The Yes Works

"Aaron has so much potential. why doesn't he live up to his potential?" for 12 years in school, this is what most of my teachers said. And not one of them took responsibility to figure out how to tap into my potential. as leaders, it's tempting to ask, " so-and-so has so much potential; why don't they live up to that potential?" The job of leadership is instead to ask... How do I tap into that potential and awaken it? *-*-* who on your team are you frustrated by? And What would it look like to make that your responsibility?

Promoted someone into incompetence? Don't panic! The good news about The Peter Principle... Since the lowest level of one's incompetence is immediately adjacent to the highest level of one's competence, the cure is easily within reach. "Peter" has capability in nearly all that the new role calls for. So the training "Peter" needs to leave The Peter Principle behind is: ? Minimal ? Potentially quick ? Easy to accomplish Don't despair because The Peter Principle is everywhere. It can be remedied! ?? Repost if this helped or inspired. ?? Follow me, Aaron Schmookler for more. ?? Learn legendary Teamification. What's your story of going from incompetence to competence (even excellence)?

Most teams have too little conflict, not too much. It's just that much of the conflict they do have is counterproductive, not constructive. What does counterproductive conflict look like? Here are just a few characteristics: ?? Gets personal ?? Exaggerated claims and accusations ?? Broad and sweeping ?? Raised voices and derogatory tones of voice ?? Silence now... Grumbling to 3rd parties later (What would you add?) ?? I'll add... No one takes the opportunity to transform that counterproductive conflict into actual forward progress and improvement. What does productive conflict look like? ?? Ideas conflict instead of people ?? You've agreed on an end-goal (like "figure out how to...") ?? Everyone assumes positive intent ?? You look for what's right and valuable in the other's position. (What would you add?) ?? I'll add... It's followed-through all the way to commitment to new behaviors/systems/practices/standards -- as an iteration in the continual experiment that is your operation. Check out these results a recent leadership team had from working with us in 2024. I'll highlight: After working with us, 92% of team members felt safe asking difficult questions - up from just 43% _______ ?? Repost if this helped or inspired. ?? Follow me, Aaron Schmookler, for more. ?? Learn legendary Teamification. Does your team have the constructive conflict you need to achieve your goals in 2025?

Today, I'm reflecting on the brain science of gratitude. (Yes, even on Thanksgiving, my brain science geek won't shut up! ??) When we express genuine appreciation, our brains release dopamine and serotonin. Both the person giving AND receiving gratitude get a nice helping of brain-pleasing soup! To all the leaders and teams we've worked with this year: ? Thank you for trusting us with your team dynamics ? Thank you for being courageous enough to pursue real change ? Thank you for showing up ready to grow ? Thank you for investing in your present and future And to every person who's part of a team somewhere... (that's pretty much everyone): Thank you for bringing your humanity to work. For trying, learning, adapting, and persisting - even when it's challenging. We're in a time of workplace transformation, and you're all part of that revolution! Wishing you and yours a day filled with connection, reflection, and... a healthy dose of those feel-good, gratitude-induced neurotransmitters. ?? #Thanksgiving #Leadership #TeamCulture #Gratitude

"I didn't like it. It was too touchy feely." Years ago, one of the senior leaders at a client company said that about the work we did with the senior leadership team. His CEO--the guy who hired us to work with them--said, "it changed the way we work together. Ironed out the kinks. Got us talking about things we needed to talk about. The team is transparent." And he also said this about the leader who thought our work with his team was, "too touchy feely..." He said, "He got better too. His communication got better." Then, a couple weeks back, a business owner said, "I don't care about improving our soft-skills. I like facts, not touchy-feely stuff. We deal in facts here." Here's a fact. Human behavior is not only influenced, it's controlled by hidden forces and emotions. Unfortunately, ignoring that fact won't help you improve performance. "Too touchy-feely," I've learned is actually code. It's code for, "makes me uncomfortable." Too touchy-feely SHOULD mean, is too frivolous to actually get to what matters and make a difference. I'd agree -- that's too touchy-feely. So I ask you... Whatever you're resisting because it's too touchy-feely... Is it too touchy-feely if it transforms your results? ?? Repost if this helped or inspired. ?? Follow me, Aaron Schmookler, for more. ?? Learn legendary Teamification.

Aaron Schmookler believes that great culture is about fundamentals. Eight of them, to be precise. He calls the first of those fundamentals, “Yay for failing.” When he does experiential training, he puts each team through an exercise designed to have them fail publicly and repeatedly, about 60 or 70 times in an hour. And every time somebody fails, everyone raises their right hand, and chants together, ‘Yay for failing.’” “We talk about what it means to fail. What it means to fail fast. What it means to fail forward,” he says. “An example that I often use comes from Simon Sinek's book, Leaders Eat Last. There was a hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, where more than once, somebody went in for something like cardiac surgery and had their left leg amputated. And I'm not exaggerating about how wrong the surgery was that was conducted. And the thing that killed me in reading this story was that even though the surgeon thought he was doing the correct thing, the nurses all knew it was the incorrect surgery for this person. So this was not a ‘Yay for failing’ environment.” “You could think of the nurses as being derelict. But really, they were terrified and neurochemically handcuffed. Their fear of ridicule and being lambasted by the surgeon who is god in this environment created such fear that they could not speak up. They were neurochemically prohibited from speaking up.” “In a ‘Yay for failing’ environment, they’d have been able to say, ‘Hey doc, you're in the wrong room. I know you, you're an orthopedist, and this is a cardiac patient.’ That's a ‘Yay for failing’ moment that can be made possible in a ‘Yay for failing’ environment.” He says fear of failure and fear of embarrassment are fear of death. “If my social status lowers far enough, then I'm going to be kicked out of the tribe, and I'm going to starve to death.’ That's what our brains are doing.” Aaron Schmookler is a culture engineer. For nearly 30 years, he has “helped leaders build structures, habits, and mindsets that support an enduring high-performance culture, so both their profits and their people thrive.” Aaron leads two Giant Leap peer mentoring groups in the Seattle area. You can find out more about his groups via the link below. https://buff.ly/3WJ8uxS #GiantLeap #entrepreneurlifestyle #lifegoals #LeadershipSkills #ManagementSkills

What's it taken for me to cultivate a sense of urgency in my team? It sure doesn't work to complain to them that they're not showing that sense of urgency that I want to see. If YOU are driving the sense of urgency, they may feel externally prodded into a WEAK and brief urgency. Extrinsic motivation is fleeting. What's worked for me? Two factors have made all the difference... Defining and celebrating a mission that moves, touches, and inspires people -- both inside and outside our team. Fly that thing up the flagpole and salute it every day! Second, and less often done... Defining and shouting down a worthy adversary. I learned about the power of this decades ago as a waiter. "These good people are coming to us for a treat, a special occasion. If they go down the street to just any restaurant, they may have a 'fine' night. Fine ain't special! Some of these folks, this is the one night out this whole month. Maybe this year! There will be no 'fine' nights here tonight!" The owner made a "FINE" experience our worthy adversary. And we were excited about it. He gave us that speech or something like it every night. My first night there, it was cheesy. My second, it was still cheesy. By the end of the first week, I was all in on vanquishing the scourge of "fine." At The Yes Works, our adversary is struggle, strife, and degraded dignity at work that degrades performance, profit, and quality of life. That's worth getting out of bed for! That's urgent! If you want your team to work with a sense of urgency, define a mission and its adversary that MATTER. Big picture matter. You'll not only get urgency. You'll find loyalty is close to follow! _____________ ?? Repost if this helped or inspired. ?? Follow me, Aaron Schmookler, for more. ?? Learn legendary Teamification.

8 Ways to Not Walk on Eggshells With Your Diverse Team You've got a diverse team. And maybe... Maybe you're walking on eggshells. People seem easily offended these days. You want to be sensitive, and at the same time, you've got to lead. This... This may not be an EASY conversation that we're going to have on this live event. It will be a VALUABLE one. I'm going to learn a thing or two. You may too. It's a great honor and privilege to have Desiree Goldey join me for this event. I hope you'll come along, so we can learn from her together.