Implementer Posts
Up There Growth July Newsletter
Great Leadership = Great Parenting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjDx1Upq8c 🌟 10 Ways to Level Up Your Quarterly Conversations One of the most impactful ways to maintain the expectations you set with your employees is something we at EOS call “The Quarterly Conversation” (formerly known as the “5-5-5”). The agenda for this meeting is simple and focuses on 3 things: (1) Maintaining alignment on Core Values (2) Make sure the person Gets, Wants, and has the Capacity to perform their job and (3) Make sure their Quarterly Rocks are On Track. They shouldn’t be a bureaucratic box to check. When done right, these meetings are the ultimate tool to realign your team, surface hidden issues, and build bulletproof trust. Whether you’re a Visionary, an Integrator, or a department leader, here are 10 ways to completely transform your next round of Quarterly Conversations: 1. It’s a Conversation, Not a Performance Review This isn’t a top-down evaluation or a
Leadership Is Nuanced. But It Is Not That Complicated.
I had a moment with a client recently that made me pause. We had just finished walking through Leadership, Management, Accountability and what it really means to lead and manage people effectively. At the end of the conversation, one of the leaders said something that stuck with me. “A lot of things that mystified me don’t feel as complicated anymore.” That is exactly what should happen when leadership principles are clear. The goal is not to make leadership feel heavier or more complex. It is to bring clarity to something that often feels harder than it needs to be. Why leadership starts to feel complicated For years, leadership and management have been presented as something incredibly complex. Entire frameworks, books, and models have been built around motivation, culture, engagement, and leadership psychology. And to be fair, people are nuanced. Every individual is different, and every team has its own dynamics.
People Pay for Transformation. When They Stop Transforming, They Stop Paying.
Early in my EOS practice, I booked 5 Focus Days, and only 2 clients made it to their first Quarterly. I couldn’t understand it. The EOS Process lays out a client journey that runs for two years. I had three that didn’t stay for two months. I thought the Focus Day was the win. It wasn’t. I was great at getting IN the room. Once inside, I was average. Those three didn’t leave because the process was wrong. They left because they stopped transforming. And people pay for transformation. The moment they stop transforming, they stop paying. The win was never the booking. The win is the Leadership Team walking out of that room different than they walked in. Healthier. Sharper. Aligned. My business development wasn’t broken. My delivery was the limiting factor. So I went on a 10-year journey to become a master facilitator. I trained in Negotiation with Chris Voss.
The Problem With Solving Issues Too Quickly
Some leadership teams are not bad at solving issues. In fact, they can be very good at getting to a solution quickly. Sometimes, a little too quickly. Someone raises an issue, another person immediately suggests a fix, somebody else agrees & within a few minutes the team has moved on. It feels productive. A decision has been made, an action has been assigned & another issue has disappeared from the list. Then, a few weeks later, the same problem is back. Usually because the team solved the symptom rather than the real issue. One of the most common mistakes I see in leadership teams is jumping from problem to solution before spending enough time understanding what is actually going on. Speed feels efficient, but solving the wrong problem quickly is not efficient at all. The First Answer Is Often Not the Real Answer When an issue appears, the most obvious
The golden egg
A number of years ago, when my chicken coach moved to Texas, she found herself without a rooster and wanted to grow her flock. She had raised Icelandic chickens and was determined to maintain the integrity of her flock. But she was unable to find any of those chickens in Texas. Since I had inherited all of my chickens from her, she asked if I could ship her a rooster. We did the research, and I learned that you can ship live chickens, along with other types of animals. Of course, it isn’t cheap to ship chickens. They need special boxes with ventilation and dividers. Additionally, the USPS is quite strict about the age of the chickens, the day of the week they are shipped, and the shipping method. In the end, you could sum up the expense with “I hope these chickens lay the golden egg.” I try not
Episode 5 – Ambition or Avoidance?
Read time: ~2 min | Goal: Help owners see when busyness is hiding from harder questions about their life. Sometimes relentless hustle is not ambition. It’s avoidance with a nicer outfit. Let’s figure out which one is driving you. Ambition is a beautiful thing. It built your business. I want to show you a darker side of ambition we’ll call it the shadow, because it fools a lot of good owners. The shadow…appears when we’re constantly busy, chasing the next thing, grinding…sometimes we’re not actually driving toward something. We’re running away from something. The activity is not necessarily ambition. It is avoidance. And it is very hard to tell the two apart while it’s happening, because they look identical. Both are exhausting and feel like dedication. So how can you tell? Ask yourself, what happens when you stop. When you sit still, when there is no fire to fight and