Organizational Culture Insights to Strengthen Leadership and Drive Change

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?

Your team wants more than money–give them meaning.  In National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation , arguably among the great holiday movies of all time, the hapless patriarch Clark Griswold eagerly awaits the delivery of his Christmas bonus, which he’s already spent on a new swimming pool.  Imagine his disappointment on Christmas Eve when his bonus arrived, and it’s not the fat cheque he’d expected from his boss, Mr. Shirley, but membership in the “Jelly of the Month Club.”   Despite Cousin Eddie’s assurance that it’s “the gift that keeps on giving all year,” Clark is unconvinced. He wanted that wad of cash!      The movie was released in 1989, a time when holiday bonuses were de rigueur, an expected part of the compensation package and a major incentive for employees like Clark.  A lot has changed since then. Money is not the golden carrot it once was.  Of course, people need to be fairly compensated for their work, especially in our punishing economy’s double-whammy of inflation and high-interest rates. Pay does matter–to a point.  But the old hallmarks of success–raises, bonuses, promotions–aren’t everything.  Today, people expect more from work. They are driven by intrinsic motivators such as a sense of meaning and fulfilment.  A Harvard Business Review article cited a study that found that more than 90% of the 2,000-plus workers surveyed across all ages and salary groups would give up an average of 23% of future lifetime earnings to have a meaningful job until retirement.  That’s huge! To be clear, I’m not saying nix the holiday bonus. If you can swing it, it will definitely be appreciated. But don’t rely solely on money to show your team you value them. Here are some other, more meaningful gifts you can bestow upon your team, and not just over the holidays–these truly are the “gifts that keep giving all year.” Recognition Everyone wants to feel like what they do matters.  Seize opportunities to celebrate great work, whether it’s an individual achievement or a group win. There are many ways to recognize exceptional performance: public praise, a handwritten note of congratulations and thanks, or even a company award. However you celebrate your team’s accomplishments, let them know their hard work has been seen and valued.   Respect This should be table stakes. But too many leaders let respectful behavior slide when things are tough. That is not OK, and it is also unwise: nothing erodes trust like disrespect. It hurts everyone and creates a toxic environment.  Respect is fundamental to a positive, collaborative, engaged workplace. It includes courtesy (even in a crisis), professionalism, and good habits that affect others, like punctuality and keeping your commitments.  But respect goes beyond just being polite. It’s also about creating a safe space for people to be their authentic selves. As a leader, you must create a respectful environment where communication is encouraged, and people feel seen and heard. When your team can safely ask questions, challenge each other, and share ideas.  The result? Respect fosters trust, which increases engagement and builds commitment. Connection Relationships are the engine of your company machine. They drive everything. Research tells us that the most effective leadership is relational.  Building relationships isn’t abstracted from the work; it IS the work of leaders.  That’s because a positive and productive workplace is one in which people feel safe — safe enough to experiment, challenge themselves and others, share ideas and be themselves. Research shows that people value communication with their manager not just about their roles and responsibilities but also about them as people.  Growth  High-potential employees want to learn and grow. They want to do challenging work that allows them to put their skill and ideas to work in a role that amplifies their strengths, interests and values. Empower your team by cultivating a learning culture in your organization. Communicate the importance of ongoing development, emphasizing that it is a shared organizational goal, and modelling the behaviour by being a lifelong learner yourself. And support them by working together to set learning and development goals aligned with their career aspirations and ensuring they have the resources (time, funding, etc.) to pursue development and training.  Autonomy No one likes feeling like their every move is being scrutinized or that they have no freedom or authority to make decisions.  Giving your team autonomy demonstrates trust in their abilities and faith in their judgment. This trust, in turn, builds a positive culture based on mutual respect between leaders and their teams. Autonomy is closely linked to engagement. When people have a say in how they do their jobs, they are more likely to be engaged, committed, and invested in the organization's success. So give your staff room to make their own decisions. And you’ll need to accept that sometimes, they aren’t going to make the best ones. Embrace these as learning opportunities, not failures or proof they can’t handle the responsibility. Learning from mistakes is a valuable part of the development process. And remember: autonomy isn’t hands-off. Make sure they have the support and guidance they need to succeed. That includes regular communication, setting clear expectations, and ongoing feedback.

Connection, Caring and Trust are foundational to exceptional leadership When I graduated from business school in the Dark Ages of the 1980s, many leaders I met early in my career fit a particular old-school management style: top-down, hierarchical, and male. They weren’t as baldly ruthless as some of the bad bosses from the era’s pop culture, as exemplified by Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko, a shameless corporate raider who famously declared, "Greed is good.” Yuck. Gekko is a somewhat exaggerated example (unfortunately, we’ve met worse!) of the worst kind of leader, but in the decades since, I’ve met many others who, while less toxic, hurt their teams and their leadership by micromanaging, passive-aggression, lack of empathy, authoritarianism, and… well, you get the idea. I’ll bet you’ve had a boss who ticked some of those boxes. Both leading and as a consultant, I’ve had a front-row seat on hundreds of leaders at all levels of management in companies ranging from family businesses to multinational corporations. I've seen it all: good, bad, and everything in between. And in a few cases, exceptional. Meet my co-author Art Smuck is one of those. He's one of the most original, dynamic, challenging, and compassionate leaders I’ve known, and he’s been a key collaborator and a close friend. Our history goes back nearly 30 years when I was a consultant working with the Perrier Group of America. Art was the pain-in-the-ass who’d been relegated to corporate Siberia for daring to question his higher-ups. (You can see why I wanted to work with him!) His manager was surprised but accommodating when I tapped Art to be part of my project. “Take him” was the unspoken message. But Art was precisely the kind of person I wanted to work with: bright, creative, challenging. He did not accept the status quo for the organization or, crucially, himself. He rightly saw both as works in progress. We vibed. We both hated the egotism and opportunism we saw in many leaders and how promising emerging leaders often felt pressured to fit the prevailing command-and-control mode. We knew there was a better way, both at the human level and for performance. In the nearly 30 years since we’ve explored that together: What does it take to create organizations that are both the best in their industry and the best place for people to work? We have lots of experience to draw from, including Art’s career, which took him from the front lines, to executive roles in private and public growth stage companies, to startups in emerging categories, to the CEO role of FedEx Supply Chain. For years, we’ve been field-testing our ideas with companies big and small, public and private, in various industries. They hold up. For the past year, we’ve been collaborating on a book with the working title Care to Lead™. It synthesizes our stories, experiences, observations and learnings into a single source. Call it our unified theory of leadership. It’s what I wished I had when starting my own leadership journey many years ago. As we’ve field-tested the concepts and practices in the book, many other leaders have said that they, too, would be better leaders today if they’d been exposed to the thoughts early in their careers. Connection rules Most leadership philosophies and frameworks focus outward on processes and systems, tactics and strategies. Care to Lead is different because it turns inward first. It’s a bit of a paradox: leadership is not about you, but it is about who you are. Yes, it's about your team, but to be effective, heck, to be great, you’ve got to work on yourself before you can effectively lead. Our book is premised on the belief that the most influential leadership is more about who you are – your character, mindset, and values – than what you do. We believe how you get things done is as important as the results. Caring, respect, trust and even love – yes, love – are part of leading great organizations and helping people be their best. So, why are values and character so important? They are the only thing that can generate respect and breed trust, creating those powerful connections that inspire people to move with you toward a goal. Values create clarity around what is accepted and expected in pursuing those goals. When you care about your team and its shows, you'll build trust, respect, and loyalty. When people feel heard, understood, and valued, it will motivate them to go the extra mile and take ownership of their work. Caring and empathetic leaders promote a culture of accountability, where everyone takes responsibility for their actions and learns from their mistakes. With this approach, the team becomes a collective unit that strives towards a shared purpose instead of just following orders. Love is in the air For a long time, these ideas felt almost radical. Today, more people have realized caring is not a sign of weakness but a testament to a leader's strength and wisdom. A caring leader can transform a group of individuals into a cohesive and motivated team driven by trust, a shared purpose, and a commitment to personal and professional growth. Caring leadership fosters innovation, supports empathy, and creates more prosperous and harmonious organizations. Leadership is not just about managing resources and achieving goals; it is about nurturing people and helping others reach their full potential. Care isn't just a leadership quality—it’s the heart of leadership. We are writing this book for any leader who wants to dig deep, challenge their thinking, and embrace leadership as an ongoing opportunity to grow as a person rather than a title or a fixed destination. It won’t provide answers so much as give valuable questions and habits of inquiry that can radically alter your leadership for the better and set curious and compassionate leaders on a new path. Want to be the first to know when our book is published? Care to Lead and sign up for the WhiteWater newsletter.

Focus on connection, caring to build engagement. For the last few months, we’ve been working with a mid-sized company in the manufacturing sector on an ambitious strategic plan. This organization rocks at production and logistics. Its team is stacked with action-oriented leaders and high-energy doers who excel at productivity and process improvement. But one thing has become abundantly clear through our project: they’re not good at connecting with their people. Employee engagement is lower than it could be. Relationships are okay but not awesome. These relational weaknesses are hurting their business and holding them back from achieving their potential. Caring is key. Relationships are the core of every business, even those outside of what we consider people-centered, service-oriented or “caring” fields. People are the heart of any organization, even companies, like my manufacturing client, where logic and objectivity are prized (yes, I’m looking at you, engineers and accountants!). Everything flows from how well the team knows their leaders care: for the organization to be its best and for each team member to work at a place where they can be the best version of themselves. Most leaders do care about their teams. But, often, their teams don’t see that.Too many leaders neglect relationship-building to focus on tasks. It’s understandable. One leader we know called it “the burden of connectivity.” Leaders are swamped, and building relationships takes time. Others worry they’ll be perceived as unprofessional or lose their “authority” if they’re too friendly with their staff. What they aren’t getting is that building relationships isn’t abstracted from the work, it IS the work of leaders. A lot of research backs this assertion, proving that the most effective leadership is relational. Engagement is good for business. Research has correlated a number of positive organizational outcomes with strong relationships, including lower turnover, better performance and higher productivity. That’s because a positive and productive workplace is one in which people feel safe — safe enough to experiment, challenge themselves and others, share ideas and be themselves. Research shows that people value communication from their manager not just about their roles and responsibilities, but that also shows they care about them. The best leaders make a concerted effort to get to know their employees and help them feel comfortable talking about any subject, work-related or not. It’s about seeing people for themselves, genuinely caring about their success and growth, and intentionally helping them to be their best. When people feel seen and heard, not just for their work, but as people, it nurtures trust, which is the bedrock of engagement. Build better bonds. Here at WhiteWater, we’ve identified the key components of authentically deeper, more caring, and ultimately more effective relationships with your team. 1. Establish your base. The best place to start is one-on-one. To build deeper relationships with your team members, you need to proactively make time to connect. These intentional one-on-ones differ from accidental water-cooler conversations or work-focused meetings. They are an opportunity to develop a mutual understanding of each other as people, not just co-workers. Remember: relationships aren’t a one-way street. To build trust and rapport, you also need to let your people see who you are. Book some time with each team member. Before your meeting, ask them to reflect on the current state of your relationship and let them know you’ll do the same. You can even rate it with a simple 1, 2, or 3 ranking: One: Your relationship is distant or even negative. Two: You have a neutral to a positive connection, but it feels superficial. Three: You have a positive connection where they feel known, understood and cared for. During your time together, compare your ratings. Discuss why they might be different. What do you both see the same? Where are the gaps? 2. Build on your foundation. Keep meeting to build your understanding of your respective drivers and preferences for high performance at work. This is about aligning expectations, and exploring both what you are trying to achieve and the why behind it. When you understand your team members’ career aspirations and what motivates them, you can help them succeed. 3. Show genuine appreciation Celebrate successes. Along with sharing how much you appreciate their contribution, use this success to build on it. Jointly discuss what drove that success and explore ways they can use their skills and talents to benefit both themselves and the organization. 4. Embrace challenges. Openly discussing challenging or sensitive topics is part of a healthy relationship. Don’t avoid the chance to connect when there are problems. When there is trust and respect, difficult conversations, such as those about inappropriate behavior or subpar performance, are much easier and much more likely to result in understanding and a positive change. Taking the time to understand what drives your team members gives you the best chance to create the conditions for them to build that career within your organization rather than elsewhere (and, occasionally, help them achieve those aspirations in other organizations, if that’s what’s best for them). Connections, not transactions. A word of caution: creating deeper, more authentic relationships with your people is not a check-the-box effort. You can’t just go through the motions or meet once and consider this a task completed. Mere transactions are not enough to maximize engagement. In fact, that can easily backfire, breeding disconnection and even contempt. So be present – and be real. And remember that this takes time. Don’t rush it. But as you make time and space for relationships, as your comfort and capabilities in this area grow, and you connect better with your team, you might find the burden of connectivity becomes the joy of connectivity. Best Leaders.

Our summer leadership series has explored why leaders need a vacation, too , and shared five simple steps for leaders who find it hard to shut their laptops and take some time away. In this post, we continue our seasonal theme with a focus on summer reading. There’s a reason “beach reads” is a genre: vacation and great books go hand-in-hand. Reading is leisure, but it’s also learning. And it has many well-documented benefits, including reducing stress and increasing your emotional intelligence, or EQ, a leadership superpower. It also expands your worldview, especially if you don’t limit yourself to business titles and dip into novels, memoirs, self-help and even poetry. Despite reading’s positive effects, the Pew Research Centre found in 2021 that almost a quarter of American adults hadn’t read a book in the previous year. If that includes you, it’s time to pick up a book. And if you are an avid reader, here’s a roundup of eight of the best curated reading lists and most recommended titles for leaders. We’ve also published a couple of titles that our team can’t put down - click here . NPR’s Books We Love website lets you mix and match filters, including genre and subject, to deliver a customized list from its archive of more than 3,00 recommendations from NPR staff and trusted critics. Best Books to Help You Improve Your Management Skills : Firmspace has a nice roundup of reads for “new managers, old hands, and anyone looking to improve their management skills.” Adam Grant’s Picks : “A good book helps you think differently. A great book inspires you to act differently,” the famed organizational psychologist and author writes on a Substack post where he shares his favourite new releases. Grant’s book picks cover finding motivation in unexpected places, designing more worthwhile jobs, and building a better future. Fast Company’s Summer Reading List For the Modern Leader : Succession! Shipwrecks! Romantic comedy! The Modern CEO newsletter’s Stephanie Mehta shares her diverse roundup with books offering leadership lessons and insights on the human condition. Forbes CFO Summer Reading List: The 2023 instalment of this annual roundup cites a great Harry Truman quote: “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” We couldn’t agree more! Check out this compilation of suggestions from members of the CFO Leadership Council. Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2023 : Great minds do not always think alike, as this eclectic compilation that explores spirituality, design, suspense, and more demonstrates. McKinsey & Co.’s Summer Reading : This year, the annual reading guide reflects “not only the imperative to address uncertainties as they become more profound but also the drive to learn from history—and to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and growing future for all.” Leaders from around the world share their best books. NYT’s Summer Books 2023 : “47 books, 47 adventures'' is how the Times headlines its 2023 summer reading list, which has “something to read for every creature you know.” Intriguing!

WhiteWater’s summer reading list: Our team is stacked with bookworms, so we had a lot of fun compiling a roundup of great summer reading lists and recommended titles for leaders. And we’ve added a couple of favourites that our team can’t put down. What are your favorites? Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way , by Jonah Berger Composing a Life , by Mary Catherine Bateson The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music , by Dave Grohl Talent Is Never Enough , by John C. Maxwell Passion For Success , by Kazuo Inamori Get in Gear , by Sean T. Ryan - OF COURSE!