The Corps Group Blog

Accountability Starts with You!

2012-01-22T13:01:00.001-06:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

You are your own limitation. It’s not the economy, the government, your boss, your colleagues or your family that holds you back. It’s you...

Some people achieve extraordinary things in life; others do not. A difference between the two groups lies in Accountability.

Excellence requires Accountability. Take carrier aviation: even though there is enormous individual and team effort within aircraft carrier fighter squadrons, accountability is essential. Carrier aviation demands it because lives are at stake. Here, High Performance and Accountability are not just catchphrases, but a way of life. We achieve this level of Accountability through Leadership and Debriefing.

If your organization is interested AT ALL in holding on to top talent, Accountability is critical. Top talent doesn’t mind being held accountable for their results, however oftentimes they will LEAVE if they perceive their teammates not being held accountable. Top talent likes other top talent.

The following video with Michael Jordan exposes in a really frank manner the typical problem of how people try to explain away their ability to be successful and the simplicity of where accountability MUST begin.

Don’t explain away your ability to be successful. Don’t point fingers.

Create the life you want. Take responsibility, drive results.

Be Accountable.

It starts with YOU!

Do the Right Thing: U.S Navy Rescues Iranian Fishing Boat from Pirates

2012-01-07T07:42:00.003-06:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

Poor leadership seems to be everywhere these days-just look at the headlines: big layoffs, money misspent by 'trusted' leaders, lost opportunities... the list could go on.

But this week there was a phenomenal example of great leadership supported by a high performing team that was able to just Do the Right Thing: The U.S. Navy.

Amid enormous political tensions in the Straight of Hormuz, high performing teams from the USS John C. Stennis battlegroup were able to rescue an Iranian fishing boat crew who had been held captive by pirates for upwards of 45 days.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the rescue came just a few days after Tehran wanted to bar U.S. warships from the Persian Gulf.

An ironic situation.

But not when it is within your culture to Do the Right Thing, the honorable thing.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated, "When we get a distress signal, we're going to respond. That's the nature of what our country is all about."

True Leadership means that even when times are tough you need to continue to Do the Right Thing.

Well done, U.S. Navy!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T12:53:00.000-06:00

Accomplishing a Night Carrier Landing

2011-09-11T14:35:00.002-05:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

Successfully accomplishing a night carrier landing takes a High Performing Team and a Culture of Excellence.

United States Naval Aviators and United States Marine Corps Aviators are the only pilots in the world who land on aircraft carriers at night.

No one else in the world will even make the attempt.

There is no blacker emptiness than launching off the bow (the front end) of the carrier at night with no stars, no moon and no horizon.

Except when you have to come back to the carrier and it’s time to land.

It is a dark black hole, especially when the weather is bad. The best way to describe it is to walk into your closet with all the lights in your house off, at night, then blindfold yourself. And blindfold yourself again. Now try to do your job.

It's one of the most incredible things you can experience, yet it's also one of the most terrifying. Coming aboard the carrier at night makes even the most experienced, seasoned fighter pilot’s knees shake like leaves and boots beat like a drum on the rudder pedals.

Unlike pilots in other military services or pilots of commercial aircraft, aircraft carrier pilots don’t have the luxury of landing on 6,000-10,000 feet. Because you are trying to land on a postage stamp in the middle of blackness.

A carrier landing is similar to a controlled crash. The touch down is enough to destroy most other airplanes. As the arresting hook snags a wire, your body is slammed forward with such force at times it feels as though your legs and arms are going to separate from your body.

That’s what going from 155 knots to a complete stop in 1.2 seconds does to you.

You can do it well, but never perfectly. Every single pass is critiqued and Debriefed by the Landing Signal Officers (LSOs), and you're graded no matter what your rank or experience level. A Culture of Learning, is a hallmark of carrier aviation. The ideas of learning before doing, learning during and learning after guide all that we do. This allows us to Reduce our Time to Insight and adjust as a team to a rapidly changing environment successfully.

Extensive studies were performed on carrier aviators in Vietnam. Pilots were hooked up to EKG tests and their heart rates and breathing rates were measured. The test results were shocking: all of the carrier aviators had higher pulses and blood pressures behind the boat at night after a mission than they did when they were getting shot at.

You know why? It’s dark, the deck pitches and heaves-sometimes up to 30 feet at a time and it requires every bit of skill, focus and attention a pilot can muster to get on board safely.

We don’t do it all alone, however. It takes a High Performing Team supported by a Culture of Excellence that is oriented on winning to get the job done.

Enjoy the video on night carrier landing operations below.

Remaining Relevant

2011-08-24T18:32:00.001-05:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

In a challenging economic environment, remaining relevant to your customers and within your organization is critical to your survival.

Those who fail to deliver value to their consumers, shareholders, clients and teammates become extinct.

Want proof? Just ask Circuit City.

Circuit City became complacent. With a management group at the helm that failed to pick great store locations, combined with terrible inventory choices (think no major appliances) and customer service issues, their customers deemed them irrelevant and now shop at Best Buy, Wal-Mart or the other Big Box down the block.

Or Blockbuster. This movie rental chain failed to notice the change happening all around it. They failed to adapt.

Or NASA.

For over 50 years NASA has been exploring the skies and atmosphere while teaching us more about our planet and ourselves. Have you ever seen a space shuttle? It is a wondrous thing. A peek at the inside of the space shuttle is a display of cutting edge-technology and representative of the precise teamwork necessary for successful mission completion. This formidable ‘office’ (or cockpit) is capable of International business and research (satellite recovery, anyone?)

And now NASA space shuttles are, sadly, irrelevant.

How did an organization like NASA fail to understand shifts in marketplace demands, of the customers’ perception of the importance of innovation, discovery, and research?

I don't know a ton about space programs, but I do know this: in aviation, complacency kills.

Same is true in business: if you become complacent and fail to ignore the warning signs (shifts in culture, trends, global demands, budget restrictions), you could be facing extinction.

But if you remain relevant, fight off complacency, stay agile and adaptable, you will be able to thrive in any economy, and leave extinction to the dinosaurs.

Establish a Culture of Excellence Through Leadership

2011-08-11T09:09:00.001-05:00

John Borneman here.

As we work with countless teams and companies to help them build a Culture of Excellence through High Performing Teams, Effective Leadership is a critical element required for success. The tone set by the leader is very important and one of the phrases we use to emphasize this point is “You get what you demand, or you get what you tolerate”.

You either set straight forward clear objectives, standards and rules to accelerate performance and hold people accountable or you can just continue to talk a good game, not be consistent in your enforcement process, and achieve less than optimum results.

At a recent team building event, Jon ‘Tejas’ Sherrell, was asked during a Q&A session to provide a closing thought about creating a Culture of Excellence. ‘Tejas’ had recently returned from commanding a large Marine Corps exercise in southeast California. This is what he demanded of all those involved in his command team: As challenges evolved in the execution of their plan, in that very dynamic environment, they bring him solutions to those challenges-not just their complaints about the challenges.

Tejas also shared how he had to “coach up” a senior member of his command team who initially was focused on complaining about some identified challenges as opposed to following Tejas’ direction to bring solutions (or more specifically to be a problem solver). Through Tejas’ direct engagement and leadership training, that particular team member came around, and started proposing solutions to problems, enabling the command team to Accelerate Execution.

This is a great story that clearly demonstrates how holding people accountable to defined direction leads to far better outcomes. Tejas chose not to tolerate the complaining and insisted on problem-solving.

Unfortunately, leaders tolerate deviation from stated direction and standards every day, which only adds friction to execution and thereby slows it down.

Time is the enemy of achieving success so anything that slows us down is simply bad. If something is important to you as a leader you cannot just talk about it.

If you strive to develop a Culture of Excellence, YOU have to hold people accountable.

You get what you demand, or you get what you tolerate.

Accelerate Execution Through Debriefing

2011-07-13T07:26:00.002-05:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

Harvard Business Review states that companies typically realize only about 60% of their strategies potential value because of defects and breakdowns in planning and execution.

To Accelerate Execution and obtain peak performance High Performing Organizations Debrief.

Debriefing allows you to:

Identify execution shortfalls sooner
New opportunities faster
Adapt successfully to changing market conditions

Debriefing will Reduce Your Time to Insight.

What are some of our clients still doing even though it is summer time? Debriefing!

A big shout out to our clients that have continued to Debrief the last three weeks, even on the Fourth of July!

Continuing to do what the competition will not, will help them Accelerate Execution.

For breakthrough results and to learn how you can help your organization Accelerate Execution through Debriefing, see Kyle "Cruiser" Howlin in a short Debriefing video here.

6 Steps for More Productive Meetings

2011-07-10T10:38:00.004-05:00

John Underhill here.

Facilitating an effective meeting in corporate America is often likened to herding cats. Most companies spend far too much time and fail to hold productive meetings in today’s conference rooms.

Don't waste another hour. Use these 6 steps for more effective meetings:

1. Start with a clear Desired Effect for the meeting. How many times have you gotten together to “discuss” issues or projects, invested valuable time and effort, only to walk out of the room wondering what it was you all were actually trying to accomplish? Instead, determine ahead of time specifically what the deliverable of the meeting will be and ensure participants know what they will have accomplished by the time they walk out the door.

2. Establish and enforce Rules of Engagement (ROE). By creating rules and making them stick, you’ll have a much better chance of successfully reaching the desired effect. Start on time – end on time. Insist on no interruptions – phones off, banish email. Impose penalties for violations of the ROE. A $5 fine per infraction can be fun and at the same time let everyone know you’re serious. Donate to a favorite charity or even a recreation fund.

3. Ensure everyone knows what to bring. Nothing is more frustrating than carving out an hour or two in a busy schedule, making arrangements, (or worse - traveling to a meeting), only to find that important / required information or resources aren’t on hand. Let all hands be prepared by telling them what they need to have / be familiar with / be ready to do.

4. Provide all necessary supplies / logistic support. You’ve got the room, everyone has made it on time, they’re prepared, but the projector bulb burned out, flip charts are absent, or wide-tipped markers, or post-its, or you-name-it…..and production comes to a screeching halt. Plan for contingencies. Make a comprehensive checklist and follow it.

5. Stay focused on topic. It is easy to get side-tracked on unrelated issues. This is the single biggest threat to achieving the meeting’s desired effect. To avoid this trap, use a “Parking Lot ”. Keep a flip chart (or portion of a white board) dedicated to issues that may be important or deserve attention, but are not within the scope of the work at hand. Reassure all that those concerns / issues won’t be dismissed, but dealt with later, with specific accountability ensured.

6. Finally, establish agreed upon specific next steps, timeline, and single points of accountability. You have had a productive meeting and you’ve actually achieved your desired effect. What happens next? Make sure everyone knows the “Who-What-When” of next steps. (See #4) to improve execution after your successful meeting.

Implementing these simple techniques will drive more effective meetings and Accelerate Execution. Your challenge of “herding cats” will become one of “directing tigers”!

Seven Top Gun Tips for Effective Training

2011-07-05T17:55:00.000-05:00

Kyle Howlin here.

Organizations that fail to invest in training their employees jeopardize their own success and survival.

Education and Training is the most significant predictor of an organization's success as compared to price-to-earnings ratios, profitability, and measures of risk and volatility. Organizations that make large investments in training and education have lower employee turnover and higher customer satisfaction.

How effective is your professional training? Does your organization see it as a value-add or as a transactional event?

High Performing Organizations and High Performing Teams know that effective education and training will help to increase their bottom line. Period.

The military spends a lot of time, energy and money training aircraft carrier based fighter pilots for peak performance. This professional training mitigates risk, keeps those of us on the front lines ready to ‘keep the peace’ and brings us home to our families safely.

Have you ever given thought to what successful men and women have in common? It doesn’t matter whether they are fighter pilots or in the business world, they all have been given critical professional training to enhance their experience, grow their knowledge base and increase their chance of success.

Here are Seven Top Gun Tips for Effective Training:

Be Enthusiastic About the material covered. Have fun! There should be no “dreaded training”.
Be Specific to Transfer Learning Reduce the number of concepts taught so the learner can completely understand and use what he does learn. Memorizing 100 theories is useless to a learner if he is going to forget 95 of them as soon as he completes the class!
Be Honest Never guess. Instead, when in doubt tell the learners “I don’t know, but I’ll will find out and get back to you”.
Use Humor Never underestimate that a little goes a long way, this does not mean having specific skills in telling jokes, laugh at yourself when necessary. Using humor actually makes it easier for learners to embrace new data and concepts.
Exotic Experience Is Remembered Learners remember unusual examples better than ordinary ones. Be bold to illustrate concepts and identify key points.
Tie-In Is Essential To Learning The learner must see some relation to his experience in order to retain the concepts. Effective transfer of learning helps solidify the learning process.
Be Tactful Treat your class with courtesy and patience.

Your employees see professional training and continuous education as a valuable benefit. High Performing Organizations thrive on training.

To drive Accelerated Execution and get the results you demand, don’t hesitate, plan your next training event or team building event today!

Happy Fourth of July!

2011-07-02T09:42:00.001-05:00

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him."

Abraham Lincoln

High Performing Organizations and Lean Six Sigma, Achieving Dramatic and Sustainable Results

2011-06-15T15:52:00.001-05:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

80% of all Continuous Improvement programs fail. Ouch! That’s a lot of time, money and energy down the drain!

How do you prevent this from happening in your organization? Unite the existing powerful disciplines of Lean Six Sigma and High Performing Organizations for easier change management, sustainable outcomes, and rapid, dramatic gains.

I just returned from Europe after participating in two EU Operational Excellence Summits in Hungary and Italy. My keynotes focused on High Performing Organizations and Lean Six Sigma: Achieving Dramatic and Sustainable Results.

I shared how to dramatically improve results by integrating The Corps Group’s High Performing Organization framework of Leadership, Process, People and Culture with Lean’s Continuous Improvement principles and tools that focus on waste elimination and process speed.

Combining these two powerful disciplines with complementary strengths is a key to success when attempting to implement any Lean Six Sigma approach. However, it appears that the combined disciplines have not yet been widely integrated.

This is a missed opportunity.

Listening to the audience’s questions and their struggles with implementing Continuous Improvement initiatives reaffirmed my belief that having a supportive Culture is critical to any type of Operational Excellence initiative. The need for the right kind of culture and the difficulty and process of changing/developing that culture were widely discussed.

Hint: If you think you may have a culture issue trying to implement change, you most likely do!

This is not just a European issue, but a global one.

Developing a strong Culture of Performance is essential. So how can your organization develop a Culture of Performance?

Let’s take a look at five best practices that can help you lay the groundwork for culture change and growth within your organization:

1) Executive Buy-in. Define your Culture of Performance through actions. What we know to be true from both our military and corporate experience is that it starts at the top. Leadership needs to provide top-level support and define it through actions. Executive buy-in and support is critical.

Culture change won’t happen by mandate. Ever.

2) Process Matters. Prepare, Execute, Debrief, Adjust. Skip any of these steps and your risk failure. Adopt only the Lean Six Sigma Tools as needed.

3) Develop a Culture of Learning. It is a hallmark of carrier aviation. The idea of learning before doing, learning during and learning after guide all that we do. This allows us to Reduce our Time to Insight™ and adjust as a team to a rapidly changing environment successfully. We do this each and every time without exception because it is so effective.

Think of how this applies to your world. If you are not taking the time to Debrief, how do you expect your results to improve-to capture the benefits of your Continuous Improvement Initiative? Help your team maximize their performance by taking the time to Debrief!

4) Communicate, and then communicate some more! Involve and inform all stakeholders. Those tasked to execute the Continuous Improvement Initiative need to be able to see how what they do makes a difference. It is pointless to train people in Lean and Six Sigma if they can't understand the process and understand what is now expected of them.

People fear change. They resist it. They will resist it even more if they don’t understand why the change is happening, or if they view it as too complicated. And then they will backslide into old habits.

5) Debrief and Adjust!

Globally, organizations that are able to execute well will consistently outperform those in their industry that do not. I know this seems like common sense, but Execution still ranks at the top of most CEO’s list of concerns today.

Combining Lean Six Sigma and High Performing Organization practices accelerates your chance of success. If you are looking for more rapid, dramatic gains with your Operational Excellence initiative, consider simultaneously introducing these two powerful disciplines!

The Corps Group Goes Global with Strategy, Execution, and Precision

2011-04-27T09:11:00.002-05:00

From Rio De Janeiro to Melbourne, Singapore to Delhi, Johannesburg to Amsterdam, Kansas City and Seattle, The Corps Group has worked with companies on every inhabited continent in the last several months helping them reach their goals of achieving Precision Execution.

One of the top concerns of CEOs worldwide last year was excellence in execution and consistent execution of strategy by top management.

It takes executing with precision to turn your strategic plan into a reality.

By taking the time to understand our clients and their organizations we drive Focus, Alignment and Execution at every level.

Precision Execution.

It’s what we do!

Learn how The Corps Group methods can bring business process improvement to your organization.

Force Multipliers for High Performing Teams

2011-04-11T12:45:00.003-05:00

John Borneman here.

In today’s rapidly changing business environment “solid” teamwork is critical for delivering outstanding results. To truly achieve extraordinary results your team needs to lock on to key best practices or what we call Force Multipliers.

Below are four critical Force Multipliers that can help make your team a High Performing Team.

Force Multiplier 1: Conduct More Effective Meetings: “We have too many meetings!” is the battle cry of the knowledge worker. Intuitively many managers have sought to reduce the number of meetings in order to improve the efficiency- this will not fix the problem.

The problem in most companies is not too many meetings - it’s that their meetings are irrelevant.

Often the reason for the meeting is unclear. There are no rules of conduct for the meeting. This leads to confusion and frustration for the people involved. We’ve witnessed many well-intentioned teams, meeting for all the right reasons, only to be derailed by a lack of basic structure or discipline.

Here are some practical tips that will dramatically improve the effectiveness of your meetings.

Determine when your team must meet in order to allow participants the time they need to plan and brief prior to the meeting.
Determine the desired effect of your meeting. What are three things you want to achieve as a result of having your meeting?
Each agenda item must have an objective; the two most common objectives are to update the team on a current situation/project or to share and discuss information in order to make a decision.
Create an agenda that is flexible but focused on the elements critical to successful decision-making and execution.
Meeting participants must do any required pre-work.
Establish Rules Of Engagement (ROE) and enforce them. Here are some examples of meeting ROE:

1) Only one person speaks at a time.

2) No sidebar conversations.

3) No email / cell / Blackberry/ iPhone interruptions.

Complete a Commitment Sheet at the end of the meeting and email it to the participants after the meeting. Include the decisions discussed, actions to be taken, deferred decisions and contingency plans.
Filling out a Commitment Sheet ensures accountability and can dramatically improve how a team addresses issues and makes decisions.

Force Multiplier 2: Build a Relevant Team Scorecard: A relevant scorecard is essential to a High Performing Team.

Too many teams measure the wrong things — which can kill a team’s performance. The saying goes..."ask the wrong questions, get the wrong answers”. Focus on a few sets of relevant metrics that support the team in their decision-making and execution responsibilities.
Have an up to date, written plan.
Remember to keep the appropriate level of detail. Too little detail and the numbers are worthless. Too much detail and people don’t read or understand them. Recognize that your initial scorecard will NOT be perfect and will need constant testing and revision until it seems right.
Finally, make sure that what you choose to measure supports the broader operational goals.

Force Multiplier 3: Commit to a Set of “Living” Standards: Most companies have standard operating procedures (SOPs) on the shelf in some cubical.

Most SOPs are outdated the day they are written. This is a tragedy.

Your SOPs enable standardized execution, and must be a central part of your team’s execution process. They have to be frequently updated, referenced and upheld again and again by leaders of the team.

Standards are critical to gaining Lessons Learned from Debriefing. They help you understand whether failure to adhere to the standards caused the failure or, conversely, whether your team’s success resulted from NOT following the standards.

Adjust your SOPs to the next best practice so this knowledge is constantly leveraged in follow-on execution.

Force Multiplier 4: Establish Disciplined Communication Rules: Undisciplined communication will sap the effectiveness of any group.

We’re not talking about the interpersonal chat that goes on in an organization, but how team members send and receive information to one another- the voice mails, emails, ad hoc meetings and memos.

Teams with a good Battle Rhythm take these daily communications seriously enough to create detailed standards for them.

Here are a few examples:

Communication should be face to face first, voice second, and email / text message last.
All communication should start with the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) or the Headline first then provide amplifying information.
Never leave a voice mail longer than 15 seconds.
Always include a routing code in the subject of your emails so that it can be automatically handled by each team member’s Outlook software.
Never reply more than once to an email. Start a new email so the recipient does not have to read a long string of messages to figure out what you are talking about.
Never handle a conflict with an email — only in person, or over the phone if meeting in person is not possible.

High Performing Teams Drive Measurable Results

The processes that we learned in the highly competitive, demanding, and constantly changing environment of fighter aviation allowed us to achieve great results in extremely difficult & dynamic environments. They can help guide your organization through the challenges and changes that define modern business.

There are plenty of “good” teams out there, but it takes far more discipline and commitment than most leaders want to give to become a “High Performing Team”. If you have what it takes to lead the process, the payoffs will be significant.

Focus on What Matters: Lessons from the Flight Deck

2011-03-16T11:40:00.011-05:00

In light of world events, you may be thinking, “What can I do to make a difference?”

Focus on What Matters.

As we flew on and off of aircraft carriers operating in constantly changing, challenging and often times hostile environments, at the end of the day we had to put our emotions aside and Focus on What Matters in order to get the job done.

This is about being deliberate, being disciplined and knowing what your end state is-your goals, so that you can make the best decisions possible to accomplish those goals.

So think about those things that do not contribute to the end state. Get rid of the noise.

We Focus on What Matters: Achieving our Mission successfully. Supporting relief efforts. Coming home safely.

That pupose, that focus, is what allows us to be successful and achieve World Class Execution.

Take the time to Focus on What Matters.

Your Family. Your Health. Your Work. Your Community.

Make your plan and open the door to new possibilities.

Focus on What Matters.

Increase your Chance of Success in 2011

2011-03-12T09:21:00.001-06:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

I am not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions.

Sure it seems like a good idea at the time to start anew.

But the reality is research shows that most people don’t keep the resolutions that they make on Jan 1.

The main reason that they fail?

Lack of commitment and clarity.

We are now at that critical make or break point in the year, where the chance for success starts to greatly diminish if we haven't made the changes necessary to meet our goals, either professional or personal.

We call that the Time Value to Action.

No matter what you call it-change is hard.

We resist change.

And…We end up wasting a lot of time, energy and money on failed goals and failed initiatives.

How can you remove those barriers to success?

High Performing Team members know that there are critical steps necessary to achieve your individual goals:

1. Have a Plan. Know your Desired Outcome and Future Picture.

2. Write your Plan down. As we like to say, “If it’s not written down, it is not a plan; it is just an idea rolling around in your head.” This doesn’t have to be as detailed as a NASA flight plan, but get your plan on paper, on your iPad, taped to your fridge and in your wallet. Keep it in front of you. Always.

3. Make your goals SMART:

Ø Specific- Goals must be clear and unambiguous. If your goal lacks direction you or your team will fail.

Ø Measurable- Are you moving the needle? Measure and track your progress. Make sure you are measuring the RIGHT things.

Ø Achievable- I.e. believable. Goals set too high or too far out of reach become meaningless as you and/or your team mates ignore them.

Ø Realistic- It is not a fantasy, it is a goal.

Ø Timely- Have a starting point and an endpoint.

4. Create Action Plans. Break your goals down with specific accountabilities. Constant improvement is what you are striving for.

5. Ask for Help! When all else fails, enlist the help you need to attain your goals.

Hope is not a strategy.

Peak Performance takes a plan.

Don’t let a lack of direction sabotage your chance for success this year. Do what it takes to drive focus, alignment and execution, and you will be on your way to a more successful 2011!

Humor in the Workplace

2011-03-01T17:21:00.001-06:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

Here is a little story to get you through the work week.

Below is an article written a few years ago by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated. He details his experiences when given the opportunity to fly in an F-14 Tomcat. It’s a realistic take on what is an incredibly taxing and physically demanding ‘office’; the cockpit of a military fighter jet.

If you aren't laughing out loud by the time you get to "Milk Duds," your sense of humor might be seriously broken.

“Someday you may be invited to fly in the back-seat of one of your country's most powerful fighter jets. Many of you already have. John Elway, John Stockton, Tiger Woods to name a few.

If you get this opportunity, let me urge you, with the greatest sincerity...

Move to Guam.

Change your name.

Fake your own death!

Whatever you do,

Do Not Go!!!

I know.

The U.S. Navy invited me to try it. I was thrilled. I was pumped. I was toast! I should've known when they told me my pilot would be Chip (Biff) King of Fighter Squadron 213 at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.

Whatever you're thinking a Top Gun named Chip (Biff) King looks like, triple it. He's about six-foot, tan, ice-blue eyes, wavy surfer hair, finger-crippling handshake -- the kind of man who wrestles dyspeptic alligators in his leisure time.

If you see this man, run the other way. Fast.

Biff King was born to fly. His father, Jack King, was for years the voice of NASA missions. ("T-minus 15 seconds and counting ..." Remember?) Chip would charge neighborhood kids a quarter each to hear his dad. Jack would wake up from naps surrounded by nine-year-olds waiting for him to say, "We have a liftoff"

Biff was to fly me in an F-14D Tomcat, a ridiculously powerful $60million weapon with nearly as much thrust as weight, not unlike Colin Montgomerie. I was worried about getting airsick, so the night before the flight I asked Biff if there was something I should eat the next morning.

"Bananas," he said.

"For the potassium?" I asked.

"No," Biff said, "because they taste about the same coming up as they do going down."

The next morning, out on the tarmac, I had on my flight suit with my name sewn over the left breast. (No call sign -- like Crash or Sticky or Leadfoot… But, still, very cool.) I carried my helmet in the crook of my arm, as Biff had instructed. If ever in my life I had a chance to nail Nicole Kidman, this was it.

A fighter pilot named Psycho gave me a safety briefing and then fastened me into my ejection seat, which, when employed, would "egress" me out of the plane at such a velocity that I would be immediately knocked unconscious.

Just as I was thinking about aborting the flight, the canopy closed over me, and Biff gave the ground crew a thumbs-up. In minutes we were firing nose up at 600 mph. We leveled out and then canopy- rolled over another F-14.

Those 20 minutes were the rush of my life. Unfortunately, the ride lasted 80. It was like being on the roller coaster at Six Flags Over Hell. Only without rails. We did barrel rolls, snap rolls, loops, yanks and banks. We dived, rose and dived again, sometimes with a vertical velocity of 10,000 feet per minute. We chased another F-14, and it chased us.

We broke the speed of sound. Sea was sky and sky was sea. Flying at 200 feet we did 90-degree turns at 550 mph, creating a G force of 6.5, which is to say I felt as if 6.5 times my body weight was smashing against me, thereby approximating life as Mrs. Colin Montgomerie.

And I egressed the bananas.

And I egressed the pizza from the night before.

And the lunch before that.

I egressed a box of Milk Duds from the sixth grade.

I made Linda Blair look polite. Because of the G's, I was egressing stuff that never thought would be egressed.

I went through not one airsick bag, but two.

Biff said I passed out. Twice. I was coated in sweat. At one point, as we were coming in upside down in a banked curve on a mock bombing target and the G's were flattening me like a tortilla and I was in and out of consciousness, I realized I was the first person in history to throw down.

I used to know 'cool'. Cool was Elway throwing a touchdown pass, or Norman making a five-iron bite. But now I really know 'cool'. Cool is guys like Biff, men with cast-iron stomachs and freon nerves.

I wouldn't go up there again for Derek Jeter's black book, but I'm glad Biff does every day, and for less a year than a rookie reliever makes in a home stand.

A week later, when the spins finally stopped, Biff called. He said he and the fighters had the perfect call sign for me. Said he'd send it on a patch for my flight suit.

What is it? I asked.

"Two Bags." “

And there you have it. Sometimes laughter is the best medicine-don't forget to have some fun with your team this week!

For more information on programs that challenge, inform and inspire visit us at http://www.thecorpsgroup.com/

3 Best Practices for Creating a Culture of Performance

2011-02-24T15:22:00.002-06:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

Most leaders and managers that we work with know about the benefits of having a performance-based culture. What we are often asked is “How does my organization achieve this ‘High Performing Organization Culture’?

Companies of any size can reap the rewards of a fighter pilot’s Culture of Performance by driving a culture focused on peak performance and execution. A rapidly changing environment isn't a phenomenon that only fighter pilots face. With increasing health, energy, and education costs combined with increasing global competition, developing a strong Culture of Performance is essential for all organizations.

Here are 3 best practices that can help you lay the groundwork for High Performance within your organization.

1) Define your Culture of Performance through actions. What we know to be true from both our military and corporate experience is that it starts at the top. Leadership needs to provide top-level support and define it through actions.

Clearly communicating your vision for the Future Picture, and articulating how your team can align their efforts to help the organization achieve that vision is vital.

It keeps your team engaged.

As Douglas R. Conant, president and CEO of the Campbell Soup Company states, “You have to model the behavior; you have to be the change that you want from your company.”

2) Manage and grow your organization by incorporating constant learning habits. What we call a Culture of Learning, is a hallmark of carrier aviation. The ideas of learning before doing, learning during and learning after, guide all that we do.

The Debrief is an essential part of our learning after doing process. Quick wins can come from sharing what we know in order to drive peak performance and execution.

Debriefing empowers your team, and accelerates learning.

3) Instill your Culture of Performance by holding people accountable. Even though there is enormous individual and team effort within fighter squadrons, accountability is still paramount. Carrier aviation demands it, lives are at stake.

Think about the collapse of AIG, Enron, WaMu. Individuals were not held accountable and the whole organization suffered. Pensions lost, jobs lost, security gone-all because a lack of accountability.

High Performance is not just a catchphrase but a way of life. Start with these 3 best practices to develop a Culture of Performance in your team today. For more information on how to develop your High Performing Team go to http://www.thecorpsgroup.com/

The Two Most Powerful Words for Email Management

2011-02-06T09:56:00.005-06:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

Email overload is a major problem for most professionals these days.

A shocking statistic to get you to rethink your penchant for hitting that reply button?

More than a third of all professionals spend 3 or more hours a day processing emails.

Not engaging with customers, selling, developing marketing materials, or doing the other things necessary to keep a company going and growing, but processing emails!

What do you need to do to take back control of your inbox?

Start with two simple yet highly effective words: “Call me”.

Call me.

Don’t engage in a train of 9 emails going back and forth trying to clarify and explain. Pick up your phone, stop this nasty habit dead in its tracks, and better manage your email.

I can already hear the excuses not to do this, “I don’t have time to engage in a phone call”, “I don’t want to bother or interrupt my contact”, “I just want an answer”.

But think about the amount of time it takes you and your email recipient to go back and forth clarifying topics, clearing up misunderstandings, finding and recovering lost emails, and generally just trying to get your point across.

Two words, “Call me”.

I’m a fan of a fantastically long volley more than most.

As long as it’s during a volleyball match, not part of my email system.

For more detailed information on how High Performing Organizations handle email, visit Michael Glenister's helpful tips on our Resources page at http://www.thecorpsgroup.com/

Technorati Tags: email management,productivity,high performing organizations,task overload,time management

Virtual Team Building, not just for Virtual Teams

2011-01-31T23:16:00.005-06:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

Virtual teams have evolved as a way to make working across the globe an easy, practical way to achieve superior results. Having great Virtual Team practices, is what allows The Corps Group to work seamlessly with our global clients to build effective strategies and execute outstanding events.

The upside to Virtual Teams is that they offer:

· Increased employee and organizational effectiveness

· Reduced costs

· Talented employees flexible work arrangements

But Virtual Team Building is not just for Virtual Teams. It's also for those organizations who are looking to achieve Peak Performance, but whose members may be unable to travel.

Building High Performing Organizations with Virtual Teams presents special challenges: developing common work processes, communicating organizational goals effectively in a virtual world, and managing conflict are all critical to the success of a virtual team.

Last week The Corps Group's Kyle Howlin and John Underhill led a select Cisco team of Aspiring Managers through a cutting edge Virtual Team Building program, that helped them learn to leverage the power of a Virtual High Performing Team.

In spite of teammates located in three different locations, they walked away inspired, with cutting edge, time-tested principles, tools and techniques turning them into battle ready High Performing Organization members.

Virtual teams who invest time in teambuilding tend to perform better than those that don’t.

Not unexpected.

This year don’t let travel or budget constraints restrict your team building options.

Teambuilding with Chocolate?

2011-01-21T11:55:00.007-06:00

Carey Lohrenz here.

In the last 24 hours I've received two notices regarding teambuilding with chocolate.

Description: "teams of four or five people, ... chocolate-covered graham crackers, M&Ms, chocolate Gummy Bears, Hershey bars... then compete to build a random structure." (The outcome/learnings?) "Half the fun is explaining why they did what they did,"...

Chocolate?

I LOVE chocolate. (Yes, I know the caps mean I'm 'yelling').

But Teambuilding? With chocolate?

Is it tasty? Yes.

But worth my limited time, energy and resources?

Nope.

Skills and disciplines I know ensure my teams long-term success:

*Creating Team Alignment.

*Precision Execution.

*Developing a Learning Culture.

I'm leaving fun with chocolate up to Valentine's Day.

Can Your Company Survive a $19 Billion Loss?

2011-01-18T10:47:00.001-06:00

A frequent statement often arises from executives we work with who state, “We don’t really need a succession plan, we’re fine...”

Wow. Apple shares fall 5% erasing $19 billion dollars in market value. They are the strongest technology company on earth. With apparently not a great succession plan, or at a minimum not a well-communicated plan or investors wouldn’t be balking.

How is the bench strength in your company? Do you have candidates who are ready to step in and take charge during planned and/or unplanned losses?

All of the U.S. military branches have a long history of excellent succession planning. Born out of necessity, the processes consistently develop capable leaders at every level.

To avoid an unforeseen crisis, take the time today to reflect on your leadership development initiatives.

Ensure that there are highly qualified people in all levels of your organization to safeguard your businesses success.

Succession Planning for a Successful Future

2011-01-17T19:18:00.001-06:00

For leaders who are going on vacation this spring, this is an excellent time to assess how well your leadership development and succession planning is doing.

If you are going on a true vacation with laptop and blackberry/iPhone off, you should return to an organization that did not miss a beat while you were away, if you have been doing a good job in developing your next gen leaders.

If on the other hand the wheels came off the bus then you have work to do.

To be able to take that true vaction while empowering subordinates to act on your behalf requires an honest assessment of your leadership development program, the skill sets your people currently have and clear communication with both your boss and the people who will act on your behalf.

Done properly you will be able to relax on vacation and give your people an opportunity to flex their leadership skills, a win-win for both parties and the organization you work for.

Strategic Planning

2011-01-17T19:06:00.000-06:00

John Borneman is at it again! Working his Strategic and Account Planning magic in Asia. Changing the world one account team at a time through effects-based strategy that delivers profitable results, creates alignment amongst diverse teams while driving sustained strategic success and peak performance.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-21T17:36:00.000-06:00

As 2010 draws to a close we wish our clients, friends and family a happy, healthy NewYear!