Fifty-eight Unified Group members climbed the “leadership mountain” at last week’s Leadership Forum in Denver, CO. Attendees went through three days of intense small and large group discussions inspired by the book “First, Break All the Rules” and guided by Tom Alafat and Mark Hsi with FMI, Scott Olson with the Focused Group, and six hand-selected mentors.
Day One
The group spent the first day of the session with Tom and Mark (FMI) walking through how to set direction, align resources, and motivate and inspire. Mark stressed the importance of accessing the power of why. “When you want to drive productivity start with the question why,” Mark explained. “Most people focus on the what or what we do, but you need to drill beyond to access why we do what we do.” The highlight of the day for many members was FMI’s explanation on how to give positive and delta feedback. “I really liked the Plus / Delta method for providing feedback and I plan on taking it back to my team,” said Bart Gedeon (ISS Mechanical). “I'm currently in the process for trying to development a better feedback / review process for our employees so it was great to get information on this topic. It was definitely was timely for me.”
Day Two and Three
The next two days of the Leadership Forum focused on the questions from Basecamp, Camp One, Camp Two, and Camp Three that were part of “First, Break All The Rules.” Unified Group managing partner, Jim Bartolotta kicked off day two with an overview of the book. “What we learned from the book is that great leaders trump companies,” said Jim. “People don’t leave companies they leave managers. Even if you don’t have direct reports you can still be contagious to people around you. You have an impact on someone.”
After an overview of each camp, attendees broke into small peer groups to dive deeper into each question from the book. “This discussion turned on a light for me,” said Sara Kaiser (Tweet/Garot). “Building the foundation, defining roles ad expectations, and understanding the how, what, and why is definitely something we need to work on.”
The group welcomed back Scott Olson from last year’s session to give an explanation of the ProScan, a management/coaching instrument that helps people understand what their strengths are and if they’re matched to the requirements of their job. “This started some excellent self-assessment and evaluative conversation among our group,” said Matt Losey (BP Group). “It was encouraging to understand some patterns that I am seeing in my own life and how it effects work.”
As the group climbed further up the mountain into Camps Two and Three the mentors reminded them to focus on the importance of building a strong foundation in Basecamp and Camp One. Mentor Steve Harvey shared a story about when he was actually mountain climbing. “I got to a certain point and I couldn’t go any further,” said Steve. “My guide told me I had to go back to the bottom. I didn’t put in the work and wasn’t ready yet.”
After working through each camp, attendees worked in their small groups to create a Leadership Action Plan by getting feedback and advice from their peers and mentor. “Having little background in leadership and not currently being in a leadership role it was great having experienced leaders in my small group and in the larger group as well,” said Brent Greer (WL Gary). “It gave me some in depth ideas and gave a great opportunity to have conversations with knowledgeable people in the field.”