Fantastic to speak in Raleigh at AA-ISP with the amazing inside sales on how to build the highest performing teams & employee engagement.
We had fun playing my trust- and team-building game, Cards Against Mundanity. People were vulnerable and shared intimate stories on their struggles, successes, lessons learned and biggest fears. It was fantastic to watch.
Vulnerable self-disclosure is THE secret to skyrocketing trust. Nothing else works like it. It’s the #1 ingredient to building the top 1% teams.
1,000 trust falls or LEGO games don’t equal the power of a conversation. Here is why: Think about it: Until you tell someone, “I love you,” they never really know you actually do. It’s saying the words that solidifies it. It’s that vulnerable self-disclosure that creates the bond with another person or group of people.
Does the closest person in your life know how’d you answer the following questions? Do you know the answer to these questions about them? What about the people you work with the closest in business?
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in the past year?
Who is your personal hero and why?
Whats your biggest setback, what did you learn from it and how to did you move past?
What’s your biggest regret and why?
Whats your greatest achievement and why did you pick it?
What three things are on your bucket list?
What’s your biggest fear? Why?
99.9% of the people reading don’t have a single person who would know the answers to all 7. Practically no one could say that professionally. That’s huge. Because people don’t know the real you and who you are.
How can you build the highest performing team in business if they don’t? How can you perform at your peak level of you don’t know that information about the people around you?
You can’t and the data/research support that. Underperformance is the norm. But you have the power to change that in minutes.
Vulnerable self-disclosure and sharing is a game changer in business. It’s hardly used and it’s what separates the best from the rest.
Manager’s emotional state and attitude has a MAJOR impact on a company’s bottom line. Research shows when a manager is negative (or even slightly negative) in their attitude/comments, companies are 7x more likely to have highly disengaged employees. That lowers performance & key metrics.
How many of your managers are negative or create an atmosphere where people are hesitant to speak up? How many are positive, caring, supportive with accountability?
Surveys don’t tell the full story. Have a strategic process and plan. Talk to employees with skip level meetings, observing team meetings, asking questions to determine a manager’s emotional state, prioritizing employee engagement, and much more. How many of these are you currently doing?
Great insight into why Kobe Bryant alto ego “superhero” creation was his secret for success. You use this exact process too. Working with clients on a brand new process that incorporates this.
Their success exploded (5-10x in weeks) because they suspended belief in what they can’t do to take a leap of faith and instantly overcome their fears and biggest hurdles.
It’s a way to crush your blindspots, hurdles and anything holding you back. You use your authentic self to rise to its ultimate peak to produce the success and evidence you need.
100% success rate.
Read what Kobe did and what they are doing. You can copy this process. Will work for you in minutes after you apply it.
“Kobe harnessed that mindset to prepare for one of the greatest players he ever encountered: Allen Iverson. He became obsessed w/ AI, going so far as to study the hunting techniques of great white sharks:
‘Working harder wasn’t enough.
I had to study this man maniacally.
I obsessively read every article and book I could find about AI. I obsessively watched every game he had played. I obsessively studied his every success, & his every struggle. I obsessively searched for any weakness I could find.
I searched the world for musings to add to my AI Musecage.
This led me to study how great whites sharks hunt seals off the coast of South Africa.
The patience. The timing. The angles. On Feb 20, 2000, in Philadelphia, PJ gave me the assignment of guarding AI at the start of the 2nd half. No one knew how much this challenge meant to me.
I wanted him to feel the frustration I felt.
I wanted everyone who laughed at the 41 & 10 he put on me to choke on their laughter’”
“Stop trying to borrow wisdom and think for yourself. Face your difficulties and think and think and think and solve your problems yourself. Suffering and difficulties provide opportunities to become better. Success is never giving up.”
Toyota engineer Taiichi Ohno advice to those wanting to understand their manufacturing model and processes.
Employees often hold back sharing information even when they believe what have to say could be very important for the organization/customer and/or themselves. This epidemic of silence is caused by four main reasons: not wanting to be seen in a bad light, causing issues, damaging work relationships and sense of futility (ie it won’t really matter).
Recent studies every single employee interviewee failed to speak up on an at least issue they believed had significant organizational consequences on key metrics, morale, bullying and employee retention.
One employee I spoke with said, “I can’t afford to lose my job so I’d rather stay silent and not make what I believe would be a significant improvement. The downside risk is too high for me.” That comment is what I hear in 90% of the organizations.
The bottom line implications are significant and it’s not improving.
“Why would I want to change jobs and go to another CPG company. Things won’t be much better. Silence ensures I don’t create issues for myself.” This senior manager is in a Fortune/Forbes Top 10 Workplace.
