While making decisions is necessary, how we discuss those decisions is equally important.

When we disagree with someone important in our lives on issues that challenge our core values, it can be tempting to prioritize merely reaching an agreement. To maintain a healthy working relationship, openness and trust, and reach high-quality, collaborative decisions, we need to ensure we are listening and seeing each other along the way. The journey is as important as the destination - quick agreement is damaging if it comes at the cost of belonging and security.
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It’s equally important to realize that a well-made decision (making the best decision with the information you have at the time) can still have disappointing outcomes.

​Covid-19 continually forces us to choose between several sub-optimal options. Each choice carries risks and none guarantee a positive outcome, so we are unlikely to be completely satisfied with whatever decision we make.
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Consider the six attributes of decision quality, stay true to your core values, and work on building bridges of validation with those you care about.


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If you’d like help finding perspective and balance between the roles you fill in your life and work, we’re here to help. Book a free consultation.​

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When it began to gain prominence in North America, I, like everyone else though “Keep Calm and Carry On” was cool. I didn’t regard it as a mind-blowing advice, but it had a retro look and some kitsch to it.
Now… three years on, I’m telling clients to think twice before adopting "Keep Calm" when designing change and improvement slogans.  At best it's overused... at worst it's harmful and counter productive.  Leave it out of your HR and Change Management campaigns – and, do not promote it as a virtuous leadership behaviour.

“Keep Calm and Blankity Blank” statements are being overused by shortsighted leaders trying to forward their own agendas, to the point of nausea. The meme is applied like a salve to “sooth” the masses while asking them to do something. The medium is the message, and this medium implies it should be done without question – unfairly making it an issue of loyalty and stoicism.

Do you have employees that thrive at home and at work? Their lives literally depend on healthy organizational behaviour and company culture on the job.

Contact Tim to find out more.

​It was great to hear Dr. Mohan S. Sodhi speak at the Alliance Pipeline Seminar "Supply Chain 3.0 and the Search for Performance" on Friday.

Fantastic to meet and have conversations with Professor Sodhi, my friend (and Co-Author) Jaydeep Balakrishnan, Shawn Baker, Fernando Torres and many more. 

Dr. Sodhi (whose work you'll find in the Sloan management review and the Harvard Business Review) nailed home the point that organizations can incur an incredible loss if they fail to deal with supply chain challenges at the appropriate 'level' (operational, supply chain, social.) The analogs presented demonstrated the effect of failing to have an appropriate response when a threat materializes. 

I left with the feeling that this risk will become increasingly relevant if organizations go insular on increasingly public social issues, or go to social media to justify poor internal decisions or quality issues.  

We've seen disastrous of this mismatch when Airlines, Automobile Manufacturers, Technology and Government deal with mistakes that harm stakeholders.

I found the learnings extended far beyond supply chain; being equally valuable for governance and regulatory, and safety teams to consider.

A big thanks to Alliance and the Haskayne School of Business CASL for putting on this excellent series.

I hope this gives more perspective on what Calgary is experiencing.

I hope you'll consider joining our community and engaging in more leadership conversations that matter.
Best,
​Tim

Aiming for a step-change in performance in 2019? Start now!

Don’t let a plodding strategic planning process suck time and energy from your team, and set the wrong tone for the next year.

You’ve got a lot riding on your 2019 plan; let's set the bar higher!

Here are three tactics that you can use to create a breakthrough in the quality and impact of your 2019 planning efforts. By no means a complete list, I hope this offers a glimpse into how you could be settling for a sub-optimal planning cycle in your business, and what you can do about it.

1. Set the date to roll-out your 2019 plan in November, not February. Give yourself adequate time to complete a proper "double-loop" that leverages and engages your staff (yes everyone) well before people take holidays in December. This may be obvious, but many teams don’t complete, approve or roll-out plans until well into the new year. Late plans lead to confusion and chaos in the opening months that puts schedules and budgets in jeopardy.
2. During strategic off-sites, help your people focus on the year ahead! At late-year planning sessions, most attendees are more concerned about the security of their bonus (and possibly their job) than the company's future. Posturing, finger-pointing, and sand-bagging become more important than "how best to focus and shift the business." As their leader, you must lay a groundwork of confidence so the team can rise above short-term fears and urges and address the long-term strategy and vision.
3. Start visioning exercises early with your team, and before setting the budget. Trying to realize the future from within the limits of an old funding model makes no sense – it's backwards and impedes progress. Instead, focus on articulating the new strategy's return on investment first, then the capital and operational budget needed to deliver on that promise.

Finally, within a high-performance structure, many of the problems associated with annual planning cycles go away. These organizations are continually in a state of planning, execution, and renewal: the plan is ever-green and continuously evolving. With a high-performance structure and culture, everyone shares the same vision and understands the plan 12, 24 and 60 months out.
2019 is almost here. Will this be the year where you decide to become a high-performance team?
You can do it!
Tim Sweet
A FREE TOOL TO HELP YOU: Use the TWE Big5 checklist to consider high-performance for your team and how to get there. 5 simple questions that help you get real, get together, get moving on performance!

​Aiming for a step-change in performance in 2019?  

If you're looking to avoid tired, plodding planning sessions where attendees disconnect and stare at their phones, then let's set the bar higher. For 2019, take you strategic off-sites from boring to breakthrough!

Please contact me if you'd like to explore the advantages a TWE High-Performance Offsite can give your team!

Best,
Tim

Insight can come from the most mundane tasks.  

As photographer and author Chris Orwig said in his TEDx Talk, Finding the Magnificent in the Mundane, “beauty can be found in unexpected places… by savoring the moments in life.”  The other day I paused while cleaning my blender and found meaning in a simple act - a metaphor which crystallized my thinking on an aspect of sustaining dramatic improvements in performance.  

It’s always more efficient to "clean-as-you-go." ​

Click the pic to take the survey!

Top boxers are conditioned to perform at the very limit of their potential.  Their readiness is the result of an efficient and effective process that has stood the test of time. ​