What strategy decisions do you need to make to win in 2023?  2023 looks to have major challenges that are slowly developing. And this is especially so when considering your strategy and how it might be impacted by the changing environment. One of the most important questions to answer to best prepare for 2023 is how can I maintain consistent financial performance if my customer's needs or spending changes? Jim Collins said that  "The signature of mediocrity is not unwillingness change, the...

What people decisions do you need to make to win in 2023?  2023 looks to have major challenges that are slowly developing. And this is especially so when considering the people challenges we're all facing. One of the most important questions to answer in order to best prepare for 2023 is how do I get the right people in the right seats doing the right things the right way? This week we're going through some important things to find the right people in 2023 and get your people system...

2023 is looking like one of the most interesting years in our lives and careers. We didn't really see 2020, it just happened to us, and we all responded.  But 2023 looks to have major challenges that are slowly developing.  So what can we do in order to win in 2023?  In this first of five episodes, we look at what we know about 2023, and what we can do to manage the headwinds and challenges.     ----- * Do you love The Growth Whisperers and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to...

What is more important, getting the right people or getting the right strategy? Many people have opinions about what matters more. Strategy people think it's strategy, and you might have a great team, but they will spin their wheels without a great strategy.  Then others will think that culture is more important and that a great strategy will go nowhere without a high-performing team.  But there's also one other nuance to this debate and its execution. How effectively does the team execute...

Many companies might have a plan, but some plans work better than others. Focus matters; having an ideology, strategy, and execution goals in one plan enables leaders to focus and achieve results.  By bringing together the ideology (Core Values & Core Purpose), Strategy (How you're different) and execution together into a logical fit, you avoid just having a list of goals with different time horizons. This week we discuss the One Page Plan, where it comes from, why it works and the...

This week we're talking about a new book that Kevin is working on entitled The Four Forces of Growth. We talk about the four forces, why they matter and what you can do to focus on growth. Here's an excerpt from Kevin's website outlining the four forces of growth. The 4 Forces of Growth We’re about a third of the way through this year, and it feels as if we’ve already burned a year’s worth of energy. Many people have slipped into troubleshooting, problem solving and pivoting within...

What would we do if we paid $44 USD Billion for a business that was losing 4 million dollars a day? It's no different than buying any business, you're either going to let it run, or extract and create more value through a turnaround.  We talk about what we would do if we bought Twitter, and what you should consider if you're buying a business.    ----- * Do you love The Growth Whisperers and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our YouTube channel. * Do you enjoy our content?...

What tools do you need to use for an effective onboarding process?  First, you must document what success looks like in the role after the onboarding. Second, you must build a plan to ensure the new hire understands how to succeed in the role. The role scorecard should include the job purpose, responsibilities, measurable metrics and expectations of the new hire. The onboarding sprint plan should be a detailed weekly list of agenda items over perhaps 13 weeks which incorporates all the...

What is onboarding debt, and how can you calculate your onboarding debt? When people don’t understand how to succeed in a new role, they do what they think is right. But that might not be the right thing. They won't understand the culture, the technical and process expectations and your expectations as their manager. Onboarding debt is the liability you carry with each new hire. More onboarding debt means a less successful team. We talk about Brad's new book Onboarded and how every new...

Many people refer to a person as a good fit (they are still here) or a bad fit (they left). This creates a mindset problem when we think about new hires. We can then think that new hires are pre-determined to be a good or bad fit, and it’s outside our control. And worse, any effort to make them fit is a wasted effort. Because this mindset tells us there’s no point in spending time if someone is a bad fit. Hiring can be viewed as a “deal done”. We can consider that a good hiring process will...

What is onboarding, and why does it matter? In this first of four episodes, we're discussing Brad's new book Onboarded, how to bring new hires to the point where they are effective faster. We discuss what onboarding is and what it isn't. We cover how 83% of organisations aren't realising the benefits of an effective onboarding process and why onboarding really matters to your team and your results.     ----- * Do you love The Growth Whisperers and want to see our smiling faces?...

How can you leverage the Stockdale Paradox in this economy? During these turbulent times, with major events that are out of your control which could impact your company, how can you maintain composure and results? The Stockdale Paradox from Jim Collins can be defined as  - you must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever...

What are Jim Collins Level 5 leaders? Level 5 leadership is a concept developed in the book Good to Great. Level 5 leaders display a powerful mixture of personal humility and indomitable will. They're incredibly ambitious, but their ambition is first and foremost for the cause, for the organization and its purpose, not themselves. While Level 5 leaders can come in many personality packages, they are often self-effacing, quiet, reserved, and even shy. This week we discuss what makes a level...

How can you identify A players during an interview? There is no substitute for a team of A players. The higher the percentage of A players that you have in your team for longer, the greater the chance of the team's success. How do you know when you’ve got an A player - or potential - on your hands? This week we discuss the four things you must do to know how to identify A players during an interview and how to validate A players beyond that.      ----- * Do you love The Growth...

Is your leadership team too big?  There's a real challenge that comes with having too many people in a meeting or in a team. Some leaders want to be all-inclusive and can end up with too many people in the room, or others can end up with too few people.    Each of these can come with a set of second-order consequences that can negatively affect the effectiveness of the team.  And then the performance of the business.    The challenge here is that the leadership team naturally expands in...

How do you deal with an executive that is underperforming? Executives are the most impactful and important roles in your company.  Weak executives create weak teams, which start to rot the company from the inside out. Sometimes we have good people who we trust, but they perform at a B level. They score high on the core values but score low on productivity. These people can be difficult to deal with, and exceptionally difficult to deal with if it's a CEO dealing with a B performer...

What happens when managers tell you people are leaving for more money? As a leader, your direct reports will tell you that a team member of theirs has left for more money. The problem is that it’s an easy excuse, that actually leads to never fixing attrition issues. Instead, what if you didn’t accept that answer and asked them for the real answer? In this episode, we discuss the data about why people leave jobs, and you can use that data to develop a better operational culture.     ...

Sometimes you're clear about a change that needs to happen, but team members might resist that change. It doesn't make sense. You understand why and how the change is required, but team members are resisting that change in perhaps an illogical or unreasonable way. In this episode, Kevin and Brad discuss what to do when your team resists change, and we refer to Kotter's 8-Step Change Model, which is listed below. 1- Create Urgency. The first step is to create a sense of urgency about the...

What makes a bad strategic plan? According to Harvard Business School, 92% of business plans fail due to poor execution, and so getting a plan that succeeds, is difficult. Your strategy should clearly explain your direction, and how you will be different from your competition. Then, your execution plan should detail specifically where to commit your resources of time and money to ensure you execute that strategy.  In this episode, Kevin and Brad discuss five things that make a bad...

How do you develop your mid-managers? As companies grow, the gap tends to be in the middle management and, as they are so busy working, they rarely get the development time, resources and attention needed for the growth that is required to develop talent from within. As a result, we end up having to hire many external team members to strengthen the team - more than many companies would like. And the existing team gets stagnant. In the end, every team ends up with its own university. An...

What does it mean to fire bullets before cannonballs? Often leaders are too bold or, alternatively, too conservative. Instead of taking too much or too little risk, the concept of firing bullets before cannonballs asks leaders to validate an idea with a series of small, low-risk experiments. Once you have validated your idea, then you can concentrate your resources on a big bet idea.  From Jim Collins - “The ability to turn small proven ideas (bullets) into huge hits (cannonballs) counts...

Leaders often waste a lot of time on decisions because meeting delegates are not well prepared with the information needed or aren't well-disciplined with a process that can lead to an effective and quick decision. In order to be a more effective leader, effective decision-making in meetings is crucial. Also, the format of rules and engagement to discuss, debate and decide impacts the effectiveness of meetings.  In this episode, Brad and Kevin discuss how to achieve effective decision-making...

The 20 Mile March is a concept developed by Jim Collins in the book Great by Choice. Enterprises that prevail in turbulence self-impose a rigorous performance mark to hit with great consistency—like hiking across the United States by marching at least 20 miles a day, every day. The march imposes order amidst disorder, discipline amidst chaos, and consistency amidst uncertainty. The 20 Mile March works only if you actually hit your march year after year; if you set a 20 Mile March and then...

SMaC Recipe is a concept developed in the book Great by Choice. A SMaC recipe is a set of durable operating practices that creates a replicable, consistent success formula. The word "SMaC" stands for Specific, Methodical, and Consistent. A solid SMaC recipe is the operating code for turning strategic concepts into reality, a set of practices more enduring than mere tactics. It is like the U.S. Constitution, both durable and practical, yet also amendable. Great companies and social...

  There's a big problem with most flywheels, and it's the main reason they're destined to fail. The Flywheel Concept originated from Jim Collins' book Good to Great and outlines a series of actions that a business takes in order to build momentum in the business. The Flywheel Concept is designed to build ever-increasing momentum and growth in a business, thereby making the business more successful over time.  The successful flywheels that are provided as examples are built after a deep...