The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a bright spotlight on our leaders. With companies switching over to remote working in unprecedented numbers, a new form of leadership is needed.

Although the uncertainty of the time puts pressure on both employees and management, leaders must rise to the occasion and provide the required stability. The secret to effective collaborative leadership lies in collaboration itself. With these 5 principles below as a compass, any decent leader can become a great leader.

1. Converge the Goals

Whether we are managing a project, performing a task, or leading a meeting, ensuring the team has a single, unifying aim is a top priority. This gives direction to the whole team and prevents miscommunication and pointless work. In many group settings, managers start this process in a ‘loose’, relaxed way, but upon realizing they aren’t sure things are going in the right direction, they often end up micromanaging. By keeping the process tight from the outset, tasks are properly delegated using this single, unifying aim. Experts can do their thing, and people can be held accountable for their part in the success of the project. This aim is fundamental, particularly in a remote work context.

2. Organize the Dance

Collaboration is a dance between individual creativity and autonomy. This comes with a high degree of trust between the individual and management. As with any dance, no team member can perform at high intensity 24 hours a day. To really be in tune with the music, with dedication and grace, time off is needed. No one can be expected to answer emails immediately day-in-day-out. No one is productive every moment of the day. When team members have the space and the trust from their management to withdraw into silence when they need it, they can come back into the collaborative dance with better results, more reflections, and an active engagement in the creative process. Here, the role of the leader is to ensure the work is done by those who have the ability and the opportunity to do so, in a setting that works for them.

3. Lead and Localize the Climate

A remote work environment presents unique challenges. Without specific care for this culture, a team performs as the mere sum of parts; anonymous participants of a Zoom-meeting with their cameras and microphones switched off. When the environment is safe, and vulnerability is encouraged, employees feel comfortable to truly allow their expertise to shine and contribute to the whole. Brough quotes Dr. Timothy Clark, who describes psychological safety as “an environment of rewarded vulnerability.” This requires courage from both the team and managers to uncover vulnerability and to call out difficult topics. Leaders who go into this formerly uncharted territory by creating psychological safety can bring people together in a way that makes the whole greater than the sum of parts. This aspect might be the most elusive trait but is the most critical right now. Here lies the greatest area of growth for many leaders.

4. Assess the Process/Priorities

A remote context and an increasingly relevant ‘gig-economy call for more of an entrepreneurial approach and staying on top of the network. Who are we working with, how are we working with them, and what are the desired outcomes? Space and platform can greatly influence productivity and collaboration. In a world with seemingly infinite possibilities (various online meeting tools, digital whiteboards, or corporate social media networks), simply emailing back and forth means missing out on the opportunity to work as if the team were all in the same room. It is the responsibility of the leader to decide on the right platform, map the network and divide the responsibilities. When management provides a clear view, tools, and conditions, the team thrives.

5. Build in Bandwidth and Measures

Many teams work in a synchronous way, where the team works at the same time together. Everyone attends the same meetings. Brough suspects more companies will switch to an asynchronous approach where meetings are for collaboration and decision-making but not mandatory. He states that the current synchronous way of working is not sustainable; email traffic and the number of meetings have shot up exponentially; no one can attend all the meetings and answer all emails with thorough attention without the risk of burnout. An asynchronous approach can create more bandwidth and higher quality outcomes and outputs.

All these principles come together as a commitment the leader makes to the team. It results in a work environment where people have the clarity, the opportunity, the culture, the tools, and the bandwidth to perform successfully. What it takes is a leader who will commit to giving their team this opportunity for success. Brough summarizes this in a charter: “As a team member or leader, I make a personal commitment aligning my choices and behaviors to my team purpose, and embracing positive conflict and collaboration.”

Following these principles allows for the collaboration to be a dance between creativity, capability, and convergence; it enables leaders and their teams to navigate their way to corporate success like they’ve never seen before.

With any initiative or venture, getting started can present challenges from financial planning and hiring decisions to industry preferences and market strategies.

While the process of creating, operating, and scaling a business is both challenging and rewarding, you should be sure that your intentions are clear from the very beginning.

The adage of “start with the end in mind” is a relatively ancient one, with notable figures like the Stoic philosopher Seneca and Stephen Covey, the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, both referencing the concept in their works. Clarifying your end goals and true intentions before you begin a project, especially one as involved and demanding as starting a business, can give you guidance, direction, and insight that you might otherwise lack.

By planning ahead, taking steps to make your goals a reality, and keeping a firm grasp on the end you desire, you can make your business venture more effective and successful. I dive deeper into these principles below so you can understand how to make them work for you and your career goals. 

Working with Clarity, Efficiency, and Purpose

By establishing clear end goals before diving into a new venture, you can improve how you execute essential preparations, functions, and strategies. When you start a business knowing what you ultimately want to accomplish, you will be able to make decisions that are better tailored to helping you achieve your goals without as much deliberation or confusion.

Clarity is key for any entrepreneur. By establishing end goals and priorities, you can give more attention to essential tasks and productive pursuits, resulting in higher rates of efficiency and optimization. Setting specific intentions and goals for your business venture can eliminate wasted time and give you a sense of purpose, especially if your business goals align well with your personal ideals. Striving to achieve meaningful goals can make the labor required to start and manage a new business more appealing and satisfying.

The practice of starting with the end in mind is productive and fulfilling, and aspiring entrepreneurs should prioritize this mindset to encourage greater clarity, efficiency, and purpose in their work.

Answer the Big Questions

Before you start a business, you should ask yourself some big concept questions to better understand what you really want to achieve and how you want to accomplish your goals. These questions might include:

• What are you good at? Think about your skills, qualities, and characteristics.

• What problems can you help to solve? Be as specific and niche as possible.

• As you work to solve a problem, what will be your real differentiator? And is this part of your natural skill set? 

• What do you need to learn to assist? Or how can you help develop a team that can assist as well?

Questions like these are not always straightforward to answer. You may not have a concrete answer right away, but addressing the big, long-term questions can give you a more actionable idea of how you want to build and run your business, not only at the very beginning but throughout its existence, as well.

Explore Your Exit Options

Deciding on an exit strategy before making other strides toward starting your business may feel unproductive, but knowing your options and preferences can help you make informed, strategic decisions.

The number of exit options available to businesses is relatively plentiful, but entrepreneurs must understand that not all exit options are equally beneficial to all businesses. Assessing exit options by comparing the anticipated complexity and effort of the transaction(s) with the potential value or price of the sale will be effective in helping you determine which options may best suit your business idea and goals.

These options may range from giving control of your business to family or friends (a low-profit and low-effort transaction) to creating an initial public offering or IPO (a potentially high-value and high-effort course). Depending on your desired level of involvement, business experience, legacy aspirations, and more, you may determine that some exit options are unappealing or ill-fitting for your venture.

You do not necessarily need to settle on a single exit option before getting started, but it is essential to consider the options available so that you can plan ahead.

Construct a Solid Business Plan

Once you have an idea of what you want to achieve and how you expect your business to progress, you should construct a business plan that accounts for these goals. When composing this document, you should identify your financial needs in addition to what you hope your business will look like, offer, and accomplish. This document will serve as a formal guide for your business and any potential partners and investors you might attract later.

Suppose you find that you do not fully understand aspects of the business or you cannot accommodate alone. In that case, you can devote time and energy to acquiring the necessary information, resources, and connections. Creating a solid, comprehensive business plan ahead of time can guide you toward productive and proactive business decisions to help you accomplish your goals in effective, efficient ways.

Account for Flexibility and Change

Even after crafting a thorough business plan, remember that you will likely make changes in the future, especially if you have plans to be involved with this business for a long time. Knowing what you want to ultimately accomplish with your business is important, but you should also acknowledge that external factors — such as market conditions, technological standards, and customer needs — may change over time. Additionally, your priorities and interests may shift, resulting in the need for reevaluation.

Before starting a new venture, you should still prioritize assessing your business goals to help guide you, even if those goals may change. Having direction early on can position you and your business for success regardless of shifting priorities and aspirations.

Entrepreneurs looking to start a new business should take care to identify their needs and goals before beginning the process. Doing so will grant you more clarity, efficiency, productivity, and fulfillment as you endeavor to establish and manage your new business. Before you get started with any project, envision how you want it to end, and you may find that the process of creating, operating, and growing your business is more effective and successful.

Leaders’ work lives have become a whirlwind of daily demands — packed schedules, urgent meetings, pressing deadlines, and grinding out as much productivity as possible. 

Notifications and other interruptions fracture their attention further, undermining the ability to advance their most vital efforts. While these obligations will always have a place, leaders can be more intentional about designing schedules that advance their most important work. Here are seven practices grounded leaders use to shape their lives.

1. Think bigger.

To-do lists and urgent demands narrow a leader’s focus resulting in days consumed with less significant tasks and smaller outcomes. Establish a weekly ritual to counteract this tendency by reconnecting with your most meaningful and valuable aspirations. With this improved vantage point, you will see more valuable actions and find the resolve to counter the forces that attempt to undermine better choices.

2. Think smaller.

Escaping ingrained patterns requires better choices. Don’t fall into the trap of making too many changes at once. Commit to one behavioral change that will meaningfully impact your life. It’s easy to forget that small changes create the momentum that leads to big, enduring shifts.

3. Unproductive patterns.

Escaping unproductive work patterns is no easy task. Review how you invested your time during the prior week. Where did you fulfill your intentions? Where were you blown off course (external forces)? Where did you wander (internal resistance)? Design a countermeasure to break one of your unproductive patterns in the week ahead.

4. Leverage boundaries.

You can expect to face 50–60 unplanned interruptions per day. Achieving anything of significance requires focused attention. Design your week to include protections that fence you off from people and devices. With protections from external distractions in place, you can more readily focus on advancing your most meaningful priorities.

5. Blank canvas.

Each week offers an unlimited number of ways to invest your time. Taking back control involves consciously designing days that enliven you versus unconsciously reacting to the whirlwind around you (an ongoing design challenge). Design time for health, fun, family, and friends — not just work. As importantly, be sure to design space for recovery and doing nothing at all.

6. Concentrated effort.

Your most significant work is a function of uninterrupted time and the focus you bring. Arrive committed to applying focused effort, or you will sabotage your protected time with less demanding, superficial work that you perceive as more pressing. Become skilled in resisting these diversions.

7. Daily escapes.

The design you envision for your day will come under attack. Rather than succumbing to forces that could undermine your intentions, imagine and enact escape paths. It takes just one second to switch from a less effective choice to a better one. 

The power to manifest a professional life filled with greater meaning and impact comes down to the quality of your imagination and choices. Little by little, your weekly adjustments in thought and effort, stacked one atop the other, can create dramatic breakthroughs in the quality of your outcomes and work experience.

“You have to be honest and authentic and not hide. I think the leader today has to demonstrate both transparency and vulnerability, and with that comes truthfulness and humility.” — Howard Schultz  

Although this is changing, there are still leaders today who are afraid to let their guard down, share their feelings and admit that they don’t have all the answers. The pace of change is accelerating so quickly that one person at the top can’t have all the answers. Leaders need to rely upon the people around them for knowledge, answers to difficult problems, and support. The only way to survive and thrive in today’s workforce is to have all hands on deck. Old myths, misconceptions, and fears die hard. One of those myths is that vulnerability is a sign of weakness and that a leader who shows vulnerability will lose the respect of his colleagues.  Nothing could be further from the truth as it has been shown that leaders who can be vulnerable create healthier, more effective workplaces. 

“Vulnerability is the best measure of courage.” — Brené Brown 

Being vulnerable and showing oneself to others is actually a sign of courage and self-confidence in a leader. This doesn’t mean that they just let it all hang out, spilling out their emotions whenever they feel like it. Successful leaders know when the time and place are right to show their real and authentic selves. 

Here are seven reasons that vulnerability is an attribute in leaders: 

1. Decreases Tension and Stress at Work

Have you ever worked somewhere with an elephant in the room, and nobody was talking about it? Avoiding and tiptoeing around secrets at work can be very stressful. Everyone’s blood pressure rises trying to figure out ways of avoiding uncomfortable topics when they come up. Stress could be decreased considerably by acknowledging uncomfortable topics and allowing people to talk about them. If everyone sees that their leaders can bring up unpopular areas for discussion, they will feel freer and less stressed to talk about them as well.  

2. Increases Flow of Ideas, Creativity, and Innovation

By acknowledging that they don’t have all the answers, leaders give freedom for all staff to have input and have their feedback and ideas considered. By admitting their mistakes, managers give their staff more room to contribute their feedback and ideas to the organization. Leaders who acknowledge they made poor decisions and can still forgive themselves, through their example, let those under them know that it is okay to take risks and try something new and untried. This leads to more ideas coming forth at all levels, creating a more dynamic, competitive organization.  

3. Better Communication Flow

A leader of an organization sets the tone for what is acceptable and not acceptable to talk about. If able to be open and share information honestly and authentically, a leader sends a strong message that this is not only acceptable throughout the organization but it is the norm. Team members will feel that it is okay to open up and share. This keeps the communication channels flowing more smoothly.  A great idea to start a meeting is a brief “check-in” around the table with each person.  This will give insight into where and how each individual is coping in their real world and an understanding of where they are coming from.  Empathy leads to understanding and imparts a healthy communication flow. 

4. Problems Identified Earlier

Many times people are afraid to bring bad news and problems to their leaders as they are afraid that the information will not be well received. By the time the leaders find out what is really going on, a great deal of damage could have been done, making the situation more difficult to resolve than if they had found out earlier. Staff who witness their leaders being vulnerable and admitting their mistakes are more likely to come forward as they are less likely to feel retribution for being the bearer of bad news.  

5. Better Teamwork and Cooperation

Workplaces with closed and aloof leaders lends people to look for ways to get ahead by currying favour with and trying to impress their leaders. There is a greater occurrence of backstabbing and not sharing information amongst staff as they see people who have gained positions of authority acting in that way. They are constantly trying to guess and determine what those above them want and spend time and energy trying to determine what they need to do to get the approval of those above them and win a promotion. This energy could be spent more productively working together for the overall good of the organization.  

6. Creates a Fun Workplace

A workplace with a lot of secrets is not a healthy or fun place to work. Always being on guard and having to be careful what we share and with whom can dampen down the spirit and create a workplace that people dread coming to every day. A leader who is open, vulnerable, and authentic raises the mood of the work environment and creates a healthy, vibrant atmosphere that everyone looks forward to being part of. 

7. Emotional Connections Leads to Less Turnover

A great deal of workplace research points out that being emotionally connected to a workplace is often a deciding factor on whether or not people will stay or look elsewhere.  An open, honest and authentic leadership makes it much more likely that staff at all levels will feel a connection to the organization at an emotional level when they feel connected with their leaders. They are less likely to jump ship, even for more money or benefits, when they feel their leaders have their best interests at heart.

Every business faces the possibility of the unexpected — those events and challenges it’s never faced and that its people have never experienced. As a leader, such surprises may leave you wholly unprepared. You may not have any of the facts or skills you need to get through them and move forward. You may not have the time to dig into a lengthy decision-making process to find a solution. For a start-up, these surprises can be devastating — throwing you off course when there’s no margin for error.

But there’s one thing that will give you better footing for weathering these unforeseen events and obstacles — and that’s a solid foundation. A good foundation is built on understanding your product, exploring and solidifying your brand, and building a minimal viable product that hits its target spot-on. It will provide you with the flexibility you need to sidestep many potential issues ad overcome the challenges that inevitably arise. Creating that foundation should be on every start-up leader’s agenda.

Here’s how: 

Understand your brand.

Your brand’s goals and vision are what guide you on your journey, so consider them carefully. What problems does your product solve? What is the message behind your company and product? What are the values that drive your brand, and what does your company aim to accomplish? How is your product enhancing people’s lives? The answers to these questions will give you solid ground to stand on when problems arise.

Watch your speed.

As a founder or executive, you often don’t have blind spots on failure until you crash right into it. Many companies get caught in the momentum of rapid growth. I’ve seen many founders tempted to stop listening to their most experienced staff — regardless of the value of the guidance, the prospect of slowing seems too dangerous. As a result, the business keeps running, but it’s actually less able to scale at the speed it could be capable of.

Build a trustworthy collective.

Sometimes we are unable to make quick decisions without an experienced group to guide us, assist us, and challenge us. The people you surround yourself with are integral to identifying disconnects and finding effective strategy solutions at critical moments. While you might not have all the answers, your company as a whole may have the resources and experience to solve even the toughest problems.

If you’re a tech founder without any experience building a company — since this is your first — this type of collective tactical powerhouse may seem a lofty goal. But all you need to do is to surround yourself with experienced people and listen to them. Your support team will act as a Sherpa to guide you on your climb as you begin the difficult process of raising more funds and will help you explore potential disconnects before they happen.

Recognize the disconnects.

Recognize the disconnects between where you are and where you want to be. Such an analysis can also help you pinpoint the areas where you might fail and let you prepare for and address potential disconnect possibilities.

You are constantly creating, sourcing, exploring, dreaming, and pitching. But this is just the point where those pesky disconnects rear their heads. Your chief nemesis is the Product/Market Fit Disconnect, where a product must prove itself to be marketable to be minimally valuable. And as you let go of your product and share it with the public, you will face the Minimum Viable Repeatability Disconnect, which must be conquered to set the stage for repeatable success. At this point, you face the insanely challenging shift from market to scale. But first, you must triumph over the Customer Voice Disconnect, Process Disconnect, and Measurement Disconnect.

Understanding why and when these disconnects happen is the secret sauce of successful start-ups. It gives companies the confidence to move forward and the ability to handle any curveballs thrown their way.

Your company is built from the ground up—not just your product, but your values, mission, vision, and team as well. If your business goals are well integrated into your operations and employee culture, if you have cultivated an environment of trustworthy people, and if you have anticipated any possible disconnects, then you have developed the resilience to navigate difficult situations and the ability to make effective, thoughtful strategic decisions.

Exploring and understanding your start-up’s potential disconnects gives you added strength and the capacity to scale faster and more fearlessly as you navigate critical crossroads.

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain

There is, perhaps, nothing that harms an organization more than a lack of trust in those leading it. Yet trust seems to be a very fickle idea, challenging to develop and maintain, yet so easy to destroy. Developing a culture of trust in organizations is a difficult, painstaking journey, but it can be done if the will is there. Trust must begin from the top to be developed throughout an organization. If top management is not trusted, it gives the perception that it is everyone for themselves and opens up rationale for building a culture of mistrust.

Here are seven essentials for leaders to develop trust:

1. Confident in their own abilities.

A leader who is not confident in themselves or was promoted on reasons other than merit will always be looking over their shoulders, always fearing they will be found out or someone better will be looking to take their job. Such a leader will have difficulty trusting those under them and will not inspire trust amongst their staff. Confident leaders are secure in their own skin and not worried about how they will appear to others. This will allow them to make the right decisions without worrying what others will think of them.

2. Always tell the truth.

Leaders who are trusted tell the truth even when it is easier and more convenient to lie or leave out embarrassing facts. They also come clean and “tell all” in situations where there is little or no chance that the truth will be discovered. I remember receiving an email from someone at a college apologizing for referring to my book without my permission. Since there was no chance that I would have ever discovered this, this person’s actions spoke volumes about his honesty and integrity. There is perhaps no better way for a leader to develop trust than to tell the truth, especially when that truth would not likely have been discovered.

3. Do the right thing.

One of the easiest ways for a leader to lose trust is to do what is convenient and beneficial for them rather than what is right. This sets up a culture where staff feel justified to primarily look out for themselves rather than doing what is most beneficial for the organization. Doing the right thing usually means doing the most difficult thing, even if it means taking a personal risk. Leaders who do this are held up as examples of integrity for others to follow. If the leader has made a mistake, coming clean and owning up to the mistake will earn the respect and trust of those under them. This has been shown to be the case with great political leaders such as John F. Kennedy when he demonstrated vulnerability by admitting they have made mistakes.

4. Consistent with their message to their superiors and their staff.

A sure way to develop a culture of mistrust is for managers to be found saying one thing to those in positions above them and another way to their staff. This makes staff feel like they are being used to make their manager look good and win them a promotion. This is not a good way to build motivation and trust in the workplace. Trust develops when staff are confident their management will have a consistent message regardless of the audience. Leaders who have a consistent message to their superiors and staff will be perceived to be working for the overall good of the organization rather than for their own personal advancement.

5. Share accurate information in a timely manner.

In the absence of accurate and timely information, rumors spread. Often the rumors paint a worse picture of the situation than would exist if the truth were told. Withholding information gives staff the message they are not to be trusted to know the truth and therefore sets up a culture of suspicion and mistrust that rumors will only feed and fuel. Weak leaders see information as power and will attempt to withhold information as a means of maintaining control over their reports. Strong leaders look for ways to empower those under them, and sharing information quickly is one way that they can achieve this.

6. Communicate vision, values and abide by them.

A sure way to lose trust in an organization is for management to be seen as having one set of rules for themselves and another for their staff. If there is a value statement that management has developed for the organization, they need to ensure they follow those values themselves before expecting their staff will follow them. If not, staff will see the values as a way to manipulate and control them rather than a set of values that would guide and motivate everyone in the organization to strive towards a shared goal.

7. Treat everyone fairly and give credit where due.

One of the most common complaints in the workplace is favoritism and unfair treatment. Treating everyone fairly, consistently and give credit to those who deserve it is one of the most difficult things for leaders to do. We all have our own biases, and certain people appeal to us more than others. One of the challenges of leadership is to see beyond personal preferences and clearly see the value that each person brings to the organization.

Whether you’re leading a business that’s struggling to recover since the pandemic or growing one of the many startups that have sprung up over the past year, hiring and retaining top talent is perhaps the single most strategic lever for turning modest, or even meager, resources into outstanding results. 

At the same time, it’s also an aspect of running a business that many executives take for granted or even delegate completely. It’s not difficult to see why — recruitment, hiring, and talent development can be time-consuming, not to mention the lasting impact making the wrong hire can have on your company’s finances and morale. But as a leader accountable for the success of your organization, you ultimately own the results of the hiring process, for better or for worse.

So how can you ensure quality hires for the success of your business, especially when you’re short on time, budget and need results fast? While there’s no guarantee you’ll always make the perfect hire, there is a way to ensure you’ll get the very best results out of those you do bring on board: by making the pursuit of excellence the norm in your company culture. 

Creating an Aspirational Identity of Excellence

As any experienced school teacher will tell you, not everyone is a top performer right out of the gate, but those with the right mindset and motivation can improve by leaps and bounds. We call these rapid growers — and this is the behavioral standard you want each employee to aspire to from day one.

Use this three-step process to build an aspirational identity that you can use to shape even the least motivated and skilled employees into top performers.

Step 1: Name the top three rapid growers on your team, either currently or from the past. Those who really push past obstacles to achieve excellence, stand apart from the pack, and shine. Picture them walking through their workdays, and list 10-15 simple, concrete, replicable behaviors they exhibit.

Step 2: Name three to five team members who are simply not cutting it and identify the single most important behavior each could change to really turn things around. For example, one may need to take more responsibility, while another should improve their follow-through. List them out.

Step 3: Use these two lists to create three to five key “We Always” and “We Never” statements for your organization. (For example, “This is who we are. We always….” or “That’s not who we are. We never…” 

This master list of behaviors is the aspirational identity for your culture. Once you’ve solidified it, use it to inform your hiring, onboarding, and employee motivation strategies. 

Hiring Differently

Great leaders build their expectations of performance into the hiring process. Map each candidate’s traits to the key behaviors in your aspirational identity, and then allow candidates to actively choose those behaviors.

To accomplish this:

• Set the tone from day one. Interview candidates with one or more of your top performers who go above and beyond. Show them what the baseline looks like on your team.

• Instead of focusing so much on what candidates say in the interview, focus on how they behave. Anyone competent enough to get the job is competent enough to tell you exactly what you want to hear in your hiring process.

• Give candidates the good, bad, and ugly about the company and the role, as well as behavioral expectations — then ask them to opt in or out. Those who opt in will be “inoculated” to the major landmines of your work and committed to the organization’s identity. 

This way, candidates are eyes wide-open and energetically choosing the behaviors and mindsets that will make them successful, which saves weeks of wasted time on a potentially bad hire and creates a culture of commitment to high expectations. 

Onboarding Differently

New hires are incredibly impressionable, so continue reinforcing who they’ve chosen to be in the onboarding process.

Start by exposing them to positive peer pressure, using your aspirational identity as a guide. Carefully select top performers and have them recount instances when they had to choose those aspirational behaviors to get things done. Curate a set of emails showing off your best team members, print them out, and use it as part of your onboarding handbook for new hires.

Stories from peers are stickier than concepts. By showcasing these examples of excellence, new teammates will see a person who is no different from them, faces the same challenges and opportunities, and succeeds through the specific behaviors and mindsets you’ve identified. They will continue to draw on these stories for guidance when tackling daily obstacles on the job.

Recognizing and Rewarding Daily

As a leader, it’s up to you to continually make behavioral expectations explicit to all employees long past the onboarding process. Tell legends of successful teammates and the specific choices they made. Make their names into verbs. By translating “who we are” into specific, real-life, in-your-face examples, you create an armada of motivated team members who will push themselves, not just to grow and achieve results, but to fit in — and to possibly become legends themselves one day. 

In addition, schedule time in your week to regularly acknowledge the behaviors of individuals that meet or exceed expectations, both privately and publicly. Take 20 minutes to sit down with your master list of key behaviors and ask yourself, “Which team member exhibited these behaviors this week?” Then, send an email naming the behavior and thanking them for it. It doesn’t even have to be praise. You simply have to say that you noticed it for someone to change their expectations for themselves, set a new bar, and forever push to achieve higher outcomes. 

Before you hit send on an email, consider making the recognition more public. When the whole team hears it, it’s like a stream of recipes for emulating success from the example of a peer. 

After all, human beings calibrate their behavior to what’s normal. If you can make even the most extraordinary behaviors seem ubiquitous throughout your organization, you can normalize growth and excellence for your whole team. 

Do you remember Alice, the little girl who fell down a rabbit hole and ended up in Wonderland?

As Alice wandered about Wonderland, she came upon a Cheshire Cat with a distinctive, mischievous grin. Alice and the shorthair tabby engaged in a conversation: 

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?  

Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to. 

Alice: I don’t much care where— 

Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go… 

Alice: So long as I get somewhere, Alice added as an explanation.  

Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if you only walk long enough. 

The cat was implying that if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there! 

Too many people are on their way to somewhere, with little to no idea what or where somewhere is. They assure themselves that someday they’ll know what and where somewhere is because, well, aren’t they on their way there?  

Sadly, when it comes to business continuity and succession planning, most business owners are like Alice — on their way to somewhere, yet with little to no idea what or where somewhere is, while hoping that someday they’ll find the perfect exit plan, somewhere.  

Without an idea of how to execute a succession or business continuity plan, the tragic truth is that the typical businessperson who has spent a career building a successful business will rarely see the business continue beyond his or her involvement. These business owners will continue to work their way through Wonderland, hoping that someday they might find that elusive successor somewhere who can continue to grow the business after they’ve exited.  

Unless business owners are as intentional about their succession plan as they are about their business plan, when the time to exit is upon them, they’ll discover that somewhere is a dead-end road where the company comes to an abrupt stop once they move on.  

However, when business owners set off on a clearly defined course to build a company that someone else will want to take over, they not only recoup the investment they’ve put into the company, but they work to structure the company in such a way that it can succeed after they leave. In so doing, they build the kind of firm that people will clamor to buy once they opt to step aside.  

The succession plan begins with creating a business that isn’t dependent upon its founder. Businesses whose survival is dependent upon the founder’s continued involvement are unable to become a legacy business. This is a common case among doctors, attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and the like.   

To ensure succession and not cessation, newly-minted entrepreneurs will want to begin envisioning what their life will look like at age 60, even though they may be less than halfway there. While it can be difficult to think of the end while relatively near the beginning, the earlier they start planning for their eventual exit, the easier it will be to become emotionally prepared to do so when the time comes. Envisioning themselves selling their successful firm to someone willing to buy it for a king’s ransom gives them somewhere to aim for. 

Business owners will want to keep these objectives in mind as they undertake their succession planning:  

1. Start with the end in mind. 

To avoid the Alice in Wonderland syndrome, entrepreneurs need to heed the words of Stephen Covey: Always begin with the end in mind. As soon as a business is viable, an owner needs to begin planning for his or her eventual exit. Don’t wander around Wonderland hoping to end up somewhere someday. Focus on what a great ending might look like and then prepare for it with ruthless conviction. The more a founder structures the business to be sold one day, the better the results will be, both near and long term. 

2. Be an owner, not a renter. 

This advice doesn’t necessarily pertain to real estate. It’s more about an attitude upon which to approach life. To carry the metaphor further, owners always improve their property, fighting to preserve it and making it as beautiful as it can be. Renters aren’t as invested in upkeep.  

3. Build a company worth buying. 

Building a sustainable, salable, multi-generational firm is doable, but it takes a commitment to see it through. This requires transparency and keeping impeccably accurate books. It also means paying attention to what differentiates the business from its competitors and nurturing this unique value proposition with great care. A sustainable business is one that people want to come and be a part of every day. At the same time, cultivate the next generation of leadership by mentoring or diligently seeking the right person to sustain the business into the future. 

Everyone, whether intentionally or not, has established an exit plan. The vast majority have a cessation plan, but few have established a succession plan — a plan for the business to continue. Ending with the beginning in mind sets an organization and its founder on an intentional road that will bring them to their desired destination.