The 2017 Houston Astros: A Blueprint for Success
Congratulations to our hometown Houston Astros!
It has been over 55 years in the making, but 2017 calls the Houston Astros World Series Champions! And what an amazing impact the team has had on a city in the midst of recovering from Hurricane Harvey. In fact, the city went from flooding with over 40 inches of rain to over 1 million people flooding the streets of downtown Houston to welcome their world champions home.
So, what was the formula for the Astros success? (By the way it is a very similar formula used by the Chicago Cubs to win the 2016 World Series!) A formula that even Sports Illustrated recognized that, if followed, predicted this World Series win back in 2014 by putting the Astros on their cover claiming them the 2017 World Champs. They followed a blueprint for performance success that we use with our clients, Employee-led (player led), Leader Supported (manager guided) and organizationally enabled.
For more information on our ELO model for performance, please download our whitepaper here.
The quest for this 2017 Championship began over 55 years ago but really accelerated when Jim Crane, the current owner, purchased the Astros in November of 2011 and began to enable success. He first hired Jeff Luhnow from the St. Louis Cardinals in December 2011 to be his General Manager. Jeff’s formula for success truly mirror’s our organizational model for our client’s performance, Employee-Led (player-led), Leader Supported (Manager support), and Organization Enabled (Astros ownership and GM). You cultivate a purpose driven culture, enable success by investing in your talent, providing that talent with the right and best resources, and support them with leadership, not management, that develops the leader in everyone in the organization regardless of role or position, from an MVP player to a groundskeeper. The players will tell you, the goal each day did not focus on winning, the focus was on making each other great. If each of us will do that, then success and winning is the natural result.
Jeff then further enabled the organization by hiring A.J. Hinch, a leader that promotes and cultivates the very culture Luhnow was trying to develop. A.J. inspires, brings energy, connects with, and develops each and every player. He doesn't direct, control, or manage his players. He supports them and shows confidence in them even when they struggle. He knows and relates to each and every player, understanding that each brings a unique and special talent and contributes in different ways.
The right talent, guided by the right purpose, supported by the right leader, enables the right success.
Finally, A.J. enables success by letting his players lead, not controlling them. He is there to guide and support, not to micromanage them. The players go out each day with their task to contribute to a larger more meaningful purpose, to make each other great! And when new talent is added to the roster throughout the year, it is the culture and players that lead the way to guide and ensure success of each and every member of the Astros organization. The right talent, guided by the right purpose, supported by the right leader, enables the right success. The Houston Astros followed a very familiar blueprint for success; Employee-led, Leader Supported, and Organization Enabled. Want to know how this model for success might work in your organization? Click here to find out.
Congratulations to our Houston Astros, 2017 World Series Champions!
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in developing a dynamic and customized blue print to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
Old Versus New - Which model are you?
The management model that has existed and thrived since the industrial age is rapidly evolving and shifting. In an era that lacked meaningful technology and real time information, managers had to plan, direct, control, and manage both people and processes to get work accomplished. Telling people what to do and how to do it was required and accepted for decades. Generations of leaders were trained and molded using this management model.
Fast forward to today and how work is organized and results are accomplished. No one wants or needs to be managed and the process of planning from the past takes too long and often the resulting plan is obsolete before it is even finalized. And very few, if any, people today want their time and efforts controlled and directed by someone else.
So have you and your organization made the shift from the old, ineffective management model to the new leadership model of inspiring, energizing, facilitating, and developing? In fact, rather than extensive time and efforts expended on management planning, do you inspire a purpose that leads to results through others? Think about it, Martin Luther King didn’t have a “I Have a Plan” speech, he delivered a “I Have a Dream” speech. In the future, it is not about having a detailed plan, it is all about having and connecting others to a purpose. Inspire results with a purpose.
Do you and other formal leaders create individual and team energy instead of assigning directive tasks? Have you developed a “lead where you are” culture where employee-led initiatives tackle the toughest issues and create the greatest opportunities? Don’t direct people, create energy by empowering, guiding, and recognizing?
People and their work product are not assets to be controlled as in the past. The successful leaders of the future facilitate and cultivate trusted, authentic relationships where active listening takes place versus orders given. Where change is not managed or controlled but environments and competencies are developed to proactively lead change and positive disruption is encouraged. Where creativity and innovation is more valued than management reports.
And finally, since no one wants to be managed, the critical leader shift from managing people to developing, coaching, and mentoring the leader in everyone is the foundation for success. People need clarity, alignment, and a clear sense of ownership leading to enhanced accountability. Stop managing people and make the shift to developing people.
The old versus new model, where are you?
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in developing a dynamic and customized blue print to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
The Evolution of Organizational Performance
How organizations achieve and sustain success is evolving. This much is clear to all of us. Just look at the time line dating back to before the industrial age and it is apparent that what’s important, the focus, motivation, accountability and the drivers of success have evolved and continue to evolve at an even faster pace.
So is your organization evolving as well or are you stuck in the past trying to compete for talent and results? Is your organization moving to an employee-led, leader supported, and organizational enabled performance model? Are your leaders making that leadershift in actions and behaviors required to lead more effectively in a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive performance environment? Is every employee from the very top to entry level appropriately trained, equipped with expectations set to lead where they are?
It is going to take time to evolve your organization. Start by asking the tough questions. Do we have a performance culture by design or are our results by default? Are we leading change or trying to survive and manage it? Who truly owns performance, your leaders or everyone in the organization?
Organizational Performance is evolving, what is your next step?
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in developing a dynamic and customized blue print to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.