Rowing in the Same Direction

Rowing in the Same Direction

Why living our core values is the real test of an A-player

Early in my company’s history, my business partner and I read a lot of Patrick Lencioni’s books. In “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” Lencioni writes, “If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.” Back then, we thought he was talking about goals and objectives. Get everyone pointed at the same targets and you win.

After a lot of years in business, I realized it’s more than that. Rowing in the same direction is really a shared focus on living the same core values. When we’re all living them, we can make remarkable progress.

The stat that stopped me. In our last newsletter, Rob Monson shared his secret to A-player hiring. A few years ago, meeting with Rob, he told me most companies average about a 25% success rate hiring A-players. One out of four. Then he said if I put a process called topgrading in place, I could push that above 90%.

I was ready to hear it. I’d made a lot of hiring mistakes at the executive level over the previous couple of years, and I was honestly desperate for something that could raise my win rate and help me bring on the right people.

What topgrading showed me. Part of topgrading is scoring the people already on your team. One thing really stood out to me about the scorecard: it’s impossible to be an A-player if you’re not living the core values. On that scorecard it’s even difficult to be graded a B player by that same measure.

I felt this one again recently. I hit a real challenge in one of my departments where a couple of my leaders weren’t living our company’s core values, and it didn’t stay contained. It showed up as high attrition and low morale, and it cost us.

Our results. Here’s what I can tell you from my own experience. After we put topgrading in place, our success rate got right to where Rob Monson said it would, above 90%. If you haven’t looked at this approach, I’d encourage you to talk with Rob and see if he can help. And just remember, one of the most important parts of an employee being an A-player is being aligned with your company’s core values.

Rob

How to Develop a Time-Management System That Includes Your Family

EO Blog · Debi Hammond, EO US East Bridge · 4-minute read

Right in step with our Intentional Impact theme. Hammond’s point is simple and a little uncomfortable: entrepreneurs are great at protecting business priorities, but you have to protect personal priorities with the same intensity. Her fix is to build the calendar backwards, family and recharge first, then guard it with the discipline you already give the business.

EO Wonder Podcast: From Culinary Curiosity to Franchise Success

EO Wonder · Erin Fletter, EO Colorado · podcast

Fewer than 2% of women-owned businesses gross over $1 million a year. Erin Fletter turned a kitchen-table idea into a kitchen-less children’s cooking franchise that is 80% women owners and has reached more than 200,000 kids. Her lesson for any founder wrestling with delegation: in order to grow, you have to let go.

Kelson Erwin · Ksense

Please welcome Kelson Erwin to EO Utah. Kelson is the founder of Ksense, a custom web development agency in Holladay that builds web applications to make businesses run more efficiently, now 15 people and eight years in. He started his entrepreneurial run straight out of high school to pay his own way through college, and more than a decade of software engineering later he came to EO looking for like-minded founders and mentorship. When he is not shipping software, he is producing music, playing volleyball, writing, or flying his small airplane. Say hello when you see him in the chats or at an event.