To actually fix growth problems, you need to build the infrastructure you’re missing. Our unique approach combines three critical elements to efficiently attack the problem AND do the critical work to create change that lasts.
During your program, your team identifies, builds and implements several critical pieces of missing infrastructure during the program.
Projects can vary greatly but tend to focus on how critical data moves, how decisions are made, defining responsibilities, and building missing tools—the kind of high value targets that can have a huge impact on how efficient and effective you can be.
Many organizations use the structure of their Red Ball Workshop to complete projects they’ve wanted to work on for years. You can adapt the number of team members and projects to suit your needs and budget.
Management training in your Red Ball Workshop focuses on critical skills like running meetings, confrontation, and organizational tools, the kind of critical training managers need but rarely get. Read more…
Your team not only receives training but also sees critical skills modeled during the program and gets to practice those skills and receive feedback as well. Skills aren’t just taught, they are learned, used, and improved.
As part of your private workshop, you also have the option to add training for the next level of your management team and even front-line employees.
Working in the program, your team will learn better habits and have the chance to consciously create a better work culture.
Work culture includes the standards, habits, expectations, and traditions that make up how you get work done.
Implementing the infrastructure projects will also create a natural opportunity to reset elements of your work culture within your organization at large.
Many teams add training to implementation sessions to speed up culture change and up-level skills at all levels of their organization.
Offering great flexibility and unmatched support, our private workshops are known for producing extraordinary results. Alecia Huck works directly with your team customizing each element to your needs, budget, schedule, and culture. It’s a systematic approach that doesn’t waste time and doesn’t skip steps.
Our private workshops have been used by retail organizations, engineering firms, construction companies, education and non-profit entities, and even in criminal justice’s alternative courts programs.
This is hard work. Beyond the dollars, which are significant, you’ll invest a lot of time in this program and your projects, at a time when no one on your team has enough time to get their regular work done.
And if that were not enough, this process is also mentally and emotionally challenging. This is a program that is designed to have you tell the truth about what is and isn’t working, to begin to break up the bad habits and comfortable patterns that have become the way you work together and how you get things done.
That kind of process, those kinds of changes, even when you want them and need them and are literally begging for them, is hard.
But so is working your butt off every day and still being behind when you walk out the door.
So is doing your best by your people and still somehow missing the mark.
So is laying awake at night worried about what isn’t getting done and wishing for the days when you were small.
It takes something to commit to a program like this and it definitely takes something to complete it. We take that commitment seriously.
Our commitment is to help you create HUGE R.O.I. Our general rule of thumb is that you should see a 10x return within three years. And generally, participants see a much greater return in less time.
Partly that’s because we are geniuses and this is damn good stuff.
Partly it’s because growth problems are crazy frustrating and wildly expensive. They’re low-hanging fruit. Fixing them solves expensive problems and creates lucrative new opportunities.
We definitely recommend identifying some clear markers you can use to evaluate the potential value of this program against the cost AND be clear how you’ll know you’ve won when it’s over.
What specifically changed? What’s true at the end that wasn’t at the beginning? Which numbers will be different and by how much?
Think about rework, turnover, the costs of making up for mistakes with clients and bad reputation costs, lost opportunities, potential fraud and theft, competition and marketplace dominance, and the damage being done to your personal life, sanity and relationships.
You can, and should, run the numbers. Count up the real costs. And if our program isn’t for you, that’s o.k. But,
One of the biggest benefits to selecting a Private Workshop option is that all elements are built around your needs and preferences. Generally speaking, we recommend you plan to spend a minimum of 3-5 hours each month “in class.” This includes participating in our livestream classes, accountability sessions, video training homework, or individual team meetings with your coach.
The members of your team will also spend time each month doing Project Work on the infrastructure projects you’ve chosen, either individually or as a team.
The total amount of time you invest is flexible. You might flex up one month to get a lot done or do implementation training with the rest of your team. Another month, you might do very little project work to accommodate other priorities or deal with an urgent problem.
This program is designed to be completed as a leadership team. Most of us have experienced the problems of “one at a time” training or change. One person reads the book or goes to the conference. They come back excited but have trouble getting what they learned into the organization.
This process is a little like having your leadership team learn a new sport. It makes way more sense, and you get way better results, when you teach the whole team at the same time. You learn, and practice, and make decisions together.
Who should participate is basically whomever you consider a member of your executive team.
You need a minimum of 3 people to do the program.
Your President/CEO/Big Kahuna must be included.
You can add next level managers as appropriate. (The rule of thumb is they should be people you want to invest in training AND you like having their input and participation in decision making.)
If you have questions about who should or should not be included, we can help you think through your options as part of your Contract Options and Recommendations process. One of the benefits of the private workshop option is that you can customize who participates in the workshop process and training as well. Its’s a great way to leverage your investment of time and money to make the biggest impact on your company.
It takes time to create major change. And it takes practice to make it stick. After 15 years of working with executive teams, twelve months is consistently the sweet spot. It’s a time frame that creates a sense of urgency about getting the work done, but also some flexibility to make sure you can meet your other responsibilities.
For these reasons, most private workshops are designed to cover a one year period. The most common adaptation is to add some kind of support extension. We will work with your team to identify the options that make the most sense for you and provide them, along with recommendations in your Contract Options and Recommendations document.
We will build your training calendar with you and your team. Ideally, each member of your team would attend each session. This is the best way to make major progress fast.
Where conflicts occur, we are happy to work with you to decide whether to reschedule a particular session or hold it with some team members missing. Our rule is to be fair and flexible and generous whenever possible. We do our best to accommodate each request and will do so when we can.
When a team member is unable to attend a session, the agreement is that they will meet with another member of your team and get a debrief before our next scheduled session to keep everyone moving.
While your specific training components will be built around your specific needs and goals, there are eleven general skill categories that will be the starting point of your program.
We believe training should be practical, not philosophical. Each session is designed to address obvious needs, often mixing concepts from multiple categories. We break concepts down into practical, memorable phrases and visuals that many clients remember, teach and use years after hearing them. Throughout the program we revisit, model, practice, and apply key concepts.
These aren’t good ideas you hear and forget. These are critical skills you LEARN and USE.
As part of your private workshop you will have the right to use all training concepts and materials internally for the life of your company. (You just can’t reproduce or sell them commercially without permission. And writing us a check.)
· ACTIVE MANAGEMENT: Most people get promoted, but never trained. Get past the clichés and philosophy and learn what really makes a manager effective or ineffective. You’ll get specific tools and practice specific techniques throughout the programs.
· LEADERSHIP: Learn how to break out of the super-doer trap and begin to really lead. Section includes professional develop and managing yourself, things like time management, how to organize and what to prioritize.
· LEADERSHIP TEAMS: Learn what makes teams succeed or fail and how to build better ones.
· MEETINGS: Meetings can be efficient, productive, and enjoyable. Learn simple secrets you can apply right away for way better meetings, including virtual ones.
· HIGH PERFORMING WORK CULTURE: Culture is not about cake. Culture is about work culture, the habits and standards team members hold each other to. You’ll learn the critical elements of high performing cultures and begin resetting your own culture and standards.
· ACCOUNTABILITY: Every organization knows accountability is critical. But most leaders don’t feel like they’re good at it and/or doing it consistently enough. Learn to spot and avoid the mistakes people make and how healthy accountability really works. You’ll have specific tools and distinctions you can apply and share.
· CONFRONTATION: Getting confrontation right is so important that we treat this as its own category. You’ll learn the Three C’s of healthy confrontation. More important, you will see it modeled and practice it throughout the program. You might never love doing it, but you’ll be good at doing it the right way and for the right reasons.
· CELEBRATION: Very few organizations do enough celebration. People work harder when the wins feel like winning. Learn simple ways to incorporate celebration that improve morale, reinforce good behaviors and core values, and help you keep your best people.
· APPRECIATION: Similar to celebration, appreciation is a huge missed opportunity. Learn simple and even free ways to appreciate people (and why more money sometimes actually backfires.) Learn, practice, and get good at appreciating people in the right ways and for the right reasons and you’ll be creating a culture people love and one that produces better results.
· INFRASTRUCTURE: Understanding infrastructure is like having the secret formula to great results. You’ll learn how systems and processes need to work, how to find high value projects, how to spot breakdowns and how to fix them.
· TOOLS: We share some of the best tools we’ve collected and created. You’ll use them to organize and manage work, create culture, complete projects, build morale and loyalty and protect quality and efficiency. Each can be used as is or customized for your team and culture.
We want to make it simple to get started.
Step one is to register your team with our Risk-Free Registration for just $495 per person.
Step Two is to work with our team so we can prepare Contract Options and Recommendations for you. This will give you customized options, as well as pricing and payment details. We will provide this to your team before your launch sessions.
We typically offer clients the option to break their fees into 4 quarterly payments or to pay their tuition in full at the beginning of their program and receive a 10% discount.
Some details you should know:
Your registration fees are your ticket into your team’s Launch Sessions. They are non-refundable.
At the end of your Launch Sessions you and your team will have received basic training in how to identify, prioritize, and fix infrastructure problems. We will help your team identify high value projects and you’ll leave with basic plans already completed. If, at that point, you choose not to complete your Red Ball Workshop, you will owe us nothing more. If you have made any additional payments (above and beyond your registration fees) they will be refunded in full at that time.
Within a day or two of registering, you’ll receive a Welcome Letter and information to schedule your Launch Sessions and meetings to develop your Contract Options & Recommendations. Unless otherwise specified, the expectation is that you’ll have chosen the contract and payment options you prefer, and will be prepared to execute them by the end of your Launch Sessions.
We are committed to providing extraordinary value for every team. If, for any reason, we believe we cannot provide great value to your team, we reserve the right to cancel your registration and provide a full-refund of all registration fees.
You don’t have to rush, or guess. We understand this is a significant commitment of both time and resources. You don’t have to feel pressured to decide before you are ready. We work with clients to understand the true costs of their growth problems and how to evaluate the potential returns. We don’t make up deadlines or pressure you to act before you are ready.
Our work produces great results. Our job is to help you understand what it can and cannot do, and what will be required of you and your team to get results in your company.
So take your time. Ask all the questions. Talk it over with your team and trust yourself. We both win when we help you make a good choice that you are confident in and excited about, whether you work with us or not.
Virtual environments are a special kind of monster. While virtual classes make it easier for more people from more teams in more places to participate, it isn’t the same as meeting in person.
That can be both good, and bad.
Our sessions are thoughtfully designed. We look at which elements are best shared by video homework and which require interaction. We want to make sure that we leave enough space for people to connect, but without wasting time or playing stupid games.
There is no perfect balance. What is great for one person or team will create a teeth gnashing experience for another.
The bottom line is there is no perfect system and, regardless of how you do the work, you have to do the work. After all, your growth problems aren’t going to fix themselves.
But you should also know that we run better meetings than you’re used to. And we keep looking for ways to make them easier, faster, more productive and more enjoyable. We welcome great ideas and feedback. (More enjoyable for you is more enjoyable for us too.)
AND, the work is the work.
So come prepared to do the work and resist the urge to get distracted by the environment. Zoom meetings, like every other kind, are a lot more fun when you’re winning.
(Virtual is our current default for all meetings. On-site launch sessions are a possibility for some teams under certain circumstances. We are committed to following state and local Co-Vid regulations and the safety of all your team members and ours. Please discuss your preferences with us to understand the options available.)
Your Launch Sessions will generally be scheduled between 2-6 weeks from your registration date, but of course that timeline can be adapted. They most commonly take place over two consecutive days. You and your team will learn about how infrastructure works and identify the critical pieces of infrastructure you are missing. These will become your projects for the first semester. You’ll learn how to create simple plans that will make it easy to track and manage work AND help you make steady progress. We will also begin to establish new work habits and set expectations for how the work will proceed.
Currently we are planning for all sessions to be virtual with limited exceptions for the Private Launch Sessions. We are committed to complying with state and local Co-Vid guidance and regulations as well as the health and safety of your team and ours. If you prefer live, on-site launch sessions we can consider and discuss together.
We strongly believe that when you make a significant investment you should receive significant support. So our default in every contract is to err on the side of generosity.
Private workshops typically include on-demand coaching options for the main one or two team leaders and reserves time to provide support directly to work teams as they are working on individual projects.
As part of your Contract Options & Recommendations, we will evaluate and make recommendations about additional kinds of formal support and training you may want to invest in. IF, during your program, informal requests for support begin to exceed what should reasonably be considered included in your contract we will notify you. Then you can either work with your team to dial back requests to match the contract you have OR we can provide additional options for expanding your contract to cover the additional work.
No matter what, you don’t have to figure this out alone. You’ll have help and guidance every step of the way. Not to take over. But to help you get over the barriers. As one client said, “Alecia didn’t tell me what to do. She helped me figure out how to do the things I always wanted to do.”