If everything went according to plan, I am in Manchester England for the Evolve Q3 meeting in EMEA. It's been a long road back to international travel, but I’m excited to be with our UK members talking Modes, Security, Retention, Hiring and all the hot topics we talked about last week in Denver in North America.
Thanks to some great work from Scott Scrogin, Arlin and the rest of the team, we’ll be rolling out the Modes conversation in EMEA this week and in APAC in a few weeks. If you haven't had a chance yet, check out the new Modes Framework page we've added to the HUB.
I had the chance to help introduce the Framework to a few groups in Denver and it led to a couple of "a-ha" realization for some members. The first was that they were sending mixed messages to their teams by flip flopping between Balance Builder and Value Builder type decisions. There was a realization that it was creating a whiplash effect with their leaders. The second was a realization that some companies were not aligned in the people they were hiring/promoting as next-level leaders. This included a misalignment in expectations with the mode the owner is currently operating in. For example, hiring Value Building managers who desire quantifiable metrics, reporting and expectations while expecting the rest of the management team to be operating in that same mode when, in their reality, the reporting, expectations and conversations are much more in Balance Builder mode. This creates frustration and misaligned expectations that create bad tension in a company and leadership team.
Here is my question for you as you contemplate the Modes conversation or go through it for the first time in your peer group room. Once you’ve settled for yourself what mode you should be operating in ask yourself - do you have the managers with the skillsets needed and do you have the right expectations for them to deliver leadership and management aligned with your chosen mode? If not, how are you going to get those things aligned so the company can start replacing the unhealthy tension of an inconsistent operating mode with a healthy tension focused on driving peak performance? That should become part of your leadership plan of what you need to change in yourself and in cultivating the right leaders in your organization.
It's great stuff that really is powerful if applied appropriately. We’ll be working on more insight into how this can be used to create stronger teams and performance in your company.
Thanks for being a part of Evolve.
Stay healthy and lead strong!
- Brad