494 | How To Help Your Team Own The Vision

Joel Fortner 0:00
On today's episode, helping your team members own and run with a vision that you have for your company that's coming up next.

Chris LoCurto 0:17
Welcome to the Chris LoCurto´s show where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are.

Joel Fortner 0:29
Well, welcome back to the show. This is the voice of Joel Fortner president at the pointy end group stepping in for Chris again, for another illustrious edition of the crystal carta show. And I reserved the word illustrious only for when Brian Alex is here, Brian, welcome back to the show, my friends.

Brian A 0:51
I appreciate that. And I look forward to hearing that way. You're the only person who considers me illustrious. I don't know in what way or what sense and I don't. I just I

Joel Fortner 1:02
don't either. I don't either. And I'm not even sure if it's illustrious within a or I don't know the word well enough. So I can

Brian A 1:12
hear there. Yeah, me

Joel Fortner 1:13
cussing you out and have no idea right now. Yeah.

Brian A 1:17
For some of our wordsmiths want to write in a podcast at Chris lakota.com. And tell us what Joe's doing here.

Joel Fortner 1:23
In my paying a compliment or am I heavily offending Brian?

Brian A 1:31
All right, what are we doing here? Brother? We're is Chris isn't here. You're here. And and I'm over here?

Joel Fortner 1:39
We've got right.

Brian A 1:40
I'm on? I'm on first you're on second?

Joel Fortner 1:43
That's right. And we're going to hit a home run with this episode together today. So bases are loaded. That's right, here we go. Strike out, brought back on the show with a another how to episode where we pose a question or a topic from a client or listener. And we try to give some opinion and some really practical advice and some short steps that you can carry out are coming right out of the episode.

Brian A 2:09
Yep, that is the the idea. Hopefully we will, Chris, if you're listening, you tell us if we scored here or not. I hope so now, if you're just joining us, the way that we have these particular episodes, the How to episodes set up, they tend to be a little bit shorter. And we're going after a central thought most of the time it comes in from a client or friend, colleague. And these episodes are built with one one aim in mind, and that is to respond to a particular question. And hopefully give enough practical advice as if this were a personal coaching session. That's what we're after. So today's show is about how to help your team own division doesn't matter how big or small your company is, you've probably got folks on the team, who they're just kind of mad about the vision. And so we want to talk about bringing team members closer to the heart of your business understanding, owning engaging with it running with the vision of your company. And you know, hopefully we've done a good job on the front end in the hiring process. If we haven't, it's going to be a really long struggle to get people on board with the with the vision and the mission. But before we get into into that and try to answer the question of how do we get people on our team, really on board with where we're going as a company before we get there. I know that in our circles and Chris has mentioned this several times on the podcast, we talk about this at our live events you've taught on this before with our company and clients. How how can we define how can we understand mission and vision? Let's let's start there and define our topics before we get too far into the answer part.

Joel Fortner 4:04
Yeah, yeah, that's, that'd be great thing to do. Because these are often confused. So mission is simply why you exist. It is your purpose for existence. Vision, is where we're going. It's a destination. vision isn't supposed to just be this lofty thing. vision isn't supposed to be your mission. Your mission shouldn't be your vision according to our rules. If you can take him or leave him, but simply put mission is why you exist in your purpose. And then everything else should align with it. Especially your vision in where you're going. A vision can be where a something that's about the end of the week. Let's be here. X marks the spot. That's a vision. It can be a five year vision. It can be a one year vision. You can have a company vision, you can have a vision for your culture, for your processes. is for your strategies for your sales team. It's always about clearly defining the destination and where we're going.

Brian A 5:07
Yeah, I love that. And, you know, for a lot of companies, your mission statement and that reason the purpose that you exist in the first place, it could have been why you started the business while you came on board and that business great, but what we're talking about today is how to help your team own the vision. And this is where their role, their Kbra, the tasks that they perform. All of that is like rowing that boat, it's helping that move that ship forward towards the destination. And that's why we're talking about this topic this way, how to help your team own the vision, because we want these people on board. And everybody's Chris and I have joked before about the quote from Godfather, I won't mention which one because a lot of people don't think that that third movie is actually part of the trilogy. But all that to say, there, you know, we all we want our chips all heading in the same direction as one of the quotes is, and that's what we're talking about here. If you've got a team member that's not aligned, misaligned, not on board with your vision, it's obvious, they're rowing in a different direction. And a little wordplay here, there could be a row that develops, you know, a schism, so to speak, and we want people on board, we want not just as one person says butts and seats, we want people on board the right seat on the bus heading in the same direction. And and also it's it's a sense of fulfillment for your team members to know that they are contributing. And again, go back to our K era episode. Chris and I dealt with this a few weeks ago, we got really deep into the heart of why we do Karis and not just job descriptions, this is going to help towards getting your team towards that vision that you're trying to go to.

Joel Fortner 6:58
That's exactly right. I love your I love how many ships and naval analogies we had in like, a minute of time. We want people on board, board ownership rowing in the other direction rowing, we need to write, we need to all be aboard All aboard. So folks, when we come back, what you can do as a leader to involve your team and the vision to the point where you're going to achieve it all together right after this break. Hey, leaders, this is Joel Fortner VP of leadership development at Crystal Kardos. Company. I have some questions for you. Do you as a leader feel like you are caught up in a Crazy Cycle of stress and tasks that never ends week to week? Do you ever have to deal with tough conversations with team members? And you sit at home the next day the night before worried about how's it going to go? What am I going to say? What are they going to say? Can I think fast enough on my feet? Is it going to be a total failure? Are you experiencing culture problems or that stuff that just breaks down trust and unity on your team? Well, if you're if you can relate to any of this, this is a pretty typical leadership story and situation. Here's the thing though it doesn't have to be that way. And we can help you solve these things. We can help you become the leader that solves these problems and leads 13th to greater success. I want to introduce you to the key leaders program. This is an ongoing leadership development program that gives you the lesson track coaching and accountability. You need to become the leader you can become to actually implement what you're actually learning in this program. Things Fall Apart without great leadership and intentionality. If you want to solve the problems that are holding you back from being a great leader, we can help you with this program. Get in touch with Joe at Chris liccardo.com. Well, welcome back. Welcome back. So we are talking about vision. And in particular, we're talking about how to get your team to own it to grow with you. We're going to use a lot of ships and naval analogies apparently today, which is really fun.

Brian A 9:13
Inside Jokes going on here. I was in the Navy once upon a time as a young I was never on a boat though.

Joel Fortner 9:24
Yeah, funnily enough, I actually tried to be in the Navy. I failed the math portion of the military flight aptitude exam by one point. If I would have passed it, I would have gone on I would have gone on on the logon. I'm not the top.

Brian A 9:42
What would your callsign be or maybe that's a different podcast, but I'd love to know,

Joel Fortner 9:47
probably something like pancake or just french toast or something really lame. Something like that probably. Would have been yummy. Exactly. So it's So you know, so we're talking about vision and how to get your your team to buy in, and how do you get them to own it and where we have unity around vision because vision clearly communicated vision is one of the elements of creating unity in your team. That's why we have clearly communicated mission and vision and core values and culture. Because these things are meant to bind your team. They're meant to unify decision making, where we're all rowing in the same direction, we're all moving in the same direction. And it's not as easy though. It's just saying, here we go, okay, let's just go. We're not robots, people have got to be led in different ways than that. That's what we're getting into today. So to make an easy example, to put a little meat on the bone here, as I like to say, let's look at our company, Brian, and we'd like we look at like, our mission is that we worship God by guiding individuals and businesses to greater perspective, like, that's what we do. That's our mission. That's why we exist. So then we see, okay, what's our vision that needs to align with that? Well, we have a vision of changing lives, we have a vision of providing products and services that change lives, that we have a vision, that's about the point main mission. Now it's going to be even more merging with the vision of the ridge and the farm up there, of food, farm to table food, a beautiful healing environment in the country setting, it's going to be merging these two missions. And still this this beautiful shepherding point a mission that we have, but it's a new vision. And so the team is working toward that every single day of taking care of our customers, where we are able to get even more so we can grow the team and take care of more people, these are all elements of our vision. And then what we have to get into now, once we see alignment there is that we then have backed out of that into all the strategies that we have in the company that help us to live out the mission and get to the vision. So this is how all of this plays in. So we can see because we've clearly articulated why we exist and where we're going, we can ask ourselves, are we doing that? There should never be a Hmm, that's a good question. I'm not really sure. Are we doing that or not? Especially leaders, don't let that be you. Don't ever be in a place where you've lost sight of your mission and vision, where you can't look into your team and see the evidence, you should always be able to see the daily activity in your business and be able to know, are we executing the mission correctly? And then for today's context, really, is the team bought into the vision? And are we actually moving toward accomplishing that vision? executing it as a unified team?

Brian A 12:56
Yeah, no, it's so important. You know, when people come on to, you know, like you been on numerous different teams, businesses, and a part of groups where there is a mission statement, why this group exists. And, you know, there's, there's an attractive element to that at the beginning, especially where you go, yeah, I could, I could get on board to us that again, I this is something I can be a part of, I want to feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself, I want to feel like I'm doing some good and I want to enjoy the work that I do. Where the vision comes into play is my particular role. And I'm looking at this from the, the the vantage point of a team member, I want to know that I'm contributing on a daily basis, to seeing the results. And this is where vision and seeing are tethered together, I want to help the company see the results of those transformed lives, I want to know that my work matters. And it matters to the reason that we exist. So those are, you know, inextricably linked and related, but specifically, the team members gonna have more to do on a daily basis with the vision than they are the mission in general, because that existed well before they showed up. But like you said, vision can be changed. It can be nuanced, it can evolve. If there's leaders that come together, and they decide that they want to add or morph parts of that, that's totally fine. But it needs to be the standard by which we guide and it needs to be something that we can look to that helps us answer these questions of, you know, every every decision, in other words, is is going to either be said yes, it aligns with the vision and where we're going and our team members, and we're going in that same direction. We've got folks that are on board to help us get there or no, that's really outside the scope of perhaps why we exist.

I hope you're not even considering that, but you might have decisions to make that you have to decide, you know, that's really not our vision right now. And so we're going to say no to that thing. And so it's a delineating element, it helps us clarify where we're going. But it also gives again, for the team member, it gives him buy in to be able to go you know what this job I might be? I don't know. You know, take somebody on our team, like a Katherine, we have we mentioned her on the podcast all the time. If you're listening, Katherine, hi, I missed your cooking. But, you know, one thing that she does, she takes really good care of us and our clients, so that we can fulfill that mission, her role, or the or in her hand on the boat and how she's, how she's rowing, the effort that she's giving, is in unison. And we have that standard of, can we see at the end of an event, at the end of a coaching call at the end of a podcast, at the end of you know, our next level leadership live event coming up next April, can we see at the end of that, that people's perspective has been changed, grown, their vision is enlarge. They're impacted in a way they're inspired. They're informed all of that coming to bear on that transformation. And no matter how small the role, it's pivotal to the team getting and accomplishing that vision. So it's every part is integral is the point.

Joel Fortner 16:31
Yeah, totally. I love that. I love what you're bringing up here, because we're talking really about alignment, we're talking about alignment, we're talking about unity. So in in, we're talking about results. And that's where I love the power of defining things, the power to use your words of delineating things, because it provides clarity, and lets people know, what are the results that I'm after what you wish, what should living out there accomplishing the vision look like, in my role every day, in or Katherine or you or any, any of your team members, leaders, can they see the results, the fruits of their labor, that they can see how it is in alignment with the vision of where we're going. So what we're trying to produce as leaders is think about this, kind of like a hierarchy, if you will take a sheet of paper and write mission at the top. That's why we exist below it right vision. This is where we're going below that, right strategies. This is how strategies or goals, this is how we're going to live out the mission and get to the vision, and then draw a whole bunch of boxes representing your team. And in those boxes, write your leaders at the top, and then write the team members under the leaders. And then write k RAS. What you should be able to visually see is alignment. And do I have it today, where I can see the alignment and how everything connects from the mission to the vision to the strategies to the team. And the KR rays that they execute every single day are in now think about all that you have to lead, communicate and hold accountable, to keep that ship together to keep it from falling apart in the water as you're moving toward that vision. This is stress is why leaders we got to get out of the leadership Crazy Cycle, there's too much to lead this alignment and unity we're trying to foster and produce is a lot of work and it takes your effort and your gifts and talents to do it.

Brian A 18:45
You can't you can't get there haphazardly. And so you know as we're as we're starting to bring some of our thoughts to a close and we're going to go into the introspection and self assessment part of this and hopefully flush out some really practical things that we can do I love that thought experiment right there or, or, you know, drawing out on a sheet of paper. Here's here's the overarching thing that I think we're saying on this episode is you've got to communicate the vision. You've got to clearly communicate and you've got to clearly communicate consistently to your team. I you know, this is something that even on our on our team meetings, comes up time and time again. You know, I'm in different religious circles, and on the teams or in the churches that we're in. We have meetings, either public or private meetings for leaders and elders, and we're rehearsing every single time guys, this is why we're here. This is why this is why this matters. This is why what you're doing matters. And I think you know if we're going to try to really look behind that question that question behind the question on how to help your team own division is really your you're wanting to bring them to a place where they understand how valuable their contribution is. And that's, you know, we've talked about care raise before, go back, listen again to our episode that we just did a few weeks ago about why why do I need more than just why can I just use a job description? Why do I need more than that this is why it helps to incorporate every action, and even the culture, every attitude, things that go on in our business on a repeating cycle. It factors into whether or not we're going to be successful, actually getting to accomplish the vision that we're all after. But as a team member, I want to know, and your team members, leaders, your team members want to know that what they're doing matters. And how do we do that we have a clear array, and we set up that vision, we rehearse it consistently and clearly, so that they know every action is producing the outcome that we need to see in order to win as a team. Any thoughts on that? Before we go into the practical stuff?

Joel Fortner 21:07
Now, let's get into these questions. All right, well,

Brian A 21:10
so self assessment here, and some of this is gonna be so simple, it's not going to seem profound. But you're gonna have to really absorb here, I think, what we're what we're trying to get across, do you have a good relationship with your team, oh, my gosh, how basic, but how important, you're never gonna have a team that owns your vision, if you don't have a good rapport with them. And if you're not doing certain things that we're about to discuss here, if you're not nurturing, and have that connection with them, I don't, I'm not saying you have to be their best friend as their boss. But you do have to have a connection, where they feel respected and valued, they have a contribution to make that's valuable. And so, you know, here are some things to help you assess that this relationship, do you have high levels of quality communication? What does that look like? Is that consistent? Where can you improve there? Do you cultivate a culture that helps to nurture and grow them? grow their skill set, invest in them? Do you do your team members feel confident asking you for help? Why not? It's all culture right here. What happens when there are failures or disappointments, one of the things I love love love about our team is that we tease out the failures, we are not afraid to talk about we we debrief after events, we talk about how things went right, what went wrong. But in that it's not in an effort to place blame and shame someone, it's in a way to lift them up. And we do that by revealing what happened. How did it happen, what went wrong? What do we need to change or fix so that we don't see that repeated again, it's an opportunity to learn and to grow. So even in the failures, even in disappointments, we're using those as an effort as an opportunity to develop that relationship. And the team member comes away feeling like you know what, I messed up, but it's okay. Because we're going to fix it. We're going to prevent it from happening again, I'm going to be set up for success. And I am still valuable, even in the midst of that failure. And here's the last one for point number one. Can anyone on your team recite the mission statement? Because if not, they don't even know why they're there. I mean, maybe they signed up because it there was an appeal on the front end. But if they don't know why you're existing in the first place, why the business is there? If you're the startup owner, and you created that business, why? And if they can't answer that they're gonna have a hard time rowing the boat, if they don't know why the boat exists to begin with any thoughts on any of that?

Joel Fortner 24:04
Yeah, I mean, this is such a powerful one, because, in my experience, some of the most awesome and compelling missions exist. And at times people will leave them because they don't, they aren't leaving the mission and the job. It's as if they're leaving a bad leader. When you survey so many people that leave cultures, they're leaving crappy cultures, or they're leaving because they did not feel cared for they did not feel valued. When there was extensive communication. It's surrounded where they were failing, or they were just treated poorly. That's why this question that can seem so basic is not basic. It's an enormously difficult one for many people to achieve to where their team feels cared for. So with you it's I don't believe If it's good enough, as a leader to just have an expectation where you just say, Just do your job. Why? Because people are human beings, that initially people are thinking, I'm gonna go look for another job. And then they start to look for different jobs to apply for. And then they apply. And then they get interviews, and they're like, oh, great, I'm so glad I'm gonna be able to make some money again. But then they find that they really love this company. And they love the mission, and they were retreated really well in the interview process, and now they get hired, and within no time flat, a motivator to just get a job and make money is no longer good enough for most people, they've moved on to the next desire. That's now normal. That's we've solved that problem. Now, it's a matter of how well are there are they being taken care of within the team within the culture, people, you hire leaders, and people on your team, they want to do a good job for you. They look to you for work, they look to you for approval, they look to you for affirmation and direction, they look to you for a lot of things, because you're the leader, you're the owner, you're the whoever that's in the leadership position, they want you to be pleased with them, they want to do a good job for you. So think about it in this way, your team can be in a vulnerable situation, to where you think you may just be able to be like, Oh, I can just kind of communicate without any way that I want to because I you know, I'm just I'm just Max, I'm just, you know, Betty, I'm just, I'm just Julie, you know, I'm just Valerie, I'm just Bruce, that's I'm just, I'm just who I am. They don't look at you that way.

They look at you as something more than that. And therefore, as a leader, you have a platform of people that are possibly vulnerable, or possibly a little bit insecure, when it comes to your relationship based on the history of your relationship. So if you want people to do better for you, and you want people to buy into your vision, and you want unity, how you treat people matters immensely. This is why it's like I love how many leaders that we will coach that eventually, that will make their way through a next level life event or two or three. Because as they're continuing in their coaching program, they're also continuing to work on themselves personally, so that they can bear better fruit to their team of love, joy, patience, listening, gentleness, humility, care, and that they actually bear that kind of fruit for their team. And then their team is like, Man, I just want to do a good job for you. Just because you treat me so well. They may be more bought into us the leader than even the mission. I'm not saying that's always a great thing. But the point I'm making hopefully is coming through that you are in such a position of power, and leverage and influence as the leader. God has put people in your hands. It's ultimately how are you treating them? Because there's a direct link between how you treat your team and then buying into the vision and doing it all in Unity?

Brian A 28:22
Yep, yeah, no, that's so good. And, you know, as you were talking, everything that you were just describing, about people that have come through events, they're getting, they're getting unstuck, unblocked in life, in leadership and business, they're becoming more fruitful, they're treating clients and their teams in a better way. They're developing and growing. That's our vision, what you're describing right there is the vision of what everybody in the boat of the boy main group, the boat, that's what we're in the boat to do, and to help accomplish. That's why we get out of bed in the morning to do this job. This, you know, these tasks, these roles, these care aides, they're all lending themselves to seeing that result to seeing lives transformed, in that very way. And so that factors in it's a great segue to point number two, is your vision compelling? does it inspire and attract people? You know, again, we can have that mission, which is why the boat exists to begin with. But then if I put people in the boat, where are we all going together? And is Is there something inspirational and driving that you know, every person using their strength, leveraging their role fulfilling their Carre's in order to get us down to that destination of where we're going? And so ask yourself, does it inspire? Does it is it attractive to people and it doesn't have to be flowery, but it has to be crystal clear. As we've said, it has to be communicated consistently. And it has to be something that you know you Get out of bed thinking, Okay, I just have a smaller role. Maybe I'm just this or I'm just that, but I'm helping to achieve X. And you know, it's like for everybody on our team, we know. And when we come back around on a staff meeting on a Monday morning, and we talk about, Hey, how did this event go? Or what happened here? Or what were the comments from that, and we hear that people's lives are being changed. I know that my rowing on the boat or Katherine knows or Dakota knows that what we've contributed helped us get there. And that's inspiring, that's compelling. And I think that has to be something that we factor into writing in our vision in a way that inspires any comments on that.

Joel Fortner 30:44
Yeah, exactly is that that it's such a motivator for people when they have a compelling vision, they have something that is more of a emotionally charges them up, that motivates them to come to work to put in the effort every single day, even if they're having a bad day. And every single company can have a compelling vision, it just takes some work to be able to come up with the words to craft it. That's where it's like in in like mastermind program that we that we help leaders and owners do that is helping you actually walk through the prospective gaining questions and come in, talk through, iterate back and forth, like where am I going to help you clarify that vision, because that's what leadership is about. Leadership is about leading people to a vision if you're not leading, or if you if you want to know if you're leading, as we say around here, turn around, you know, if no one's behind you, they're not bought into your vision, you're just on a walk, and you're going to end up at the destination by yourself. Or really, you're never going to end up at the destination, because you need your team to actually help you get there. So come up with what are the words? And then is it compelling? Is it inspiring? Well, again, I'm just a land surveyor, I'm just a manufacturer, I'm just a whatever. It's no, it's like you're limiting your belief, you're limiting your thinking, if that's what you tell yourself. Anyone can come up with a compelling vision. And think about that, if you're walking around as an owner, or a leader thinking, Well, I'm just what's your team thinking? You're probably the most motivated person to do your business and to do your job and to do your mission. So think about my gosh, well, if that's my, that's my mindset, what's my team's mindset that I'm paying everyday to do this job, because usually, it's going to be worse than yours. And so this is like, gosh, this may be really tough to hear of what Joel is saying right now. But this is the stuff that we see, this is why when we step up, and we become the leader, that we actually can, we can get beyond our limited beliefs, we can get on Valley on lies that we tell ourselves, we can get beyond some stinking thinking, we actually can get to where we need to be as a leader, and now truly start leading people in a better way in a more compelling way that causes people to want to stay on your team and continue to row the boat with you for a long time.

Brian A 33:17
Yep. And that's a great segue into point number three, do you model are you modeling your vision, in your behavior and in your language? And you know, and that's not to say, Okay, well, this is the CEO, or this is the owner, this is the president. And so, of course, in their role they're modeling, you know, the vision? No, we're talking also about how we're communicating the vision consistently and clearly, to our team. We're inviting them into, we've set up those k RAs, there's a myriad of things that as a leader, like Joel was just saying, We you were you were saying that we leverage our position, we leverage our our influence, and our enthusiasm and our resources to help the team get to that place where they're going to be functioning, and contributing to the vision. And all of that is, is a is a kind of modeling, where we're helping each other along the way get to a place of high functionality. And so as a leader, if I see somebody who's maybe not rowing, they're in the wrong place on the boat to be doing their job. Well. Part of my modeling is I'm pointing towards that vision. I'm inspiring them. I'm motivating them by saying, hey, look, here's what we could have. We could have transformed lives. We could impact people in a positive way. We could improve the quality of leadership of others, if you will do your part. And here it all here it all is laid out well. If you do that we can get There, that's part of that modeling and inspiring. And, you know, we can't overstate the next one point number four enough, how are you communicating it? And you know, that's just kind of a pause and reflect moment of, okay, am I communicating? How am I communicating it? And how often am I communicating it, I was part of a church plant years ago, and we had people from all over a different community coming together. And we were meeting at a show knees up in Madison, I don't know, if you're, you know, you're over Madison is way North Nashville. You know, at that time, this is 15 years ago, his seedy part of town. And as we'd come to get together, I remember every, every time we wouldn't necessarily eat there, but we'd meet in a room in the back, and we would rehearse the vision. Okay, guys, here's why we're here.

And you know, it's not just in those in those meetings, we're talking about how are we modeling it? Where where is it tangible? If somebody walked into your company? Could they see what you're about? Maybe it's obvious, well, we're painters, or we're a plumber, we're this, we're that? Sure. But the vision that you have, well, we want to make the finest looking, you know, colored buildings in town, or whatever that is, or, you know, we want, you know, seamless service going, where there's low stress and, and people are, you know, they feel that their needs have been taken care of whatever that vision is, for your company, could they could somebody from the outside walk in, and kind of pick up clues that that's actually happening. And so this communication goes beyond just in words, it's about that modeling. It's written into everything, it's rehearsed, often it's clear, but it's also that you're setting them up, you're setting up your team for success. They've got that right, K IRA, they're in the right seat on the bus with the right skill set. And so everything is geared towards their success. Any comments, before we go to the last point on that?

Joel Fortner 37:03
You know, it's ways to talk about this all the time, is that the number one problem we see in every business is a lack of high levels of quality communication. And that's what we're talking about here that so many leaders will think sometimes Oh, yeah, I talk about that all the time. I share the vision all the time. And then you'll ask the team, and they will be like, I have no idea what it is. I don't remember the last time I heard it, or if they're told it, they'll be like, oh, yeah, that's right. I remember that. We talked about that last summer, but to some of the leaders or the owner, that leaders we can be blinded, or we can think that we're doing a better job communicating this stuff than we are. Or we

Brian A 37:45
can in reality, there's a disconnect there and you don't really know it,

Joel Fortner 37:48
you don't even know it. That's why getting feedback from your team, producing a culture that doesn't have fear surveying your team to get feedback are invaluable tools. But it's Don't be be blinded by that. Go and ask your team, what the vision is, be vulnerable, be willing to fail. If they can't tell you see it as a Okay, I just seem to do a better job communicating it. But you've got to be able I love I love like some of the things I've been thinking about as you were talking, Brian, it's like what the manner and the tone of which you communicate the vision? Is that do you sell it? Or do you seem excited about it? Because if you don't seem excited about it, why the heck is your team going to be excited about it? Or why would you get upset with them? Because they're not they're not super bought into it? You're the one who sets the tone?

Brian A 38:36
No, I love that in it. It sets us up for this final point. And we've we've actually already dealt with this to a degree, I'd like to flesh it out a little bit more as we as we sum up and wrap up the call, Are you actively solving obstacles to achieving that vision. And some of these obstacles are a lack of high quality communication, you've got to solve that you've got to fix that, you know, as we as we said, you know, consistent and clear communication, when it's present, it's it's oil in the gears, things are going to go at a level of smoothness and success. But when it's not present, things begin to break down, it becomes very painfully obvious like not having oil in your engine, you're going to notice that it's not there. That's a huge obstacle to achieving the vision, you may have to reorder things in the hierarchy in the structure. I want to go back to that image that you were painting about, you know, setting this kind of this triangle, this hierarchy out on a page and you start with the mission. Why do we exist? Why does the boat exist? If we're trying to fill up the boat with people who are rowing? Why does that exist in the first place? Then the vision? Where are we all rowing? To get to? What are the results we want to see produced? What's the destination look like? Because If I don't know that destination, I don't know if we're winning. And you know, some of these KPIs, we talked about that in another episode as well, in addition to the key era, these results that we're after. And to know when we're having success is so vital to your team owning the vision, if they don't know if that's not clear of how their role and every action and their their good, high performance affects us getting to success and to that destination to fulfilling that vision, then there's going to be a lack of motivation, there's going to be a disconnect, whether you sense it or not, there's going to be a disconnect for them. And you know, that is a huge obstacle. What are some other obstacles that come to mind that we need to solve?

Joel Fortner 40:46
Yeah, one of the biggest obstacles that leaders face is a lack of capacity to achieve the vision. So when I say when I say capacity, it can be leadership Crazy Cycle, which can be your own personal capacity is limited, and you can't lead it. Or you have to ask the questions. What is are your resources capacity, your sales capacity, your marketing capacity, your operations capacity, your HR capacity, your financial capacity? We can't achieve a vision if we don't have answers to those questions. So we have to dig in, because that's where many of the obstacles are there, they'll let Joel, you know, what's the struggle, this is where we're trying to get or in a strap playing with Chris, this is where we're trying to get we can't get there, we have to get into well, what's holding us back. So then we start to peel the layers back. And we can see, you don't have capacity that you need in certain areas of your boat, in your business. So where are we need to do we need to strengthen those areas, we need to solve what's holding back in those areas we need to read devote resources and reallocate resources to those areas. We've got to improve communication here, clarity here, k RAs and accountability here, we're not solving conflict, and we're avoiding tough conversations over here, or we're not motivating our salespeople in the right way, or our marketing strategy is, is not working at all. So we have to begin to figure out what is our capacity to achieve the vision? Yeah, because that's where again, that's where we solve a lot of the obstacles, then we put into this strategy to go and solve all those obstacles in order to get the capacity that we need. Sometimes, it's just decision making capacity. Because sometimes it's like, it's fun to be visionary and entrepreneurial, and be like, here's a new opportunity, let's tackle it.

But your team is over here saying or your other leaders are saying, We can't get there like we could land that deal. But we can't fulfill it well, well, then it's frustrating to the entrepreneur, the owner, and it's like, well, why can't we and it becomes an emotional thing. And now we're not unified. And we're now moving into different directions, because our decision making capacity may be shoot, I'm too opportunistic, and I want to jump on this opportunity to grow in this revenue. And that's maybe my own decision making weakness. Now, I'm not saying don't evaluate and figure out how could we actually take on a big growth or scaling opportunity that actually is in alignment with our vision. But if we don't have the capacity to do it, we're going to stretch the team and the business until it breaks in numerous places, we're going to miss out on the opportunity. And then we have to go back and patch all of these big problems. And then we'll look up in three years and be able to get back on the highway again, just to change our logistics or logistics modes a little bit. We'll jump from water to land. Now we've got to rebuild everything. Because our decision making capacity isn't where we needed it to be.

Brian A 44:10
Man that's so powerful. There's so much here, I think we could we could go on another hour. Talking about all this I just want to say kind of in summing up here in concluding our thoughts, you know, leaders vision. And clearly, again, communicating your vision with consistency is one of the most unifying activities. This is not beneath you. This is your role as a leader to tell those who are following you where we're going. This is one of the most unifying activities and exercises that you can perform for yourself and for your business for your team. You know, and here's the deal if your team can't see how they're connected to the vision, there'll be reluctant to do their part. It won't make sense to them, and they won't help you achieve it. It's so so important man, Joel, thank you for for spending this time. These are supposed to be shorter episodes. But man, there's so much here. This could be a whole lesson at an event.

Joel Fortner 45:17
We think hopefully this is really valuable to you guys. Sorry, it wasn't short. We didn't. We, we failed to meet that expectation that we set. But hopefully it's been super valuable for you.

Brian A 45:31
Alright guys, well, that's all the time that we have for today. I hope this information has helped you and can't wait to talk to again. The next time Joel It was great to see your illustrious face.

Joel Fortner 45:43
Thank you so much, and, and guys, and back out to Brian and guys. Again, Brian jokingly said, I think in the last episode as the last one, Brian, you said you weren't going to try to do Chris's signature clothes. I will just tell if I'm not going to do it either. But there was one time I was on the show and I did the clothes and I and I accidentally said you know, take your business. You know, it's like take like when I say take off your shirt or something like totally messed it up.

Brian A 46:12
That's why we don't do it. We can't nail that's why we don't attempt it. We just leave it to Chris. We learn from our failures and mistakes. That's right. Absolutely.

Joel Fortner 46:20
So we hope you guys got a lot out of this episode. And I hope you all have a fabulous day.