Leadership and Business Growth

We hired an HR and leadership consultant Anne Laguzza to speak to our Fit Body Elite Mastermind group a few weeks ago. There were many take-aways but her talk on “Crucial Conversations” was especially valuable. 

What are Crucial Conversations you might ask?

There are tough conversations you don’t want to have. But ones that are needed in order to resolve any situation needing adjusting so the team can win.

Unfortunately and whether we like it or not, these are realities in business and in life. 

In fact, the stronger the leader, the more willing they are to lean into crucial conversations which is a big leadership lesson for today. To add more value, here are the 7 steps for you to implement in your next crucial conversation so you have a framework as your guide. 

1. Embrace. Yes, embrace the suck. Reminder, these crucial conversations are not comfortable but important. Reframe these in your mind as an opportunity for you both to get better.
2. Don’t Procrastinate. There’s a balance between letting emotion die down and being close enough to the incident as there’s value. Be conscious of this and lean in as soon as possible. 
3. Clarify Intention. Be clear in your intention for the conversation. Approach with facts, remove emotion and be objective. 
4. Preparation. Gather information. Data is mission critical to a productive crucial conversation. 
5. Active Listening. Be Present. What do they feel? Is there anything else I need to know?
6. Come to a Resolution. Reach agreement. Summarize understanding and then detail out pending action steps.
7. Follow up. As part of your pending action steps above, set a meeting time to follow up before you end the meeting. Then do it as the fortune is in the follow-up! Check-in with the teammate. Put any non-sensitive information in writing as a follow-up. Anything sensitive can be discussed at your follow up meeting instead of through email.

Today we go through the grand finale which ties together our previous 4 leadership lessons..

The 5th dysfunction, inattention to results, is the ultimate dysfunction of a team and refers to the tendency of team members to care about something other than the collective goal or mission of the group.

As results need to be the ultimate focus on any strong team!

So to put a bow on these last 5 weeks of leadership learning..

We learned in our previous weeks that in order to lead any team..

Foundationally, you need trust which fosters healthy conflict, healthy conflict in turn fosters commitment, commitment fosters accountability, and accountability fosters results. 

These dysfunctions tie together as a domino effect and why teamwork and leadership are so challenging but mission-critical to any winning organization.

Please keep these in mind in all aspects of your professional and personal lives. 

Onward.

We learned in our previous weeks that in order to lead any team, you need trust which fosters healthy conflict, healthy conflict in turn fosters commitment, and commitment fosters accountability

But what if you have a break in the chain of being able to hold each other accountable?!

Sady, this becomes insurmountable for any team.

Why?

Only with a strong level of accountability, can you produce results. 

In fact, as part of our EOS model in operating our business, every critical aspect of the business requires 1 person to “own the accountability.”

This is because if multiple people are accountable to any task or department, then no one is.

As accountability forces positive pressure to drive results.

And results are what every successful team needs in order to continue to operate which is the 5th dysfunction of a team

More next week!

Last week we learned that only with strong team trust, can we engage in true healthy conflict. And only when we are able to engage in a healthy conflict where teammates feel heard, can a team get true commitment or “buy-in” from its people.

Why is this important?

Because if there is a lack of commitment, this prevents any team from making decisions that the company can stick to for the long term.

And you know that long-term consistency is an ally to leadership and results.

So if a company cannot stick to long-term commitments, there’s a lack of accountability to the results which is another downfall of any organization.

This is what we will discuss next week.

Simple concept, yet extremely important and not easy, as many leaders miss this approach. 

So to recap…

In order to lead any team, you need trust which fosters healthy conflict, healthy conflict, in turn, fosters commitment, and commitment fosters accountability.

Is this beginning to make sense?

More to come next week on dysfunction number 4 which is the avoidance of accountability. 

Last week we learned that only with strong team trust, can we engage in healthy conflict.

And why again is healthy conflict a good thing?

People have good ideas and bad ideas. 

That’s the truth and I certainly have both too!

So healthy conflict is a must as it allows any organization to vet out ideas where through discussion via “pressure testing”, the good ones rise to the top and the bad ones disappear.

And that’s a very good thing in any company.

Now, what happens if there’s a fear of healthy conflict?

Well, a lack of commitment to any decided initiative is the result which is the next dysfunction that will be addressed today as we work ourselves up the chain.

Let me give you an example:

Have you ever been part of a meeting or team where you didn’t feel your voice heard? Rather, the leader of the group just barked out orders…

Then a team decision is made, but guess what?

You didn’t really feel bought into the decision and therefore were not totally committed to taking massive action to accomplish the game plan.

You have been there before, right?

I have.

Well, here’s the good news.

As humans, we can actually accept and get behind ideas with full commitment even if it’s not our original desire.

What’s the caveat?

You must feel heard, even if the decision doesn’t go your way. 

As long as you feel heard, and even if your idea didn’t get the vote, you will still be able to commit to the direction since we have an internal pull towards “fairness”.

Meaning, if you were outvoted, internally you will be more accepting of the decision given its “fair”.

But the opposite is also true.

If you don’t fully feel heard, and the decision isn’t your desire, you will feel resistant and not fully commit to the initiative which has further consequences which we will discuss next week. How does this all tie together?

If you have trust, then you have a healthy approach to conflict where your team feels heard, and ultimately you will have team commitment, no matter the ultimate decision

If you doubt the truth to this, you are invited to jump on the next CAP L10…

Every L10, we “battle it out” on aligning systems and processes within the Fit Body Way. Candidly, most times not everyone initially agrees with the decision since there’s seemingly always a divided vote.

But guess what?

Each guy on the team feels they can throw their weight around and “get their opinion heard”. Each of us has a strong personality and a deep trust that Barrett has cultivated from his team…

So even if it’s not the direction we end up going for that specific teammate, we all get behind the decision as we feel empowered to let our opinions known, and onward we move!

That’s the type of healthy conflict and commitment we need to grow our location’s income through impact!

Is this making sense?

Onward!

Trust is the foundation to a strong team at the first dysfunction of a team. It affects everything up the chain in any company, ending with results. 

Without trust, you are without results.

Why is this?

Without trust, your team will not be willing to engage in a healthy conflict which is dysfunction #2 that we will discuss next week.

As you must trust your teammates to be able to share your candid insights which sometimes will conflict with others on your team. 

And that healthy conflict is a good thing.

Without trust, human nature will not engage in sharing true insights for fear of retribution as this is all tied to your ability to promote trust with your peers as a leader!

I’ll use a metaphor and tie this to free speech and why it’s so important in any society.

With free speech, the good ideas of any society eventually rise to the surface, and consequently, the bad ideas eventually die as more people engage.

The opposite is also true. 

Want an example?

Think dictatorships without free speech and idea-sharing. This leads to silence due to fear of conflict and punishment.. 

Ultimately, this is the demise of any civilization and incredible oppression soon follows. History is riddled with examples. 

On the contrary…

The idea of free speech, idea sharing, and consequently healthy conflict is absolutely necessary. 

As when you have healthy conflict, which is a form of free speech, the best ideas eventually rise to the surface and bad ideas die, even though the conflict at the moment is uncomfortable.

Tying this back to your leadership…

As a leader and lesson today, you must create a culture of trust so that if you/your team speak your mind and even though there might be friction, it’s valued and there’s an understanding it’s healthy.

Want to build more trust?

Below is an exercise with our leadership team together last week at our EOS Annual. 

I would highly encourage each department lead to set up an additional 90-minute meeting with your team to go through this exercise with the sole focus of building trust. 

​​TRUST BUILDING

1. Best childhood memory?
2. What was your biggest hardship/challenge?
3. What would you tell your 20-year-old self?
4. How/why did you enter this career?
5. How do you decompress?
6. You’re Unique?

 IMPROVEMENT BUILDING

1. What’s the 1 thing that I admire most about you?
2. What’s the 1 thing you need to start/stop doing because it’s hurting you more than helping you is?!..

PS if you disagree with me as your CEO, that’s totally ok and could be a good thing. In fact, you will at some point which is inevitable. As I will to you, just be respectful and know that your idea might not be acted upon due to a variety of factors. But also know that your ideas are valued, they will be considered and you should always feel empowered to speak your mind in our company. Onward!

“If you can get all the people in any organization to be rowing in the same direction.. You can dominate any industry, any market, any competition, at any time. This is the power of teamwork!” – Robert Lencioni

Our leadership team is at our EOS annual and will be back at HQ tomorrow. It’s always incredibly productive to gain more clarity on our path ahead via our commitment to the EOS system. This process has been business changing for us..

We will be debriefing you and the team shortly on the plan of attack.

In preparation, we were asked to re-read “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team’’ by Patrick M. Lencioni who is a talented leadership expert. 

I have listed each of them below for you to review..

Each of the dysfunctions naturally come up in any team dynamic given human nature. So as a leader, you shouldnt be surprised when they reveal themselves. 

However, strong leadership is aware of each of the dysfunctions and works to overcome them through intentionality and strong leadership strategy. 

Over the next 5 weeks my lessons will be around how these issues present themselves and how to overcome them. Get ready!

• Lack of Trust 

• Fear of Conflict 

• Lack of Commitment 

• Avoidance of Accountability

• Not attentive to Results