A recent article published by Forbes dug into the most common bottlenecks in a company stated, "According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace, only 15% of employees are engaged in the workplace, meaning 85% of them are not. To make it even more interesting, the bottom 5%, the most disengaged layer of a company, is middle management. Companies spend a fortune on employee engagement programs, yet the numbers have barely improved in the last 20 years." Management consultant, educator, and author Peter Drucker said, "At most organizations, the bottleneck is at the top of the bottle." When an organization is led by a bottleneck leader, progress stalls, growth is limited, and people are frustrated. Engagement inevitably decreases, and the odds of achieving an organization's mission becomes reduced.

All organizations have a life cycle, seasons of infancy, growth, maturity, and decline. It's just part of life. The more leaders are aware of organizations' natural life cycle, the better they will be to recognize early indicators of decline and implement innovative breakthroughs that can catapult the organization back into seasons of growth. At exo18, we call this the art of reading the curve.

As leaders, we’ve all initiated critical leadership conversations and handled them poorly on occasion and well on others. Gain insight into leadership seasons that can create inconsistencies and how we can handle these necessary leadership conversations in a healthy way.

In this blog, we continue to unpack communication challenges teams face and dig a little deeper into how to develop a healthy communication strategy for your organization.

As we work with clients across the country, we have found it interesting that a breakdown in organizational communication tends to be one of the top pain points we see. It also seems to be the first growth barrier that hinders organizations. Gain insight into some of the reasons for communication breakdown and how to overcome them.

​​Teamwork makes the dream work if you have the right combination of team players, but what if you don’t have a comprehensive team covering all the necessary positions? Unbalanced teams can create tension, destroy momentum, and hinder progress toward achieving an organization’s mission. Find out how you can prevent this leadership pitfall and gain insight into how to build effective teams.

Misalignment of mission and culture can cause a growing discontentment among team members. Lack of clarity can create a lack of authenticity. Staff might feel they are not effective because their target is always moving. None of these things will create momentum nor help you get closer to achieving your mission.

Organizational drift. It is an unintentional and gradual hands-off leadership approach that allows an organization to move in its own direction. Organizations have found themselves in uncharted waters navigating poor weather conditions. These conditions alone can create leadership fatigue or paralyzation - which is often at the root of organizational drift. Gain insight into how to prevent organizational drift and get back on track.

Before Jethro visited Moses, he had subconsciously slipped into a management role that was creating frustration and bottlenecking progress. It was not sustainable. It was exhausting. Here is Moses, a gifted visionary leader not facing a spiritual issue, but a structural one. By opening himself to a trusted leader, he was able to implement a strategy where everyone wins. Gain insight into this powerful leadership principle.

Have you ever experienced leadership pain? We have too. And that’s why we founded exo18. Exo18 exists to help leaders like you avoid unnecessary leadership pain and find insight and solutions to the challenges you’re facing now. Learn more about the benefits of working with a growth strategy firm.

How we handle transition within our team says something about our leadership and the health of our organization.

Too many leaders take the "just winging it" approach to life and leadership. They think that if they just keep moving and taking things as they come, they will eventually get where they want to be. Unfortunately, this isn't usually the case. Without a plan, you're likely to end up somewhere you don't want to be. Here are three dangers of leading without a plan.

Walking through a valley is no fun, much less trying to lead through one. It's hard to see what is ahead, the path is uncertain and it seems like every step forward leads to a step back. Here are 5 tips that will help you as you continue to navigate through the valley of uncertainty.

As a leader, it is easy to feel like we are navigating turbulent waters. We want to be effective, fulfilled, and make an impact, but there are internal and external obstacles that can hinder our ability to thrive. Below are a few things that I have learned over the years that helped me break through growth barriers. I hope they can be of value to you as you navigate your own set of leadership challenges.