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  • Teamwork That Actually Works

    Teamwork That Actually Works
    2025/10/23
    Are you playing to your strengths—or stuck slogging through steps that drain your energy? This episode explores how organizing and aligning your team’s areas of Unique Ability® can improve productivity and results. Discover practical strategies for visualizing processes, delegating wisely, and creating good handoffs so everyone can do what they do best—and love most—every day. Download Episode Transcript Show Notes: When everyone’s doing what they love and are great at, work feels lighter, faster, and way more fun. This is your chance to make sure every person is running with their strengths, not getting bogged down by tasks that drain them. Don’t get stuck doing things you’re merely competent at—aim to spend your best time in your “unique” zone and support your team to do the same. Owning what you’re not good at is not only liberating, it’s the secret to better teamwork and smarter systems in any entrepreneurial business. Try not to fall into “rugged individualism”; asking for help and relying on your team’s strengths isn’t just smart, it’s essential for real progress. Pick one key process in your business and gather the team to map out each step and who’s responsible—simple changes here can lead to huge improvements. Mapping out your team’s process together can uncover simple fixes and spark big ideas about how things could be easier. If something feels complicated, document it visually; the bottlenecks and opportunities become much clearer, especially when you work as a group. Process mapping isn’t just practical; it can actually be a lot of fun, especially if you break out the whiteboard or some sticky notes. Try to bring a playful spirit to documenting and improving your processes—a little laughter and some big post-its can go a long way, and you might be surprised at how much your team enjoys it. Good handoffs are everything: be clear, be kind, and let others shine instead of white-knuckling tasks you don’t enjoy. When you pass the baton to the person who’s excited to run with it, your whole workflow speeds up and everyone’s energy goes up too. When your team’s strengths line up with their tasks, friction disappears and the impact on your clients and business expands. Watch out for the “delegation death grip”—if you’re finding it hard to let go of a task, you might be holding up the flow, even by accident. Avoid “drive-by delegation”—tossing a task at someone without context or support almost always leaves them confused and slows everything down. Tech tools help, but starting with a simple, hands-on process map makes everything smoother and less stressful down the line. Don’t be afraid to shake things up; swapping roles or trying out new tech tools is just good sense when it keeps your team happy and your systems operating smoothly. Training new team members gets easier with clear, visual guides for how things really work in your company. Process mapping isn’t just for solving problems; it’s your secret weapon for onboarding new people and capturing valuable know-how, so it sticks with your company, not just your current team. Resources: Unique Ability® Kolbe A™ Index Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande The Impact Filter™
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    30 分
  • How Hostage Negotiation Strategies Build Better Teams, with Derek Gaunt

    How Hostage Negotiation Strategies Build Better Teams, with Derek Gaunt
    2025/10/09
    Is your leadership style accidentally putting your team on the defensive? When people feel threatened, they stop thinking creatively. In this episode, negotiation expert Derek Gaunt shares how Tactical Empathy®—the same approach used by hostage negotiators—can build deep trust and psychological safety, transforming tough conversations into your greatest advantage for alignment, innovation, and growth. Download Episode Transcript Show Notes: Tactical empathy—the intentional use of emotional intelligence to recognize and articulate another's perspective—is the foundation of every effective negotiation or sensitive leadership conversation. Leaders who default to authority build resentment; team members may comply only at the surface level and secretly resist or seek passive revenge. Trust, instead of authority, generates loyalty, engagement, and team buy-in, empowering members to stretch beyond their comfort zones for a shared mission. Seeking input isn’t just about changing course; it builds “credit” with your team and ensures stronger collaboration and more innovative solutions because people feel known, heard, and included. Any conversation where you “want” or “need” something, even a positive opportunity, makes you a perceived threat because you’re asking someone to leave their status quo and face discomfort. All team members instinctively react to these perceived threats, but if you remove yourself as a threat, team dialogue instantly shifts from defensive to open, innovative, and solution-focused. The C.A.V.I.AA.R.™ mindset (Curiosity, Acceptance, Venting, Identifying, Accusation Audit®, and Remembering) can help you mentally prepare for any difficult conversation, from performance reviews to new growth opportunities. An Accusation Audit—pre-emptively naming likely concerns—can help you reduce resistance and create open dialogue, especially when asking for change or sharing tough news. Labeling and acknowledging emotions (both your own and others’) moves conversations out of reactive mode and into productive solution-finding. Sequencing is key: first, discover perspectives; then, guide with your insights; finally, lead the way to action and accountability. Documenting challenging conversations isn’t just HR best practice—it’s a strategic tool for creating clarity, ensuring accountability, and protecting your company’s culture and momentum. Avoiding tough conversations keeps organizations stuck, while proactively engaging with conflict builds resilience and better results. It’s important to not only know your default conflict personality (assertive, analyst, or accommodator) but to adapt it to connect with different types on your team. True influence aims for a mutually beneficial outcome, unlike manipulation, which is solely self-serving. The highest cost of avoiding a difficult conversation isn’t discomfort—it's the stagnation and misalignment that silently drain your company’s potential. Resources: Ego, Authority, Failure by Derek Gaunt The Black Swan Group Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss What You Need to Know About Tactical Empathy®
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    1 時間 4 分
  • Why It’s A Bad Idea To Protect Your Team

    Why It’s A Bad Idea To Protect Your Team
    2025/09/25
    Do you believe shielding your team from tough realities helps them perform at their best? In this episode, Shannon Waller challenges leaders to look beyond good intentions and empower their teams by sharing the whole story. She also explains why trust, transparency, and real challenges, not protection, give entrepreneurial teams the confidence and capability to solve problems and drive growth. Download Episode Transcript Show Notes: Protecting your team from reality may come from a place of empathy and care, but it limits their growth and independence. Trusting your team means giving them the full picture, even when it’s difficult. Shielding people from challenges sends a message that they can’t handle complexity or bad news. Transparency in leadership invites ownership and responsibility from your team instead of dependence. Facing tough situations together builds team resilience and innovation. Teams deprived of real information struggle to make strategic decisions and align with company goals. True learning, confidence, and capability come from dealing with setbacks directly and adapting. Organizing workflow is different from hiding reality; help your team do great work by managing priorities without hiding challenges. Entrepreneurial leaders excel when they trust their teams to rise to challenges and participate fully in shaping business outcomes. The best leaders share context and invite team input, knowing that creativity and solutions come from everyone, not just the top. Real empowerment comes when your team feels capable, included, and trusted with even the hard truths. Reflect on when you learned the most: was it when someone trusted you with responsibility or when they shielded you from reality? Resources: The Great Game Of Business: The Only Sensible Way To Run A Company by Jack Stack
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    16 分
  • When The Wrong “Who” Holds You Back

    When The Wrong “Who” Holds You Back
    2025/09/11
    Have you delegated a key responsibility but still find yourself constantly pulled back into the details? In this episode, Shannon Waller reveals how an underperforming team member keeps you stuck in the weeds, how to spot the red flags, and why making a change is essential for your growth and your company’s momentum. Download Episode Transcript Show Notes: The clearest sign you have the wrong “Who” is that they keep you operating in the weeds instead of freeing you up. Your team members should be building capacity for the entire company, not creating bottlenecks that hold back your other A-players. A key signal of a wrong “Who” is a consistent lack of proactive leadership and new ideas in their area of responsibility. You must evaluate if a team member has hit their Ceiling of Complexity™ and can no longer grow with the company’s demands. The fundamental question to ask is, “If I could rehire for this role today, would I choose this person again?” Outgrowing a team member is not a failure but a natural consequence of ambitious entrepreneurial progress. Holding on to the wrong person for too long causes you to lose momentum and ultimately leads to resentment. Growth, not loyalty, should be the top criterion for evolving a team as the business levels up. Your minimum standard for any role should be consistent performance at 80% or above of your defined success criteria. The right “Who” for one stage of your company’s growth may not be the right “Who” for the next level. You deserve a team that operates with the same unique, creative, and ambitious standards you hold for yourself. Courageously making team changes ensures both business and personal freedom for what’s next. Resources: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy Unique Ability® Multiplication By Subtraction by Shannon Waller
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    14 分
  • Why “Fail Forward” Leaders Build Enduring Companies, with Marissa Frois

    Why “Fail Forward” Leaders Build Enduring Companies, with Marissa Frois
    2025/08/27
    How much does trust matter to your team’s performance? In this episode, Shannon Waller interviews Marissa Frois, CEO of The Entrepreneur’s Source, on how empathy, transparent communication, and a family-first culture create extraordinary results. Discover why leading with trust, openness, and a willingness to “fail forward” is the secret to long-term entrepreneurial growth and innovation. Download Episode Transcript Show Notes: Building true trust in your team is more important than being well-liked as a leader. True transparency means being open and honest without a hidden agenda. A team without trust becomes defensive, stagnant, and incapable of innovation. The most successful leadership transitions blend the wisdom of the past with a readiness to “fail forward” into the future. Transparent, two-way communication reduces resistance and drives company culture at every level. Giving people a voice makes them more likely to embrace (and champion) change. Empathy, positivity, and active inclusion are powerhouse leadership strengths that multiply team engagement. Family-first values and work flexibility result in high retention, happier teams, and consistently rising results. Encouraging risk-taking and learning from failure leads to greater innovation and accelerates growth. True teamwork levels hierarchy, making Unique Ability® contribution more valuable than job titles. Leadership clarity means setting high standards and addressing issues in conversation, not by multiplying policies. Investing in your team’s well-being and development mirrors the value you create for clients. Empathetic leadership is a strategic strength that builds respect and drives performance, not a weakness. Resources: The Entrepreneur’s Source Kolbe A™ Index Working Genius CliftonStrengths® PRINT® The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan The Positive Focus® Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers Unique Ability® Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss Ego, Authority, Failure by Derek Gaunt
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    50 分
  • The Predictable Revenue Formula Every Entrepreneur Needs, with Kyle Mealy

    The Predictable Revenue Formula Every Entrepreneur Needs, with Kyle Mealy
    2025/08/14
    Do you pour time and money into marketing and sales, only to wonder why some efforts work and others don’t? In this episode, entrepreneur and revenue strategist Kyle Mealy reveals The Next Level Revenue Formula, a simple but revolutionary system to track, measure, and scale revenue with confidence. Learn how to plug leaks, optimize spending, and finally know exactly where your next dollar will come from. Download Episode Transcript Show Notes: The best entrepreneurial lessons rarely happen in a straight line; every unexpected detour can become an asset when you’re willing to connect the dots and use what you’ve learned. Don’t let a lack of formal sales or marketing training hold you back. Measuring, experimenting, and looking for patterns can reveal what actually works in your business. You can have real confidence about your revenue and cash flow when you measure what matters rather than guessing or hoping for the best. Kyle’s “Revenue Cascade” turns the buyer journey into a series of clear steps (like awareness, interest, and decision) so you can quickly spot where things are working and where they get stuck. Forget about surface-level numbers like website visits; what really counts is how well you’re moving people along each step toward a sale. If your business depends on just one superstar or “rainmaker,” it’s time to build a system everyone can use so you’re no longer vulnerable to a single point of failure. Instead of worrying about how much you’re spending on sales and marketing, use ROASS (Return On All Sales And Marketing Spend) to see if those dollars are actually driving results. Putting data first makes everything easier because you get to diagnose issues with numbers and fix what matters most, instead of relying on gut feelings. Even modest improvements at the close of your sales process can make a huge impact, so celebrate those small tweaks that deliver big results. You’re not alone if sales or marketing feels confusing; bringing everything into one measurable system makes it much simpler and a lot less stressful. Building repeatable business systems means you can finally relax, knowing your success doesn’t rest on just one person’s shoulders. Every entrepreneur becomes their own bottleneck until they systemize revenue generation. The ultimate win: creating a company that manages and multiplies itself, giving you freedom to dream bigger and focus on what excites you next. Resources: The Next Level Revenue Formula: How Basic Math Can Yield Breakthroughs for Your Small Business by Kyle Mealy EOS® The Great Game of Business Unique Ability® Next Level Revenue The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Cash Confidence What Is A Self-Managing Company®? Kolbe A™ Index Entrepreneurial Leap Academy More about Kyle
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    40 分
  • Turning Fear into Your Greatest Competitive Advantage

    Turning Fear into Your Greatest Competitive Advantage
    2025/07/31
    Do you see fear as a roadblock—or as a catalyst for growth? In this episode, Shannon Waller reframes fear as a powerful tool for entrepreneurs and their teams. Discover how embracing uncertainty sparks innovation, builds resilience, and drives 10x success, and learn why the best leaders don’t avoid fear—they harness it. Download Episode Transcript Show Notes: Fear isn’t the enemy—it’s your brain’s way of saying, “Hey, this matters.” Fear is built into the entrepreneurial journey and can actually fuel your biggest wins. The fears that make you the most nervous usually hold the key to your next level of growth. Truly great teams know that stepping into the unknown drives learning, experiments, and results. The trick isn’t to avoid fear, but to channel it into action and resilience. Being okay with fear keeps you pushing boundaries and stops you from getting stuck. When you use fear on purpose, it amps up your energy and keeps you alert, especially when things are uncertain. Most breakthroughs happen outside your comfort zone—embrace the butterflies. Fear isn’t always the enemy; sometimes, it’s a sign you’re about to learn something interesting or chase a new opportunity. Looking back, you’ll probably notice it was fear that pushed you into your biggest transformations. Gathering up the nerve to do something new builds real skills and lasting confidence. Pinpointing what you’re actually worried about makes tackling fear way more manageable. Strategic Coach® tools like The Impact Filter™ and The Experience Transformer® help you make sense of fear and turn it into next steps. Leading your team through rough patches by talking openly about their worries gets everyone moving forward together. Creative solutions come from facing fears head-on, not sweeping them under the rug. Don’t let fear hijack your brain—make it work for you, not the other way around. Even when the world feels unpredictable, you’re still in the driver’s seat when it comes to how you show up. Remind your team how many storms they’ve weathered already—they’re way more resilient than they think. Just like muscles grow stronger from resistance, getting through scary stuff makes you tougher and smarter. The entrepreneurs who thrive aren’t fearless, they just know how to handle doubt. Resources: The Gift Of Fear by Gavin De Becker The Black Swan Group Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss Ego, Authority, Failure by Derek Gaunt The Impact Filter™ Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers
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    18 分
  • This Is The Difference Between Your Team At 80% And 100%

    This Is The Difference Between Your Team At 80% And 100%
    2025/07/17
    Is your team operating at full capacity, or have they settled into a comfortable routine? Many teams deliver quality results, but what happens when passion and engagement wane? You might find your talented team members holding back, doing just enough to meet expectations, while their true potential remains untapped. In this episode, Shannon Waller explains the subtle difference between excellent performance and Unique Ability®. Here’s how to ignite that spark of enthusiasm and creativity that elevates your team’s performance, keeping them energized and committed to your vision. Download Episode Transcript Show Notes: Unique Ability is a superior skill that you’re passionate about. Unique Ability® Teamwork means the right people are in the right seat using their areas of Unique Ability. The differences between 80% Excellent team work and 100% Unique Ability Teamwork are: Unique Ability teams self-manage because they’re intrinsically motivated and engaged in the work and the projects. Excellent teams produce 2x results, while Unique Ability teams produce 10x results. Unique Ability teams collaborate and support each other without competing with each other. Unique Ability teams play full out with a no “defense budget” attitude. Unique Ability teams are always learning and growing, becoming their own internal experts. Unique Ability teams use their past experience as research for improvements in new projects. Unique Ability teams are always alert, curious, responsive, and resourceful. The Experience Transformer® tool takes a completed project as a basis for learning. The tools asks: What worked or is working? Often this breaks down into technology, timing, or teamwork. What didn’t work? Usually this is a process breakdown, misunderstanding, misalignment, or miscommunication. Brainstorm: Knowing what we know now, what would we do differently? What’s the new course of action or strategy? Keep what’s working and fix what isn’t. DONT’s if you want to maximize your team’s engagement: Don’t shut down new ideas. Don’t micromanage. Don’t demoralize the team. Don’t let 80% effort go on without addressing it. “Sometimes you’re failing so slowly, you think you’re winning.” Resources: How To Expand Your Team’s Unique Ability® The 4 Performance Capabilities 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers Kolbe A™ Index EOS®
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    23 分