Every organization needs change leaders. These people believe in the need for change, commit to adopting the required activities, and have the knowledge and skills to support and guide others through the process.

The changes facing most organizations are too complex and the pace of change too fast to be driven only from the top and managed by a few specialists. It would help if you had leaders at every level with sufficient knowledge, skill, and capability to lead and manage change effectively. Here are seven ways to create effective change leadership throughout your organization:

1. Adopt a readiness mindset. Many unwittingly adopt a resistance mindset — the belief that human beings naturally resist change. Leaders with a resistance mindset equate employee reactions to change with resistance and grow frustrated when employees question or balk at change. A readiness mindset interprets these reactions not as a sign of resistance but as a sign that people are not ready. It is characterized by the belief that people will move toward something new and different when they understand the need and feel prepared, capable, and supported. Adopting a readiness mindset allows you to engage with curiosity to seek feedback, prepare, and guide people through the change process.

2. Demonstrate empathy and implement change from the perspective of the change recipients. Empathy is the ability to see the world from a different perspective. When you practice empathy, you can recognize two essential factors. The first is that the initiator of any change starts their transition before others in the organization. The second factor is that every organizational change involves risk. A change that may appear low-risk and easy at the executive level may, at the frontline level, be complex and perceived as riskier. Successful change leaders strive to understand the perspectives of those who will be doing the heavy lifting.

3. Create time and space within your operational environment for people to engage with and adopt the new activities and behaviors. Few companies have the luxury of shutting down business while implementing a change. And the day-to-day activities that keep a business running almost always take priority over those required for change. Therefore, you need to create time and space for people to unlearn old actions and behaviors, learn new ways of working, and embed the latest activities and behaviors into their daily operations.

4. Actively involve the people who will do the heavy lifting in the design and planning of the change. It always surprises me when leaders say they don’t have time to involve everyone in a change process. Involvement is not optional. To think otherwise would be like believing you could get fit by someone else working out! A 2017 McKinsey study found that only 3% of organizational change efforts were successful when managers and frontline employees were not involved. Active involvement does not mean everyone is involved in every decision. However, you can create structures to help you actively involve people at the right level and at the right time.

5. Create a straightforward, concise, and concrete outcome story. Stories drive our decisions and actions. You need reliable, accurate qualitative and quantitative data to decide whether to initiate a change. However, facts and goals are not enough. Creating healthy and sustainable change requires people to connect emotionally and intellectually with a shared story about why the change is necessary and what the outcome will look like. Create a shared outcome story that describes the look, feel, behaviors, and activities of your organization/department after the change has been successfully adopted. Doing so decreases stress and uncertainty and makes it easier for people to let go of their current state and move toward something new. A shared story of your intended outcome helps everyone make better decisions and expands your organization’s intellectual capability.

6. Apply holistic systems thinking. Every organizational change creates ripples or, as one client described it, a tsunami in your organization. Failure to recognize interconnections and treating each change initiative as an isolated event contributes to change fatigue. However, when you identify and plan based on these interconnections, you can leverage collateral change — achieving strategic or desired outcomes within existing rather than new initiatives or projects. It also reduces the risk of burnout and change fatigue.

7. Demonstrate curiosity, compassion, and commitment. Be curious about what you see and hear, including having self-awareness of your reactions. Then practice self-compassion as you navigate your journey and help support others through the change.

To be an effective change leader, you must commit to the whole journey. Achieving real change that sticks takes time. You need the energy and stamina to continue until the intended outcome has been achieved and the new activities have become routine.

To be an effective leader in any setting — whether in the office or an Alaskan mountaintop — you need to build relationships. This means being able to connect with others, understand their needs and motivations, and create a sense of trust with them. When everyone on your team feels like they can rely on you and each other, that’s when the real magic happens.

Outdoor leadership requires all of these skills and more. If you’re looking to develop your leadership skills, there’s no better place to start than by heading into the great outdoors, where you can develop these six skills:

1. Communication.

Leading a team of people with different personalities and skill sets can be challenging. On some trips, you might be off the grid for several days at a time, so it’s essential to be able to communicate clearly and make decisions on the fly.

One of the most critical leadership skills is the ability to communicate effectively. You must be able to share your vision for the trip, give clear instructions, and provide feedback in a way that everyone can understand. This requires active listening and adapting your communication style to different situations.

2. Patience.

As the leader of a trip teaching beginner whitewater rafting in Yellowstone or hiking in the Rocky Mountains, I had to rely on patience and compassion to help my team through any challenges that could arise.

Whether figuring out how to carry gear over portages, navigating tricky rapids, determining which trail to follow, or working through differences in opinion, it’s your job to keep everyone feeling valued and focused on the ultimate goal: having an amazing adventure together as a team.

3. Organization.

Another essential leadership skill is the ability to stay organized and create a plan everyone can follow. This necessitates strong analytical skills and the ability to think ahead. You need to be able to identify the steps that must be taken to reach the goal, and you need to be able to communicate this plan clearly to your team.

4. Problem-solving.

A camping trip is an amazing opportunity to develop problem-solving and conflict management skills in a low-pressure environment. You will have to take charge of all the logistics, from planning and packing to cooking and setting up camp. This requires delegation skills, as well as the ability to think on your feet and deal with unexpected challenges.

Or, imagine you’re on a canoe trip and dealing with portages — areas where you have to carry your canoe over land. This can be difficult, especially if you have a group of people with different levels of strength and experience, but it’s vital if something goes wrong or someone gets hurt or lost along the way.

5. Resource management and risk assessment.

Outdoor activities can help cultivate even more advanced skills, such as resource management, risk assessment, and leadership under pressure. For example, if you are climbing up a steep slope or crossing an icy crevasse, one wrong move can have disastrous consequences.

It takes nerves of steel and total focus to lead a team under these conditions. But with the right training, preparation, and support from your team members, you can overcome any challenge that comes your way.

6. Teamwork.

When embarking on an outdoor expedition, you have to ensure you have all the necessary equipment, that everyone is adequately trained to use it, and that everyone clearly understands their role in the group. This can be difficult when hiking with people with different fitness levels and abilities. By encouraging teamwork and collaboration, you can help everyone feel confident in their ability to reach the summit.

Ultimately, leadership is about people. It’s about understanding what makes them tick, what motivates them, and what challenges they face. It’s about seeing the potential in others and helping them grow into their best selves. And it’s about creating an environment in which everyone can thrive. Outdoor leadership is a unique opportunity to develop these skills and put them into practice in numerous real-world settings. There’s no better way to begin than to get out there and start exploring.

I have never been much of a Royal watcher. However, I was, and still am, a fan of the Queen.

Looking back over her 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II is widely credited with both reforming and humanizing the monarchy in Britain. She also helped provide stability to the United Kingdom as it struggled for survival after World War II. She deftly and humbly guided the nation as it morphed from a global monarchy to a more genteel and enduring commonwealth of nations.

As leaders, I think we can learn a lot from Her Majesty, even if we consider the monarchy a bit anachronistic, and the British Empire a fading, and often discredited colonizer.

Why am I so enamored with the Queen? Quite simply, because she was a gifted leader who ruled with both humility and empathy. Permit me to explain.

Humility

If you are royalty, it’s commonly expected that you’ll have your nose in the air as you strut about considering yourself much more important than your subjects. However, Queen Elizabeth was different. She had a humility that border-lined on radical, at least in my eyes.

For example, during WW2, against the protestations of many who were concerned for her safety, Elizabeth insisted that she be permitted to join the military effort. In 1945, when she was only 18, she joined the Women’s Auxiliary and trained as an auto mechanic. Obviously, “…this wasn’t a combat role, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t come with risks…The young princess’s dedication to her country and her willingness to serve just like anyone else…” showed her true metal and her humble spirit.

After ascending to the throne, Elizabeth maintained this same approach. Throughout her unprecedented reign, she saw herself as a servant of the people rather than as their ruler. This resulted in a life of tireless devotion to her country and to the innumerable charities with which she was associated.

Some modern management theorists have suggested that corporate leaders should invert their management hierarchies so that “the boss” is at the bottom of the pyramid, serving employees, customers and shareholders. If we’re looking for a successful example of how this idea can be workable in practice, we need look no further than the Queen.

Empathy

Many leaders are guilty of being out of touch with their followers, unable to relate to those who they may consider “less than” or “beneath them.” As a result, they lose both credibility and the loyalty of those they lead. In contrast, the Queen was a bridge builder, successfully communicating support and empathy for many different constituencies.

In 1961, she danced with the president of Ghana, who was black. At the time, many were outraged by her actions. However, “the Queen was resolute in her support of equality.” Years later, she worked — mostly behind the scenes — to influence the Commonwealth’s condemnation of South African apartheid. Clearly, she was a leader who not only empathized with others, but who sought to improve their situation.

Another remarkable example of her ability to understand and empathize was her trip to the Republic of Ireland in 2011. While laying a wreath at a monument to those who died fighting for Irish freedom, she bowed her head, signally to the people that she felt their pain.

Those of us with leadership responsibilities in a corporate setting would all benefit from paying attention to the challenges others face, and truly empathizing with their circumstances. The Queen has shown us how.

Tips for cultivating humility:

• Find ways to serve those you lead
• Do the jobs that other don’t want to do
• Willingly accept roles out of the spotlight

Tips for cultivating empathy:

• Pay attention to the disadvantaged
• Take time to “be with” those who are hurting
• Support the oppressed

Obviously, few of us will ever know what it would be like to live in a palace or to wear a crown. However, we don’t need either of these things in order to emulate the Queen. Simply by serving those we lead, and by deeply caring for those who are hurting, we can follow in her footsteps. The world needs more leaders like Elizabeth the Second!

The rapid pace of change in business, and the need for speed and agility in managing change, requires grit and resilience. A good way to marshal that grit and resilience is to mirror how top salespeople operate.

In order to influence the changes needed within your organization to meet the needs of the markets you serve in the face of supply chain disruptions, inflation, labor shortages, global macro market trends and environmental, social and governance compliance, consider developing a growth mindset based on the behaviors and techniques of the best salespeople.  

We often think of salespeople as being slick, cunning and unwilling to take “no” for an answer in their quest to close the deal. But in reality the opposite is true. Top salespeople score high in modesty and humility. They’re team oriented and have high levels of attentiveness, a strong sense of duty and are extremely reliable — all of which enable them to build credibility with customers. They’re focused on achievement and continuously measure performance in comparison to their goals. Further, they’re curious and ask questions to get the information they need in order to match capabilities to customer needs. True, they may not be easily discouraged, yet they can handle emotional disappointments, bounce back from losses and mentally prepare for the next opportunity.  

Such agility and resilience are important behaviors for all business leaders responding to a fast-changing world.  

Early in my career I was trained in a consultative style of selling, called “Need Satisfaction Selling.” It’s an approach based on the notion of engaging customers to find out their needs, and then providing a differentiated solution to satisfy them. Alongside my need to master this selling style, I also needed to influence change internally within the company. This approach helped me to lead cross functional teams in defining needs and finding solutions that we could then propose to managers — and all the way up to the board of directors.  

Utilizing the strategies of Need Satisfaction Selling, I was able to not only hone my salesmanship abilities, but also contribute value-adding system changes that led to promotions, and eventually landed me in the C-suite. Since serving as CEO in different companies, I’ve made Need Satisfaction Selling and the behaviors that underpin it a core part of the business culture within the companies I’ve run.  

The theory of Need Satisfaction Selling is so powerful because it’s a simple and thoughtful process with three stages — need development, need identification and need satisfaction. The trick is learning and practicing the behaviors involved at each stage so that they become second nature.  

To acquire the agility and resilience needed as an effective business leader, refine these separate, yet complementary skills that drive the three stages of Need Satisfaction Selling:  

1. Engage in active listening to assist with need development. By asking open-ended questions and attentively listening to the customer’s (or team members’) responses, the salesperson or business leader is able to uncover the needs and potential roadblocks or limitations in the way. Open ended questions allow those being questioned to feel duly heard and enable them to air their anxieties, concerns and tensions that are getting in the way of their goals. By carefully listening and asking probing questions you gain insights. Using questions such as, “What is it that you’re trying to achieve?” or “I read your annual report and you discuss your sustainability goals; can you help us understand your strategy?” or “From what you know about us, how do you think we could best help you?” With these answers you can then follow up with more specific questions to narrow down and identify specific needs. 

2. Find agreement to facilitate need identification. In this stage, salespeople or leaders summarize what they heard to ensure agreement on the specific needs and why they’re important to address. This summing up is important in ascertaining mutual understanding. 

3. Influence solutions to arrive at need satisfaction. Influencing others is an art form. Sharpen it by applying active listening and agreement on needs to provide a meaningful solution that addresses the needs. Use facts and figures, as well as the overall benefits of the proposed solution. Be prepared to respond to any objections raised.  

Learning these skills increases the probability of successfully selling innovative solutions to customers or improved business processes to internal teams. The ability to make positive changes requires influencing outcomes. By knowing how to sell, leaders can influence the changes required to remain innovative and competitive. 

One of the greatest tactics a business can employ to ensure sustained success is to crack the mystery of choosing strong leaders. Strong leaders make the difference in many measures of success, such as financial results, employee recruitment and retention, development of talent, and consistent execution, among others.

Conversely, poor leaders have a toxic impact on people and results. The financial, strategic, and human costs of poor leadership are frankly staggering. Consider just the amount of money spent on helping leaders be better is somewhere in the neighborhood of $366 billion. The kicker is that those costs are unnecessary because much of that money is being spent on developing the wrong people!

But poor leadership is a rampant problem. Look around. We’re surrounded by inept, self-focused, under-skilled people in leadership roles. Even many HR practitioners have it wrong when they assert that their organizations are strong in choosing employees with the potential to be strong leaders. The results and people’s experiences simply don’t support this assertion.

The bottom line is organizations place too many leaders in roles that aren’t a fit. Fixing the issue of poor leaders requires that we solve the root cause. In essence, those in the position of determining strong potential leaders are inept at identifying the right people to become strong leaders. The process is widely treated as an imprecise art and processes are inconsistently applied. Tremendous variation exists in the way it’s done — even within the same organization, and in the same team! How can we develop a consistent, reliable, and robust pipeline of leaders that acquire important proficiencies at each leadership turn if everyone is using a different criterion? We can’t, and that’s a core piece of the problem. Not only are we looking for the wrong criteria, but the tremendous amount of variation further complicates the process.

How can we be better at identifying and cultivating potential leaders? How can organizational leaders ensure that those they are developing have the raw ingredients that will make them strong leaders?

A recommended difference-maker is to have a clear framework that drives the thinking and action steps for accurately determining leadership potential. One highly endorsed framework is the Leadership Blueprint developed by Alan Church and Rob Silzer (2014). This resource was constructed through a unique set of work that combined extensive academic research and compelling pragmatic experience. The Leadership Blueprint has three dimensions. The first considers leadership qualities that are largely unchangeable — intelligence and personality. In terms of intelligence, we can become more knowledgeable, but we can’t increase our cognitive skills. It’s essential to choose smart people to become leaders because the world only becomes more complex the more responsibilities they assume in an organization.

The second quality in this dimension, personality, is also largely considered fixed. Think about someone who is maniacal about details. That largely isn’t going to change. But that person will struggle as a leader to operate at the appropriate level. Other core derailing qualities are extreme selfishness, lack of focus, condescension, ineffective communicators, narcissism and other personality traits that cause employees’ frustration or harm. Yet many with traits such as these are placed in leadership roles.

If leadership candidates pass the blueprint’s first threshold, the next dimension considers their motivational levels and learning agility. These are two quintessential factors for leader success, but in both, the individual controls them. If the candidates don’t already possess motivation and learning agility, no amount of cajoling will improve them.

Essentially, the third dimension of the Leadership Blueprint highlights the criticality of being a functional expert and/or having deep leadership acumen. The difference with this dimension is that the components here are teachable if the person already has high intelligence, motivation, learning agility, and no major derailing personality traits. For example, we shouldn’t select someone who is malicious to be a leader just because they know how to delegate. We can teach someone who fulfills the four critical criteria how to delegate.

The root cause of our current leadership crisis is that we’re choosing the wrong candidate profile from the start. The proven guidance provided in the Leadership Blueprint can help provide predictable criteria and greatly elevate the leadership talent game.

Does this sound familiar?

• You have a “B” manager trying to hire “A” players.
• Managers make their hiring decision based on the first impression.
• Manager and candidate bond because of similar likes (i.e., sports, college football, etc.), rather than the candidate’s qualifications.
• Manager says: “Please sit down while I read your resume.”
• Manager hires based on “I’m a good judge of character.”

This happens every day – even in the best companies. Too often, well intentioned managers are the weak link in your hiring process. And the cost is enormous – lost sales, poor customer service, safety issues, lower employee engagement, etc.

Training, while important, may not be the solution because most managers resort back to their old habits.  How to help hiring managers:

1. Job descriptions are sooo yesterday! Essential, but not strategic. They provide only basic info – work history, education and the job’s duties and responsibilities, etc. Have the manager complete a Job Outlook form. Prior to starting the hiring process, capture the hiring managers’ strategic thoughts about the open position in writing and with their signature.
2. Review your pre-hire assessments. Are you using yesterday’s tools for a vastly different business model (i.e., remote workers, Zoom meetings, work/life balance issues, etc)
3. There are two types of onboarding. The formal one is where the candidate learns about the company’s’ vision, mission, procedures, benefits, and products. The informal onboarding is where the current employees teach the new person “the ropes.” If not aligned, it will directly affect the new employee’s success with the company.

The pandemic of the past two years has reset many things in the world, but the concept of leadership and what success means has never been adequately defined for all people.

By this, I mean that a dominant group of people on the planet have decided what leadership looks like — it was never designed for diversity, for belonging to all.

Women’s movements over the past few years have urged us to “empower ourselves,” “have confidence and rise,” “attend inclusive male training exercises,” and a myriad of other encouragements. But we need to redefine what leadership means. We should instead be asking ourselves what we, as human beings, are contributing to the world and how we’re showing up in our leadership.

An increasing number of CEOs want to create social impact, solve the world’s problems, and form collaborations. To do so, we first need to build initiatives, cultures, and systems that will be inclusive of all. Ask yourself, “Who is contributing to this collaboration?” and then think about how you can make it more effective by adding underrepresented voices.

The old leadership definition was money, power, and influence. The new definition is purpose, inclusion, and well-being. Remember, too, that your behavior can create as much impact as any of these things.
I believe that equity and leadership begin at home. Look at the broken political, social, and economic systems around us today — they are products of the family. We are all the sum of previous generations, and unless we teach our kids diversity of thought and a more responsible way of looking at life on Earth, we are destined to repeat our mistakes.

We should build businesses, families, and the world on a firm foundation. Right now, this foundation has so many cracks, yet we continue to build on it. Xerox developed the world’s first women’s employee resource group in the 1960s, yet women only make up 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs today. We keep adding Band-aids to a broken branch while the real problem lies deeper at the roots.

Think about how you lead yourself, your family, and your team in the workplace. In Whole-life leadership, the first concern is your mental health, the second is your family, and the third is your work, followed by your community. Within your marriage, it’s about your partner first and then your kids. So many negative issues I see in society today are because people are triggered by their story — the way they were brought up and the narratives and belief systems that were instilled in us. Work on elevating how you show up for those around you by becoming more aware of opportunities and new ways of thinking. Many of us think that because we’ve done something the same way for 20 years, that’s how it should always be done. A shift in focus may unlock the solution you’ve been seeking.

We transform culture when we transform people. If you want to create a thriving, social impact company, you’ll find it in your employees and those living in your home. When there’s an economic downturn, many business leaders cut creative activities first, such as keynote speakers, team-building exercises, or family outings to focus instead on quarterly results. But if you prioritize humanity before productivity, you’ll find greater success.

In the past month, it’s been back to school time again. For many of us that last happened many, many years ago. That’s a shame because business leaders should never stop “going to back school”.

Why? Well, for the simplest of reasons…so they can continue to learn. And as a CEO, entrepreneur, founder or manager gets older and assumes leadership roles, they are seven ways they should keep learning and teaching to be able to successfully grow and scale a business.

1. Study your “Best” Teacher

Many of us can readily recall our favorite teachers. I can. They taught us lessons that resonate to this day. Perhaps it was because of who they were, or maybe it was what they said, but we learned something, that gave us a sense of achievement then, and that maybe today still helps us navigate life’s challenges. Take a minute to think about who was your favorite teacher, and why?

2. Become a Successful Learner 

To teach your employees, you must first know how to be a successful learner. This holds true for business managers and leaders. The best leaders are in part “the best” because they’re excellent teachers. And they are excellent teachers because they are accomplished learners. They know how to learn, what to learn, and where to learn it from. It is these skills that entrepreneurs trying to scale a business on a rapidly changing playing field must develop. I know this to be true, because we’ve all experienced what can go wrong when leaders assume what they know is most important, or when they have the wrong information, or worse, when they over-rely on management scorecards and reports. These are learning mistakes that can cripple a young company making the leap from startup to managed enterprise. You always want to be open to learning more.

3. Learn to shift into a Leadership Role

When we started our company, in a short period of time, we went from launch pad to earth orbit ready to strike out for the moon. Things happened very fast. As a result, my role changed dramatically. As a consultant for many years, I conceptually knew this shift was necessary, but doing it “for real” was a very different animal than talking about it. I went from making tactical departmental decisions to making company-wide strategic investment decisions. In short, I went from the sales guy to a leadership guy.

4. Start “Walking the Factory Floor”

As a result of this shift to a leadership role, I spent much more time with product development, client service, and finance. I needed to learn about these things to keep us all on the same page and executing effectively and efficiently. One of the things I did was to employ a decidedly low-tech approach in a high-tech business, that as a consultant I called, “walking the factory floor”. 

As a consultant, I consistently found that many company’s problems were rooted in the decisions that were made based on faulty or incomplete information by executives who rarely left the corner office to walk the production line or go out on sales calls (walking the factory floor). They instead relied on what subordinates told them, their own assumptions, or PowerPoint presentations. All of these are good sources of information, but they provide little first-hand knowledge of what employees and customers are really experiencing doing their jobs or using the product.  

As we hired more people and improved the product, I made it part of my daily duties to drop in on people, say hello, and talk. I’d ask questions and listen. During one such visit, I asked an engineer who was writing code for our software if he would screenshot a picture of the code he was working on and email it to me. He looked at me funny, and I said, I want to show my wife what we do every day and where we spend all that capital we raised. He thought that was “cool”. By walking the factory floor, I learned a lot about how we actually made and delivered our product. I got to see real-life details that never showed up on management reports or were voiced in group meetings (more on this later).

5. Learn directly from Customers

I did something similar to learn from our customers. I’d pick up the phone and call them. Yes, as a co-founder, I reviewed NPS (net promoter scores) reports. I also drilled down to the remarks and complaints associated with the NPS scores. And just as I did with our employees, I learned a lot about our customer’s experience using our product. Ultimately, I began to integrate these learnings from our employees and customers to form a big picture snapshot of our weaknesses and opportunities.  

This direct contact was valuable, but I also noticed that our employees and customers not only appreciated the visits, they learned a lot about our vision, values and strategies first hand. So, while leadership retreats to develop vision and values are useful, behaviors like walking the factory floor demonstrates more forcefully core values like the pursuit of knowledge, and how that led to new methods and innovation in production, service and product development. It also reinforced the kind of character we hoped our people would aspire too.  

Identifying and defining values is an essential process, and doing it thoughtfully really matters. For example, it’s not uncommon for a company to state “innovation” as a core value. This is good. But when there’s little demonstration of learning and teaching on the job, innovation just feels like another vague concept…. Like how do we know we’re doing it? In my mind, innovation isn’t really a value. It’s a condition that exists when certain behaviors are practiced consistently. Specifically, practices like learning and teaching are behaviors one can actually see and reinforce.

6. Develop and teach Real Teamwork

Another common value is teamwork. In my business book titled “One Hit Wonder”, I share several stories about teamwork and what can happen when leaders aren’t clear on the definition…often to the detriment of real teamwork itself. Developing teamwork is especially important for young companies as roles are often blurred, systems are absent and deep relationships have yet to be established. As a result, there are often many disagreements among people and departments, where many are inadequately resolved. And since small companies don’t have the luxury of talking things to death, rapid decisions often result in someone not being happy. Like innovation, I believe that teamwork isn’t a value. It’s a condition that exists when certain behaviors are routinely practiced (and taught) by leaders.  

7. Learn to facilitate Constructive Conflict 

One definition of teamwork involves the idea of harmony, and the other involves the concept of synergy. When teamwork is defined as (the search for) harmony, being nice and avoiding arguments become the valued behaviors. So much so that those who offer a different opinion can be accused of not being nice, argumentative, or worse, as being poor team players. This exact wording will even show up on performance evaluations. Worse, these people can be shunned and, in frustration, self-censor simply to go along to get along (and keep their jobs). The overall result is that deadliest of diseases, “group think”.  

On the other hand, if teamwork is defined as synergy, then different ideas are not just allowed, they are encouraged, and conflict is expected. And to make this approach work, it requires the rarest of behaviors, the art of facilitation. When synergy is the behavior we want to develop, constructive conflict becomes a core value. This definition produces an entirely different kind of teamwork. One where disagreement is encouraged as the path to agreement, and where discussion is facilitated based on facts, not opinions or positions of power. In my experience the pursuit of synergy is far better than the pursuit of harmony. 

These learning and teaching tips and examples are lessons that business leaders should reflect upon as millions go back to school, and companies enter one of their busiest times of the year. In summary, here are a few more practices that leaders can hone to raise the level of their game when growing and scaling a business.

• Always be learning, but be sure to check your sources.
• Always be teaching, by demonstrating behaviors consistent with your values.
• Teach more than just methods, teach and develop for character.
• And remember just when you think you know something, consider the possibility that you don’t.

So there you have it – consider these leadership success tips during this back to school season. And if you practice some of these skills, who knows, maybe one day you become someone’s favorite teacher.