Mark Miller is the VP of High-Performance Leadership at Chick-fil-A and the best-selling author of nine books, including his most recent, Win Every Day. For over twenty years, Mark and his team at Chick-fil-A have researched what drives organizational performance and applied it to their everyday operations.

In this episode, Mark shares practices and tools to help leaders execute and cultivate a healthy workplace.

Truth You Can Act On 

 

1. Commit to Pursuing Mastery

 

Supporting Quote

Mark Miller: “We actually think mastery, even though it's maybe not an everyday word, that it is the right word. I want to be really, really clear. The goal here is to do the right thing the right way every time, but it's not the expectation. And we think there's a huge difference. If an expectation is unrealistic or impossible, it will de-motivate people, but a goal, particularly a challenging goal, can inspire people.”

 

2. Own the Numbers

 

Supporting Quotes 

Mark Miller: “We cannot find a high performance organization on the planet that does not put a priority on measurement. And we went down that track early and we said, measurement is critical. Measurement is essential. And it is one of those enablers of accountability. But we didn't want it to be just about measurement. It's about an individual saying, ‘I will own the numbers. I will take personal responsibility for the outcomes, and then I will do what I can do to impact and have a positive effect on those numbers.’”

Mark Miller: “I hear a lot of leaders who make excuses and blame people for their numbers. The best leaders say, ‘We've got to own these numbers. Even if they were impacted by circumstances, beyond our control, they are our numbers and they are the reflection of the behaviors, and they are the outcome of our efforts.’ We've got to get on the solution side of this. We cannot move to the blame side. The best leaders rarely blame other people. They accept responsibility and they say, ‘How do we turn this around? How do we solve this?’”

 

3. Help Others Win 

 

Supporting Quote

Mark Miller:  “I think it has to become the culture of your organization. And I think culture is really the collective habits of the people. And if this is articulated, if this is part of the vision that the leaders share, if the leaders model this, if they'll actually coach for life, as opposed to just coaching for work, and then they create the expectation. They recognize and reward people who do actually help others win and know that everyone else has committed the same thing. And it is counterintuitive on many levels, but it has turbocharged some organizations that I'm aware of because it gave permission to people to do what they wanted to do.”