2017 Trends; Smell of the Place; 55% Lighter; Two Key Metrics

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Trends for 2017 — my next Fortune column will look at the top 5 trends for 2017. I would love your input, see below. But first…

The Smell of the Place — you can often just sense whether an organization is good or bad place to work. The late LBS and INSEAD Professor Sumantra Ghoshal shared an insightful 8-minute presentation at the World Economic Forum many years ago where he made the case that it's more the environment leaders create that determines employee engagement than any attributes of the employees i.e. does your place feel like downtown Kolkata (Calcutta) in the middle of a blazing hot and humid summer or is it more like the breathtakingly beautiful forests of Fontainebleau? It's a wonderful 8 minutes – worth showing during a brown bag lunch or weekly/monthly meeting. Discuss what you might do to improve the work environment/culture. Thanks to coaching partner Georg von Laffert for sharing.

Fontainebleau Forest — Professor Ghoshal goes on to describe four components of this better environment:

1. Stretch (versus constraint)

2. Discipline (versus compliance)

3. Support (versus control)

4. Trust (versus contract)

This aligns precisely with the techniques/tools in Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0):

1. Stretch – he describes the components of our one-page Vision Summary tool
2. Discipline – equivalent to our 10 Rockefeller Habits
3. Support – the need for leaders to be more coaches than managers
4. Trust – the foundation of a healthy team (Five Dysfunctions of a Team)

Not surprising, companies implementing our tools are perennial winners of the Best Places to work awards in their communities, countries, and the world. Keep scaling!

Nature Instructs Airbus — "Manufacturers Take a Page from Mother Nature" is the title of this WSJ article. Notes the WSJ:

The resulting design weighs less than half the previous divider. There is a 1-minute video at the top of the article detailing the design and process Airbus used to create this innovative part. Then take 2 minutes to read how other firms are discovering similar practical solutions taking lessons from nature. If the link doesn't work, then put the title in Google and it will provide a copy that doesn't require a subscription.

Geoversity (Mother Nature as Teacher) — join the CEO of Copa Airlines, the CEO of the biomimicry designed kayaks I featured, and 19 other leaders (like my dear friend Rick Sapio) for this pioneering Feb 7 – 12 executive program in Panama. I'm co-chairing along with David Ricketts from Harvard, Brian Dumaine from Fortune, and other top biomimicry, marketing, and organizational experts to explore all the practical ways nature can improve our companies. This is the future of products, services, and work environments. Here's a link for more information

Tracking Two Numbers (Gazelles Case Study) — My latest HuffPost piece highlights how Sam Hyder revived the nearly 50-year-old company his grandfather started by making some painful decisions and learning how to keep it profitable on a daily basis by tracking two critical numbers. Results: he stopped the bleeding, reversed a severe downturn in revenues, and will see the firm hit $30 million in revenue this year with record profits. Take 2 minutes to read this latest "how to" case study.

Input – Trends for 2017 — For my next Fortune column, I am writing about key trends affecting leaders in 2017. What trends in the economy, your industry and your life outside of work will affect how you and your business perform in 2017 in a big way? Which trends are over-hyped? I'd like to hear anecdotes from your business. Please include your company name, city, company size (in revenue and number of employees), and your job title – email directly to [email protected].

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please go to gicoaches.com/becomeacoach for more information. If you determine that we're a fit and wish to join our premier organization, we invite you to contact our Dir. of Coach Engagement at [email protected] or 877.217.2253 ext.700.

TECHNOLOGY:

Align Software puts everyone on the Same Page – Literally! See, in real time every person in your organization and how they are progressing on their priorities – alongside how they Align to the Company Priorities! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.aligntoday.com – on your computer and on your phone.

Better Book Club — What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.