Randy Pennington is a business performance veteran, award-winning author, and an expert in helping organizations deliver positive results in a world of accelerating change. Randy’s latest book, Make Change Work, dives into the topic of how businesses can execute change without getting held up or losing track of their goal.

Today, Randy spoke with me about how to effectively execute change within an organization. As our environment rapidly grows, businesses are finding they have to adapt with it. However, change takes time and it needs a good leader to pave the way. I discovered from Randy’s interview that change really comes from a trusted leader and in order to build trust and succeed, the leader must have five leadership characteristics to them.

After studying countless of leaders, Randy was able to pull out what really makes people trust, and not trust, in a leader. He shares examples of what good leaders do right, and says that trust and communication are crucial for any team, no matter what industry you’re in. If you’re trying to implement change in your company culture, then you definitely won’t want to miss out on Randy’s talk.

 

Show Notes

[2:15] Randy talks about his latest book, Make Change Work.

[3:10] How do you lead change?

[3:20] Change often fails because of bad leadership.

[4:20] Things are moving quickly around the world, which is one of the reasons why change doesn’t get executed fully.

[5:00] Businesses are caught in a hard spot. Not only is their environment changing rapidly, but customers have much more demands for them.

[5:30] How are good leaders navigating change effectively?

[6:35] Leaders need to remember that change takes a while to implement.

[7:15] There’s a fine balance between pushing for productive change, but not pushing too much onto your team that it overwhelms them. 

[9:40] The best leaders who are able to execute change are trusted by their staff. It comes down to the relationship they have with their people.

[10:45] What causes someone to trust in a leader and a company? Randy talks about the five most common characteristics to building trust.

[13:00] Your team is adaptive, but they need consistency in the work environment.

[14:15] The most important thing your team needs is communication.

[14:45] What’s the difference between character and courage in this context? How important are these two things for the team?

[17:35] How do good (and busy) leaders connect with their team?

[20:50] Let’s take a shift. What brought Randy into this industry?

[22:20] Did you know Randy played volleyball with schizophrenics for a living?

[24:30] Randy talks about the concept of hiring for cultural fit.

[30:05] How do you prevent your company culture from going stale? Randy wishes it was just one thing, but the reality is it’s a combination of things. Listen in for more.

[32:15] How do you keep an internal focus on your staff and an external focus on your customers? Where’s the right balance?

[36:35] People support what they help create. Involve your team in the change process.

[37:25] Great leaders have this mentality to them - Your success doesn’t diminish my success.

[37:55] Who are Randy’s ideal clients?

[41:30] Randy believes there’s no industry that’s safe from being disrupted and innovated.

[43:25] Since there’s so much disruption happening around us, Randy believes there needs to be company scout teams actively looking out for change and dangers to the company/industry.

[44:55] This applies to small businesses as well.

[45:45] Will Uber be able to keep up with innovation and the industry 15 years from now? Only time will tell.

[47:05] The biggest challenge right now is staying fresh while focusing on execution.

[49:35] Remember, mindset matters. It’s the lens in which you view the world. If you don’t get the mindset right, nothing else will be able to follow.

[50:15] Randy and his four friends will be hosting a summit in Vegas for entrepreneurs and small businesses owners. Be sure to check it out!

 

Ambition Quote:

"It’s much easier to tame a big idea than it is to grow a small one."

 

Follow:

Joe Calloway

Mark Sanborn

Larry Winget

Scott McKain

Five Friends Business Summit

Carl Sewell

 

Connect with Randy:

www.penningtongroup.com/

Make Change Work by Randy Pennington

 

Randy’s Recommended Resources:

A Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal

 

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