We all know great teams can lead to amazing success in business and life, but how do you build and maintain those teams?
This month on Contributors Corner, we have one of the best in the business showing us how to do it.
Shannon Waller has spent her life helping entrepreneurs and their teams reach new levels of growth, success, and freedom.
She’s been a key part of Strategic Coach since 1991—a premiere entrepreneurial development program based in Toronto, Canada.
In this episode, Waller lays out a five-step blueprint you can use to build great teams. She also explains how to use the most effective assessment tools to understand the strengths of your team members.
Contributors Corner brings together past guests of the BEATS WORKING podcast to build community and share best practices in our mission to redeem work. Our other guests in this episode are Dr. James Bryant, André Brisson, and Dr. Stel Nikolakakis.
Resources from the episode:
- Our contributors are on LinkedIn! Connect with Shannon Waller, Dr. James Bryant, André Brisson, and Dr. Stel Nikolakakis.
- Listen to “The Power of Coaching,” our episode with Shannon Waller, here.
- Listen to “How to Win at Work and at Home,” our episode with Dr. James Bryant, here.
- Listen to “Working with ADHD,” our episode with André Brisson, here.
- Listen to “Vision Therapy and Turning Personal Challenges into Your Calling,” our episode with Dr. Nik, here.
- Learn more about Shannon’s strategies for team success here.
- Learn more about Strategic Coach, the #1 business coaching program for entrepreneurs, here.
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Transcript
The following transcript is not certified. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. The information contained within this document is for general information purposes only.
[00:00:00] Mark Wright: Welcome to contributors corner.
[00:00:01] Mark Wright: Shannon Waller. It’s so great to have you back. Welcome.
[00:00:05] Shannon Waller: Thank you so much, Mark. I’m delighted to be here.
[00:00:07] Mark Wright: Okay. We’re going to talk about how to build great teams and we’ve got our other contributors joining us. Dr. Stel, Nicolakakis, Andre Brisson, and James Bryant. ,,, let’s introduce the contributors and then Shannon, I’ll turn it over to you. Dr. Stel, let’s start with you.
[00:00:21] Mark Wright: Who you are, what you do.
[00:00:23] Dr Stel Nik: Thanks, Mark. My name is Dr. Stelios Nikolakakis. I’m a neuro visual optometrist by profession. ,, my tagline is I, ,, help people discover their vision or I change lives through vision. I’m also a coach, , to help people discover their full potential.
[00:00:39] Mark Wright: All right, James.
[00:00:40] Dr James Bryant: All right. My name is Dr. James Bryant. I am the founder and owner of Engineer Your Success, an executive coaching and leadership development firm. We help engineers and people with a STEM background design and live a life where they are winning at work and at home. And it is my pleasure to be here with you today.
[00:00:56] Mark Wright: All right. Good to have you, James. Andre.
[00:00:59] Andre Brisson: Uh, my name is [00:01:00] Andre Brisson, the impulsive thinker. I have a founded objective engineering where we engineer simplicity objectively and also coaching ADHD entrepreneurs with tactical breakthroughs from the impulsive thinker and, , always a pleasure to come here and yak it up with these fine, smart people.
[00:01:19] Mark Wright: I love it. So, Shannon, with Strategic Coach, you have dedicated a lot of your professional life to understanding what makes great teams and then teaching that to others. You’ve written books on it. You’ve taught thousands of people. Shannon, I’m curious, why and when did you decide to make this decision?
[00:01:35] Mark Wright: Team building your primary focus.
[00:01:38] Shannon Waller: That’s a great question. , it goes back to when I was in my early twenties and considering what to do in university. And I’ve always been fascinated by people, but people in business. Like what My mom ,, has a master’s in psychology. I swore to God I would never go into psychology. It turns out I kind of did.
[00:01:56] Shannon Waller: , but it’s interesting. I, I, I really appreciate business and I [00:02:00] appreciate business because I actually think it’s the best and, most applicable playground to grow personally that I have ever found. More than academia, more than, and I’m going to say entrepreneurial businesses, let me clarify. , rather than any other.
[00:02:14] Shannon Waller: and healthcare, all things like when you put yourself in front of the market and you have to succeed or you fail when there’s no mediation between you and the world, you have to learn, you have to grow and you have to become more self aware. So that evolved into how do people show up best in business.
[00:02:31] Shannon Waller: And then that turned at part of the answer to that is they have to work really, really well with others. So that really started it. And I’ve been literally coaching on this, I think since I was 21 or 22, uh, which is, a long time ago now. Almost 40 years. , so yeah, so it’s, always been a passion. I love it.
[00:02:50] Shannon Waller: I find it endlessly fascinating and motivating. I’m always learning. I’m certainly not done. , and I keep having a new insight today. I’m super excited about sharing in my podcast. So it’s, for me, it’s just [00:03:00] endlessly interesting.
[00:03:01] Mark Wright: So Shannon, to set a baseline, what kind of teams are we talking about in terms of in business?
[00:03:06] Shannon Waller: Thank you. Cause teamwork. If you think, but just talk about teamwork, there’s a standard level of teamwork. All companies have that. And I would say most professions have that, or you’re not going to get much, accomplished. But what the kind of teamwork that I’m talking about is what we call at Strategic Coach unique ability teamwork.
[00:03:23] Shannon Waller: So this is an, as opposed to someone just doing what they’re really good at, this is doing what they’re really, really good at, and they love doing it. So this involves not just the head, but I would say the heart and the will, which is your hands or gut, depending on. What anatomy you prefer. , so it’s really about engaging the whole person, not just someone intellectually.
[00:03:42] Shannon Waller: And it’s a very different beast when you do that. And where it has the most room for expression is in entrepreneurial companies. So with entrepreneurs again, because they have zero mediation between them and the world. They have to win or they fail, , then the unique ability teamwork actually becomes an incredible [00:04:00] advantage, that otherwise simply is not possible.
[00:04:03] Andre Brisson: , You said the word expression, you didn’t say execute or anything. Is there, was that on purpose?
[00:04:10] Shannon Waller: is, I mean, expression is, is where it starts when it turns into execution in terms of results. But if, , and I’m going to talk through some of the principles as I was preparing for today. It’s like. Hmm, how do we build, how do I build, help build a great team? , and I spend a lot of time doing it. I’d love doing it with our company, with our companies, with our clients, companies, one on one and groups, you name it, it’s my jam, but really it’s about how can we have the fullest expression of a human, , because I think if someone’s aligned with their head, heart, and gut, then they are the most contributing, most impactful, , make, again, make the biggest difference and are also the happiest and the healthiest.
[00:04:50] Shannon Waller: And if any one of those things is out of line, it’s, you don’t have the full expression of someone. So that’s kind of a little bit my, my life philosophy.
[00:04:58] Mark Wright: Yeah, I love it. [00:05:00] Well, Shannon, I want to turn it over to you now just to sort of lay out your philosophy when it comes to team building, then we’ll bring in the rest of the gang after that.
[00:05:07] Shannon Waller: Excellent. So these are kind of some of the steps that I go through. And number one is always, and people have heard me say it a lot, know thyself. I think if someone goes in ignorant of who they are, how they strive, how their personality plays out, they don’t know what really deeply motivates them. You’re a very unconscious person.
[00:05:26] Shannon Waller: Designer or leader of a team, you’re also an unconscious contributor if you don’t know any of those things. So if presuming you’re the one in charge of creating or building a team, you have to know yourself. You have to know your strengths. You have to know your non strengths. You have to be accepting of those.
[00:05:41] Shannon Waller: If you deny any part of that, I think you will just be minimally successful. So that’s number 1 and that in coach terms, strategic coach terms, that’s your unique ability, but there’s lots of phenomenal profiles, which a couple of these characters are very familiar with that can help start you on the road to that.
[00:05:56] Shannon Waller: Number two is unique ability without [00:06:00] direction. Also kind of useless. So you really have to know what you want to accomplish. What is your end goal? What’s your mission? And it’s really important to know this and to communicate to people because if they don’t know how to direct their unique abilities, having a conversation about this today with somebody, it goes off to the side, goes in their own direction, may or may not support.
[00:06:20] Shannon Waller: What you’re up to as an organization. So if you don’t know what you want, you also, I mean, I like saying what to do, but I also like doing, if you don’t have it, it won’t work. That’s kind of how you know, something’s true. , so if you don’t know what you want, you’re not going to get it. And you won’t actually attract and retain the best people to do it.
[00:06:38] Shannon Waller: , number three is find what we call great who’s. So there’s a whole concept that kind of encapsulates unique ability and teamwork. Which is who not how so instead of us trying to do all the house, which is, you know, you’ve got big goals or things you want to accomplish. And then our. Lovely, rugged individual brains go, Oh, how am I going to do that?
[00:06:59] Shannon Waller: And where you [00:07:00] just were excited two seconds ago, now you’re not, cause you’re now at the bottom of the learning curve and you’re like, Oh God, that looks really steep. Right? And instead, and this came from one of our brilliant clients, Dean Jackson, he says, I don’t ask myself how I ask myself who. So who, not how has become a major theme.
[00:07:18] Shannon Waller: , and it’s, different than delegation because you’re actually finding someone who’s better at it than you are. You’re finding unique ability who actually is already doing it. He’s already superb at it and you can align with them and utilize their talent, not use them, but utilize their talent to help get where you’re going.
[00:07:34] Shannon Waller: So finding really great who’s and entrepreneurs are weirdly good at this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been. Dismayed in a conversation thinking that the person I was talking to had no idea how to find this who and then midway through they go, Oh, actually, no, I, but I’ve had friends with this person on LinkedIn, or I know that this person I’ve been talking to them for months.
[00:07:56] Shannon Waller: I’m like. Dude, I thought you didn’t know anybody. And that [00:08:00] turns out we’re just really good at building our bench is the truth of that. , number four is now that you’ve got this great team, you have to what I call pass the baton. So if unique ability teamwork is a lot like a relay race. There are two rules, not being a relay race runner, but I’ve read about this and people have told me two things are really important.
[00:08:23] Shannon Waller: One is have the right runner in the right position in the race. Number two, don’t drop the darn baton, right? But that means also you have to pass it. And I think that’s where a lot of entrepreneurs get stuck. A lot of team members get stuck too, because they, they go to pass it, but then they keep a death grip.
[00:08:39] Shannon Waller: So we call that delegation death grip. Um, I also call it when you whip the baton at someone’s head and run in the other direction. Hmm. That’s a delegation drive by. There’s lots of ways to mess this up. So pass the baton well. We have a great tool in Coach called the Impact Filter, which is actually available to everybody, which is a great way to get what you want out of your head and [00:09:00] into someone else’s hands.
[00:09:01] Shannon Waller: And then hold people accountable to that. I don’t want to miss that step. But really, the fifth official one is to celebrate wins and encourage growth and progress. If you’re ready. If you’re if it’s not rewarding to work for you, because you don’t because you take it for granted that people are going to do things and you don’t celebrate how people have contributed again.
[00:09:21] Shannon Waller: They won’t stay with you. So to really have a team that is sticky with you in the best way and that acknowledge the progress and not acknowledge their unique contributions, celebrate the win, stop for a second. And then it’s like, oh, now that we have this level of capability. What’s the next level of commitment and courage we want to embark on so we can keep growing because top performers don’t want to stay static.
[00:09:47] Shannon Waller: They don’t want to, they don’t want to plateau. They want to keep growing. That is, I think, one of the very underappreciated elements of, creating and building a great team is to really set. Not terrifying targets, but challenging targets, [00:10:00] challenging in a good creative way. , so those are , my five key thoughts.
[00:10:04] Shannon Waller: So just to recap, know thyself, know what you want, find great who’s, pass the baton, but don’t abdicate, just pass it, and then celebrate wins and encourage growth. So those are kind of my super bottom line way of describing how to build a great team.
[00:10:19] Mark Wright: Shannon, you are not only proficient at, but certified in a number of assessments that get us to know who we are. If somebody is not familiar with some of these, you know, talk to that business leader, talk to that entrepreneur and say, you really should be using , this and this to assess your teams.
[00:10:36] Mark Wright: Because that, that, that word assess, it can go a lot of different directions, right? Yeah.
[00:10:44] Shannon Waller: there. Oh my gosh. I mean, I’m a bit of a profile junkie done. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve done, but it really boils down to four that I use consistently. So I’ll quickly talk through them and then we can do a deeper dive if you want. If I’m starting off with someone’s team [00:11:00] immediately, like a team, if a team’s in place and I want to get a quick read on who’s doing what, where, uh, the two that I’m most, I start with is Colby.
[00:11:07] Shannon Waller: I’m Colby. So Colby is one, Working Genius is the second, and it’s one of the newest tools in my arsenal, if you want to think about it that way, , or in my, my quiver. , so Colby is amazing because it does not measure intellect, and nor does it measure personality. It measures mental energy and problem solving.
[00:11:25] Shannon Waller: How you strive. Last time I checked, Rick was all about striving, so you want to know how does someone’s mental energy play out? And is that right for the role? And you can do a brilliant, it’s called Colby Wright fit, profile of what the job is, and then you can match the candidate and get an A, B, C, D, or F rating.
[00:11:42] Shannon Waller: They say don’t hire below a B minus, I personally say don’t hire below a B, it will not be a right fit. Now, that’s only one part of the mind. There’s also the intellect and there’s also, The passion, but that’s the 1 I start with, because if that doesn’t work, doesn’t matter how passionate or intelligent someone is, they’re not going to be [00:12:00] successful in that role.
[00:12:00] Shannon Waller: So Colby is number 1 working genius is kind of fabulous because. Patrick, who I’ve been an avid reader of for. Long, long time, all the way since the four obsessions of an extraordinary executive, which is this first book. , he really has uncovered how the steps of a program, a project or a process. So the acronym is WIDGET, which took me way too long to figure out, it’s Wonder Invention Discernment Galvanizing Enablement Tenacity.
[00:12:31] Shannon Waller: So that’s 30, 000 feet all the way down to 5, 000 to zero. So knowing where someone wants to play. In a project, it’s really important if you’ve got a ton of people with invention and nobody with tenacity, none of your projects are getting across the finish line, right? So you cut and you, as they say, every project requires every letter.
[00:12:49] Shannon Waller: So that tells you if you do Colby and working genius to start, and both of those, I don’t know. Colby is about 55 us, , working genius is 10 minutes and [00:13:00] 25. Like for a very small investment, you can get some really great Intel. Now once someone’s hired, that’s when we like to do two other profiles and one is Clifton strengths.
[00:13:10] Shannon Waller: Again, very reasonable. Whatever you do, get all 34, do not get just the top five, just saying you want to know your top five to 10 and you really want to know the bottom five. Where you never go. So I was just on a panel at our coach conference, , last week with Jessica. I can’t remember her last name, from, that is nine years experience with KiptonStrengths.
[00:13:30] Shannon Waller: And she was so great. She said, these are talents that once developed turn into strengths. And so they tell you the growth path like Colby’s very validating CliftonStrengths is like, here’s the path to go into lean hard into these top five and you’ll be amazed and a quick story about this, which I find ridiculous in retrospect, but so my top one is Maximizer.
[00:13:52] Shannon Waller: I like to do good things and make them even better. And my 2nd, 1 is strategic. And when I did it in 2012, I was like strategic. [00:14:00] Really? And then I looked up and looked at the name of the company that I work with,
[00:14:06] Mark Wright: Strategic coach.
[00:14:08] Shannon Waller: right? Like duh. Anyway, it’s one of the duh moments. But then I realized, guess what?
[00:14:13] Shannon Waller: I’m damn good at strategy, right? It’s like my mind gravitates to it. I look for it. I’m always looking for maximizer strategies. That’s my game, which is what I consider the profiles. So that’s another one. And then one that we learned about from our fabulous coach, Adrian Duffy, uh, which coach has an exclusive relationship with them, but Your listeners could have access to, , and that is print, which stands for your motivational imprint or your motivational identity.
[00:14:37] Shannon Waller: And it dives deep. It’s not an off the shelf profile like the other ones that requires , some be connected to someone who knows about it, but it measures your Transcribed Potential best self or your best self and your potential shadow self and the triggers that will take you from one to the other of these nine different potential motivators.
[00:14:54] Shannon Waller: There are three thinking, three doing, and three feeling. And that one has proven incredibly insightful, [00:15:00] not, not only for conflict prevention, which is how I first learned about it, but to really understand about teamwork and how not to tick people off from the get go. Like there’s some people just by breathing. I’m going to irritate them. Other people, same goes just by them being them. I’m like, Oh God, you know, but it allows you to not take it personally. , so those are the, four profiles that I, I are my absolute go tos. There’s an order that I do them in from fastest, easiest to, , longer and more expensive.
[00:15:30] Shannon Waller: , but if I really want to develop a team with someone, those are the assessments I go to.
[00:15:35] Mark Wright: Stel.
[00:15:35] Dr Stel Nik: Thanks, Shannon. , there’s so many things that are going in my head right now. I just want to say thank you. Cause Shannon is. Um, my coach at strategic coach and there’s a lot of, , of learnings that Shannon’s already expressed. And one thing I, I want to, , emphasize here is what you said in terms of know thyself.
[00:15:52] Dr Stel Nik: , cause the one thing I can say is, and the second thing you said is, uh, the personal development that happens as an entrepreneur. I’ve been in [00:16:00] strategic coach for 12, 13 years now, and, uh, it’s helped me from a personal development standpoint, immensely. , and , the unique ability that was mentioned and why I emphasize know thyself first is because in order for me to be a leader within my team, A, I have to understand myself and all these tools are innately, we’re born with them.
[00:16:24] Dr Stel Nik: Okay, so as Shannon is discussing, when we were going, when I was going through Colby and, , print, it’s basically a deeper understanding of who I am, and then the unique ability process really deepened the understanding of who I am, which then opened up the opportunity to know what I want.
[00:16:43] Shannon Waller: Yes.
[00:16:44] Dr Stel Nik: And then once I knew what I wanted, , and I could tell a story where, , I’m in healthcare, I mean, we’re not top business at all.
[00:16:51] Dr Stel Nik: , and when I say it all at all, I’m fortunate that I have a brother that’s a CFO and a cousin that’s a CEO. And they emphasize you have to have a mission, a vision [00:17:00] and a value statement. I thought, why do I need words on a board? I know what I do and I know what I want. , and the key thing was when I created , my mission , and vision of where I wanted to go, and I coupled that with the educational understanding as an entrepreneur of who I am, it gave me room to take off.
[00:17:20] Dr Stel Nik: I mean, I use the analogy of an airplane, but it’s like the runway started to get created. And then as I saw the ability. Be able to take off. It was interesting because then I became aware of who my who’s were that also had these unique abilities so that we’re taking off together, which allowed the lift to happen a lot more efficiently, a lot more effectively and a lot higher.
[00:17:44] Dr Stel Nik: So I just wanted to throw that in there to start the conversation. Cause, uh,
[00:17:48] Andre Brisson: You knew which runway to take.
[00:17:50] Dr Stel Nik: And you knew
[00:17:50] Andre Brisson: other thing too. Sorry, this was Andre.
[00:17:53] Shannon Waller: Yeah. There’s, that’s a brilliant point to bring up still. If you don’t know this stuff, we’re trying, we’re playing whack a mole. [00:18:00] We’re trying to hit all the things as an entrepreneur. There are so many things to pay attention to people, finance, customers, databases, CRM, social media, AI, your head can explode.
[00:18:12] Shannon Waller: And I missed it like 25, 30 things, right? So. When you start to get really, really clear, as you said, and unique ability is what you love to do in our best at most basic definition. It gives you energy and you can always see room to get better because you love it. Okay. Simplest definition of unique ability.
[00:18:29] Shannon Waller: So I’m glad you brought that up still. But if you don’t have that context, if you don’t have the clarity about who you are, because it also tells you who you’re not. And what you’re not best suited for. So it’s basically, it just, you get to say no to a bunch of things and yes to the few things that are actually energizing and fun.
[00:18:47] Shannon Waller: I said fascinating and motivating earlier, like instead of trying to be all things to all people, you’re like, Oh no, I want to be a hero to these people doing this. You know, who utilize, appreciate, reward, [00:19:00] enhance, and refer my unique ability, right? Like that’s what it just is incredibly focusing because you have to know what to say no to in order to know what to say yes to.
[00:19:09] Shannon Waller: And the profiles are profound. And then to your point, Andre, then you, and both of you actually, you know who your who’s are. You’re like, yeah, I could do that, but I don’t want to. I could do spreadsheets. You’re smart enough, all the things. I don’t want to do spreadsheets. No, whatever that is. And so it allows you to delegate with confidence.
[00:19:28] Shannon Waller: Can you like, Oh my God, that person loves spreadsheets. And now that they’re, they’ve got a brain for it. They’ve got a mind for it. They’ve got the instincts for it. So it just gives you so much more confidence in building a team when you have this core information. Cause not everyone walks in knowing your unique ability, but But the profiles give you the common language and the framework and the foundation for being able to begin to have that conversation.
[00:19:50] Dr Stel Nik: Shannon, have access to the Unique Ability 2. 0? Is it online or can you purchase it? Okay,
[00:19:56] Shannon Waller: Available on Amazon from strategic coach. Yeah.
[00:19:59] Dr Stel Nik: like to [00:20:00] make a little bit of a plug here because it was a life changing experience for me to go through it and Julia Waller is, , the one that, the coach that does this in, strategic coach who happens to be Shannon’s sister.
[00:20:11] Dr Stel Nik: But anybody that’s listening for to do the, , the evaluations is a fantastic idea. I would put on the top of that list to do the unique ability 2. 0. It’s a book, brilliant, and it’s the most humbling experience and the one of the most insightful things that you can do in order to understand that first concept thyself.
[00:20:33] Dr Stel Nik: So.
[00:20:35] Shannon Waller: Yeah. And so it’s, it’s unique ability 2. 0 is cool. Cause it’s both a book and a workbook. Julia is the unique ability whisper. I was calling her Uniquability Queen, but then one of our clients called her Uniquability Whisperer, which totally suits her. And she wrote the notebook. It is like sitting down with Julia, which normally costs a lot.
[00:20:53] Shannon Waller: And it’s only available to, , the top two levels of our coach clients. But this is like sitting down with, Julia in a cafe and going [00:21:00] through. So the profiles are a way to get the language. And then you translate that through a series of exercises that give you enormous clarity about what, why you’re here.
[00:21:09] Shannon Waller: Why you put on the planet what your gift in your contribution is. , so it’s very, it’s very powerful.
[00:21:15] Andre Brisson: So Shannon, when you’re talking about the delegation part, Andre here, . Delegation, the other thing too as an entrepreneur, what we, It’s not, I think we have a lot of entrepreneurs have a hard time trusting their team or the delegating part. And a lot of the people who are on podcasts and the way you’re reading it, you know, it’s all, everyone says the egotistical, you just want to control everything.
[00:21:37] Andre Brisson: You know, for a certain few, I would probably agree with that. But for me, what I discovered is it was actually getting over a bad habit. Of having to do it all, especially if you’re a startup, so you’re used, you know, 10 years later, you’ve been doing it all. Now you bring it on teams. It’s not that I don’t trust the person is I’ve always done it.
[00:21:54] Andre Brisson: I do it faster and it’s the habit you got to get out of to start. [00:22:00] So I tell my team myself, it says, Hey, if you can do that, remind me, I don’t have to do it because I’m just doing it because that’s what I’ve always done. So I think there’s a bit of a difference there to make sure that it’s not a failure.
[00:22:11] Andre Brisson: It’s just something you’re used to doing get overcome.
[00:22:15] Shannon Waller: We have a great teamwork model, and it takes you from rugged individualism, which happens when there’s no one else there to do it right to unique ability teamwork and it takes clear communication, clear structure. You know, knowing and knowing your unique ability. If you don’t unique ability, you can’t have unique ability teamwork.
[00:22:32] Shannon Waller: And so, yeah, it requires clear processes to, , to be able to do that. And there’s a little bit of a problem though, because there’s a crisis point when, you know, you need somebody. Oh, you’re maybe even hired them, but they’re not up to speed yet. Right. And you have to, it’s like, you’re doing a little bit of the double work.
[00:22:49] Shannon Waller: You’re helping them. They’re doing it. And then you’re double checking. But if you just have this picture that you’re going to be able to break through what we call your, previous ceiling of complexity, but that’s only going to happen [00:23:00] because you’re equipping somebody else. So that, but you have to have the mindset that unique ability teamwork is going to free you up and it will make your life easier and better.
[00:23:09] Shannon Waller: But there is that little tiny bit of like, it’s not easy, but you just have to keep that big picture in mind. Sorry, Mark. I know you
[00:23:15] Andre Brisson: the skills, but the thing is just knowing that everyone’s skills and abilities is not the only thing. Right. This is one of the big, this is a big bad. I took to my head. The last couple of years was, you know, we need to hire also that they fit the culture and they got the right mindset. The skills can be trained.
[00:23:33] Andre Brisson: You know, you can have the proper Colby person, like the profile on your present on your job, but that’s not personality. And that’s the other thing we got to. It’s not just the skills and abilities. You can do the spreadsheet. It’s will you fulfill our mission, our vision and be, be one of us. So that’s a. A key difference I learned.
[00:23:51] Mark Wright: yeah, James, I want to get to you, but, I wanted to, before I forget, we dedicated an entire episode of BEATS WORKING to, uh, talking with Julia Waller about unique [00:24:00] ability. So if you haven’t heard that episode, it’s a great breakdown of the whole process and the value of it. Okay, James.
[00:24:07] Dr James Bryant: No, that’s great. , a lot of first Shannon, thank you so much for bringing this to the table. And a lot of what we’ve discussed, particularly when knowing who you are, I’m a firm believer that the greatest level of awareness is self awareness because it is difficult for you to change the things that you’re not aware of.
[00:24:26] Dr James Bryant: You can’t intentionally take action. If you’re not aware of it. So awareness to me is key, absolutely foundational. And I would add to that, we’ve been talking about it from the standpoint of how do you build, but also how do you lead? And as you’re leading those teams, it’s not just knowing who you are, but knowing who they are and that knowing who they are, goes beyond, as Andre was saying, just the, the, you know, can they do spreadsheets?
[00:24:54] Dr James Bryant: Are they good at numbers? But what are their motivations? What are the things that make them tick? What’s the [00:25:00] best way for me to engage this team member? How do they like to be led? And as a leader, we need to be adaptable enough. To be able to adapt to that while also keeping our whole team accountable and not necessarily just, you know, not necessarily just saying I’m going to lie down to the best way for each of you, but working through that interaction.
[00:25:23] Shannon Waller: Mm hmm. Two things. , I love your point about self awareness and the, which is really the reason to know thyself. So I totally agree, James. And it’s, interesting. I have like one personal rule , from me, which is that I trust people to, to the degree that I think they know themselves. Right. And it’s weird.
[00:25:42] Shannon Waller: , that one law for me personally about who I choose to hang out with has saved me. I also learned it the hard way, just saying, , because people who don’t know what they’re going to do are completely unpredictable. And if someone says, I’m not good enough for you, believe them, they know, they know that.
[00:25:59] Shannon Waller: , and I, to your point [00:26:00] about leadership, and I actually did a podcast on this. And again, most of my podcasts come from learning what not to do. , but it was, it started with no, no yourself. Know them to your point, James, and then have that bigger goal, that bigger ambition, because unique ability without a focus is, is brutal.
[00:26:19] Shannon Waller: It doesn’t, it, you end up with people with an entitlement attitude. , but it’s like, it’s so critical that people have an entrepreneurial attitude, which includes a no entitlement attitude. It includes being focused on results and figuring out what the results are and aligning with those things.
[00:26:34] Shannon Waller: You know, , having patience and compassion, , like all the things like if people don’t have an entrepreneurial attitude to your point, Andre, there’ll be a horrible misfit for your culture if they come in entitled and status driven. Well, that’s why I wrote the book Multiplication by Subtraction
[00:26:50] Andre Brisson: Can you expand more on entitlement versus the entrepreneurial? Cause that’s, that’s a key subtle difference. almost like to me, entitlement’s like a bad disease. Like [00:27:00] it’s, I get the itchy scratchies, right?
[00:27:02] Shannon Waller: well, this is really the distinction in my mind. I’m sure someone could argue with me, , between corporate and entrepreneurial. So when you enter a corporate structure, It’s been around for a long time. It probably started out as an entrepreneurial company. So I don’t hate corporations or anything, but there’s a different structure.
[00:27:19] Shannon Waller: People go in there to grow to climb the corporate ladder. , corporations run large parts of our world. Some of them are very happy with a few others less so, but it’s like, , there’s a role for them and a function and, but you can have expectations. You can feel entitled to, you know, a growth path structure raises job descriptions that don’t change every day.
[00:27:40] Shannon Waller: You can feel entitled to that and you’d be justified. An entrepreneurial company, not too much. Right? I mean, the growth path is do what you do, only bigger. It’s like, in fact, I’ve just been publishing one of our newsletters about this. , there’s no path. making it up as we go along. Right?
[00:27:57] Shannon Waller: And if you come in entitled, [00:28:00] A, you’re going to be super frustrated. You’re going to be a pain in the butt to work with. And no one’s going to give you really the time of day. It’s like, what are you creating? What are you contributing? It’s much more about contribution than status. , we actually have a, we have a question we ask in our hiring process, which is, what do you think you’re entitled to?
[00:28:18] Dr James Bryant: like, but we want
[00:28:19] Shannon Waller: And if they say anything,
[00:28:20] Dr James Bryant: about making a difference,
[00:28:22] Shannon Waller: they’re gone. We don’t hire them. There are no entitlements in our company. Like if you come in thinking you’re entitled to anything, bye bye. Right? It’s all about contribution, all about making a difference, all about increasing productivity and profitability. That’s the mandate of an entrepreneurial organization and that’s all there’s room for.
[00:28:40] Shannon Waller: So it, to my mind, it’s a very black and white, , situation again, happy to debate that with anybody.
[00:28:46] Andre Brisson: No, but contribution is another key word that separates it all, right? What are you going to contribute to the project? I know here, my office engineering is today could be drafting. Today can be customer service. They’re still using their unique [00:29:00] ability just in different ways.
[00:29:01] Dr James Bryant: I’m going to, I’m going to push back slightly on, on both of you on, on the contribution piece and entitlement piece. I do think when I think of someone going into corporate America, they believe that the structure is going to provide them a path. So they feel entitled to a path or they think that this structure is going to do it and their contribution may be working within that structure, but it’s a very structured structure.
[00:29:27] Dr James Bryant: Approach.
[00:29:28] Shannon Waller: Agreed.
[00:29:29] Dr James Bryant: And when it comes to entrepreneurial, as you said, Shannon, we make the path like there and the path that you make today may be different than the path that you’re going to make tomorrow. I’m only pushing back just from the whole negative connotation that we have around entitlement. Now, when I think of entitlement, I think of a kid that believes that they’re entitled to something and they’re always playing the victim and they’re not going to move forward.
[00:29:55] Dr James Bryant: They don’t take action because. I’m entitled to it. Why should I work for it? [00:30:00] I think that’s slightly different than what happens sometimes in corporations in comparing Individuals that are working in those corporations that’s all The
[00:30:10] Shannon Waller: I got you. And, it’s interesting. Yeah. The entitlement and a kid it’s like expecting to be just given to you. Not sign up for that in any day. , and I think in corporate, I think people really do want to contribute in big companies. With big companies I’ve worked with in my past, people have been awesome.
[00:30:24] Shannon Waller: These are really talented, smart individuals, but they do put exactly what you said, just like, okay, if I work hard and I make the right decisions and I get to know the right people, then I will be able to move up. There’s a ladder.
[00:30:37] Dr James Bryant: will move me up. It’s not it’s it’s more so They they give over their agency to the system in the structure And they don’t take personal agency. And again, I’m just pushing back on the negative connotation that comes to my mind. And maybe this is just me being biased when I hear entitlement. ,
[00:30:56] Shannon Waller: sounds to me, from what I’m hearing is, is like there’s a negative and a [00:31:00] neutral way to talk about entitlement. And I’m going to say that though, if you, even if you come into, into an entrepreneurial company with either of those interpretations, you will not be winning as a team member. Does
[00:31:11] Dr James Bryant: No, no, no. I agree with that.
[00:31:14] Shannon Waller: I think we’re a hundred percent on the same page.
[00:31:15] Shannon Waller: I agree. A
[00:31:17] Andre Brisson: I don’t think we’re saying one’s better than the other. It’s just, we’ve got different types of people that will fit well in those different environments.
[00:31:25] Dr James Bryant: not, you’re, your words may not be , saying that Andre, but your body language says that because you’re thinking of it from the perspective of your company and how they fit within your company and in your company, one is better than the other.
[00:31:36] Shannon Waller: hundred percent. , but here’s the thing that, and cause I’ve spent a lot of time helping entrepreneurs realize why certain team members are working and certain team members aren’t and what they need to do differently to be someone that great people want to work with.
[00:31:48] Shannon Waller: Right. , because here’s what’s confusing. The language of business is the same. Whether or not you’re in a corporation or an entrepreneurial company. However, the mindset is completely different. [00:32:00] So having, being able to describe what is expected, it’s, , I wrote Team Success, it’s 10 years ago now, , and I started off writing a book for entrepreneurs, And it ended up being a book for team members.
[00:32:11] Shannon Waller: Here’s how to win an entrepreneurial company. Here’s what to expect. Here’s what to not expect, right? Because they were so confused. I mean, I started the strategic coach team programs in 1995. And I came up with this thing called the entrepreneurial attitude, because I was explaining how entrepreneurs like our entrepreneurial time system, unique ability, all this stuff.
[00:32:31] Shannon Waller: And it was sinking in about a centimeter, half an inch, right? And finally, I’m like, there’s something missing. And it was the mindset. So really understanding that a corporate mindset, again, great. I’m uniquely unsuited to play that game, but other people are brilliant at it. But people need to understand what they’re getting into.
[00:32:50] Shannon Waller: Thank you. And entrepreneurism. Even working for an entrepreneurial company is not for everyone, just as entrepreneurs are kind of rare in terms of percentage of the population. Really great [00:33:00] entrepreneurial team members are also not terribly common. So when you find someone who succeeds and thrives in your company, Oh, my God, love on them, right?
[00:33:09] Shannon Waller: Because not everyone is wired this way. And we need to appreciate that, look for it, reward it when we see it. So that’s a little bit of my underlying, , context behind this,
[00:33:20] Dr James Bryant: Gotcha.
[00:33:20] Andre Brisson: Yeah, that follows the definition of entitlement. Which is unjustified assumption that one has a right to certain advantages. Preferential treatment. That’s what I was going by is the actual definition of it.
[00:33:33] Shannon Waller: that there’s none of that in large field company.
[00:33:36] Mark Wright: Yeah.
[00:33:36] Andre Brisson: no, like
[00:33:37] Shannon Waller: make it up as we go.
[00:33:38] Andre Brisson: I say, I don’t care if you’ve been here 10, 15 years, there’s not one day you can kick up your feet because you’ve been here for so many years and do less than everyone else.
[00:33:46] Shannon Waller: Seniority does not matter.
[00:33:48] Andre Brisson: that mindset
[00:33:49] Dr James Bryant: No, I agree with you, but, but when you read that definition, That is a negative, regardless of where you’re at, the entrepreneurial or corporate. And [00:34:00] I’m saying the way that we describe it in its function, I don’t know if we’re saying that there is everybody retired in place. Is that what we’re trying to say that are working in corporations, that they all feel entitled to that?
[00:34:13] Dr James Bryant: No, I don’t think so.
[00:34:15] Shannon Waller: No, and I think to your point earlier, it’s set up so that if you do certain things, you will be rewarded a certain way. You, I don’t, we don’t even need to call that entitlement. That’s just the structure. My point is there’s no such , structure like that in entrepreneurial
[00:34:28] Dr James Bryant: totally agree.
[00:34:29] Shannon Waller: Awesome.
[00:34:30] Mark Wright: All right. Still, you had something.
[00:34:32] Dr Stel Nik: Oh, I have lots of somethings. I want to emphasize something cause I mean, Andre and I have a gift in Shannon and we get to experience her coaching style every quarter and there’s certain things that she said and even in terms of the conversation that we’re having between corporate versus entrepreneurialism, my whole thing.
[00:34:52] Dr Stel Nik: And, and James, you alluded to this. It’s like, okay, this is my unique ability. So regardless of where I’m at. I [00:35:00] run a business within a business,
[00:35:02] Dr James Bryant: Yes. Yeah.
[00:35:05] Dr Stel Nik: And Shannon used a specific, word of expression versus execution. And then she also said it’s, head, heart, and gut. Okay. And to me, the heart piece is, That’s what holds everything together and that’s the gift in terms of being around the right people that allow for the communication to happen so that we know thyself.
[00:35:29] Dr Stel Nik: Okay, now James you said who am I and then who are they, and there’s an, there’s, there needs to be a distinction in terms of the importance of having both. Okay, and one of our coach colleagues wrote a book called what’s in it for them. And at first I thought, I consider myself a giver. So it’s like give, give, give, give you all the time, but no, what he said is always think about what’s in it for them.
[00:35:51] Dr Stel Nik: Why? Because it gives now perspective and understanding, know thyself and then start understanding who they are [00:36:00] and where they are with respect to you.
[00:36:02] Dr James Bryant: Uh huh.
[00:36:22] Dr Stel Nik: out there so that there isn’t space to exist in terms of that continuum. So if I put something out there and I ask a question and Mark, you’re amazing at it. You ask the questions in order to understand where we’re at. Okay. Then what happens is there’s a connection that happens where the heart, , the mind, the heart, , and the gut start to connect.
[00:36:42] Dr Stel Nik: Where, and I’m going to add another word, Shannon, authentic expression starts to occur, okay, and then we’re in flow, and then creating something that’s never been created before and coming up with ideas that we wouldn’t have thought before. So the other thing I’m going to add in there, which Shannon allows us to do in class, [00:37:00] is creativity.
[00:37:01] Shannon Waller: Mm hmm.
[00:37:02] Dr Stel Nik: Okay, there’s something within each of us which then will allow the contribution or the expression or the ideas in order to contribute our way to make a much bigger impact in the world, which then leads to purpose and relationships and deeper things that you can’t necessarily make tangible. That’s the gift of all of this.
[00:37:20] Dr Stel Nik: So, I hope that makes sense. I just need to bring that to the equation. Shannon, speak more on this because you’re awesome at it. And the listeners can hear Coach Shannon coaching.
[00:37:32] Shannon Waller: I love it. Still. Thank you. Well, yes. So to go back, you know, , when you’ve got someone fully aligned with that, and it does start with heart, by the way, , we don’t, we’re not going to study something. We’re not going to take action on something we don’t care about. So, and, and had a great conversation with Kathy Colby actually on my team success podcast.
[00:37:49] Shannon Waller: She goes, it all starts with motivation. We’re not motivated. Nothing else happens. So to your point, Stella, it starts here in your heart. , but when those things are aligned again, you’ve got a [00:38:00] healthy, happy, productive, profitable human being who is their most authentic self. They are the highest level of expression of themselves.
[00:38:08] Shannon Waller: They have the most to contribute. They’re not clouded with. You know, mind junk, distracting them. They know who they are. They know what they’re up to. They know what they’re contributing. , they’re kind of joyful in their expression of themselves, which is another way that we talk about authenticity.
[00:38:24] Shannon Waller: Still. And they’re, so wonderful to be around. Like, still, you’re wonderful to be around. Cause you’re so, you know, you’re so clear on who you are, what you’re up to, and Andre shaking his head. It’s fun. You’re a playful son of a gun, right? But there’s an authenticity to it. Mark, I love hanging out with you.
[00:38:44] Shannon Waller: Like you’re just such a genuine warm energy with the best questions ever. And it’s just, and I could say the same thing, but Andre and James too, but it’s like people who are authentic, they pull the authenticity out of other people. We are creating something [00:39:00] We had a few talking points, but we’re creating something that there’s no way it could have happened any other way with these, you know, people on screen or on, , on the mic.
[00:39:09] Shannon Waller: Uh, so yes, this is what happens and I think creativity and authenticity gets thwarted when we don’t acknowledge or give expression to the head, heart and the gut.
[00:39:20] Mark Wright: I wanted to say something about creativity because I was at a little company called Amazon last week. , I’m part of a leadership group, , in Seattle through the chamber of commerce, and we had a field trip to Amazon and we went to the Amazon expressions lab, it’s this gorgeous building in downtown Seattle.
[00:39:40] Mark Wright: And what happens at the expressions lab is people from across the corporation, Amazon, which by the way, it was a little startup that sold books out of a warehouse in Seattle, not too long ago. But what they do is they take everyday Amazon employees who are, a lot of them are just hardcore programmers and their world is structured by [00:40:00] if, Then statements, , when they write software and it’s very structured and it’s very limiting.
[00:40:05] Mark Wright: So what, the Amazon leadership realized is that when they put these highly structured, creative people into this environment and take the guardrails completely off, They open their brains up to a creativity that isn’t available to them in their everyday work. So we went into an art lab and we just started creating these amazing lanterns.
[00:40:28] Mark Wright: And we had, we had hot, you know, heat guns and glue guns and stuff, you know, razor blades, and it was, it was amazing. But what it, what it, Told me was, even though this is one of the biggest massive companies on earth, they haven’t lost sight of what made them special in the beginning. And that was having some flexibility to be creative, to figure out what’s next.
[00:40:52] Mark Wright: And I thought, man. That is, I mean, well, they have so much money, they can just build a, a building dedicated to, you [00:41:00] know, creative expression, but it speaks to the value and the power of that, um, Shannon, you know, as I’m curious, when you look at all the team building that takes place among the entrepreneurs that you coach, what’s the most common reason teams break down?
[00:41:17] Mark Wright: I’d love to know that.
[00:41:19] Shannon Waller: Only 1, there’s so many, I’m just going to rhyme off some of the top ones that come and it depends on the day. Because depending on who I was talking to our problems, I was solving will raise. And so 1 of them is a lack of leadership, which means it kind of means a lack of vision. So when there’s no 1.
[00:41:36] Shannon Waller: , when the direction is not clear or it’s, or they thought it was clear and they forgot to talk about it for the last three years, that’s going to be an issue. So when people no longer know what direction they’re supposed to be heading, that is a huge one. , another one that was becoming very clear to me today is when there has been a lack of accountability, right?
[00:41:54] Shannon Waller: So if someone’s MIA. And it’s not called you just create a whole [00:42:00] mess down the line and people get used to a type of behavior that frankly is not healthy. And so not paying attention to that, assuming that just because, , someone says the right thing, or they’ve got a charming personality, what have you that means they’re actually contributing like pay attention to results.
[00:42:17] Shannon Waller: So I think that’s. Absolutely vital, , when people don’t pay attention to their standards or don’t honor their core values and you let someone, you know, when I wrote multiplication by subtraction, it was inspired by senior team leaders. So I met with, I work with clients in their teams, usually their leadership teams, and I met with this 1 client.
[00:42:35] Shannon Waller: Who I won’t name, initial J. And, , he and a senior, senior person met with me. And so at the end of the, conversation, I’m like, dude, right? We had a great conversation, dude, besides you didn’t buy into a single word of it. He is not on the same page as we are. And he was like, no, Shannon, it’s fine.
[00:42:56] Shannon Waller: He’s going to be taking over the company. He’s got great leadership capabilities, [00:43:00] blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, I’m telling you. And so, and two years later he calls me up and goes, Shannon, you were right. And he lost clients and he lost money. And it was expensive, right? Because that guy was there for his reasons, not the company’s.
[00:43:18] Shannon Waller: And so I cannot stress, and this happened two more times. I’m like, screw it. I’m writing a book on this because it just annoyed the heck out of me. , now that’s not, you can move people around until they have a right fit, head, heart, mind, or gut. And then if it still doesn’t work, then you can gracefully let go of them.
[00:43:31] Shannon Waller: But. This was the inspiration for the book. So really not, holding people accountable to your core values is, absolutely vital. , and then kind of being, not giving people the agency. James, I’m so happy you use that word. Dan and I were talking about it. Dan Sullivan and I were talking about the other day.
[00:43:48] Shannon Waller: When you hire really great talented people and you don’t give them room to breathe, when you don’t give them room to be creative, when you control or command them, Good luck. You’re going to [00:44:00] lose really, really good people. , so that’s not giving, you know, not giving agency to people with unique ability who are very authentic and creative.
[00:44:07] Shannon Waller: Again, recipe for disaster. , and there was one more that just popped into my head. , anyway, it’ll come back to me, but those are.
[00:44:14] Andre Brisson: one
[00:44:14] Shannon Waller: Yes, please. Andre.
[00:44:16] Andre Brisson: as the entrepreneur, if you check out of your own vision and mission, or you, you get to a point where you think you’ve lost interest,
[00:44:23] Shannon Waller: Mm
[00:44:23] Andre Brisson: but still move forward, the, the team feels it and they break down,
[00:44:28] Shannon Waller: Yep. Oh, the last one is, , keeping on poor performers too long
[00:44:33] Andre Brisson: Oh yeah, repeat mistake.
[00:44:36] Shannon Waller: because it sends a message like a players want to work with other a players, , think about sports, all stars want to work with other all stars. And if you let someone who’s a BC or D player hang around too long, cause you don’t have the body parts to deal with it, right. Right.
[00:44:54] Dr James Bryant: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
[00:44:56] Mark Wright: I don’t think I’ve ever heard
[00:44:57] Shannon Waller: women, gentlemen.
[00:44:58] Mark Wright: so, so tactfully stated, [00:45:00] Shannon.
[00:45:00] Shannon Waller: That’s actually, , oh, my God. Great. There’s conversation. Susan Scott is where I got that term for him. Like, I’m so stealing that.
[00:45:07] Mark Wright: I’m blushing and I grew up on a farm.
[00:45:13] Shannon Waller: I love, I love having embarrassed you. Actually, that’s funny. , but if you don’t have the courage to, to have that conversation or aren’t paying attention. Oh, that’s another huge leadership mistake. , again, top ones off my head, but you got to kind of get the picture basically pay attention. Oh, can I mention a book?
[00:45:32] Shannon Waller: I just read that. I found very exciting. Um, Patrick Lynch came out with this book in 2021 called the motive. How did I miss it? I don’t know. It was before working genius, but he talks, it’s a leadership fable and it’s very short to read. It’s got five things in the back to do or not do, but it, and part of the reason why I got excited is it talks about two different types of leaders.
[00:45:53] Shannon Waller: Those that are reward centers, in other words, they worked hard, they climbed and then they got to the position of power [00:46:00] and then they get to do however the hell they want. And so, and they just pick and choose. Responsibility based leaders do the hard work, they do the heavy lifting, they set the vision, they coach their team, they make sure their team leaders are coaching their teams.
[00:46:15] Shannon Waller: They have the tough conversations, they repeat the key message over and over and over again. And so the, and the difference is dramatic in terms of profitability and productivity. , but it was, I wrote, I was excited because it really talks about why I wrote the inspiration I had for why I wrote multiplication by subtraction because reward based leaders.
[00:46:35] Shannon Waller: Again, there’s an entitlement to go back to that term at risk, James, , but there’s an entitlement to them. That’s not healthy for a company. , so if people are not motivated the right way, it doesn’t work.
[00:46:48] Dr James Bryant: You get no pushback from you on that one, Shannon. We’re good. We’re good.
[00:46:54] Mark Wright: I’d love to drill down Shannon a little bit deeper on the idea of celebrating [00:47:00] wins and encouraging growth. I’ve been on teams in the past. Again, this is in the corporate world, but so often when something really great is achieved, it’s almost. It’s almost. Brushed aside by management. Like if they reward us too much, then we’ll be expecting something from them.
[00:47:18] Mark Wright: What’s the appropriate way to celebrate, to encourage that growth, because it is so demoralizing. Like let’s say a sales team goes 30 percent over last year’s numbers and then management’s like, Oh, great. Okay. We’re going to go 20 percent above next year. Everybody see you. See you next week.
[00:47:36] Shannon Waller: And by the way, entrepreneurs make exactly the same mistake and they do it because they’re like, it’s like you did 30 percent last year, let’s do 40 next year. It seems like, oh, you know, we just busted our ass. Sorry, busted our butts and we’re exhausted. ,
[00:47:50] Shannon Waller: and there’s not even a record,
[00:47:52] Dr James Bryant: Just
[00:47:53] Dr James Bryant: just the body part busted a body part.
[00:47:55] Dr Stel Nik: Yeah.
[00:47:56] Shannon Waller: busted the body part.
[00:47:57] Shannon Waller: I like that. , and there’s no like, woohoo, well done. [00:48:00] So couple things. And it’s interesting, if you’re talking about it personally, there are some, you really, this is where you have to know your team. So people who are much quieter, much more steady, um, your introverts, for example, having a walking them to the front of the room in front of their team of 100 plus people and having a big round of applause is not the way to recognize that human.
[00:48:22] Shannon Waller: That is a disaster and they will be embarrassed and horrified and never want to win again. So them, like write them a handwritten note. Letting them know how much you appreciate them, why, the differences made, what you’ve learned, right? That’s a way to, and that’s actually great to acknowledge anybody for anything, but then do it in writing and give them a financial reward, give them more free time, give them days off, give them whatever is meaningful to them.
[00:48:49] Shannon Waller: I’m a big fan of Amazon gift certificates and dark chocolate. It’s amazing what I’ll do for those two things, right? Amazon gift cards are the best.
[00:48:57] Andre Brisson: That’s a hint.
[00:48:59] Shannon Waller: [00:49:00] Anybody?
[00:49:00] Dr James Bryant: it is.
[00:49:01] Shannon Waller: There you go. Now, for someone who is much more outgoing, fast paced, D or I on disc, for example, which is another one of the things I know, you know, pull them up in front of the room, celebrate them.
[00:49:13] Shannon Waller: Applause is fabulous. You know, those people will feel really acknowledged and rewarded. As a team, celebrate them to their peers. You know, it’s really fun. So we have a team meeting all the time, actually, but our quarterly team meetings, we will celebrate wins. So the team leader will often get up and celebrate the team , and shout out to people.
[00:49:31] Shannon Waller: They don’t have to go stand up at the front or anything. And we all clap in what’s, Dan is Dan Sullivan, co founder of Coach. He goes, I love these meetings because 90 percent of the stuff people are talking about, I had no idea. Right? So he is really cool. That’s how much of a self managing company we have.
[00:49:50] Shannon Waller: , but it’s, that’s what’s important and you don’t, and I start every single meeting at Coach with a positive focus. Where are you happy? Where are you winning? So it gets [00:50:00] acknowledged small, big, medium, all the time. We’re acknowledging progress. Gems.
[00:50:06] Dr James Bryant: Yeah. Well, , two things comes to mind and it’s kind of based on what you’re talking about is like the application of the five love languages. , we talk about in relationships to be able to give people love in the way this package, the way that they can receive it. And so in this case, you’re talking about appreciation.
[00:50:23] Dr James Bryant: How do you celebrate those team members? In a way that they’re most likely to receive it, you know, full circle back to know yourself and know them and really knowing them. You understand what’s going to be the best way to be able to kind of package that, the other thing that I was going to mention, of course, left my mind.
[00:50:47] Dr James Bryant: You know how, you know how things go real quick, go real quickly. , another, but another comment that. We were talking about, , creativity and I think there’s a link between creativity and curiosity [00:51:00] and, you know, being able to look at those two and whether creativity comes first or curiosity comes first, doesn’t matter.
[00:51:08] Dr James Bryant: They’re
[00:51:09] Shannon Waller: Curiosity. I vote for curiosity.
[00:51:11] Dr James Bryant: but it’s serving the same purpose. You are asking questions, you are exploring, you are allowing yourself to think about the possibilities. And so Mark, if you’re talking about, you know, working and doing art and letting things free flow and seeing how things happen, you’re just being curious about what you
[00:51:31] Shannon Waller: I love that. That’s really useful. , and I love the, the five love languages are awesome. Huge fan personally and professionally, , but, and really just having a lot of ways for people to acknowledge one another. It’s great for leadership to do it, but it’s almost sometimes more meaningful for teams when your peers do it.
[00:51:49] Shannon Waller: So we, we used to have something called, we were. Somehow we’re a fan of sock monkeys, so we had the sock monkey awards. We’ve now changed to our page awards, so that’s our core values. So just quickly positive and [00:52:00] collaborative teamwork. That’s the P, being alert, curious, responsive, and resourceful alert makes me think of being curious, James.
[00:52:05] Shannon Waller: So I like that one. So that’s a, , growth and results. That’s G and then E for providing an excellent first class experience. So when anyone’s done one or a combination of those things, they get nominated for page awards. We just finished CoachCon last week. I can’t keep up with an in the chat, our G chat, you know, about how many acknowledge Mark, Kathy Davis, Eleanor Mancini.
[00:52:28] Shannon Waller: Just masterminded and brainstormed this whole thing for a year and pulled off a superb. There’s no way it was like our first one. It was like our 10th, right? And people are taking notes for their own conferences as a result. So we have page awards. Then when someone saved us a lot of money or made us a lot of money and done something, it’s kind of breakthrough.
[00:52:46] Shannon Waller: We like the analogy of a bubbling pot for to grow 10 times. So we call them bubble awards. Right. And so when someone’s done something kind of big, we’re like, Oh, my God, this person saved us X thousands of dollars. This people, this person made us that [00:53:00] much money. Then we do these bigger bubble awards, you know, launching a new CRM or something like that.
[00:53:05] Shannon Waller: So we, there’s just a lot of room for celebration from a lot of different dimensions. And it. And it lands, it works. Like there’s a lot of celebration and coach and all of it. All it does is inspires people to go to do bigger rather than what you were saying, Mark going not to be taken for granted. Does that make sense?
[00:53:24] Shannon Waller: , that’s the most horrible way to reward achievement is just to take it for granted. Don’t, don’t do that.
[00:53:29] Dr James Bryant: And what that reminds me of Shannon, the other two things , came back to me. One, I have a small business client that they’ve instituted in their week, their monthly safety meeting. So this is a highway maintenance contractor to have monthly safety meetings. They’ll do a company values moment where the people within the organization can nominate one of their peers that have exhibited that company’s values throughout that month.
[00:53:55] Dr James Bryant: And so. They come on during a safety meeting. They talk about that person I’m [00:54:00] nominating. So and so here’s the value that fits within our organization. And this is how they. Display that value. And the whole purpose of why we created that program is just to continue to reinforce the values within the organization.
[00:54:16] Dr James Bryant: And then the thing that I forgot to say earlier is that from an entrepreneurial standpoint, sometimes as leaders, we have issues, sometimes acknowledging our own wins. And so we don’t, and then we impute how we think or how we feel onto our teams. And so we have to get comfortable acknowledging the small wins and understanding and at least acknowledging that progress is progress.
[00:54:45] Dr James Bryant: It may not get you to where you want to go, but with us, sometimes you can even get to where you want to go. And it’s like, okay, great. What’s the next thing? Take time to celebrate, be present in the moment and celebrate what you’ve been able to [00:55:00] achieve in this moment. And the future is going to take care of itself.
[00:55:04] Shannon Waller: I love that. James, just to riff off that a lot of entrepreneurs have a massive amount of difficulty acknowledging their own progress. They’re futuristic. They’re always thinking ahead. They’re like, okay, that’s the presence. Nice. But now what? Right. And so when you create a culture of it, you, you kind of slow down to speed up and you start to go.
[00:55:23] Shannon Waller: Other people are acknowledging you. And if there’s a team member listening, It’s not a bad idea to acknowledge your entrepreneur, nominate them for one of those awards, right? Like often leadership doesn’t actually get acknowledged for when they’re exhibiting the core values too. And that’s kind of a problem, right?
[00:55:41] Shannon Waller: So team members, I know it may seem a little, courageous, or maybe you feel like, They don’t need it, but they do. They’re humans. They’re people. Treat them as an individual, not as their role. And acknowledge when your entrepreneur did something fabulous, when your team leader did something really important that was meaningful to you.
[00:55:58] Shannon Waller: That is a [00:56:00] value and that’s something we never talk about. It gets, that gets taken for granted.
[00:56:04] Mark Wright: One of our core values at work P2P is intentionality. And it expresses itself in so many different ways. Dan Rogers, you know, leads us once a week through intentional training to help us get what we want in our personal lives. But as each of you were talking today, intentionality really came up again and again, and again, the intentionality of taking the time to know yourself, the intentionality of taking the time to identify what you want, , finding great who’s passing the baton, celebrating those wins.
[00:56:35] Mark Wright: Each of these things, , is something that requires, knowledge And contemplation and then action. And I think it’s, it’s so exciting the way that you’ve each described that. And just, , the fact that you’re incentivizing so many of these behaviors in the organization, that’s really enlightened leadership, right?
[00:56:54] Mark Wright: It’s not about chance. boy, we’re at the hour mark. I’d love to just get, you know, a takeaway from each of [00:57:00] you on, team building. James, I want to start with you. What, what was the big takeaway for you today? Ha ha ha ha ha ha
[00:57:08] Dr James Bryant: Other than entitlement? No.
[00:57:10] Andre Brisson: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Yeah.
[00:57:14] Dr James Bryant: think the big
[00:57:16] Shannon Waller: think it was, I think it was body parts.
[00:57:17] Dr James Bryant: Yeah. No, I think the big takeaway is that, that we’re all people. Uh, entrepreneurs are people. And I may have said this on another podcast with you guys, Mark, is that, you know, engineers are people, people, the corporate folks are people, team members are people in learning how to understand who they are in relation to you.
[00:57:44] Dr James Bryant: And still, I think you brought out a good point is not just understanding who they are, but understanding who they are in relation to who you are. So that you can create that connection. I think that was a great point. , and if we’re as leaders, if we’re able [00:58:00] to do that, I think we’re able to create an environment where teams can flourish, but you have to be willing, , to do that.
[00:58:06] Dr James Bryant: Mm
[00:58:11] Andre Brisson: about. I think intentionality generates authenticity.
[00:58:15] Mark Wright: That’s great. Stell!
[00:58:18] Dr Stel Nik: I’m just taking it all in. You know, having Shannon on the call and being on this call and, thinking about , where I am now and where I’m going. I don’t know. I can’t put it into words. It’s just I’m grateful. My values in terms of what I’ve discovered again, it’s a coach concept called mindsets that I’ve implemented in the, in the organization, uh, is a connection came up positivity, gratitude, growth, transformation, , and integrity. And it was, there’s a story that’s attached to, , everything Shannon mentioned that. Again, I’m more conscious of it now or the intentionality came in. I’m intentional on what I do [00:59:00] now because I have the foundations that have been set for me in order to be consciously intentional. And, , well, I’ll just say one last thing because I, I never promote.
[00:59:10] Dr Stel Nik: I’m going to promote , the last thing that there, there’s a colleague that wrote a book, , Chad Jenkins in, terms of at a zero, he called it.
[00:59:19] Dr Stel Nik: Just out of zero and I didn’t really understand the concept when he mentioned it initially But in attachment to the intentionality, he basically said think of anything that you do and put a rating on it Okay, or that you’re gonna do whether it’s personal professional and let’s say you intend on it being ten out of ten or nine Out of ten.
[00:59:38] Dr Stel Nik: He says just out of zero to it now and I said a hundred out of ten He goes sure this way you can get curious. You can get creative You And you can think outside the box to create an experience that Is going to be transformational to you and everybody that touches you. Okay, so i’ll leave that with everyone that’s listening because um, [01:00:00] there’s a lot of game changing information game changing moments that i’ve been impacted personally And hopefully that allows all of you to think a little bit differently in terms of the concepts that shannon mentioned today So, thank you
[01:00:12] Dr James Bryant: for coming. for
[01:00:13] Mark Wright: great. Still Shannon, every once in a while, somebody says something and it just pierces me to my core. And when earlier in the conversation, when you said, I trust people to the degree they know themselves, I’m still digesting that, but now I’m starting to think about the relationships that I have in my life.
[01:00:32] Mark Wright: And that’s exactly the benchmark that I’ve been using, but I just didn’t know it. And I didn’t know how to put words to it. The dangerous, the most dangerous people in our society are the people that don’t know who they are. And when they show up in the world, we don’t know, is that your idea? Is that somebody else’s idea?
[01:00:50] Mark Wright: Is that going to change tomorrow when we talk to something else? But the consistency of the knowledge of who you are is where [01:01:00] those authentic relationships can live. That was so, I think we need to make a bumper sticker. It was that good. Shannon, , Shannon, this has been so, so rich and rewarding. , I’d love for you just to speak to that business leader, that entrepreneur, that team builder, , and just give some, some inspiration.
[01:01:19] Mark Wright: Um, there’s a lot to process and a lot to digest, but if you could boil it down to kind of like, Let’s get started. Let’s go.
[01:01:27] Shannon Waller: I love it. One thing I want to jump in with before that. So curious for me, curiosity leads to, creativity. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the word. I love curiosity. It’s one of my favorites. , and your point Mark about, you know, intentionality. And I think it, That’s almost actually my message. It just doesn’t happen by accident, right?
[01:01:49] Shannon Waller: And, and don’t be a reward center leader, be a responsibility centered leader, like lean into some of the hard stuff. It’s not easy to know yourself. Self awareness can be a little [01:02:00] unsettling, right? And sometimes you’re like, Oh, I thought I love that, but I really don’t, you know, and the same thing, lean into it with other people.
[01:02:07] Shannon Waller: And by the way, humans are messy. This is not a neat, tidy process in any way, shape or form. , but it’s like, be intentional, you know, trust yourself, you know, that’s why profiles are so great. They give you some Intel. It’s like a wickedly. Practical
[01:02:23] Dr James Bryant: you can
[01:02:24] Shannon Waller: shortcut that gives you information that has integrity to help you discern what someone’s unique ability is, and then make sure they actually want to support your mission and what you’re up to.
[01:02:33] Shannon Waller: If they’re not, bye bye, right? You can free them up to the marketplace so they can work somewhere else. But so I think my, my coaching is to be intentional. Don’t expect it to happen automatically. Don’t always even expect it to be easy. It is incredibly worthwhile when you can. be doing your unique ability and you’re surrounded with other people who are also doing theirs and you, share the mission and you’re excited.
[01:02:55] Shannon Waller: It’ll happen faster, easier, cheaper, and bigger just out of zero, [01:03:00] right? Then you dreamt possible and you’ll have a self managing and self multiplying company, but it doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by intentionality. So thank you, Mark, for that.
[01:03:11] Mark Wright: And before we go, you’re welcome. Shannon, before we go, I’d love for you to be able to talk about the books that you’ve written on this topic and how to access the impact filter and all that good stuff.
[01:03:20] Shannon Waller: Oh my gosh. Do I have no, I’d love to. So I have a, I have a site. So your team success, which has some cool downloads. It actually has the entrepreneurial attitude exercise, which I’d love for everyone to do for them. Well, if you’re an entrepreneur and you don’t score highly on the entrepreneurial attitude, there’s an issue we should chat.
[01:03:38] Shannon Waller: , so you should score highly, but have your team members do it. It’s great for hiring. It’s great for, , existing team members. It’s powerful. And the book, the team success handbook is written about that multiplication by subtraction. By the way, I wrote to the team success handbook to explain you an entrepreneur to your team.
[01:03:56] Shannon Waller: I wrote it on behalf of you. So they’re not expensive. I [01:04:00] designed it so everyone could get one easy. , multiplication by subtraction is for leaders to give people confidence to know , when not to, , make a firing decision. It’s called how to gracefully let go of wrong fit team members, , available from your team success available on Amazon.
[01:04:13] Shannon Waller: That’s where I get it from. , so do that. And then also, , unique ability 2. 0 discovery as still mentioned, which is available again on Amazon or on strategic coach. com. And then if you go to strategic coach. com and look for the impact filter, you can download that and it is a, it’s the intentionality tool.
[01:04:30] Shannon Waller: Right? So it’s the purpose, importance, and ideal outcome of what you want. The best result if it is amazing, the worst result if it’s not, or if you don’t do it, what’s the opportunity cost? And then what are your eight success criteria? So if you want to get more intentional about your company, about a role or about a project or about your week, the impact filter is profound for that.
[01:04:52] Shannon Waller: So it’s a great download available from strategiccoach. com.
[01:04:56] Mark Wright: Well, Shannon Waller, it’s always a pleasure to spend time with you, my friend. You just are [01:05:00] so inspiring. It’s so knowledgeable. I love it. Keep up the great work. , Dr. Stel, Nicola Kakis, Andre Brisson, and Dr. James Bryant. , always, always appreciate our time together. Thanks so much to all of you for an amazing edition of Contributors Corner.
[01:05:14] Mark Wright: Thanks.