Jim Reid

The most successful leaders think and act differently:

1. They are values and purpose driven
2. They play to their strengths and passion every day – and never deviate
3. They make their signature qualities as a leader making the ‘right’ people decisions
4. They are engaged, and build engaged teams
5. They are disciplined

This keynote provides leaders with a playbook and development plan to take their leadership to the next level and their team to higher levels of performance. Higher performance in life is a choice, and Jim Reid will lay out a path to transform your impact at work and in life.

Key Takeaways

• Understand what the best research and observation of the most talented leaders say about how to take your leadership to the next level
• Identify 1-3 actions that can have immediate impact on your personal leadership at work and in life
• Receive a coaching guide that provides practical tips and frameworks to help you build a personal playbook to improve your impact
• Understand the 5 key elements of a high performing team, and map out a plan to strengthen your team to drive higher impact

As leaders, we get tested. Our teams get tested, we are all looking for ways to do things better. To win in the market. To outperform. The team is the ultimate performance unit of any organization, and the magic of getting any organization, department or group of people to outperform is rooted in teamwork. A high performance team is characterized by the deep level of commitment team members have for one another. It requires the right people operating in the right environment with trust, psychological safety, a mission focus that is adaptable and disciplined. The building blocks for culture are teams. And culture gets strengthened one team at a time.

Key Takeaways

• Building high-performance teams requires people to develop a level of commitment to their fellow team members that rivals the ones they have with their strongest relationships in life—their partners, best friends and families.
• Putting together a high-performing team depends on two things: finding the right people and creating the right environment, where people feel valued and respected, for the team to flourish. When leaders are clear about what they believe and where they are going and why, it’s much easier to find the right people.
• To build a high trust, high-performing team, the very best leaders have a framework they use to develop the team.
• Dave Ulrich’s research suggests that the two primary roles of the leader are to create customer value and shape a winning culture.
• At the organizational level, strong cultures are built one team at a time.
• The value chain for building a high-performance organization begins with culture.

A crisis tests a leader’s grit, strength, determination and purpose. It tests the leader’s ability to support their team, who are often under duress.

Coming out the other side of this kind of challenge requires skillful communication and compassion in order to connect with people at a human level. How leaders respond to crises goes a long way to determining their future and the culture of their organization. Although the best leaders don’t welcome a crisis any more than the next person, when they do come (because crises are inevitable) the +5 Leader responds with humility and grit, and clear purpose and action.

Key Takeaways

• In facing a crisis, in the words of Admiral Stockdale, “You must never ever confuse, on the one
  hand, the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail in the end—with the need for
  the discipline to confront the brutal facts, whatever they are.
• When you are experiencing a personal crisis, ask for help and support. The same goes for the
  workplace. Never ever feel you cannot ask for help.
• How leaders respond to crises goes a long way to determining their future and the culture of
  their organization. Although +5 leaders don’t welcome crises any more than the next person,
  when they do come (because crises are inevitable) they respond with humility and grit, and clear
  purpose and action.
• To follow a leader in a crisis, people need to trust that their leaders have their best interests at
  heart, and that there is a path forward they believe will get them to a better place. As the leader,
  you need a crisis playbook to be prepared for what can suddenly erupt in front of you.
• No one playbook can cover every eventuality. You will be called up to be adaptable, innovative
  and creative. You can build this mindset through education. Building this mindset in your team is
  perhaps the most precious activity you can undertake.

To truly understand how change succeeds, we first need to understand why change fails and that there is a framework for successful change. Change is less about strategy, and more about attitude and mindset. But by following a disciplined framework of 8 Stages you stack the odds in your favour for success.

The best research has also taught us that when faced with change, the first question is not ‘what to change’ – rather the first question is ‘what not to change’. This paradox of change provides an architecture for success, and a framework to ensure you change the right things, and keep the other key elements of success constant.

Key Takeaways

• The world is moving too fast for leaders or an organization to think that the status quo is good
  enough. You either move forward and adapt or run the risk of being left behind. Virtually every
  leader will confront the prospect of wrenching change over their business lives, and how they
  manage it will largely define their careers.
• No one is immune from change. Everyone can prepare a plan for adaptation, even
  transformation.
• Communication is critical. But in times of change, it is even more critical to success. Think of
  increasing the pace and volume of communication by a factor of 10x as this will help stabilize those
  impacted by the change and keep them focused on what is most important.
• Finally, people will only go along with the change if they feel heard and they feel safe. And, if they
  feel that the future will get them personally to a better place, it will again make them more likely to
  go along with change.

Coming out of the pandemic, people are tired. And the tolerance for dealing with all of life’s challenges is at an all time low. As a result, many companies are seeing voluntary resignations rise dramatically, and leaders are scrambling to retain their best people.

When an organization cares for its people, people will care about their organization. By caring for people, we mean having people’s wellbeing, personal growth, career development and rewards and recognition baked into the culture.

Leadership is about empowering people, not over managing them. And while empowerment has become a bit of a buzzword, it perfectly encapsulates the modern, progressive leader. People not only want to grow, they need to grow and becoming a proficient coach is an essential building block of becoming a great leader.

Key Takeaways

• To create a coaching culture within an organization requires developing a culture that is psychologically
  safe and committed to learning. The Association of Talent Development defines a coaching culture as
  meeting at least five of the following six criteria:
  • proof that employees value coaching
  • proof that senior executives value coaching
  • the organization has a dedicated line item budget for coaching
  • coaching is available to all employees
  • managers, leaders, and internal coaches receive accredited coach-specific training
  • coaching modalities for internal coach practitioners, external coach practitioners and managers
    or leaders using coaching skills are present in the organization
• Coaching is no different than any other task or skill. It needs to be structured and systematic and
  built around a coaching framework.
• Coaching is not about the answers you give, but rather it is about the questions you ask. The
  ultimate objective is to build ownership for the outcome in the person you are coaching.
• Creating a coaching culture that gets fully behind the development of people and teams may be the
  single biggest decision you can make as a leader to drive high performance. The world is changing,
  and the demographic changes alone will result in millennials and Gen Z making up over 80 percent
  of the workforce in five years. And they will demand leaders who are skilled as coaches.
• And the leaders who embrace coaching will see lower turnover and better team performance.