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Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

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Apr 4, 2018 • 49min

093: PJ Brady - Become a Master at Public Speaking

Are you afraid of public speaking? Have you tried it in the past because you understand the benefits, but you don’t feel 100% confident in your ability yet? Well, this episode is for you! Today’s special guest discusses how you can get over your fear and become masterful — not just great — at public speaking.   PJ Brady was the Vice President of Europe, Middle East/ Pakistan, and Africa for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and is currently the Founder of 42 Walls, where he helps people inform, inspire, and influence others.   Not everybody was born reaching for the mic, but PJ grew up being a theatre kid. Through his experiences volunteering for a non-profit that specializes in developing community broadways, he was able to teach his fellow volunteers how to get comfortable being in front of a group of people.   The biggest barrier to achieving greatness often happens within your own brain. If you want to get comfortable being on stage, then you have to be comfortable in your own skin first. You can learn how to bullshit everyone else, but you can not bullshit yourself and that is one of the reasons why speaking in front of an audience is so terrifying.   The biggest ‘bullshit test’ you can do on yourself is to look yourself in the mirror and rehearse your story. Bill recommends retelling your story 10 times in that mirror to see how it feels. For him, when he did it, it was the fifth or sixth time when things really began clicking for him.   People have told PJ that this mirror exercise is the most awkward thing they’ve ever done. Some people even walk out during this session. People hate it. However, there’s a silver lining; once people finish this exercise, they feel much more comfortable in their own skin and progress gets made.   Interview Links: 42walls.com PJ on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  
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Mar 28, 2018 • 56min

092: Rob Simons - Have You Ever Had a ‘Good’ Meeting?

Meetings! They take up our time and nothing actionable ever gets done by the end of it. No one really likes meetings. However, good meetings can actually give you back time. How can you execute a good meeting so that everyone will feel happy and more productive by the end of it? This week’s guest shares how!   Rob Simons is a Certified Gazelles Coach, the Strategy Summit Facilitator and Accelerator Facilitator for Entrepreneurs’ Organization, and has over 25 years of experience as a brand expert, business coach, and entrepreneur!   Rob grew up during the beginning of the personal computer revolution. He started his first publishing firm at 23 and started his first branding firm at 25. A defining moment for him was going to an all-day workshop with Verne Harnish and that’s when he realized how much he didn’t know about how to run a business. Things really started to kick off from there. In 2011, Rob started coaching clients on a full-time basis.   One of the biggest mistakes Rob made was not getting an outside coach. He thought, “I’m a smart guy. I can figure it out.” Yet, even the best golfers in the world have a coach and running a business is no different.   When Rob was running his businesses, he hated meetings. He had a lot on his plate and the last thing he wanted to do was sit in a room for an hour. However, good, effective meetings on a regular basis set you free. One client told Rob that he was able to reduce his email by 60% just by having good meetings.   In our digital world, so many things get lost in translation via email. Don’t try to have important conversations via email. At best, have a video conference if you need to talk. 60-70% of language is non-verbal, so you have to be able to see your team to fully understand the meanings behind the words they say.   Believe it or not, having a daily huddle or a daily meeting can actually be very beneficial to you and the organization. However, so many clients hate doing the daily huddle. It sounds simple, but talking to each other every day and having good communication within the organization go hand-in-hand and the daily huddle helps bridge that.   After you’ve established good daily huddle habits, then what’s the point of having a weekly meeting? The weekly meeting is basically helping you close your books. It gives you a quick recap of what was done that week. Some people like to do this monthly, but truth be told, most people can’t remember what happened 3 weeks ago and things often, again, get lost in communication.   With any good meeting, you have to have an agenda, an outline, of what you’re going to talk about and you have to make sure you follow it! If you don’t have an agenda and you’re just winging it, then it’s never going to work.   Interview Links: Petracoach.com Rob on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  
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Mar 21, 2018 • 32min

091: Mark Sanborn - What’s Your True Potential?

We all want to reach our potential yet nobody really knows what that really is. So, how can we recognize and keep hitting new levels of our potential? Well, today’s guest has all the answers.   Mark Sanborn is the president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea lab for leadership development and turning ordinary into extraordinary. He is also the author of The Fred Factor and his most recent book, The Potential Principle, which is what we’ll be talking about on today’s episode!   Mark got into competitive public speaking when he was ten years old and later in life, he went on and founded Sanborn & Associates. He wanted to help leaders communicate better and turn them from ordinary to extraordinary.   Mark wrote The Potential Principle after working 30+ years with leaders. Mark realized that his clients were already really, really good at what they do. However, it dawned on him that in order for them to continue being the best at what they do, they had to continue to get better and improve themselves — but how could they do that if they were already the top leaders in their industry? They have no one else to emulate. They’re on the frontlines and they’re making things up as they go.   The more you learn about any particular skill or industry, the more you realize you have to learn. There’s nothing wrong with arriving at your destination in your industry but the real problem is when you stop growing and stop challenging yourself to reach a new level of potential.   What is the Potential Principle? Well, in a nutshell, we all know how good we’ve become, but none of us know how good we can be. The potential principle highlights this problem to help you realize and plan where your ‘next’ step is. As Mark was researching the book, he found out that 58% of professionals said they had a commitment to getting better, but only 30% had a plan. Commitment without a plan is just wishful thinking and daydreaming.   Interview Links: Potentialprinciple.com MarkSanborn.com   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  
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Mar 14, 2018 • 44min

090: Lara Hodgson - Creating Innovation Without Big Pockets

We would all like to be an innovative company breaking out of the traditional model. When we think innovation, we think of companies like Apple, Tesla, and SpaceX. Do you have an innovative company that comes to your mind that you wish you could emulate? Are you afraid it comes with big budgets, lots of resources, and time? Well, today’s show is all about how you can become innovative without the big pockets.   Lara Hodgson is the President and CEO of NOW Corp, a company she co-founded to free small businesses from the burden of funding trade credit and to enable small business growth. She also serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard Business School.   Lara went to Georgia Institute of Technology where she majored in Aerospace Engineering. Her professor told her she had an engineering mind and a liberal arts personality; She loved problem-solving, but she was very extroverted and loved worked with people at the same time.   Lara applied for a program to go to Japan while she was still in university and she found herself learning Japanese and not speaking a word of English during her time over there. It was difficult and she was completely out of her comfort zone. This is when she discovered that she really didn’t want to be a research engineer anymore. She wanted to be creative.   The good news is, being creative is not about learning how to sing or draw, it’s about being a good problem solver. It’s about looking at the same thing as everyone else and seeing something different.   Fast forward a couple of years, Lara’s career is booming, she’s finding herself working alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Home Depot, Nike, and Coca-Cola, but it was time for her to go off on her own and build her own company. She wanted to be a great wife, mom, and CEO but she wasn’t sure that this was possible if she was working for somebody else.   During this time as a new mom, she kept finding herself having spilled drinks all over her car and there wasn’t really anything out there that was ‘spill-proof’ for babies. So, going back to her problem-solving roots, she co-founded a company called Nourish, a patented line of spill-proof bottled water for kids and ready-to-serve bottles for babies.   Great news! She started out small and suddenly her product was being bought by wholefoods. She was high-fiving her business partner in excitement until they realized … the company is going to have to grow to the point of death, that they’re not actually going to be able to make ends meet, and that this deal would actually put them out of business.   Everything that Lara and her business partner had done right was actually going to be the very thing that would put them out of business. Lara’s greatest strength, her spill-proof product that was selling like crazy, became her greatest weakness. This is when she found herself needing to innovative on a small budget.   Interview Links: Now-Corp.com Lara on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  
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Mar 7, 2018 • 41min

089: Chuck Kocher - Transform Your Company in a Remarkable Way

Today’s show is all about how to transform your company in a remarkable way. Do you want to 10x your company and bring it to the next level? Well, that requires real transformation and this week’s guest has all the answers!   Chuck Kocher is a Certified Executive Leadership Coach and the Owner of The Transformation Company. He works one-on-one with business owners all over the world who are serious about taking their businesses and lives to exceptional levels.   Chuck’s first mentor asked Chuck what he wanted to learn at his first job, he replied with, “Everything.” She told him to keep that desire and ambition for the rest of his career and he will succeed.   Chuck credits another mentor for helping him give him the gift of thinking. Chuck was excellent at execution but was not connecting the dots from execution to vision and strategy. Chuck’s mentor really challenged him to be better, to not just look at the product, but to also look at the market as well. It took him a couple of years before he got it right, but this was his first introduction to how good companies get transformed and scale up.   One of Chuck’s clients was a husband-and-wife team where their company had stagnated in growth. They also wanted their son to take over the business. However, they weren’t sure if he was coachable or the right fit for it. After arranging a family business meeting, Chuck asked the family point blank, “Are you willing to change to take this company to the next level?” Everyone said yes, and with a lot of sweat and tears, amazing things began to happen.   Transformation takes a lot of work to achieve. Chuck helped the family set their BHAG. They wanted to take their $8-million company up to $33 million. This meant a change in leadership styles and company culture. With these shifts, the company was able to hit two 10-year BHAGs in five years! 11 years later, they are now close to doing $55 million, employ 1,500 people, and they rank number three in their franchise.   Why do some people fail the transformation process? Well, usually, one in five to one in four people will quit the process midway through. First, the leadership team is just unwilling to change their approach. Growth simply can not happen if the leadership style doesn’t change and evolve the higher up you go. Second, the leadership is just unwilling to make those ‘daring’ moves to get their company from point A to point B.   Interview Links: Thetransformation.company   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  
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Feb 21, 2018 • 47min

088: Rajendra Sisodia - Conscious Capitalism

Rajendra Sisodia, is an international speaker, a business professor, and an award-winning author. He has published eight books, including Conscious Capitalism, and over 100 academic articles. On the show, he discusses what conscious capitalism is and the difference it can make on your business.   What are you really getting from all the money you spend on customer retention? Customer loyalty and trust have been declining steadily, despite the fact that companies are spending more money. Is there a way we can make this system better? This was the question that sparked Rajendra’s journey on how to optimize spending and become more efficient.   Rajendra’s research over the years showed that we have a productivity crisis in marketing. There is something fundamentally wrong with the way we think about marketing. So, how do we do it right? Rajendra dived into companies who were getting fantastic results and retention all the while spending less.   Rajendra found that not only did customers love these companies, but their employees did too, and so did their suppliers. The pattern emerged that these companies were stakeholder-oriented and not shareholder-centric. They also all had purpose, and with that came better leaders and a caring company culture.   At the end, Rajendra fully expected that these companies with purpose would not have exceptional returns because it was not their main focus or driving objective to make ‘tons of money.’ He was wrong. They outperformed the market 9 to 1.   Rajendra was led to believe over the years prior to this research that if you showed any signs of being caring or compassionate, you would be walked all over — that being ‘nice’ was a sign of weakness. In fact, ‘nice’ companies were not only stronger but they were also resilient and more successful.   When Bill speaks with entrepreneurs and business owners in a good size room, maybe only about 10-20% of them understand what their life’s purpose is. Business guys just don’t get all that ‘purpose’ stuff, but so many businesses are transformed (on many levels) by being purposeful.   If you want to create win-win situations for your employees, suppliers, and customers, you have to give, give, and give. By creating this kind of environment, you receive a ton back and value systems get put in place that do not always have a byline monetary value on them, like high employee retention, satisfaction, engagement, and commitment to the bigger cause.   Interview Links: Rajsisodia.com Consciouscapitalism.org   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  
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Feb 14, 2018 • 40min

087: Dave Baney - The 3x5 Coaching Method

We all know that we need to coach people, not manage them. However, for many of us, we doubt our own ability to coach. There are actually principles of great coaching that you can follow and today’s show is going to break down those principles to help you effectively coach your people.   Dave Baney is a fellow Gazelles Growth Coach and the CEO and Founder of 55 Questions. He is also the author of The 3x5 Coach, which is what we’ll be diving into today! Find out how you can stop managing your people and start coaching them instead.   Dave went to school because he initially wanted to become a Spanish teacher, but quickly decided it was not for him. After graduating, he went to work for Burger King, where he spent 22 years working in both corporate and on the field. He then transferred to McDonald’s, where he spent 8 years with them and even relocated to Italy!   This is where Dave learned that the government’s termination policies in Italy were quite expensive for the company to do. When you cannot simply fire people, you have to find creative ways to influence and inspire them. This is when Dave discovered the difference between managing and coaching people.   After retiring from the industry, Dave started 55 Questions to help coach business owners and executive teams of mid-market businesses. He has worked with over 50 different industries and has been in business for the last nine years.   Besides the army, McDonald’s has been one of the largest training grounds for people in America for everything from how to work, taking responsibility, and the discipline of showing up and doing your job the right way. There are so many amazing life lessons you can learn from a company like McDonald’s or even in the restaurant industry.   How fast can a dog sled team run? Well, the answer is, only as fast as the slowest dog. If you had a dogsled team, you would want to work with the slowest dog to help bring him up to speed with the rest of the team. So, what are you doing to help the slowest members of your team learn and grow? This, in essence, is what the 3x5 method is about.   Truth is, we tend to over-manage our people instead of training them to the point where they can become independent and autonomous. There seems to be a disconnect when it comes to the desires of the team and the desires of management, and because of this, it’s very hard to motivate a team when you can’t align with them.   The 3x5 method is really about having the team member and manager sit down and agree on each other’s expectations and desires. It offers clear lines of communication between these two parties for, what it seems to be, the very first time.   Interview Links: 55questions.com Dave on LinkedIn The 3x5 Coach: A Practical Guide to Coaching Your Team for Greater Results and Happier People, by Dave Baney   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   TWEETABLES:   “Everybody should stop managing and start coaching right away.”   “Some businesses can’t just lop off the bottom 10% of their team, so motivating people changes the game.”   “Back ten years ago, one out of 11 people in America, at one point or another, worked at McDonald’s.”   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  
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Feb 7, 2018 • 42min

086: Andy Buyting - Become a Thought Leader

You’re knowledgeable, right? So how come you’re not known for what you know? How come you’re not the thought leader in your field? Well, if you’ve ever wondered, then this is the show for you. Bill and his guest dive in on the steps it takes to become a thought leader.   Andy Buyting is a full-time CEO and a part-time Gazelles business coach. Andy is a leader in brand positioning and thought leadership. His strategy of “Owning the Ink in Your Industry” has served both himself and his countless clients exceedingly well. On top of that, he brings over 20 years of sales, marketing, operations, business development, entrepreneurship, management and executive experience to his clients.   Andy’s parents were Dutch immigrants living in Canada and came from a farming background. As a kid, Andy had to work on the family farm, which was the largest carrot farm in the country. His parents were very entrepreneurial and were always looking to expand their operations.   Andy ended up taking over the family business at the age of 25 and began implementing the Rockefeller Habits into his family retail business. The 10-year old business grew 86% in two years because of it. After the initial 86% growth, Andy further grew the business by another 600% over the next couple of years.   Andy knows that the process works. However, it can be daunting to take action because you’re working towards changing your bad habits and that can become incredibly uncomfortable. Andy worked with a Gazelles coach for six to seven years and it helped him get over those uncomfortable moments.   Andy remembers Verne saying, “Tiger Woods has two coaches! The best golfer has two coaches. As a business leader, who are you to say ‘I don’t need a coach?’” You need a coach! Even the best in the world need a coach.   Verne kept asking Andy, “Who owns your industry?” and Andy was having a hard time understanding what he meant. This was his first introduction to what a thought leader was and why it was important. When his company started publishing his own garden-news magazine, it was a game changer, and his relatively small business became a big authority in the marketplace.   Companies that want to stand out as a thought leader — as an authority — really need to build a publishing arm out. Print is not dead and you should not write it off. Digital marketing is essential, but it has a short shelf life. Print, however, is there for credibility and longevity.   Andy’s father would have said this quote, “The secret to success is that you need to know what you’re doing. You need to know you know what you’re doing (be confident), and you need to be known for what you know.”   Interview Links: Andybuyting.com Andy on LinkedIn Carlepublishing.com How to Win Clients & Influence People: Create Instant Credibility and Gain an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition, by Andy Buyting   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   TWEETABLES:   “Always take your future in your own hands.”   “Even the best performers in the world need a coach.”   “Print is more believable, more credible, and it will stick around longer than digital will… but you still need both.”   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with a Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  
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Jan 31, 2018 • 33min

085: Morra Aarons-Mele - How to Network and Show up While Being An Introverted Leader

Leaders lead people, which means we have to show up with a certain level of energy to inspire others and get things done. How does this show up differently between introverted and extroverted leaders? And, how can we manage our respective energies to keep the fire lit without burning ourselves out? Our special guest this week has the answers!   Morra Aarons-Mele is the founder of award-winning digital agency Women Online and its database of women influencers, The Mission List. She is an internet marketer who has helped launched online campaigns for world leaders and organizations including the United Nations, Malala Fund, Hillary Clinton for President, President Obama, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Morra is also the author of Hiding in the Bathroom.   As an introvert, Morra wanted to grow her business but did not want to travel nor go out at night. She hates networking and, despite being a consultant, has travel anxiety. Morra wanted to build and grow her business on her own terms and made it her goal in 2016 to achieve this.   We have endless conversations about ‘crushing it’ and always saying yes, but for a lot of people, they’re just not built that way. Introverts might want to crush it and get out there, but it really zaps their energy and some of them, like Morra, have social anxiety. There simply wasn’t a roadmap for people who are introverts as well as leaders, which is why Morra decided to write her book.   Some of the world’s most successful people are introverts. It’s a total myth that introverts are all shy and quiet. Introversion has nothing to do with how people handle ambition or their social skills. Some people even have a hard time believing Morra is an introvert because of how funny she is and that she makes eye contact with people. Introverts can be those things! However, they do need to be more diligent about how they’re managing their energy.   Our culture is obsessed with entrepreneurship, obsessed with scaling up, but what’s motivating you to do those things? Are you trying to grow bigger and bigger for the wrong reasons? Sometimes, you need to stop and tune in to what YOU really want before you experience some sort of health or professional crisis.   It’s really important, no matter what level of your career, to take a step back and see whether you’re truly happy with where you are. If you’re not, are there ways you can fix it so that you can have a more intentional business? Can you scale back? Work from home? Travel less? The reality is, you CAN do work you love and do it on your own terms.   Interview Links: Womenandwork.org Wearewomenonline.com Themissionlist.com Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You'd Rather Stay Home), by Morra Aarons-Mele   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   TWEETABLES:   “Leaders tell us to never eat lunch alone, to always say yes, but a lot of us aren’t built that way.”   “Walking into a room full of prospects and strangers fills me with panic and dread.”   “Introversion is just about energy. It’s a total myth that introverts are all shy and quiet.”   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with a Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  
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Jan 24, 2018 • 35min

084: Bruce Eckfeldt - Retrospectives — Looking Back at Our Progress

We don’t take enough time to stop and assess our progress. We are always reacting and not thinking! Do you find yourself making some of the same mistakes again and again? If so, it’s time to take a thoughtful retro perspective approach. Bill and his team do it at the end of every quarter and here are some exercises that show how you can do it, too.   Bruce Eckfeldt is a consultant, Certified Gazelles coach, author, and speaker on organizational development and performance management. Bruce is on the show today to talk all about retro perspectives and how you can use exercises to get better at it.   How did Bruce first get into retro perspectives? Bruce was first introduced to the concept when he was in software development. He’s been on projects where he spent weeks, months, and sometimes even years developing new products only to have them fall flat on their faces. How could he prevent this from happening? By taking a more lean approach to technology and by using retro perspective to strive for continuous improvement.   Before we dive into examples of how retro perspective works, what does retro perspective mean, exactly? To put it simply, it’s the process of looking at the past to improve the future. The goal is to use the things we’ve done, the results we’ve already generated, as data.   One of the best ways to cultivate a retro perspective environment is by creating a safe environment in the office to openly share mistakes without fear of pushback. From there, we need to collect the raw data, analyze it, drive down on what really happened, and then brainstorm for solutions.   There’s so much pressure not to mess up that people often try their best to cover their ass, as opposed to openly letting management know there are problems within the organization. There’s so much spin in an organization that ‘it’s okay to mess up,’ but it doesn’t help solve the true problem. What are some of the best ways to create a safe space to openly share mistakes in the office?   Bruce does two things. The first thing is called a prime directive, which sets the context of the meeting. This is said at the start of every meeting to help remind people it’s okay to share. This is the way the prime directive reads: Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.   The second thing Bruce does is to makes sure the senior team is modeling this behavior, too. It can’t just be on the staff’s side to admit mistakes. It’s important that senior leaders call each other out on mistakes they’ve made and bring them to the table as an opportunity to learn how to improve. When the team begins to see the senior team doing this, it really sets the tone and drives the point further that it’s okay to admit your mistakes.   Interview Links: Eckfeldt.com Bruce on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  

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