Front Line Heroes

Front Line Heroes: How to Battle the Business Tsunami by Developing Performance Oriented Cultures by Bruce Hodes is going to be available so soon! Read the back cover below.

It is possible to develop and grow powerful organizations in challenging times—it just takes courage, determination, and actionable techniques that work. In Front Line Heroes, Bruce Hodes offers executives and business leaders advice culled from 30 years of coaching privately held companies ranging from $5 million to $100 million in size. With humor, real-world examples, and step-by-step guides, the book explains:

• How to make mission, values, and BHAGS relevant to daily organizational life

• 7 essential rules for effective strategic planning

• How to transform groups into high-performance teams

• 4 organizational enigmas and the missing link that solves them

• How to eliminate mediocrity from employee performance—for good



If you are ready to stop playing victim to the times, Front Line Heroes will arm you with the tools you need to achieve sustainable business growth.


For more information visit our website here.
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There Are No Mistakes

A principal that I live by is that everything that happens in organization happens by design. The same applies in stupid games. It is like this: Don’t plan and pay the price. Don’t listen and pay the price. Argue and fight and pay the price. Collaborate and problem solve, move the ball. Solve the problem and be successful. The Axiom of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is abundantly clear in the land of stupid games. If you put quality into the preparation and planning of the stupid game you will get quality results out.

One last thought: as a Chinese engineer in Beijing exclaimed in a emotional manner, “These are not Stupid Games! These are good games!”

Yes indeed.

For more information about CMI's team building events click here.

Can You Hear Me?

Listening is what will make the difference. Once a group is listening, anyone can lead. Once ‘listening’ is present, understanding and problem solving occur naturally. People can focus and work together. Prior to this there is reaction and yelling. Listening, the power of listening is one of the lessons I have seen groups get from utilizing stupid games.

Another lesson that groups learn from stupid games is the value of practice. For many groups it is a revelation to discover that to improve a group’s performance will take conversations, learning and practice. When people realize that practice is necessary while playing a stupid game, the drama suddenly ends and people relax. They get that it is ok to make mistakes and learn from them. That is what happens when you ‘practice.’ We learn that we can be safe with each other.

Learning about failure is still another lesson that can be learned in stupid-game land. There is failure and then there is failure. Whenever humans learn and develop, there is failure. There are failures from not doing something that needs to be done as well as from doing the wrong thing. The problem is that there are real consequences for failures during real business.

I have seen corporate groups play the same game over and over again and yet still get value from them. The standards can change, the parameters can change, what people learn can change, and it still is all training and development.

In business, when a group alienates a customer there are consequences. With a stupid game when the group alienates the customer (who is really the bozo facilitator pretending to be a customer) there is learning and development. This goes back to the games as a practice field that is safe and in which members of the group can learn and develop. There are no long-term consequences on the practice field.

For more information about CMI's team building events click here.

Why Do Any of This?

Groups, if they are going to perform together, need to practice together. That is obvious. The Army and Marines get it and call it ‘boot camp.’ Theater and dance groups get it and they call it ‘rehearsal.’ Sports teams get it and they call it ‘practice.’ Business groups don’t get it and for the most part don’t do anything. Typically business groups have low group performance. Do we see a pattern here?

So that is where the stupid games come in. They start to look like they are not so stupid. They let groups take a look at their own behavior in order to discover how they can improve their performance. The notion is simple: a group solves problems the way it does because the people are the same. A group’s ‘group dynamics’ are the group’s dynamics. This is true whether it is in the stupid game or back at the ‘ranch.’

The major difference is if the group back at the ranch does not perform well there are consequences internally and with customers. If the group does not perform well at the stupid game, it is a big-time opportunity to learn. There are no consequences in the stupid game except learning, having fun and laughing at yourself.

So what do groups learn? Here are the some of the lessons I have seen groups of people learn over and over again. Again, there is a game called The Tent Pole. Using just their index fingers, the group is to lower the tent pole down to the ground. At no time are you to lose contact with the pole. The fingers are all under the tent pole trying to maintain contact. The pole goes up instead of down. People scream and yell at each other. Blame is heaped on some poor scoundrel. It’s all great fun.

One of the things that people typically say as an excuse for their lack of performance is that no one was appointed the leader and that is why chaos occurred. That is often the obvious and agreed upon excuse. But is that true? In reality, people are deaf to what is really missing which is listening. No one is listening when this exercise starts.

For more information about CMI's team building events click here.

The Coach's Handbook VII - Facing the Future

Managing and coaching are different systems of human interaction. Both are necessary for
successful organizational life. In managing, one tends to make decisions based on established
directions, emphasizing knowledge and reason supported by intuition and acting in the present
based on the past.

In coaching, one needs to make decisions based on an envisioned future. A coach emphasizes
intuition supported by reason, belief and commitment in others, and acting toward the future
based on the present.

Coaching as a predominant style is a new development because of the changes and pressures
which are overwhelming business. It will be a prominent management style in the future.

Managers and team leaders who are going to be successful need to invest themselves in this
system and become extraordinarily proficient at it.

Read more of my writing at: http://www.cmibusinessplanning.com/news.html

The Coach's Handbook Part VI - Extraordinary Coaching

Extraordinary coaching is brought about by fusing the uniquely human characteristics mentioned
above. An extraordinary coach will be one who truly measures his/her performance by the
performance of the employees (the players). This approach will yield superior results.

The following are questions to ask yourself to see if you are an extraordinary coach.

1. Would people around you say that your team gets extraordinary results (enables the production of results beyond business as usual)?
2. Is there evidence that you are someone who develops great players? By a “great player,” we mean people who are able to make things happen far beyond what one might expect given history and past predictions of your organization?
3. Do you consistently demonstrate the ability to bring the capabilities and possibilities of coworkers to a more advance or effective state? The coach does this with whomever he or she interfaces with, either directly or indirectly, in the organization. The coach develops people in a 360 degree circle—above, below and laterally within the organization.
4. Do your commitments and sphere of influence go beyond traditional business channels and relationships? The coach does not get entrapped by his or her position in the organization. This person uses influence and coaching to move the ball wherever he or she moves within the organization.
5. Are you a person who presents yourself for coaching? Are you coachable?
6. Do you take on projects that require self-development?

Your answers should give you a sense of whether or not you are coaching. Be tough on yourself
and differentiate between your coaching activities and management activities. All too often, we
find executives claiming to coach, but really managing.

Next week - my final post in this series: Facing the Future

Read more of my writing at: http://www.cmibusinessplanning.com/news.html

Get the latest Gardening Tips……from the bald one

An article called "Using Books For More Than Compost" by Bruce Hodes, CEO of CMI, has been published by Vistage, the largest provider of CEO Groups in the world. Click here to read the article. Let us know what you think.

The Coach's Handbook Part V - Beliefs of a Developmental Coach

Here is a chart that contrasts coaching beliefs with managerial assumptions. This will give you
greater a sense of the difference between a control-oriented management system and a
commitment-oriented coaching system.

Next week - Coaching is an Art, not a Science

The Coach's Handbook Part IV - Rethinking Managerial Practices

Who determines the fate of our organizations and corporations? If one believes in the notion of
rugged individualism and a “can do” spirit (these and other individualistic values are deeply
appreciated in our culture), one would say that CEO’s, presidents, and managers are responsible
for whatever happens. However, as the world in which we live becomes more complex, a new
perspective is needed.

The buy-in of groups of people, not individuals, will be essential to moving ahead in business.
From this vantage point, one can see that the followers determine the fate of leaders. There is
example after example in which the fate and/or success of the enterprise is related to what the
people who are on the field decide to do.

In our culture, we have a tendency to be fixated on the leader/manager as if he or she will be the
sole ingredient in the outcome. The truth is that the success or failure of our businesses is already
in the hands of the people who work there. We just don’t acknowledge it.

The rethinking which we are suggesting is that top managers shift attention off themselves and see
their jobs as one of developing the players. Employees also have to rethink their roles. It is very
easy to see oneself as just a cog in the wheel—just following orders. It is different to consider
yourself as a major determinant of where the business is going to go.

When an employee sees oneself as a crucial player, a partnership with management can be
established in which they view each other as resources playing a common game with a common
goal. With this point of view, partnership, innovation and velocity can occur on the field.

Looking at the sports model, a good coach is one whose players (employees) are clearly more
skilled at playing their positions than the coach (manager) is. The coach is hired by the players and
used by them to enhance their ability to do a good job, because they have invested themselves in
the game and in doing well. A useful coach stands for excellence and attracts people who want to
be excellent.

Translate this to business life and the focus shifts to the employees and their ability be effective in
their jobs throughout the company. The managers are there to empower and enroll employees in
being effective. This is radically different from telling people what to do.

In the coach/player inverted pyramid model, there is an element of “game.” People participate
because they want to play and they enjoy it. When people are at work because they want to be,
and are doing what they want to be doing, coaching becomes useful. Victims and victimizers are
not truly coachable or able to coach powerfully.

Next week: The beliefs of a developmental coach

The Coach's Handbook Part III - The Coaching Model vs. the Managing Model

Coaching revolves around the concept (metaphor) of a game. In sports one plays because he or
she wants to. Both players and coaches are vital to the outcome of the game. Coaches are a
resource to the players. Serious teams, of course, need a coach, even serious athletes at the top of
their game will employ a coach. Why? It is because the perspective, knowledge, and skill of the
coach is not only appreciated but required to excel.

In sports there is always a notion that you have to develop yourself in order to be competitive. The
coach is instrumental and vital to that development. This is in strong contrast to business where
managers are seldom seen as resources to the employees.

In fact, many employees see their bosses as impediments to maximizing individual potential.
Furthermore, managers may take all the credit for their employees’ successes and thereby become
the center point of the organization.

In sports (and acting) the coach never goes on the actual playing field. The purpose of the coach is
to continually enhance the effectiveness of the players who are on the field. Coaches stand on the
sidelines. This is a very different role than that of a traditional manager. Translate that difference
into business and suddenly the traditional hierarchical triangle becomes transformed into a slice
of “performance pizza” with coaches represented as the cheese and tomato sauce. Delicious!

One of the reasons a coach is useful during a game is that he or she is not actually embroiled in the
action. The coach has a different perspective from those on the field and the spectators in the
viewing stands. Coaches are not there to be entertained, like the spectators. The coach is there to
speak to the players so that the ball gets moved most effectively in the right direction. This sideline
perspective often proves to be the winning edge.

In business, managers could be used for their perspective and coaching. Instead, they often go
onto the field and become embroiled in the game rather than coaching the action. This is similar
to being a team captain versus being a coach.

Let’s look at this from a different slant. Instead of examining “the coach,” let’s look at the act of
coaching. “Development” and “coaching” are synonymous and not by any means the exclusive
property of coaches. On great teams, be is sports, debate, families or dramas, all team members
are coaching each other, too.

In order for a manager to become a coach, he or she has to give the employee the responsibility
and accountability for the outcome of the game. In order for the employees to become players,
they need to see themselves as the determinants in the outcome and their managers as resources.
Clearly, the players must “own” the outcomes; to see themselves as responsible for achieving the
desired outcomes.

Next week - Rethinking Managerial Practices

Why Annual Kickoffs

Why anniversary celebrations? Why birthday parties? Why New Year’s holidays?

Why anything really?

Exactly! The day-to-day humdrum can definitely create a pedantic, ceaselessly plodding rhythm with no differentiation. It is all just a blur. I walk into the office; the phone rings; I answer; someone asks a question and I respond and so on and so forth, day after day, month after month, year after year.

Back to the Question

Why have kickoff meetings?

For one, it allows you to differentiate the day as a special time and the meeting venue as a special place. It also allows the entire organization to come together for a day or half day to kick off the year.

We’ve had kickoffs in an array of places. One year we were in a barn and another year at a swanky Chicago hotel. Banquet facilities are my favorite, though the East Bank Club, a huge Chicago fitness complex, is not bad.

For one of our clients, their annual kickoff meeting is the highlight of their year. Each employee has to go up in front of everyone and answer some fun, preconceived questions. It is all very entertaining and an authentic culture builder. This is especially true when big key employee Carlos with his bushy beard does his annual “THE BIG PICTURE” talk about the company’s growth. It’s the real story and told in the real way.

Stop the Past, Start the Future, Now

For 2011, a kickoff meeting is absolutely critical. A powerful kickoff meeting will allow you and everyone involved to put 2010 behind you. It is one of the best uses of time and money. It is important for the organization to distinguish that indeed there was a 2010 and for most organizations, 2010 meant salary cuts, layoffs and a sense that our survival was at risk. At the kickoff meeting, the past goes into the past.

How we typically do this is to illustrate 2010 on flip charts. The group answers questions and puts these answers up on flip charts too in categories such as “breakdowns,” “what was learned,” “breakthroughs,” “fiascos,” “disappointments,” “accomplishments,” etc. The aspects of 2010 we are taking into 2011 and those are we leaving behind are also included. Then, in front of the room, spokespeople read from the flip charts and there is a question and answer session with questions from the audience.

As a grand finale, participants stand up and say farewell to 2010. Tears flow, (not hugs) and the crowd then greets 2011 with cheers, hand-clapping, hurrahs and gales of laughter. Even when it is not very emotional, it is worthwhile and useful. All stand ready for the future and to begin anew. Game 2011, on.

One of the great aspects of this exercise is that employees get to appreciate everything that happened during the past 12 months. It also brings completion to the year. One season is completed while the possibility of next season opens up.

A Future Vision is Essential

The kickoff allows the leadership to layout and promote a three- to five-year time horizon in broad brush strokes and to more precisely paint the picture for 2011. I subscribe to the idea that what determines how an organization operates in the present is dictated by the future that the organization lives into.


The issue here is that most of us have the organizations past filed in the future file bin. Typically, what the organization is unknowingly doing is living into its past. I wonder if GM, Lehman Brothers or Chrysler has a perspective on this that they would like to share.

The kickoff allows for a distinct future to be created by the leadership group and CEO. At this point, leadership stands and presents the company’s future. Hopefully, this is not something that was created over coffee that morning. Our clients have been working and developing this future over the previous two to three months. This is the culmination of a lot of work and some of the participants have been a part of the planning.

At the kickoff meetings we facilitate, we typically annoy the group with stupid games and other growth and development activities. It is not all lecture and people are not just sitting there like they are watching TV. There is a lot you can do with exercises to foster good customer service and strong relationships. At one meeting we rolled out a new set of values and led exercises that allowed people to experience the new values directly by interacting with each other.

At other kickoffs I’ve been a part of, leadership has laid out what it is going to take for everyone to go Las Vegas or Cancun, complete with props and skits. In both cases, the company’s employees actually did go to their respective destinations as a celebration of their accomplishments. It all started at the kickoff meeting.

Get Up & Running Immediately

After the leadership presentation, there is typically an opportunity for the various departments to plan by delineating how to improve and grow in order to deliver on the company’s future. The departments get to look at their strengths and weakness and what they need to do to develop and improve in their areas of weakness.

There is a lot that can be done during a kickoff meeting to help departments build cohesion and momentum. We have great exercises that encourage participants to give each other useful feedback on how they can improve internal customer service. Whoever is facilitating sets up the ground rule that this is business, not personal.

Everyone should embrace the idea of constant improvement as the bottom line. When a positive context is established, unresolved issues can be explored and clarified. In addition to strength and weakness feedback, the department will design 2011 objectives, action plans and first-quarter milestones that support the overall direction.

During a kickoff, new information can be given to the members of the organization. If lean initiatives are going to be part of the year or a new ERP or other software is being implemented, the kick off meeting is a perfect time to get started with training. Why not use the opportunity? We are all together for the day—lunch included—and the new year has begun. So let’s go for it and make the whole kickoff wildly productive!

So There You Have It

Now let’s re-cap. Why kickoff business meetings?

• They let you put the past in the past.

• They let you create a future to live into.

• They provide an opportunity for departmental planning .

• You can begin training and educational initiatives.

• All this along with stupid games and other fun annoyances.

Such a deal!

So do it. Especially do it this year, because I promise 2011 is not going to be anything like 2010 and you can hold me to it.

The real question is: Will you and your organization be ready for the opportunities of the New Year?

Let us know how it goes. We would love to hear about your progress and breakthroughs.

Game 2011 on.



BOOKS AS COMPOST

As I used to be an organic farmer, I appreciate how compost works. Take it fresh from the horse and let it lie and develop in what is referred to as a compost pile. After a year, put that compost stuff on the seeds and baby plants. Behold how it allows the veggies and fruits to mightily grow and develop. You then get to eat the succulent tomatoes and cucumbers – yum.


Books in organizations get good things to happen. Over the years of coaching and annoying companies, it has become clear to this baldy that books have the power to change. Reading specific and special books in organizations is conducive to creating and causing organizational development. When a management group reads the same book, it is like they now have a common language and have had a common experience.

What does that get you? For one thing, it gets executives of the company on the same page when talking about a topic. There is, after everyone reading the same book, a common vocabulary. Group reading allows for an understanding and the acceptance of new ideas. Even when the Leadership team does not agree on the ideas of the book or how those notions should be implemented, the executive team now has parameters from which to debate and explore the issues.

I have seen business teams put together really terrific customer service programs after reading Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard. Heck, after reading that book I have seen teams for the very first time have the notion that having raving fans customers could be a very good thing. Before the reading, they did not have that distinction or interest in having raving fan customer service.

Case in point: One company, after reading this book, put into practice using a survey that asked their customers are you satisfied with our service – Yes or no and why. Another question was, “Are you our raving fans?” Yes or no and why. This type of survey gave them lots of feedback. It also focused the employees on making their customers raving fans. That step alone for this company was a big step forward and a triumph over the past.

I have seen teams better communicate after reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven covey. After reading Blue Ocean Strategy, some executives actually have a transcendent moment and see God. They then alter how they think about and create their new services and products.

Here is an example of the power of a book. About two years ago, I am working with a company that runs homes and services for the disabled. They are a for-profit company and they are fairly large -$100M. They are an ESOP owned company. For those of you who are not familiar with the term , it means Employee Stock Ownership Plan. It is a way for employees to actually own stock in the company. I am not going to get technical here or engage in a conversation about the benefits or lack thereof ESOPs. Suffice it to say that this company did market itself as employee owned both in its marketing material and in how they answered the phone.

What disturbed the leadership of this company is that none of the employees could relate to or see how being employee owned benefited them. As I explored this with the leadership group, it became abundantly clear that no one in the leadership group could relate to or saw any benefit to the ESOP. Whenever the CFO went into the nuances and benefits of the ESOP, everyone promptly went to sleep or rolled their eyes or rolled their eyes as they went to sleep.

I have coached and conducted strategic planning in some very successful ESOPs. I have seen the value of ESOPs as a tool to motivate and focus employees. With ESOPs, when they are working well, the value is that the employees truly see themselves as owners and work as business people to build the value of the company. These employees relate to customers as owners would and take great interest in ensuring that the customers are raving fans and repeat buyers.

After assessing the situation and mulling things through in my genius, I invited this leadership group to read the book Open Book Management by John Case. Honestly, I did not invite them I made them – well it was assigned and heck they just had to do it. This book is about the various ways that companies have utilized to have everyone in the company embrace being business people and, own the financials of the company.

After reading the book, members of the leadership got excited because they saw a pathway to engaging employees in owning and being more effective in growing their business. These executive saw how they could make the ESOP relevant. They saw the light and were eager to drink the Kool-Aid.

The most revered and known proponent of Open Book Management is a business leader named Jack Stack. He wrote his own book called The Great Game of Business. This book is about how he and his employees turned around their company, Springfield Manufacturing which by the way is also an ESOP. A couple of the leadership groups attended conferences given by Jack Stack and his consulting company. These are called the gathering of the games and feature many successful ESOPs.

Open Book Management in this company has now become a movement and a cause célèbre. The CFO began to do research on what the value of the ESOP would be to the leadership group. A division of the company began to organize games with incentives with their frontline group. They are off and running in exploring how the ESOP can be a powerful organizing focus for the company. All this came from reading a stupid book that costs $20.00 or so. A book. Not bad return for that investment.

Books with large print and preferably pictures are the most appealing to business people. Stories and parables are appreciated. Synopsis at the end of the chapter with cliff notes also appreciated. If the book is good and at the same time scholarly, you can make the case to read it. At times, this can be a tough sell. The ultimate test for the consuming executive is whether or not the material presented is applicable and useful. The more user friendly the material is the better.

Books as compost allow businesses to do without bloodsucking consultants. In and of themselves, I have seen books transform companies and business culture. I have seen many examples of this. The leadership group reads the book, talks about it and applies it. Simple and who needs the bloodsucker any way.

Some of our clients started book clubs. No way, you say and way, I say and this is all before Oprah --- astounding. What I have seen is the CEO picks the book and over lunch convenes a session. Typically, this happens monthly. The group will cover a chapter or two. Some CEOs prepared for the session and others just winged it. They always seem to work. I saw this bring knowledge into the company. It also gave the CEO an avenue to get to know and become related to employees.

Books are also a great way for new employees to get indoctrinated into the company. Over the years, I have seen more than once the new employee has a stack of books that they needed to digest in 30-40 days. This was part of their orientation. In one client they had to take tests on the book and in another they had to sit and talk with the CEO about the book.

I have also witnessed scenarios where certain books were central to a culture and there was no requirement to read them. It is like there is a language being spoken and while you may think you speak and understand it you really are missing some of the major nuances. There have been situations in which new executives did not have to read the book and were subsequently lost. When they did read the book much of the culture then made a lot more sense and their ability to communicate improved.

As an active consultant in business, I have developed a deep appreciation of books as organizational compost. It has surprised me the powerful impact that reading certain books can have on a business culture. As you approach this topic of reading, some business people will howl just like your dog does when you step on their toes. They will claim that they do not have the time to read, let alone make any changes. Do not buy it. Like organic vegetables they are good for you. Just make them read.

So what is the message here? Get your organizations to read and dialogue about the books. Even if they whine, groan, complain, kvetch and drool, have them read and be stimulated. They will be better for it.