We’ve all heard the saying, “New Year, New You.” We know what it means individually and we know what it means when we are part of a larger effort. It’s that time to evaluate what’s working well, build on those activities and make adjustments in the areas needing improvement. It’s that exercise plan we’ve been putting off, the smart food choices we need to get serious about and the social engagements we are definitely going to prioritize in the New Year. This year will be different. We are committed. We are all in.

The same principle applies to our professional lives. The New Year provides a clean start, where you can up your game, socialize your plans and intentions and establish the framework that will drive results making this year the most rewarding and productive in recent memory.

The accomplishments you aspire to deliver both in your personal and professional lives are attainable in the New Year. They will require the right plan and commitment.   As grand as these goals are, one thing is for sure, they will not be accomplished alone. You will want and need the support of others. You will need to “Lead into the New Year” at a higher level than ever before if you want to deliver results that are equally impressive.

The New Year provides the perfect time to commit to a Leadership Plan. If you don’t have a formalized leadership strategy, now is the time to establish one. If you have one, but need to refresh it or revive it, heed the moment. Personally, I have a formalized Leadership Plan, rooted in 5 Leadership Pillars. I highly recommend you establish your own strategy, grounded in the principles you hold most valuable and socialize this strategy to those who will be a part of your leadership journey.

Before I share my 5 Pillars, I’d like to recommend some Key Considerations as you define and craft your own.

• More is not always better. Recognize what you can be “great” at and set your target there. Ten strategies performed average may diminish the opportunity to excel at five.
• Be intentional in your leadership efforts.
• Fail faster and together. This year, have the courage to live into this.
• Your leadership impact transcends your initial investment. When done well it provides the motivation that moves others to motivate their communities beyond YOUR reach.
• YOU learn and develop when you teach and develop others.
• Leaders develop leaders who ultimately will add meaningful value and stay committed to the cause.

Finally, formalize your Leadership Strategies and Principles and set yourself and your team up for success in the New Year.

Below, I offer you my 5 Leadership Pillars as a humble starting point on your personal leadership mission.

1. Provide Clear Direction
   • Make it matter. Clear directions and expectations lead us feeling the time we invest is meaningful and contributes toward the goal in a productive way.
2. Real Communication
   • When it’s raining, acknowledge it together. When it’s sunny, celebrate. Make sure your team hears from you when the weather is changing.
3. Inspire
   • People inherently want to impact and commit to things bigger than themselves as well as support causes. Ensure your team members are motivated by the details their impact will have.
4. Invest in your Team’s Development
   • Better team, better results. It’s that simple.
5. Establish Ownership
   • Leaders need leaders on their team. Instill the confidence in your team to take ownership. Not only is their work-product elevated, but so is their sense of worth.

John Stare
*Vice President of Sales, Global Walmart & Sam’s Club – Pharmavite

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.

We’ve all been there. Nobody likes to be the bearer of bad news.

It happens to every company, every team, and every employee.   A goal or a budget was not met.  A feature or promotion was lost.  Sell-through was poor.  Whether it’s communicating internally to your organization or sharing news with your merchandising team, being transparent and forthcoming can be difficult.  Yet transparency, both within your own organization and with your retail partners, is a key trait of the best of the best in the supplier community.

Take a step back and look at the big picture for a moment. The large majority of us in the supplier community work to achieve the same objective. Drive sales.  We play different roles in achieving this objective.  It may be using analysis to identify sales opportunities for your product at Walmart.  Maybe it’s maximizing replenishment strategies and aligning internal and customer forecasts.  Maybe it is making sure your company has the right products at the right price with the right positioning.  We have different responsibilities, but the bottom line is we are all marching towards the same goal.

Now think about your company, specifically your team in Northwest Arkansas. Everyone on your team has a role in contributing to the team’s success:  replenishment, analysis, logistics, and sales.  Your entire team must understand and embrace the goals of the company, the progress it makes, and the challenges and speedbumps that may prevent the team from achieving those goals.  This is why transparency is so important.  As a team member, being fully transparent is key.  Remember… your team is working towards the same goal.

While each organization is unique and different, so are the methods in which transparency occurs. Some organizations thrive on team meetings, while other organizations publish weekly internal updates. There is not a “one-size-fits-all” method, and different methods work better for different teams.  However, a team that is on the same page and informed of goals, objectives and challenges is much more effective than one where individuals are in silos and solely focused on their own responsibilities.

Transparency is not just for internal teams. It is also about building trust externally with your retail partner.  Put yourself in the shoes of your merchandising team or counterpart at your customer.  Remember, we have the same goals.  And while it may not always seem this way, no company is perfect… not even your competitors.  Every company has challenges.  Your retail partners will appreciate knowing ASAP if an “opportunity” (a.k.a. challenge) exists so that a solution can be achieved.  While nobody likes to share bad news with a customer, being transparent can actually build trust and show partnership.

Transparency does not apply solely to “opportunities”. Taking the time to research and share strategic trends in your category is a best practice in the industry.  Information is king, and your retailer partners are busier and have more responsibility than ever before.  While both supplier and retailer have the same goal of driving sales, establishing and sharing proactive knowledge is what can potentially set your company apart from the rest of your competition.

No matter what role you have in your organization, fostering a culture of transparency is a practice that will favorably impact your team and build trust with your customer. While not always easy, remember challenges occur at every company.  The teams that handle challenges quickly, efficiently and in the open, are the teams that will succeed.

Mark Schneider
*Vice President of Sales, Walmart, Sam’s Club, & Costco – American Textile Company

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.

Every child is a creative wonder. Adults often marvel at the free time children have to play and daydream. Parents lament the fleeting youth of their kids, as we know that cultural norms, the structures of education, and the workplace will hone them to be productive and task oriented.  Unless they choose a so-called “creative” career, they will be left little free time to exercise that which makes us quintessentially human: our creative and flexible brains.

Corporations segregate their most creative people into departments like Product Innovation, Marketing, Graphic Arts, and Design. Some companies go further and script what each one of these functions does in a manner that would make Fredrick Winslow Taylor proud. These type of structures are excellent for delivering efficiency, ROI, and throughput.  Yet, companies that take this approach often struggle with the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environment.  Recall companies like Circuit City, TWA, AOL, and RCA.  Think suggestion box, floppy disks, and telephone booths; all obsolete.

Today the most innovative companies include the likes of Facebook, CVS Health, Alphabet (Google), Apple, UBER, Southwest Airlines, and Taco Bell. Some of the best ideas from these companies originated with employees, who were given the space and opportunity to contribute.  At Sun Products, we nurture employee creativity with what we call “Passion Projects.”  Each team member is free to find a project or projects about which they are passionate.  As additional resources are needed, the project is elevated throughout the organization.  Each of these ideas is then compared to our key strategic objectives (one of which is innovation) and if it is a fit, then it is acted upon.

Locally, my team takes this concept even further to get the customer involved with an “Engagement Plan.” This is a forward looking outline of topics that hold the interest of the employee and the customer.  The “Engagement Plan” is about finding the sweet spot in our relationship with the customer to help them deliver better results.  When team members select projects to be part of their plan, they have a sense of ownership, pride, and passion which can’t be replicated by assigning projects.

I am often asked, “How do you find the time to work on these Passion Projects or Engagement Plans?” Often the volume of work feels overwhelming and planning at times feels like a luxury; however, it starts with small steps and some momentum. Leaders must provide an environment in which team members can find the space to explore and contribute.  Some companies do this through the formal goal setting process.  I like to be less scripted, to give individuals a way to find themselves at work, and then tie it back to what is important.

Companies like Google were known for their 20% time, where they dedicated 20% of their time to self-directed projects to help create a pool of innovation. While 20% may be excessive in the traditional CPG world, I start with 15 minutes and some thought starters. We incorporate this into our weekly one-on-one connections with my team.  I encourage, and help them dream, when needed.  One of my team members started providing a weekly business “fun fact” which was added onto information sent both to our internal and external customers.  Some of these facts were “nice to know” and led nowhere.  Others led to asking questions, getting engaged, and spreading this information across our entire organization and across multiple levels of our key retailer.

Fifteen minutes of thought was all it took to move some key information across an entire national sales and marketing group and into key decision makers with our customer. Most newsletters, e-mail blasts, conversations, and presentations wouldn’t be that effective.  What can you do with 15 minutes?

Marty Moss
*Team Lead Shopper Solutions & Category Development, Walmart & Sam’s Club – Sun Products

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.

Although “The Office” Television Series ended several years ago, there are still some relevant business lessons that can be applied today.

Such as, could Michael Scott have been a management genius?

One could argue that the “Dunder-Mifflin” Scranton Branch offered us a glimpse of how a wide array of personalities could blend together to deliver outstanding results.

They appeared to be quite a dysfunctional cast of characters to the untrained eye, but seemed to find a way to survive corporate closures, management changes and team building activities gone array.

On the contrary, too much of anything is also not a good thing, especially when it translates to Team Dynamics.

Can you really have too many happy people or too many perfectionists?

Too many “A” Personalities might turn your office into a “Hostile Environment”.

On the reverse side, too many “B” Personalities may lead to “No Sense of Urgency”.

In the end, there aren’t many instances, where you get to build a team from the ground-up, so you will probably have little control on balancing personality mix.

So how do you deal with the cards you have been dealt?

10 Keys to Balancing Team Dynamics

As applied by Michael Scott

1. Get to Know your Team
Michael Scott stated “The people that you work with are, when you get down to it, your very best friends.”  All Good Leadership is based on relationships.  Everyone doesn’t respond to the same kind of leadership.  As a leader, you have to figure out what buttons push each individual on your team.

2. Leverage Strengths
“Ryan is about to attend the Michael Scott School of Business. I’m like Mr. Miyagi and Yoda all rolled into one.” Michael took responsibility for identifying Ryan’s strengths and the skillsets that he would need to be successful.  As a leader, it is your job to make sure people acquire what they need to reach their potential.

 3. Compliment and Reward
Michael often publicly praised and rewarded his team with food, prizes and offsite activities. As a leader, you should take care of your people and show they are appreciated through public praise, financial support and rewards with perks and promotions where appropriate.

4. Simplify and Over Communicate
Michael had frequent meetings, office huddles, and proactive sharing of information to keep all informed. He told people what was happening at corporate, participated in all training sessions, and made it a point to engage with every member of the team on a regular basis.  As a leader, open communication and constructive dialogue is vital to ensuring your team reaches their goals.

5. Manage Conflict
Michael knew the importance of acting swiftly to address an issue “Win/win is number four and number five is win/win/win. The important difference here is with win/win/win, we all win. Me too. I win for having successfully mediated a conflict at work.” As a leader, you need to make decisions swiftly and attack issues before they affect the morale of your team.

 6. Infuse Passion
Michael loved Dunder Mifflin more than he loved money and anything outside of the office. This passion came through in the way he managed his team and was clear in all of the fun he had at the office. As a leader, you can energize your team and elevate their performance through displaying your passion.

7. Model the Behavior
Michael was not afraid to be himself. He built credibility and trust with his team by not pretending to be something he wasn’t, while drawing out their best.  As a leader, you can portray the behavior and attitude you want to see in your team.  Know the values your team should embrace, live the values and communicate the values.

 8. Build a Strong Corporate Culture
Michael shared his thoughts with his team on winning and the business culture he wanted to create; “You need to play to win. But… you also need to win… to play.” As a leader, you can shape your team culture, by placing a high value on your people.

 9. Set High Expectations
Michael on setting team goals; “The only time I set the bar low is for limbo.” As a leader, don’t be afraid to challenge your team.  This will fire up the good people and offer them the opportunity to spread their wings, while also unveiling where commitment may lack.

 10. Celebrate Wins
Michael looked for every opportunity to celebrate, even the small wins; “It’s never too early for ice cream.” As a leader, you can energize your people and increase their capacity to succeed by fueling a satisfaction for getting things done.

 

In the end, there may still be a need to re-shuffle the deck to gain a better balance to provide optimal team dynamics.

There are many alternative approaches to managing personalities within your team and organization, but when it comes down to it, you may just need to take some simple advice from Michael Scott….

“Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.”

As a leader, you must find the optimal balance between being liked and being respected.

Being a scary boss is just as bad as being a lovable boss with no backbone.

However, a little bit of both can make a great leader!

WARNING:  All of Michael Scott’s management techniques do not garner the same success! Some actually could be very detrimental to your career; so please use sensibly!

 

Jamie Willetts
*Director of Customer Development, Walmart & Sam’s Club – Mizkan America

 

 

 

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.

The following video provides a good reminder that can help give us perspective in times of change. It’s a short clip (1:41), highlighting what happens when we are focused so intensely on one thing we don’t see other things going on around us. Please watch before reading further.

Things change…and instead of looking for ways to prove things are not working, it’s important to lead ourselves and our teams to look for ways to prove things are working.

Here are 3 points to consider relative to perspective in times of change.

1. You Find What You Are Looking For

• In the video, if you were only counting the number of passes, you may have
  missed other things going on.
• Ask yourself what else you might be missing on a daily basis because you are
  focused on proving something doesn’t work.
• Refocus your energy on finding things that do work and that is what you will
  notice, rather than the negative.

2. Assume Positive Intent

• People need to know you care. Look them in the eye until you see their heart.
• Exhibit the discipline necessary to take the time to listen, work on
  relationships, and not take the easy way out.
• Lead you and your team to assume others’ actions are for good reason.

3. You May Actually Learn Something

• Sometimes we are focused on our little silo and lose sight of the bigger picture.
• Leadership gives the vision for us to carry out. They don’t need to be told
  what’s not working…they know. They need ideas on how to make things
  better.
• Stay focused on carrying out the vision and what you thought was bad just
  might turn out to be something good you can learn from.

To close, I’ve adapted an analogy from The Hunter, the Bear, the Bear-Trap, and God, a story taken from Lee Strobel’s, “The Case for Faith”.

Imagine a bear in a bear trap and a hunter who, out of sympathy, wants to liberate him. The hunter tries to win the bear’s confidence, but he can’t do it and the bear continues to fight him. So, he has to shoot the bear full of drugs in order to help it out of the problem.
The bear however, thinks this is an attack and the hunter is trying to hurt him more or even kill him. The bear doesn’t realize this is not an attack but rather an act being committed out of compassion. Then, in order to get the bear out of the trap, the hunter would have to push the bear’s paw deeper into the trap, releasing the tension on the spring. If the bear were semiconscious at that point, he would be even more convinced the hunter was his enemy and was out to cause him suffering and chaos.

But the bear would be wrong. Does the bear have any reason to think the hunter is trying to help him? He reaches this incorrect conclusion because he’s not a human being and doesn’t understand how the human thinks or the entire situation at hand. The hunter understands but has no way of forcing the bear to comply or to even verbally tell the bear it is all going to work out.

Now, relate this to us and our perspective in times of change. I believe at times, the same happens to us. We can’t comprehend it any more than the bear can understand the motivations of the hunter. As the bear could have trusted the hunter, so it’s at least possible we need change for reasons which we may not understand, but which is necessary for some eventual good.

Change happens. Your perspective of change is your reality, so look for the best and you will find the win-win you need to succeed and to help your team succeed.

Shannon Woody
*Director of Sales, Walmart – Newell Brands

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.

Have you ever wondered how some teams seem to be in a position where they are playing for a championship every season?  Or, perhaps it’s a work team which delivers great results year after year.  It’s not because they always have the best players or spend the most money or even have the same people in place for year after year.  While all that would be fantastic, the reality is individuals come and go and spending more doesn’t always deliver success.  A major reason those teams are able to consistently deliver strong results is because their leader or coach has done an incredible job in defining and reinforcing their culture.

From my own experience and observations, developing and defining a winning culture starts with answering some basic questions in two important areas.

1. People: Who are we and why are we here?
2. Expectations: What should others expect from us?

People

It all starts with the “Who” – the people who make up the team.  Like many of you, I value the people I work with above most anything else and the relationships we nourish bring life and warmth to an office.  With the average person spending more time at work than with their family and friends, it should be worth the sacrifices, right?  We all need to feel the time we invest in our work matters and more importantly achieves some level of personal and professional fulfillment.  Take time to discuss and identify your team’s collective strengths:  What areas do you want to emphasize that are working well?  What type of qualities does the team display which makes them unique?  What values (personal & corporate) will you promote and reinforce?   However you end up defining yourselves, be sure it’s authentic for you and your team.

To help define the culture you want to create, here are a few things for consideration:

• Retain and recruit the right talent: A strong mix of passion, experience and skills to set the tone.
• Place a high value on training and development: Leads to professional growth and a confidence to do more.
• Celebrate and reward success: Promotes pride of a job well done.  Also an opportunity to showcase good work that you want to see repeated and/or replicated.
• Continuous feedback: Provides transparency on areas you see as strengths and areas of opportunity.
• Meaningful goals: Drives accountability and a sense of value and accomplishment.

Expectations

You’ve been asked to pull together a high level summary of your business for a meeting tomorrow in the boardroom.  It’s on. It’s your time to show them what you’re made of.   You focus your energies and create a masterpiece of charts, graphs and insights.  Before you enter, you pause to catch your breath and open the door, only to discover the room is full of 3^rd graders who are on a field trip to understand more about your company.   Wouldn’t clearer expectations have been helpful?  You would have probably prepared differently and created something more relevant to the audience.

As the above example illustrates, setting clear expectations are important for team members to understand.  It helps them know if their efforts are on target with the outcomes you’ve asked them to deliver.  Setting the expectations for your team’s culture can work much in the same way.  It’s critical in helping to form your team’s identity, what they will be known for and their brand.  A great first step to building a team’s identity is to interview your leaders, partners and customers.  Get a solid understanding of what they need and expect from you.  Are there things other teams are doing better or areas they’ve been disappointed in or would like to see improved?  Are there any good processes already in place which can be reinforced to help further set them apart?  From the feedback, identify themes and align with your team on a few key words you all want to be known for and can live into.  Bring these words to life in your communications, and if you have an office environment, make them visible for everyone to see.  Ultimately these are the words you want others to use to describe your team.

As history shows us, strong leaders and coaches are often the driving force behind the greatest teams.  Those leaders have worked hard to shape and define their team’s culture, creating a blue print which delivers repeatable success, starting with “People” and “Expectations”.

Consider these questions: What is your team’s culture?  How will you help shape it? What should others expect from your team?

Andy Kaufmann
*Senior Director, Walmart – Edgewell Personal Care

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.

The topic of diversity has been garnering lots of news coverage recently and is a top business imperative at Unilever. Both globally and locally, we have been working for several years to achieve greater gender-balance and a more inclusive culture, because fundamentally, we believe that diverse organizations perform better. And the facts bear this out: According to the McKinsey report Diversity Matters, companies that are racially and ethnically diverse are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians, and companies with strong gender diversity are 15% more likely to outperform companies that do not.

I believe there are five fundamental benefits that come from creating a diverse team:

1. Strengthens Your Teams

Building and fostering a diverse team is imperative for a company’s long-term growth. Unilever recognizes that value isn’t created when we put aside our differences, but when we channel our differences into positive business benefits. A breadth of experience and perspective is necessary for businesses to excel in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. By working with people with different backgrounds, experiences and work styles, we learn and get contrasting viewpoints that enhance our ability to deliver great products.

2. Powers Creativity and Innovation

Diversity unlocks innovation and drives market growth by creating an environment where “outside the box” ideas are heard. It deepens the talent pool through varying perspectives to inspire breadth of thought, making teams creative powerhouses. A cross-section of talent enables you to see problems or opportunities through different.  Diversity enables us to be constantly and productively challenging the status quo.

3. Enables Global Thinking, Locally

Businesses with work-forces that mirror their markets are more likely to perform better and deliver long-term value to consumers. A culturally diverse team helps to represent both local and global mind-sets, and thus ensures that your product or service is relevant to your market, and appeals to a global audience.

Globally, more than 172,000 people representing 150 nationalities work for Unilever. In Northwest Arkansas, there are 100+ people with different backgrounds, rich in diversity and passion.  The company has more than 400 brands and sells products in 190 countries that two billion people use every day. Therefore, diversity is vital in order to truly understand today’s complex consumer, and to create products that will resonate and perform at all levels and in all markets.

4. Inspires Reverse Mentorship

Celebrating your differences will create energy for your team. I enjoy hearing people’s different backgrounds, how each individual journey creates different strengths for each person. You can create mentorships – allowing everyone on your team to teach and share how their background changes their views.   As a leader, it’s a great challenge to create an environment where those differences flourish but its inspiring to see the outcome when done well.

5. Encourages Diverse Story Telling

Diversity of people equals diversity of thought. Your personal story is what drives you to do what you do every day; a loss of a parent at an early age, a sibling coming out, a grandparent raising you because your mom had to work around the clock. These are the experiences that shape us as leaders. Sharing your personal story isn’t easy, especially when it’s deeply personal. But once you do share your story, it unlocks immediate trust with your teams. You will be viewed as a leader who rises above adversity, cares deeply about people, and allows others to share their stories as well.

I believe that Unilever’s long term ambition – to make sustainable living commonplace – will be achieved through passionate and diverse people looking to make a difference here in Northwest Arkansas and across the globe.

Jim Breach
*Vice President Customer Development, Walmart & Sam’s Club – Unilever

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.

It has often been said, the best way to be remembered is to leave a place better than you found it…but what does that really mean? In today’s marketplace, unlike the market of our parents before us, we won’t stay at one employer for our entire careers. Though I believe that to be a bit sad, it is reality. Oddly enough, it may ultimately make it more difficult for us as employees to be remembered for the contributions we make to our organizations and our colleagues during our careers. Because of the very nature of our work which is now more temporary or transitory, I put so much more time and effort into leaving a legacy for those who follow me. I believe that your legacy is represented by your body of work at each stage of your career and it often defines who you are as an executive. So now that we know what leaving a legacy is, how do we focus on improving it?  I think we might start by asking ourselves if we are impacting people more than profits or if it is the other way around? Make no mistake, doing things like increasing profits, working longer hours and staying on top of the competitive landscape has a tremendous impact on the organization and it is certainly a way to garner top honors.  As many of us know, it is also even more impressive to sustain that advantage year after year.  Being the perennial top producer in your organization is a phenomenal accomplishment and companies should continue to recognize and reward employees with those accomplishments.

What sometimes gets overlooked are employees who demonstrate genuine affection for their colleagues, come to work every day as if that day were their first, and whom place others before themselves.  People who make you feel good when you’re around them and give you the feeling nothing is impossible are truly unique.  Their impact and their contributions stand the test of time simply because they help to create a culture of respect. Every day they are reminding their colleagues they truly care about them when times are good or when they’re bad. They extend that culture of respect and admiration to people at every level in the organization.  Isn’t fostering that type of culture or “paying it forward” a big part of leaving your legacy? People who make that level of impact on an organization are always so difficult to replace. We hear that comment all too often when someone truly great retires after years of dedicated service.   Over the last several years, I’ve paid more attention to the individuals who are the quickest to speak fondly of those people when they leave. By no surprise, those individuals themselves have learned the importance of leaving legacies and have made sharing their positive energy and their time a priority.

In retrospect, leaving a legacy is really our opportunity to “give something back.” It is our chance to honor those before us by making sure it not only doesn’t stop, it gets even better for everyone who follows us. I will be building my legacy by doing things that make my mentors more like my inspiration. These individuals give selflessly and make everyone around them feel like the most important person in the room.  They focus on excellence in every aspect of their personal and professional lives. Their passion energizes everyone around them and it makes you excited to take on the next challenge.   Though we might not always be “at the very pinnacle of our game,” we can certainly lend a hand by sharing the attributes that make us successful with one of our colleagues.  Just taking a moment to see the skills we’ve shared with our coworkers make them successful is incredibly inspiring in and of itself.  I tend to think that is where leaving a legacy starts.  My father once said, “The most impressive thinkers in the room are often the most thoughtful.”

Deb Rudzik
*Vice President of Sales, Walmart & Sam’s Club – Pepperidge Farms

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.

Change: Six letters, one word. A word most often used negatively. Feared and hated more often than it is loved and embraced.

We all experience some form of change in our daily lives, be it big or small. Life simply does not exist without change. If approached the right way, change is most often a positive representing an opportunity for the future.

To lead a change effort within an organization, you must recognize your team will ultimately determine success or failure for the change and each individual on your team will move at a different pace. With this, it is important to see change as a process as opposed to something that can instantly happen to achieve desired result.

From my experience in leading significant change initiatives over the last few years, the change process should have focus in the following areas:

1. Accept change: Change is a constant and a needed part of our lives. Without change, things become mundane and stale. Change enables us to continue learning, develop a better way of doing things and achieve our dreams. The opportunity with change is that most people tend to resist change. Those that embrace change use it to their advantage to achieve success.
2. Control your “controllables”: Things happen that are beyond our level of control. How we manage those things to ensure it doesn’t get in the way of delivering great execution is a key component of success. I like to remind myself of a line from Viktor Frankl’s Mans Search for Meaning; “Man is not free from his conditions, but he is free to take a stand towards his conditions”.
3. Develop a plan: Before initiating a change effort, a well-thought plan needs to be in place to ensure success. This plan should be grounded in good reasoning, include timelines and key milestones and involve all players of your team on some level. Individuals on high performing teams know the specific role they play to drive success for the broader team.
4. Share your vision: To win with change, you will need an engaged team shooting for the same goal. With this, you must make the case for change with your team. Being more specific with detail and remaining committed to open communication will ensure the team remains engaged and will minimize rumors that can erupt during change efforts.
5. Expect the unexpected: Things happen. Deal with it. Regroup. Move on. Remind yourself that some of the best hits come off the curveballs thrown your way.
6. Celebrate key milestones: Change efforts can often be long tedious processes and it is critically important that you and your team know the score along the way. In addition, take time to celebrate the small wins along the way. Celebration brings fun into the process and will motivate your team to push for the finish line.
7. Close the loop: Before a change effort is fully complete, you must formally close the loop with your team. This step is often overlooked and change efforts fail as a result. Closing the loop should be done as a group and individually. Key questions to answer include: What are the early wins with change being implemented? Is the change achieving the desired results? What are the barriers to the change being fully implemented? What could we have done better to implement the change?

It may be a cliché used too much but the pace of change will only continue to accelerate. What won’t change is the opportunity realized by having solid principles and processes in place executed by a great team.

Jeff Ratcliff
*Director, Walmart & Sam’s Club Team – Starbucks

*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.

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