Outside-Force Business Development Firm

Supercharge your leadership by fostering gratefulness             If you did a fully anonymous 360 review and all those who report to you, and your peers, completed the survey, would they all say “wow, she is the most exciting and engaged leader I have ever worked for or known”? OK, so very few leaders would achieve this level and yet, those of us who take up the mantle of leadership want our team to passionately follow our lead and bring energy to our mission.             The mountain of material on leadership is impressive. There certainly is no shortage of research, scholarly writing, and opinion writing on the topic. I applaud those of you who are willing to be in the arena of leadership and who regularly read and apply the latest thinking to your craft. Leadership is personal! Leadership can be bloody. Oh, you know what I mean, people judge your every move, they...

Loss of the leader does not have to be a CRISIS! Shawn Wolf, DSL | Outside-Force BDF The burgeoning field of interim leader has emerged to fill the gap created by the loss of the key leader in organizations. The loss of a key leader can be devastating, especially if the leader is the founder or has been an inspirational leader for a significant length of time. A planned succession is, of course, preferable but not always the way things go; utilizing an Intentional Interim Leader may be an effective solution even within a planned succession. The most vulnerable organizations are small to mid-size businesses and non-profits. These organizations may not have the depth to have a solid succession plan, or personnel in place (enough people or the right skills) to successfully manage the void left when the primary leader departs. For many years there have been CFO’s for hire, Marketing specialists for hire, and other roles, which could temporarily fill gaps but the President or CEO...

Purposeful Hiring   Andrea Vaughan | Outside-Force BDF As an HR professional, I have to admit hiring is not my favorite sport. Yet, I believe it is the single most important decision a company makes when building a team, or at least ranks right up there. If you’re going to go through the process of hiring, ROI should be a key factor. A great hire adds to the company and team; conversely, a poor hire yields a poor ROI as I wind up going through the hiring process all over again. So, over my decades in HR, I’ve become quite good at screening and reading people before they become employees. Because, once they’re on board….it’s a different ball game if the wrong person was hired. Recruiting and hiring is one of the numerous responsibilities I have, so obviously the more time I spend here the less time I have to focus elsewhere. Hiring well means the company gains a valuable employee and I can check it off my list. No need to revisit; however, if I hire poorly I can promise t...