People
Absence of trust, fear of conflict, avoidance of accountability, lack of commitment, and inattention to results are the five dysfunctions that Patrick Lencioni highlights in this business fable. I’ve used this content with several teams as a discussion starter for them to assess what their team dynamics are like and which dysfunction(s) are preventing them from reaching their potential. As is always the case with Lencioni’s work, it’s exceedingly human, accessible, and actionable. This is a must read for any group of people working together with a shared purpose.
Pat Lencioni has spent decades serving organizations. He has written some tremendous business fables that have really shaped my own thinking. Recently, he released something called The Working Genius - a tool that helps to build better teams by identifying each team member’s working geniuses, competencies, and frustrations. It’s not your average tool. This is really practical and can have immediate impact for organizations and teams.
Over the past several years, Mike Goldman has focused on helping to build better leadership teams. Mike’s show is thoughtful, practical, and includes a variety of voices on the topic of leadership, teams, and how to create alignment inside of an organization. With equal parts humor and intensity, he doesn’t hold anything back as he offers the best of his current thinking and experience.
STRATEGY
From his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins introduces this concept as a way to help an organization understand what they can be the best at. It’s a focusing tool that helps us understand the difference between good and great. It advises organizations on how to give up the things that we are good at for the things we can be best at. It provides extraordinary focus and offers freedom to say “no” so that an organization can provide the most value to the world.
I was first introduced to Shannon Susko’s material about five years ago. Since then, I have become increasingly impressed with the effectiveness of the system that she has built here. She has assembled the best thought leadership and industry-leading tools in what she refers to as a “strategic growth operating system”. My clients have found her 3-Year Highly Achievable Goal (3HAG) to be a helpful bridge between the Big Hairy Audacious Goal and the next 12-months.
execution
Micheal Hyatt, creator of the Full Focus Planner, was running a company with no boundaries on his time. He was on the proverbial hamster wheel, resulting in him ultimately having a health scare. Out of that experience, he realized he needed to create a better system. Enter this planner which helps individuals stay focused on personal productivity. I used this tool for years while running companies and it helped me to block out the noise, create an integrated life, and deliver results in areas that actually make a difference.
The four categories that I have divided these resources into come from Verne Harnish’s book Scaling Up. His section on execution is a collection of industry-leading tools and rhythms that help organizations take their vision and put it into action. Grounded in aligned communication, this system keeps the main thing the main focus, thereby helping organizations to - as the title implies - scale up.
CASH
Greg Crabtree is focused on making finance simple. As the title of his book implies, he seeks to reduce the number of metrics that business leaders monitor. In so doing, he helps them to influence the most impactful metrics in their business.
There is a difference between net profit and cash flow. Our P&L can look great, but we may be left wondering where all the money is. This methodology introduces concepts like “The Power of One” which invites us to consider the impact of increasing revenue by 1% and reducing expenses by the same. It’s astonishing the geometric impact that this can have, not only on profit but on cash as well. This is just one of several concepts that this tool uses to help put businesses on sturdier footing.