Your business may be in one of these Four Stages:

1. Start Up with a beginning team of 2-5
2. First five years with 5-20 in the business
3. A mid-size business 20-200 employees
4. Sustainable mid-size up to 500+ employees

Have you thought about what it would take to move forward and reach the next stage? 

What do you need to:

• Start doing
• Stop doing
• Continue to do

To achieve your 3-year growth plan or your purpose for being?

First, take a few moments to acknowledge yourself for the work you have done so far to build the business and to acknowledge those who have partnered and worked with you as a positive force in the business.

Take an honest look at your organization’s Purpose and Core Values. Are they established and well-defined? Can you communicate with them effectively? Can your employees? Your Customers?

Next, give yourself the time to consider your current leadership team and potential leaders, and evaluate their engagement and alignment with the values and purpose of the organization.

If you have an existing team ask these questions:

1. What are the areas that you need to have covered by leadership you can trust?
2. What is the level of trust between you and your team?
3. What is the purpose of this business?
   Purpose is not your mission or what you do but the reason you created this business beyond making money or the reason you have for working in the business.
4. What is the difference that you make in your industry? What are the results of your business in the world?
5. What differentiates you business from others in your market?
6. What are your Core Values?

It is important to establish 3-5 values that give the leadership team and the rest of the company the framework for the culture that reflects the values of the team and the business. One way to find these is to list the people  in your business who bring value by having a certain quality that contributes to the excellence of your business.

Here are some examples:

• Passion for our Purpose
• Quality First—delivering value
• Personal and professional integrity
• Respect for each other and our customer
• Embrace change

Ask yourself and your team these four vital questions*:

1. Do you have the “right PEOPLE doing the right things right”?
2. Can you state your firm’s STRATEGY and is it driving sustainable growth?
3. Are all EXECUTION processes running without drama and driving industry-leading profitability?
4. Do you have consistent sources of CASH to fuel the growth of your business?

• The Four Decisions: Scaling Up Verne Harnish

I’ll be continuing the conversation on Building an Effective Leadership Team in my next blog posts. If you have any questions or would like to share a challenge or success please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you and continuing the conversation.

~ Patricia

RELATED READING:

*“Scaling Up; How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t’”, author, Verne Harnish

Obviously, strategy is a plan for the future – but not the near future –not this year, next month, nor next week. Strategic plans look further out, typically 3+ years and act as a guide and measuring stick to your company’s success. Your weekly, monthly, yearly Execution Plans are made with the purpose of fulfilling this Strategy. (We’ll come back to Execution Planning in my next article.)

You and your executive team determine the Strategy of your organization based on your Core Values, and Purpose – your reason for changing the world or your place in the world. In a recent blog article I spoke about how to determine your organization’s core values and purpose. I recommend reading it before you embark on any efforts in strategic planning as everything you do as a company should begin and end with your core values and purpose.

Your strategic plan is formulated based on goals that bring into mind your:

• Economic engine—the part of your business that drives the revenue and profit.
• Your purpose and what you want to do to bring the best of your business to the part of the world that you serve. What do you do best?

Establishing goals is another common area where many companies get stuck. The key is to BE SPECIFIC. And that is easier said than done. Here are a few tools and tips that will help you establish your company goals with greater success and ease:

Start BIG: Establish your BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Looking ahead as much as ten years, what is that stretch that creates a sense of purpose and excitement? These are measurable goals with Key Performance indicators that demonstrate your progress towards your goals.

Here are a couple good examples of BHAGs:

1. I had a client who is building the public train system in an Asian country. He says his BHAG is to upgrade business practices to bring in more integrity in all business.
2. Another European client wants to upgrade business in his country so that people recognize they are accountable and cannot blame others when their success does not meet their vision.

Visualize it and Put it in Writing: You’ve got the right people in place, you’ve established your Core Values and Purpose, and you’ve identified your Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Now what? You must tie it all together in one place. The Scaling Up Vision Summary is a great tool  and a good place to start in establishing your Strategic Planing Framework, particularly if you are a firm with 50 employees or under. It’s a lighter version of the Scaling Up One-Page Strategic Planning tool which fleshes out the important questions of who, what, when, where, how and why; and “should we” or “shouldn’t we” decision making. Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about the One Page Strategic Plan.

Strategic planning is only so good as the Execution of that plan. All of your processes should be running as trouble and drama-free as possible and driving industry-leading profitability. Stay tuned for my next article on executing your Strategic Plan with more tips and tools for keeping everyone in your organization on course to ensure success.

Scaling Up Business Workshop

OUR NEXT INTERACTIVE, LIVE, WEB-BASED WORKSHOP FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME OR OFFICE IS ON:

Thursday, OCTOBER 14th  11:30am-1:00pm PST

– Is Your Top Leadership Team healthy and aligned?

– Do you have the right people, in the right place?

– Do they have clear accountabilities and metrics?

– Can you state your firm’s strategy simply? Is it driving sustainable growth?

– Are your processes running smoothly and driving profitability?

Register for the Scaling Up Business Workshop Today!

For several years now there has been a movement toward resilience in the workplace to deal with the many stresses that are part of a fast paced environment and many changes that are quick and sometimes difficult to absorb and to implement.

Now it becomes evident that rather than resilience or recovery we want to make a new commitment to greater strength and openness to take the opportunity for growth and learning that is being presented now.

Antifragility has become a concept that has been brought forward and that demands some new capabilities that can bring happiness and success in the workplace as well as personal life. 

This  overview involves the Growth Mindset of Anti-fragility and 4 behaviors that can be altered to allow a shift to a greater impact within and outside of your business.   

The study and teaching of the aspect of Antifragility can exponentially increase the impetus for stated outcomes. 

As we begin to Scale Forward it is important to know that now is the time for new thought and an altered mindset.

Antifragile Mindset:

Rather than view stress as negative or something to avoid,  look for the opportunity of stress as something positive to be embraced.

We do not look for resilience and recovery, but to welcome and embrace stress as a muscle builder for strength. The question to ask is: 

Am I operating from a FIXED or a GROWTH mindset?

FIXED MINDSET

• Avoid challenges
• Give up easily with obstacles
• Effort uncomfortable
• Avoid or ignore useful negative feedback
• Threatened by success of others
• Look smart

GROWTH MINDSET

• Embrace challenges
• Persist in face of setbacks
• Effort path to mastery
• Solicit criticism for learning
• Inspiration in success of others
• Desire to learn

To begin this process for yourself think of these four behaviors that you can foster and track.

Pause – when an e-mail or a conversation creates irritation or upset, pause and do not react in the moment.  Learn to use breathing as a way to Pause and set that intention so that when you feel irritation the first reaction is to breathe.  This gives you time to respond rather than to react.

Daily Bold Action – As you create an essential Goal take a daily bold action in that direction.

Difficult Conversation Opportunity – think of the conversations you might be avoiding and create an opportunity to have one.  

Invite Feedback (Criticism) – seek criticism for improvement and to have the challenge of hearing criticism which we often avoid

This will be an opportunity to have some interaction about these concepts.  You can Reply to the blog and reach me for any conversation you wish to have including Antifragility as a sustainable growth tool for sustainable growth.

References:

Eric Partaker,  The Three Alarms

Kelly McGonegal, The Upside of Stress, audio book

Nassim Nicolas Taleb,  Antifragile—things that gain from disorder

We encourage you to read the entire series on Antifragility to set up a schedule of the behaviors below to enhance your development of antifragility which includes:

• A Growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset
• Show up as a Professional, not as an amateur
• Summon your most courageous self to step into your fears
• 3 Power phrases:  

I’m excited

Bring it on

That’s like me (Winning)

  4 Essential Behaviors to become essential habits for success. 

1. The Pause—when a stimulus occurs we can monitor the response by using the Pause so that our response is not a reaction but a thoughtful choice
2. Daily Bold Action— take bold action by stepping into the fear to build confidence
3. Difficult Conversation Opportunity—Take the opportunity to have difficult conversations you are avoiding.
4. Invite Feedback (Criticism)—create opportunities to receive feedback and welcome criticism for learning and greater success 

Daily Bold Action Rule

• We build confidence by taking Bold Action
• We take Bold Action by Stepping into Fear
• Identify your fear: 
• Examples:
• Loss, 
• Difficulty 
• Uncertainty

Do’s and Don’ts and Obstacles

1. Regularly ask yourself if you are operating from a Fixed or Growth Mindset.
2. Don’t think that Antifragile confidence can’t be built.
3. Obstacles:  Where to start

The Pause                             Daily Bold Action

Daily Bold Action is a behavior that supports the creation and achievement of  big goals. 

An exercise you can do to create and achieve a goal that is large and may seem difficult is to use the WOOP. 

  Each letter of the WOOP is significant.

1. Wish—What do you Want?

2. Outcomes—What benefits will you experience?
3. Obstacles –What reality might get in the way?
4. Plan—How will you overcome each obstacle?

Stick to the plan of one Daily Bold Action a day and keep track with a weekly review of each part of the WOOP.

Please let me know if you have questions or would like to discuss.  You can respond to the blog and we can have a conversation.

Below are the links on the Bridging Associates Website for each blog.

Links for Series 

Antifragility: https://bridgingassociates.com/2021/05/29/mindset-and-4-new-behaviors/

The Pause That Refreshes:  https://bridgingassociates.com/2021/06/22/the-pause-that-refreshes/

Daily Bold Action:

            or

               You can view all of the blogs together on the Scalingup website with this link.

References: 

Eric Partaker,  The Three Alarms

Kelly McGonegal, The Upside of Stress, audio book

Nassim Nicolas Taleb,  Antifragile—things that gain from disorder

In previous articles we have introduced the concept of Antifragility with an overall look at Mindset and the power of Mindset

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset

When we commit to  a Growth Mindset we are committing to Learning as a central goal in every situation.  The learning means that we know we don’t know everything and new information is needed to achieve. The fifth behavior to discuss in this series for Antifragility is to Seek Criticism as a tool for learning.

Ask for feedback:

• How can I improve?
• How would you improve on this?

As we ask these questions we can invite thoughtful feedback even if it is deemed critical.  It gives us the opportunity to receive information that we may never get otherwise, that can lead to great accomplishment.

So often we see criticism as proof of our lack of value as a person and that is a mistake which holds us back.

One place to see examples of seeking criticism is in the Athletic World just demonstrated by the Olympics in Tokyo.  Criticism is key to the accomplishments of an athlete as well as any of us who want to grow and succeed in our chosen work.  

There are many examples of this which are enumerated in the Mindset, a new psychology of success by Carol Dweck.(references)

The Antifragility Journey For Success

• • Reframe your view of stress
  • Fortify Self Belief
  • Provide Tools to Turn Stress into Strength 

• Begin your journey to become antifragile increasing your courage and confidence

Tools for Antifragility

• Mindset—growth vs. fixed
• Show up as a Professional vs. Amateur-  A Professional acts whether they feel like it or not and an Amateur does things if they feel like it.
• 4 Behaviors or Habits to solidify the Antifragile Mindset

The Pause, 

Daily Bold Action

Difficult Conversations 

Seek Criticism

Like Difficult Conversations we often avoid Criticism rather than seek it out.  It is a new habit/behavior that will build confidence and strength and give you information about how to improve something that will make a huge difference in your success.

 As we “flip the script” we see that doing something that feels scary actually creates strength rather than trying to build strength first, before we take risks.

Links to review all previous blogs.

Antifragility

The Pause

Daily Bold Action

Difficult conversations 

Seek Criticism

References:
Eric Partaker,  The Three Alarms
Kelly McGonegal, The Upside of Stress, audio book
Nassim Nicolas Taleb,  Antifragile—things that gain from disorder
Mindset, by Carol Dweck

Welcome to #4 of the Series on Antifragility

Difficult Conversations

Previously we discussed the Mindset of Antifragility which is basic to changing behavior.  The Antifragility Mindset is  Open as Opposed to  Fixed. (link for first antifragility article)

The 4 Behavior Habits that build and assist Antifragility are

• The Pause
• Daily Bold Action
• Difficult Conversation
• Seek Criticism

In Antifragility the script is flipped whereby we see Stress as a strength and a confidence builder.  In other words, to be sought out rather than avoided.

Another Basic tenet of Antifragility is that we show up as a professional rather than as an amateur.  The definition of this state of being is:

The Amateur—I do things if I feel like doing them.  Feeling generates action.

The Professional takes action whether they feel like it or not.  They know that action generates feelings.

Summon your most courageous self.  Spend some time thinking about that version of you and ask yourself, “What does that version of me look like?”

 What are my fears, how would my most courageous self handle those.

The first two behaviors, the Pause and Daily Bold Action are individual or personal.  We do them ourselves to enhance Antifragility. 

Difficult conversations are social rather than personal behaviors.  They involve interaction with others.

The previous Script often says that we build our confidence to handle our fears. 

The flipped Script  says that confidence is built by walking into fears and a means to building confidence.  

Difficult conversations are often handled with avoidance.  Therefore they can  take too long to happen.  The conversation can change a situation for the better but when delayed time is wasted in the old dysfunctional way of being.  As a business professional who is concerned with the People Decision for growth and an A Player culture, the Difficult Conversation is essential.

Often the external or internal conversation about having the Difficult Conversation  is:

“Did you have that difficult conversation? 

“No, I’m not ready yet.”

Too often difficult conversations take way too long to happen, or never happen at all, with everyone suffering in the process.

It’s time to flip the script on when and how you should step into life’s ‘tough talks’.   

1. We do not need to build confidence in order to have difficult conversation,  we gain confidence by having the conversation.
2. It is essential to express what you feel and want and this aspect is often where agreement can be had if the expression is about a situation rather than blaming the person you are talking with.
3. As a step forward, Determine, what are the conversations you are avoiding?
4. Summon your most courageous self

5. Use a Framework  that includes Discussion of the Situation, Complication and Resolution

The first two items, situation and complication can often be agreed upon.  Beginning with the agreement gives the time  to see that agreement is possible in the situation definition as well as the complication or difficulty.

Resolution:  What can we do to resolve?   This can include a set of choices one of which may not seem ideal,  but is necessary for resolution if other ways cannot be achieved.

This Behavior that can become a habit can be an extremely effective way to affect success.

Links to review all previous blogs.

Antifragility

The Pause

Daily Bold Action

Difficult conversations 

Seek Criticism

Thank you for reading.  

Patricia

References:
Eric Partaker,  The Three Alarms
Kelly McGonegal, The Upside of Stress, audio book
Nassim Nicolas Taleb,  Antifragile—things that gain from disorder
Mindset, by Carol Dweck

As we move forward into a new paradigm in business and life we want to develop some new patterns that allow for the unexpected and new opportunities to be used to the highest advantage.  Antifragility enhances vision so we can see opportunities that may be missed otherwise.

Below is the list of the enhancing behaviors included in this Antifragility Series.

The Pause – when an e-mail or a conversation creates irritation or upset, pause and do not react in the moment.  Learn to use breathing as a way to Pause and set that intention so that when you feel irritation the first reaction is to breathe.  This gives you time to respond rather than to react.

Daily Bold Action – As you create an essential Goal take a daily bold action in that direction.

Difficult Conversation Opportunity – think of the conversations you might be avoiding and create an opportunity to have one.  

Invite Feedback (Criticism) – seek criticism for improvement and to have the challenge of hearing criticism which we often avoid

   The Pause

The Pause creates the opportunity to develop breathing as an automatic response to reactiveness especially where there is upset or distraction.

The breathing is a clear opportunity to move into the present which takes away reactiveness coming from past experience.  The breathing process eliminates the fear that comes from concern for the future.  

Breathing Exercise

1. Stop and close your eyes
2. Set the intention to relax
3. Inhale counting to five and exhale counting to 7 for three sets
4. Set intention to forget the past
5. Inhale and exhale as above for three sets
6. Set intention to stop thinking about the future
7. Inhale and exhale as above for three sets
8. Set the intention to “take a vacation in the present” and Be Here Now.  
9. Inhale and exhale as above for three sets

The Pause is extremely valuable as it lessens the outcome that comes when we respond too quickly in the moment.  We want to respond from the strength of our  best self rather than react without the pause that creates clarity.  What you will find through this practice is that there are new ways of looking at the situation.  This will create a thoughtful intelligent response rather than a reaction.  

You can Reply to the blog and reach me for any conversation you wish to have including Antifragility as a growth tool for sustainable growth.  patricia@bridgingassociates.com

References: 

Eric Partaker,  The Three Alarms

Kelly McGonegal, The Upside of Stress, audio book

Nassim Nicolas Taleb,  Antifragile—things that gain from disorder

As I have worked with teams to engage and align it has become clear that Communication, Accountability and Solution create the Essential Tripod for organizational team development. In today’s new normal, this tripod is now more important than ever but how does it translate into remote working?

Here are a few tips for addressing these challenges. 

Structure: Working remotely doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to abandon the normal avenues of relationship and collaboration. What worked well in-person can still be applied remotely. For example, Meeting Rhythms can be held intact with a few changes.

Meetings are held daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually. These can and should still take place virtually. The challenge in holding virtual meetings is that you don’t get the same “energy” exchange when sharing ideas, problems and solutions. I have found that upping the frequency and shortening meetings can be a key to keeping everyone involved. The daily huddle helps to keep people engaged, focused and accountable. Try holding a daily huddle at the beginning and end of each day. These huddles should focus on how each person is doing, what the daily priority is and where they are stuck. While it’s important to be flexible, consistency is the most important thing to remember.

Get creative – a lot can be said for the business lunch – it builds rapport, trust and presents an opportunity for colleagues to get to know each other better. So why stop? Hold virtual lunch meetings instead. There are lots of ways to make this fun and interactive. If you want to take someone to lunch have it delivered to their home. Hold virtual lunch and learn meetings with a group and a guest speaker. These are just a few examples. I encourage you to think outside the box as much as possible. Another option is to have the Leadership team members alternate to have a monthly lunch with sign-ups for up to three people.

Get personal – ask your team and colleagues how they are doing? How are they coping? What are their challenges in working remotely? In order to build and maintain a high-performing team during this unprecedented time in history, you must understand what their challenges are. The importance of the human connection cannot be overstated. Taking the time to understand your colleagues/employees on the personal level in this time is essential.

Every business has its own unique set of challenges. Regardless of your situation, these are relatively simple and practical things you can do today to help keep your organization aligned, motivated and performing.

Do you have a particular challenge working remotely that you’d like to share? Please be sure to leave a comment. We would enjoy hearing from you.

So how do you attract the A-Players to your leadership team? 

First, determine the structure of your team; How many? What are their roles? It will look different depending on the size of your company. If you have a small business it might include everyone in the organization. If you have a larger business it’s more effective to have 8-10 key players as the upper limit. Four to six will work as well. It’s also important to give the key players in your organization the opportunity to hone their leadership skills by giving them a team of their own to develop. And, you want to keep your eye out for emerging leaders and support their development.

There are two aspects of assessment that must be done to effectively determine the A Players in your organization:

1. Performance
2. Culture fit

In order to determine the cultural factors, having a clear list of Core Values as mentioned in my previous blog, “What are the Qualities of an Ideal Leadership Team and How Can You Develop Yours?, is necessary. Everyone in your organization must understand these core-values so they know what is expected of them.

As you build your leadership team it’s important to keep your team members performing, engaged and moving forward by encouraging:

1. Communication
2. Accountability
3. Solution Focus vs. placing blame

I call this The Essential Tripod for Team Effectiveness.

Communication

95% of the companies I have worked with say that communication is the biggest obstacle to high performance and cultural excellence.

Communication is one of the main building blocks of execution and is defined as Meeting Rhythms in the Scaling Up Process.

There are two processes that can be built in immediately to enhance Communication and get things done:

1. Using Parts of Speech whenever a meeting is held with one another or several.
2. Regular weekly Accountability Meetings with team members (I will discuss this more in my next blog post).

Parts of Speech

• Framing– an agenda for a meeting or conversation – what is to be discussed, preferred outcomes, how conversation will proceed
• Illustration – use familiar examples to create reference points for understanding and engagement with the topic
• Advocacy is the reason for the conversation. Often, it’s either not stated enough or in a timely manner, or it may become too much of the conversation. But it should always be understood and stated clearly to create trust.
• Inquiry is not a series of questions you have about a person but rather what they think about what you are saying or the issue or idea you are discussing. You want to get their perception and point of view as part of the conversation. This is the Part of Speech used the least but is most important for engagement, participation and buy in.

Accountability

It’s important to create engagement rather than competition within the team. Disagreements can occur of course and are part of a healthy engaged team.

Conduct weekly team meetings and at the end of each meeting pick one person to have a 15-minute call with during the week to discuss a goal and an action you will take to achieve it. Then conduct another call the following week to share progress on that action step and next steps. This begins the process of accountability to your peers and the willingness to be transparent to each other.

Solution Focus vs. placing blame

The first essential part of successful problem solving is to be Solution focused. Often, time is spent studying the components and details of the problem and placing blame on someone or something, all of which do not solve the problem.

Solution focus looks ahead to the result desired and the components that make up the positive result. It is an opportunity to create greater team conversation and communication.

I’ll be continuing the conversation on building an effective leadership team in my next article. In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to share a challenge or success please be sure to leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you and continuing the conversation.

 Related Reading

“What are the Qualities of an Ideal Leadership Team and How Can You Develop Yours?”, author, Patricia Heyman

“Scaling Up; How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t“, author, Verne Harnish

“The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable”, author, Patrick Lencioni

“Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership“, author, Bill Torbert