March 11, 2010

Dear Colleagues,

It was a pleasure to have you join Unbound Ideas and Daniel Decker for Jon Gordon’s March 11 webinar, “Creating a Culture of Greatness”. Thank you for participating in the discussion and providing feedback on the event.

We are pleased to make this session summary available to you along with several resources provided by Jon. On the right side of this page, you will notice a light blue box that contains several elements. Just under Jon’s picture, you’ll find a slide image that links to the on demand recording from this session, along with access instructions. If you did not sign up for this access, but did attend the live session, contact Tad Furtado at (800) 348-3470 or via email to learn more about gaining access. Next you will find a list of resources that include the session handout material as well as The Positive Business Manifesto, a short publication produced in conjunction with Change This.  Jon also produces a weekly newsletter, to which we encourage you to subscribe. This link is also located on the right side of the page.

Jon started the session by describing the inspiration for his book, The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Your Work and Your Team with Positive Energy, which you will soon receive in the mail. During a period of some negative feelings that had crowd into his professional and personal life, Jon had car trouble that forced him to ride a city bus on his way to an appointment.  The experience compelled to write about the people on board who revealed some timeless truths about exhibiting positive energy.

As we learned during the session, you are part of a culture of greatness when you expect great things to happen. It’s a feeling about the people and values around you (excellence and optimism) that is developed by the actions (empowerment, trust, love and coaching) and product (passion) of an organization. When the members of an organization take these actions and create this product, they generate a culture that expects and will achieve greatness.

Jon explained that although this seems obvious and rather basic, it is more rare than it is common, and it takes planning and action by people and organizations to achieve. It’s not enough to simply attend training sessions and webinars, or to read books about the topic; leaders must actually spend time dedicated to this task. His research indicates more positive outcomes for organizations that pay attention to culture than those who are content to allow it to develop on its own and without thoughtful planning.

Jon then established four key steps in planning this culture: develop talent, lead with optimism, create engaged relationships and infuse your team with passion.

In Developing Talent, we learn that we must find people who fit the culture and organizational values, which requires designing and defineing both. Individuals and teams must continue to learn, must continue to pursue improvement and must not fall into the trap of thinking that greatness is inherent – it’s not.  Greatness is created through hard work.

As a leader, you need to set the tone and be demonstrably improving your own skills while also being humble enough to know that success isn’t an entitlement or a guarantee because of a current position or background.

In Leading with Optimism, we learn that over time individual beliefs become organizational beliefs. These thoughts, even if unspoken, will transfer to others and inspire when positive and depress when negative.

Jon then described how negativity must be addressed, changed or removed. People who are consistently negative about an organization drain optimism and poison the thinking and actions of others. These energy vampires must be let off the energy bus!

If these people cannot be dropped off or changed (possibly they are your boss), then your own positive energy must be strong enough to overcome their negative energy.

In Creating Engaged Relationships, we learn that communication, building trust and showing people you care are the well known and obvious tools. Yet research consistently indicates that most people leave their jobs because they don’t feel appreciated or valued, and that people who stay in positions often point to strong relationships as being the key reason. When was the last time you sincerely said thank you to a colleague for the work they do?  When was the last time you recognized a coworker’s value in a way that was more personally connecting than organizational structured?

In Infusing Your Team With Passion, we learn that our passions must be stronger than our challenges. We can’t have over riding passion about every subject and project, so we must allow ourselves to be attract to our true callings and allow other around us to find theirs. Do you know which aspects of your work are your passions?  Do you know what are your colleagues’ passions?

In pulling all these pieces together, Jon reminds us that visionaries who don’t take action and who don’t execute on plans are simply people having hallucinations. It’s a witty observation, but it could not be more true.

Another concept that Jon describes is one that is made most clear in professional baseball, where the difference between a player who hits for an average of .250, which is merely good, and one who hits for an average of .350, which is the level of an All-Star, is only 1.7 additional hits made per week during a season. That narrow difference separates those players who be soon forgotten and those who will be long remembered. What are the same high impact functions in your organization where a slight improvement in execution can lead to a major improvement in outcomes?  How about in your personal life?

In concluding, Jon asked us to remember that heroes get knocked down too; the difference is that they always get up. Demonstrating a commitment to this culture will be a magnet for those who feel and live their lives the same way and it will inspire others to emulate the behavior. That reflection and emulation is the culture in action.

Once again, on behalf of Jon and Daniel, we thank you for joining us and look forward to our next opportunity to cross paths.

Warm Regards,
Unbound Ideas