Clarity is the first driver.  

At its essence, clarity answers the question - what are you as an organization going to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to?  If you were writing your organization’s obituary, what would you want it to say?  What were you about?  Why did people come to work for you?  Why did people come to you for products or services? How did you make them feel?

I find in my work with my clients, whether they are founders or members of a senior team, Clarity is never quite as tight as they think it is when we begin our work together.  And if they are close to being aligned, kudos to them, yet I always find that the further away you move from that team inside the organization, the more fractured it becomes.

Success Tip:  Don’t set multiple priorities.  It’s an oxymoron.  Having a single priority is possible.  Having multiple priorities is not.  Too many organizations try and lay out way too many initiatives and then are perplexed as to why the needle isn’t moving.

The challenge for leaders…it is really hard work to crystallize the essence of what you need to move forward.

I liken it to packing a suitcase.  I don’t know about you, but if I’m short on time…my suitcase is bigger.  And way more full.  

Why?  Because I don’t have the time to be thoughtful about what I really need, so I just throw in more than I need so I’m covered.  But if I have time, I can go with a much smaller carry-on and do just fine.

Question: When you think about how you set goals for your organization, your function, or your team…are you using a monster trunk that you have to check or a small carry on?

The second driver is Calendar.

Aside from the reality that having shared Clarity is required to efficiently get the right work done, it doesn’t help you at all if you have Clarity, but no discipline about how you spend your time.  

Question:  Let’s say you handed me a list of the top 2-3 projects, efforts, etc. that you’ve identified need to be moved forward, and I stand over your shoulder and look at your Calendar…would I see that your Calendar reflects those projects?  

Or, would I not see them show up at all?    

And good for you if you’ve blocked time on your calendar to work on them, so for you, here is my next question – are you actually working on them?  And, moving the needle on these things?

If you have shared Clarity, everyone’s Calendar should reflect that Clarity.  Period.

The third driver is Communication.

Aside from the obvious focus on frequency and clarity of your communications, I have a different slant on this.  To me, it’s all about trust.

I’ve worked for leaders who have, in theory, kept me well informed about strategic priorities, expectations, etc.  But it didn’t really matter to me. 

Why?

Because I didn’t trust them.  So, unfortunately, the more they ‘communicated’ the more likely it was that my cynicism was increasing.

I also think of trust a bit differently than most.  I’ll offer a few questions for you to consider…

Do you trust you?  

Does your team trust you?

Do you trust your team?

Does your team trust each other?

Clearly, I’m not going to be able to go in depth here, but candidly reflecting on these questions, will offer you some insight as to where you have chokepoints that need to be addressed.

The fourth driver is Control. 

I’ll call out one highly problematic area I see that is a very significant chokepoint for the organizations and leaders I work with…

Here is my question for you.  

Do your people have the authority to take action against the responsibilities you’ve given them?

When I share this Framework with people, this is one of the biggest hot button questions I discuss.  Why?  

Because it’s a really, really, really common problem.  A very typical source of misalignment.  Of cynicism among your people.

Don’t take your word for it.  Ask your people. And then really listen.  And take action to align responsibility and authority inside your organization.

The fifth driver is Challenge.

I have zero tolerance, and I truly do mean zero, for shooting for average.

Who gets jazzed by delivering ‘meh’?  

When I first began working in healthcare, I was working as a Director over the Quality function.  This related to the quality of our care (our processes) and the quality of the outcomes our patients experienced under our care.  I served on several committees that set goals for our performance targets.  To be clear, these were not in my hospital and not directly patient care related.

Some targets were set at 70% compliance against the requirement.  

When I asked why they were set so low, I was told they were low now, and we don’t want to discourage people by setting unachievable goals.  

I have a really good poker face, but I let my eyebrows raise on that one.

Another response to that question usually went something like, “we’ll never be perfect, so why set our people up to fail?”

And, I said something like, “It seems to me we could set high targets because that’s who we want to be, and reward progress, without shaming people for not making heroic leaps in performance.”

So, my question for you. 

Are you and your team aiming high?  Or aiming for ‘meh’?

 The sixth driver is Community.

I want to call out something a little different here as well.  Everyone reading this article  occupies one of two roles.  You lead yourself OR you lead yourself AND a team.

Regardless of where you fall in that spectrum, you can only show up to give as much as you have running through you.  If you’re not taking care of you, you will NEVER be optimum.  And if you don’t know what you’re capable of bringing when you’re at your best, now is a good time to find out.

My questions for you:  Do you sleep enough?  Do you say ‘no’ when you should?  Do you exercise?  Eat in a way that supports your body?  Are you always learning and experimenting and growing?  Making space to chill and recharge? Are you pushing past what’s easy and comfortable for you? Engaging with your own community so you’re not trying to run through your life alone?

If not, you’re short changing us.   

Every one of us would be better off when you deliver what only you can bring.  But you have to bring it. And you can’t when you’re depleted…

The seventh driver is Competitive Advantage. 

You could be rolling with all the drivers we’ve run through so far, and still not have a competitive advantage.  Clarity and Challenge are elements of this – but you have to be constantly scanning and pivoting as need be to stay sharp in our ‘new normal’ of constant disruption.

When we talk about disruption, what I see most people focus on is being on the losing end.  But a powerful reframe for you and your team is to acknowledge that times of great change are an opportunity, not just a death knell.

It all depends on which ‘side’ you’re on.

My question for you.  Are you the ‘disruptor’ or the ‘disruptee’?

And finally, there is Congruence. 

The need for Congruence lies at the very heart of my response when people ask me what the “one” thing is…

You will never achieve, or sustain, 99th percentile performance if you don’t get all these drivers right.  You can’t have fabulous Clarity, but be lacking trust, and expect a good outcome.  Nor could you have an amazingly disciplined process as to how you run your Calendar, but the right things aren’t on it.  We could go all the way around the Framework with these examples, but no need.  I know you get it.

Congruence here means that your mindset, your words, and your actions all align within this Be99 Model.  There are not outliers, or one driver that wildly contradicts the others.

But please don’t misunderstand me.

This isn’t about being perfect, and never making mistakes.  I certainly am not perfect.  The rest of my team wasn’t perfect.  But we still lived at 99th percentile performance.

We were congruent.  We trusted our team.  Our team trusted us.  

When we come alongside our partners to serve as their guide, we dive deep into the alignment they need to have, and how to bring it to life…but please realize, you don’t have to be perfect.

And that’s excellent news for all of us!

And those stairs that kicked off our conversation…just like there was a false summit (a climbing term someone shared with me), lulling you into thinking you were almost there – this Framework will only serve you if you approach it with the understanding that you will always be moving through this Wheel.

Always.

It can be energizing.  Trust me. I know this to be true.

As you play with this…please reach out.  I’d love to hear of any ‘aha’ moments you had, or answer any questions…

My bio:

Cheryl is a transformation expert, guiding leaders who accept nothing less than 99th percentile performance.  Together, they build unstoppable teams because she knows from her time as a hospital President that this is truly the only way to Be99.  She serves leaders across industries as her mission is to help guide as many leaders as possible in unlocking their organization's 99th percentile performance.   She is currently wrapping up her first book, which offers the unusual lens of a South African Horse Safari through which she shares specific action leaders can implement right now, to successfully navigate our age of constant disruption.  She enjoys photography, walks with her dog, working out, horseback riding, reading, her Peloton bike, hiking, whitewater rafting…and continuously pushing herself past her comfort zone.  While she’s lived around much of the U.S. she and her husband, and Indigo, live in Texas…