 3pm this afternoon. You walk away feeling engaged to share your cool idea with your boss at 3pm. You are excited.

 

What’s Next?

Again, what’s next is always a conversation that will forward action. Email a clear request to ask your busy boss for a time to meet to discuss your idea, “When can we meet this week to discuss my idea?”

Your leadership depends on your capacity to communicate action and creating conversations that move things forward. Here, you are focused on creating action rather than focusing on your story about your boss. Remember, your story constitutes you as a VERB that does not generate action. Instead, a conversation for action generates results.

Practicing the script:

What happened?

What’s missing?

What’s Next?

Become Decisive, Proactive and Able to Transform Stuck into ACTION!

A culture is just a network of conversations!

A High-Performance Culture is a network of “Intentional Conversations” that are designed from the company’s core values and mission statement.

To deepen the company culture throughout the whole organization we need to be designing intentional conversations in the following scenarios and then hold each other accountable to living it.

Remember a True Professional is someone who is the “Master of the Details” in 4 key areas:

• Image
• Conduct
• Expertise
• Execution

Below are a set of practices that our clients are living every day to enroll their colleagues into living their culture in intentional ways:

1. Hiring Process

How is your hiring process designed? Including questions that support vision, mission and core values. This helps to ensure the organization attracts the right type of people who will move the organization forward and will fit into the culture.

2. One-on-One Coaching Conversations

It is important to create space for individual conversations where people can feel free to speak their minds and bring up any concerns. Doing this shows an organizational culture of communication where even the most introverted people have the opportunity to be heard.

3. Feedback

Every organization manages the communication of feedback differently. For example, it may be done at annual performance reviews, monthly or weekly meetings, or daily in the moment.

The frequency and the structure of how feedback is provided speaks to a culture. Daily feedback and open forums speaks to a more agile, open and responsive culture vs. annual speaks to a more structured and reactive culture.

4. Organizational Conversations

Culture is a network of conversations and language that lives within the organization.

For example, at Starbucks every staff member is a “Partner”, at Disney all the design staff are called “Imagineers”, at STEP Energy Services all the staff in the field are called “Field Professionals”, and at Awesome Journey when challenges or setbacks occur we don’t ask, “What went wrong and who’s fault is it?” we ask, “What can we see was missing and who do we need to support and how can we best support them?”

5. Senior Management as Brand Ambassadors

Senior Management who live, breath and talk the vision, mission, and core values are the best catalysts for building and maintaining a culture. Leadership breeds more brand ambassadors.

6. Reflections and Celebrations

Does the organization take the time to step back and look at accomplishments, contributions, appreciation, wins (big and small), and celebrate in some way? Acknowledgments provide a space for the team, to see what they have done and understand how it has benefited the organization.

7. Communication Structure and Transparency

What structures are in place for communication? (i.e.: Email, phone, in person, online forums). How is communication performed throughout the organization? What is the expectation of what becomes of the communications – how are people accountable? What is the level of transparency for communication?

At Bridgewater, one of the world’s largest investment firms, they practice “radical transparency”. When you enter the company, you understand that they are radically transparent and your opinions and thoughts are required regardless of if they are positive or negative. You understand that you will not be reprimanded or face negative consequences for simply speaking your mind.

TedTalk Video that speaks to Radical Transparency | How to build a company where the best ideas win

If a company does not have this particular culture, there may be other methods of communicating your thoughts that work better for that culture.

8. Personnel Management

When a person is hired, promoted or terminated, how is it communicated to the organization? This indicates what behaviors are rewarded, or not acceptable. It also speaks to the level of openness and transparency within the culture.

If people are hired, promoted or terminated with no communication, the culture becomes “things just happen, no one tells us anything or cares how it affects us”.

On the flip side, if there is solid communication and space for any questions, the culture becomes “there has been a change, we’re in the loop, and I have a place to speak to my concerns. Management cares about us”.

The way decisions are made and how they are communicated shows a lot about an organization’s culture. What behavior creates a promotion, termination, corrective action or congratulatory situation?

9. Team Meeting Rhythms

How often does the team meet as a group? Are their smaller groups or committees to manage projects? What is the structure of the team meetings?

At Awesome Journey, we begin each meeting with meditation and then discuss our experiences with one of our core values. This is built into our culture.

10. Social Team Time

All work and no play can lead to a sense of a “no fun” culture. Creating the opportunities for the team to meet socially defines the “fun” factor. Consider Friday pizza lunches, coffee dates, group dinners, or anything else where the team can gel in an informal setting and get to know each other.

11. Charitable/Service Projects

Charitable service can be done internally (helping someone move, attending a special event, etc.) and externally (organization is committed to a specific charity).

Is the organization involved in any charitable organizations where they do an annual or monthly service? Is it a regular thing for team members to provide support to each other beyond just work? Charitable involvement shows people what the organization cares about within the broader community.

 

Leadership Challenge:

Reflect on what your organizational culture currently is and what you would like it to be.

What makes a great organization great? Is it only about a solid strategy, great planning, and exceptional execution, or is there more to it?

What truly separates organizations that achieve greatness and happy workers, from those that stall out?

Many organizations spend a great deal of time hammering out their vision, mission, core values, strategy, and plan for execution. All these items are necessary and very important, but what is often missing in these plans are the plans for how to ensure the team is set up properly to execute with excellence.

 

What does this mean?

Does the organization have the culture, communication, support structures, processes, and agreements to effectively execute on the plan? Does the team effectively communicate with each other and know how to work well together to be productive?

Basically, what is the level of “Workability” in your organization?

At the end of the day, people are the ones doing the work, therefore they need to know how to work well together to achieve the organization’s goals.

 

Creating a high-performance culture is not a one-pronged endeavor; meaning, there are multiple components that contribute to HP cultures.

 

CULTURE

What is culture and how does an organization create one?

Culture is built through a network of intentionally designed conversations that are agreed to and lived through shared values, attitudes, standards, beliefs, and practices.

Culture dictates behaviors, attitudes, how people interact with each other, what is expected, and how a company operates. It is the foundation within the organization for how the organization will perform work and the structure within the organization to build from.

Culture includes:

• Agreements – Requests/Promises
• Integrity – the ability to honor your word
• Support Structures – having the necessary equipment, processes, skills, and competencies to complete your work
• Culture of Leadership – action-oriented language
• Accountability – tracking, monitoring, counting
• Practices – there are common practices that people engage in

Culture starts at the top, then trickles down as the team observes Senior Leaders walking the talk and living the culture.

In Forbes, showed the importance of Senior Leadership in defining culture.

Forbes – Change your leaders to change your culture

“What is your organization’s biggest obstacle to transform your culture in response to market change and disruption? Forty percent responded that day to day decisions that are made to pay the bills, but undermine the stated strategy to change the culture. 24% was a lack of coherent vision for the future.”

If you’re a Senior leader who would like to get a pulse on your organization’s current culture the fastest way to do this is by listening. Listen to the current conversations happening between colleagues, what are people talking about, and what is the tone of those conversations – positive or negative?

If you like what you hear, encourage and expand those conversations. If you don’t like what you hear, start new conversations.

 

WORKABILITY – The Missing Link!

The term workability is not common in most organizations.

Although the elements of workability are vital, they are usually so embedded in an organization that no one really stops to think about “how” all the work is getting done and whether it is getting done effectively and efficiently with happy and satisfied workers.

Workability is all about people (conversations), processes (steps to completion), systems (ways of getting things done) and structures (equipment, tools).

It is a silence but critical piece of the HP Organization puzzle. Workability shows up in everyday life when the day to day works smoothly or is a daily challenge.

Workability is when that conference room projector works as it should when IT returns your call promptly, and when the printer rarely shuts down. All of these things create a high level of workability. A lack of workability is when there is miscommunication that leads to errors, the WIFI is sketchy and cannot be depended on for meetings, or when the processes and systems in place are outdated.

For example, in an organization, they have processes and IT structures in place that were built for a company of 100 people and are now needing to support 2,000 people. The needs of the organization have shifted, but the structures and systems in place have not changed, leading to a lack of workability.

The elements that makeup workability are often taken for granted that they will “just work”. “Just work” usually means a hardworking assistants, receptionists or other support staff has created workarounds and make-do solutions to get by and not incur additional expenses to upgrade what is needed to make things work properly.

Workability is critical for day to day operations in high-performance organizations, and it should hold a spot at the Strategic Planning table.

 

STRATEGY

Time to make some choices!

Strategy is often confused with planning. Planning is about creating timelines, tasks, and activities, whereas strategy is about defining what you want to do and why. What markets you will focus on, what products you will create for those markets, and which clients you want to attract. Strategy is about creating a focus and direction for what you want to achieve.

Southwest Airlines is famous for their strategic focus on low-cost airfare. Co-Founder and CEO, Herb Kelleher has spoken to the organization’s extreme discipline with their strategy and how he responds to customers that request perks that other airlines are providing.

“Southwest Airlines doesn’t do that. Maybe somebody else does, but we don’t. It greatly facilitates the operation of the company.”

 

Leadership Challenge:

Be intentional this week about noticing the level of workability in your life and how it affects your performance.

I coach C-Suite leaders and the one thing every C-Suite leader talks about is wishing for the gift of time to think and create. Meaning, time away from the day-to-day to clear your mind, remove distractions, and let your mind wander and see what happens. I have heard this referred to as a “thinking week”.

I have been talking and talking about taking a “thinking week” for years, and my own coach spoke about the benefits, and many top industry leaders highly recommend it, but the fear-based same stories kept on creeping up and replaying in my head.

I kept hearing, “you don’t have time”, “the office cannot live without you”, “what if something happens and I am not there”, and “I cannot spend a week away from clients”, and so on.

So, after I let my stories play out in my head, I made the intentional decision to make a different choice this year and face my fears – I said yes!

Before I packed my bags, I took some time to design my week away – what my intention was and what I wanted to reflect on and create. Creating this design was imperative to the depth of thought I wanted to have and the outcomes I wanted to receive.

 

I created a few questions to ponder:

What is my “Intention” for the Week?

To create a space where I am not distracted by day to day responsibilities to reflect on what myself and my team have created over the past year, and then design and create future possibilities for my business for the next 2 years.

 

What are my “Conditions of Satisfaction” for the Week?

• Be alone
• Off the Grid as Much as Possible
• Recharge Time in Nature daily
• Time in Reflection and Design daily

 

What are my “Potential Outcomes” for the Week?

What do I want to create through my week of reflection?

 

Review my performance as the CEO of Awesome Journey over the past year.

What are some of Awesome Journey’s accomplishments, and how would I rate my level of leadership?

 

What are my blind spots and how can I embrace them?

What do I not see and how can I embrace uncertainty?

 

5 Key Insights:

1. A quality CEO is not someone who has to have all the right answers all the time to move the team forward. A quality CEO is committed to creating and facilitating the space to ensure that every member of their team has a voice to support achieving our corporate goals.
2. I have come to realize that to become a High-Performance Organization there is a third layer of organization development underneath Culture and Strategy; I call it “Workability”.

To me workability means that quality agreements are in place, there are well-defined processes and structures that function properly, and all staff is living within a system of accountability. Accountability goes beyond just keeping a promise; true accountability is about supporting colleagues when they are struggling with keeping their promises.

3. Embracing transitions by learning to “Letting Go” to move forward. As I step into the mindset of being a Quality CEO I have come to realize that to grow the business I need to let go of control of every decision. I am learning to trust my team with their abilities and experience to execute decisions well without my input.
4. I prefer to avoid conflict, as I hear it as a criticism of myself. By doing this I create blind spots within myself and my business. If I were to embrace conflict and instead see it as an opportunity to learn and grow, then the conflict could serve me rather than trigger me.
5. I have a powerful presence that sometimes lands as forceful and aggressive. I am not always present or self-aware of the impact of my presence on others in a conversation. I plan to be more intentional about the impact of my presence and be conscious of the power my words or actions have on a person or group.

My week away also gave me an opportunity to think about how Awesome Journey has grown, developed and changed over the past year.

Through a focus on the business development process, we have achieved consistency in our company revenue giving us the ability to do stronger future planning. Our coaching quality has deepened through our commitment to an internal learning program under team coaching. The program has created an alignment of a team where we have gone from a mindset of “me” to a mindset of “we”.

Overall, my week away was very valuable and will be repeated next year. Taking the time to reflect enabled me to see what I have learned, what has been accomplished, and what is needed to move into the future.

 

Leadership Challenge:

To anyone who has been saying “I should do that”, or “I wish I could do that”, I challenge you to book the dates and set the location within the next 2 weeks.

The desire to create a culture of innovation has become a common organizational objective for many companies. If you have an organization that is innovative you are likely ahead of the curve and leading the pack. While it may be highly desired, it is not common or easy to create in most organizations.

Why?

By its very nature, innovation is all about creating what did not exist before, going into uncertainty and the unknown, and being creative to see what could be and discovering new possibilities.

According to Fredrik Haren, Swedish author of “The Idea Book”, only 45% of people feel they are creative at work and 2% of people feel their company does a good job at developing creativity in organizations (Global Leadership Summit 2017). This means that the creativity that leads to innovation is not something that just “happens” in a company, it is something that a company focuses on diligently to “create” within an organization.

How do you create creativity that will spark innovation?

Through many ongoing conversations.

 

Conversations about:

• Failure:

Failure is a great teacher, but many companies struggle to engage in conversations around any failures within the company because it can be uncomfortable or perceived as negativity, rather than as an opportunity to learn and grow.

For example, let’s say a key employee unexpectedly leaves the company. Many companies would regret the loss, but move on and not really look into why the person left. What may have been missing? Possibly a conversation to clear up any issues, a skill set that was lacking or under-utilized, or a missing or weak support structure? Looking at failures provides guidance for the future.

• Feedback:

Positive and negative feedback is necessary for recognition and improvements. Requesting feedback fuels conversations that lead to a deeper understanding of what is working, what is not, and how to move forward.

For example, if one of your key leaders came to you and gave negative feedback about a new person that was recently hired, how should you move forward?

A possible route could be to ask the leader what support they are looking for. From their perspective, what is missing for them to be able to build a positive relationship with this new person? The outcome of these questions will provide some direction for how to manage the situation.

• Learning:

It is important that leaders are continuously learning and bringing what they learn to the team. To do this, leaders must encourage learning and create structures around intention.

If an employee came back from a 3-day leadership course, how can you utilize what they learned? Rather than simply asking how it was, perhaps ask them for 3 things they learned from the course and how they can implement them to support the team. Is there a practice, process or new skill/competency to be implemented? Doing this expands the conversation and utilizes new knowledge.

• Experimenting:

Experimenting is the act of trying something new, where there is no certainty of the outcome.

For example, a company is expanding into a new market and notices that sales are sluggish and not meeting expectations. A team would likely need to question what they know, or what they have learned, about their new market and ideal clients, and experiment to see what works and what doesn’t work to effectively reach them.

• Accountability of Current Performance:

Accountability is often thought of as rigorous follow up, and can be seen as policing behavior, rather than as support to move the company forward.

For example, in an executive team meeting, a member of the senior leadership team is late for a meeting for the second time and no one has said anything. This leader is known for their punctuality, so this behavior is out of the ordinary. Typically, the background conversation or “cooler talk” becomes about how the leader is uncommitted, not trustworthy and cannot be counted on.

Instead of creating or supporting background conversations, another route could be to initiate an explorative conversation with the leader to hold them accountable. The conversation may be, “I sense there is something going on, as you are generally not late. What is going on in your world?”

The colleague has an opportunity to vent their frustrations and challenges they are currently having. Asking the question “how can I support you?” is an approach designed to get to the root of the issues and presents an opportunity to find solutions rather than just blaming or sitting in anger.

• Risks/Challenging Status Quo/Assumptions:

As times change and markets change, every company will need to accept a level of risk and adapt to find new ways to be competitive.

For example, if a company would like to expand into new countries or markets that other companies in the industry have tried and failed at, they must ask, why have others failed? What are we going to do differently, and what do we see that others have not seen that changes the game for us?

• Possibilities/Thought Provoking Questions:

Looking for what could be, versus simply accepting what everyone else does as the only way.

Being able to spot possibilities can create extraordinary opportunities. If you can see through the clutter that is complaints, frustrations and objections, you can see what others are missing. What are the complaints in the industry, what objections do you hear, and what frustrations do people vent about? All complaints and frustrations are hidden requests. Someone is speaking to a need that the market has not yet fulfilled for them. Uncovering these needs is the possibility no one else is thinking about.

All these conversations are designed to spark new thoughts, new ideas and new approaches. It is easy to get stuck in the minutia of the day to day issues, problems and struggles and forget to generate new ideas, thoughts and possibilities. Many people struggle with creative thinking as their day to day jobs are not necessarily designed to ignite this type of thinking, so it is important to inject new conversations into the dialogue, so it changes the background noise and creates an environment ripe for real innovation.

 

Leadership Challenge:

Inject one or two of the above conversations into your next team meeting and see what possibilities emerge!

Team meetings require something that is scarce for all busy executives – time!

Since time is scarce, attending unproductive and unorganized meetings can be incredibly irritating. You begin to wonder why you need to be there and what purpose it serves in your world.

Meetings are important as they bring a team together, but they must be designed with intention and purpose to be useful and effective.

When you consider that 50% of meeting time is wasted, and 39% of people doze off in meetings, you can see the importance that should be placed on well-designed, intentional meetings that generate future for the organization.

 

Intentional

What is the purpose of your meeting? Why is it necessary to gather everyone together?

Meetings should be used to discuss items that move your organization forward, and ideally not for items that could easily be determined via email or another communication platform. Many organizations gather to meet to provide updates to each other. A good question to ask is, could we provide updates through another communication mode such as email, Asana or other platforms, and use meeting time for other discussions?

Possible Intentions:

• Speak to the overall health of each department and the business overall
• Struggles or challenges Senior leaders are experiencing and utilize the expertise in the meeting to discuss solutions
• New initiatives, projects, and programs to keep the whole team in the loop
• Speak to what is working and what is not working

 

Conditions of Satisfaction (COS)

Conditions of satisfaction are the expectations everyone has for the meeting. You could also call these rules of engagement or ground rules; basically, an outline for how to get the most out of the meeting.

• Participate – everyone being prepared to contribute to the meeting’s agenda. Prepared notes, thoughts, ideas, presentations, etc. This speaks to how everyone should prepare to be able to participate.
• Be accountable for promises – when you agree to do something, ensure that you follow through. A lack of accountability within a team is a fast way to deteriorate trust within a team. If someone says they’ll do something, and they don’t; their word quickly becomes worthless.
• Be a deep listener – be engaged and present when others are speaking.
• Make it safe for people to share their ideas, concerns, personal fears – be respectful of whatever your teammates need to say. Having a high level of transparency and realness is invaluable in an organization, but first, everyone needs to feel that they can say what they need to say without negative consequences.

 

Communicate Through Dialogue Conversations

Most meetings are a monologue, meaning people talk at each other, not with each other. Through dialogue, people can have two-way conversations where their input is valued and contributes.

 

Support the Team

At times meetings can turn into a discussion about how certain things cannot be done. This is not effective for moving forward. Rather taking a stance about supporting your teammates on their initiatives and figuring out how to make something work tends to lead to people feeling supported and a more positive outlook on what is possible. Teams are built by supporting each other.

 

Team Agreements

Decorum is sometimes subjective for what everyone considers appropriate behavior in a team meeting situation. Having a pre-set agreement for things like cell phone use (taking calls, texting, surfing the net), bathroom breaks (this is an interruption that may stall the meeting), and punctuality (is there a grace period, or does the meeting start right on time). Having clear agreements for these situations removed any ambiguity provides clarity for what is acceptable behavior, and reduces the likelihood of irritation or frustration amongst the group. If any of the situations do occur, the team is within their rights to bring it up and request that the person respects the agreement that was made. This removes the uncertain around if the behavior is acceptable or not.

 

Meeting Rhythms

How often will you meet, who should be in various meetings, who creates the agenda, who leads the meetings, what role does everyone play in meetings? Having clarity on these.

 

Outcome

A successful outcome of any meeting is to generate action and to forward action that is in alignment with the organization’s strategic goals.

 

Questions

How would you rate the quality of your meetings?

Team participation – 1 – 5 – do your teammates come to the meeting prepared to contribute to the discussion?

Team engagement – 1 – 5 – are your team members mindful and present at the meeting?

Team performance – 1 – 5 – do your meetings put your teammates into action?

Team Accountability – 1 – 5 – does everyone keep their promises?