Last week I enjoyed the Catalyst One Day event in Austin with our Gateway team.
Andy Stanley shared the following insightful message:
“A successful leader is being able to watch it work well without you.
If you don’t know why it’s working when it’s working, you won’t know how to fix it when it breaks.
Having problems is normal for organizations. Solving problems is what makes organizations great.
Evaluate why things are working to determine what can be transferred to areas where things aren’t working.
High performance teams are comprised of people with extraordinary clarity around what, why, and how along with a strong predisposition towards execution.
1. Select performance-oriented people.
A. Recruit doers, not thinkers. It’s much easier to educate a doer than it is to activate a thinker.
B. Position individuals for maximum impact.
Put people where they can make their greatest contribution.
Connect the dots.
Help your team see how the others in your organization help you succeed. Storytelling and thank you cards.
There is no such thing as non-critical personnel.
2. Clarify the “what” and the “why.” Clarity is critical.
What and why are the fuel of a high performance team.
Clarity around what and why focuses energy and resources.
The reason we aren’t able to do more is because we are doing too much now.
Your good leaders will ask “why” when it doesn’t fit with the “what.”
What are we doing? Why are we doing it?
Clarity around what and why spotlights superfluous initiatives and activities.
Clarity around what and why lays the groundwork for organizational change.
The clearer the picture of where you are going, the sooner they will want to leave what is happening now.
People won’t let go until you clarify where you want them to go.
Sticky statements around what and why can be galvanizing.
If it’s memorable then it’s portable.
3. Organize (or reorganize) to the what.
Create an organization where the lion’s share of time and resources are allocated to the what.
Don’t force people to work around the organization.
4. Orchestrate and evaluate everything.
A. This is how we do it here – until further notified.
Orchestration is the elimination of discretion, or choice at the operating level of your business.” – Michael Gerber (E-Myth)
Orchestration brings consistency and predictability to all your processes and environments.
Orchestration makes an organization feel more, not less personal.
B. Evaluate everything.
Evaluate everything formally and systematically with the people involved as often as an event occurred.
Experience does not make you better. Evaluated experience does.
Create a feedback loop that keeps you close to the critical events in your organization.
What are the mission-critical events in our organization?
