Should You Sell?

Leading Through Change       In March of 2020, I boarded a plane to Florida, six months pregnant and toting two toddlers. We were going to see my parents and spend a couple days in the sun, away from the doldrums of the gray winter of the North. A few days later, I sat on the porch with my parents, in the light of the Floridian sunset, discussing whether I could make it back home to my husband before the world supposedly shut down. I remember laughing thinking, the world shut down? Eye roll.   Later that night, my husband called me from Costco in the middle of a frenzy of shoppers, asking if he should stock up on paper towel and toilet paper. Again, I thought, this is madness. It’ll all blow over. The next day, we boarded our flight back home and landed without a hitch. The day after that, all flights were cancelled. I had beaten the lockdown by one day.   We all know what happened next. Complete disruption of our plans. Life came to a screeching halt. We found ourselves in the middle of one of the biggest seasons of change our country had seen in almost a decade.   Some of us adapted well, happily setting up home offices, embracing our returned college-students, and introverting like no introvert has ever introverted before. In contrast, some of us (me) went berserk with every new cancellation—church, school, all social plans—spent long hours yelling back and forth across the yard to the neighbors instead, and frequented any grocery store that was open just to be around other people.   We all adapted, whether we liked it or not. And we will likely have to adapt to unexpected changes again in the future. So, how do we do it well? And how do we lead others through it?   Most people don’t adapt well. It’s natural to face changes with fear and even anger. Grant Buenger, the Executive Director of Racine Habitat for Humanity, has led his organization through many changes in the last three years—new staffing models, large scale growth, and changes in brick-and-mortar space. Over time, he has discovered the key to leading well through change is fostering adaptability within a team by keeping the mission at the forefront.   Buenger cites a story from Tod Bolsinger’s book, Canoeing the Mountains. Lewis and Clark, the great explorers, were heading west. They figured they could make it all the way across the United States to the Pacific Ocean by taking waterways and using their canoes. That is, until they hit the Rocky Mountains and their expedition quickly came to a grinding halt. Instead of giving up their quest, they decided to trade their canoes for horses and continue the journey until they found water again. Eventually, they hit the Gold Coast as planned. They didn’t let the unexpected topographical shift keep them from achieving their mission, they simply adapted their strategy and continued. They weren’t so committed to their canoes that they decided to stop in Colorado and call it a day. Instead, they adjusted, adapted and achieved.   So how do we, as leaders, “Lewis and Clark” our way through Covid? Or inflation? Or policy changes? How do we build teams that respond well to these changes and many more that are sure to come?   Here are a few ways to help foster adaptability within your team:   Speak the Mission Aloud and Speak it Frequently: Say what you do, say it often.  Make sure it’s clear. We build homes, we provide great service, we make IT easy to understand. Speak this in meetings, write it on the wall, make sure everyone on your team repeats it when you ask them what you do. It’s the bigger reason behind the daily work. It’s what drives passion and unites a team.   Create Trust Among the Team: When changes happen, people look to others for help. If they trust their leadership and their teammates, they’re more likely to feel supported. This will help them adapt well to the change. In some cases, enduring trials and adapting can even make a team stronger.   Model adaptability. If you let fear and uncertainty grip you when unexpected changes occur, how will you expect your team to adapt well? You must remember the mission, you must chart new courses, trade the canoes and shift when necessary.   Go slower than you think. Accepting change can take time. I am a prime example. My family and I relocated back to our hometown 3 ½ years ago and I’m just now able to say that I’m settling in and accepting my new surroundings. It’ll just take more time than you think. The Rockies gave Lewis and Clark pause and they couldn’t procure horses within an evening. They had to understand what they were facing, how to face it and, acquire what they needed and then continue on. Give yourself and your team time and space to process the change, create a plan and then continue on.   While I would not have wished the year 2020 on anyone, I will say that I’m much more resilient and adaptable because of it. While I admitted above and will say it again, I did NOT adapt quickly or well to the changes at first, I can look back with pride and say that I continued to find new courses and new ways to accomplish the things that needed accomplishing and dare I say that, after a few months in, I was able to feel mentally, physically and emotionally healthy once again.   While adapt or die might sound a little strong, it’s the truth. Which will it be? ###   This blog post is loosely based on the IOL Podcast #147 Building Hope and Transformational Leadership with Grant Buenger.   Written by Ashley Buenger (Yep, they are a dynamic duo!)      

How many times have you been in meetings where you show up because your name was on the invite but you have no idea what the meeting was going to be about? More than I want to admit.   How many times did you try to do research or ask someone about the meeting details before showing up? Depending if I feel comfortable shooting from the hip so let's say 50% of the time. I wish!!! I bet it's more like 10% of the time. Okay, this is getting really uncomfortable for me as I write this blog.    Okay, how many times have you been in a  weekly meeting but you don’t get anything out of it? It happens when meetings are done out of routine not effectiveness.   There is enough here to say that meetings can make or break a team’s success.   5 Rules for Successful Meetings Set a clear agenda Have roles, assignments and expectations defined prior Avoid meetings to go off track Try different meeting locations Don’t lose the personal connection *BONUS TIP TO MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY!   Set a clear agenda In the invite, list out the agenda with times to when you will start/end each topic. Help each participant to understand clearly the main focus for the meeting. This meeting will be successful "WHEN" this is accomplished. I’ve been in thousands of meetings since starting my career and the ones that feel the most productive are the ones with clear agendas. Why? It makes everyone feel confident in where the team is going during the meeting. It’s best to have one person who is keeping the agenda moving. We call this person THE INTEGRATOR in our company. Each person has to determine the correct amount of time to spend on each topic. I would make sure you budget yourself extra time in case you need a little more. Make sure the person keeping everyone on task is feeling supported by the team when they hold everyone accountable.    I was part of a men’s bible study, Bible Study Fellowship, where I led a group discussion. Each question required me to think ahead on how long I would allow the group to spend on it. This was the best way I learned time management when you have a lot of questions but a time limit to answer them all. In meetings, take time to plan out how long you can allow for each focus area. It’s okay to have a timer with a warning when it’s 5 minutes till ending. This gives everyone in the room a clear understanding that the current topic needs to be wrapped up and a new focus area is coming to the discussion.   Have roles, assignments and expectations defined prior It’s important that each person showing up knows what they need to do ahead of time to be prepared. This will make your meeting flow! Otherwise, you might find the meeting getting stuck because someone didn’t know they needed to bring information that would help the conversation move forward. In our weekly executive meeting, our team comes prepared to share their numbers for Sales, Marketing, Finance, Services and Operations. There is a scorecard that we go through that has categories for each VP to share the latest data. The leaders know what they need to bring to the meeting to make it flow well. You also want to be sure there is a recap going out after the meeting with clear direction for next steps. The best meetings are the ones that prepare before and after so the moment doesn’t stop. Often times a great meeting doesn't carry over because there was a drop in action plans, assignments and defined deadlines.    Avoid meetings going off track How many times have you been in a meeting where the topic gets hijacked by another topic that takes up the entire meeting time? Yep! It’s easy to do and often times it’s not a deliberate mistake. As leaders we face a lot of hurdles. Sometimes the hardest hurdle is finding time to meet with others leaders so you pack other topics into the one meeting scheduled. It takes one point that opens the door for an entirely different topic to come in and take over. I think this happens in all businesses and probably personal conversations as well. Our minds and racing all over and it’s easy to get off track. We have found that having that one person, THE INTEGRATOR, can help bring the whole meeting back on track by saying these words “Team, we need to take this topic to another meeting. It’s important but we need to get back to this meeting’s main goal.” It might be frustrating for some but everyone will agree to get back on track.   Try different meeting places Meetings are absolutely needed but they can be draining. How can you turn your meeting into a fun and energetic one? We have done a few things to help bring out the creativity. Schedule the meeting at a restaurant with a private room. I understand some topics need to be kept private and you want to avoid too many distractions. We have booked meetings at country clubs, restaurants and recently a VRBO. Yeah, it was cheaper and more space to rent a VRBO for our two day offsite vs. a conference room with no windows. Another idea, go walking around the building or by a park or in our case, by Lake Michigan. I was told last week that some of the most productive meetings for Services happened while walking as leaders around the local marina. It allowed the team members to get air, exercise and have a new view. I don’t think you have to change every meeting location but definitely switch it up.   Don’t lose the personal connection I wanted this to be my last point because under the DISC profile I am an “I” to the edge. We are dangerous in meetings because we love to share new ideas, ditch the details, bring in way too many stories and we want a personal connection  to be made in each meeting. This might drive the “D”’s in the room crazy because a successful meeting is getting through the set agenda on time. Over the years, my personal desire to build relationships with others in the meetings has been carried over by others. I’m proud to say that even though I don’t run our executive meetings, our President does give each person the opportunity share the best WIN for work and personal at the start of each meeting. This gives all the people in the room a view of the team member’s heart and life. Running a meeting does require all of the things I listed above but you also need a team that can fight for each other. Build the bond between your team members so they want to help others win not just themselves. It’s about building a team unity, but it starts with caring for each other. Help each team member feel valued and cared for by bringing some personal connection to the meeting.   *Bonus Tip: Start and end the meetings on time. **If you ever can end early, you are better than me!    NEED MORE?  Hire us to speak at your next event Check out our library of 125+ podcasts aid in your growth as a leader! Go to our YouTube and LinkedIn pages for more encouraging content.