Flywheel Leadership

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The Cost of Just Hitting Numbers Is your organization truly invested in its people? Really!? Author Graham Peelle December 04, 2023 The Cost of Just Hitting Numbers Technology share chart Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash Is your organization truly invested in its people? Really!? This article was first published by Graham Peelle on Medium, on July 21, 2023 Driving revenue, activity supporting revenue, and key business activities are critical to maintain focus in moving your business forward. This focus promotes growth, performance, and builds the business. But it can’t come at a cost to your people. Your people, or talent, drive your future, your name in the market, and hold the keys to your future. As companies grow, and even those with some of the best reputations as employers from the Fortune 500, they can miss the opportunity to grow with their people, and struggle with making their people an afterthought, or maybe it’s that some organizations view people as a commodity. People are people, so when you lay thousands off, don’t expect people to come running when you hire again when work gets tough. It goes both ways and after what we saw from 2018–2022 and before, you would think some learning took place. But it’s business — terminate to reduce cost or raise stock prices, restructure cost, etc. and figure out your headcount needs later. Even when six months ago, adding talent was your priority. The hamster wheel is real. Hire like crazy, layoff, hire again, no true plan for doing anything differently, but this churn isn’t sustainable, nor good business. It’s about the people, stupid, if I dare to play off the infamous 90’s campaign slogan. People are the priority. Happy employees equals happy clients, high performance and a higher level of ownership and accountability. Some companies don’t get it, or maybe even scarier, is when they see it, yet choose to ignore it and prefer to invest in other areas at a cost to their people. Action shows your priorities, not talk. Organizations continue to talk about how people are their priority, but many show that people rank behind a whole slew of corporate priorities, including their customers. If you don’t make your people feel you care and want to advance them, in turn, they will deprioritize their work for you as well. Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash Companies can understand the bottom line figures, KPIs, OKRs, whatever your flavor, but when it comes to people, organizations can struggle because people change and sometimes numbers don’t tell the full story. Groups of people evolve over time, but more recently with the rapidly changing socially connected world, with a variety of events and movements, the rate of change is starting to rival tech at times. MeToo, social justice, COVID pandemic, climate crisis, inflation, school violence, and so on. Not to mention the individual rate of change with your leaders and teams- people change individually often, but the community change has shifted to a hyper speed. It’s about the people- I have seen organizations claim people were at the center of everything, but as the companies grip the bat and struggle to meet revenue and profit expectations, that mindset fades away over time. Some companies try, but stopped making the necessary sacrifices to live it, breathe it, and grow it. It is in danger to become just another tagline, not a real mantra to live by. Some organizations abandon their core principle because they weren’t hitting expectations, when really it was a number of other factors impacting that, and not something to hold against its people. Companies underestimate the cost associated with their actions as seen in a recent common example shared by Cameron Herold…add customer service headcount, or fix the actual problem? Some companies choose an ongoing drain on their margin in the name of short term numbers, instead of doing the right thing for sustainable growth. Or for companies that focus on numbers that aren’t controllable, rather than working with their teams and holding them to activity-based metrics. This concept all came to a tipping point with the pandemic, really disrupting the labor market, and I would argue it was already in motion, but accelerated at a significant rate since 2020. Attrition spiked for companies that didn’t support their people, turned their back, or required unrealistic performance or physical presence during a global pandemic. This realization hit some harder than others in 2021–2022, when companies actually started to see that labor supply actually is limited. You cannot expect unlimited churn and you have to see that sometimes it does catch up you. People leadership will continue to be a hot topic, and some companies will excel, while others fall further behind. Be a positive part of the labor movement and make it about taking care of your people, and not realizing too late that your employees win for you, so be a winner for them. Here are five things you can do to prioritize people in your organization: Measure engagement and related metrics through Officevibe or a similar platform- identify what your team really thinks, don’t just assume it Develop and empower People and Talent teams that actually focus on, people and talent Consider your associates as your number one asset, and you shift your mindset on how to empower, allocate, manage, maintain and reward them. Executive leadership must practice what they preach and show they care with action and not just talk about it. Make it about people’s careers and align with how the firm can support them on their career journey- your people will appreciate it and reward you accordingly. It’s time to align your people with driving results and not sacrifice your people for the bottom line at every sign of stress. The market will continue to reward companies that make this happen and bring their people along for the ride. Your results will have peaks and valleys, you already know that, so let’s plan for it with solutions focused on scalability and flexibility, not survival and shred when the market gets unstable. Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI CONTENT RESOURCES Creating a Business Culture That Values People - new excerpt from The #HeroFactor | Entrepreneur Learn how to see if you're putting words into action by taking these steps to evaluate your business values. www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/creating-a-business-culture-that-values-people-new/321125 A C-Suite Guide To Create Value for People and Business: Designing at the Intersection of People, Culture, Strategy and Performance When employees are treated with respect, kindness and dignity, and feel a sense of purpose and belonging with the organizational culture, they become the strongest ambassadors of the company’s strategic vision and its most passionate agents. People, Culture, Strategy and Performance. www.linkedin.com/pulse/c-suite-guide-create-value-people-business-designing-intersection A winning business model: Why employees are your greatest asset “Employees are your greatest asset.” You’ve probably heard it before, but what does it mean? And does it really make a difference? www.insperity.com/blog/people-are-your-greatest-asset These companies have never laid anyone off How do they keep employees? www.cfobrew.com/stories/2023/08/18/companies-have-never-laid-off OpCo: The People Ops Blueprint — Operations | People | Culture | Opportunity If Performance Operations Culture means something to you, or you would like to be notified for future posts on operations leadership, culture, and people related topics from the world of work, make sure you click the 🔔 on my LinkedIn profile page. Also, please share OpCo with anyone else who may benefit from the newsletter. For additional daily content, check out grahampeelle.com. You can also find additional weekly articles on Medium. Climb Higher & Raise Your^ROI LEARN: Learn | Explore | Ambition | Reform | No

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

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Missionary Over Mercenary — Building an Intentional Culture Are you on a team of purpose and mission? Author Graham Peelle November 27, 2023 Missionary Over Mercenary — Building an Intentional Culture Are you on a team of purpose and mission? This article was originally published by Graham Peelle on Medium, August 22, 2023 Mission Driven Jeff Bezos and other business titans have been known for referencing hiring missionaries, instead of mercenaries. Missionaries are here to build something and partner with you to drive your business forward with the right intention, care, and purpose. Mercenaries are not — mercenaries are here to get their share, drive their own initiatives, and favor unhealthy selfish drive with an an unhealthy desire to get ahead at all costs. They want their money, they don’t want to give their allegiance or full commitment to the cause. Will everyone be a missionary or a mercenary, probably not. You likely have some that are really in neither bucket, or have a foot in each. You’re wondering how that works, well let’s consider this for a moment. How many associates do you find that are coasting along, just earning a paycheck, disengaged in most of the non-essential aspects of the business, and ultimately are here to get a paycheck, and nothing more. They aren’t overly selfish, but not overly committed. You’ll always have these middle to bottom players, that just work, and don’t really sway or have strong motivators besides that paycheck. The larger your business, the more you tend to have these types, and while it’s not the best, it’s bound to happen and the more you can foster a safe environment for team members to just work, be productive, and as long as they are producing positively above cost, and not a cultural drain, there is value in having them on your bus. Not everyone can be all in, get promoted, or be the teammate everyone wants. But many can still be solid performers or doers. You need those as well — not everyone can or wants to be the CEO or CFO. You need some solid performers with aspirations at being a good worker and teammate. What you don’t need is those poor performers, those with ill intentions, or those driving their own mission and mindset, contrary to the company’s. These low performers on one end and and mercenaries on the other, are a critical detriment to your culture and business. It is important to weed them out over time. It’s not a witch hunt, but it’s important to shed the dead weight dragging your business down. That drain is killing you slowly if you let it. Negativity, inefficiency, and unproductive are costing you in time, money, and culture. Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash Value in a People-Aligned Mission So what’s the value in have a core missionaries that believe, deliver, and jump on board to support the organizational vision, mission, and core purpose. They are here for more. They are here to do great work and support the cause, whatever that may be. They don’t want just a check, they want to have purpose, which positively drives all the work metrics upward, with just two key two concerns from this — Retention — it’s harder to keep the best people, because they expect more of you and the company in all areas Opportunity — it can be hard to meet the continued needs of individuals that are most driven and expect opportunity, promotion, or compensation for their contributions Promoting a Mission-based Culture People — Hiring and maintaining a center for mission-based purpose Process — Keeping your mission front and center of every conversation Technology — Aligning tech to support your mission, not distract from it Vision — Promote a view into the future, drive the purpose of how to get there Mission — concise with clarity, on what our mission is If you want mission-based team members, consider what is behind everything you do in your work, or business. Think back about what you drive as motivators, incentives, business speak, and culture. This overall culture drives your willingness to accept mercenary types or promote the benefits of mission-driven associates. Make your mission clear and loud, and help drown out the mercenaries that must not be tolerated in your organization. There is so much more that can go into promoting your mission — for more on building a Performance Operations Culture, check out my newsletter, OpCo. Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI OpCo: The People Ops Blueprint — Operations | People | Culture | Opportunity If Performance Operations Culture means something to you, or you would like to be notified for future posts on operations leadership, culture, and people related topics from the world of work, make sure you click the 🔔 on my LinkedIn profile page. Also, please share OpCo with anyone else who may benefit from the newsletter. For additional daily content, check out grahampeelle.com. You can also find additional weekly articles on Medium. Climb Higher & Raise Your^ROI LEARN: Learn | Explore | Ambition | Reform | No

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

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https://grahampeelle.com

Your Life’s Work: Harnessing Your Passion, Vision & Purpose Finding and committing to your life’s work

Author Graham Peelle

November 20, 2023

Your Life’s Work: Harnessing Your Passion, Vision & Purpose Finding and committing to your life’s work In October 2023, I attended an event called Founder Mentality, hosted by Patrick O’Shaughnessy (CEO of Positive Sum, and host of the podcast, Invest Like the Best) featuring David Senra, along with Jeremy Giffon. It was a one-off event as Patrick helps launch David Senra and gain exposure to grow his audience as part of the Colossus Podcast Network. The event dove into the craft, commitment, and passion of David Senra with the Founders podcast, touching on the motivations for David’s work, and brought in Jeremy to the conversation to add his insights into what drives him as well. It was a fun event, and really got me thinking about a theme Patrick and David continue to discuss, with finding and committing to your life’s work. Founder Mentality, 10.19.2023 - Webster Hall, NYC Your life’s work is your own personal mission driving your motivation, discipline, and your expertise. It is your professional why of doing what you do, and is the root of your purpose and love for your work. Your life’s work guides your own personal —> Purpose | Vision | Goal | Mission (Source: ScaleX Summit) as described by Dr. Oleg Konovalov when talking about organizational vision. You are the CEO of your own life and career (Kinglsey Aikins, Network Institute), so having these concepts in your own personal framework can be extremely valuable. Having clarity with a laser-focused direction in mind brings so much power, increasing your capacity and capability, along with your chances for deep fulfillment and success. Scattered focus and time allocation, destroys your capacity for personal leverage, so going through a discovery to find your life’s work can bring you the purpose you may be seeking in your professional career. Dr. Oleg Konovalov at the 2023 ScaleX Summit, Belfast, UK, 11.15.2023 Can you live and work without this? Of course you can, and many do, but a select few may see this as walking through life aimlessly, running on the hamster wheel of life, without a why, passion, purpose, or any kind of insight into their own personal vision. And when you think about it, so many live a life with meaning and happiness without discovery into this area, but especially for those with curiosity, drive, and the pull for more meaning and impact, this exercise may be essential if it doesn’t fall in your lap. For some, it comes naturally in some way, through experience, education, handed down through family, hobbies, and for some, it takes a a bit of personal discovery and work to really identify and hone in on what is important to us. For my own personal discovery, I have done significant deep work over the last 18 months to consider my own priorities and pull in my passion and purpose to understand what I want, and what I can bring to the world (April 2022 - November 2023). I have learned firsthand there is a need for finding focus in what you do. When you go through this discovery phase, you become more self-aware and as you get introspective, it makes you think about how much you spread yourself thin in the course of life, dabbling, weaving in and out, experimenting aimlessly, and never stepping back to look at what do I want, what do I love, and how can I make this my mission. There are so many resources available on how to find this purpose so I won’t dive into those here, but a few resources are listed below, following this article, along with in the links throughout the article. I have touched on related topics in some of my other writing as well: Building an intentional life Find your one thing Live your life Design your career For today, I want to focus on the value in finding purpose and hopefully give you the final push if you aren’t convinced and haven’t yet found what your personal mission really is. For my own discovery, I started walking through what interests me, what value can I bring, what have I already succeeded at, what do others see in me, what do others ask me for help with, and I have realized that your purpose may take a while to find or refine too. It’s not going to click for everyone with a quick session. For some, it may take decades, for some they found it when they found it as a child. But the time, effort, self-reflection, and struggle at times - it’s all worth it. The power that comes with clarity in finding your life’s work, harnessing your passion and purpose, and building a vision is one of the most valuable exercises you can do in your life. It’s your own story you’re writing, so why would you not take the time and effort to refine your life’s work. You are worth it and your value can help so many people if you can find a way to find, define, and share it. Your life’s work gives you a voice, the power, and perspective to share with others, so if you see it as more of a selfish endeavor, take a look at how your life’s work can impact others. There is immense value in helping those in the shoes you were once it - that’s how your unique ability can be used to help others. So why go through the effort beyond helping find your focus and helping others, if that’s not already enough? What if you are happy enough? What if you do find some meaning in your work already? Is it still worth the time, effort, mental commitment? Because of the perspective you bring, your own personal value and why, you owe it to yourself to get deeper, be more intentional, discover what makes you tick, and jump off the hamster wheel to do to things your way, not the way. Your life’s work is worth seeking, identifying, and committing to the mission, because it is uniquely you, and the world needs to hear you take the podium in whatever platform or avenue you choose. Check out this post sharing a video of Bill Gurley if you would like some more inspiration. Peace Out Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash In the words of Patagonia Founder, author of Let My People Go Surfing: “The secret to happiness is to be working at your passion. If you want to be miserable, lead a desperate life like everybody else where they drag their asses to work every day because they hate their job.” — Yvon Chouinard Photo by Renan Brun on Unsplash Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI CONTENT RESOURCES How to Find Your Life's Calling and Turn It Into a Career Because no one wants to be unhappy at work wanderlust.com/journal/how-to-find-your-lifes-calling-and-turn-it-into-career Finding Your Life’s Work The majority of people never find their “life’s work”, yet the premise of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a college degree assumes that they will. rationalwalk.com/finding-your-lifes-work 7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose No clue what you want to do with your life? Here are some crazy and thought-provoking questions to help you out. markmanson.net/life-purpose Finding Purpose in Life: The Guide to Finding Your Life’s Work It was an earnest request: “I’d like to know how to find your vocation.” We were sitting in one of Seattle’s finest coffee establishments. It was a sunny May morning— the best kind of day that you… themeaningmovement.com/finding-purpose-in-life/#:~:text=Your%20Work%20is%20About%20Desire%20for%20Impact&text=What%20one%20person%20finds%20meaningful,do%20you%20want%20to%20do%3F OpCo: The People Ops Blueprint — Operations | People | Culture | Opportunity If Performance Operations Culture means something to you, or you would like to be notified for future posts on operations leadership, culture, and people related topics from the world of work, make sure you click the 🔔 on my LinkedIn profile page. For additional daily content, check out grahampeelle.com. You can also find additional weekly articles on Medium. Climb Higher & Raise Your^ROI LEARN: Learn | Explore | Ambition | Reform | No

Building an intentional life

Find your one thing

Live your life

Design your career

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The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

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The Value of Talent: Don’t Short Change Your Future Navigating the Talent Landscape Author Graham Peelle November 13, 2023 The Value of Talent: Don’t Short Change Your Future Navigating the Talent Landscape Originally published by Graham Peelle on Medium on July 22, 2023 Talent Strategy & Solutions — There are a multitude of ways to get work done. Talent Solutions is the larger segment made up of many of those options. It’s important to understand the various ways to get work done to position your work mix for your business model. Just some of those talent options include: Contingent Labor (contract, temp, etc.) Managed Services (bundled, staffing+, or BPO in some cases) Independent Contractors (1099) Gig Workers (Think Uber and DoorDash related concepts, work on demand, with a variety of big players in the on-demand digital flexible staffing models, like Swipejobs) Engineering Services (Also referred to as Professional Services, Technical Services, Managed Services, Project Work, etc.) Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Talent Acquisition Your internal recruiting team with a dedicated individual, group, or entire department Drives your internal strategy and accountable for delivering on organization’s strategy Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Talent Attraction & Cultivation Marketing — includes all aspects of marketing, with the biggest being digital Talent engagement through talent communities and social awareness This includes not only marketing to talent, but also keeping them warm and interested in hearing from or about your company as a way to drive future talent University, technology and trade school partnerships are a subset of this area This is the key to tapping into external talent Talent Management & Development Actively managing and developing your current internal talent pool Driving career pathing and skills development Closely aligned with Learning & Development (L&D), but more specific to the overall strategy of taking your organization’s talent to the next level This is your talent engine and what can build your next level leaders, managers and supervisors, but also brings value to the entire organization by providing your talent career guidance, motivation and tools to drive forward So what does this all mean? Talent matters. It is critical, and whether it be talent for your organization, division, team, or group, you can drive your talent forward with a holistic Talent Solutions approach. Only focusing on talent acquisition or talent management for example, will leave you with a major gap in your talent strategy, even if you still think your talent can be replaced, consider the last couple years, as we have learned there is a definite level of talent. It’s not unlimited and when you think of it as truly a resource, or human capital investment, your approach changes. Now, you may wonder, how can I succeed as a leader in the world of talent? Leverage your available expertise in-house, hire that expertise, or work with a consultant to help set-up your talent strategy and can provide specialization. Position your expert talent consultant or talent leader however necessary to help build your talent strategy, and align with your business needs. Bring your Talent Leader or Consultant to the table to help form your strategy, not hand it to them. Talent Strategy is best formed in partnership, not as a directive, as this drives clear targets, expectations and aligns business objectives. Provide your talent leader a seat at the table, depending on your organization size, a seat as part of the ELT, reporting to the owner, or for larger companies, reporting to the CHRO, but provide them the title, voice, and mandate to help drive organizational change centered on talent. If your talent leader isn’t reporting to the owner or CHRO, find a way to engage them at the highest level that you can in your organization. Never short change talent — it will leave you grasping to hang on for your industry’s best of the best. Hire and retain talent, as it’s your rock for the ability to hit your growth targets. Talent drives growth, and as a leader if you can understand the landscape and learn to navigate, you can master the talent game. Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI CONTENT RESOURCES 6 Workforce Development Strategies to Build Agile, Resilient Teams Competence or innovation? You need both. These workforce development strategies grow your team’s skills and agility by building a people-centric culture. www.betterup.com/blog/workforce-development-strategies Creating A Winning Talent Management Strategy In 2023 Learn the best practices for developing a talent management strategy to attract, retain and develop top talent in 2023. arielle.com.au/talent-management-strategy Playing to win: The new rules for leading talent in 2023 https://www.fastcompany.com/90897780/playing-to-win-the-new-rules-for-leading-talent-in-2023 OpCo: The People Ops Blueprint — Operations | People | Culture | Opportunity If Performance Operations Culture means something to you, or you would like to be notified for future posts on operations leadership, culture, and people related topics from the world of work, make sure you click the 🔔 on my LinkedIn profile page. For additional daily content, check out grahampeelle.com. You can also find additional weekly articles on Medium. Climb Higher & Raise Your^ROI LEARN: Learn | Explore | Ambition | Reform | No

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

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Client & Associate Retention: Slowing Down to Speed Up Build a thriving business at any scale with sustainable fundamentals, not chasing the squirrel Originally written by Graham Peelle on Medium, July 20, 2023 Founders, companies, and organizations see challenges and problems all of the time, but what do they do about them? Do they push them aside, ignore them, form a project team, special initiative, or make it a focus area? Companies sometimes ignore issues, and often take action to solve problems, but do they actually work towards understanding the root cause of the problem, and solving it, or simply patch an easier straightforward target that is the popular or a more “sellable” option to leadership? Companies are often not taking action or trying to solve the wrong problem, and it happens repeatedly, over and over, wasting time and money, and potentially harming the business. It’s time to stop this churn and burn. It’s time to not solely focus on your own priorities that focus on your acquisition. Acquisition is one piece of the puzzle, but not the only piece. Prioritize retention and unlock the key to long-term, sustainable and compounding growth. Not to mention, saving money, eliminating unnecessary headaches, and exhausting rework. Value your current business and talent, with talent retention or customer retention. Yes, the principles are quite similar and you can align your organizational mindset and culture at a high level. It’s time to form clear aligned strategies focused on your customer retention, and talent retention. Most companies understand and want to to have a plan and want to execute in both areas, but not all know how to build the customized plan for their needs. What drives customer and talent retention? Don’t over-complicate it, but you must dig below the surface. It’s about delivering on the wants and needs of each group, while most organizations tend to deliver a something, but don’t truly validate if it’s what our customers or talent truly want. Many of us make assumptions, which turn into investment decisions, sometimes costly decisions. Like giving a raise or retention bonus, and assuming that will improve retention, or adding a service and assuming that will hold on to your customer. Understand the challenges, and understand the solution and its impacts, never assume you understand the pattern and impacts. Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash We need to change the culture and listen to our audience to determine what our talent wants, and what our customers want. And not at face value, but taking the real feedback, reporting, and facts, to develop a strategy and planning the execution. Data driven retention strategy. Below are a few highlights on how to understand what your customer or talent want, in order build a true Retention Strategy: Collect Evidence from your current customers (or talent from that perspective). This can be direct feedback, market intel, surveys, reports, facts, data, etc. During this step, it’s important to remove your preconceived notions and judgments about what’s important to your own company, versus what your audience wants. Organize your findings into actionable analysis, and where possible validate your analysis with a sampling of your audience. Collaboration within your organization to educate and align on the path forward. Build Vision, including a short-term and long-term picture based on your findings and aligned to your mission. Communication & Culture involves making it part of you every day a go activities even if it is a large dedicated project or initiative. Execution & Evaluation is focused on implementation of your strategy, monitoring data and outcomes, and making any specific targeted adjustments as necessary. Whether it be retention of talent or customers, not all companies are ready to form this strategy as part of our core business and excuse on it. You need to make it your core, or get the help necessary. The demands of everyday business will consume any organization that doesn’t embed this into its culture. It’s time to clear the clutter, reflect on what’s a priority for your organization, and take the time to weed through excuses, reasons, justifications, and road blocks thrown at us by our own teams or clients, to focus on achieving retention success. Reflect as a leader and get real with yourself with some organizational self-awareness. Is it time for a change in your business? To compete in today’s landscape you must commit, focus, and iterate based on your fact-based intelligence, AND your gut. Level-up: Win new business AND retain your existing customers.Transform now to build your business of the future and create your biggest fans with your current client base. Choose both, don’t let your current clients down, uphold your promises to them and solidify your partnerships with a winning account retention stratgegy and execution. These delighted customers will effectively win your new business down the road — give them a reason to believe in you and support you. Taking during a brief stint as a member at one of Brooklyn's coolest coworking spaces, Bat Haus (https://www.bathaus.com/). Friendly community, regular events, and a beautiful space. Photo by Shridhar Gupta on Unsplash Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI CONTENT RESOURCES Cost of acquiring new customers vs. retaining | QoboWeb How do you reduce the cost of acquiring a new customer in order to maintain a profitable return on investment? qoboweb.com/general/cost-of-acquiring-new-customers-vs-retaining 6 Strategies to Boost Retention Through the Great Resignation With employees jumping ship in record numbers in the United States, companies are facing a talent crunch. One HR strategy they should embrace is to make themselves so attractive that employees won’t want to leave. These six measures can help accomplish that: (1) add monetary incentives for staying, (2) provide better career opportunities, (3) elevate the company’s purpose, (4) prioritize culture and connection, (5) take better care of employees and their families, and (6) embrace flexibility. hbr.org/2021/11/6-strategies-to-boost-retention-through-the-great-resignation Customer retention basics, 8 strategies, and metrics - Zendesk Customer retention measures how often your company attracts repeat business and provides key insights that can save you big bucks on customer acquisition. www.zendesk.com/blog/customer-retention Here’s Why Customer Retention is So Important for ROI, Customer Loyalty, and Growth Discover everything you need to know about customer retention — what it is, how to measure it, why it's important, and how organizations can improve retention rates and foster it. blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-retention OpCo: The People Ops Blueprint — Operations | People | Culture | Opportunity If Performance Operations Culture means something to you, or you would like to be notified for future posts on operations leadership, culture, and people related topics from the world of work, make sure you click the 🔔 on my LinkedIn profile page. For additional daily content, check out grahampeelle.com. You can also find additional weekly articles on Medium. Climb Higher & Raise Your^ROI LEARN: Learn | Explore | Ambition | Reform | No

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

https://eidigital.com

https://grahampeelle.com

Graham Peelle
October 30, 2023

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

Originally written by Graham Peelle on Medium, July 18, 2023

Servant leadership is referenced often, but since it’s so common, the definition and what it really means isn’t always discussed. Servant leadership is about everyone else and not you as the leader, and it’s about truly embracing the concept of serving your team instead of having an authoritative mindset and serving your own selfish priorities.

How do you show up for your team? Do people fear you or respect you? Does your team act the same while you are there, as when you are not? Are you truly putting your team’s well being and trajectory ahead of your own? All of this while delivering on business objectives can be quite overwhelming when you list it out. John Maxwell is commonly known as the expert on the topic, but let’s dive in here on what you can do to serve your team.

Servant leadership sounds like it comes with a significant responsibility, and it does. Leadership, generally speaking, does come with an enormous level of responsibility. You have someone’s career in your hands. You can then continue to beat yourself about it, like considering what is your purpose? Are you serving you or serving the team? Are you building a team or controlling a group of people? How are you bringing others along for the journey?

Heavy questions for any leader, so how do you model this? Trust, empowerment and providing the tools to get the job done. Taking away pressures that are not suited for your team, and putting your team first. Putting your team first involves considering your team’s development, tools, and positioning before your own and also having their back to ensure they have the support needed to feel free from undue encumbrance from corporate or organizational pressures. I really like empowerment, as it breeds engagement, ownership and accountability within a business operation. Empower your team to own their world.

From the opposite side of empowerment, comes micromanagement, which breeds fear and lack of transparency. Micromanagement when utilized as a broad tool and mindset, is toxic, and should only be the path when an associate shows they need the oversight at that level during increased performance management, or possibly during an intense training program for a new hire. Micromanagement is where you limit an associate’s growth, empowerment and confidence and truly cuts professionals down, eating away at their self-worth and attitude. Micromanagement destroyed my work spirit in a past org and position, and I can share from experience, it can be a dark feeling of isolation, pressure and self-questioning. It’s hard to shake it even when you’re in family time — you never feel like you’re even good enough to be there.

So how do you know if you are you building a growth-minded team or a group of followers? Much of it can be seen by when the team has a decision to make and how they handle the process. If they can run without you, this is one good sign. Another is the interest in taking on increased responsibility, a showing of care for their work and focus on driving the business forward. If your team takes initiatives forward, focuses on priorities and has a positive mindset, you have the right start at taking your team along for the journey, instead of riding them for their worth.

And remember as a leader, don’t forget to share your care, before your demands. If an associate feels your care for their well being and growth, that trust built translates into productivity, performance and organizational alignment to own their business, which drives your business forward. Be a servant leader and continue to learn how to support your team with care, resources and empowerment. This will allow you to take your team to the ideal state of opportunity and excellence.

Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading.

Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

https://eidigital.com

https://grahampeelle.com

Customer Obsession Drives Customer Retention How to focus on your client and provide exceptional service to wow clients and fuel growth: 7 steps to service and retain your client Author Graham Peelle October 23, 2023 Customer Obsession Drives Customer Retention How to focus on your client and provide exceptional service to wow clients and fuel growth: 7 steps to service and retain your client Originally written by Graham Peelle on Medium, July, 18, 2023 When was the last time you considered your customer priorities in front of your own priorities? I continue to see organizations and client-facing teams focus on their own advancement, while missing the realization that you advance with promotions, income, and growth, through advancing your client. In my experience, that is a major factor when looking at those who truly understand account management, and those who just don’t — do they prioritize their customer, or are they really truly prioritizing their own interests? Answering that question usually gives you your answer. What spurred my thinking about this is what really drives customer satisfaction, retention, and profitability. Some companies are better than others at prioritizing their clients and their clients’ business, but I still see a significant gap in understanding why putting customers first, must be an obsession. Jeff Bezos preached this tirelessly and would not lower his expectations, upholding this core belief. There is a key lesson we should take away from that Amazon mentality when it comes to customers. You must have that drive and fire to take care of your customer for a sustainable future, growth, and putting a product forward that really makes a difference. You need to have the right motivation that drives you in a positive manner to create successful outcomes and make yourself irreplaceable. You need to be willing to manage with your customer’s nuisances and go the extra mile enough to differentiate yourself from other providers. Learn when to give in and work to let them they’re wrong, in a productive manner and from a partnership lens. Remember, besides price, which most of us don’t want to win purely on price, you win on value because of the service you can deliver. Your customer can like you, but that only goes so far compared to your ability to build value. Value is why customers stick around in the long run — make customer obsession your organizational focus and your growth driver. You can win all the new business you want, but if you can’t retain clients, you aren’t growing. Companies want to ignore that fact continuously, but it’s not going away. I’m going to attempt to articulate how market leading companies drive customer experience and that wow factor we all look for in a partner. Here are a few core areas to focus on to drive real customer satisfaction: Communication & Commitment — Do what you say you are going to do, tell your client what you will do, and the timing you will complete it Operational Excellence Customer Service including response time, flexibility, and agility Trust & Consistency — be truthful, clear, and up front about what is important to share Delivery with FTQ (first-time quality) — get the job done right the first time Expertise & Presence — know your craft, don’t be selfish with knowledge, go all in with being there for your customer. I give a lot of credit to my experience with a past organization. That firm taught me a great deal on how to deliver on a customer program, manage accounts, and grow and retain accounts, with a positive experience that is not only achievable, sustainable, but is also scalable. So, what’s next with retaining accounts through exceptional service operations and customer delight? 7 Key Steps to Build a Customer Obsessive Operation Determine what your customer actually wants, not what you want or think they need — they may not be right, but you must understand the expectation they are laying out and how you will deliver, this must be aligned Set a target- determine a number, a goal, or expectation for where your service level is considered exceptional — determine what good looks like Determine how you will achieve that target — identify the action necessary and owners of that action to transform your account or business using these principles Continue to monitor progress and results — what metrics or data will you use to determine you are or aren’t making progress. Manage your business. Operate, learn, and iterate — you get better by doing, reflecting and adjusting your work. Don’t do the same thing, expecting different results Prioritize and leverage retention to drive growth — use your current business to help learn, operate, and win new business. Companies grow when they retain clients, prioritize their clients, otherwise BD is a no win churn game, and way more expensive than retention. Your current clients should be your biggest source of references, referrals, and ideas for how to grow your business. Don’t jeopardize current clients to win new business — sounds simple, but often not executed. If you win a new client that will hurt your performance on an existing client, customers see right through it and they will replace you when they get the opportunity, with a partner who appreciates them, and doesn’t take them for granted. Appreciate your customers — otherwise you won’t have any. If you don’t prioritize retention, the expense and your reputation will catch up in the market, and your customer will prioritize finding your replacement. Obsess over customer delight, and keep retention at the highest level of priorities withing your organization’s operations and sales functions. Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

https://eidigital.com

https://grahampeelle.com

Leading Through Uncertainty with Confidence and Candor Your leadership capability and capacity continues to get tested by outside forces Author Graham Peelle October 16, 2023 Leading Through Uncertainty with Confidence and Candor Your leadership capability and capacity continues to get tested by outside forces Uncertainty is everywhere. If you dwell on it, it can be quite unsettling and paralyzing, actually. For you as an executive, manager, or founder, leading a team through turbulent times or times of uncertainty, must become a skill you master. Leading through uncertainty with the objective of achieving organizational focus and action, instead of your teams dwelling on the worst potential outcomes, has become one of the most critical skills we can hold as leaders. External Factors Recently with a recent global pandemic, climate crisis and events, social injustice, economic turbulence such as inflation to name one, recession (or pending recession) to name a second, or war, leaders must navigate a multitude of forks in the road where stockholders, stakeholders, customers, employees, partners, and suppliers, are watching, listening, and either judging or reacting to your communication and action, or lack thereof. When things get tough in your business, with your team, community, or generally in your country, or across the world, how you respond, matters. The manner in which many leaders or companies respond is a great start to review what the natural reactions are and give you some perspective to consider on a more appropriate approach to responding or reacting to external forces. Indonesia Stock Exchange Photo by Ruben Sukatendel on Unsplash Leadership Reaction Typical responses often set off patterns of nervousness and anxiety, leaving increased concern and distraction, not putting people at ease. The natural reaction aligns with fear. Fear drives reduced productivity, performance, and upheaval. Creating fear or trying to squash fear by communicating around the topic, instead of addressing it head-on, must be handled with care. Companies and leaders also tend to overreact in the short-term, under-reacting in the long run. While budgets, plans, and focus should already account for worst case scenarios to a point, they are often inflated with waste and overinflated numbers, including wasteful spending and wasteful time and effort, compounded by unrealistic expectations for margins and growth. This creates a perfect storm of over-hiring, underperforming, all exaggerated or misaligned by poor planning and a reactionary approach. What do companies often do when things get tough, they start managing their business differently. Natural reaction when business turns south or uncertainty increases, creates the following: Tightening up the budget cost reduction Reducing headcount Closing up in positions hiring freezes Closing locations Getting out the microscope on operations Focusing on any noise that could be seen as adding value to the business In many cases, adding work that takes away from the bottom line The Impact The impact elevates employee anxiety on job, creating a decreased feeling of job security, hurting culture and reducing performance all to hit a number, which is driven by those same team members. Some would say the downside of the cycles allows for an opportunity to “right size”, others would say right sizing is a quick fix to a poor business model, poor strategy, or ineffective management. What comes to mind for you to consider as a leader or future leader, is the importance of true ongoing, consistent, performance management. Leadership, management, human resources, and talent management basics by managing the performance and development of your team. That’s management and leadership, and when proactive can prevent a lot of the aforementioned impacts, but it often gets pushed aside for distractions along the way which eventually causes reactionary moves when it’s too late. You’re right sizing, by managing over time, not in one artificial event, where the impact is amplified. Yes, the organization should have been built to withstand typical business cycles in the first place. Typical cycles, not the apocalyptic event every 100 years, but to be able to survive and even thrive during or after an economic event. This isn’t a shout at any one organization or even a group like those in the Fortune 500, rather, this is a call out to all of us as leaders to learn from these decision patters and the status quo. Let’s be different and squash the way business has always been done. There are some firms that have excelled at this - let’s learn from them. How can we handle uncertainty with communication? See below for a standard SOP. Photo by Jehyun Sung on Unsplash Here’s the skeleton for the SOP on handing uncertainty: Calm, concise, and communicative - bringing the calm and steady force is leadership your team needs Be out in front of your team - no hiding in the shadows Lay out the state-of-the-state, provide an overview Tell them the truth - how you tell them requires some nuance for messaging properly, but tell them what they need to know and understand Lay out the immediate impacts and plan forward Make promises, but only ones you know you can keep Do not make any promises you cannot deliver on Tell them it’s going to be okay, only if it is Communicate a follow-up as an email, video, or follow-up call as appropriate Stay out in front of your team, finding the right opportunities to be in front of them to hold AMA’s, or other round table or fireside chat opportunities Align your leaders or tenured team members to help disseminate the message and truth Work through the problem or challenge - accept the truth, but don’t accept your fate. Navigate the waters and get through to the other side Following these core steps will give you a little more of a playbook when leading through uncertainty. Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI CONTENT RESOURCES 6 Strategies for Leading Through Uncertainty It seems that any given week provides ample reminders that leaders cannot control the degree of change, uncertainty, and complexity we face. The authors offer six strategies to improve a leader’s ability to learn, grow, and more effectively navigate the increasing complexity of our world. The first step is to embrace the discomfort as an expected and normal part of the learning process. As described by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, leaders must shift from a “know it all” to “learn it all” mindset. This shift in mindset can, itself, help ease the discomfort by taking the pressure off of you to have all the answers. hbr.org/2021/04/6-strategies-for-leading-through-uncertainty We're in Uncertain Times. Here's How to Lead Through Them. | Entrepreneur Like every year, 2023 will bring us a new set of unforeseen challenges, some of which are here. Here's how leaders can help their teams succeed through them. www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/were-in-uncertain-times-heres-how-to-lead-through-them/445030 Leading Through Uncertainty: 10 Best Strategies To Follow Leading through difficulty needs expertise in dealing with complex factors. This blog enlists the best strategies for leading through uncertainty. www.turing.com/resources/10-strategies-for-leading-through-uncertainty OpCo: The People Ops Blueprint — Operations | People | Culture | Opportunity If Performance Operations Culture means something to you, or you would like to be notified for future posts on operations leadership, culture, and people related topics from the world of work, make sure you click the 🔔 on my LinkedIn profile page. For additional daily content, check out grahampeelle.com. You can also find additional weekly articles on Medium. Climb Higher & Raise Your^ROI LEARN: Learn | Explore | Ambition | Reform | No

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

https://eidigital.com

https://grahampeelle.com

Professional Service Operations & Account Management: The Top 10 Principles for Customer Retention Your customer is a partner in your future - service them with that in mind Author Graham Peelle September 18, 2023 Professional Service Operations & Account Management: The Top 10 Principles for Customer Retention Your customer is a partner in your future - service them with that in mind Above all, take care of your employees. They are partners in your business. Your customer will never get truly next level optimum service without employees being a priority and getting the proper care and consideration. Happy employees create happy customers. I’ve heard Cameron Herold reference this. Once you have that set as a priority and moving in the right direction, keep reading. A customer 1st approach A customer 1st approach is paramount to service operations success. You may be thinking, wait, I thought he said the employer was first. Associates are first at an organizational and interpersonal level, as they are your first customers in a sense, and it becomes engrained in the organization, not requiring focused attention, because you have done the ground work to make it an expectation that goes beyond conscious thinking and action. You’ve made it a fundamental core value in your culture. But in day-to-day operations, everyone’s focus is your customer. This may be an internal customer or your external end customer. A customer-first operational mindset starts with mindset and culture. A belief in driving service and value for your customer, with everyone having the customer in mind at any level. There are a multitude of philosophies and approaches with customer service and account management, but in my experience, there are 10 principles to effective customer retention along the path to customer delight with professional service operations and account management. Protect the flag Below is an overview of my Top 10 Principles to Effective Customer Retention: Truly care - show your customer you actually have a vested interest in their success. This does not mean you’re required to be their best friend, although helpful, this means show them that you’ll actually be there in good times or in bad. Your customer is the star. Emotions drive decisions. Never make the client feel they are simply replaceable- companies want to invest and prioritize in new business, which is essential to growth and diversification. Unfortunately, far too many companies invest an underwhelming amount in their current customers. Why go get a new flag to wave and not protect your own flag that you already have in place. New business development is critical, and one of the key blood flows of business, but if you don’t have any of your current customers from this year, why is it helpful to have new customers next year. Account management, account retention, account strategy, account saturation, and customer intelligence are extremely underrated. Current customers are your best agents and an extension of your BD team. If you want new customers, take care of your current current customers. If you lost that big deal, look carefully into the mirror and see the likely possibly that your current customer had at least a small part of contributing to this. if you don’t take care of them. customers impact your future success, It’s a shared journey. Customers are along for your journey. You are along your customers’ journey. Once you separate the two, you no longer have a sustainable business or customer. Value drives decisions right alongside emotions. Provide value, and prove it, and if you’re worried about giving away “the farm”, you likely need a more fruitful farm. Service given away and added value builds trust, attention, and supplements your overall value if delivered and communicated properly. Be fair, but make it business you want. Never take advantage of your customers. Your profit is monetized value provided to your customer. Don’t discount your product or position in your business, but don’t ripoff your customer - they can feel it. Culture drives your customer retention mindset. From the top down, your company’s personnel must have your customers top of mind. In order for that to truly happen, employees must be focused on nothing else, but taking care of the customer, with leaders and peers taking care of employees. This approach enables everyone to take care of your customers. Internal distractions are the kryptonite to caring for your customers. Customers must be respected and listened to. No, the customer isn’t always right, but the customer often decides when you’re right. Service over saving pennies. Your level of service and attention to your customer will dictate how long you work with that customer. Never take them for granted. Don’t break the first 9 principles. This list of ten principles helps shown the value of advancing your customer relationships, customer approach, and customer centric culture. Taking care of your team members first as an overarching priority enables further weaving in a customer centric approach. Happy employees make happy customers, and when coupled with a performance operations culture you can drive a customer-first mindset, essential to any service-based organization. Railway station from above 1 Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash If you are interested in learning more about taking care of customers, study the stories about Henry Ford, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs, all who could help transform your viewpoint. Regarding account retention from a service perspective, I heard Micah Solomon speak recently and was impressed with his approach. Without customers, you have no business - never forget that. Hopefully, this adds a little value to your business or personal growth. Thank you for reading. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI RESOURCES 10 Principles of Customer Strategy It’s no longer enough to target your chosen customers. To stay ahead, you need to create distinctive value and experiences for them. www.strategy-business.com/article/10-Principles-of-Customer-Strategy Seven Keys to Customer Retention | EurekaFacts Identify, prioritize, and develop a customer management plan that efficiently applies retention management tools and monitors progress. www.eurekafacts.com/project/seven-keys-customer-retention 5 Steps For Building A Customer Retention Strategy What actions can you take to develop an effective customer retention strategy? Here’s a 5-step roadmap to get you started. www.integritysolutions.com/blog/5-steps-customer-retention-strategy 7 Strategies to Improve Customer Retention in 2023 No company survives unless it holds onto customers. The Ascent breaks down the best strategies your small business can use for customer retention. www.fool.com/the-ascent/small-business/e-commerce/articles/customer-retention Client-Centric Approach and its Benefits Client-centric, also known as customer-centric, is an approach to doing business that focuses on creating a positive experience for the customer by maximizing service and/or product offerings and building relationships. www.investopedia.com/terms/c/client-centric.asp https://www.bradcleveland.com/resources/articles/the-12-principles-for-building-profitable-customer-relationships/ OpCo: The People Ops Blueprint — Operations | People | Culture | Opportunity If Performance Operations Culture means something to you, or you would like to be notified for future posts on operations leadership, culture, and people related topics from the world of work, make sure you click the 🔔 on my LinkedIn profile page. For additional daily content, check out grahampeelle.com. You can also find additional weekly articles on Medium. Climb Higher & Raise Your^ROI LEARN: Learn | Explore | Ambition | Reform | No

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.

https://eidigital.com

https://grahampeelle.com

Organizations & Careers Fueled by Aligned Talent Development Mutual benefit stems from empowering your team’s personal growth to accelerate their career and your business The teams you lead, consisting of career professionals, have career goals and aspirations. They have goals and want to make progress, find fulfillment, and build wealth through career growth. You as a business or company leader, have company or group business objectives and growth aspirations. But do these priorities align with the work your team does and wants to do? Do your associates’ goals support your business objectives? Do they plan for their work supporting your company’s business as the backbone to build their career on, or is this a stepping stone for them, and they’re out in 1-2 years? These are important questions about leadership’s perception, awareness, and talent management approach, and I’d venture to guess that many of us as leaders, don’t know theses answers for many of our team members, or for our company. This alignment is critical to making long-term sustainable company and personal growth, to exist in harmony, and not working against each other. Aligning your teams growth with company growth, ensures mutual benefit The rise of personal growth and development has been remarkable over the last 50 years. Companies have supported the worker more and more with multiple avenues for development opportunities, including everything from online learning modules to conferences and many types of learning and development avenues in between. These trainings or learning and development opportunities can be great, but can be limited in effectiveness when real genuine alignment is missing for some companies. Organizations can easily miss fostering and promoting personal growth that aligns with company growth, which adds to the bottom line with gains in skills, confidence, and commitment, but also brings value to the associate. Providing development opportunities is great and it’s a big step in the right direction for companies that would have balked at it the further you go back in history, but the magic for companies to realize the full up side, is to link employee development to company growth and success. Mutual growth and success, in alignment, is the way for learning and development to support your organization of the future. How to align individual career growth with organizational objectives Individual Development Plan (IDP) or Personal Development Plan Organizational succession strategies or maps Assigning/requesting projects aligned to personal interests Seeking promotion or lateral moves in areas of interest Employee understanding of organizational structure, business units, or groups and the associated roles relevant to their skills and experience Organizations leading talent reviews to understand each individual’s skills and experience at a deeper level Companies providing exploratory development beyond training, like company, business unit, group, product, or development update sessions (good old lunch and learn) Companies looking at their core objectives, and aligning talent management priorities, IDPs, and talent reviews to assemble one clear talent development roadmap Strategic hiring - pause, and before hiring externally, consider who internally can do this job, who has relevant skills, who can we train for the role, versus hire each time) Importance to talent As a talented professional or if you are interested in achieving more in your career, consider prioritizing organizations that invest in your development and go above and beyond with supporting your efforts to prepare yourself for your next role. This doesn’t mean your company steers your personal development journey - that’s your job, but look for employers that will foster an environment of mentors, leaders interested in promoting their team members, a culture of succession planning, opportunities for stretch assignments, and real tangible time allowed for personal growth. For additional context on personal development, check out one of my features on Medium regarding career development, a the article on getting promoted in corporate America and another on designing and building and intentional career. For companies, prioritizing personal development will continue to differentiate you as one of the best places to work if you embrace it, invest in your people, and show it through action. If you want to be a top place to work, invest in your people, promote your people, and show them that their growth is one of your top three priorities. In today’s talent landscape, this isn’t a nice to have, or something we can be okay at as an organization, but a requirement to compete for talent and requires real work and commitment. Competing for talent without a strong culture of talent management and leadership development, quickly becomes a commoditized salary bidding war. Some of this can come down to where you want to prioritize investing in your people for organizations that don’t have the ability to take on both investments - prioritize healthier salary, benefits, or other compensation oriented value for your teams, or invest more in personal development opportunities and resources. In today’s world, you don’t have that option - the answer is you need both. If talent retention, talent development, and talent attraction are real priorities, you need to invest in it to fullest. These are not areas to cut key investments from your HR and Talent budgets. In order to have a fighting chance at top talent, investing in your people will continue to be critical, and the better you plan on your priorities, in alignment with business needs for personnel, the better positioned you will be. Effort and vision In order to make this happen for a firm, this takes the real work, where organizations truly care and show that support and actually support their team members. It’s not talk, but it’s reality, proven by action and investment, communicated across the organization in various way to ensure equal access and visibility across roles, levels, groups, as it makes sense for your organization. This does not mean adding more modules and calling it good, but it means investing in areas where it’s going to make people better. Yes, this may take more technology, travel, talent management, hiring, or resources, in some cases. It takes commitment from the top down, and the bottom up to be better, and this alignment will drive better organizational results. As you grow your people and the investment is dedicated to their development, make sure you have the communication and visibility into the the what, the why, the how, the results, outcomes, etc. Investing, but not sharing can limit the impact of goodwill and shared success that can come from this investment. Touting results without context, or sharing tools without a why, can limit their impact. Communication is equally important as the investment. We Did It Photo by Natalie Pedigo on Unsplash Leadership embracing a new way What does this mean on the day-to-day for business? Investment in learning and development, talent management, leadership development, and related areas doesn’t get leaders off the hook for the real-time, weekly, and team feedback and development activities. In fact, all the aforementioned should be considered supplements to what the company’s leaders provide as development, not in place of. This can be a real miss for the culture of leadership and development in some organizations with a misconception that training and development does your job for you with developing your people. There are few replacements for in the moment coaching, feedback, radical candor, discussions throughout the course of each day and week. That’s where some of the most effective and beneficial development takes place, and often what separates the good and the best leaders from the mediocre and poor leaders - real solid leadership with your teams, in the moment, consistently, and on-going, and in alignment with your development, not replaced or in place of. Establishing this cadence as a leader is essential to even being a leader. You may wonder, what other value can come from these development conversations? Discussing the real work that needs to be done, crushing politics, acknowledgment of effort and achievement, and moving work forward. Freedom to explore One item that has been increasingly a hot topic with employers, is the part-time gig, side hustle as it’s affectionately called, or whatever variation you want to label it. This may be a somewhat in conflict with the view from many companies’ perspective, but consider allowing your team members to branch out and get a feel for other things. Let people explore their interests, hobbies, extracurricular activities, side hustles, side gigs, and money-making endeavors. The more you freedom and trust you give them, the more loyal they will be, as they will appreciate and respect your understanding and support. In some cases, it will actually show them they can find more fulfillment than they thought in their current role or with their current company. Or it may show them their true passion and help them find their next role within your organization. If people are eventually going to leave, they were going to leave anyway, so restricting their activities unnecessarily is just going to extend a negative impression on them, and may push them out even sooner. This doesn’t mean let them be a direct competitor, steal intellectual property, steal your employees, but the guidelines should be very free on what they can do, and quite specific on what they can’t do. This of course can vary by industry as well, as with some industries, the limits must be tighter where clients can be easily moved from one agency to another. But in a lot of cases, we restrict team members from spending time on passions, hobbies, exploring their interests, and in most cases, all that does is force our employees to be unsatisfied or to leave. Make sure your agreements and policies are in place for the right reasons and protecting against actual risk, not just there because you have always done it that way. The founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, wrote a book originally intended as an internal manual, but later released publicly, called, “Let My People Go Surfing”. If you’re interested in learning more on the story, check out this Founders episode. Chouinard’s perspective on employee satisfaction and freedom can be helpful context for leaders looking to transform or learn how to empower and promote a more freeing culture. Heavily rusty chains Photo by Shaojie on Unsplash Value to the organization Organizations have an opportunity to find that linkage of tying personal growth to company growth, which improves retention, engagement, and tangible performance and results. Alignment of personal and organizational development is a powerful concept that companies can gain a lot if they explore, while finding how to accelerate growth and success for individuals and the organization. As technology, markets, and people evolve, so will organizations in order to adapt their response and support for their teams’ growth and development. You don’t have to have all of the answers for personal and organizational development alignment now, but it’s important to start somewhere. Regardless of company size, consider dedicating some time to explore this unique opportunity in front of your organization. Personal growth and development may offer a new way for your organization to align with your people in a transformative way. Lead your space with this endeavor to uncover the power in organization and personal development, in alignment and harmony, working together, not in silos. Climb Higher, Raise Your^ROI

The thoughts shared on this podcast, whether original content or content from others, represent my own personal views or those of other individuals, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of organizations for which I am affiliated. This is not legal or investment advice, please seek professional advice for such advice.