Ditch your executive 1:1s | Issue #246
Why you need to ditch one-to-one meetings with your executive team
You’re the founder and CEO of a scaling business. As the company’s grown, you’ve assembled an Executive team to support you. Most of them have been promoted internally. But there’s one big problem. They’re completely reliant on you for the big decisions. It’s exhausting, and you’re being spread too thin.
We see this all the time in the businesses we coach. In the earlier part of its growth journey, the company operates like a hub and spoke. The CEO is the fount of all knowledge. The mentality is ‘always running this past the CEO for approval’. Then as they grow, this behaviour perpetuates. It’s how things are done and all the executive team has ever known.
As a result, accountability rests on your shoulders as CEO. And this is dangerous. It pulls you into the weeds, leaving little time for strategy. It also stops the Executive team from thinking independently and holding itself accountable.
There’s an easy solution that you could introduce right now. Ditch the Executive 1:1s. Yes. It’s that simple. Instead of 1:1s, introduce Executive Daily Huddles. Let’s explore why.
E251 | Unleashing the Power of Innovation Tournaments with Dr Christian Terwiesch
How can we generate thousands of ideas in your organisation? Feel overwhelmed just by thinking about it? Our guest on the podcast this week thinks that, if you can’t come up with thousand ideas, you’re unlikely to come up with a winner. That’s why he suggests creating an innovation tournament.
This week on The Melting Pot, we learned from Dr Christian Terwiesch, professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and Chair of Wharton’s Operations Information and Decisions Department. Christian has written numerous business books but, in this episode, we wanted to learn more about his latest work, The Innovation Tournament Handbook. This book is a more practical approach to the theory he laid out in his first book, Innovation Tournaments.
In this episode, Christian explains how to run an innovation process in your business and how to build an innovation tournament so that you’re running one every six months. That means lots of people get involved with loads of ideas emerging, all in a relatively low-cost way. He also talks about the importance of destigmatising failure in innovation and why we need to embrace it as part of the process of innovation.
Download and listen to learn more.
Recommended Podcasts
A master-class in personal and professional development, ultra-athlete, wellness evangelist and bestselling author Rich Roll delves deep with the world’s brightest and most thought-provoking thought leaders to educate, inspire and empower you to unleash your best, most authentic self.
Recommended Articles
10x Business Growth Blueprint: Strategies For Lasting Success And Freedom
10x is easier than 2x. You’ve done it before. Do it again. Great article by Strategic Coach Founder, Dan Sullivan.
Build a Strong Learning Culture on Your Team
“According to Gallup, companies that invest in employee development increase profitability by 11%.”
The eight essentials of innovation
Strategic and organizational factors are what separate successful big-company innovators from the rest of the field.
59% of U.S. workers say communication is their team’s biggest obstacle to success, followed by accountability at 29% (Atlassian). High-Impact Tools for Teams explains a simple, powerful tool that helps team leaders and members align and get clarity on exactly who is responsible for each part of the team’s most important activities and projects. The tool is complemented by 4 trust add-ons that help teams build trust and increase psychological safety, so every member can be confident in sharing ideas or concerns about obstacles the team may face. It’s a proven tool for project teams, based on years of research, and thousands of teams are already using the Team Alignment Map to run effective “get-to-action meetings”, give projects a good start and de-silo organisations.
We want to hear from you
We believe in the power of learning to stimulate growth and ignite meaningful change. Every week we share books and content that inspire us, and challenge our thinking. Now, we’d love to know what’s that hidden gem that has influenced your own journey.
Quote of the week
“The three things that motivate creative people: autonomy, mastery and purpose.”
Daniel H. Pink
Chapter 7. How To Identify And Test-Run Future Leaders
‘The Peter Principle’ dictates that even the best people will be promoted to a level where they don’t succeed. To avoid this being a problem in your company, you must be strategic about promotion.
Find out how in chapter 7 of Mind Your F**king Business.
Get it here.
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.