PIVOT POINT— TURN ON A DIME WITHOUT SACRIFICING RESULTS
By Shawn Rhodes
shift in their way of getting things done; it’s also the turning point that allows change to happen quickly.
Change is continual. We can’t stop it. But we can leverage it to improve the results we get. Rather than follow change as it happens, we can get ahead of the rate of change and develop strategies to handle it. Without an unlimited budget, we simply need to work more effectively with the resources we have.
If we heard these six words from a trusted medical person, “You have 15 minutes to live,” what change would that bring to our lives? At 18, I became a war correspondent in the U.S. Marines, working with the highest performing forces, traveling around the world to find the folks that were being successful in life-or-death situations. Te teams that had an awesome success rate with bringing their people back safely had a mission: to cross the finish line as a team.
Te dynamic presentation by TPI International Education Conference Keynote Speaker Shawn Rhodes provided tools to create a Pivot Point to leverage change to improve the results we get.
In your life and in your business, the best plans never work out as planned. Te biggest need I hear from the companies I work with—and this is backed up by conversations I had with TPI leaders—is a need for a way to proactively adapt—to pivot, if you will—whenever unexpected change occurs, wherever it occurs in an organization. Tis article is about creating a Pivot Point in your business. If you or your people are struggling with keeping up in a rapidly-changing environment, if you’re tired of not meeting your business objectives or sliding in just under the wire, then you’re ready to create a Pivot Point.
Pivot Point is defined as a place where change not only should happen but must occur in order for a plan to be successful. Additionally, it’s the center point of a rotational system. As I shared during my keynote at TPI’s annual conference in Charlotte, NC, a Pivot Point is not only the place and time where leaders, managers and employees
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Business challenges are not life-or-death issues, but they do impact the life of a company. We’re alive and growing, and in the Turfgrass Industry we love watching things grow. We grow farms, families and businesses. In the midst of doing that, it’s easy to lose track of sharing what our goals are with everyone in the company. When we came up with our last initiative, did everyone know what success looked like? Did sales, marketing, production, logistics and office personnel know what their individual roles were to achieve that success?
For businesses to succeed, it’s not just about individual success; it’s about crossing the finish line as a team. Change starts in the heart and the head; if we change how we treat employees and interact with them, we can change the results our company produces.
While many small businesses have adopted SMART Goals, the highest-performing teams are leaving the ‘A’—achievable—out of their plans. In today’s marketplace, employees need to do more with less. Yet it takes looking at things differently to produce more than we’ve ever asked them to produce before. What if we asked for a 50 percent increase in production? We’d probably hear, “Tat’s a nice idea boss; let’s strive for what’s achievable—five percent or so.” Te cost of doing business eats that up. To pivot, we need to aim higher.
TPI Turf News May/June 2019
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