Welcome to the Bottom Line Top Line Podcast with Carol Bartlett, Jol Hunter, and Chris Spurvey.
In the first five episodes of this show, we take a deep dive into a manifesto that Jol Hunter wrote a number of years ago about his 500 or so visits with leaders of organizations throughout Atlantic Canada, the rest of Canada, and parts of the United States.
In that manifesto, Jol Hunter describes the four factors that cause that gap between businesses’ current performance and potential performance: CEO time, process discipline, relationships as the source of all revenue, and members of the senior leadership team being on the same page.
To download the document, scroll to the bottom of these show notes and fill in the form.
In this episode, Chris, Carol, and Jol discuss diagnosing problems within teams, having a third party do the diagnosis, and what makes a well-functioning team.
If you have feedback on the show, by all means reach out to any of us. Enjoy!
The Four Factors That Cause the Gap Between Actual Performance and Potential Performance
I’ve come to the conclusion that, generally speaking, there’s a gap between our actual performance and our potential performance as businesspeople and that this gap is caused by four factors. When we work on these four factors, we close the gap. That’s what we’ve been working through in this podcast.
The first factor is how the CEO of the organization invests his or her time. This is the most significant determinant of the business’s success.
The second factor is the discipline and organization that the CEO brings to the business. A lot of business is far from glamorous. It’s just doing the little things right, again and again. When I asked business owners to rate the discipline and organization in their businesses, on a scale of one to ten, the most common answer was three, so obviously there’s room for improvement.
The third factor is the lack of deliberateprocesses in building and nurturing relationships. I’ve come to the conclusionthat all revenue in business comes from and grows due to relationships;therefore, we need to put constant effort into relationships even when wedescribe ourselves as busy.
The fourth factor is the degree to which leadership teams are on the same page and working together rather than putting their energy into different efforts or, worse, into counterproductive efforts.
Ingredients of a Well-Functioning Team
Be upfront about your integrity, that you’d never say anything that would jeopardize them or their businesses. And, if you can establish that very early on, every time you have a conversation it will be open and honest.
Getting Everyone on the Same Page
Leadership is critical. This leads us back to the most significant determinant of the business’s success: how the CEO invests his or her time. That’s the first point.
The second point, which comes out of that, is the diagnosis process for determining how we can best operate together. There are various methods that you can use for doing that and for having honest conversations about it.
Mentions
Connect with Carol, Jol and Chris on LinkedIn.
The Courage to be Disliked (book) by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga