Small Business Archives

The Difference between a Great Team and an Elite Team

09/18/202008/06/2021Jon Rennie

Something happened at my company three weeks ago that confirmed we are moving in the right direction. And it has nothing to do with our financial performance.

In our daily morning standup meeting, a founding employee announced she was pregnant with her first baby.

The reaction from the rest of the employees told me everything I needed to know. There were smiles, shouts of congratulations, clapping, and something even more powerful, tears.

I looked around and saw many of my employees crying for joy over this exciting news.

The response confirmed something I had been feeling for a long time; we were becoming more like family than a company. There was a bond developing that was special, and it was something I hadn’t sensed since I left the military.

We were becoming more like family than a company. Click To Tweet

Building a business for the past five years has felt a little like us against the world, but lately, I feel like the world doesn’t stand a chance.

My recent podcast guest, Dr. Larry Widman, confirmed what I suspected. My employees were displaying one of the essential characteristics of an elite team – love.

Let me explain.

Larry is a high-performance psychiatrist and an elite mindset coach. He works with CEOs, professional athletes, Olympians, and NCAA teams to develop the mental skills and mindset to push performance boundaries.

He said something on the podcast that stood out.

He explained that love plays a vital role in building an elite team. And this is consistent across every type of organization, from Navy Seals to NCAA National Champions.

It’s all about relationships, connections, and love.

The best teams move at the speed of trust. Click To Tweet

The best teams move at the speed of trust. They are willing to fight for the person on their right and their left because they care deeply about them.

Love is the one consistent ingredient that helps propel a team from great to elite.

So the question I would have for you today is, where are you in your organization?

Are your employees in it for just a paycheck or do they have deep relationships at work? Are you moving at the speed of trust?

If you’re not exploring how love can boost your performance, you’re missing out. You’re never going to have an elite team without the power of relationships, trust, and love.

The elite teams, the best of the best, the national champions, and those dominating their markets are the ones who demonstrate love for each other. They are the ones fighting shoulder-to-shoulder for each other every day.

If you want to look inside an elite team’s culture, listen to my podcast interview with Dr. Larry Widman.

P.S. I understand many who are reading this have bosses who don’t understand the value of people and relationships. For those of you with bosses like this, I am offering a new service. For just $10, I will anonymously mail a copy of my book, “I Have the Watch: Becoming a Leader Worth Following,” to your boss with a personal note. Click here and enter the discount code BOSS at checkout.

[Photo credit Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos/Getty Images]

Radical Transparency

08/25/202008/06/2021Jon Rennie

Have you ever sat through an annual performance review and had that awkward feeling?

Like your boss was not giving you true feedback?

Like they were just going through the motions?

Did it seem…Fake? Forced? Phony?

Maybe it’s just me, but when I worked in corporate America, I couldn’t stand the annual performance review process.

Once a year, I would get feedback from my boss.

The company had a policy – so he wrote up a review, we sat down together, and he checked the box.

The feedback certainly wasn’t timely but it also wasn’t very honest.

What do I mean by that?

The feedback wasn’t real. It wasn’t raw. It wasn’t a true reflection of what my boss thought of my performance.

Instead, it was a carefully worded document designed to keep my boss and the company out of trouble. It was almost like a legal document that stated that we met, we reviewed my performance over the past year, and it was generally good. Simple and safe…and irrelevant.

A safe, bland review to check the box and move one.

Contrast this with life in a small company.

I recently had D’Shawn Russell on my podcast. She is the founder and owner of Southern Elegance Candle Company.

When I asked her about leadership in a small, start-up company, she said something that stood out.

She said she practiced radical transparency.

When I asked what it was, she was very clear. She said, “I tell my people exactly what I think of their performance on a daily basis…If they suck, I tell them and if they can’t turn it around, they know I’ll fire them.”

I tell my people exactly what I think of their performance on a daily basis Click To Tweet

She added, “But if they’re doing good, I tell them that as well.”

In the bland corporate world of pale pastels, her comments stood out as bold colors.

I’ll admit, at first I was taken aback. I thought she was being a little too transparent with her employees but then I thought about this simple rule:

Feedback should be timely and relevant.

Feedback should be timely and relevant. Click To Tweet

I have no doubt that her employees always know exactly where they stand at any time. Radical transparency means honest and timely feedback. I know a lot of good employees who would prefer to get honest and timely feedback instead of the bland corporate review.

So think about the feedback you are providing employees.

Is it real? Is it timely? And is it honest?

Or are you just checking a box once a year?

Try practicing radical transparency and let me know how it goes.

Listen to my entire interview with D’Shawn here. It’s a powerful story on what it takes to lead a startup business.

For more stories like this, get my Amazon bestselling leadership book, I Have the Watch: Becoming a Leader Worth Following. Signed copies are available here.

I don’t like that guy and I’m not going to work with him

09/17/201908/06/2021Jon Rennie

Let me tell you a story.

I came up through the Navy (and made seven deployments during the Cold War).

Then, I led businesses for 25 years.

Here’s a big lesson I figured out about leadership from my years in the Navy:

Think about a submarine. When you go out to sea, you’re gone for months at a time and you’re stuck with the crew that goes out to sea with you. You have to learn to get along with people because you’re not going to get any new people.

There’s no firing somebody to get someone else.

So, you find ways to work with people you don’t like, don’t trust, or don’t particularly care to be around. Because that’s what it takes to get the job done. In corporate America, it’s easy to say, “Oh, I don’t like that guy. I’m not going to work with him.” Well, in the Navy, you didn’t have that choice!

It gives you a unique perspective.

You learn skills you wouldn’t otherwise.

Besides that, in the Navy, if we don’t all do our job, people die. If the boat goes down, we all go down with it. So there was a real focus on competence in everything you did.

Do you see that in the civilian world?

Rarely.

Yet they’re not that different in some ways. In business, we’re all “in the same boat”. Pun intended. That’s because the success of the business is driven by its people. How much benefit, profit, mutual appreciation, and self-satisfaction for a job well done there is to go around depends precisely on everyone doing their jobs when they’re supposed to!

That doesn’t mean you forfeit your right to fire people if it isn’t working out.

Just don’t be so quick to dismiss them.

People you “don’t like” often have the most to offer.

I know it sounds strange, but it’s true.

A leader’s job is to pull the best out of the jumbled mix of personality types and get them working in harmony toward a goal. And recalling my submarine example can help. Although yours may not seem like it’s a “life or death” situation – metaphorically, it is. You’re just not used to thinking of it that way.

It’s literally THE difference between success and failure sometimes.

And MOST of your success in any venture or job will come from your ability to deal with the people involved.

Never forget it.

Bottom line:

We’re all busy. But you’re never too busy to lead. Take the time to get to know your people, find out what makes them “tick”. Having the pulse on your players and knowing how to engage them is the secret to accomplishing more with less…and the key to survival in today’s competitive business world.

If you liked this, you’ll love my book, I have the Watch: Becoming a Leader Worth Following.