Are Your Actions Undermining Your Words?
Carl Jung famously said, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
As clear and simple as that statement is, I’ve seen hundreds of otherwise successful leaders behave as though it doesn’t apply. If you want to quickly kill your company’s culture, consider making that mistake yourself.
Two Words That Will Kill Your Company
If you want to guarantee that you and your leadership team will never achieve your vision, get comfortable using the following phrase over and over:
“Kind of.”
Trust me, nothing will kill your company (and maybe you) faster.
5 Tips to Engage Employees in Meetings
When a leadership team embarks on the journey to implement EOS® in their business, one of the first things they learn to do is run weekly Level 10 Meetings™. While some teams resist, most come to love them quite quickly. It’s not unusual for a team to see the quality and value of their meetings improve dramatically in a few short weeks.
After the leadership team masters this discipline, Level 10 Meetings are introduced throughout the company, one level at a time. That’s when I start getting one of the most common EOS questions:
“How can I make my people more engaged in our meetings?”
Giving Feedback: Speak Truth in Few Words
I recently spent the day with two groups of mid-managers, helping them become more comfortable with EOS®, improve their leadership and management skills, and create more accountability. Late in the day, while teaching five important disciplines used by great managers, we had some terrific dialog about providing feedback to employees. The group easily understood the importance of giving both positive and constructive feedback to employees, and about the need to do so quickly (within 24 hours). What they were struggling with was the “how.” In other words, how, exactly, do you give someone negative feedback that is CONstructive rather than DEstructive?
The 4-Step Mechanism Your Business Needs to Scale
When one of my clients is working to strengthen the Process Component in their business, the ultimate goal is getting a handful of Core Processes documented, simplified and “FBA” – which stands for “followed by all.” Often, when recording a Rock or Goal on the whiteboard that includes “FBA,” I turn around to find one or more leaders looking at me skeptically.
“What’s FBA?” they’ll say, or “How is that a SMART Rock?”
Fair questions.
The Power of a Positive Word
A few weeks ago, during a two-day annual planning session, I witnessed a truly poignant moment. The leadership team was participating in the “One Thing” exercise, designed to improve trust and team health. It requires each leader to provide every other team-member with two pieces of feedback – one positive and one constructive.
Why Meetings Are Like Grow Monsters – and What to Do About It
As a young boy in the 1970s, I was excited to receive my first set of “Grow Monsters.” Cheap toys made from a super-absorbent polymer, these small, shapeless specks would expand by up to 500% of their original size when placed in water. Fullgrown, they were supposed to resemble dinosaurs and other fearsome creatures, with the process designed to delight and amaze naïve young lads like me.
Why You Need to Solve Business Issues Slowly
One night this holiday season, my wife and I were wrapping gifts for our family. When a large pile of brightly colored packages sat beside each of us, we stood back to admire our handiwork. Kate’s packages were beautiful – crisply wrapped, carefully secured with beautiful ribbons that matched the wrapping paper, each package festooned with tidy little bows. My packages were technically covered (mostly) with wrapping paper and tape. But they didn’t really look…finished.
What Is an EOS Implementer?
In my conversations with business owners and business coaches alike, I often get asked, “What is an EOS® Implementer?”
People tend to lump coaches, consultants and EOS Implementers into one big category of professionals who help businesses, business leaders, and leadership teams. However, there are some important differences.
Whether you’re a visionary business leader looking for the right kind of help, or someone wanting to help companies and leaders gain greater traction, here’s a look at who EOS Implementers are and what makes them tick.
Stop Trying to Get Buy-in from Your Employees
I’ve worked with dozens of entrepreneurs who started their EOS journey wanting, among other things, more “buy-in” from their employees. While I understand how rare and precious it is to have team members who share and want to achieve your company’s vision, the term “buy-in” itself has always troubled me.
After all, if you have to “buy” someone’s allegiance, does she really share your vision? Can you really count on her to help you achieve that vision? How about when the going gets tough? And, how much are you having to pay, anyway?