In previous episodes, Shannon has talked about the Teamwork Triad—are you curious to see how it plays out in real life? In this episode, Shannon interviews entrepreneur, author, and podcast host Chad Willardson about his Unique Ability^® Dream Team. Learn how to find extraordinary executive assistants who not only support you, but sit in the Teamwork Triad seats that will help you achieve 10x growth.

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Show Notes:

Chad Willardson is an entrepreneur, author, and podcaster from Southern California. He left Merrill Lynch in 2011 to start his own company, Pacific Capital, a wealth management firm serving entrepreneurs.
Teamwork specialist Shannon Waller and Unique Ability specialist Julia Waller introduced the idea of a Unique Ability “Dream Team” to support Chad beyond his business. This team, called the Teamwork Triad, includes a Visionary, an Innovation Manager, and a Focus Manager.
Chad found two extraordinary people he knew would be the right fit through LinkedIn.
Maddie was hired to be Chad’s Strategic EA and handles business-related tasks. Chad calls her his left brain.
Oriya was hired to be Chad’s Operational EA and focuses on personal tasks, marketing, travel planning, and calendar management. Because of her interests and skills in design, Chad calls her his right brain.
What each member of the triad is responsible for can be summed up by “make it up” (Chad, the Visionary), “make it real” (Maddie, the Innovation Manager), and “make it recur” (Oriya, the Focus Manager).
Chad’s main requirement was to find and hire high-caliber individuals who align with his vision and have the mental horsepower to handle complex tasks.
The team uses tools like Asana, Microsoft Teams, and Google Docs for communication and task management.
Regular communication and collaboration are keys to success for a team that works mainly remotely but meets bi-weekly in person. The team meets weekly and has in-person collaboration sessions every other week to align on goals and projects.
The trust and empowerment Chad gives his team leads to his own increased freedom and success as an entrepreneur.
Chad used assessments like Kolbe, CliftonStrengths^®, PRINT^®, and Working Genius to understand each of their strengths and how to best work together.
Chad asked ChatGPT to assess potential clashes given everyone’s assessments, gave its response to Maddie and Oriya, and had them discuss how they would avoid territorial dangers.
From the beginning, Maddie and Oriya forged their friendship and working relationship based on mutual respect for each other’s separate interests and areas of Unique Ability.
Because of how Chad has empowered them, Maddie and Oriya find ways to help each other without having to get Chad involved, thereby keeping his capacity free for his own Unique Ability projects.
Maddie and Oriya have been attending their own workshops with Strategic Coach^® to learn how to use tools such as The Weekly Planner and The Impact Filter^™, which further simplify communication and delegation for all three.
Maddie and Oriya have collected their tips on how entrepreneurs can most effectively work with two executive assistants: “EA Collaboration Guide.”
Freed up from daily business operations, Chad is leveraged to think about bigger opportunities beyond his business, such as Free Zone collaborations with other 10x entrepreneurs.

Resources:

Books:

Podcasts:

Smart Money Parenting

Financial learning app for kids: GravyStack

EA Collaboration Guide:

Pacific Capital website

Personal assessments:

Productivity:

Other resources:

EOS: Entrepreneurial Operating System
Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization, by Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright

Strategic Coach concepts, tools, and books:

The Strategic Coach^® Program
Free Guide to The Entrepreneurial Time System^® PDF download: “The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Time Management”
Free Impact Filter worksheet PDF download
The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller
Unique Ability Teamwork article: “What Are Unique Ability Teams?”
Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

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