Buckle up. I want to take you on a rollercoaster ride. No height requirement or ticket needed.
This ride is one that I know other CEOs and leaders can relate to. We’ve all found ourselves upside down and clinging on for dear life at times – and then there are those special “unlock” sort of moments where something clicks.
This is the story of some of the ups and downs that led me to a massive unlock.
Now this unlock has to do with what leaders are struggling with now more than ever in today’s digital work world. I want to share the key, but it’s ultimately up to you to make it happen in your organization.
Ready?
The story begins here.
The launch of my book, Grow Regardless, literally changed the stars of our company.
We went from working with small to midsize businesses to being called by some of the biggest CEO’s in the game.
Over the next 2 years, we landed a nice engagement with Microsoft in Seattle, John Hancock in Boston, Benjamin Moore in NJ, and Kaiser Permanente in DC…
And then I started to notice the wobble.
You know that spidey sense when everything is not tight and feeling right?
When the team moves a little slower with less urgency to what your clients need and how fast the market is moving.
We weren’t moving as fast and far as we moved when we were together in the same office.
Time and space mattered.
Things had to change...
I started with my own schedule and energy management.
I took stock of how I could reach the 30+ members on our team who were split across 6 different cities – all while we were working with more than 50,000 employees under our influence and management.
I moved my wake-up time to 4:30 am. This got me to the earlier CrossFit class at 5 am and back home at 6 am to help launch the kids.
And once they were out the door, I discovered 7:30 am - 9 am to be a quiet but deeply productive time to call teammates and clients 1:1. The point was to check in and have everyone feel like we were part of the same hive.
This worked until it didn’t. Meaning, it felt like a mad dash of pop-ups, walk and talks, and scattered meetings with everyone 1:1 – vs something more strategic and scalable.
Then I read about an emerging trend that employees preferred video communication over email 75% of the time.
Hence, the #CEOriff Slack channel was born.
For the next 3 years, I filmed a brief 2-3 minute video on my way back from CrossFit. This note from me to my team was following the principle – what did I want everyone in the organization to know more of, own more of, or drive more of?
These off-the-cuff videos started with client wins or ideas about how to become even more of a trusted advisor to our clients.
I quickly noticed how much of my time was spent being reactive to problems and dealing with the C students. I rarely called out the A players because I didn’t want to offend or ostracize the rest of the team.
So I ran the play of posting a daily Slack video of what I was seeing… and wanted everyone else to see.
At first, this was my least favorite thing to do every day… as I felt like this was narcissistic and not going to move the needle.
I would post these messages unedited, unfiltered, and pretty raw. For awhile, I never heard back from the team. I had no idea if any of what I shared was landing, let alone if anyone was watching.
And then we did our annual Voice Of the Employee survey. I admit I was secretly hoping to get the feedback to scrap the #CEOriff videos… and much to my surprise, the CEOriff emerged as the #1 highlight for most of our team.
Once I knew that the team was watching these videos, it helped me feel seen, heard, and understood.
During this time, our company was on a roll.
We continued working with cool clients, were recognized 9 times as a Best Places to Work out of 11 years, launched two more best-selling books, 2 podcasts, 2 other businesses, and we could feel we were about to catch fire.
Most importantly, when I had an idea, I didn't have to wait for our next big meeting. I could simply put out a message and know that our A players were going to take the idea, make it better, and run with it.
I didn’t have an internal communication manager. I didn't partner with marketing. Heck, sometimes I didn't know what I was going to say until I hit record… and if you don’t believe me, there are a few hundred examples of what this looked like. Here’s one.
We found a lot of success with this and took the idea to our clients… but they hated it.
But why did CEOs run from this?
Few CEOs want to add anything to their plates and that of their team.
And we found that most CEOs assume everyone reads their emails and just knows how to translate that into action.
On top of that, there was platform fatigue. No one wanted to think about another integration for a tool their team wouldn’t fully adopt.
We tried to support our clients using videos for big roll-outs of programs, but it was a challenge. If our clients were honest, they didn’t know what to say and the medium of videos made it more stressful for them.
They forgot that being CEO also means being Chief Engagement Officer, and engaging their teams required asking a question, listening, sharing something from the heart, and inviting reflection and action.
Before the pandemic, this thinking was hit or miss with our clients. Not everyone was ready yet.
Leaders could see the value but they feared the hassle factor.
Then something magical happened.
We kept at it… and once the pandemic hit, we had a running head start at this thing called Asynchronous Collaboration.
Basically, it means getting everyone on the same page without scheduling a meeting.
This helped us recover from losing 70% of our business in one month in 2021 and as we were about to make an acquisition of a company to scale this idea of asynchronous collaboration.
The company we acquired had proven that people feel more connected to a company when they engage with each other outside of email, Slack, and other intranet sites. We’ve rebuilt and expanded the platform to be more than a virtual water cooler or social network for organizations.
And let’s face it, now that most organizations have a version of hybrid work, it’s never been harder to get everyone rowing in the same direction.
This is why we brought Latch to life.
We love a lot of the existing HR tech out there like CultureAmp and 15Five – with one big exception. They were built from the lens of the HR part of the business and not that of the CEO.
Let’s be real… Have you ever heard of a platform that helps the CEO get everyone on the same page without scheduling more meetings AND without becoming a project manager?
Latch is the first platform to help CEOs get their team “latched in” to the most important conversations, priorities, and problems in the business.
Think of Latch as a digital podium and a two-way megaphone for any leader who needs to:
- Get their team rowing in the same direction
- Elevate above the digital noise (transcends email, Slack, and intranets)
- Better understand how messages resonate
- Get a fast start with their team
It meets your team in their email and carries them to a virtual water cooler and social network for your business. Latch is designed to advance your team forward, not backward.
Instead of hoping, wishing, and praying that everyone reads your email or Slack message, we have AI to pinpoint opportunities for growth based on the emotional and behavioral state of your team.
No more wobble.
No more waiting.
Every CEO needs a better way to navigate this new terrain of having a team work across time and space in these hybrid environments.
What we as leaders did in the past is no longer enough to get us to where we want to be.
See something, say something, and get your team on the same page to do something about it.
Are you ready to Latch your team into your vision and direction?
LFG!
