02/16/2023
I was recently asked..."So HOW can Leaders capitalize on what's happening NOW and ACCELERATE their TEAMS' PERFORMANCE and their RESULTS?"
Good question. And asking BETTER QUESTIONS are where all the ANSWERS lie...
In a recent Harvard Business Review on HOW TO LEARN FASTER AND BETTER, they named THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL FOR THE FUTURE...as The ABILITY TO LEARN! And to KEEP UP THE LEARNING CURVE. And DISTANCE or ONLINE learning is here to stay.
As my dear friend Charlie 'Trememdous' Jones would always say to me, "Michael, I don't care what you've LEARNED! What I want to know is what are you LEARNING NOW?"
Over the past decade or so I've been fortunate to do retained consulting work with several client organizations who understood the POWER of creating an online platform for PERSONAL GROWTH and making a commitment to LEARNING and PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT. We've built online communities for employees, selling professionals, leadership teams, and entrepreneurs/business owners and then created or provided content on an ongoing basis to help accelerate the learning curve for these individuals. HOW DID IT WORK?
I remember getting that question from an ownership/leadership team in Dallas, Texas almost a decade ago. "How do you think it will WORK for us?" was their question. A fair one and one I've heard many times, before and since. I can tell you with a great certainty how it will work, I told them. Here it is, THE LAW OF THIRDS!
Meaning simply, executing or implementing any sort of NEW NOW projects will find ONE THIRD of the people asking "Why in the world would they bring that guy in to do this...?" Another THIRD will be mostly unmoved or uncertain or unaffected. But herein lies the MAGIC...ONE THIRD will be ATTRACTED to the NEW NOW! They will RUN AT this new opportunity to learn, to grow, to accelerate, to lead BETTER than before.
So then MY QUESTION becomes "what would happen to YOUR TEAM, YOUR PEOPLE, YOUR ORGANIZATION if suddenly ONE THIRD of them ENGAGED in a new/bigger/better way to do what they do? And when they do this over a period of say 90-120 days they will begin to put a POSITIVE PEER PRESSURE on the other TWO THIRDS. Many of whom probably won't, or shouldn't, be in that position heading into this NEW normal.
I've seen it work in the insurance industry, janitorial, paper, media, mandatory continuing education and more. ACCELERATING results and IDENTIFYING the ONE THIRD that will make a difference in your business and how quickly you can adjust to the changing conditions of this marketplace MATTERS MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE.
Simply relying on the "way we've always done it" or the way we WERE doing it won't make it in the NEW NOW. Build a better LEARNING and ADAPTING organization, create a GROWTH mindset, CRUSH the myths of the past, and COACH YOUR ONE THIRD to GREATNESS!
It's worth it.
