Grolistic Archives

5 Keys For Teams That Move Faster

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

Profitable growth relies upon the preservation of enduring customer relationships. Sustaining these relationships demands that a business consistently produce more strategic value for a key customer than can be gained elsewhere – value that contributes to the customer’s progress.

A key factor in creating strategic value is moving faster – faster in delivering results, adapting to changing needs, and innovating.

When Google wanted to move faster, they formed small, cross-functional teams to accelerate key processes that created value for customers. They had long believed that “building the best teams meant combining the best people.” But their experience and experimentation, compiled under a project they eventually named “Aristotle,” taught them that team success has much more to do with these 5 key team dynamics than it does with the types of individuals on the team:

Psychological safety: Can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?
Dependability: Can we count on each other to do high-quality work on time?
Structure and Clarity: Are goals, roles and execution plans on our team clear?
Meaning of Work: Are we working on something that is personally important for each of us?
Impact of work: Do we fundamentally believe that the work we’re […]

By Bob Schultek|January 16th, 2019|Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments

5 Attributes That Drive Strategy Execution

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

The start of a new year often marks the launch or refinement of strategy. Inherent in this process is change, acting in a new or different way. To execute a new strategy, leaders must identify advocates, change agents who work within the current system, and have the ability and will to drive the change necessary for the strategy to succeed.

A key characteristic for strategy advocates is their capacity for critical thinking. In his book “You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Education,” former Wall Street Journal writer George Anders identifies 5 attributes that define critical thinking competency:

Willingness: The confidence and enthusiasm to challenge the status quo, explore concepts for which no rules or precedents yet exist, and adapt to new circumstances. This demonstrates a comfort with “knowing what to do when you’re on your own.”
Curiosity: In this era of “too much data, not enough clarity,” leaders need advocates to calmly and productively distill information and connect the dots. Curiosity fuels imagination to work through ambiguity and discover insights that can accelerate strategy implementation.
Expertise: The ability, gained through experience, to combine synergistic insights when this can expedite decision-making and change realization.
Empathy: The proficiency to “balance different perspectives […]

By Bob Schultek|January 9th, 2019|Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments

Questions to Ponder

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

The holiday season can be hectic, but as the last year morphs into the new one, there are also rare, quiet moments that are opportunities for reflection. Take advantage of these occasions – from experience, you know that they will be much harder to find once your active work schedule again beckons.

What were you able to accomplish last year? What worked, and what didn’t? Why is that? How did your accomplishments fulfill your purpose as a business? What unmet goals or objectives should be carried forward into the new year?
How did your business make a difference for your core customers last year? How many of these benefits can you quantify? How did providing value for these customers also drive the success of your business? How will you help them progress towards their goals in the new year? What new idea can you propose that would strengthen their business and yours?
How could you work smarter in the new year? What can you simplify so you can move faster? What processes can be improved? What obstacles must be overcome? How could your business be more nimble and respond to opportunities more quickly?
Why do your […]

By Bob Schultek|January 2nd, 2019|Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments

Two Points That Make Performance Discussions Matter

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

With the year-end approaching, ’tis the season of performance evaluations.

Some organizations have abandoned the regimen of formal performance discussions, while others preserve a review process, often replacing annual discussions with quarterly or semi-annual ones.

Opinions and rationales vary about the value of these individual assessments. But in this age of perpetual change, with its organizational demands for greater agility, innovation and improvement, the case for observing some performance management protocol is compelling.

The primary objective for performance conversations in this churning market environment is less about grading an employee’s accomplishments and behaviors, and more about encouraging greater engagement to drive change that increases the value delivered to customers, and to the organization. If the deliverable from these dialogues is an impromptu, short-term set of actions, then the exercise wastes an intimate, meaningful moment when a leader’s influence and commitment can inspire an employee to invest the discretionary effort necessary for change to take root.

People deeply appreciate an opportunity to meet personally with their leader, to have that leader’s full attention focused exclusively on them, to discuss today and the future. In response, leaders who respect the trust being offered them, and want these conversations to be meaningful for both parties, appreciate the value […]

By Bob Schultek|December 19th, 2018|Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments

Winning in the Customer-Driven Market

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

Businesses today operate in a customer-driven market. Everyone and everything is connected, everywhere and all the time.

It’s a world of rapid and unpredictable change in which organizations are constantly adapting to meet evolving customers’ needs, never reaching a steady operating state. It’s a time that challenges the historical devotion to organizational bureaucracy as a means for improving results, placing conformity above all other cultural values at the cost of inhibiting initiative and imagination.

Many companies believe that their access to technology or “big data” gives them an advantage, but in reality, high connectivity makes this access available to many. Those who are winning in this market empower their personnel to challenge what is possible, nimbly utilizing technology and big data to perpetually innovate, simplify and improve, increasing the value delivered to customers, accelerating progress and improving results.

Leaders in these organizations cultivate internal entrepreneurship, commitment and shared accountability by enabling their people to realize how each can make a difference for the business. They encourage individuals to think and behave like owners, urging them to collaborate in small, agile and cross-functional teams that innovate and improve. They transparently share information with these teams to create a direct link between their contributions and the resulting quantifiable benefits produced. And they stress how these benefits create personal growth opportunities for those […]

By Bob Schultek|December 12th, 2018|Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments

The Inspiration Equation

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

Every change initiative is met with resistance is met with resistance from critics, skeptics and hold outs.

And since change requires an investment of additional time and energy, above and beyond specific functional duties, people cannot be compelled to change; they must be inspired to accept the challenge of what must be done.

John Maxwell, in his book “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect,” describes how this inspiration depends first on communicating a message that connects with those impacted by the change, creating a synergy that stimulates action. The message should align 3 factors in an Inspiration Equation to produce this synergy:

What people need to know. Aside from the basic message of what will change, what will remain the same, and why a change is necessary, it’s the context of how this message is communicated that creates the connection. To persuade others, a leader must reassure, addressing aspirations and fears to earn trust. People need to know that their leader understands them, is focused on them and has high expectations of them.
What people need to see. Employees quickly decide whether to listen to the message or turn off. They watch a leader’s expressions and body language. Is there enthusiasm? Is there eye contact? Is there smiling? Are there […]

By Bob Schultek|December 4th, 2018|Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments

Are You Preparing for the “Age of Agility?”

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

In their book, “The Age of Agility,” authors Jason Gaulden and Alan Gottlieb describe how “we are in the early stages of a rapidly accelerating revolution that will bring automation and artificial intelligence into sectors of the workforce that have, until now, been spared this latest wave of disruptive change.”

Corporate executives, academics, technologists, and economists agree that this disruption “will rival any technological upheaval in history in both scope and impact.” Within the United States workforce, 47 percent of all jobs are at risk of elimination in the next 10-20 years.

The authors cite 3 drivers of this change:

Technology: AI, robotics, sensors, and data;
Demographics: Longer lives, growth of younger and older populations, and greater diversity;
The power of pull: Customer empowerment and the rise of global talent markets.

For organizations, the implications will cause leaders to:

Redesign work for technology and learning;
Source and integrate talent across functions and networks;
Implement new models of organizational structure, leadership, culture, and rewards.

As has been cited by numerous recent studies, leaders who have mastered empathy and emotional intelligence, who understand how vital it is to engage their people in discovering how they can make a difference for the business, will be better positioned […]

By Bob Schultek|November 28th, 2018|Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments

3 Factors for Mastering Inspiration

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

To drive change, leaders inspire those they lead to invest extra time and energy in making a difference for themselves and their organization.

They realize that mastering inspiration requires the synchronization of 3 factors:

Their people trust that the leader has their back – that he or she understands what motivates and concerns them, is focused on them, and has high, but realistic, expectations of them.
The leader is perceived as genuine and credible, consistently demonstrating conviction, while being positive, transparent and open to feedback.
People feel respected and appreciated for their contributions, driven by the leader’s confidence in them and gratitude for their commitment.

How strong is your mastery of inspiration?

Which of these 3 factors require more of your attention?

By Bob Schultek|November 12th, 2018|Grolistic|0 Comments

Connecting

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

You may be trying to start a relationship, or a debate. It’s important that your message be received. To succeed, a connection must first be created, and that involves much more than your spoken words.

Just 7% of what is stated is heard and believed; how your message is communicated, and what others see while you’re delivering it, conveys over 90% of your message, 38% and 55% respectively. Consider this the next time you want to use a social media tool to connect with someone on an important issue.

Connecting occurs on 4 levels:

What people see (visual connection): All communication creates an impression of the communicator that either strengthens or weakens the message. For a connection to be received openly, causing a positive dialogue to begin, be aware of how you look to others – dress and act appropriately for the audience, the situation and the message.
What people understand (intellectual connection): A productive intellectual connection requires that your knowledge of a subject be credible and that it reflects your conviction. Sharing a personal experience often opens people’s hearts and minds.
What people feel (emotional connection): People feel your attitude, positive or negative, when you’re communicating. While you speak, they observe your energy, intensity and sincerity. […]

By Bob Schultek|November 7th, 2018|Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments

The One Thing a Business Leader Must Do

Bob Schultek
Author of
The Gauntlet

When small and mid-size business leaders are polled about the key factors that impact their success and that of their business, the responses include:

Ensuring customer satisfaction
Building a strong leadership team
Executing the plan
Driving change
Pursuing innovation
Hiring the right people
Creating value

Each of these contributes to success, but studies cite that the most important thing that a leader should do is focus – it’s the single most critical factor in determining a leader’s success.

Focus means realizing what your priorities are in every hour, day, month, quarter or year. It means knowing what’s most important for the success of your business – sales, service, people, execution, innovation, etc., and then concentrating on that one thing. It means communicating and acting consistently with this one factor in mind, strengthening credibility.

Focus also means knowing what’s not as important at any given time. Without focus, it’s easy to get distracted, pursuing every interesting idea or business opportunity, becoming more reactive than proactive. Lack of focus makes it easier to fail.

Focus on what’s most important. Your team will follow your lead and your progress will accelerate. Your customers and employees will thank you.

What is the most critical factor impacting your business?

Does your organization operate with this priority in mind?

By Bob Schultek|October 30th, 2018|Grolistic, Grolistic, Growth & Leadership Insights|0 Comments