For Love of Team™ | Winston Faircloth

Six years ago, Winston Faircloth stepped down from the technology organization he helped to build over a 15 year period.  As a founder, one of the hardest things you can do is to “let your baby go”.  Yet, the prior 12 months had been filled with turmoil and internal discord -- it was no longer fun, senior leaders were at odds with one another, and the organization was experiencing higher than norm...

In the Indian fable about the blind men who each touched a different part of the element, we aren’t surprised to see that an argument breaks out. Each man trusted his own perception to guide him. Until someone with sight coached them on their error, they made assumptions about the whole. Within an organization, leaders can easily find themselves in the shoes of blind men. With a limited field of v...

The impact of the pandemic over this past year has hit everyone. While no one would argue that healthcare and frontline workers have felt it the hardest, the next largest industry might just be the change management professionals.   These individuals have worked for years to persuade businesses and teams to embrace needed change in organizations. But few people and employers are comfortable trying...

Comic strips and funny stories abound with humorous anecdotes about clogged sinks and how homeowners make things worse before calling in a professional to fix the problem.  There’s a reason they are funny.  Because it’s a universal experience.  We have a problem. We think we can fix it. Only to discover that the fix we tried made the problem worse. After several experiences like this, most people...

Whether it’s a home improvement weekend adventure, a quick renovation, or flooring or paint refresh, Americans love DIY projects.  In fact, in 2020 the total sales of all 3 types of home improvement stores totaled more than $450 billion dollars. And HGTV’s website attracts an average of 10.2 million visitors each month. That’s a lot of DIY! But when it comes to your business, trying to DIY-ing it...

It’s easy for businesses to get caught up in the day-to-day and not look at the current trends and how things are shifting and changing.  But when that happens, big names like Blockbuster and Kodak go the way of dinosaurs and buffalo.  To stay current, you have to be aware of fundamental shifts in how businesses operate. And one of the most significant is the move away from traditional leadership...

There are around 400,000 different flowering plants, over 60,000 tree species, and 8.7 million species of animals!  Clearly God designed, created, and appreciates variety.  All too often in business, though, new employees get hired based on cultural fit which can lead to hiring team members who think the same, act the same, have similar experiences, and agree with each other.  But when team member...

The 1980s were filled with money-hungry firms who were getting rich at all costs. As my podcast guest, Craig Wood, mentions in our interview, that was reflected in the entertainment of the time. Like fictional Wall Street character, Gordon Gekko, who famously stated, “Greed is good.”  But Craig’s father-in-law, Jim, wanted to do things differently.  He and his wife, Dune, started Premier Internati...

Did you start your business to keep track of the bookkeeping? Or to become a marketing expert? Or write all the copy? Or maybe you looked forward to taking care of the mail and holding meetings?  Probably not.  If I had to guess, I’d say that you started your business because you were passionate about providing a product or service that you love. But then you discovered that running a business is...

From movies to concerts or sports - everywhere you look in the field of entertainment, you see how specialists come together to create a whole that’s better than its parts.  Those specialists aren’t order-takers. They’re captains of their own work...even when that work is part of someone else’s whole. When leaders forget that, chaos ensues. This week’s podcast episode explores the mistake most lea...

You can find all kinds of leadership quotes that talk about being a captain. And there’s some truth in most of them but a pithy quote doesn’t capture all of the critical aspects of becoming a captain in your business.  As you grow in your leadership journey you may find yourself on the same journey as many of my clients - sailing from captive to captain.  If you want to grow your business and, at...

When your organization is tasked with taking care of the community’s needs, it seems obvious where your focus should be. But listen to my conversation with Matthew Purkey, CEO of United Way of Allen County, and his For Love of Team story and you’ll hear some surprising things. “Instead of focusing on all the community needs, I focused on the team and the team took care of the community needs.” Tha...

Business owners don’t start a business because they love running a business; they start a business because they love providing a specific product or service and want the freedom that comes with being their own boss.   All too quickly, the demands of running a business overwhelm the joy of providing the product or service. This is where many business owners burn out and hit the wall. You can’t make...

In this episode, Team Klinck’s Bobby Klinck and Katie Chase join me for the second half of our conversation about building a team you love. The 3 of us tackle the big question about what is your purpose in your life and how does that relate to running a business. And we look at how Team Klinck is promoting a counter-intuitive “Serve First” philosophy and, while that could be seen as a sales tactic...

Ever heard: “When people pay, they pay attention” or “The transformation is in the transaction”?  That’s just one of the myths that we’re busting in the next 2 episodes of For Love of Team. I’m joined by the powerhouse duo of Team Klinck - Bobby Klinck and Katie Chase .  Bobby is the founder/visionary and Katie is the integrator and team lead for the business. The three of us take a deep dive into...

Tampa Bay. In years past no one would’ve predicted that my new hometown would be a championship city like it is today. With winning hockey, baseball, and football teams, this has been a fantastic 5 months of sports!   Whether you are a sports fan or not, those championship teams also have winning leadership and business lessons. In this episode, you’ll get: The dark side of blindly believing busin...

Scroll through your favorite social media platform feed and you’ll find an unusually high percentage of perfectly arranged bookcases in the background, funny pets, and selfies captured with ideal lighting.  Curated images.   No one else sees the hundreds of deleted images taken and discarded before the “right” one shows up in your feed.   It’s simple to present a polished image online...and all to...

Teams. Building a team. Managing a team. Delegating tasks or projects to a team member. Finding and hiring a team member.  When you hear those words and phrases, what pops into your mind? If you’re like most solopreneurs or entrepreneurs that have a small team, you probably struggle to get excited about having or growing a team. It may sound like more trouble than it’s worth. You may wonder if it’...

For some the college experience is filled with parties and fun while for others it’s a grind of school work and studying. For me, it was an exciting opportunity to pave the way as the only male in an all-female freshman dorm!  As the Head Resident the position wasn’t as much fun-and-games as it was leading, inspiring, and guiding. And a big part of that was building and leading a team of 6 female...

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.  --Hans Hofman. In our noisy world, it’s all too easy to allow the unnecessary to gain control of our businesses and of our lives. But a big part of leadership is being self-aware and that awareness can help you see what is necessary.  We believe that one thing that’s necessary is: Leaders Simplify Teamwork...

You can’t help but be aware of the leadership, lack of leadership, and the leadership inconsistencies that we’ve seen recently here in America.   Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum (or political awareness spectrum), the recent events have been part of everyone’s consciousness.  I’m not talking politics in this episode but we can all take leadership lessons from the events that h...

Have you ever picked up an old business book from the shelves of a library or a used book store and tried to read it? In the words of a famous ad, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” What we think of as effective management has changed over the years. From the psychology of motivation to new technology and, especially today, with our remote workplaces, what worked “back then” isn’t effective today.  T...

A false choice can be defined as something that you have to pick between...something that looks like an either/or situation when, in reality, it’s a both/and opportunity instead.    Growing a business has a multitude of moments like that. You find yourself facing a choice and only see 2 options but, often, it isn’t just 2 options...there’s more choices than what you first see.  There are 3 pillars...

The year of 2020 was supposed to be one of perfect vision and clarity. But we ended up with “pandemic,” “unprecedented,” and new phrases like “social distancing” and “Don’t forget your mask.”  Twenty years ago, no one could have predicted that 2020 would end this way. But I wasn’t even focused that far into the future. I was too busy founding and building a social enterprise business that grew to...

Public speaking. A favorite assignment for many people. Right?!? How about presenting an unscripted, unrehearsed 18 minute keynote speech without notes?  On a topic you just decided upon last night?   In front of your peers, being videotaped and critiqued in real time?   Welcome to season 2. Episode 61 of the newly renamed For Love of Team podcast.  It’s the #BeginAgain moment for the podcast. Tha...