Dear ScaleUps,
Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.
“Routine sets you free.”
Scaleups.com, the Medium for Growing Firms --
This week we launched a new media property called ScaleUps - the latest up-to-date news, articles, and videos featuring growing firms. Curated each week by Elaine Pofeldt, who led Fortune Small Business online, take a few minutes to scan through the site and read about the “50 Best Private Equity Firms for Entrepreneurs” and how Elon Musk went to China and received tax breaks for Tesla…and more…
Chief Executive Magazine Interview --
One of the most extensive interviews I’ve done lately, for the premier CEO magazine in the world, I loved Editor Dan Bigman’s opening question about what John D. Rockefeller would think of businesses today (hope you agree). I also share what is the most important leader KPI; what is the biggest challenge facing mid-market firms; and we explore a host of other topics including important routines that drive growth. Grab your favorite beverage and take 3-minutes to scan the article. And I keynote their annual CEO Leadership Summit in Dallas.
Modern Day Rockefeller - Keys to Scale
Not surprisingly, Microsoft is the largest market cap firm. This HBR article details four habits/routines Microsoft uses to maintain a sense of community and “learning culture” among its 144,000 employees – all available to us mere mortal mid-market firms. Specifically:
- Enterprise-Level Social Networking - key to staying connected around the globe
- Daily Pulse Checks -- snapshot of how employees are feeling about the company, its culture, and other timely topics
- Monthly Live Events - chance for employees to connect directly with CEO Nadella
- “Growth Mindset in Action” Video Series -- to model the shift toward creating a learning organization, to spark dialogue, and to prompt employees to talk about their learnings.
“Routine sets you free.” Check out the short article for more details about each routine. Thanks to Mirko Wormuth for sharing.
Golden Rules for Daily Huddle (Scaling Up Case Study) --
Intraway CTO Matt Torchinsky attended our 2.5 day Scaling Up workshop with his senior team and came away committed to the daily huddle (the importance of which our competition downplays!). To fine tune his 9-person huddle, he instituted some simple rules. Notes Matt, in an email to me:
What I did?
- I setup what i called "Huddle Golden Rules" which are:
- Daily Huddles take, maximum, 15'. Then the call will shut down (no matter who is speaking)
- If you arrive late, you have the right to listen but not to talk, and must share your updates with the team through slack/hangouts/mail/etc.
What was the Outcome?
- Everybody started attending the huddle on-time (Everybody wants to talk!!)
- The team auto-regulates. Having in mind golden rule #1 it turns out that when someone takes too much time the team pushes them to stop (We all want to talk!)
- Our Daily Huddles take (maximum) 15', therefore we are learning day by day how to improve our messaging and share relevant information!
- Focus: People understand this is THE call were we (the team) sync up (and it takes maximum 15'!!!), we need them all to focus on the call.
And most importantly, the Daily Huddle works – if you want to move faster you want to pulse faster – and every minute in a daily huddle, if operated correctly, saves everyone 10 minutes – a 10x return on time! Let us help if your daily huddles need a tune up!
CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Jan 14 - 17; Jan 21 - 24; Mar 10 - 13, 2020.
EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here
COACHING:
Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? The Scaling Up team is prepared to support you. We have helped 40,000 other organizations over the past 30+ years, in scaling up their organizations through coaching, workshops, online training and more.
We would like to offer you a complimentary, personal follow-up from our Scaling Up team to share how we can support you in scaling your organization.
YES! I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COACHING & RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY FOLLOW-UP (CLICK HERE)
For questions or more information contact us at [email protected]
TECHNOLOGY:
Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.
Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.