I need to grow my team so I can trust them to deliver for key clients even under extreme pressure.
I have so much expertise and wisdom I want to share but no time to do it.
I want to leave a legacy that lasts long after I’m gone.
I want to create a collaborative learning environment where best practices are shared.
I’d love to connect with the rising stars coming through our leadership pipeline.
Having reflected on the effectiveness of each multiplication strategy, now is a good time to build your own intentional transfer plan.
Intentional Transfer Plan
Consider what specific knowledge, skills, or expertise you need to transfer and to whom (see Figure 8.1). What leadership behaviors or wisdom need to be transferred to others?
Figure 8.1 Developing an Intentional Transfer Plan
Source: © Pub House/GiANT Worldwide.
Reflect on the tool shown in Figure 8.1
First, (and this might take a while) decide the Who. Are there up to three people in your life for whom you can create a plan to intentionally multiply your skills and expertise? Are they on board? Decide what specific knowledge, skills, behavior, or expertise you want to multiply, when’s the best time, and what is the most effective strategy for doing this, whether informing, training, coaching, or apprenticeship.
Taking the time to write out an intentional transfer plan is crucial for you to learn how to become a multiplication master, a 100X leader.
Here are some real examples of intentional transfer plans that we have used within GiANT that might help you in your world:
Mike Oppedahl (Apprenticeship)—Years ago, Steve and I (Jeremie) put together an intentional transfer plan for how we needed to develop the managing partner of our GiANT Consulting group. We made a specific list—how we think about certain issues, the ability to grow the business, and so on. We used all four multiplication strategies to create a plan to transfer these skills to Mike, who was more than willing to learn. As the managing partner of our consulting company, Mike is now multiplying himself into others on the team, and our apprenticeship of him still takes place on a regular basis.
Hunter Hodge (Coaching and Apprenticeship)— We have spent many years specifically coaching and apprenticing this keen young man, on creating e-mails, developing workbooks, and handling complex communications. With a mix of support and challenge, he has helped us build out many of our programs including the 100X leader program (found on www.giant.tv). He has accepted every challenge with grace and now leads much of our training for GiANT.
Senior Consultants (Training)—In our world, we are constantly working to train our senior consultants on the skills and expertise that are necessary for growing clients and dealing with the complex leadership, team, and culture issues that exist inside companies.
All Hands Meeting (Inform)—From time to time we will ask everyone to meet with us from around the globe on a video call to inform on important matters. This process means that we communicate with clarity and conciseness.
Your world will doubtless be different. The key is to be intentional by building your plan for multiplication so that you can become a multiplication master.
Understanding Your Magic
Every one of us has learned a skill and gained wisdom or expertise that we could transfer intentionally to others. Your key employees, partners, and children could all benefit from you deciding to multiply your best into them. Yet no one will be able to leverage it unless we plan to intentionally transfer it. Here are some key questions for you to resolve:
What is your magic? What do you find easy that others seem to find difficult? (unconscious competence)
What specific knowledge, wisdom, skills, or expertise could you export to others?
How are you multiplying it currently?
How would it benefit you, your family, your team, or your organization if you multiplied your magic?
What happens if you don’t do anything?
Multiplication Kryptonite
We’ve given you many reasons and advantages of multiplying, but we have also learned from hundreds of leaders why they won’t multiply. We call it multiplication kryptonite (the power that kept Superman down)—the true reason why you won’t do something.
As you read through this list, circle the reasons you haven’t chosen to multiply what you know to others and decide where your inhibition lies within each.
Where am I going to find the extra time to do all this?
Will I lose influence or even be replaced if I train others to do my job?
I really don’t know what to intentionally transfer or to whom.
I am not sure I want to be that vulnerable with the people who work for me.
No one has done this for me, how can I now be expected do it for others?
What if I let people down and disappoint them when trying to multiply what I know?
Am I really prepared for such a long-term investment of my time and resources in the same people?
At this stage of my career I’m not sure I have the capacity or desire to learn so many new skills to intentionally transfer.
Do I really have any magic to multiply?
If I select favorites for coaching and apprenticeship, will the ones left out resent me and disengage?
Reflection on Multiplication
There is such value in the concept of multiplication. As we said earlier, the majority of leaders, when accidental, rarely multiply but, rather, spend most of their time subtracting, dividing, or—at best—adding. However, the really great leaders learn to multiply. They become competent in the four multiplication methodologies, all of which are important and need to be mastered to be a 100X leader.
To multiply is a skill set in and of itself. We have found that those who master it become outstanding organizational team leaders who understand the power of culture and how to excel at building teams at work, while expanding their influence at home.
Answers to Multiplication Strategy Test
Inform
Apprentice
Inform
Train
Coach
Coach
Train
Apprentice
Train
Train
SECTION III
Creating 100X Cultures
9
Creating the Atmosphere for Growth
You can’t outsource culture! You must shape it, define it, and live it.
Although the Sherpa guides can’t set the climate on Mount Everest, with its freezing temperatures and rapidly changing weather patterns, they can shape the atmosphere of their teams and the way things are done on the mountain from a leadership perspective. It takes work to establish and keep the healthy culture of any group of people, which is why there are so few leaders worth following in the world and why we need so many more.
We define culture as atmosphere. It is the air that people breathe while they are doing their work inside a team or organization. The leader defines the atmosphere by their style and standards. They shape it by their actions and reactions. They shape it by who they are and the work they’ve done on themselves to become leaders worth following.
Culture has many definitions. Our friend, author Ricardo González, says that the culture of a particular people group is defined by its language (or languages), beliefs, norms, symbols, and values.1 He goes on to say that most of us are managing multiple cultures on a daily basis, including our family culture, our work culture, and our ethnic culture. There are thousands of rich cultures of people groups across the world. Each country, ethnicity, or organization has its own culture, and within the macro culture, there are even more subcultures.
Because culture is first and foremost about people and their personalities, most people have not taken the time together—as a family, team, or organization—to intentionally define it, share it, and grow the culture. It is very helpful though, for people to have a framework of values to share, not so tha
t everyone will conform to a certain way of behaving, but because a commonly held framework grants the freedom to be true to themselves as well as providing a rallying cry to work for the good of each other.
We believe that, just like societal culture, organizational culture has vocabulary, norms, beliefs, standards, and symbols. In fact, one of our current fun projects at GiANT is to help a top American university create a cultural playbook for their athletic department. The leader understands how important culture is to the success of their work and they want to intentionally capture these norms, standards, and symbols so that they can spread effectively.
To shape culture a leader must first create a common language. Language is created through the establishment of a common vocabulary—words that come to mean the same thing, at the same time, with the same group of leaders. You can’t create a common culture without the intentional creation of a common vocabulary. You’ll have noticed much of the GiANT common vocabulary through this book so far, and our people all over the world share it.
This language can be used to positively shape culture because people use the objective language to communicate effectively, while getting things done. Peter Drucker famously quipped, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,”2 precisely because under pressure people revert to the culture at hand. You can see it in a sports team. If a team begins to lose you can immediately see the team’s true culture. If players begin blaming each other or playing as individuals rather than a team, then any strategy will go by the wayside and the underlying culture (which the leader has allowed, for good or ill) will triumph.
When leaders use different vocabulary and language, they create their own silos. When everything is going well, no one notices. However, under pressure you end up with turf wars and culture clashes. Figure 9.1 shows the language components of a healthy culture.
Figure 9.1 Language Components of a Healthy Culture
Source: Susan S. Bean. © Pub House/GiANT Worldwide.
The way you talk about your organization, speak to your people, and communicate with your colleagues makes a difference. Specificity and common understanding keep people on the same page, rather than trailing off to different conclusions based on everyone’s own subjective perceptions. Therefore, consistency in organizational communication and cultural clarity depends on being able to clearly express your organization’s culture strategy.
This is precisely why mountain guides spend time drilling their climbers in a common language to use regarding their safety, roles, equipment, and time, so that everyone uses the same vocabulary. It saves time and can be vital in a crisis.
Does your team or organization have a common vocabulary? Is it objective or subjective?
All too often leaders are using their own vocabulary and language depending on what books they’ve read and what courses they’ve been to. This confuses teams and creates silos simply because of the language of a few.
Do you have a common vocabulary that is truly objective and helping you keep your vision, mission, and values in place? If not, we recommend that you use the tools in this book as a starting point.
Culture as Atmosphere
Culture is much bigger than ping-pong tables, restrooms, or parking policies. These, and multiple other things, are important elements of daily life within an organization but alone they don’t make a firm foundation upon which to build the vision of the organization.
Culture is defined by the way the leader speaks to employees, the way they respond to challenges, or make decisions. Culture is the way that people are onboarded and the development that goes in to growing people. Culture is shaped by the values and vision and is reinforced by the consistency of relationships and communication. We believe the primary task of leaders inside their cultures is to keep the cross hairs of vision and values aligned. If you have a compelling vision and are winning but you aren’t living your values, then in the end people will burn out and start to resent an all-consuming driven culture. On the other hand, a culture that focuses more heavily on values will always be a great place to work but will rarely deliver on its potential.
The metaphor we use to understand culture is the greenhouse, representing a team or an organization and the atmosphere inside it (see Figure 9.2). The gardener is the leader who must manage the atmosphere. Employees are the plants that need water, sunlight, and soil and are largely the responsibility of the gardener.
Figure 9.2 Culture can be understood as a greenhouse.
Source: Photo used with kind permission from Annie Spratt/Stock image.
A greenhouse can be healthy, toxic, or out of control in the same way that teams and organizations can be. The health of a team depends on the health of the leader in the same way that the intentionality and experience of a gardener is vital to the health of the plants.
Who Is Responsible?
We have observed so many leaders who recruit expensive talent and expect them to hit the ground running, but those leaders are then surprised that it doesn’t work the way they envisaged. This accidental leadership would be similar to a gardener who buys the best plant she or he can afford, throws it in a dark corner and hopes it thrives.
Who is responsible for the growth of a plant, the gardener or the plant? We say both. The plant is designed to grow and wants to grow naturally. The intentional gardener would want a healthy plant, as well. Thus, both are responsible. In the same way, the employee and the leader are responsible for growth. They need to be planted in a healthy place, watered, and nurtured for longer than most leaders realize. They need to acclimate.
The 100X leader is the ultimate green thumb, or master gardener, because they choose to liberate and fight for the highest possible good of those they lead. The 100X leader intentionally creates a culture of empowerment and growth for their people and teams. It is an active process of calibrating support and challenge, always knowing what the other person needs and proactively providing it.
Here is a story from a leader working to create the right atmosphere for his teams.
As I visited with a principal recently, I was standing in the cafeteria of the school, which was full of students. The principal told me he realized that he’s only in charge because the students allow him to be based on his influence. I feel this captures the essence of the Support-Challenge Matrix and the idea of building healthy cultures. We can only seek to influence others, not impose our wishes on them. I feel the Support-Challenge Matrix is much like Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, which encourages teachers to provide students with opportunities to be challenged, but not overwhelmed. This nurturing is what is needed to grow leaders.
Over my 25 plus year career as an educational leader, I learned that it’s my job to create a healthy atmosphere by training and developing others to do their work to their fullest potential. Leading by proclamation or intimidation is ineffective and leads to poor morale. On the other hand, failing to communicate high expectations and standards, leads to a lack of motivation and also poor morale. I work to try to educate, train, and develop those I lead. I am only in charge because they allow me to be and together we are growing into the leaders we have always wanted to be.”
—Dr. Jeff Holm, Superintendent of Willmar Public Schools, Minnesota
Every leader is responsible for his or her growth. When we are growing, our influence expands. When we have influence, we can liberate others and help them grow. This is the essence of a 100X leader, who is acting like a gardener to those they lead.
Aristotle wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do.”
The second part of that quote goes on to extrapolate, “Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”3 Companies are no different. Whether they know it or not, organizations build culture around the things their employees and leaders repeatedly do and say. They are the result of daily habits throughout the organization, and, at the end of the day, the culture is being built. The only question is whether you are you doing it on purpose or by accident.
Though it
sounds rhetorical, that question is actually quite serious and has real-life implications for the long-term health of your organization. Consequently, the following list of questions will help you begin thinking about how to purposefully shape your organization and cultivate the culture you truly want rather than the one you happen to stumble into:
How would you describe the current atmosphere of your team? Is it healthy or toxic?
Do you utilize a common language to help shape the culture?
How well do you think you balance the often-competing needs of vision and values?
Do you have a thorough process for raising new leaders?
How intentional are you in helping new employees integrate into your culture?
How do you celebrate together?
It’s amazing what answering these simple questions can do to transform your organization from the inside out. So, take a moment to think about these realities, then gather the troops and start asking these questions. And don’t be afraid to dive deep, you’ll need clear language and common understanding if you hope to communicate effectively and generate the buy-in that will take you to the next level as an organization.
Toxic Culture?
If you were suddenly dropped on to Venus, how long would you live without a space suit? Maybe four or five minutes? How long would you be able to live in Dzerzinsk, Russia—known as one of the most polluted cities in the world? The average life span is a mere 45 years.
The 100X Leader Page 13