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Most leaders don't wake up thinking about collaboration.
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They wake up thinking about results.
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Yet, every major result in an organization depends on people, working together across different priorities, perspectives, and interests.
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So, why is it bringing people together still one of the leadership greatest challenges?
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Welcome to the Excellence Foresight, the podcast where we look beyond methods and frameworks to explore how leaders create the conditions for lasting excellence.
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I'm Nancy Nouaimeh, leadership and cultural transformation consultant, and I'm the host of the Excellence Foresight podcast.
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Today, I'm so pleased to be joined by Barry Moline, president of VJM Solutions, an award-winning author and a leader with 29 years of CEO experience across the private sector, government, and national trade associations.
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Barry's work focuses on leadership, teamwork, collaboration, trust, and ethical influence.
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Barry, welcome to the Excellence Foresight.
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Nancy, it's great to be with you, and I'm really looking forward to the conversation.
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Thank you.
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And I'm very happy to be here with you today, Barry, exploring a question that sits at the heart of sustainable excellence.
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How do leaders bring people together, connect them to purpose, and influence the culture in a positive and ethical way?
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So thank you very much for joining me.
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So let's dive in.
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My first question to you here, Barry, is um many organizations can coordinate work.
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We've seen a lot of good examples, but fewer create genuine collaboration.
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What distinguishes a group that simply works together from one that collectively pursues excellence?
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Well, that is the core of teamwork.
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So it's good to get that right out there in the first question.
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Um because if you just put people together, hey, show up for work, or we're on this team together and we're we're we're playing a sport, but there's no general direction, people will uh will will guess at their role and they'll you know they may try to do the best they can.
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If there's no unifying force, then they may not care very much.
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Um really the the first step in all that is helping people get to know each other.
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And I know that sounds kind of um, I don't know, it sounds kind of like kindergarten.
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Not at all.
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Yeah.
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But what I I've I've done research on this, and what I found is that the best groups that work together, or the groups that work together the best, I guess you could say, is um they they do one thing.
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They they don't love each other, they they don't uh you know spend all this time together and and uh you know they they have their alone time, right?
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But when they come together, they know each other.
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They just they know they know a little bit about each other and what's going on in each other's world and each other's lives, just enough, just a teeny bit.
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And it's the role of a leader not to uh force people to work together, but to put people in situations where they can get to know each other.
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So uh so two quick examples.
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One is um a friend of mine is the coach of a very high-level basketball team, college basketball team.
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And they spend a lot of time off the court doing things that are not basketball related, playing trivia, um uh going to movies and talking about them, uh, just uh, you know, spending time together that is not basketball and putting people in smaller teams that are constantly mixed up.
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You know, there's 15 players on the team and they and they mix people up.
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And and the goal is just to get the players to know each other so that when they do get on the court and play basketball, and one player is passing the ball to another player, they're saying, Oh, I'm passing the ball to Nancy.
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I really like Nancy, and I want to make this the best possible pass because if I do that, then we all win.
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So the if I don't know Nancy, then I'm, you know, yeah, I'll make a pass and and I'll see, you know, if it works, great, and if it doesn't, you know, but when you know somebody, you want that act activity where you're working together to be to be better, okay, to be excellent.
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And and how do we do it?
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And now the second point is how do we do that in the real world, in the world of work?
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And one simple way to do it is through icebreakers.
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I mean, we can do off-site activities and we can go bowling and and go to a baseball game or a cricket game or whatever we might go to where we are in the world.
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But a simple way to do it is when we get together in our office and uh or on a virtual meeting, and we quickly go around the room, we do an icebreaker, and we learn a little bit about each other.
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And the goal of an icebreaker is not to have a long conversation, it's just simply to ask a
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question that that is, you know, sort of workplace appropriate.
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Uh, you know, what's a food that uh that brings back a memory from a childhood?
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We don't want to know what the memory is, we just want to know what the food is.
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And somebody will say, Oh, it was my grandmother's fruitcake.
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And then you just stop there.
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And the goal of that exercise is not to have that long conversation, but at a break later or in a private conversation later, you say, Hey, tell me about that fruitcake story.
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You know, what's up with that?
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And and that way it evokes both a memory, a personal memory, but it also evokes a conversation that we can have later.
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Or, or even something like, What are you, what music are you listening to, or or what are you streaming these days?
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And you just say the name of the of the show, and then you move on.
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And and then people will talk about it later.
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And then when they do that, they're getting to know each other.
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And and I know right out of the box, um, I I have a list of these on my website, so we can leave those, have those in the show notes.
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Oh, that's great.
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Yeah, definitely we're gonna share with our audience.
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And I think creating, I mean, these icebreakers will bring people together, they connect, they get to know each other, and that's a great way to start collaborating and and to know the interests of the other person and connect to him.
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So, very like you you've worked for many years as a CEO.
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What have you learned about the role of shared purpose in bringing people together?
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And you've started alluding to that, right?
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There's something that they will be working all towards the same direction, but we see a lot of priorities um that are different in organizations, right?
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We see competing priorities.
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How do you bring people together?
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How do you bring different perspectives together?
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Well, the once we've we're working on the first role of of bringing people together and getting them to know each other.
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And and it's a constant process.
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You know, you you always have to remind people we're working together and and let's get to know each other.
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Uh what once you have that, now you can talk about your shared purpose.
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So it's a leader's job, again, not to force people to work together, but to invite them in to work together and get to know each other.
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And then it's a leader's job to to tell them what we're doing.
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And that purpose, it can, it can be big and broad, you know, we're here to save the world on this issue, right?
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Or we're here to supply the world, you know, with this product.
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And that's gonna, and that's our role in this world.
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Um, but it's um, I think more than anything, it's it's just what are we doing on this particular project?
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If if we have a uh a project where we're where we're trying to, let's say, um, you know, organize a conference, okay.
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A conference isn't saving the world, but it is bringing people together on issues of the day or whatever issues that we're we're working on.
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And we want that conference to go well.
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We want the workflow, people to register for the conference.
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We want, you know, the speakers to to speak well at the conference, you know, we want networking to happen at the conference.
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We want the the shrimp and the crackers all to show up on time.
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We all those things involve a network of people doing things, you know, at the right moment.
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And so you it requires a team to put all that together.
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If our goal as a team is to put on a great conference, well, we know now we know that purpose.
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And then we divide up the roles of that, of you know, what has to happen to make the conference a success.
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Somebody's in charge of catering and someone is in charge of registration and someone's in charge of speakers.
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So we're all working together and and we know the pieces of the puzzle.
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And we're yeah, and now we we know that we want to put on a great conference.
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And and because we know each other, we understand our purpose, you know, we can work on that.
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And and if it requires two or three people to work on catering together, but one person is a lead, you know, we're all gonna do that.
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And then whenever when we need help finding speakers, then maybe those three people will work together on you know on finding speakers, you know, with a different person in charge.
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But the point is that we know what our roles are, we know what our tasks are, we we like the people that we're working with, and or at least we can tolerate them.
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And and then you know, and now we know what we're doing.
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So we can either be big and broad or can be targeted to this particular project.
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But it's a leader's job to say, here's what we're doing.
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Let's go do this and let's go put on a great conference.
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So it means the leader will be setting really the direction for the people, giving them clearing their expectations, uh, making sure expectations are clear for everyone, making sure that everybody knows their role.
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So that helps people to really perform better if they are put to work together.
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Uh, but sometimes people have challenges on projects, right?
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Whatever is small or big is a project.
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Sometimes people differ in opinions, sometimes they one person would challenge the assumptions.
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How do you think the leader can constantly um create the trust needed uh for people to, regardless of these challenges, have the best behavior and still work together, right?
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We see people sometimes they get annoyed and leave, uh, even if they are paid to do the job, but they might really go to that extreme.
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So, what how do you think what should the leader do to create that trust, to keep that trust running?
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Yeah, well, that is um uh that's a you know a continuing question.
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Well, so your question is about trust.
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Um, but there's another element in there, and sort of, you know, what do we do with with disagreement?
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You know, first is we want our groups or our task groups, we want them to do their best at trying to resolve their their disagreement.
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And and if they can't, if they truly cannot, and they need an arbiter, they need you know a referee, uh, then then that's the role for of that leader to come in and and say, you know, let what's the budget?
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Should we get shrimp or chicken?
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You know, we don't know, we really want to get shrimp, but we don't have the money, you know, whatever that might be.
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I know that's kind of a silly example, but still the point is that uh if if there's a disagreement in the group, then and they truly cannot come to a conclusion, then you know, it's appropriate for a leader to to step in at that moment.
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But your question truly is about trust.
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And and trust is kind of an interesting um uh phenomenon in that in that you you can be trusted to always do the wrong thing.
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Uh you can be trusted to always do the right thing.
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You could, you know, trust is a is a reputation kind of
thing.
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It's it's based on your behaviors.
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So like I know somebody that we could always trust to do the thing that would be best for him.
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And and yeah, I like this.
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Yes, absolutely.
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Even if it wasn't, yeah, even if it wasn't the best for everyone else or the best for the organization, we always knew that he was going to be thinking, hmm, how can I benefit from this?
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Yeah, he was predictable.
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And we and we could trust him.
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Yeah.
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Now, that doesn't mean we relied on him to do everything because we knew he was always going to do the thing that benefited him.
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Um, but we still could, you know, trusted him to do that.
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So, so trust is is really about behaviors.
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It's it's about uh a you know, watching somebody and seeing what behaviors they elicit over time, and those are the behaviors we can expect going forward.
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So um, you know, how do we develop trust?
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We we we watch other people, we look at the at the reps, you know, we we see, you know, time after time, is this what they do?
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And and uh the majority of people want to do the right thing, you know, that we we see them trying to do the right thing.
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Um, but nevertheless, if we want to be trustworthy, and that's all we can do in terms of our behavior, we can talk about this with our colleagues about what is trust.
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But if we want to be somebody that people can say, I trust Barry with this project to go and do the right thing, right?
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Then it's done through our behavior.
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We have to be the one who who shows that behavior, who, when given a project, you know, looks around for what's the best for this group or what's the best for our purpose, and then go down the road of trying to do that.
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So uh I think trust is also good to talk about.
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Uh it's it's you know, what it when something needs to get done is is is just asking people what do we need to do and having that conversation and then taking that action and going down that road.
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But ultimately it comes down to behavior and are we consistent in our own behavior?
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Yeah, and I remember a couple of years ago we were having training, and the guy said, if you want to trust people based on two things, their competence, whether they have the expertise and to do whatever they are asked to do, and their attitude and their behavior, and and how they are present for others or not, they're present for themselves or for others.
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That's really very important.
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I think I I like the distinction you made here, Barry.
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And what um sometimes people behavior also helps maybe creates more silos, right?
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Because they distend themselves, they create silos between uh different groups in the organization.
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When it comes to the leader and influencing the group he's working with, what advice would you give the leader to really break down silos and make sure that there's more collaboration between departments, between functions, between groups or individuals?
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Silos are tough because if we think about purpose for a second and we go back to the accounting department versus the marketing department, okay.
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There are definitely two different kinds of people that work in those departments and they have different goals, different, different missions within the organization.
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Of course, we have a broader purpose, we're all trying to launch this product, but nevertheless, the accounting people are making sure that all the numbers work and the marketing people want as many eyeballs on the product as possible.
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So they have they they have you know different things that they're focused on when it comes to the outcome uh and or at least the tasks to get to an outcome.
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And they don't speak the same language.
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You know, the accounting people are talking in numbers, and the marketing people may be speaking in words and images.
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So uh, you know, we know that ultimately they have the big goal, but they have their teams.
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And within their teams, their leaders, their head of marketing, their head of accounting, they're saying that we are a team.
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We're the accounting team, and we've got a great purpose to control costs.
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And the marketing people are saying, we're a team, and we've got a great purpose to get as many people to see our product and to get and to increase sales or whatever we want to do for the organization so that people see us.
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And we don't care about money, we just want to be seen.
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So within the organization, they kind of have different, you know, purposes and different leaders that are driving them.
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And they're on team marketing, they're on team accounting, and they're they're gonna have friction, right?
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So the only way to get them together, and I've had this experience before, is to get them together.
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I mean, it goes back to the first thing we talked about, which is that uh, you
know, helping people get to know each other.
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Uh, and and it sounds easy, right?
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You know, get everybody to go bowling or whatever, but sometimes it's just sitting down with individuals and getting people in a meeting to talk about what's your goal in accounting and what's your goal in marketing, and just have a conversation about how when we've got an issue where money is tight, but we still need more eyeballs, what what can we do?
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Do we do we spend more money?
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Well, no, the accounting department won't let us spend more money.
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Um, what are there other ways to go out and get eyeballs that don't cost as much money?
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Now we're brainstorming.
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But still, the point is the only way to do it, the only way to get through it is to get people together, to talk about what their departments do, what their goals are in their departments, and then talk about some of their big problems and how they can brainstorm together to get them done.
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You you may not come to a great solution, uh, but helping people get to know each other.
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Now, I I will say this that in my two CEO jobs, I came into each one of them, and the they didn't tell me this when when they hired me.
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The board did not tell me.
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They didn't tell me that in each case the organization had major problems where people were not getting along.
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And and that I've I felt a little betrayed each time.
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I felt a little betrayed because I mean it wasn't like I'm out of here, you know, you guys lied to me.
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Um, but they it wasn't quite like that.
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But there was um, you know, I did have a reputation for helping people come together.
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And I very quickly analyzed the situation each time and said, like, whoa, these people don't like each other.
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Like, what is going on?
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Wow.
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And you know, it was the the legal department and the and the communications department and the and the accounting department.
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It was everybody was doing their own thing.
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And that's the problem, is that their previous leader was just letting every department do its thing, and then they were they were there was a lot of friction.
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And uh ultimately what I did was I I I listened to everybody.
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I had private meetings with everyone, I listened to their their issues.
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I just let them talk, let them be heard.
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I didn't try to identify any solutions.
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And then I just started to get different departments together in different ways.
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And and in my head, I I thought to myself, you know, it's gonna take about six months before we really notice a difference.
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It's not gonna be solved in six months, but it'll take six months before everybody will will begin to know and be comfortable with everyone else.
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And then after about a year, people will say, huh, well, you know, things are a little bit different here than than they were, you know, a year ago, before Barry came along.
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And I thought to myself, you know, after 18 months, people will have forgotten what life was like beforehand.
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But even still, it's a continuous process of making sure that that people understand the various departments, understand everybody's goals, everybody's friction and everybody's restrictions, their limits.
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And once they do, then they can say, well, we we don't have unlimited money.
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Uh, I understand why accounting needs receipts for everything.
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So we'll do better at getting receipts, and maybe they'll be better at helping us identify ways where we can maybe push the limits on how much money we have.
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And this is a great example, and I think you have a lot of experience in this, Barry.
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But we when we we met in preparation of this podcast, we spoke a little bit about influence.
00:21:45.409 --> 00:21:49.089
Now you were in a position where you were able to influence the opposition.
00:21:49.089 --> 00:21:52.289
People naturally will be listening more.
00:21:52.289 --> 00:22:08.689
If people are not in in um um that doesn't have the authority or the influence to um influence people uh and their behavior, what recommendation, what advice would you give them to be able to do that without authority, without power?
00:22:09.089 --> 00:22:11.009
Yeah, that that's a good question.
00:22:11.009 --> 00:22:26.369
It's a hard question to Uh to get through because we tend to think of influence as I have an idea, I have a direction, and I want you to come to my side.
00:22:26.369 --> 00:22:27.169
That's it.
00:22:27.169 --> 00:22:32.929
I'm I I'm gonna you know force you to think like I do.
00:22:32.929 --> 00:22:35.250
And and that just never works.
00:22:35.250 --> 00:22:44.689
Ethical influence, and and but I mean there's ethical influence, and then there's I I don't know what you would call on the other side, sort of manipulative influence, right?
00:22:44.689 --> 00:22:45.329
Yeah.
00:22:45.329 --> 00:22:53.169
Where I uh well, let's talk about what ethical influence is, and it'll be pretty clear uh the direction that we need to go.
00:22:53.169 --> 00:22:55.970
And ethical influence has
three parts to it.
00:22:55.970 --> 00:23:01.649
First is that it has to be um, you know, real, it has to be factual.
00:23:01.649 --> 00:23:11.970
And and I know these days we can argue over facts, but if if there was a car accident, if we're watching a car accident, we can agree there was a car accident.
00:23:11.970 --> 00:23:13.490
That's a fact, okay?
00:23:13.490 --> 00:23:15.569
Two cars hit each other.
00:23:15.569 --> 00:23:23.089
We might disagree on the speed of the cars, or were the cars going head on, or was it 90 degrees or whatever?
00:23:23.089 --> 00:23:25.889
But even still, we can agree there was a car accident.
00:23:25.889 --> 00:23:27.569
So that's a fact.
00:23:27.569 --> 00:23:31.250
We need to focus on the things that we agree on are facts.
00:23:31.250 --> 00:23:36.049
The second element of ethical influence is that it has to make sense.
00:23:36.049 --> 00:23:44.049
You know, whatever, if I'm trying to to convince you to do something, you have to say, well, I'm not sure I agree, but I can see how that might work.
00:23:44.049 --> 00:23:47.970
Okay, you know, I I can imagine, you know, it's within the realm.
00:23:47.970 --> 00:23:58.849
If I was telling you, uh, just put on this backpack and we're gonna fly to the moon right now, when you know, when I when you pull on this string, you know, that doesn't make sense.
00:23:58.849 --> 00:23:59.490
Yeah, right.
00:23:59.490 --> 00:23:59.970
Okay.
00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:09.329
So um, but whatever it is, we can say, well, well, you know, I'm not sure I agree, but I can see how that could work, you know, under certain circumstances.
00:24:09.329 --> 00:24:31.089
But the third one, which I think the third element of ethical influence, which I think is the most important, is that if I'm trying to convince you of doing something, is this something that I would uh try to convince my family to do, my parents, my spouse, my children, my grandparents, my friends.
00:24:31.089 --> 00:24:41.809
Is this something that people who are gonna see me tomorrow or next week after they've tried it, after they've done it, are gonna say, oh, Barry, I did that.
00:24:41.809 --> 00:24:46.529
And hopefully it worked, you know, or hopefully it was good advice, right?
00:24:46.529 --> 00:24:49.730
And or something that you would do yourself.
00:24:49.730 --> 00:24:58.289
So you want to be making recommendations to others or bringing people to your side for things that you would do yourself.
00:24:58.289 --> 00:25:13.409
And when you have all those three things together, when it's true, when it makes sense, and when it's clearly something that from your core you believe and you would want other people to do it as well, then it's ethical.
00:25:13.409 --> 00:25:13.889
Okay.
00:25:13.889 --> 00:25:18.049
It still may not be something that is successful, but at least it's in that direction.
00:25:18.049 --> 00:25:26.369
And now from there, you if if somebody that now they can see Barry is putting all the
cards on the table.
00:25:26.369 --> 00:25:32.450
Whether I agree or disagree is something else, but at least I can see that he's being straightforward with me.
00:25:32.450 --> 00:25:37.250
And if I agree, then then we're gonna, you know, do this thing together.
00:25:37.250 --> 00:25:40.529
But at least he's giving me the opportunity to agree or disagree.
00:25:40.529 --> 00:25:42.929
And of course, that feeds into trust as well.
00:25:42.929 --> 00:25:46.289
I trust Barry because Barry is being straightforward with me.
00:25:46.289 --> 00:26:03.329
And I think that the opposite of those elements, if it's not true, if it's like, wait, that doesn't make sense, you know, and and if it's not something that you would do, if not something that you would recommend for some for for yourself, then that moves into the realm of manipulation.
00:26:03.329 --> 00:26:08.609
So whatever we're doing, we want to make sure that it's a good idea.
00:26:08.609 --> 00:26:19.490
And and when you follow those three elements, you can pretty much guarantee that at least from your side, from your heart, that people are gonna understand and believe you.
00:26:19.970 --> 00:26:25.490
You did not mention transparency and honesty in what you said, but I think this is what you alluded to.
00:26:25.490 --> 00:26:27.329
Uh, I I like the message here, Barry.
00:26:27.329 --> 00:26:29.730
I've been struggling myself also with manipulation.
00:26:29.730 --> 00:26:43.409
I feel like we are in a world where honesty, transparency sometimes are in becomes a liability rather than really helping you get along with people, especially when you have people who don't really are not on the same um level.
00:26:43.409 --> 00:26:52.689
I like your message here to to our audience is that it's it's important to create those relations by being straightforward, being giving the good advice.
00:26:52.689 --> 00:27:04.450
Sometimes we see a lot of personal interests, and this is where I think things really go wrong, and people feel the manipulation because yeah, personal agendas come in the way most of the time, unfortunately.
00:27:04.450 --> 00:27:06.769
I I like what you what you said here.
00:27:06.769 --> 00:27:16.529
And Barry, if if I go back to the relations and how people need to create that collaboration and have influence on each other, I would say, through their behavior.
00:27:16.529 --> 00:27:19.250
Uh, we come close to the end of the episode.
00:27:19.250 --> 00:27:28.210
What would be the most important principle that would bring people together in all this and make them perform better together rather than getting distant?
00:27:28.210 --> 00:27:32.769
What is it the one thing you feel is really makes moves the needle, as we say?
00:27:34.049 --> 00:27:39.809
I think that it's important for a group of people to talk about excellence.
00:27:39.809 --> 00:27:47.329
And if we say, if we agree we want to be an excellent organization, then let's talk about it.
00:27:47.329 --> 00:27:51.649
Let's say, uh, is this something that we all agree that we want to do?
00:27:51.649 --> 00:28:02.369
And when everybody says, yeah, yes, this is it, like, okay, so what do we need to do in this area to be excellent and in this area and in this area and in this area?
00:28:02.369 --> 00:28:12.929
And then when we when we talk about it um, you know, sincerely, when we are intentional about it, then we're holding each other accountable.
00:28:12.929 --> 00:28:29.649
But I really think it's important for us to uh you know just to talk about it openly and to say this is our goal, and and not just to have it come down from you know on high to say, you will be excellent, but rather to say, is this something that we want to do?
00:28:29.649 --> 00:28:35.169
And and when everybody agrees, yeah, then then we can define the path to get there.
00:28:36.049 --> 00:28:39.329
I have one last question for you now as you're saying this, Barry.
00:28:39.329 --> 00:28:44.689
Why pe why leaders don't spend time to get these things right?
00:28:44.689 --> 00:28:45.970
Is it hard?
00:28:45.970 --> 00:28:51.649
Is it just intention maybe that lacks, or is they don't necessarily care enough?
00:28:51.649 --> 00:28:56.929
Why most people don't spend this little bit more time to do it right?
00:28:57.329 --> 00:28:58.369
Yeah, great question.
00:28:58.369 --> 00:29:07.250
The reason why is because we're busy and we're we're all running and doing the tasks that we're supposed to be doing just to get our job done.
00:29:07.250 --> 00:29:21.250
When in fact, if we took 10% of our time and and focused on the team and making sure that the team functions, then we can let the team go and do its own thing.
00:29:21.250 --> 00:29:31.730
So it's you have to actually take the time, carve the time out to build the team up, and then the team can go off on its own and and get stuff done.
00:29:31.730 --> 00:29:42.769
So the hard part is recognizing that if we actually divert our attention for just a short amount of time and develop our team, then our team functions better on its own.
00:29:43.169 --> 00:29:49.809
I like this advice, and I do hope that people will start really trying to give that little time to make sure that things are right.
00:29:49.809 --> 00:29:51.649
And I come from equality background.
00:29:51.649 --> 00:29:55.970
We say design the system right and then things will go in the right place.
00:29:55.970 --> 00:29:58.769
But uh, Barry, thank you very much for all your insight.
00:29:58.769 --> 00:30:11.250
Thank you for sharing your experience and for reminding us that excellence is not created by systems alone, it depends on people understanding why their work matters, trusting one another, and being influenced toward a shared purpose.
00:30:11.250 --> 00:30:15.889
Do you like to share anything else uh with our audience before we wrap up this session?
00:30:16.369 --> 00:30:29.089
Uh well, the only thing, Nancy, yeah, the only thing is that you can get those 30 workplace appropriate um icebreakers at my website, barrymoline.com slash resources.
00:30:29.089 --> 00:30:32.929
Uh it it's a it's a great way to get started doing icebreakers.
00:30:33.329 --> 00:30:33.889
That's great.
00:30:33.889 --> 00:30:40.609
And we're gonna share all these lines, I mean the links on the on the website, uh, the excellence foresight podcast uh website.
00:30:40.609 --> 00:30:42.210
So thank you very much, Barry.
00:30:42.210 --> 00:30:43.649
Thank you for being with us here today.
00:30:43.649 --> 00:30:47.169
And to our listeners, thank you for joining us on the Excellence Foresight Podcast.
00:30:47.169 --> 00:30:55.569
We hope today's conversation gives you a practical reason to look again at how purpose, connection, and influence are shaping excellence in your own organization.
00:30:55.569 --> 00:30:57.649
Till next time, tune in.
00:30:57.649 --> 00:30:58.450
Thank you.