The Practice of Leadership
The actual application or use of an idea or method as opposed to theories about it.
Over 70% of employees are disengaged at work, leading to suffering results and unfulfilled potential. Join Randy and Mark as they explore the importance of connection in increasing engagement and share practical strategies for leaders to boost their team's passion and productivity.
What sets high-performing organizations apart? It's not just leadership or alignment – it's engagement. Randy and Mark explore the surprising truth about employee engagement and share their research-backed insights on how to create a workforce that truly cares. Get ready to transform your team's mindset and unleash their full potential!
Is your organization stuck in a rut? Do you sense that something needs to change, but you're not sure what or how? Join Randy and Mark as they explore the signs that indicate a cultural shift is necessary and provide guidance on how to navigate the process. From identifying problems to communicating with your team, get the insights you need to lead your organization towards success.
The first 40 hours of a new employee's tenure are crucial in shaping their understanding of your company culture. Join Randy and Mark as they explore the importance of this critical period and share expert advice on how to create an engaging, immersive onboarding experience that sets your team up for long-term success. From founder stories to intentional time on task, learn how to make the most of this make-or-break window.
Discover how to foster innovation and creativity in your organization. Learn from Chick-fil-A's journey and get practical tips to amplify your aspiration and encourage creativity in your team.
Randy and Mark dive into the heart of cultural alignment, emphasizing the leader's responsibility. Learn how to amplify cultural aspirations, communicate effectively, and foster transparency. Take away actionable tips to transform your organization's culture and leadership.
Rituals and traditions - they're not just for football season. In this episode, Mark and Randy dive into the power of intentional practices in shaping organizational culture. Learn how to establish and amplify rituals that drive cultural aspiration, alignment, and excellence. Don't miss out on practical tips to transform your team's culture.
In this episode, Mark and Randy discuss how to flip the script on toxic culture and turn things around. Mark shares strategies from his book "Culture Rules" to address these toxins, including "Rip the Band-Aid," "Take it off-Broadway," and "Think Small." Listen and learn how to identify and fix toxic culture. Order Culture Rules here --> https://a.co/d/iA161pw
In this episode, continuing from yesterday, Randy and Mark explore the importance of adapting your culture to overcome toxic patterns. Learn to recognize and address unhealthy behaviors, such as complacency, whiplash leadership, and deafness. Get practical tips on scaling your listening and creating a culture that thrives. Order Culture Rules here --> https://a.co/d/iA161pw
In this episode, Randy and Mark dive into the importance of cultural adaptation, exploring how it can make or break an organization's success. Learn how to identify critical gaps, eliminate toxins, and amplify your culture's strengths to create a high-performing culture that drives results. Whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting out, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you lead every day with intention and impact. Order Culture Rules here --> https://a.co/d/iA161p...
How often do you talk about your culture? Part of amplifying the aspirations and the stories is being strategic about how you communicate. Some of the best cultures have leaders who do this daily—and some do it in every single meeting! Mark and Randy wrap up the week talking about strategic repetition in communicating your vision for your organization's culture.
People will watch the leader to set the example. People also listen to the leader, and the stories a leader tells about people who embody the cultural aspirations will help amplify and multiply the culture you're trying to create.
Once you decide what you want your culture to aspire to, what's next? The second rule of building culture: amplify. Leaders must consciously and purposefully look for ways to reinforce those aspirations. And the first part of amplifying your cultural aspirations is to be the example. Your team will follow what you do—and that's a good thing, if you're doing the right things.
Do you know what kind of culture you want to have? Great! Have you shared that with anyone? Culture is not all about ping pong tables and nap pods (unless those help you build the kind of culture you're after). Painting a clear picture for your organization's culture and sharing it with your team is the first rule of building culture.
The third move that high performance organizations make: build the culture. No, we're not talking about bean bag chairs and burritos on Fridays. Most leaders say culture is important, but it's not a priority. Mark and Randy kick off the week looking at how to build the kind of culture that takes you to the next level.
Why should you care about growing leaders? If you're stuck there, then ask yourself the next question: what is your organization capable of? Leaders are the indispensible levers to move the world, and leaders make sure your organization is doing the right things. The stakes are really high, and Mark and Randy explain exactly what you could see if you take this to heart and truly bet on leadership.
Many leaders haven't seen a development plan outside of perhaps a performance plan. So what should an individual leadership development plan look like? While there's not a perfect template, there are some basics that should be at the center of developing a plan. Want to help yourself or your leaders start to discover some of their critical gaps? Text "UNCOMMON" to 66866 and take the Uncommon Greatness assessment.
Some organizations have too few leaders. Others might have too many! Can you really have too many leaders? Like a lot of questions Mark and Randy answer...it just depends. Find out what that means on today's episode.
If you're a leader or business owner who "doesn't have time" to focus on growing more leaders, you're not alone—but you don't have to stay there. The truth is you may be caught in quicksand—an area of your business you're stuck in that sucks up all of your time and energy. Mark and Randy have some ways to get unstuck. One of the ways is with the free Smart Leadership Assessment. Text "BESMART" to 66866 and get some practical steps you can take to face reality and get out of the quicksand....
With all of this talk about leadership development programs, there are some natural questions that arise when we enter this territory. This week Mark and Randy are answering some of the big ones, starting with why so many organizations have a shortage of leaders. Let Mark and Randy help train your leaders through Lead Every Day Academy. Go to https://leadeverydayacademy.com to sign you and your team up for these video-based, online courses to help you level up and become a high-performance organ...
The last step in betting on leadership is one that you'll never stop doing: repeat and reinvent. You'll repeat the first few steps over and over again, making tweaks and revisions as you go. If you want to become a high performance organization, this will be your rhythm to get better at leadership.
Evaluation is all about one thing: helping your leaders improve. But it's not as simple as a "how are you doing" check-in. You need specific behavioral examples that line up with your point-of-view on leadership. That way, you can help a leader grow in either performance or their own leadership. Mark and Randy expand on this and more on today's episode.
There's one caveat to training your leaders: you have to define what leadership is, establish your goals, and build your scorecard first. Otherwise, you'll wind up with "random acts of training" and will get little to no traction. Mark and Randy discuss how to effectively train leaders as the next step in the process of betting on leadership and moving toward being a high performance organization. Go to LeadEveryDayAcademy.com for our online leadership training content. Enroll yourself or your t...
Why should you have a leadership scorecard? And what's the difference between your scorecard and your leadership goals? Mark and Randy unpack the why behind scorecards for leadership, and give some examples of what could and should be on yours.
Goals are powerful. Leadership goals are transformative. But where do you start? If your business has a good bench of leaders or you're just starting out, Mark and Randy provide direction on how to set leadership goals.
The leader can't do it all, and they need someone to help them think about leadership more than they do. Hoping leaders emerge is not a strategy. Someone has to intentionally focus on it—so name your champion and enlist some help. Mark and Randy will tell you how to start.
The first move that high performance organizations make: bet on leadership. But first, you have to define what leadership is in your organization. Otherwise each team will make leaders differently. And if there are different definiteions in your organization, that's a problem. If you're going to bet on leadership to take your organization to a new level, this is the first move you have to make.
Building a high performance organization starts with doing four things really well: leadership, alignment, engagement, and execution. Mark and Randy tee up the conversation with an overview of the four moves that all high performance organizations make.
As a leader, you might only be focused on your team—and that's not a bad thing. But only focusing on a team means you're only harnessing the power of a few people in your entire organization. So how do you start to build a high performance organization? Mark shares the backstory from his days selling chicken and how the concept of a high performance organization unlocked a new level for the company.
Whether you're a new leader or a veteran, you have an opportunity to help strengthen your organization. Mark and Randy intro the new season and unpack a high level overview of how leaders can add value beyond their role and make an impact on the entire company.
