Leadership Excellence November 2022

NOVEMBER 2022 • Vol. 39 • No. 11 (ISSN 2562-0711)

LEADERS, CARING FOR YOUR TEAM STARTS WITH CARING FOR YOURSELF - Magdalena Nowicka Mook,

CEO, International Coaching Federation

12

Why Should Leaders Prioritize Well-Being?

- Felicity Dwyer,

felicitydwyer.com

17

What Is The Secret Sauce Of Being A Great Leader?

- Bill

Yeargin,

Correct Craft

22

Why Workplace Mentorship Is More Important Than Ever In 2023 - Pankaj Srivastava, MentorCloud

29

3 Leadership Qualities You Need To Create & Maintain A Positive Workplace Culture - Joe

Hart,

Dale Carnegie Training

INDEX

Leadership Excellence NOVEMBER 2022

Vol.39

No.11

(ISSN 2562-0711)

06

Leaders, Caring For Your Team Starts With Caring For Yourself When leaders prioritize self-care, they are caring for others in the process

On the Cover Articles

- Magdalena Nowicka Mook, CEO, International Coaching Federation

Sponsored Content

08 Oracle CloudWorld Delivers New Thinking, New Releases, and 1,200+ Content Sessions

26 2023 Will Be The Year Of The Fixer Building a C-suite that is wired for challenge - Robert Jordan, Founder & CEO, InterimExecs

33 What Type Of Capex Leader Are You? There are four types of Capex leaders

15 Smart Leaders Realize Leadership Is No Longer A Solo Job What every leader should pay attention to in an idea-based economy - Robin Landa, Professor, Kean University

- Daniel Lindén, COO and Fredrik Weissenrieder, Founder and CEO, Weissenrieder & Co.

36 4 Characteristics Of High-Performance Teams Cultivating these areas can help you build teams that produce results - Dr. Dawn-Marie Turner,

20 Creating More Diverse, Equitable, And Inclusive Workplaces Research from the Canadian Market Association reveals new insights - Sartaj Sarkaria, Acting Chief Operating Officer, Chief Diversity Officer & Chief, Canadian Marketing Association

Author, Turner Change Management

Top Picks

12

INDEX

Why Should Leaders Prioritize Well-Being?

How can leaders encourage well-being at work through behaviors that support connection - Felicity Dwyer,

Facilitator, Trainer, Coach, and Speaker, felicitydwyer.com

17

What Is The Secret Sauce Of Being A Great Leader?

Great leadership requires three things - Bill Yeargin, President and CEO, Correct Craft

22

Why Workplace Mentorship Is More Important Than Ever In 2023 Benefits of mentorship programs for organizations - Pankaj Srivastava, CEO, MentorCloud

29

3 Leadership Qualities You Need To Create & Maintain A Positive Workplace Culture Great leaders understand the importance of creating a healthy culture - Joe Hart, President and CEO, Dale Carnegie Training

EDITOR’S NOTE Editorial Purpose Our mission is to promote personal and

Babitha Balakrishnan

Debbie Mcgrath

professional development based on

Editor, Leadership Excellence

Publisher, HR.com

constructive values, sound ethics, and timeless principles.

Self-Care Can Make You a Better Leader

Excellence Publications Debbie McGrath

CEO, HR.com - Publisher

Dawn Jeffers VP, Sales

Sue Kelley

Director (Product, Marketing, and Research)

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Excellence Publications Managers and Editors

Deepak S

Senior - Design and Layout

Leadership Excellence Team Babitha Balakrishnan Editor

Nataraj Ramesh

Design and Layout (Digital Magazine)

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Magazine (Online Version)

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(ISSN 2562-0711)

is published monthly by

I

n today’s world of work where there is huge pressure on leaders to navigate through various disruptions, it is pretty common for them to lose their grip. Too often, they put the needs of the business or their team before their own needs. But will that help them or their teams? Only when a leader is fully present, energized, and able to show up as their best self, will their teams be motivated. How do some leaders achieve success and make it look so easy?

What is the secret sauce of being a healthy engaged leader?

The November edition of Leadership Excellence includes informative articles on leadership and wellness, the relevance of workplace mentorship, successful leadership strategies to survive in tough times, and more.

Internet Address: www.hr.com Copyright © 2022 HR.com. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher. Quotations must be credited.

The remote and hybrid work environments are hampering the ability of managers and leaders to truly connect with their people, understand their well-being and stay on top of productivity. How do leaders connect better and help people to find growth opportunities within companies?

Mentorship Programs might be the answer. Read Pankaj Srivastava's (CEO, MentorCloud) article, Why Workplace Mentorship Is More Important Than Ever In 2023, for valuable insights on this topic.

It is common for leaders to look out for their teams by taking on too many tasks themselves. But with burnout at record highs and a forecast of more uncertainty in the months ahead, this is not the time for leaders to sink under the weight of the responsibilities they’ve given themselves.

In fact, they can’t afford it. Leaders should prioritize self-care, for their teams to be motivated and engaged, shares Magdalena Nowicka Mook (CEO, International Coaching Federation) in her article, Leaders, Caring For Your Team Starts With Caring For Yourself.

In brief, it is important for leaders to prioritize self-care, engage with people in good faith, create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces and maintain a positive culture to face crises and stay ahead of the competition.

On the same lines, coach, and speaker, Felicity Dwyer in her article, Why Should Leaders Prioritize Well-Being? discusses how leaders can encourage well-being at work through behaviors that support connection.

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Great leadership requires three things.

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COVER ARTICLE

Leaders, Caring For Your Team Starts With Caring For Yourself When leaders prioritize self-care, they are caring for others in the process

By Magdalena Nowicka Mook, International Coaching Federation

W

hen the subject of well-being is being brought up, we tend to think about our people, especially during stressful and uncertain times. Are we, as leaders, doing enough to support them? Are they burning out? Is the environment of the company allowing them to thrive or driving them to “quiet quitting” or outright quitting?

have to carry the load, and always feel the need to do more—not only for our organizations but mainly for our teams.

It can be easy for leaders to feel that the weight of the entire organization, or the success of their team, is squarely on their

shoulders. And while leaders, often, are more resilient, everyone has their limit. Leaders are also susceptible to burnout, and when it strikes, it impacts not only one individual but also the teams that managers and executives are working so hard to support.

As a CEO of a complex global organization with staff spread across all continents, these are the questions that keep me up at night. I’m confident I am not alone in this. Amid heightened demands and shifting expectations in the workplace, many executives and managers are working long hours to protect their teams’ work-life balance and foster their professional growth, all while striving to advance important overarching initiatives, such as ESG, and continuing to deliver bottom-line results. We

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Leaders, Caring For Your Team Starts With Caring For Yourself

Here is the fundamental truth: To support their teams, leaders must first take care of themselves.

them the question they are so often asking their teams: What support do you need?

A Leader’s Role

It is up to each leader to expand their awareness, identify when they are reaching the end of their resourcefulness, and do the things that will re-energize them and give them space to reengage and renew their passion. For me, that means creating time for my hobbies—music, nature, and an active lifestyle.

At the International Coaching Federation (ICF), we follow the practices our member coaches utilize. We begin with powerful questions. Typically, when I catch myself feeling overtaxed, the first question I ask is, “Am I focused on the right responsibilities? Am I doing what I am best suited to do? Do I utilize the team in the best way?”

It is common for leaders to look out for their teams by taking on too many tasks themselves.

Most professionals, however, want to be trusted, empowered, and supported in doing the job themselves.

When a leader is fully present, energized, and able to show up as their best self, their teams are similarly better equipped for success. More than ever, this requires leaders to delegate, trust and support.

Self-Care for Leaders

Many leaders form a habit of putting themselves last or becoming a go-to resource for their team all the time. But with burnout at record highs and a forecast of more uncertainty in the months ahead, this is not the time for leaders to sink under the weight of the responsibilities they’ve given themselves. In fact, they can’t afford it.

Yet, there is rarely someone checking in with leaders to ask

Leadership Excellence presented by HR.com

What reenergizes you? Take responsibility for committing to those activities the same way you commit to your work. Ask yourself what you would ask your team members, so they can feel motivated and engaged each day.

You owe it to them because your own self-awareness helps them in equal measure.

Leadership: The Ripple Effect

In coaching, we talk about the ripple effect: The ways in which the positive changes of one individual pass forward by improving relationships, breaking old patterns, and empowering others. This positivity changes how the individual on the receiving end of those new behaviors interacts with others in their own circle, and beyond. This dynamic occurs all the time, even when the person at the center of this change is a leader.

vision, and empowered to bring it to fruition. In short, every person within the organization is better positioned to contribute their very best when they are at their very best.

It starts with being open to, and serious about, taking care of yourself.

Magdalena Nowicka Mook is the CEO of the International Coaching Federation. Magda acts as a strategic partner of the ICF’s leadership, including the Board and a variety of committees and task forces. Specializing in strategic planning, cultural competence, ethics, international affairs, and board governance, she also oversees organizational budgets and manages the professional staff of the ICF. Magda is also a trained coach. Prior to joining International Coach Federation in October 2005, Magda held the position of Assistant Director of National Policy and Director of Development and the Council of State Governments.

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SPONSORED

Oracle CloudWorld Delivers New Thinking, New Releases, and 1,200+ Content Sessions O

racle CloudWorld had a favorite something for everyone this year. For some, it was Larry Ellison’s insights on the future of healthcare technology or Safra Catz’s inspirational keynote on acting boldly. For others, it was the Oracle TV interview with Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen or the over 1,200 content sessions. Read on for more event highlights.

Safra Catz Discusses Impactful Business Results

“Boldness does win the game—being different and not following what everybody else is doing.”

Oracle CEO Safra Catz’s keynote presentation at Oracle CloudWorld 2022 in Las Vegas featured live conversations with leaders of global brands, who shared how they’re solving the most complex problems with Oracle.

Executives from Deutsche Bank, NVIDIA, Johnson Controls, toy maker Melissa & Doug, baker Grupo Bimbo, and Formula 1 team Oracle Red Bull Racing joined Catz onstage to discuss the technology investments they’re making to anticipate and adapt to changing market conditions and customer expectations.

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Deutsche Bank is moving thousands of Oracle databases that underpin its key trading, risk management, and capital planning software to versions running on high-performance Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer appliances managed by Oracle in the bank’s data centers. That migration will help the bank cut hundreds of millions in costs over several years while staying compliant with data protection rules.

Supporting Growth

Melissa & Doug, a maker of wooden play sets and other children’s toys, turned to Oracle Cloud ERP applications a year and a half ago as it grew from a small company using software developed in-house to selling 70 million toys a year.

Mexican bakery conglomerate Grupo Bimbo, the maker of Entenmann’s cakes and Thomas’ English muffins, turned to Oracle Cloud ERP for a different reason: to consolidate disparate applications accumulated through acquisitions.

Outside the corporate world, Oracle Cloud technologies are having a major impact on high-speed auto racing. Oracle Red Bull Racing CEO Christian Horner told Catz the Formula 1 team is gaining a competitive advantage by using Oracle Cloud technologies to increase the number of simulations it runs to inform in-race decisions.

Oracle CloudWorld Delivers New Thinking, New Releases, and 1,200+ Content Sessions

Ellison Highlights Multicloud and NextGen Healthcare

In his keynote, Larry Ellison, chairman and CTO of Oracle, shared how we can take on the most complex problems across entire industries with the right technology and strategy. He used the evolution of multicloud and Oracle’s groundbreaking work in the healthcare industry as an example.

“There should be an internet of clouds so customers can choose,” Ellison said. “In the end, I think all the clouds will interconnect.”

He noted that most customers currently use multiple clouds from multiple vendors. “A bigger idea is, why don’t we just interconnect all of the clouds themselves?” Ellison said. “That’s where we think the world is going.” And that’s why Microsoft and Oracle have been working together to interconnect their public cloud infrastructures.

Health Ecosystem Automation

We’re also developing next-generation healthcare applications, as part of our recent Cerner acquisition, to automate the entire ecosystem. Ellison pointed out that this is important in moving today’s provider-centric electronic health records systems (each hospital

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owns its own) to become more patient-centric so that any authorized doctor can see a patient’s medical history regardless of system and location.

“What we’re intending to do is keep providing hospitals with systems—and improving them—but we’re going to layer on top of that a national, and then a worldwide, electronic healthcare database so there’s one place for you to go to get all of your records,” Ellison explained.

40+ Solutions, Services, and Upgrades

We had a wave of product announcements to reflect Ellison’s multicloud vision. For example, Oracle is adding tens of thousands of NVIDIA AI-processing graphics chips to its cloud and giving customers access to NVIDIA software tools that wring even better performance from them, Catz explained during her Oracle CloudWorld keynote.

“Our expanded alliance with NVIDIA will deliver the best of both companies’ expertise to help customers across industries—from healthcare and manufacturing to telecommunications and financial services—overcome the multitude of challenges they face,” she said.

Oracle CloudWorld Delivers New Thinking, New Releases, and 1,200+ Content Sessions

Magouyrk continued: “As cloud providers, our partners have more control over the customer experience for their targeted customer or industry, including where the workloads reside and how their cloud is operated.”

CloudWorld 2022 at a glance ●● 13,000+ attendees ●● 1,200+ sessions ●● 100+ guests ●● 19 hours of live Oracle TV

MySQL Heats up

●● 76,458 square yards of signage material donated

CloudWorld 2022 marked the arrival of MySQL HeatWave Lakehouse, Oracle’s third major MySQL HeatWave announcement this year,” noted Chief Corporate Architect, Edward Screven.

●● 5,620 gallons of coffee and tea ●● 2,250 cake pops

Oracle Alloy—Cloud for All

We also introduced Oracle Alloy, a comprehensive cloud infrastructure platform that gives organizations everything they need to become cloud service providers.

“Giving our partners and customers more choice has long been a primary focus for OCI,” Oracle Executive Vice President of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Clay Magouyrk said during his Oracle CloudWorld keynote. “Today, we’re going one step further by providing our partners with the option to become cloud providers so that they can build new services faster and address specific market and regulatory requirements.”

“There is a huge growth in data stored outside of databases, and with MySQL HeatWave Lakehouse, customers can leverage all the benefits of HeatWave on data residing in object store,” Screven said.

“MySQL HeatWave now provides one integrated service on multiple clouds for transaction processing, analytics across data warehouses and data lakes, and machine learning without ETL. This combination helps deliver massive improvements in performance, automation, and cost—further distancing MySQL HeatWave from other cloud database services.”

Still curious about how we’re going to be creating the future of technology next year and beyond? Catch up on all the CloudWorld keynotes on demand here.

Get a taste of CloudWorld’s inspiration and learning opportunities, including real-world stories, best practices, and solutions to boost your HR knowledge. Register for on-demand access with one of two options: a complimentary Digital Discovery pass or a Digital All-Access pass.

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Unify your workforce Build a culture that brings out the best in your people by giving them the personalized experience they expect. Achieve operational excellence by connecting your business across HR, �nance, payroll, and planning. oracle.com/hcm

TOP PICK

Why Should Leaders Prioritize Well-Being?

How can leaders encourage well-being at work through behaviors that support connection

By Felicity Dwyer, felicitydwyer.com

P

ressure and uncertainty are realities in many of today’s workplaces and can affect the well-being of leaders themselves. Leaders may be dealing with geopolitical factors outside their control that impact the economic and business climate. And there will be day-to-day business challenges to navigate.

And external pressures can affect employees, who may feel insecure or overworked. Both leaders and team members may experience stress and a lack of balance.

The negative impact on a business of a lack of well-being is extensive, for example, it can lead to…

1. Poor decision-making. Pressure and uncertainty can make both managers and employees feel unsafe.

People can react by going into a fight or flight mode where small requests can feel like major threats. The physiological reactions to pressure make it harder to make clear and rational decisions.

2. Poor performance. Employees who don’t feel physically or mentally well are not going to perform at their best. And putting further pressure on them is likely to make things worse, leading to…

3. Absenteeism. If people are too unwell to come to work, this is not only bad for the business but puts additional stress on co-workers. This can lead to a downward spiral of pressure, de-motivation, and poor performance across a team.

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Given the risk to a business of poor mental or physical health issues, it’s important for leaders to prioritize the well-being of their people, at all levels of an organization.

How Encouraging Connection Can Help

I believe one way how leaders can support well-being within a team or organization is by focusing on connections. In my years of running peer learning groups and leadership workshops, I’m struck time and again by the relief people express when they share their feelings in a safe environment. “It’s not just me.” Sharing with others allows us to take a step back and see that our challenges are not necessarily personal failures, and to ask for help and ideas.

Leaders can help their teams and organizations by developing their own skills and mindset, so they can support connection and open communication within their teams.

Connect with Yourself and Your Impact as a Leader

A starting point for connection is to slow down a little and connect with what’s going on for you. What kind of thoughts and feelings are you experiencing? What strategies do you have in place to look after your own well-being? Given the importance of leaders as role models, it’s hard to be a positive influence if you are feeling disconnected from yourself. Look in the mirror first, connect with what is important to you, and be willing to show up as fully and honestly as you can at work.

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Why Should Leaders Prioritize Well-Being?

Ask for, and be willing to receive feedback about the impact that you’re having on the team. For example, you might think that you are being very honest and direct in the way you communicate with your employees, but they might experience you as rude or uncaring. Or you might think you are supportive and kind, but they experience a lack of clarity in what they are expected to do. This ambiguity can be a source of stress.

Connect with Your Team

Connect with your team members and find out how they are thinking and feeling. For example, do people feel inspired to achieve? Or do they feel that their work is never good enough?

Most people are motivated by a sense of achievement they want to go home with, feeling they’ve done a good day’s work. Conversely, they are demotivated by excessive expectations. Asking people to meet targets and goals that are unrealistic leads to a sense of failure. Set people up for success with clear expectations and provide support if needed to help people manage their workload.

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Recognize good work where you see it. Look for what people are doing right and express appreciation.

Aim to give more positive feedback than negative, so that employees feel valued. This can contribute to their sense of self-worth and support their well-being. Take the time to sit down and listen to people, to understand their challenges and concerns.

Sometimes, listening is all you need to do, to help people work through a difficult situation. And listening is also the best springboard to providing targeted support, so you can give employees what they truly need, and not what you may be assuming they need.

Connection Within the Team

Encourage team members to connect with each other. We are social beings and need a sense of belonging. Psychologists from William James onwards have identified the extent to which feeling isolated or disconnected from others has a highly negative impact on mental health and well-being. Most of us want friendly faces and supportive relationships at work. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to keep an eye on team dynamics, to help mediate any conflict, and to model respectful communication yourself.

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Why Should Leaders Prioritize Well-Being?

Signpost to Support

Make sure staff are clear about the help that’s available to them, such as employee assistance programs. Encourage them to take up the support that’s available. Normalize discussions around how people can look after themselves and their well-being.

The Starting Point

Ultimately, there’s a lot you can do as a leader to support connection with your teams and organization. But it does need to start with taking an honest look at yourself. In my book Crafting Connection, I explore three dimensions of connection: with yourself, with others, and with the wider communities to which you belong. The benefits of focusing on connection include bringing a greater sense of meaning and purpose into your life, as well as forging better relationships at work and beyond. These connections can support and sustain well-being in difficult times.

Allow space in team discussions to share feelings as well as thoughts. This doesn’t mean that team meetings turn into therapy sessions. But if you pretend that feelings don’t exist or matter, that doesn’t mean they go away. Instead, they can leak out in unhelpful behaviors, or employees can bottle them up, which can lead to a lack of physical or mental well-being. There is a skill in both, allowing space for people to express negative feelings and knowing when to steer the conversation toward solutions. It’s important to acknowledge negative feelings before moving on to problem-solving. For example, by saying: “given the frustrations that you’re feeling at the moment, what might we be able to do to help manage the situation?”

Felicity Dwyer is a facilitator, trainer, coach, and speaker, specializing in leadership and communication skills. She delivers programs for the UK’s two leading leadership and management institutes and facilitates group learning for organizations in the UK, Europe, and the USA. Felicity is the author of “Crafting Connection: Transform how you communicate with yourself and others”.

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When you understand the pressures your employees face, it’s easier to find ways to help them cope.

Ensure priorities are clear so people work on the right tasks. Be clear about the standards required, so people aren’t working to a level of perfectionism that isn’t needed. Be mindful of personal issues in people’s lives, that might lead to a temporary reduction in productivity.

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Smart Leaders Realize Leadership Is No Longer A Solo Job What every leader should pay attention to in an idea-based economy

By Robin Landa, Kean University

W

hen you ask leaders which characteristics they value the most when hiring employees, many say agility, flexibility, and adaptability. They’re seeking nimble thinkers, individuals who not only can compete in a global, idea-based economy and stay ahead but people who can contribute in a meaningful way and adapt to shifting needs. Smart leaders realize leadership is no longer a solo job; they need astute partners–they need people who will effectively co-create with them to produce significant ideas, who can think critically and creatively, experiment, learn quickly, and look forward.

1. Be a Partner

As a university educator, I now ask you to “flip the classroom,” a teaching methodology employed here to mean active leadership and increased collaboration between a leader and employees.

Just as much as leaders want to hire nimble thinkers, employees want a leader who is agile, flexible and adaptable. They want someone who is open to their ideas, listens mindfully, behaves as a team member rather than a formal authority figure. If a leader starts by listening, starting with employee needs and thoughts, that can lead to more successful outcomes.

2. Scrap Formal Authority

University students no longer sync with formal authority and neither do employees.

When I was in graduate school, I met with my thesis advisor to review my submission. After a very brief review, which was excellent, he “dismissed” me–not allowing for any additional questions let alone small talk. At the university, when my former dean summoned me to his office for a question he had about a colleague’s research potential, he, too, dismissed me as soon as I had answered satisfactorily.

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Smart Leaders Realize Leadership Is No Longer A Solo Job

No one wants to feel dismissed; we all feel as well as think in a university setting and on the job. Leaders should raise morale, not lower it if they want people who are committed to their jobs and the organization.

Authoritarianism isn’t going to work, especially with Gen Z. Trust me. I teach Gen Z— Millennials, too.

Let’s “workshop” your suggestion or idea as a favorite go-to method for partnership. It’s actually a terrific way to think–leading a workshop–a discussion of a practical solution, where people share their knowledge and points of view.

3. Good-Faith Engagement

Effective teaching involves a willingness to listen and switch gears when you hear good ideas, explore others’ points of view, and have the ability to conduct dialogue and not debate. The same goes for leadership. A leader can be a catalyst and conduit– someone who, in good faith, engages with their employees' observations, notes, and semi-realized ideas. It is the channel for good communication and sparks critical and creative thinking.

Leaning into good faith listening for employee understanding results in greater participation all around.

4. Amplify Diversity

Get multiple perspectives. Avoid groupthink at all costs. Avoid solo-think, that is, where a leader does all the thinking.

Taking multiple perspectives—looking at a business objective, a partially realized idea, or a fully-fledged idea from viewpoints different from your own—helps you perceive multiple scenarios and potentially considerable gains, ultimately resulting in better objectives, ideas and solutions that appeal to more people in more meaningful ways.

By asking more questions of diverse people, a leader widens their scope and the impact of their role.

Here are three questions to ask:

●● Is there a gap I hadn’t considered before I took multiple perspectives? ●● Is there a gain that is more equitable?

Empathy isn’t a tactic; building diversity and inclusive teams is not a trend. These are indispensable ways to lead.

Leaders would do well to take a cue from Dr. Lamont Repollet, the president of Kean University. "Reflect, reexamine and reimagine" is President Repollet’s call to action concerning research at our university, which aligns with the university's mission and culture. He is considering what public higher education can aspire to be in a world that needs worthwhile ideas and solutions to chronic issues. What makes Repollet such an impressive leader is that he knows that call to action requires partnership, collaboration, mindful listening, and embracing a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In most cases, a team or employees' work reflects the leader's performance. To face crises, to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition in an idea-based economy, and to inspire commitment, be a partner, scrap old-school authority, engage with people in good faith, and always, always, always amplify diversity. When you are inclusive, empowering, and respectfully connect, you leverage nimble thinkers’ abilities to do great things.

Robin Landa is a distinguished professor at Kean University and a globally recognized ideation expert.

She is a well-known “creativity guru” and a best-selling author of books on creativity, design, and advertising, including The New Art of Ideas: Unlock Your Creative Potential. She has won numerous awards and The Carnegie Foundation counts her among the "Great Teachers of Our Time."

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●● What goal can I set to have the best possible gain for the possible people?

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What Is The Secret Sauce Of Being A Great Leader?

Great leadership requires three things

By Bill Yeargin, Correct Craft

H

ank was frustrated. He was intelligent, committed, and had worked hard, but he was not achieving the success he expected. Like most leaders, Hank could give a list of reasons why his team’s goals were not being met, and like most leaders, Hank blamed it on circumstances outside his control. In his head, Hank understood that any leader could give reasons for not achieving acceptable results; he also understood that the best leaders achieve extraordinary results despite inevitable challenges. But, of course, he saw his situation differently.

How do some leaders achieve success and make it look so easy? Why do others have difficulty getting the outcomes they desire? What is the secret sauce of being a great leader?

Many people wonder about these questions. Great leadership requires three things. Get these right, and everything else will be easy.

Think Who, Not How

Luckily, early in my career, I realized that I was not great at anything; to be successful, I needed to be on a great team. Fortunately, that has happened over and over through the years; to the degree that if I have had any success, it is because of the people around me. Knowing this, whenever there was a problem to solve, I always thought, “who, not how.”

leaders have come to me with a problem asking for my advice because they were unsure of what to do. When I respond, “think who, not how,” their eyes light up, and they look like a big load has been lifted off them.

Some leaders spend years trying to find the solution to a problem – we all have them - and will keep spending time on the problem trying to figure it out themselves. Finding the right Who, solves issues more quickly and creates a lot of additional time for the leader to focus on areas where they excel. This truly is a transformative concept that can change the trajectory of your company and career.

The first thing a leader needs to do is to make sure they have the right people on the team. If they don’t, they need to do the hard work of changing their team.

Clarity

After reading my leadership book, Education of a CEO, it is not unusual for people to ask, “Is the bear story true?” If you, too, are wondering about the bear story and haven’t asked me yet, yes, it is true.

Many other leaders have the same weaknesses as me but don’t realize it. Over the years, innumerable

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What Is The Secret Sauce Of Being A Great Leader?

The short version of the story is that we have bears in our Central Florida neighborhood. The county says there are about 550, but we only see them a couple of times a year. In the book, I share a story about shooing bears off our back porch in the middle of the night thinking that one of the bears would not leave.

Afraid the bear was going to break through the glass doors at the back of the house, I was ready to shoot it if necessary. For the record, I have zero interest in shooting a bear and would be sad if I had to, but that night I was ready to shoot anything breaking through that glass door.

The embarrassing part of this story is that I eventually realized it was not a bear stalking the house but a chair on the back porch. In the middle of that night, I lacked clarity.

Employees crave clarity. It is the leader’s job to ensure employees know everything they need to know and, as much as possible, what they want to know.

A leader must provide clarity on an organization’s vision, values, why, strategic plan, and annual budget.

When there is a lack of clarity or miscommunication about what is important in an organization, the leader often blames the team for not listening carefully.

However, lack of clarity or miscommunication is ALWAYS the leader’s fault.

The leader must identify what is important and communicate it over and over. There are many opportunities for miscommunication in the distance between the leader’s head into the employee’s ear. That’s why communication often needs to be repeated.

Despite the challenges, creating clarity is not hard if a leader accepts responsibility, is intentional about it, and is willing to invest the time necessary to communicate important topics repeatedly. And when a leader does create clarity about the above items, the results are often exceptional.

Florida board, attending the school’s athletic events was always exciting. Football games played in the “Bounce House” were full of energy. Energy is powerful; it is up to leaders to provide that power to their teams.

Many leaders don’t like the responsibility of providing energy to their team, but that doesn’t mean it is not important. Either they believe it is the employee's responsibility to provide their own motivation, or they don’t want to make an effort to energize their team.

However, it is a big mistake to disregard the benefits of energizing a team; an energized team can get a lot accomplished. It takes effort to provide energy to your team, but the benefits to the organization are exponential.

Whether or not we like the responsibility, leaders either provide energy to a team or de-energize them.

The best leaders provide energy. They can do it by creating clarity, showing interest in their team, being optimistic, not wearing their feelings on their sleeve, and affirming their team for behavior in the right direction.

Even if it is not natural for you, it is still your job to provide energy to your team. Being an energizer will drive great results; it has a tremendous return on investment.

The leader’s primary job is to get results. Getting the right people on the team and providing them with clarity and energy will drive any leader’s desired results.

Bill Yeargin is President and CEO of Correct Craft and has authored five books, including Making Life Better – The Correct Craft Story.

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Serving for several years on the University of Central

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Creating More Diverse, Equitable, And Inclusive Workplaces Research from the Canadian Market Association reveals new insights

By Sartaj Sarkaria, Canadian Marketing Association

W

e have all experienced challenges and successes molded by our individual stories.

It is now much more widely understood that the challenges faced by people in marginalized communities can change the course of their personal lives and careers.

who were ready to share their paths to success.

people can help harness the skills and talents of others from similar backgrounds.

We now know that sharing those successes and pathways is how

Looking back, it is easy to pinpoint experiences that profoundly shaped my personal and professional journeys. I grew up as a first-generation Canadian in rural Ontario – an area that was not at all diverse, I often searched for people who looked like me or who had similar experiences to me. As you can imagine, I rarely found them.

That search continued all throughout post-secondary school and as I started my professional career. There were few teachers and leaders who looked like me and even fewer

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Creating More Diverse, Equitable, And Inclusive Workplaces

The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) recently completed its second annual DEI research report about the marketing industry in Canada and the findings continue to solidify the importance and value of diversity in leadership positions.

The research revealed that well-diversified leadership prevents staff loss, leads to significantly higher employee engagement, and reduces micro-aggressions.

men believe their organization will take appropriate action in the event of a discriminatory incident, compared to 80 percent of marginalized women. A strong majority of non-marginalized men (78 percent) are far more likely than marginalized women (33 percent) to believe that people from BIPOC communities rise to senior positions at the same rate as individuals who are not from these communities.

When presented with opportunities to expand diverse leadership internally, some organizations may say something along the lines of we don’t have those skills within our current diverse staff. The solution I pose is to demonstrate allyship and develop diverse leadership internally by investing mentorship time and professional development dollars in existing employees. Leaders need to understand the challenges that their employees are facing in order to retain them and help them grow.

We also know that more than half (52 percent) of non-marginalized women believe that once you reach a certain age, you have no chance of getting hired or promoted. Women are less likely than men (13 percent versus 25 percent) to believe that they would be praised if they challenged someone in leadership who made a racial, ethnic, or gender-based joke.

It is imperative for leaders to understand these complexities and challenges that their employees are facing in order to retain and nurture their talent.

Once you do this, all staff will see their future with your organization and begin visualizing themselves as the next leader.

Always, but especially now, in an increasingly competitive labour market, employee engagement and retention should be key areas of focus.

Each individual experiences the workplace through their own lens.

Our research uncovered some striking differences between the experiences and perceptions of people from different demographic groups.

For example, nearly all (94 percent) of non-marginalized

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By bringing staff into discussions through town hall meetings, anonymized surveys, and coffee chats, leaders can learn more about what employees are experiencing in the workplace, and address their specific concerns. The best place to start is by asking yourself

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how you are supporting and embracing diversity, both in your organization and your industry at large.

Leaders are in their positions to draw upon synergies within the organization and marketplace.

They are also there to ensure they are creating safe and collaboratively accessible environments for their teams. Be an ally and leader and take a moment to determine how you support the next group of diverse leadership within your industry and your organization.

Sartaj Sarkaria is the Acting Chief Operating Officer, Chief Diversity Officer & Chief of Staff at the Canadian Marketing Association, where she leads the strategy and execution of the CMA mandate and steers the diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy and efforts of the association. Sartaj also oversees the professional development offerings of CMA including the Chartered Marketer designation.

She has a proven track record of developing and delivering programs and services aligned with strategic business plans while balancing innovation and risk.

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Why Workplace Mentorship Is More Important Than Ever In 2023 Benefits of mentorship programs for organizations

By Pankaj Srivastava, MentorCloud

W

e are in the midst of massive generational shifts that are fundamentally altering how and why we work. The modern workforce demands a connection to purpose, a sense of belonging, and an ability to impact beyond just the self.

The remote and hybrid work environments are hampering the ability of managers and leaders to truly connect with their people, understand their well-being and stay on top of productivity.

This has led to a mass exodus of disengaged employees (The Great Resignation) to explore and seek more fulfilling opportunities elsewhere. So, how do leaders connect better and help people to find growth opportunities within companies?

Mentoring in the Workplace in 2023

Mentoring creates a meaningful partnership between colleagues

to facilitate continued learning and growth, both on a personal and professional level.

Mentoring is one of the most efficient ways to help employees grow, keep them engaged, and drive higher levels of retention.

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Why Workplace Mentorship Is More Important Than Ever In 2023

Developing skills, learning new things, connecting with others, and being challenged regularly keep employees motivated in 2023. Even though it takes dedication and distractions can get in the way, a mentor can help guide, advise, and inspire others to attain their goals faster. A mentor can accelerate employees' self-development, confidence, and career advancement. But the fact remains that, only 37 percent of professionals have access to mentoring at work, even though 76 percent think it's important.

Here's what the stats say: ● It's estimated that 14 percent of mentor relationships start with someone asking another to be their mentor. Sixty-one percent of them develop naturally. ● The employees who have mentors at work are naturally happier. ● Sixty-nine percent of women choose female mentors, and 82 percent of men choose male mentors. ● A mentoring program is in place at about 70% of Fortune 500 companies.

The bottom line is that jobs can be hard and oftentimes, extremely stressful, and as an adult, it isn’t always easy to reach out and ask for help. Employee mentoring programs can help bridge that gap and mentees can help employees make critical career decisions and give them the tools

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they need to tackle challenges at work. If employees have access to someone who has experienced similar issues, they are more likely to seek help before reaching a burnout point and leaving their job for good.

Benefits of Mentorship Programs for Organizations

Mentorship programs at work have obvious benefits, but organizational benefits are less obvious. Having mentorship programs makes employees feel more connected and supported, which increases their job satisfaction levels and makes them stay at the company longer.

You're probably wondering how this helps an organization.

Obviously, highly motivated, and satisfied employees lead to higher employee retention rates in an organization. It's more important than ever to keep early-career millennials happy at work since they switch jobs twice as fast as new graduates did two decades ago. To protect human capital investments, workplaces need to make sure their employees' intrinsic needs are met more vigilantly.

Mentorship programs help employees build soft skills too.

In contrast to focusing on one particular area of expertise, an organization can create the kind of mentorship program that gives employees coping strategies and wisdom that will help them in their professional and personal lives. This can include but isn’t limited to:

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● Leadership ● Strategic thinking ● Communication skills ● Workplace relationship navigation A company can greatly benefit from employees who can lead, communicate, and interact effectively with their peers. As a result, they can connect with their workplace in a much more meaningful way, knowing it's more than just a job, but also helping them grow personally and professionally. In addition, it helps improve employee retention rates!

Pankaj Srivastava is the CEO of MentorCloud, the world’s foremost people development platform. A startup veteran, he is an entrepreneurial technology executive who pioneered popular revenue drivers such as Security-as-a-Subscription-Service and helped scale businesses across the world.

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Ensure that each person in your HR department has a standard and consistent understanding of policies, procedures, and regulations.

HR Professionals lead employee engagement and development programs saving the company money through lower turnover and greater productivity and engagement.

Place your HR team in a certification program as a rewarding team building achievement.

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2023 Will Be The Year Of The Fixer Building a C-suite that is wired for challenge

By Robert Jordan, InterimExecs

A

s businesses begin to look ahead to next year, it’s hard to get a sense of what to plan for. One headline implies that economic headwinds are beginning to abate, while the next points out the ominous storms still lurking on the horizon.

We’re living in historic times, the pundits are saying.

Inflation, war, changing monetary policy, supply, and labor problems have created “cross-currents” in the global economy that are hard to make sense of in real-time. In other words, the days we are living through are historically confusing.

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Businesses are bleeding from the C-suite on down.

CEO turnover rate hit a record high this year with 832 CEOs leaving their positions between January-July 2022, an 8% increase from the same period in 2021.

How Can Companies Equip Themselves with a C-suite that is Wired for Challenges?

Knowing what specific challenges your organization will have to rise to next year—and how many people it will take to get the job done—is tricky. Businesses are battening down for a recession while praying for a rebound.

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2023 Will Be The Year Of The Fixer

No economist or business leader has a crystal ball, but you don’t need one to make the following prediction: Next year will bring a series of challenges to businesses in every industry. Some of these will be familiar, and simple matters of supply and demand or shifting consumer tastes. But others will be brand new, and their solutions will not necessarily come with a playbook.

I have noticed the differing leadership styles that these executives bring to the table, and the varying ways they approach problems.

Obstacles, bottlenecks, and complications seem like a given for 2023, and some of these are likely to be surmounted with tried-and-true business strategies.

But others will seem intractable to company insiders and will require a new set of eyes.

Fixers are drawn to the most dysfunctional situations the way an adrenaline-junkie mountain biker is drawn to the steepest and most dangerous hills. They thrive on the challenge: Creating order out of chaos, chopping through tangled messes and figuring out what about a business needs to be expanded, cut, stream­lined, aligned, and organized to create something better. And when it’s done, they are off to the next dysfunctional company.

That’s why 2023 will be the year of the Fixer.

What is a Fixer?

Businesses often bring in outside executives to help steer the ship through uncertain waters. In my work, bringing these businesses together with interim executives, I have sat down with hundreds of on-demand executives, who are the type to run toward the fire instead of away from it, and want to turn around companies that are hemorrhaging cash, customers, and morale. Many have done just that.

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Some bring the style and temperament of an artist, treating a business like a blank canvas. Others are natural-born strategists or builders. And then there are fixers.

There’s a reason I’m not pausing here to point out history’s great fixers so we can all learn from their examples. It’s because their names wouldn’t ring a bell. Companies that emerge leaner and meaner from hard times do make the headlines, but the fixers who put them on their path to profitability seldom do.

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2023 Will Be The Year Of The Fixer

Unlike the other leadership types—the artist, the strategist, and the builder—fixers do not weave dreams. They simply get the job done, whatever the job is, and then they move on to the next challenge.

The coming year will bring plenty of opportunities for builders, artists, and strategists. But with so many “cross-currents” in the business landscape—read: thorny problems—next year will be the time to shine for those who expertly fix problems.

Finding the Right Fixer

If your company is considering bringing aboard an interim executive to help navigate times that are difficult to predict, you are hardly alone. If you know your company needs fundamental, bottom-up changes, then you need someone who does far more than help a company navigate. You need a fixer.

A fixer is not a person who claims they can fix problems, but a person with a track record doing this.

Their resume should feature a virtual horror show of businesses that have been close to the brink. An effective fixer has no fear, because he or she has already been to the abyss, and emerged stronger.

With this in mind, here are a few questions you can ask that will tell you whether a purported fixer really has the steely determination to fix problems: What was your worst-ever day of work like?

This seemingly innocuous and friendly question is an important one. The fixer’s worst day should sound grueling instead of something that makes a cute story. Whatever situation you are presenting to the fixer, you want someone who has been through worse.

If we take you on – what will happen on Day One? The answer to this question offers clues to the fixer’s process. At the beginning of the engagement, it should be all about listening. An effective fixer on day one will be kicking off the long process of listening to workers from every level of the organization.

the bottom of the totem pole—this person should be able to talk about who on the staff will be part of the company’s go-forward team.

Why are you the best fixer for my company’s problems, and what is the worst possible outcome you can foresee?

The worst outcome should be that the business goes belly-up. Any other answer is sugar-coating it, which you don’t want from a fixer. You want fixes, not platitudes. Additionally, any fixer who describes himself or herself as the best is the one to steer clear of. A doctor capable of saving lives will never say they are “the best.” A fixer shouldn’t either.

In the year ahead, some businesses will have challenges, which can be surmounted. But others will run into problems, and those will need fixing.

Businesses that bring in an outsider for this purpose will hardly be alone. There will be ample opportunity for fixers to fix problems. But before bringing aboard a fixer, ask the right questions to ensure that this person not only has the brains to fix problems but the stomach for it.

Robert Jordan is the Founder & CEO at InterimExecs. Robert, along with Olivia Wagner (Founder & President, InterimExecs.) just released the Audible edition of their book Right Leader Right Time: Discover Your Leadership Style for a Winning Career and Company (G&D).

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While the fixer will still be in listening mode— understanding that great insights often come from

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3 Leadership Qualities You Need To Create & Maintain A Positive Workplace Culture Great leaders understand the importance of creating a healthy culture

By Joe Hart, Dale Carnegie Training

C

orporations and businesses of all sizes speak consistently about work culture and its effects on employees, productivity, and the success of the organization as a whole. While it seems understood that a positive work culture leads to the success of a business, it’s even more important to understand that leadership is crucial to creating a great company.

qualities a leader needs to make it happen.

Leadership Impacts Organizational Culture

or CEO was the most common key culture enabler in a company.

In fact, 72% reported that culture helps successful change initiatives happen.

A 2021 PWC report found that the tone of the company leader

The leadership of an organization is the key to a company’s culture–whether it’s good or bad. Leaders who invest time and effort into creating a positive company culture will reap the benefits both in the short and long term. Creating a great company culture takes understanding how and why it is important, as well as the specific

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3 Leadership Qualities You Need To Create & Maintain A Positive Workplace Culture

The tone from the top sets the stage for a positive or negative company culture, which directly impacts the company’s success. Respondents from the same survey who said their organization has a distinctive culture were also more likely to say that revenue, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction increased during the pandemic.

When leaders foster and encourage a great workplace culture, they quite literally are ensuring the success of their company. Even when the unforeseeable happens, like a pandemic, a positive work culture will continue to do work in the leadership’s, employees’, and overall company’s favor.

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Great leaders who foster positive company cultures help retain employees. Unfortunately, just 31% of employees report they are highly committed to their organization and plan to stay long-term. High turnover rates and lack of loyalty are often a sign of poor work culture.

This means creating a positive culture is crucial for employee engagement and retention, and the overall success of a company.

Culture Is The Key To A Great Company

When a company has a positive work environment, employees appreciate their time and contribution at work. During the pandemic, this became all the more important with remote work. Even with remote employees, leaders should be

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working hard to create a positive company culture.This can be done by creating a workplace that emphasizes common values such as openness and trust and making the workplace a psychologically safe place for everyone.

A company is not all deadlines and productivity. Those things come when employees feel valued, trusted, and trust their employer. When leaders encourage this kind of company culture by making sure their employees know how much they are valued, the return will be tenfold. Success under normal circumstances will become the norm, and when the company is faced with challenges from internal or external factors, the company culture will carry through in a big way.

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3 Leadership Qualities You Need To Create & Maintain A Positive Workplace Culture

The 2021 PWC report found that 69% of organizations that adapted amid the pandemic say culture offers a competitive advantage. The key to a great company is leadership who works hard to foster a positive work culture and possesses the qualities to make that happen.

3 Leadership Qualities Needed to Create & Maintain a Positive Workplace Culture

It’s one thing to know that great leaders encourage a positive company culture. It’s another to be the kind of person who can make that happen. Here are 3 key qualities a leader must possess to create and maintain and positive work culture: 1. A great leader is a great communicator. A leader needs a non-aggressive, humble tone and the ability to truly listen. Leaders should approach conversations with the understanding that communicating is a two-way street. Starting with questions instead of accusations or imperatives, and actively listening before responding is extremely important. Leaders should also be keenly aware that body language is a huge part of any conversation and affects the message being sent and received. Even when working remotely on video calls, eye contact, demeanor, and posture are all non-verbal cues that leaders should be aware of.

2. Leaders must possess empathy. Empathetic leaders understand the struggles,

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stresses, wins, and joys of their employees–and they can do this because they regularly communicate with all departments of the company.

When employees feel empathy from their leader, then a positive, open relationship can be formed.

Employees won’t feel intimidated or fearful of leadership and instead will view them as a true partner and advocate who values what they bring to the company.

A company is not all deadlines and productivity.

Those things come when employees feel valued, trusted, and trust their employer.

3. Leaders need to be team-oriented. By focusing on fostering collaboration and team bonding, leaders make sure that everyone is doing their part–including themselves. A great leader isn’t just in charge, they’re part of the team. With a team-oriented company, no one person takes the fall when mistakes happen or challenges arise. Conversely, wins are shared among the whole team, and everyone gets to feel a part of that success. Leaders should both encourage and be part of team bonding and collaboration to create a positive work culture.

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Creating and maintaining a positive company culture is imperative for an organization to be truly successful. Great leaders understand the importance of creating such a culture in their company, and moreover, understand how to be the kind of leaders who can make that happen by embodying these three qualities.

Joe Hart is the President and CEO at Dale Carnegie Training, the most experienced training organization in the world. Early in his tenure as CEO, Hart had to adeptly navigate the company through an unforeseen global pandemic.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Hart led a lightning-fast change of the business model shifting business activities from almost exclusively in-person training to repositioning the business to generate 95% of its revenue online. As a Dale Carnegie graduate himself, Hart’s first business, InfoAlly, provided online programs to support the Dale Carnegie, Leadership Training for Managers, and Sales Advantage Courses.

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What Type Of Capex Leader Are You? There are four types of Capex leaders

By Daniel Lindén and Fredrik Weissenrieder, Weissenrieder & Co.

I

n the foreword of our book, REDESIGNING CAPEX STRATEGY, Domtar CEO John Williams writes, “A lot of capital allocation is based on emotion. It’s not fact-based.”

We heartily agree. Too often leaders view capital expenditures in isolation listed in a capital budget— with emotional attachments that frequently create arbitrary decisions—instead of creating a Capex strategy that maximizes sustainable company cash flow. This leads to optimizing parts of a company’s

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production system at the expense of the company’s overall productivity and competitiveness.

How can leaders address this problem? Often their misguided thinking is based on their leadership styles or personalities. In our 25 years of working with clients, we have found that there are four types of Capex Leaders: The Strategic Value Builder, The Conscious Harvester, The Quick Fix Patcher, and the Bubble Blower.

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What Type Of Capex Leader Are You?

These different types are characterized by their attitudes towards spending capital, growth, and their ability to build and maintain a long-term capital allocation strategy. Leaders should strive to emulate the Strategic Value Builder or the Conscious Harvester, not the other two types. Here’s why:

The Strategic Value Builder

This is a rare type of leader who has full control and mastery of their organization’s long-term capital allocation strategy and process. These leaders invest more than the median in their industry, based on a carefully designed Capex strategy, the result of a system-wide evaluation of sometimes hundreds of full-scale alternatives. They do not procrastinate in making tough decisions such as closures and consolidations. In the overall portfolio of their businesses, they might also manage operations with few or no opportunities for long-term survival where Capex levels are kept at a minimum. Overall, Strategic Value Builders are the leaders whose companies succeed over time, not by spectacular sprints, but by continuously outperforming their peers.

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The Conscious Harvester

Like the Strategic Value Builder, this type of leader has complete control of the allocation process, but oversees businesses or units with few opportunities, or no opportunities, for survival in the medium or longer term. The Conscious Harvester decides, based on a carefully designed Capex strategy, to run the business(es) for cash, allowing for a minimum of Capex up to the point when a planned exit occurs – usually to the benefit of another business entity that is pegged for long-term growth. Tough decisions such as closures and consolidations are “owned” and not procrastinated.

The Conscious Harvester understands its role in the overall footprint and contributes by generating cash, not growth, in a very disciplined manner. The Conscious Harvester does not derail the Capex strategy by spending resources on research and development of new capabilities or products. These businesses are highly valuable to companies as cash providers.

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What Type Of Capex Leader Are You?

strong assets. This is the road to long-term value destruction that is often seen in mature capital-intensive industries. To make things worse – these leaders’ companies achieve growth only by acquiring other underinvested businesses, wasting capital and exacerbating the underlying problem.

The Bubble Blower

The Quick-fix Patcher

This leader is “tough” on capital and Capex, but hesitates when it comes to difficult decisions such as closures and consolidations. Because this leader wants to acquire a sense of control that they do not really have, they will start by being extremely restrictive with Capex, running a very tight budget – and often bragging about it. They prioritize individual Capex with the quickest payback and highest ROIs, without regard for the system as a whole. This leads to overinvesting in assets and business units with low or no ability to compete and underinvesting in

These leaders shoot for the moon. They argue for huge Capex budgets to achieve a “future state” that say, will be profitable. But the cost of getting there is too high. The way they measure capital effectiveness is always uncertain in terms of cash flow. Therefore they let other metrics, especially top-line growth, take precedence. Every cost, expenditure, or expensive acquisition is justified by the need for top-line growth. Since growth is the number one ambition, tough decisions about priorities miraculously disappear. These leaders are the temporary stars who flare and then dramatically die away. They can be found in every cycle.

Companies that succeed in the long term are managed by leaders whose capital allocation decisions consistently generate net value creation, overall. These are the leaders who base those decisions on a system-wide evaluation of full-scale alternatives, seeking increased company cash flow instead of chasing fast project returns. What type of Capex Leader are you?

Fredrik Weissenrieder, the co-author of REDESIGNING CAPEX STRATEGY, is the founder and CEO of Weissenrieder & Co., a global capex strategy consultancy and tech company, based in Sweden. In 1994, he developed a fundamentally different approach to industrial capital allocation and is today a recognized global leader on the topic.

Daniel Lindén, the co-author of REDESIGNING CAPEX STRATEGY, is the COO of Weissenrieder & Co. Since 1999 he has helped refine Weissenrieder’s groundbreaking approach to industrial capital allocation. He oversees the company’s consulting teams as well as the team developing the consultancy’s SaaS service Weissr® Capex.

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4 Characteristics Of High-Performance Teams Cultivating these areas can help you build teams that produce results

By Dr. Dawn-Marie Turner, Turner Change Management

H

ave you ever been part of a high-performance team – one where everyone works well together, things seem to flow, and you accomplish much more than what you could do individually? If you have, then you know there's a

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big difference between working in a group and working with a team.

In business, we use the word “team” for just about any group of people who work together.

Yet a team is more than just a group of individuals working

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together. A team creates new work from a collective capability, a contribution that you couldn’t get individually. Focusing on shared purpose and collective contribution, rather than the individual members, helps build a team.

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4 Characteristics Of High-Performance Teams

I've worked on some great teams, but they've often taken time to develop. On one occasion, however, I was in a situation where suddenly and rapidly, almost spontaneously, a group I was working with began functioning as a high-performance team. I decided to take a closer look at how this occurred.

We had all the usual things that characterize a team. We had a clear goal, all our rules and responsibilities were well outlined, and we had a clearly defined project. None of these factors however explained the rapid transformation from a group of people working together to a high-performance team. Here are some common traits of high-performance teams I gleaned from this experience: 1. Respect. Each person on the team is an individual and comes with a unique perspective, ability, history, and communication style, and those need to be respected and leveraged. Each person may be chosen because of their expertise and knowledge, but in a high-performing team, they are valued beyond that, as a whole person.

2. Trust. High-performance teams exhibit a sense of trust that everyone in the group is smart and knows their stuff. When this type of trust develops, group members participate more fully in the conversations, and problem-solving becomes a shared experience, and the need to be right is replaced with the desire to find the best solution.

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3. Fun Under Pressure. Deadlines and the commitment to meeting goals don’t overtake the group’s ability to enjoy the work and the people. Our project had a firm and immovable deadline for completion. The pressure to complete at the desired quality was intense. Yet we still made time to socialize and enjoy the process. We laughed at ourselves, with each other, and through the ups and downs of the work. In these moments of fun, we shared insights, got to know one another, and celebrated our differences.

This was all done virtually, but because we made time to do it, we got a better understanding of our similarities and differences.

And the laughter helped us move into that trusting team performance level.

4. Valuing Perspectives. Effective teams are inclusive. Each person feels actively connected and involved. The value we place on everyone's perspective and experience helps create collective intelligence. Our group was diverse. We came from multiple industries with a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise, and we crossed multi-generational lines. Our team leader made the time and space, without rushing, for each member to contribute and no one person dominated the conversation or the work. Each person was given time to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and contribute.

The different levels of thinking, experience and perspectives were acknowledged, valued, and celebrated to allow us to

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create something that was new and unique The collective intelligence of groups isn’t strongly correlated with the average intelligence of individuals in the group, MIT researchers have found. What counts more is the diversity of experience and thinking. Creating a high-performance team is not about putting a bunch of smart people together in the room.

It is about cultivating different ways of thinking and different perspectives to create collective intelligence and solve problems faster.

Dr. Dawn-Marie Turner, author of “Launch, Lead, Live: The Executive's Guide to Preventing Resistance and Succeeding With Organizational Change,” teaches stories, techniques, and the science to take your team from change-resistant to change-ready, from stressed-out to resilient.

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