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Customer Interviews are Strategy Goldmines One of the greatest risks of strategy work is myopia. It makes sense. For most companies, it’s a chance to turn inward and chart a collective vision and path forward. But if your strategy creation is only an internal exercise, you’re not getting input from the group most important to your success: your customers. Your customers will draw you a map: here’s where you’re at, here’s where we want you to be. Note the gap. That’s your opportunity to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace. The real home runs come when you discover an unmet need your competitors don't even know about that you can fulfill. And yet, it’s very common for companies to make a lot of assumptions about their customers or take an all-things-to-all-people approach, which is about the least strategic thing you can do. When we ask our clients when they last had in-depth conversations with their customers, almost none have. That means they often don’t know who their most profitable clients are, never mind those that are breaking even or, worse, losing them money. In most organizations, there’s received wisdom about customer choice, and it’s almost always wrong. Often, customer interviews are not part of an organization’s workflow or processes. But there are other reasons, too. There may be a reluctance to “bother” customers. “I don’t want to waste their time,” they say. “They’re busy. I don't want to annoy them.” In my team’s extensive experience with customer interviews, not only will the vast majority not resent it, they’ll welcome the chance to share their feedback. Whenever I’ve done customer interviews on behalf of clients, the No. 1 thing I hear is, “Wow, thank you for asking! Nobody else ever has.” I can’t overstate how much people value being heard, especially if they've been frustrated in the past. Top 10 Tips for Customer Interviews Not a sales call. Do not try to sell anything; this is not the time for promotion. This is all about listening, getting their perspective on their relationship with your organization, and the choice factors they most value. We’ve found that customers will open up and share stuff they never would in a sales call. The less it feels like one, the more likely they are to feel relaxed, valued, and open. Don’t squander that by going into pitch mode. Don’t argue. If your customer says something you want to correct, resist the urge to refute it. This is not the time to overcome objections. It’s time to listen. Suspend judgment. Don’t be defensive or try to set anyone right. Listen. Hard. For the majority of the conversation, you’re going to be listening. If you find you are talking anywhere near as much as your customer, you’re not listening enough. Ask one simple question (see below for a list of sample questions), then listen. Listen deeply and empathetically to their actual answers and actively listen for non-literal cues, including tone, hesitations, and word choice. Consider Outsourcing. There are benefits to hiring an outside firm to conduct customer interviews with you. Sometimes, the customer might tell us things they won't share with your internal people. Conversely, there are things that they'll say to you directly that they won't to outsiders. A combination of internal and consultant-led interviews often works best. Record it. Focusing on an interview is tough if you’re madly taking notes. Record it using voice transcription software, the voice memo app on your phone or computer, or the recording function on your video conferencing. Of course, ask your customer for permission to record. And assure them that it is only for internal use and will not be shared. They need to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts openly knowing their comments won’t be made public. Look for themes. Once you’ve done a few customer interviews, you’ll probably notice specific scenarios, patterns, problems, and even words cropping up repeatedly. Pay attention to these; they are gold. Talk to former and potential customers . Don’t limit yourself to existing customers. If you’ve lost a customer, find out what caused them to go to somebody else. If they’re a potential customer, who is their current provider? Why do they buy from the competition and not you? What might change that? Articulate your goal. What do you want to learn from your customers? It’s good to have a general focus. It may be a new product or service or ways to streamline or improve existing client-facing processes. Shape your goal and line of questions around the priorities emerging from your strategy pre-planning work . Prepare a list of questions. Don’t wing it. A list of 10 good questions will get you started. Use open-ended questions, as opposed to those that can be answered with a single yes/no. Ask for permission to follow up. Your interviews will inevitably raise new questions. Leave the door open to come back to your subjects with additional queries. Below are some sample questions for customer interviews. Tweak or add to them based on your business goals and early strategy work. Ten Standard Customer Interview Questions What problem were you trying to solve when you bought/chose our product/service? What does that look like in your business? Can you give me an example of how that was showing up in your day-to-day operations? What are the impacts or costs of this problem? What risks does it pose to your business? What factors were most important in choosing a product/service to address your problem? Could you list 1-3 in order of priority? How did you make your selection? Who was involved? What other products or services were you considering? What other products or services have you tried in the past? What was your experience with them? What do other suppliers do that you value highly? If you didn’t choose our product/service, what would you have done? What else would you value that no one is doing today? And finally, ask if there is anything else they’d like to share. It’s amazing how often this final question yields surprising answers. I’d love to hear about your customer interview experience. Let me know how the conversations are helping you create a stronger strategy.

The Three Stages of Results-Driven Strategy Creation I have a slide I’ve used for more than 30 years. My team calls it the “cloud model” because there’s a squiggly cloud graphic in the lower left-hand side labeled “current state” and another in the upper right-hand corner labeled “future state.” What connects them is your strategy. Sounds simple, right? Well….it can be. But it takes a lot of planning, focus, and the proper follow-through to make it real. A rigorous strategic thinking process has three stages: pre-planning, creation, and execution. But in our experience, most strategy projects focus on the middle section, resulting in snazzy reports that don’t generate actual results. Here at WhiteWater, we use the acronym ACE’M to outline the stages of impactful strategies: Assess : Pre-planning to ensure your strategy rests on a rock-solid foundation Create : The deep work of making choices and articulating priorities Execute : Actioning your strategy to make it real Measure : Reviewing your actual results against your projected goals After all, if there’s no change in the end, what was all that effort for? In this post, we break down the first stage of the process, pre-planning, so you can start to prepare for your most effective, impactful strategic thinking process yet. But first! Ask, who? Before you dig in, spend a little time thinking about the key participants in your strategy process. There are a couple of key groups to consider: who should be involved in the strategy creation process, and who will be needed to drive the strategy forward? Everybody involved in pre-planning should be involved in the actual strategy creation process. We like to see a diagonal slice of the organization represented to ensure not just your management but also mid-level and frontline people are there. It’s essential to have the people responsible for execution involved. Who do you need to engage to create commitment and increase the likelihood of follow-through? Step One: Pre-Planning This foundational stage lays the essential groundwork for the project, so don’t skimp on it. This research phase is the time to gather the inputs and intel that will shape your strategy creation. 1. Start with SWOTs To begin, have everyone who’s going to be involved in the creation process independently complete SWOT analyses to get an internal inventory of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Do the SWOTs from several perspectives, starting with your customers and markets: how are you performing in their eyes? Next, assess your operational performance. Third, look at your financial performance. Once the SWOT analyses are complete, get everyone together to review the collective results and discuss different perspectives. It’s a prime opportunity to get alignment but also get different perspectives out on the table. It’s also a time to push back, to ask of each statement, how do we know this to be true? Pre-planning stage is a time to take off the rose-colored glasses, to see the world as it is, not as you wish it would be . You want there to be arm wrestling, for the conversation to feel a little prickly. It shouldn’t be easy. Creating effective strategy often fails because organizations are unwilling to challenge their own existing thinking…the mental models, assumptions, beliefs, and perceptions that underlie their current and emerging strategy. This brings me to the second part of pre-planning: 2. Get your customer’s view. It’s essential to look outside of your organization to create your strategy. Remember how I said myopia was one of the most significant risks? There’s an easy way to protect against it being a big navel-gazing exercise: talk to your customers. After all, this is the most crucial group to your success. And yet, when we ask our clients when they’d last held an in-depth conversation with their customers about something other than a specific transaction, sale or project, almost none have. This is risky because, in most organizations, there’s perceived received wisdom about customer choice, and it’s almost always wrong. Your customers will draw you a map: here’s where you’re at, here’s what I need you to be. Note the gap. That’s your positioning in the marketplace. The real home runs come when your customers have an unmet need that you can fulfill. 3. Do a market scan. The third leg of the pre-planning phase is a broad-based market analysis. Look at the markets in which you currently sell and those you are considering entering. It may be new verticals or geographic areas, or new product lines. It may be a new customer group. Explore the data around potential opportunities for specific target audiences or new demographics. What markets are growing? Which ones are stable or shrinking? What’s your market share or share of wallet? What’s possible? Good market data sources include industry publications and reports or even news stories from reputable media. Economic development agencies can be very helpful. And many state, provincial, and even federal governments have valuable data. While the market analysis will vary based on your location, your company size, and your sector, in general, you’ll want to look for trends and potential growth areas. Next Steps Giving your team six to eight weeks for pre-planning is sufficient for most small to medium-sized businesses. Invest in this foundational stage to set a rock-solid foundation for strategy creation work In our next post: I dig into step 2 of the process, creating the strategy. I’ll cover who needs to be in the room, how to structure your sessions, what you can DIY, and when to bring in outside support.

In our last post, we pointed out a couple of drawbacks to the SMART goal setting formula that organizations have been following for more than 35 years. For people who have adopted our Strategy-To-Execution (S2X™) framework, our SET Goals approach provides a simple, more effective approach. Let’s set the stage: The first problem with goals in many organizations is that they just don’t exist. People perform the activities they think they are supposed to do and have no understanding of what those activities contribute to. Or, we find that the goals they do have are not connected to the organization’s strategy in any way. When they do have goals, we often find that those goals are written in terms of the activities people perform, instead of what they are supposed to achieve. For example, does setting a goal for a salesperson to “make 50 sales calls per week” really help a company? The goal says nothing about what the salesperson should achieve with those 50 calls, or how the company should benefit from them. So, organizations develop all kinds of SMART goals that don’t lead to actual results…which doesn’t seem so smart after all. Result-Oriented Goals Setting goals within the S2X framework changes the game. First, all goals are connected back to the organization’s strategy or key priorities. If the performer and the leader can’t see a direct line of sight to how the organization benefits from the goal, then the goal has to be changed. Second, setting Result-oriented Goals define first what the performers must accomplish rather than the activities they must perform. Once the goals are defined in terms of end results, the performer can identify the high-impact activities that accomplish them. So, the actions they take have a crisp, clear purpose: hit the goals. We have also found it more productive to focus on three common elements that result-oriented goals share, using the acronym S-E-T: S is for the Starting Point E is for the Ending Point T is for the Time Frame. That’s it. Where are we now, where do we want to be and how long do we have to get there? If you set every goal with these three elements in mind, your organization will benefit. Strong leaders zero in on these elements. They identify and articulate the gaps between where an organization is and where it needs to be. Then they figure out how to close the gap. Time Frame Focuses Energy and Attention The time element is critical, for several reasons. There is no such thing as a goal without a time frame. If you set a goal without one, there is still an implicit time frame: Whenever you get around to it…which effectively means, “The deadline for this goal is NEVER.” When you set a deadline, you focus your team’s energy and attention. Whether or not it’s spelled out in detail, your employees feel the progress toward achieving the goal. If the goal is to cut defects by 25% in three months, and two months in, defects are down only 8%, everyone knows you’re behind schedule – and they better pick it up. There’s a subtler point: The time frame will often establish the priorities and scope for the project. The time frame guides the triage between your existing priorities and the new ones you just added with this goal. SETting Result-oriented Goals can have a profound effect on the level of ownership team members take in accomplishing their goals. They place responsibility on the performer to achieve the end-results without mindlessly carrying out activities that don’t contribute to success. We’ve seen literally hundreds of cases across the whole gamut of organizations in which team members have taken the ownership to streamline their activities once they were clearly focused on Result-oriented Goals. One production team slimmed a 27-step process down to 8 essential steps and produced better quality. Countless sales people have dramatically altered their behaviors to focus on the most productive activities to boost sales and profits once they were clear on their goals. Heck, we recently talked to the executive of an extensive multi-location business where he said they had recently “clarified,” in SET terms, the financial goals of their company. It had been under-performing for years. When they shared where the company had been and where they needed to get to, the whole focus and sense of urgency of their leadership team changed. SET goals can be both simpler and smarter than SMART goals. Part of any great leader’s role is to define the gap between where your group is and where you want the group to be and then get the group to join you in the journey to close the gap(s). SET goals make the gap simple, tangible and easy to see. And, they give team members both the responsibility and freedom to channel their efforts to the most effective actions. That seems pretty smart! Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

Leader as Organizational Architect, Part 1 It’s impossible for an organization to orchestrate the actions of each individual, as the situation “on the ground” changes monthly, weekly or even hourly. Impossible, and not even desirable. The organization’s supervisors and front-line workers want and need to make their own decisions in ways that they interpret to be best for the organization. To create alignment, leaders need to play a role as the organizational architect. So how do you, as a leader in the organization, ensure that those thousands of micro-decisions, taken as a whole, move the organization in the right direction? You make sure your systems, structures, processes and culture are all in alignment. They all support your strategic intent. When they do, something beautiful happens, which we’ll talk about in the next post. For this post, let’s talk about misalignment. Misalignment is often easier to recognize, in part because, unfortunately, it’s far more common than alignment. Misaligned Organizational Architecture Slows Execution As competitive strategy evolves at an ever-faster pace in response to faster-changing business environments, organizations often find their systems, structures, processes and culture aligned to an old, out-of-date strategy. Those systems, structures, processes and culture are the “nature” of the organization. As our good friend and colleague, Rick Tate , once said, “Nature bats last.” When the architecture is misaligned, people tend to default to old habits. There’s too much friction in the organization. People do what they are rewarded for, or avoid doing behaviors that are punished, even if those actions are misaligned with the strategy. As a result, their work isn’t as productive as it should be. The nature of the organization trumps its strategic intent. As a result, execution of the strategy is inconsistent, slow and unresponsive to rapid changes in the competitive environment. It’s easier to see the symptoms of misalignment than it is to identify exactly what is misaligned. For example: A supervisor in a factory resisted a change to his production line. Everyone else in the organization understood and supported the change, yet it took several months for the supervisor’s line to fully integrate the change. Why? Because, even though the company was much better off, the supervisor was concerned his bonus what going to be negatively impacted by the change – so he resisted as long as he could. A general manager in another company we worked with was asked to integrate more effectively with a sister division. He fully understood it was the right thing to do. And his bonus incentives rewarded him for doing it. “But,” he told us, “My boss has told me that I keep my job is based on how my operation performs.” Sales and service reps in another company we worked with were paid based 100% on their individual performance. The strategy of the company, once focused on simply acquiring as many customers as possible, evolved into delivering superior service to its customers. This change required those reps to coordinate with each other. But their compensation unequivocally rewarded individual accomplishment. Until the compensation changed, the behavior wouldn’t change. Why Leaders Struggle with Aligning the Architecture In each of these cases, the companies suffered from organizational friction. In each case, they tried to live with it rather than fix it, until the friction became almost unbearable. That’s understandable. Fixing misalignment often requires a fundamental shake-up in how an organization goes about its business. That’s difficult for any number of reasons: Sometimes, leaders don’t even see the friction that’s created by misalignment in the organizational architecture; Other times we’ve seen leaders who implicitly accept the systems, structures and processes that exist, not recognizing the role they could or should play in changing them. It’s a little like living next to the train tracks…you don’t hear the sound of the train anymore; yet, anyone who visits can’t miss the sound; and It can be frightening to start meddling with the systems, structures, processes and, especially the culture. As a leader, it’s hard to feel confident about a change that by its nature is unfamiliar to everyone in the organization. The benefits occur in the future while the discomfort of change will be felt today. (Another one of the short-term/long-term trade-offs we’ve discussed before.) And yet, when you are the organizational architect and align a system, structures, processes or culture that had been out of whack, the results can be as immediate and dramatic. It’s like the alignment you feel that stops your car from pulling to the left the moment you leave the repair shop. Execution of your strategy just begins to flow when your systems, structures, processes and culture are aligned to it. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

Leverage Your Company’s Small Size for Huge Talent Advantages Part 2 in WhiteWater’s Small to Medium-Sized Business Success Series. Big companies can sometimes feel like corporate vacuums, sucking up all the talent and resources, leaving the crumbs for small to medium-sized businesses. But in the wake of the Great Resignation, and in a very tight labor market where the talent competition is intense, savvy SMBs can use your relatively smaller size to attract and retain the best. There’s a ton of research showing how low engagement is, with most studies placing it at just 15-30% of employees in most organizations. SMBs have a terrific opportunity to lead in a way that truly engages people and attracts talent. It just takes a little focus and effort to leverage your natural advantages to shape and nurture a culture that builds employee satisfaction and engagement. It goes beyond pay. A recent Pew Research Center survey found money isn’t the only consideration for job-seekers. While 63% of workers who quit a job in 2021 cited low pay (63%) as a top reason, this was tied with a lack of opportunities for advancement. And, at 57%, feeling disrespected at work (57%) was a close third. Respondents who quit and are now working elsewhere were more likely than not to say their current job has better pay, more opportunities for advancement, and more work-life balance and flexibility. While large companies can often offer more money, better benefits, or the prestige of a blue-chip organization, a new generation of workers, and indeed many senior people who’ve become disenfranchised working for big business, are looking for something different, something more. They're looking for meaning. They want to do work that matters, to be part of a company where they can grow, and feel respected and seen. For SMBs, this is a golden opportunity to become an employer of choice. Entrenched policies and practices often encumber large companies. The large size that makes them great can also make workers feel lost and disconnected. The bigger a company gets, the greater the potential for slippage in the culture and inconsistent, even inconsiderate, treatment of its team members. Small to medium-sized companies have a much better opportunity to get it right. As Lessons on Resilience for Small and Midsize Businesses , a 2021 piece in Harvard Business Review, notes, this is an area where SMBs can shine. “With fewer layers between leadership and frontline workers and fewer corporate policies, it should be possible for managers to find tailored approaches for their teams.” Define your purpose. The pandemic made us all reflect upon what matters most, causing us to consider our values and choices. It made us painfully aware of life’s precariousness and prompted us to want to live more fully, including in our work. “Customers and consumers want to be associated with companies that are making a positive difference,” notes McKinsey’s 100th COVID-19 briefing note , from April 13. “Companies can accelerate inclusivity and sustainability by having real awareness, committing to change, rewarding the change, and providing coaching and development to make the change happen.” In Just Lead Dammit! , our proprietary leadership development program that’s based on decades of experience with hundreds of SMBs, one of the top seven factors that must align to create a motivating, engaging environment is having a cause worthy of commitment. What’s your purpose-driven ethos? Be caring. Caring is at the absolute core of what it takes to attract, retain and unleash the full capabilities of your team. It is far easier and more effective to align people to the cause when you know you care about them and their success. It allows for more effective dialogue and ever tougher conversations when they know your full intent is about helping them and your organization to be the best they can be. Further, the emotional toll of the pandemic resulted in more emotional openness, and an increased understanding of the importance of de-stigmatizing and supporting mental health. A recent story in Inc. cites a Monster survey that found that 90% of college grads think it's important that they feel comfortable discussing mental wellness at work. And 84% say companies should invest more in mental wellness resources. Create a caring culture with space for mental health conversations and resources to provide mental health care when your team members are struggling. Prioritize diversity. That Inc. article also lists diversity as a top concern for recent grads, with 33% saying they wouldn’t take a job at a company that lacked a diverse workforce, and 26% reporting they wouldn’t go to a company without women and members of other minorities in their leadership. For SMBs that want to build resilient, sustainable organizations with an engaged, fulfilled staff, you need to be intentional about articulating your values and culture. You also need to spend some time creating the systems that will make it real. Be flexible. In the move to remote work and the semi-return to the office of new hybrid models, it’s become clear that most employees value flexibility. They want to be treated like adults, not monitored like children. Flexibility correlates positively to engagement and productivity as well as retention. As the HBR piece notes, “up to 30% of office workers say that they would consider leaving their current job if not given the opportunity to work from home at least some of the time.” Invest in the technology and develop the processes, including mechanisms for communication and connection, to make flexibility a core part of your employee value proposition. Nurture your talent. As the Pew Center research and McKinsey briefing note I cited above both indicate, engaged employees want the chance to grow and advance. As a medium-sized business, effectively developing and retaining talent can ease many other challenges beyond turnover, including maintaining institutional knowledge and succession planning. You need to create systemized ways to grow your people and their careers. Build in upskilling, reskilling, and professional development. Make progress plans and check-ins part of business as usual. Not only is it a strategic way to increase your internal resources, but it also makes your team members feel valued and more connected. Giving people the tools and resources to perform and a significant role in the show are so important, they are pillars in our Just Lead, Dammit! methodology. (Along with those mentioned above, the others are shared values, responsibility and the freedom to act, accountability and, finally, passion, optimism, pride and energy.) What is your SMB doing to position itself positively to attract the talent you need to succeed? Drop a note to let us know what’s working and what you’re struggling with, and if there are other topics or challenges you’d like us to tackle in future posts.

Too many leaders think vacation is for other people. That’s a problem. If you never take an extended break (not just a day or a weekend), you’re denying yourself – and your team and organization – the well-documented benefits of rest, restoration and reflection. These include increased effectiveness, creative thinking, and productivity. It’s easy to see why truly turning off is so hard. Our business culture celebrates leaders who are always-on. As a recent Harvard Business Review article on the benefits of breaks states, “the popular literature is rife with advice on how to maximize work time,” celebrating CEOs with intense routines, including waking up at 4 am, working nights and weekends, and strategically managing every minute of their calendars. Whew, I need a vacation just reading that! Many leaders I work with feel guilty about taking time away. They fear being replaced or losing control. So they keep pushing through. And even those who leave the office are not truly on vacation, working during their time off. No offence, but you’re not that indispensable! The company won’t collapse if you take a week off. And vacation is not a sign of weakness or a luxury; it’s a necessity. It’s also a long-term investment in your career. There’s a high cost to skipping vacation. Burnout is rising, and engagement is headed in the other direction. Both are linked to decreased performance. Paradoxically, strategic breaks, including vacations, for every team member, even those at the top of the org chart, help reverse the burnout/engagement trend. Here are a few key benefits of booking some hammock time this summer. Leading by example As a leader, you explicitly and implicitly signal what is acceptable in your organization – your actions embody and inform your company culture. And if you never take a break, what kind of message are you sending to your team? ‘“Take a vacation”: Three words all leaders need to embrace in the workplace’, a 2022 Fast Company piece cites 2017 U.S. Travel Association research found that U.S. workers had failed to use approximately 705 million vacation days, but it’s not translating to better performance or productivity. Vacation has clear personal and organizational upsides. The article cites a 2018 study carried out by the American Psychology Association that found the self-reported positive effects post-vacation included increased energy (66%), increased productivity (58%), increased motivation (57%), and lower stress (57%). Unused vacation days are bad for business. As a leader, taking vacation signals that time off is essential for everyone to be their best, and it fosters the authentic work-life harmony critical for engagement, morale and a winning culture. Increase Productivity Rest is more than its own reward. There’s a tipping point where working more does not translate to better performance. I know, it seems counterintuitive. How can staring at the ocean or swinging in a hammock (or a golf club) improve your work? While it may look like you’re doing nothing, your body and your brain are repairing and restoring what all your hard work has worn down. And the benefits of taking a vacation go beyond physical well-being. Rest can sharpen your intuition and decision-making skills and improve your emotional health and mental clarity. “The best thing for your work ethic is to have a rest ethic,” Kevin Kelly , the co-founder of Wired magazine, said on a recent episode of The Time Ferriss Show . He endorses “goofing off, wasting time and sabbaticals” as a way to rejuvenate, telling the host that the best things he’s done in his career have come after taking time off. “It’s almost like sleep: you just have to do it,” Kelly said. You cannot effectively lead if you are exhausted, overworked, and overwhelmed. Think of a garden: if you constantly plant the same ground, eventually, you’ll deplete your soil of the nutrients needed for a bumper crop. Letting the land fallow occasionally enriches it for the next growing season. That’s your vacation, nourishing what you hope to plant and grow when you return to work. Feeding creative thinking When you’re away from your desk and your usual routine, your mind is free to wander, to come up with different, maybe better, ideas than when you’re muscling through your daily grind. As the Fast Company piece states, “When we’re running fast and hard, we often resort to doing the same thing time and time again and yet expect different results.” And isn’t that the definition of insanity? Mental agility is the most critical leadership skill in our age of uncertainty and accelerated change. And it demands time for reflection to get perspective. The best ideas can often come from taking a step back and unplugging. Summer is the perfect time to hit pause, step away to the beach, cottage, or a new destination, to rest and reflect. What are your summer vacation plans? What are the benefits you’ve noticed that you bring back to the office from your holidays?

Strategy Future-Proofs Your Small to Medium-Sized Business Part 1 in WhiteWater’s Small to Medium-Size Business Success Series. Small businesses have faced enormous challenges over the past couple of years. From retailers struggling to transition from in-person to online sales, to independent restaurants whose business dwindled to nothing at times, to manufacturing and industrial companies grappling with procurement strains and other shifts, the pain points have really piled up. In October, a report released by RBC Economics noted that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are contending with added debt loads, supply-chain disruptions, and labor shortages, “not to mention the specter of further COVID waves.” As we’ve seen, adaptable and agile organizations are the ones that survive. With a clear, flexible strategy, they can thrive. If you were caught off-guard by the tumult of the past two years, that’s OK. It’s not too late to get ready for what comes next. It’s the perfect time to strategize. Strategy is always important in every business. But for SMBs, it has never been more essential. This isn’t just about playing catch up to our new reality–it’s about preparing for a future in which change will be continual, and the rate of change will only continue to accelerate. You want to be the Wayne Gretzky of your industry: skating to where the puck is headed , not where it’s at. And you definitely don’t want to be behind the puck, chasing it. A solid strategy puts you out in front. Work on , not just in , your business. The first step towards creating your strategy is one backward, away from the busyness of day-to-day operations. I know you’re up to your eyeballs, keeping things moving. But you need to make time to think strategically, and you can’t do it amid the distractions and interruptions of your workplace or office. To develop your new strategy, you need to spend some time finding answers to a number of questions, such as: How should we position ourselves in the market? How do we adapt now that the fundamental processes by which our business creates value have changed almost overnight? What new opportunities have emerged? What unique things do we do that create value for our customers that our competitors don't do or don't do as well as us? Why would potential customers choose us? How do we support a rapidly changing customer experience/journey? How can we align organizational energy toward the most critical business drivers? What should we stop doing because it no longer fits or doesn’t optimize the value we provide? As a recent Wired piece on small business trends noted, “For entrepreneurs, the greatest challenge isn’t getting off the ground—it’s remaining in flight.” Strategy is the wind beneath your wings. As that Wired article states, owners must innovate to stand out, connect with customers, and expand. What did you do yesterday–or even today–that won’t work tomorrow? Here at WhiteWater, we often suggest clients start their strategy work by creating a strategy canvas. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne developed this deceptively simple tool as an alternative to the typical strategic planning process. It’s a great way to map out your competition, your customers, and your company’s strategic profile or value curve. Click here to read how to use it to capture your organization’s strategic landscape and prospects in a simple visual. Talk to your customers. This is the drum I will beat until the end of time: Talk. To. Your. Customers. The best market intelligence comes from talking to your customers. We’ve established you need a clear, focused, and flexible strategy to move forward. These conversations will fill in all the blanks. They will be your map and compass as you navigate the white water around the next bend. Talking to your customers was always important. Now it’s essential. The world has changed, and so have they, from the products and services they need to how they want you to deliver services. Don’t assume you know. Time and time again, we’ve worked with organizations that thought they understood why their customers chose them. And they are almost always wrong. Don’t diss digital. Your new strategy is about looking forward. Digital tools and emerging technology need to be on your radar, whether you’re a bricks-and-mortar retailer who needs to start selling online, a mom-and-pop manufacturer that hasn’t upgraded its equipment since the Clinton era, or a professional services firm still running a pen-and-paper back office. Too many SMBs dismiss digitalization, thinking it's for tech companies only. Wrong–it’s for everyone. Digital tools include data analytics software to drive efficiency, online sales platforms to expand your customer base, advanced manufacturing tools to increase production, AI-powered software for mundane or repetitive functions, and more. “With the external push of the Covid-19 crisis, now is the ideal time for SMBs to regroup and identify the areas where digital technology could further boost their business,” Tera Allas, Michael Birshan, Anthony Impey, Charlie Mayfield, Jan Mischke, and Jonathan Woetze write in Lessons on Resilience for Small and Midsize Businesses in the Harvard Business Review. “Basic as it sounds, it’s likely to set them apart from the competition.” More leading, less doing. A lot of my work with middle managers and senior executives is getting them to focus their time and energy on leading rather than the day-to-day work of their business. (Remember how I said you need to work on , not in the business more? Same idea). It’s never been more critical for leaders to keep their heads up, their eyes trained on the horizon. By definition, if you’re focused on the day's problems, you aren’t looking ahead. Leaders need to level up and have a broader perspective. If you're in a small to medium-sized business, powerful forces will try to drag you back into the more hands-on stuff. Resist it. You’ve got more important work at hand. It’s not enough to develop a strategy: you need to lead it, to live it. You will have to make big, sometimes tough, decisions about your team, resource allocation, and what you’re not going to do any longer. (For a primer on the key ingredients of successful strategy execution, click here to read my blog post on the subject). You need to stay focused on that. But first, you need to step back and take the time to develop a strategy that will guide your company into an uncertain future. With that focus and direction, you’ll be ahead of the competition when the next big change comes.

You Need a Solid Strategy for the ‘Next Normal’ “I wish my dad had done this ten years ago.” I was packing up at the end of a strategy session when the company president approached me. The founder’s son, he was leading the family business through the transition of its recent purchase by a huge multinational with a nose for quality acquisitions. I’d been brought in post-sale to take the company, a mid-sized industrial manufacturer, through some strategy work. I could see that the son was initially skeptical of me being there. And why not? His family’s business, the one his father had started, had been successful for a long time, and largely without the input of consultants like me. But by the end of the session, after we’d figured out all of the things they could have been doing to grow, create more value for their customers and stand out in an intensely competitive field, his attitude had changed. “We could have done so many things differently,” the son lamented. “We would have been a different company.” This is just one example of a story I see play out too often: a company with huge potential falling short because its leaders didn’t think they needed a strategy at all, or, more often, lacked the discipline to create one and the drive and diligence to execute it. This company was good but nowhere near as good as it could have been. It could have been great. I saw that the son realized what they had left on the table, all the revenue, market share and profitability they could have had with a solid strategy and execution. Their company could have been worth five or even ten times its actual sale price. How much more wealth could they have created for their family with a solid strategy? Strategy Matters More Than Ever. Strategy is talked about endlessly in business. But for all the lip service paid to it, its actual application falls far short. That’s because, while it seems obvious and simple, a successful strategy requires significant amounts of focus and dedication. Otherwise, it’s just a dead document or PowerPoint destined for the trash heap where too many consultant reports go to die. More on that in a minute, but first, let’s start with the basics. Strategy is talked about so much that I sometimes wonder if the word’s been stripped of its meaning. I like the classic Michael Porter definition, which focuses on your competitive position, “deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.” What are those unique things you do that create value for your customers that others don't do or don't do as well as you? Why would potential users choose you? And then how do you translate that into the key activities your people need to undertake to execute that strategy? Back to Basics. Mike Tyson famously said that “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” COVID is the ultimate sucker punch. The next normal for your organization likely looks a lot different from your pre-pandemic status quo. This last quarter of 2021 is a prime opportunity to rethink and re-define your organization’s strategy and refocus on how you execute to create more value than ever. The good news? The fundamentals haven’t changed. You still want to deliver outstanding customer experiences, just via new channels. You still need to engage your team; only now it’s in the new context of a remote, hybrid and flexible workplace. (Click here for more on that). Yep, as you and your team grapple with COVID’s fallout, and in the wake of so much change and in anticipation of more to come, you need a solid strategy more than ever. And it starts with a series of questions. Ask yourself: How do you support a rapidly changing customer experience/journey? How do you create value now that the fundamental processes by which the business creates value have changed almost overnight? How can you help accelerate the execution of the business’s vision and strategy? How can you help align organizational energy towards the most critical business drivers? What should you stop or avoid doing either because it no longer fits with the environment or it doesn’t optimize the value you provide? Notice anything? I’ll bet those questions aren’t too easy to answer. And I’ll guess it’s because you still need to talk to your customers to understand how their needs and expectations have changed and to see the opportunities as we shift from a state of survival and reaction to a proactive, clear-eyed plan moving forward. In my next post , we’ll dig into execution, where up to 90% of organizations fall short of getting the results they want. Remember the family business I mentioned at the top of this post? They aren’t alone, far from it, and it’s bad execution, not a flawed strategy, that’s the usual suspect. Meanwhile, here’s your homework: I want you to start talking to your customers–past, present, potential. I promise most will be happy to speak with you (people love sharing their opinions). Remember: it’s not a sales call. Don’t pitch, don’t rebut their observations, and resist the urge to judge. Just listen. Let me know how it goes!

The Best Leaders are Self-Aware “Who are you? Who? Who? Who? Who? Ah, who the f*** are you?” — The Who How can you lead others if you don’t know who you are? The simple answer: not very well. Yet most leaders forge ahead, expecting others to follow, with little self-knowledge. It’s easy to see why: every leader we know is crazy busy…seemingly pinballing from one task, activity, call, conversation or web conference to the next. You have so many responsibilities and deliverables that you’re in a constant state of action. That doesn’t leave much time for reflection, especially about yourself. But self-awareness isn’t narcissistic navel-gazing. It’s an essential foundation for your leadership. True leadership starts within For too long, leadership development has focused in the wrong direction: outward. While it’s often presented as a series of tactics to master, true leadership transcends management functions and goes straight to the core of who you are: your core of character. It’s a paradox: leadership is not about you . It’s about your team and organization. But great leadership is about who you are — you’ve got to work on yourself first. So in this post, I explain why self-awareness is essential for leaders and how you can start developing this vital skill. And don’t worry; you don’t need to book a retreat or meditate for hours a day to get more in touch with what’s happening inside. It’s actually a fairly simple habit you can start practicing today. Why is self-awareness important? Asking, “who am I?” is not just for stoned college students or self-involved seekers. It’s essential to being a full person and a well-rounded leader. It helps you understand your blind spots, uncover your unconscious biases, and examine the underlying mental models behind your decisions. Greater self-awareness can open your mind and heart so you can lead with more clarity, integrity and compassion. To me, self-awareness means actively noticing and reflecting upon my thoughts, emotions, reactions and intentions and thinking about how they influence my behavior and its impact on others. Here are a few ways it can make you a better person and leader. Live Your Values Self-awareness is a character check, an opportunity to reflect upon your values and measure your actions against them. That’s integrity, after all: when what you say you believe and what you do align. Articulating your values can not only provide greater clarity of purpose but can also give you strength in adversity. When you know what you stand for and why what you do matters, it becomes much easier to make tough decisions. Faced with ethical or moral dilemmas, when you’re self-aware, you have a well of strength from which to draw. Your character is your compass. Get your inner foundations set, and you don’t have to rethink who you’ll be on the job. You’ll know because you know yourself. And that will guide how you build relationships, how you learn and teach, and how you steward your company culture. Build Engagement Do you ever stop to think about how you impact others? Too many leaders don’t. And the effects of lacking self-awareness aren’t only personal: they also limit your ability to build trust and rapport with your team. People want to feel deeply connected to something bigger than themselves. Values are at the core of this connection because they communicate what matters. These guiding principles tell everyone what is accepted and expected. When you are clear on what you stand for and can share those values across your team, trust is built, engagement is nurtured, and a sense of deeper meaning is born. If you are authentic and open and embody the principles you say matter, people will much more willingly follow your lead. Make Better Decisions Are you always right? Well, of course not! And yet, many leaders act like they are infallible. And that shuts down the opportunity to learn and grow. When you accept the possibility of being wrong, when you approach so-called failure as an opportunity, when you challenge your beliefs, assumptions and perceptions of how the world operates, and stop to question your thinking, you will see gaps. You may realize that some of your decision-making has been, if not arbitrary, then at least shaped by your biases. Understanding the thoughts and feelings behind your actions gives you a better understanding of your behaviors, why you tend to respond in certain ways, and why some things always seem to “happen” to you. Everything you do, from coaching teammates and holding difficult conversations to setting performance goals, are manifestations of your inner self. Improve Yourself Self-awareness helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses. You can’t work on yourself if you don’t know yourself. Self-knowledge lets you see your flat sides or those areas that can use some work to increase your potential. Easy ways to become more self-aware Take a beat. Instead of responding instantly to a request or situation, stop for a moment. In that pause, do a little inventory of your body, mind and mood: what is your emotional state? What is your knee-jerk response? What thoughts did it provoke? This pause should allow you to step back, assess your first response, and proceed in the best–and maybe a different–direction. As Brené Brown puts it, “We can’t live into values that we can’t name, AND living into values requires moving from lofty aspirations to specific, observable behaviors.” Seek new ideas that challenge or contradict what you think and believe. Whether that’s through reading books or articles, meeting new kinds of people, or trying an activity that pushes you outside your comfort zone, venture beyond the confines of your current worldview. Ask for feedback and be open to what you hear. In The One-Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard, quoting my good friend Rick Tate wrote, “feedback is the breakfast of champions.” To that, I’d add, "feedback is the breakfast of champions, as long as you’re willing to eat it.” We have to be willing to seek feedback and open to making changes based upon what we hear…as painful as that sometimes might be. Invite inquiry into your point of view. I once worked with a leader of a massive construction project. At a key planning meeting with his leadership team, instead of leading with his thoughts, he said this: “I have a point of view on this, but I might disagree with myself before I finish the first sentence.” This little line–“I may disagree with myself”–invited his team to fully engage in a conversation that ultimately resulted in the leader changing his point of view. Look at the big picture. In Just Lead, our signature leadership development program, we invite participants to create their Leadership Legacy outline in which they write a short “article” about the legacy they want to leave behind. It is a hugely grounding exercise that helps them lift their gaze beyond the pressing demands of the moment and consider what really matters. Let go of ideas or information that no longer serve you . After all, if nothing changes, nothing is learned. Like leadership, self-awareness is a journey that never ends. It’s an ongoing process of examination. Because whatever you think you know today may not be true or serve you in the future. I’d love to hear about your experiences. Tell me about an experience that has made you more self-aware or prompted you to change how you think? Please share your thoughts and stories in the comments below.

What’s Your Change Management Style? Change may be the only constant these days, but it’s not enough to simply say leaders must be able to adapt to change to succeed. There are many ways to react and respond, and each leader has their own style and particular strengths in approaching change. Over more than 30 years of working with leaders in various industries, I’ve seen the gamut first-hand, from leaders who embrace change with enthusiasm to more conservative types who approach it with caution or even avoid it with trepidation. And you know what? They are all legitimate. There’s no right or wrong way to approach change. What is problematic, however, is the lack of self-awareness most leaders have in this area. It’s not surprising. Even as a long-time leadership coach, until recently, I didn’t have a structured way to help my clients understand and describe their change management style or make recommendations on maximizing it for the greatest good and most impact. And when I started seeking out the best assessment tool, I came up short. Where was change management’s Myers-Briggs? What if we could give leaders the same insight into their change management approach as we do about their personalities? How much change leadership potential might that unlock? So, in the absence of a robust, reliable tool, we set out to develop one that works for us. Meet ChAMP We were so fortunate to collaborate with The Aldridge Group , a specialized firm based in Colorado, on this challenge. As a leader in building rigorous yet still user-friendly assessment tools backed by leading brain science and psychometrics, our problem fit squarely in their wheelhouse. Working with our team, the Aldridge Group developed the assessment tool called ChAMP, which stands for Change Approach and Management Profile. I had the honor of beta-testing the first iteration of ChAMP, and the results blew me away. After completing the 140-question survey, which took about 20 minutes, I got my report. It was spot-on. But it also gave me new self-awareness about how I navigate change. I’ve done a lot of assessments over the years on various aspects of my personality and professional strengths and weaknesses, and most read like horoscopes: somewhat applicable but too broad to be of much use. But ChAMP described my change management tendencies and temperament perfectly. Even better? It gave me recommendations on how to leverage them to help my team better navigate the challenges of change. We started using ChAMP with a number of our clients, and they responded as favorably as I did. We took close to 300 people through the assessment last year, and it consistently nailed them. There was not a single one who looked at their change profile and went, ‘Nah, you got the wrong person.’” Assessments in hand, they were ready to start applying this knowledge for better results. The Benefits of Knowing Your Change Style Like any kind of self-knowledge, understanding your change preferences has many benefits. When you know how you typically approach change and how to consider the change preferences of those around you, you can better: Initiate change efforts yourself and align others to best support them Maximize your contribution to change efforts by embracing your unique strengths (how you create Flow) Identify, understand, and address potential sources of conflict during change (how you create Friction) Collaborate effectively with others who have both similar and different styles to yours. Coach or mentor others through their change efforts by helping them to understand how their preferences influence their behavior As this list shows, these insights can have a really positive impact both in your work relationships and your team’s ability to get better results. How ChAMP Works ChAMP is user-friendly by design. After answering the survey, you receive with a concise report written in plain language that provides rich feedback on four specific change-related preferences: Core Change Approach: The base of the ChAMP report, the Core Change Approach provides a broad view of how you are likely to create or react to change in the workplace. You receive a score on a continuum anchored by three main titles: Protector, Realist, and Explorer. (My change style is “explorer.” When I first read the description, it was uncanny how accurately it described me.) Change Focus : This part of the survey looks at the level of focus you prefer when executing change initiatives. Do you tend to take a more granular, detailed focus on tasks and projects, or are you more of a big-picture person? Change Role : This is all about getting insights into the position on a change team in which you are likely to feel most energized. Are you more of a driver or supporter of change? Change Influence Style: I call this the push-pull section. It taps into how you prefer to drive or motivate change efforts. Do you like to provide direction (Push) to others? Or are you more likely to favor a consultative (Pull) approach? A major insight for me was that I tend to Push slightly more than I Pull. Putting it into practice Once you understand your change management style, you can better recognize and navigate the tension that naturally arises from different styles. The ChAMP report provides strengths to leverage and identifies potential challenges. For instance, while my report found that I’m “willing to boldly challenge the status quo and ask the tough questions,” I may also tend to be “too quick to leap, leaving important details unacknowledged.” Both very true! These insights are valuable, as was the final section highlighting how each of the three main Core Change Approaches may be perceived by others. The only predictable thing is that the future will look different from the past. To survive and prosper, organizations must be agile, and those that can facilitate change with flow, not friction, will be more adept at making positive change. If you’d like to find out more about ChAMP, leave a comment below or reach out by email .

What’s Your Change Management Style? Focus on these skills to next-level your leadership game What makes some leaders more entrepreneurial? What sets them apart from their peers? Is there an innate trait that naturally generates uncommon business success? We recently had the perfect opportunity to research these questions in real-time with an A-team of ten leaders who were kicking ass in their large, multinational organization. When the client asked us to take a look under the hood, we jumped at the chance. This was an incredible chance to get up close and personal with a group of leaders who had done things like: Overhaul a poor-performing business unit, making its operations hum. Grow a small company into a big business. 5X-ed the revenues of a healthy but underperforming product line. We also got to compare the sample group of incredibles to another set of leaders in the company who were very bright, dedicated, and hard-working but just didn't seem to have that knack to make a business take off. What set the high performers apart from what we might call the high potentials? There were three glaring differences. Admittedly, it was a small group, but what we found resonates in various business circumstances. Here’s a roundup of the three and some ways to build these capabilities in yourself. And don’t worry: while they might seem innate to our high-performing leaders, they are all qualities anyone can cultivate. 1. Intellectual Curiosity. This was by far the most significant difference. In most cases, these leaders had been influenced early in their careers by someone outside of their direct field of study or work. In other words, they were open to new ideas and people. And, just as important, when something interested them, they pursued it relentlessly. Their curiosity was active and tended to feed itself as new ideas made them thirsty for more knowledge. They’d read something that would trigger an idea or question, and then they’d keep pulling that thread: read more articles or books, seek out podcasts on the topic, and talk to more people on the topic. They were proactive in seeking new information and hungry for learning. The personality profiles of the ten people studied confirmed this shared trait both qualitatively and quantitatively. Why is intellectual curiosity so important? Because it demonstrates a willingness to consider other viewpoints and to explore and adopt new ideas. It’s the basis for a mental agility that translates into business agility. How to build your intellectual curiosity: Cultivating intellectual curiosity starts with generating genuine interest in what’s happening around you, paying attention, and asking questions. Don’t just receive conventional wisdom – ask why. It also requires a mindset of lifelong learning. Our high-performing leaders read a lot and tend to have more diverse social and professional networks. In other words, they don’t stay in their lane, and neither should you. It might feel forced at first, but over time, like any habit, it will become more natural. 2. Systems Thinking. This group’s ability to see the big picture, the forest for the proverbial trees, was off the charts. While both the high performers and high potentials were all very smart and strong thinkers, the former could see the dynamic complexity and interrelationships in the larger ecosystem. They could picture how the many moving parts fit together and influenced each other. This ability made them far better at predicting and capitalizing upon potential outcomes, transcending mere cause-and-effect to envision larger systemic implications. While our group of high-potential leaders knew their business inside-out, they focused their attention on the operational details of their businesses. Think of it this way: if everyone else is playing checkers, the high-performing leaders are the chess grandmasters, seeing the implications of multiple moves, many moves ahead. How to develop systems thinking: Systems thinking is challenged in most organizations and roles by the focus on day-to-day tasks and details. The best way to develop your systems thinking is to intentionally set aside time for big-picture thinking. Or, to paraphrase Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, “get off the dance floor and go to the balcony” to see the interaction between the participants within your industry. Some questions to start with: What are our customers expecting or demanding that’s different from what we offer? What forces are impacting them? What could we do differently that helps them succeed as they have to adapt in their environment? What do our competitors or other suppliers provide that creates value for our customers or potential customers? What larger forces (geopolitical, economic, societal, etc.) impact our industry? What opportunities or threats does that create? 3. Risk Tolerance. The third defining characteristic of our high-performing leaders was a willingness to take risks. These bold individuals were less fearful of failure than their high-potential peers. And even if a decision or initiative turned out badly, they were OK with learning from it and using this knowledge to make better decisions next time. Their failures did not cripple them or suppress future risk-taking. The high-performing leaders saw opportunities in challenging or even rejecting the status quo. They all did something antithetical to how their company typically worked, and it paid off. The high-potential folks tended to be more risk-averse and less comfortable taking a chance on something big and different. They stick with the strategy, the way things have typically been done. But, as we all know, no risk, no reward. How to challenge the status quo: When it’s time to make a decision, or start a new project, stop yourself and reflect upon your first inclination. Question it: Why do you think that? What other options might you consider: If everyone else is zigging, what might a zag look like? The Power of Three This potent trio of characteristics – intellectual curiosity, systems thinking, and risk-taking – combine to create the conditions conducive to innovation. You might even call them the fundamental blocking and tackling of innovation. What traits do you see in your top-performing leaders? Is there anything you’d add to our list? As always, we love to hear from you. Add your input in the comments below.

WhiteWater’s 2023 Highlights: So Many Thanks to our Team, Clients and Partners for Making Our Successes Possible! As the end of 2023 draws near, like many of you, we have looked back at the business goals we set for the year. From a quantitative perspective, it was delightful to see what many of you enabled us to achieve:  Dramatically growing the impact we had on leaders through our learning and development programs Growing with our existing clients while expanding beyond our base Developing and launching new programs and services Executing our marketing strategy which has grown our brand recognition in such an incredibly competitive market As you all know from what we share here, and discussed in depth in my book, Get in Gear , we are big fans of quantitative, result-oriented goals. But, looking back on 2023, we’re reminded that many of the best achievements are far more subjective and qualitative in nature. Some of the things I’m more ecstatic about than the quantitative results: The impact we’ve had on the leaders we’ve worked with to enable them to challenge their thinking and grow their capabilities. …leading to the huge impact they’ve had on their teams by building environments that enabled them to contribute their best and to grow. The thousands of folks we’ve met and had the opportunity to connect with and learn from. The amazing clients who’ve entrusted us to help them build great organizations and achieve their goals. The incredible hard work and fun we’ve had with the WhiteWater team as we continue to grow. It is incredibly humbling, and the greatest treat ever, to work with our team of smart, dedicated folks who are totally committed to our clients’ success. Here’s a roundup of a few of WhiteWater’s 2023 highlights.  New Team Members I am blessed to lead a fantastic team here at WhiteWater, and I was thrilled to see us grow this year by adding new talent to help expand our mission and impact.  In the spring, we welcomed Fatima Hassan, a recent graduate of the University of New Brunswick’s MBA program, who joined as our content coordinator. Fatima brings incredible positivity and strategy to how we craft and share our content. If you enjoyed any of our LinkedIn posts, newsletters or other stories this year, thank Fatima for getting it out there!  Out on the other coast, in Portland, Oregon, consultant Darlene Miller joined us earlier this year to facilitate our learning and develop programs and develop custom curriculum. She brings a great sense of humor, energy, and imagination, making her a joy for our clients and team.  Most recently, we added an operations manager, Jillian Gentlemen, whose dedication and detail orientation provide a vital link between our clients and our team. She is instrumental in building the processes that no one ever sees, but which enable us to scale faster to meet our clients’ needs. New Change Management Tool In this era of perpetual whitewater and accelerated change, all of our clients are grappling with how to manage it, but when we looked for the best way to measure leaders’ strengths in this critical area, we came up short.  In the absence of a robust, reliable assessment tool, we worked with The Aldridge Group  to build our own. We launched ChAMP, which stands for Change Approach and Management Profile.  Huge thanks to Casey Burns and his team at The Aldridge Group, a world-class, boutique firm based in Colorado that builds rigorous yet user-friendly assessment tools backed by leading brain science and psychometrics, who worked with us on this project. The result is a user-friendly, 140-question survey, which takes about 20 minutes. Upon completion, leaders receive a report providing valuable insights into their change management approach and practical ways to leverage their strengths.   We’ve now taken well over 1000 people through the assessment, and the reviews have been really positive, with everyone finding value in the process. We’re excited to use ChAMP more in 2024 to help more leaders unlock their change management potential.  New Clients  Our clients are awesome. They are, without exception, ambitious, forward-looking and bold enough to challenge the status quo. They are our raison d’etre and the reason we’re (usually!) pretty excited to get out of bed in the morning. Our clients trust us with their biggest ideas and challenges, and we don’t take that for granted for a second.  This year, alongside ongoing projects with long-standing clients, we were thrilled to welcome some new ones onto our roster. On behalf of the WhiteWater family, I thank each of you for granting us the privilege to support your growth and work alongside your leaders and teams to unlock your organization's potential and fuel your growth.  New Book As I wrote in a recent blog post , I’ve been hard at work over the past year on a book that’s the culmination of more than 30 years of leading teams and leadership coaching. I’m co-authoring it with Art Smuck, a good friend and longtime colleague whose own leadership journey took him to the CEO role of FedEx Supply Chain. And, we’re being aided by Kate Wallace who is part ghost-writer, part project manager and part kindergarten teacher as she tries to keep Art and me on track! This book is … different.  It’s not your average how-to business volume or corporate memoir. It goes a lot deeper, to the very core of what it means to lead and how that ultimately relies on character, caring, integrity and deep respect. I hope to have it in your hands by next year.   For now, I hope you and your loved ones enjoy some time together over the holidays, however you celebrate them. And I’m already excited to reconnect in 2024 to help more clients create high-performing organizations where people are engaged and empowered to contribute their best. Before you go, I’d love to know your 2023 highlights. What goals did you hit? What are you looking forward to in 2024?