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The #1 Reason Growth Stalls (and how to fix it)
Are you an Effective CEO? Is Your Executive Team Aligned? Is your executive team executing efficiently? Are your leaders high-performing? How to Strengthen Your Competitive Strategy How to Find Time to Work on Your Business How to Change Your Mindset to Grow and Thrive How a DIY Mindset Holds CEOs Back 8 Types of External Guidance Why Leadership Training Doesn't Work Are You Up For The Challenge? The 5 Criteria to Pick an Executive Team Coach 
Today, I want to share the story of Sandy Miller, General Manager of Arnason Industries in Winnipeg. Sandy’s journey is a masterclass in how to systematically move from being the Chief Firefighter to a Strategic Leader. The Challenge: The Expert in the Middle Arnason Industries does specialized, high-stakes work: building critical infrastructure like roads and water treatment plants in Indigenous communities in northern Manitoba and western Ontario. When Sandy took the helm, the company was heavily dependent on a few key technical people. Sandy was the ultimate hub. With years of experience, he was personally involved in everything from scoping and bidding to overseeing site supervisors and equipment logistics. He knew that if one key person left, projects could be really impacted. His vision was to build an organization that could thrive long beyond his tenure, an organized system that didn't depend on any one person. But he was buried in the sand. To get out, he had to build a leadership team from scratch while simultaneously getting projects and keeping them moving. The Four Pillars in Action Sandy didn't try to change everything overnight. Instead, we worked through a disciplined process to build a solid foundation:
The "Aha!" Moment: Choosing Not to Step In The true test of Sandy’s transformation came recently. When a key site supervisor couldn’t make the transition to live up to the company’s core values, Sandy made the tough call to remove him. In the past, Sandy would have jumped in to run those sites himself. He’s good at it, and it would have been the fastest fix. But Sandy realized that jumping back into the weeds would be a major setback. Instead, he stayed in the coaching seat. He empowered his project management leader to step up and handle the oversight, while Sandy supported him from the background. Sandy admitted it felt strange not to get involved. But it was also freeing. The Result: The Virtuous Cycle By staying out of the sand, Sandy created a virtuous cycle. He now has the bandwidth to:
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The following video refers to my previous 5 Minute Growth Tip video: As a CEO, are you stuck in the weeds?
For the process I use with clients to start to get out of the weeds, see my next 5 Minute Growth Tip. If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The Fundamental Distinction: Rocks vs. Sand In the book, Synk builds on the classic Stephen Covey analogy but applies it specifically to the high-stakes world of small-to-mid-size companies.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the trap for most CEOs is that they become the chief problem solver for the sand, which leaves zero room for the rocks. Synk’s model argues that your job isn't just to manage the sand; it's to identify the rocks and ensure they get executed so that the sand eventually runs more efficiently on its own. 1. Execute the Rocks to Fix the Sand One of the most powerful insights from Synk’s book is that the Sand is often messy because the Rocks haven't been dealt with. If your leadership team is constantly firefighting (stuck in the sand), it’s usually because of a lack of systems or strategic clarity (missing rocks). By prioritizing a Rock, for example, implementing a Results Tracking System, a Monthly Operating Forecast or the Top Grading hiring system, you are literally changing the nature of your day-to-day operations, the sand. When you ensure these priorities for change get executed, you aren't adding more work to your own plate; you are building a filter that makes the sand flow smoother. This increases the efficiency of your leadership team because the Rocks have finally been implemented to create the infrastructure they need to succeed without you hovering over them. 2. Getting Your Leadership Team Aligned In my last tip, we talked about Alignment as the first pillar of getting out of the weeds. Synk takes this further by showing how the Rock & Sand model creates a shared language for the executive team. The model forces a CEO and their team to create shared clarity on the company’s Growth Roadmap (the term Synk uses for a One Page Strategic Plan). In the book, Synk emphasizes that alignment isn't about everyone liking each other; it’s about everyone agreeing on the company’s goals and priorities and on the critical rocks for the next 90 days. When your team is aligned on the company’s direction and rocks:
3. Executing More Efficiently The second pillar we covered in my last tip was Execution. Synk’s model provides the meeting rhythm and the predictable cadence that turn strategy into a team sport rather than a CEO burden. According to Synk, efficient execution happens when the team has visibility into issues before they become fires. By using the Rock & Sand framework to set quarterly targets and rocks, you create a system where the team holds each other accountable. This is the “proactive flywheel" I mentioned: as the team gets better at executing the rocks, the operational noise of the sand diminishes. This frees you, the CEO, to spend more and more of your time on high-level work, like better understanding your customers’ needs, researching your competition and strengthening your competitive advantage, instead of being dragged back into the weeds. Stop Firefighting, Start Leading If you feel like you’re buried in the sand, you aren't alone. But you are stuck in a catch-22. You feel like you don’t have time to build your team and organization because you’re too busy being involved in their work. The Rock & Sand model helps you focus more on what will make a difference: the rocks. It’s about building the systems that allow your team to achieve great results on their own.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The following video refers to my previous 5 Minute Growth Tip video: As a CEO, are you stuck in the weeds?
In the next 5 Minute Growth Tip, I’ll share the story of one of the clients we’ve worked with in this area and others. If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
If those pillars aren't solid, you also likely find yourself trapped in what Stephen Covey calls the "sand": the endless day-to-day operational tasks and firefighting. When you are buried in the sand, you aren't working on the "rocks": the big, strategic moves required to grow your company profitably, predictably, and sustainably. Staying in the weeds causes the company to stay tactically busy but strategically stagnant. It leads to slower progress, limited profitability, and a CEO who is overworked and stressed. It’s a catch-22: you feel you don't have time to develop your team because you’re too involved in their work. Instead, gradually break this cycle by putting in place the systems that ensure your team achieves great results on their own. To start working ON the business instead of IN it, you must master these four pillars: 1. Get Your Executive Team Aligned 2. Get Your Executive Team Executing Efficiently 3. Develop Your Executive Team Into High‑Performing Leaders 4. Get Your Executive Team Living the Core Values to Drive a Healthy Culture Let’s discuss each one. 1. Get Your Executive Team Aligned A CEO can’t be strategic if the leadership team isn’t aligned on where the company is going and what matters most. Using a One Page Strategic Plan, annual and quarterly planning, clear roles and expectations, and efficient buy‑in, the CEO and team create shared clarity on:
When leaders help create the plan, they own it. They can then direct their work toward the company’s goals without the CEO guiding every action or decision. This shifts the CEO from chief problem solver to chief clarifier of direction. Alignment is the foundation that makes the next three pillars possible. 2. Get Your Executive Team Executing Efficiently Once aligned, the team must execute with discipline and predictability. This is where most CEOs get dragged back into the weeds: unless they install the right systems. Using a Monthly Operating & Financial Forecast, Quarterly Targets & Priorities, a consistent Meeting Rhythm, and a Results Tracking System, the team gains:
These systems compress all the CEO’s monitoring, checking, and problem‑solving into efficient structured rhythms. Leaders can see what’s happening, solve issues early, and hold each other accountable, without relying on the CEO. Execution becomes a team sport, not a CEO burden. 3. Develop Your Executive Team Into High‑Performing Leaders Even with alignment and execution systems, the CEO stays in the weeds if leaders can’t perform at a high level. Quarterly Coaching Reviews, Personal Assessments, Quarterly Development Plans, and Weekly One‑on‑Ones create a structured approach to developing leaders who:
This is how CEOs stop carrying underperforming leaders or repeatedly coaching the same issues. As leaders grow, the CEO can step back because the leadership team is finally capable of running the business. 4. Get Your Executive Team Living the Core Values to Drive a Healthy Culture A healthy, values‑driven culture is not soft. It is one of the most practical tools for keeping the CEO out of the weeds. Defining core values with specific behaviours, sharing core value stories, coaching for cultural alignment, and using Topgrading to hire high culture‑fit leaders ensures:
This means more time for the CEO to focus on the big picture. And when leaders model the values, their teams follow. This reduces the operational noise that often pulls the CEO back into the business. A healthy culture is a self‑reinforcing system, one that frees the CEO to lead strategically. The Proactive Flywheel This transition won't happen overnight, but as you tackle each pillar, you create a virtuous cycle. By freeing up your time, you can focus on the higher-level work: refining strategy, gathering customer feedback, and succession planning. Even better, you can then have your leaders implement these same four pillars in their own teams. This increases your organization's overall capacity to achieve its long-term vision.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The following video refers to my previous 5 Minute Growth Tip video: Is your executive team aligned?, Is your executive team executing efficiently?, Are your leaders high-performing?, Is your executive team driving a healthy culture?.
In my next 5 Minute Growth Tip, I'll discuss how the book Rock & Sand, by Michael Synk, distinguishes between day-to-day operations and the big changes, improvements and growth moves to propel a company forward. If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The following video refers to my previous 5 Minute Growth Tip video: "Is your leadership team driving a healthy culture?"
To get a running start on your core values behaviours, contact me to get the AI prompt we use with clients. Or complete the form on this page. If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The first of these practices, defining core values with specific behaviors, is the foundation. Without clear, observable standards, culture remains a Growth Tax that creates friction and drains energy. When you define exactly what is expected, you give you and your executive team the tools to hold each other and others accountable. This process is adapted from the "Mission to Mars" exercise popularized by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their best-selling book Built to Last. Here are the four steps to defining core values with specific behaviors: 1. Identify the “Culture Ambassadors” The first step is for the leadership team (LT) to individually identify the top five people in the company (outside the LT) they would send to Mars to represent the best of the company's culture to a group of Martians who don’t speak English. You aren't looking for what these people say about your culture; you are looking for how they behave. Each LT member writes down the specific characteristics that make these individuals ambassadors. When the team shares these names and traits, you aren't looking for common people, but common themes of traits. These themes reveal the values that are already real and noble within your organization, rather than aspirational slogans. 2. Pass the Core Value Litmus Test Once you have identified potential values, they must pass a rigorous three-part test to be considered "Core." A value is only core if:
Crucially, the CEO must fully believe in each value. If the CEO isn't 100% committed to the hurt of upholding a value, they will never be motivated to hold their team accountable to it. And if their team isn’t living the values, the rest of the organization won’t either. 3. Create Unique and Memorable Phrases To prevent values from sounding trite or like a corporate fad, create a brief, 3-to-5-word memorable phrase for each one. This phrase should reflect the day-to-day speak of your company. For example, instead of just saying "Integrity," you might use "Do the right thing". Keeping the phrase short ensures it is memorable and can be used in hallways and meetings. Putting the original value word in brackets right after the phrase provides clarity, while the unique phrase provides the soul of the organization. 4. Define Tangible, Observable Behaviors The final step is to define three specific behaviors for each core value. To save time, use AI as a starting point. Provide the AI with your industry and company size, and ask it to generate tangible and observable behaviors for your specific values. The moment of truth happens in the editing. The LT and CEO must rigorously review and adjust every word of these drafts to ensure they reflect exactly how they expect people to behave. If you don't do the hard work of making these behaviors your own, you won't have the conviction to enforce them. And if you don’t enforce them, no one will take them seriously and your culture will erode, along with performance.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The following video refers to my previous 5 Minute Growth Tip video: "Is your leadership team driving a healthy culture?"
For the process I use with clients to identify their core values and behaviours, see my next 5 Minute Growth Tip.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
1. Defining Core Values with Specific Behaviors
After the toxic leader was removed, the team revisited their core values. They paid special attention to the value of Learning. They realized they needed to move away from knowledge hoarding. They defined Learning not as formal training, but as a daily verb: being curious, self-reflection, being coachable, and, critically, educating those around them. This reset the expectations for everyone in the company. 2. Sharing Core Value Stories To make these values stick, we introduced a ritual. At every monthly and quarterly meeting I facilitated, I asked the leaders to share one great thing an employee had done that month and identify which core value it represented. While it felt awkward at first, it soon sparked a new energy. It made it crystal clear what right behaviour looked like and created a healthy peer pressure to lead by example. 3. Coaching for Cultural Alignment Even before the team fully implemented Job Scorecards, the defined values became the "North Star" for coaching. The CEO was finally able to move away from subjective "feelings" and clearly articulate: "This is the behavior we expect here, and your current actions are not aligned with that." Having a shared language for behavior allowed the CEO to address issues with objectivity and firmness.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
 Transformative lessons on constructing – and reconstructing – a life In partnership with Growth Faculty, we are delighted to bring you the What to Make of a Life live virtual event with Jim Collins How do we build a life of meaning, momentum and renewal across decades, through transitions, and in the face of the cliff moments that test us most? In this powerful event, legendary researcher and bestselling author Jim Collins shares insights from his forthcoming book What to Make of a Life (April 2026): a decade-long investigation into how people navigate the defining fracture points that shape their destinies. Drawing on deep comparative studies of remarkable figures - from Olympians and rock musicians to scientists, suffragists, actors, and leaders, Collins uncovers a framework for understanding how individual lives can be built, sustained, and constantly renewed. One of the world's bestselling business authors of all time Through vivid stories and a robust evidence-based framework, Collins explores the essential questions every leader and human faces::
Tuesday, April 28, 2026 - 6-7:15 pm in MB, 5-6:15 pm in SK NON-MEMBER: $99* (incl. a copy of the book) | MEMBER: $0*  *Prices quoted in USD. How can you develop your leadership?
To find out how to develop your leadership to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, AND enjoy the ride, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. Complete section 1 to check your company’s leadership processes. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. 
2. The Power of the "Rhythm" (Sharing the Stories)
Remember when I suggested starting your meetings by sharing Core Value Stories? Metronomics calls this part of the "Cultural System." Susko’s research shows that the most successful CEOs create a "cadence of accountability." By publicly praising behaviors that align with your values, you aren't just being nice; you are reinforcing the "rules of the road." In Metronomics, this storytelling is a non-negotiable part of the weekly and monthly meeting rhythm. It keeps the culture top-of-mind so it doesn't "gather dust" on a breakroom poster.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The following video refers to my previous 5 Minute Growth Tip video: "Is your leadership team driving a healthy culture?".
In the next 5 Minute Growth Tip, I’ll share the story of one of the clients we’ve worked with in this area and others.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
1. Define Core Values with Specific Behaviors
A core value is only real if the executive team is willing to "hurt" for it. This means you would fire someone who repeatedly violates it, or walk away from a profitable client who doesn't align with it. But to make these values actionable, you must define the "verbs": the specific behaviors expected for each value. This makes the culture tangible and observable, allowing managers to monitor and take action when violations occur. 2. Share Core Value Stories in Leadership Meetings To keep values from gathering dust, your executive team must take ownership of them. Start your weekly or monthly meetings by identifying and sharing stories of employees living the core values. When leaders have to publicly praise these behaviors to their peers, it creates healthy pressure for them to model those same behaviors themselves. It keeps the culture top-of-mind and signals that it is the most important item on the agenda.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The following video refers to previous 5 Minute Growth Tip videos: “Is Your Executive Team Aligned?”, “Is your executive team executing efficiently?”, and “Are your leaders high-performing?”
I'll discuss what the best selling business book Metronomics says about these practices in the next 5 Minute Growth Tip
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
 There are many challenges to growing a thriving mid-size company (as I’ve shared in this 5 Minute Growth Tip article series). And sometimes it can feel like we’re stuck, like there's nothing we can do. We may hide those thoughts and feelings from others, or even deny to ourselves that we have them. Yet, they still remain in the background of our thinking, gnawing away at our focus, energy and progress. This is an opportunity to check our thinking. Our thinking drives our actions. And our thinking can cause us to not take action. When we think there’s nothing we can do about a problem, we’ll naturally stand still on that issue. When we believe we can resolve it, we’ll find a solution and drive forward. Organizational psychologists have researched these two ways of thinking. They are part of what’s called our “locus of control”. The first way of thinking is that our situation is controlled by things that happen outside of us. We believe we are a victim of circumstances. This is an external locus of control. The second way of thinking is that our situation can be influenced by what we do. We believe we can always do something that will make a situation better. This is an internal locus of control. Think of the word “locus” as “location”. Is our thinking putting the “location” of control of the situation outside of ourselves (external) or within ourselves (internal)? As human beings, we tend to grow up with a tendency toward either an internal locus of control or an external one. We don’t think exclusively one way or the other, but rather predominantly. We also don’t necessarily think one way about everything. There can be areas of our lives and facets of our business that we treat with an internal locus of control mindset, and other areas that we tend to treat with an external locus of control. As entrepreneurs and business leaders, we often predominantly have an internal locus of control: we believe we can make things happen. However, we can also have an external locus of control in certain areas. For example, we might have an internal locus of control about getting more sales. We know that our actions directly influence our company’s sales volumes, and we look for and find ways to increase them. Yet, we might have an external locus of control about being able to hire A players. We may believe that there just aren’t any really strong employees out there, or none of them are looking for work, or they all want too much money, or they all hide their faults in interviews, etc. By switching our thinking to an internal locus of control in this area, we can find solutions. We can ask ourselves, “what is it that I’m doing that is getting in the way of hiring A players?” Or “what am I not doing, or not doing well?” And from there, we can ask “what can I do differently to find A players?” For example, do I have a clear description of what an A player will produce so I know exactly who I am looking for? What am I doing to network with A players I know in my industry who likely know other A players? Have I shopped around for an excellent recruiting company who can help me find the right people? Have I strengthened my interviewing skills to discover candidates’ true strengths, abilities and qualities? Have I learned to do effective reference checks to get the perspectives of those who’ve seen the candidates in action? Believing we have influence over the situation causes us to look for solutions we can act on. There’s also a way that an entrepreneur’s strong internal locus of control in one area can actually create an external locus of control mindset in another area. I often see this struggle with CEOs and owners I meet. They complain that they don’t have enough time. This complaint is coming from an external locus of control mindset: the belief that their lack of time is happening to them. (Note that all complaining and blaming is really a form of external locus of control). When I invite a CEO or owner to flip their mindset to an internal locus of control, and ask themself what they are doing that is causing them to not have enough time, they realize that they are causing the problem. They often are attempting to tackle every problem and opportunity that comes up, and they are not delegating tasks and roles enough. In this way, as entrepreneurs, our internal locus of control about solving problems can cause us to have an external locus of control about time. Our tendency to think we can take control of any situation, like solving every problem, actually causes us to be so busy that we think we don’t have control of our time. Yet we do. We just need to change how we tackle problems, for example, by equipping others to take care of them rather than solving them ourselves. This mindset is a key linchpin in growing a thriving mid-sized company. The only way to grow and grow profitably, is to implement the structures, systems and processes to enable that growth. This requires a leadership team that handles the day-to-day and can help with implementing many of those systems. These systems need to be guided by a solid strategy for competing in the market. That strategy needs to be executed efficiently. And efficient execution requires an A player leadership team. And all of these business practices take time. As a result, a CEO or owner will want to shift their mindset more fully to thinking about what they are doing, or not doing, that is causing them to be too busy to work on these practices. By doing so, they will get clear on what they need to do differently to free themselves up to shift increasingly from doing to leading. And, more generally, the practice of internal locus of control will help any leader, and their top team, look at how they’re contributing to a problem, and what they can do to influence it. Another way leaders contribute to problems in their company is by trying to figure things out all on their own. We’ll tackle that topic in my next 5 Minute Growth Tip article. What can you do to grow your mid-size company? To find out what you and your leadership team could do to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, AND enjoy the ride, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. Find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. Want to listen to the tip? Use the play button below. What can you do to grow your mid-size company? To find out what you and your leadership team could do to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, AND enjoy the ride, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. Find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth. This report is complementary and involves no obligation.  Transformative lessons on constructing – and reconstructing – a life In partnership with Growth Faculty, we are delighted to bring you the What to Make of a Life live virtual event with Jim Collins How do we build a life of meaning, momentum and renewal across decades, through transitions, and in the face of the cliff moments that test us most? In this powerful event, legendary researcher and bestselling author Jim Collins shares insights from his forthcoming book What to Make of a Life (April 2026): a decade-long investigation into how people navigate the defining fracture points that shape their destinies. Drawing on deep comparative studies of remarkable figures - from Olympians and rock musicians to scientists, suffragists, actors, and leaders, Collins uncovers a framework for understanding how individual lives can be built, sustained, and constantly renewed. One of the world's bestselling business authors of all time Through vivid stories and a robust evidence-based framework, Collins explores the essential questions every leader and human faces:
Tuesday, April 28, 2026 - 6-7:15 pm in MB, 5-6:15 pm in SK NON-MEMBER: $99* | MEMBER: $0* *Prices quoted in USD. How can you develop your leadership?
To find out how to develop your leadership to grow more easily, quickly and profitably, AND enjoy the ride, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. Complete section 1 to check your company’s leadership processes. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth. This report is complementary and involves no obligation.  Unlocking the Power of Leadership and Connection In partnership with Growth Faculty, we are delighted to bring you the Design Love In live virtual event with Marcus Buckingham. Bestselling author Marcus Buckingham shows how the most powerful force in business is right in front of you as a leader, waiting to be unleashed. Think about the last time you said, "I love that." Maybe it was about a product that exceeded expectations, a service experience that built instant loyalty, or a moment when your work brought out the best in you. That reaction isn't just emotional - it's electric. In the workplace, it fuels engagement, strengthens performance, and drives lasting success. Yet most leaders don't acknowledge it, let alone try to measure or make use of it. In this session, leading researcher on human excellence and uniqueness, Marcus Buckingham, reveals how love - the deep connection that makes people feel seen, valued, and uplifted - isn't a soft feeling but a practical, measurable force. He shows how leaders, as experience makers, can intentionally 'design love in’ to everything we do: our interactions with team members, our company policies and practices, the products and services and experiences we create for those we lead and serve. When we do this, it not only generates positive feelings toward us and our products, it energizes our teams and organizations, strengthens the connections between us as humans, and creates a better world. Love - it's the most powerful force in business. This session will help you learn how you as a leader can unleash it. How the world's best leaders unleash the most powerful force in business. By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Tuesday, March 24, 2026 - 7-8 pm in MB, 6-7pm in SK NON-MEMBER: $295* | MEMBER: $0* *Prices quoted in USD. How can you develop your leadership?
To find out how to develop your leadership to grow more easily, quickly and profitability, AND enjoy the ride, try our complimentary Agile Growth Checklist. This self-service questionnaire takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. You'll receive the checklist with your responses immediately. Within 24 hours, you'll receive a compiled report highlighting areas to improve. Complete section 1 to check your company’s leadership processes. Or complete all 7 sections to find out how your company is doing in each of the 7 areas needed to produce more rapid, profitable and sustainable growth. This report is complementary and involves no obligation. The following video refers to the previous 5 Minute Growth Tip video: “Are your leaders high-performing?”.
To get a running start on your Quarterly Coaching Reviews, contact me to get the guide we use with clients. Or complete the form on this page.
In my recent 5 Minute Growth Tip, "Are your leaders high-performing?", I discussed the five key elements for developing executive team members: Job Scorecards, Quarterly Coaching Reviews, Personal Assessments, Quarterly Development Plans, and Weekly One-On-Ones. While job scorecards are a critical starting point in order to set clear expectations, the Quarterly Coaching Review is the foundational habit that kick-starts the development process. The goal of the quarterly coaching review is to catch up, align, and connect with your leader to determine the important priorities they need to work on in the coming quarter, both for the business and for their own self-development. It is about ditching evaluations and focusing on "executing and developing the important". We call these coaching reviews rather than performance reviews because we now know, through recent research, that traditional performance appraisals are not motivating. What is motivating is clarity of expectations, having opportunities to use one’s strengths, being recognized for excellent performance and being challenged to grow. Assuming job scorecards are in place and the leader is in the right role for their strengths, this new understanding requires a shift in focus for reviews: from intermittent evaluation to regularly acknowledging progress and supporting development. And it puts reviews in their proper place, as mere preparation for coaching throughout the quarter. To make these reviews effective, follow a structured rhythm. There are four key steps to a successful Quarterly Coaching Review:
Let’s discuss each one. And feel free to contact me by email or on my website [link to contact me form page] to access the Quarterly Coaching Review guide I use with clients. 1. Preparation and Personal Connection A successful quarterly coaching review starts before the meeting begins. Both the CEO and the leader should independently use the leader’s job scorecard to rate performance for the quarter, referring to targets, actual results, and priorities in your results tracking system. Once the meeting starts, begin with a 10-minute personal catch-up. Ask about their personal and professional highs and lows over the last 90 days. This is also the time to check in on their well-being by asking how the team can support them or how communication is flowing between you. This connection strengthens the relationship and sets a supportive tone for the conversation. 2. Reviewing Business Priorities Next, spend about 20 minutes reviewing the specific quarterly priorities the leader is accountable for in the next quarter. These should be the quarterly non-negotiable priorities that contribute directly to resolving the company’s #1 Addressable Challenge for the year in the executive team’s one page strategic plan. Review the ultimate outcomes they want to achieve and have them come with any constraints or barriers that are in their way. By discussing these early, you can align on the resources they need, such as money, people, or time, to ensure they are set up for success before the quarter gets into full swing. 3. Reviewing Performance Ratings This is often the most insightful part of the review. Spend time comparing your respective ratings from the job scorecard across core values, metrics, responsibilities, and competencies. Rather than reviewing every item, focus on the differences. If you rated a leader a "2" on a core value and they rated themselves a "4," discuss what is behind those different perspectives. This conversation often exposes blind spots, helping the leader realize where they may be falling short of expectations despite their best efforts. These gaps highlight the most critical areas for their professional growth. 4. Setting Development Priorities The final step is to translate those insights into action. Devote the last part of the meeting to setting 1 or 2 top self-development priorities for the next quarter. These priorities should address the development opportunities identified in the job scorecard during your rating comparison. Just like business priorities, each development goal should be documented in your results tracking system, along with an action plan that outlines how the leader will go about developing in that area. Before wrapping up, ask the leader for feedback on your own performance as their manager. Asking "What is one area I could improve in?" demonstrates that growth is a shared value and further encourages a high-performance culture.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
The following video refers to the previous 5 Minute Growth Tip videos: “Are your leaders high-performing?” and “The Strength of Talent by Mike Goldman”
For the Quarterly Coaching Review process I recommend to clients, see my next 5 Minute Growth Tip.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
Step 1: Defining Excellence with Job Scorecards
The first step was removing the ambiguity. You can’t hold someone to a high bar if they don't know where the bar is. I guided Roger to create a comprehensive Job Scorecard for each of his leaders. We didn't just list tasks; we documented core values and behaviours, specific results and targets, areas of accountability, and behavioral competencies. Roger found determining the exact metrics and targets challenging at first. However, he leveraged MSP industry benchmarks to define what "average" vs. "outstanding" looked like. This gave him the confidence to hold his team to a rigorous, data-backed standard of excellence. Step 2: Uncovering Reality through Quarterly Coaching Reviews With the scorecards in hand, Roger implemented Quarterly Coaching Reviews. These weren't standard HR "performance reviews"; they were reality checks designed to surface blind spots. In one instance, a review revealed a significant gap: a leader believed they were performing well, but Roger’s rating on one of their responsibilities was lower because the leader was "winging it" rather than following documented processes. This lack of structure was creating friction and inefficiencies whenever their work touched other departments. Step 3: Identifying Potential with Personal Assessments To understand why certain leaders were struggling despite having clear scorecards, Roger turned to Personal Assessments. Specifically, he used the Working Genius tool to map out the natural strengths and frustrations of his team. One of his leaders, who managed a large team, discovered they had a "weakness" in Galvanizing, the ability to rally, inspire, and push a team toward a goal. In the fast-paced MSP world, Galvanizing is essential. This assessment was an "Aha!" moment for Roger; it explained why this leader struggled to get their team on board with changes. It moved the problem from a personality clash to a specific competency gap that could be managed or supported. Step 4: Building Skills via Quarterly Development Plans Once the gaps were identified (like "winging it" or a lack of "Galvanizing"), Roger used Quarterly Development Plans to bridge them. These weren't generic management courses; they were "live" and value-creating business projects. For the leader who was struggling with process, their development plan for the quarter was to document and refine their department’s main work process. By making this their primary learning objective, Roger ensured they were growing their skills while simultaneously solving a major pain point for the company. The growth was practical, measurable, and directly tied to the company's success. Step 5: Sustaining Growth through Weekly One-On-Ones The final, and perhaps most difficult, piece was the Weekly One-On-One. In a technical environment, it’s easy to let these meetings become "tactical status updates" or cancel them when things get busy. Roger's challenge was consistency.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
In his book, he breaks down why most hiring and performance management fail: we aren't clear enough about what "success" actually looks like. The scorecard is the foundation for everything else we do.
Quarterly Performance Assessments Mike’s book focuses more on what we call an executive team talent assessment process. This is an exercise where executive team members share their performance assessments of their team members in order to gather the perspectives of their peers to round out their assessments, get input on actions to take with each team member, and hold each other accountable for developing their people (I’ll go over this process in a future 5 Minute Growth Tip on building a healthy culture). However, a key input to that process is the leader completing an individual assessment, ie. review, with each of their team members. Just as executive team talent assessments are best done quarterly, so are quarterly coaching reviews. Quarterly Development Plans Mike insists that assessments are meaningless without a concrete plan that translates insights into action. He argues that a development plan should focus strictly on the one or two "critical" behaviors or skills that will have the biggest impact, moving away from "death by a thousand goals." Crucially, Mike believes that true growth occurs through high-impact, on-the-job experiences rather than passive classroom learning, which reinforces why we use 90-day Quarterly Development Plans to turn leadership growth into tactical, measurable priorities that keeps your leaders focused on their growth. The Power of the One-on-One Remember how I insisted that Weekly One-on-Ones should be "sacred" and focused on the person, not just the leaders’ targets and priorities? Mike reinforces this by highlighting that the strongest companies have leaders who actually coach their people rather than just managing their tasks. His work reinforces the idea that these 20-30 minute sessions are the primary engine for engagement and loyalty. Other Practices for Building an A-Player Executive Team While The Strength of Talent focuses heavily on the development of your existing team, Mike also covers the following.
If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.
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