Becoming Unassailable

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about helping leaders build functional, collaborative, and aligned teams so that your organization becomes unassailable.  

My guest for this episode is Singer Buchanan, Executive Director of our Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Contract Compliance for the State of Kentucky.

In this episode, Singer gives a masterclass in how to bring new people onto the team, make them feel valued, and engage them into the team. What's more? He explains how to do this even when you don't have control over who gets hired onto your team (the State of Kentucky uses a merit system).

What you will learn in this episode:

• What factors to look for when hiring new people onto the team.
• The key actions to take after hiring new people.
• The simple, straightforward, strategy for engaging new people, that anyone can do.
• How to bring new people onto the team when you don't have control who gets hired onto the team.
• How to recruit and add new people to a volunteer team.
• Why remote meetings and work is an opportunity.

Links

Get your free gift from Mark (free chapters from his book)

Book a complimentary strategy call with Mark to discuss the best strategies for your team


About Singer

Singer began his state government career in 1992 with the Public Protection and Regulation Cabinet. From there, he was employed in Finance and Administration office of EEOCC. During his 30+ years of experience, he has worked in four Cabinets and served in many positions, but is best known for his work in the field of equal employment opportunity, diversity and inclusion while at the Personnel Cabinet.

Singer is the longest serving EEO Coordinator in the history of Kentucky’s state government. He is the primary training provider for diversity, anti-harassment, EEO and ADA compliance and training.  He is the lead contact to agency EEO and ADA Coordinators and is often asked to speak at conferences and agency training events. He enjoys working with state employees and helping them to navigate state government with his knowledge of the many programs and agencies.  

Singer earned his undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Toledo and his Master’s in Public Administration from Kentucky State University. He is very involved in the Frankfort community, serving on the Board of Directors for Expree Credit Union.  He and his wife, Sharon, have four grown children, three grandkids and four Maltese. 

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about helping leaders build functional, collaborative, and aligned teams so that your organization becomes unassailable.  Season 2 is dedicated to "Lessons from Leading Teams" from a variety of senior leaders. 

My guest for this episode is Krisann Hodges, Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Human Services. 

What you will learn in this episode:

• The role of experience in your ability of leading teams.
• The differences of leading teams at different organizational levels.
• What your role is as a leader.
• Four critically important tips to build a great team.
• What is most important when hiring new team members.
• How to practically practice good communication as a leader, and why it is so important for the team.

Links

Get your free gift from Mark (free chapters from his book)

Book a complimentary strategy call with Mark to discuss the best strategies for your team


About Krisann

Krisann Hodges has served as the General Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Human Services since 2019.  As General Counsel, she is responsible for directing all legal services for DHS.  Krisann was promoted to Deputy Commissioner in 2022, and she now leads the Appeals and Hearings Division and People Operations Division as well as the Office of General Counsel. 

Before joining DHS, Krisann served with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility (TBPR) for over 10 years. During her tenure at the TBPR, she had the opportunity to serve in multiple roles which progressed from Disciplinary Counsel to Deputy Chief Disciplinary Counsel.  From 1996 to 2007, Krisann worked for the Department of Children’s Services in various roles, including Regional General Counsel in the Mid-Cumberland region. She began her legal career in the 25th Judicial District as an Assistant District Attorney for child support services.  Krisann earned a J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Krisann is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association.  She successfully completed several state leadership programs, including LEAD and TGEI.  One of her favorite accomplishments is graduating from the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) trial skills academy, an intensive workshop conducted at Stanford University.  Krisann is a Rule 31 Mediator.  She dedicates her private time to mentor law school students perfect their writing skills.

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about helping leaders build functional, collaborative, and aligned teams so that your organization becomes unassailable.  Season 2 is dedicated to "Lessons from Leading Teams" from a variety of senior leaders. 

My guest for this episode is Spencer Tenney, the President and CEO of the Tenney Group, a merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory firm that has been dedicated to transportation and logistics since 1973. 

What you will learn in this episode:

• The critical importance of establishing core values in order to attract the right people and clients.
• Why you should control what you can control.
• The importance of creating weekly measurables that are publicly accountable to everyone.
• Tactics to hire for cultural fit and eliminate "unforced errors" in your hiring process.
• How to "let go" as a leader.
• Weekly tactics to keep your team and organization aligned.
• The importance of candid conversations to solve issues in minutes instead of months.
• How to provide weekly focus and direction to the team.

Key Quotes

"When you are very forward, these are what [are values] are, and there are no apologies about it, these are our expectations. Then it's a matter of 'if you resonate with these [values], you probably are going to really enjoy this experience both as an employee and as a client.'”

"We are going to be elite at what we are doing as long as we do weekly what has to be done."

"Someone can do it as good or better. It doesn’t matter if they approach it differently so long as they do it with excellence."

"Things at Tenney Group got a whole lot better [when I focused on what can I get rid of]."

"If you are really serious about core values and hold them accountable, everything in conflict with [those values], will ultimately get [naturally] rejected. You are then able to focus on the core work, knowing we are not going to deviate from that standard."

Links

Learn more about EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System)

Get your free gift from Mark (free chapters from his book)

Book a complimentary strategy call with Mark to discuss the best strategies for your team


About Spencer

Spencer Tenney is President and CEO of the Tenney Group, an industry specialized merger and acquisition advisory firm that has been dedicated to transportation and logistics since 1973. Tenney Group’s core business is sell-side representation services for trucking and logistics companies with annual revenues ranging from 20M to 300M. Spencer graduated from The University of Texas and currently serves on the American Trucking Association’s M&A Task Force. He also hosts the industry M&A podcast “In the Hot Seat with the Tenney Group.” On a personal note, Spencer, his wife Lauren, and their three kids reside in Franklin, TN. He enjoys songwriting, fitness, reading presidential biographies, and serving Franktown Open Hearts – a faith-based non-profit dedicated to inspiring and empowering inner-city youth.

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about helping leaders build functional, collaborative, and aligned teams.  Season 2 is dedicated to "Lessons from Leading Teams" from a variety of senior leaders. 

My guest for this episode is Carter Lawrence. Carter is the commissioner of the Department of Commerce and Insurance in the State of Tennessee government and came on the show to give us a number of very practical insights and tips on how to build a functional, collaborative, and aligned leadership team.

What you will learn in this episode:

• The importance of putting "windows in your silos."
• Tactics and strategies to put "windows in your silos."
• The importance of a customer focus.
• What it means to have a culture that is collaborative.
• A rhythm to onboard new employees into the organization.
• How one becomes the State Fire Marshal.

Key Quotes

"We are really intentional about making sure that your leaders are working well together and that your employees have the opportunity to get to know each other and work together.”

"Our employees will likely have the opportunity to show state government getting it right and influence how each customer thinks about the state of Tennessee."

"Get people together to ask questions and talk."

"When we get our executive team together, we hear one leader talking about a problem they are facing, and then talking through potential solutions together."

"You must have relationships to build a collaborative culture."

"We intentionally set aside a little bit of our meeting time that is agenda free to build relationships."



Links

Learn more about the Department of Commerce and Insurance

Get your free gift from Mark (free chapters from his book)

Book a complimentary strategy call with Mark to discuss the best strategies for your team


About Commissioner Lawrence

Carter Lawrence serves as the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance and the State Fire Marshal. Before his appointment to Governor Lee’s cabinet, Lawrence served in a variety of roles in the Department, including Chief Deputy Commissioner, Chief Operating Officer, and Assistant Commissioner. He has spearheaded initiatives to lower fees on licensed professionals, increase customer service through better tools for customers, and has advocated for the removal of overly burdensome regulations.

As Tennessee’s Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance and State Fire Marshal, Lawrence is responsible for the divisions of insurance, fire prevention, regulatory boards – including twenty-six regulatory entities, TennCare Oversight, Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, Tennessee Police Officer Standards and Training Commission, and the administratively attached Tennessee Emergency Communications Board.

In 2020, the department collected approximately $1.25 billion in fees and premium taxes which go to the state’s general fund.

On behalf of the Governor’s administration, Commissioner Lawrence has served on several initiatives including: the Tennessee Economic Recovery Group, Law Enforcement Training Advisory Council, and the historic economic development announcement of Ford Motor Company’s Blue Oval City.

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about helping leaders build functional, collaborative, and aligned teams.  Season 2 is dedicated to "Lessons from Leading Teams" from a variety of senior leaders. 

In this episode, my guest is Kelly Lancaster. I asked Kelly to join me because he has a plethora of experience leading teams in a variety of settings: state government, hospitals, security, etc. He is loaded with practical insights and experience to offer.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Kelly’s key strategy to building a successful, cohesive team.
• How to actually empower your team.
• The simple secret to successfully leading a team remotely.
• How to change your interview process in order to hire people that stay and not leave your team after 6 months.

Key Quotes

"The first step is to look in the mirror yourself.’"

"When looking at skillsets, I'm looking at what I want this role to be doing in the next five years. It's like skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it is now."

"It's not 'my team' it's 'our team' - we work together."

"Embrace change as an opportunity to become better tomorrow than we are today ."

"It can be really disruptive if you hire someone that doesn’t fit in with the values ."

"It's not how many projects you had in your tenure, but how many leaders have I left behind."

Links from the Show

Quiet the book by Susan Cain

Get your free gift from Mark (free chapters from his book)

Book a complimentary strategy call with Mark to discuss the best strategies for your team


About Kelly

Kelly Lancaster has spent the bulk of his human resources career convincing executives that their people are indeed their greatest assets and will drive tremendous growth and revenue if they are developed in a culture that fosters pride and accountability.  He believes engaging employees in the right way will create a purposeful and meaningful culture that can truly define a company throughout its lifecycle.  Committing himself to this philosophy has helped Kelly to attain the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and IPMA-HR Senior Certified Professional (IPMA-SCP), the highest levels of certification in the Human Resources arena.

 Prior to coming to the State of Tennessee, Kelly led all the HR initiatives for Maury Regional Medical Center, a Baldrige-recognized hospital system, as the Director of Human Resources.  Before that experience, he spent three years developing a sustainable and scalable culture at Smith & Wesson Security Solutions, a perimeter security company in Franklin, Tennessee, as they navigated through multiple ownership changes.   Kelly also worked five years at Healthways, Inc. managing all the employee relations, EEOC claims, and lawsuits as well as being a change agent for large projects and initiatives.  His experience in creating the HR infrastructure for two startup companies using Six Sigma and Lean techniques has reinforced his philosophy of embracing change by improving an organization through its people.

Kelly earned his Bachelor of Science in Communication at Freed-Hardeman University where he developed his own morning radio show personality, Ken Coffee, and served as the Sports Information Director for the school.  He earned his Master of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee which allowed him to understand global business during visits to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Hong Kong, China.  Kelly earned his Doctor of Business Administration degree with Apollos University.  He also serves on the leadership team and as a faculty member for the unive

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about helping you build functional, collaborative, and aligned teams.  Season 2 is dedicated to "Lessons from Leading Teams" from senior leaders. 

Rick is CEO at the Diocese of Nashville, which really means that he leads not just one but two separate corporations / healthcare ministries: a 217 unit section 8 affordable housing corporation and a 98 bed assisted living corporation. In this episode, Rick shares many practical lessons from his experience in executive leadership, including factors in his success, key practices and tactics, challenges, his secret sauce, and his next level of success.

What you will learn in this episode:

• The importance of hiring the right person and how to recover when you don't.
• Why quarterly check-ins are so important.
• How to model visibility, approachability, and set the right standard for all of your leaders.
• How to cascade culture.
• The importance of celebration, especially after the last three years in healthcare.
• How to lead other executive leaders.
• The importance of mission and a next-level vision.

Key Quotes

"Supporting your people through thick and thin creates a synergistic effect for your teammate to say ‘I’m going to support my leader because they support me.’"

"Think back early in your career, you’ve stumbled, you’ve fallen. Who do you really respect as a leader when you are growing into a career? It’s someone who helped pick you up."

"How a person enters an organization is just as important as how a person leaves an organization."

"Quarterly check-ins make the hard conversations easier for both sides of the table."

It's about "Visibility, approachability, and setting the right standard for all of our leaders, [including those] who report to another leader."

"It’s easy to pick up the phone but I walk down the campus to visit the other building to visit in person because there is nothing like eyeball to eyeball."

Links from the Show

The Checklist Manifesto book

Get your free gift from Mark (free chapters from his book)

Book a complimentary strategy call with Mark to discuss the best strategies for your team


About Rick

Connect with Rick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-borofski/

Mr. Borofski is a seasoned senior healthcare executive. He has more than 25 years’ experience in executive leadership roles in national health systems and regional integrated health systems. He has a passion for leading organizations with a focus on growing and maximizing opportunities to increase market share.

He is a skilled leader with a proven ability to create and lead high performing teams. Known for his ability to lead diverse groups connecting vision, strategy, operational excellence and accountability, he has served in senior executive roles in organizations ranging in size from $1 billion in revenue to $12 billion in revenue. He has successfully led financial turn-arounds as well as improving the performance of already high-performing organizations. As the lead executive for growth in a ‘B” Market, he was able to improve the top line from 30 million dollars to 81 million dollars, creating an "A" Market for a Fortune 500 company.

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about building a highly effective and aligned leadership team so that your organization thrives.

Building a healthy organization is what improves retention, reduces unnecessary politics and confusion, improves morale, and increases results. In this episode, I talked with Zac Wilcox about organizational health. What does it mean for your organization to be healthy and why does it matter? What do you need to be doing now to significantly improve retention? (spoiler: it's probably not paying people more).  

If you are experiencing issues such as turnover, politics, silos, an inability to move quickly, confusion, frustration, or you just feel frustrated or stuck, this episode is for you.

What you will learn in this episode:

• What is a healthy vs. a smart organization and why does it matter?
• What steps do you need to take to build a healthy organization and make a significant improvement in retention.
• How do you get aligned as a team and organization?
• Why you really need to focus on getting healthy, now.

About Zac

Zach Wilcox is the founder of Wilcox Consulting, has over fifteen years of experience in leadership roles across a variety of sectors. He has hired over 200 team members across his career and was also responsible for onboarding most of those employees as well. Zac draws from both his successes and failures as he consults with companies around building effective, aligned, and cohesive teams, while helping them hire, onboard, and promote the right people.

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about eliminating dysfunction and creating alignment on your leadership team so that you can thrive amidst change and disruption by embracing forward change, together - the only way to become unassailable! 

In this episode, I talked with Michele Herlein about the problem of misalignment. Michele is the Chief Administrative Officer for Barge Design Solutions, Inc. and a Senior Consultant for Thrivence, a management consulting firm. If you are experiencing misalignment between executive team members, between departments, between levels of the organization; if you are experiencing politics, silos, or confusion, this episode is for you .

What you will learn in this jam-packed episode:

• What is alignment? What does it look like when your team is aligned?
• How do you actually create alignment?
• What gets in the way of alignment?
• What does the leader need to do, constantly, to create alignment?
• How do you create strategic alignment?
• What should you do if you want to create alignment for your department, group, or division?

About Michele

Organizations are a social system made up of people coming together to achieve a common goal. Michele Herlein has dedicated her career to creating corporate cultures where these social systems thrive. She has worked with CEO’s from very prominent organizations. Each organization recorded record profits for at least five years after implementing her process. Her passion is creating work environments that allow employees to flourish and contribute their unique gifts and talents. She has extensive experience in leading large-scale change initiatives, integrating talent management processes and horizontally and vertically aligning an organization to drive business results.

She currently is the Chief Administrative Officer for Barge Design Solutions, Inc. responsible for Marketing, Communications, Accounting, Human Resources, and Administration. Prior to this role she was the Chief Human Resource Officer where she focused on creating a great employee experience using organization design, change management, and strategic HR principles. Her recent accomplishments at Barge Design Solutions, Inc. include obtaining Great Place to Work Certification, being recognized by Humana as one of ten companies in the Nation with a workforce engaged in wellness. being named HR Executive of the Year, and being recognized as a Woman of Influence by the Nashville Business Journal.

Prior to Barge Design Solutions, Inc. Michele spent eight years at Bridgestone Americas, most recently as Vice President of Talent, Organization, and Culture, where she implemented an integrated talent management system, designed and defined the firm’s values, and led a cultural transformation effort. Before joining Bridgestone, Michele worked for ten years at Bandag, Inc where she implemented a comprehensive leadership and succession management program and effected change initiatives through learning and development. 

Michele has published articles on coaching, mentoring, and change management. She has spoken at the American Academy of Management, Society for Human Resource Management, and the Association for Talent Development. She is a cofounder of Impact Nashville and lives in Mt. Juliet, TN with her husband Doug. Her interests include paddle boarding, yoga, and lifelong learning.

Michele also serves as a Senior Consultant with Thrivence, a management consulting company located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Michele can be reached at [email protected].

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about helping your executive or leadership team thrive amid change and disruption by embracing forward change, together, as a team, which is the only way for your organization to become unassailable.

In this episode, we tackle the all too common disconnect between senior leaders and employees. If you experience communication issues between top level leaders and employees, if you are still seeing issues with turnover, or if people still are not motivated or engaged in their work, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Deborah Watts.

What you will learn in this jam-packed episode:

• How nothing has really changed.
• The criticality of being a courageous leader.
• What does it look like day-to-day to be a courageous leader.
• Where you need to spend your time as a senior leader.
• Practical ways to close the disconnect between levels.

About Deborah

Dr. Deborah Watts has more than 20 years of experience helping people and organizations grow. Her passion is developing professionals into tomorrow's leaders and coaching leaders on how to optimize their performance as well as the performance of their team. Her experience has come from many unique opportunities spanning a wide range of disciplines and industries including organizations such as the Governor’s Literacy Foundation, RJ Young, Lands End, Humana, Harley-Davidson, Seaspan, Starbucks and Zillow.  Currently, Deborah is the Founder and CEO of Hayde & Company, a talent optimization consulting firm and the Director of Graduate and Executive Education at the University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business.  She also serves as a Certified Partner for Predictive Index and Senior Consultant for the Leadership Pipeline Institute.  

Deborah has expertise not only in organizational development, but also in behavioral assessments, adult learning, talent optimization, succession planning and emotional intelligence competencies.  Deborah is a certified EQi-2.0 and EQ 360 coach and a Predictive Index analyst.  She helped launch the Nashville start-up, America’s PowerSports, which won the “Best in Business Award” by the Nashville Business Journal.  She was chosen as one of seven executive women to execute an innovative new model launch for Harley-Davidson which included an advertorial in a national magazine with Pepsi MAX.  Deborah is a national speaker on topics regarding leadership and emotional intelligence.  She has spoken at corporate retreats, Chamber events, large industry expo’s and professional association annual meetings. 

From an academic standpoint, Dr. Watts has worked with local and international universities including, Belmont University, Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Lipscomb University, Trevecca University, and the University of Tennessee. Deborah is a member of Delta Mu Delta, a national honor society in business, Tennessee SHRM, and Vistage International Nashville.  Recently, Deborah was honored with being selected as a Nashville Business Journal “Women of Influence.”

An Ohio native, Dr. Watts earned a B.S. in Organizational Communications and a Master of Business Administration in Leadership at Lipscomb University and a Doctor of Education degree in Leadership and Professional Practice from Trevecca Nazarene University.  She lives in Forest Hills and enjoys spending her free time with her family, mentoring her students, traveling, going to Nashville Predator games, riding her motorcycle and scuba diving.

Deborah can be reached at [email protected].

Welcome to the Becoming Unassailable podcast! This podcast is all about helping your executive or leadership team thrive amid change and disruption by embracing forward change, together, as a team, which is the only way for your organization to become unassailable.

If you are struggling to build trust on your team or you have that feeling that something is just not quite right with your team, this episode of the new Becoming Unassailable #podcast is for you!

In this episode, I talk with Justin Patton, whose latest book is all about trust.

What you will learn in this jam-packed episode:

• Trust boils down to three specific elements
• The three question trust test: can you say yes to these three questions?
• 4 steps to repair trust 

Key truths you will hear about trust:

• Trust is your biggest competitive advantage
• Trust is how you get results through people instead of dragging them along
• You cannot heal what you cannot talk about
• People can handle the truth. What they can't handle is secrecy.

Justin Patton is an executive coach, leadership presence expert, and award-winning author of four books who challenges individuals to use their presence to communicate with stronger trust – both in the workplace and with the people they love the most. 

Justin believes if you ever want to be a great leader of other people, you must first be a great leader of yourself. Justin studied body language from a former FBI agent and coached NCAA athletes and contestants in the Miss America and Miss USA pageants. He is currently a faculty member for the US Chamber of Commerce, and a member of both the International Coach Federation and National Speakers Association. 

Justin's engaging style, relatable storytelling, and insightful messages make him a sought-after keynote speaker. His programs will inspire you to reimagine who you are at your best and think differently about how you lead, love, and communicate.

You can learn more about Justin at www.justinpatton.com or @JPinspires across all social media.

Don't forget to buy Justin's book, Your Road to Yes!: How to Build Trust in Yourself and with Others.