Podcast appearances and mentions of gary monti

Welcome to an ANI Throwback Episode! In these episodes, we reintroduce you to some of our most popular episodes. This week, we revisit to Gary Monti's episode: How to Create Change Within Your Company. Request a Custom Workshop For Your Company Get Free Access to Over 15 Negotiation Guides Follow Kwame on LinkedIn

Welcome to an ANI Throwback Episode! In these episodes, we reintroduce you to some of our most popular episodes. This week, we revisit to Gary Monti's episode: How to Create Change Within Your Company.Request a Custom Workshop For Your CompanyGet Free Access to Over 15 Negotiation GuidesFollow Kwame on LinkedInIf you've been a listener of the show and you've gotten a lot out of our programming, you can click here to Support Negotiate Anything. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/negotiate-anything. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is the first in a series on preparing for the next recession, “Recession Preparation - Processes and Employees.” The entire teamCMC contributes their expertise: • Gary Monti: change management, business analysis/planning, people & politics, project management • John Riley, Agility expert • Jeffrey Cochran, Human Resource expert The conversation was based on a point-counterpoint approach, i.e., which is more significant during a recession, a bad process or a bad employee? For this argument the definition of “recession” provided was, “A shrinkage of sales.” John started the conversation by saying organizations frequently want to cut employees were cut products in preparation for recession. He stressed what is important is to look at the efficiency of your processes and the value to the customer of your products. Consequently, the best place to start in terms of recession is to look at the value stream of your product. Jeffrey responded by starting with the observation that separate from a recession the bad employee is affecting your bottom line. A better employee typically has a compounding effect on the organization by influencing a drop in morale, productivity, and added stress for fellow employees. In line with this, Gary referenced an excellent book, “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t,” By Robert Sutton. Jeffrey went on to point out one of the biggest problems with difficult employees is failing to show up for work. The discussion proceeded to talk about the impact absenteeism has on the workplace. The big point regarding this is how organizations will adapt the dysfunction in an effort to keep products or processes moving forward to sustain cash flow. An example was given of how Detroit's Big Three, back in the ’70s when production quality was terrible, argued that Toyota would never catch on in terms of significant sales numbers. The rule at the time was, "you never want to buy a car was manufactured on a Friday or a Monday." The reason being absenteeism was so high. John picked up on that and turn the conversation back towards its impact on processes. He emphasized that with process execution one of most important aspect is retrospectives throughout the product delivery process. During those retrospectives the quality of performance by the team is one of the key elements to be addressed. And one of the key elements in addressing quality is individual team member performance with this issue being addressed directly by fellow team members rather than senior management. The function of senior management is to set the goals and to support the team during execution. The team should be empowered to address whatever it takes to deliver the value to the customer. In other words, the team being very direct with regards to retrospectives conducted on a routine basis is critical for survival during a recession. Vulnerability, then, becomes a key issue because senior management needs to risk turning power over to the team in addition to shouldering responsibility for determining what direction the organization should take. Jeffrey asked an excellent question with regards to owner stepping in and modifying the process in an attempt to adapt to the dysfunction in its present. There is general agreement that this is the case now the company is put it greater risk of failure because senior management is now pulling back ownership of the process by dictating how the team should adapt to the dysfunction. Gary proceeded to point out how power then shifts from senior management to the dysfunctional employee who becomes the tail that's wagging the dog. Once this inappropriate shift of power occurs the company is destabilized to some extent in the risk of failure during the recession goes up accordingly. An example is given of an employee who was guaranteed employment as a condition of her former company being bought out. Feeling bulletproof, the employee took advantage of the situation much to the detriment of her teammates. Jeffrey proceeded to note how quality employees suffer because workloads are shifted in their direction. This compounds the damage associated with the absenteeism. John jumped back into the conversation pointing out that in line with being able to discipline fellow team members the team needs to be given the power to modify processes in order to increase value. A good, iterative process with pre-defined goals that remain constant gets people on board as to what the product is. The other thing is it solves “not knowing what the problem(s) is(are).” By knowing what the goals are the team can morph around the job and gauge each others performance accordingly. In other words, if someone needs time for a doctor’s appointment the team can adapt. The team can also call out someone who isn’t staying on task to achieve the goal(s). This helps surface risks in a very clear manner. Jeffrey backed up this approach from a Human Resource perspective, e.g., excessive overtime for those picking up the pieces associated with others not performing properly. There was some back-and-forth regarding team size estimates, etc., and whether or not that information and associated processes were adequate. The key point, though, is senior management is where the responsibility lies in determining what is appropriate and insuring the team has the resources needed. Arguing whether it is the people or the process can miss that key point. The bigger point in all this is making needed changes in preparation for a recession can be a huge challenge if there are a lot of dysfunctional habits spread throughout the company and employee base. The reward system morphs around those dysfunctions making change difficult. It’s not just about the processes and tools. John emphasized the individuals and interactions are critical, especially when practicing Business Agility. The metaphor of a race car pit crew was used for emphasis. Jeffrey expanded the conversation to the quality of managers. The conversation then rolled to knowing the principles involved. This is key for success. Everyone needs to know these principles and they need to permeate the workplace. Failure is used as an opportunity to sharpen the team’s application of principles to achieve the goals. This approach is critical since the life expectancy of the average company is

In today's podcast we have a wide-ranging discussion about Women in Agile and Agility itself with Carina Silfverduk, an Agile Practice Lead at CAS. The basis being creating abundance in business through compassion, empathy, and discipline. Carina leads the local chapter of Women in Agile, working at the national level with the Executive Sponsors Natalie Warnert and Deema Dajani. Carina opened our discussion stating that men are welcome since this is a group focused on maximizing diversity in the creation of better solutions. The group is also meant to provide a safe space for women to seek support and grow with others. Women in Agile provides that support through three programs: 1. Launching New Voices: Providing mentors in learning how to speak publicly 2. Conference Allyship: Women in Agile connect with other groups sponsoring conferences 3. Seed Local Communities: this provides support in the creation of local chapters and meet ups The main concern of the group right now is promoting women in STEM careers especially since numbers have been dropping off the last four or five years. The conversation switched to diversity with regards to implied white, male privilege versus being a woman. An example was provided of a woman researcher with a PhD leading a meeting where she was the only woman present and it was assumed she would take care of the notes as well as making sure appropriate refreshments were present. There is also the issue of women appearing "ladylike" when it comes to emotional expression, e.g., when a man is forceful he is considered to be a "leader," while if a woman shows the same emotional expression she is at risk for being considered "bitchy." These implied biases can be quite damaging to an organization since they blind those doing the hiring to a pool of talent that can add to the organizations diversity which, again, can lead to better more effective problem-solving. From a risk perspective there is also the issue when failing to hire for diversity of creating a blind spot where major problems develop on projects and the team as well as senior management are caught unaware, much to the disappointment of the customer. Gender bias is one of many cognitive biases that knowingly or unknowingly contribute to failure or inability to achieve the maximum amount of success possible under the circumstances. Carina referenced Ash Coleman, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Credit Karma, when speaking with a group of interns. In a previously attended conference, Ms. Coleman spoke regarding the decrease in product performance when diversity is not taken into consideration. Examples were given of products that failed miserably, products that were created by all-white, male teams, e.g., facial recognition. Multiple, diverse frames of mind are needed when working on product creation based on market segmentation. This includes career, cultural, and life experience diversity in addition to gender diversity. Jazz was used in the conversation as a metaphor for the power of diversity when working in an agile environment when addressing problems that have not been solved before. Jazz musicians bring their various frames of mind as well as the discipline they learned working with various chordal systems. The artist's experiment with different frames of mind while they're actually performing, challenging each other to "keep up" and work in an integrated way so that the customer (audience) has a pleasant experience. Doug McCullough, the CIO for the city of Dublin, Ohio, was also mentioned because he believes if everyone in the room is in agreement then some of those individuals are probably redundant and, there's potential for missing key components associated with solving the problem. Also, there’s the need to be comfortable with discomfort when maximizing the diverse talent present on a team. Also, the need for self-doubt in order to leave room for team member’s thinking is critical when doing product development. This leads to the need to be vulnerable to be an effective leader, a trait not reinforced in our culture. Rotating individuals between different teams in different areas of an organization is one way to promote diversity as well as integrate individuals more deeply into the organization. As an Agile Practice Lead Carina looks for diversity at the team level. She looks to see who's Introverted and who's Extroverted as well as timing and style differences; always looking to see how the diversity can be used as a constructive force. In the end, this means that we all benefit from each other and there is no need to have boundaries, e.g., women versus men. Unfortunately, cultural stereotypes as to men versus women still have a strong influence on a day-to-day basis both at the tactical and strategic level, e.g., who gets to speak and how during meetings. Various techniques for conducting meetings and gaining information when working with a diverse group were discussed, e.g., using "parking lot" flipcharts as well as techniques from books such as "Back of the Napkin." Ideally there would come a time where people treated others equally and there be no need for groups with names such as Women in Agile. The conversation then shifted to the pluses and minuses associated with teams either being together for extended periods or members being swapped out at a frequent rate. This led to a lively discussion around the words habit, expectations, principles, complexity, chaos, and simplicity. The results fell into several categories: 1. Working together for extended periods allows team members to quickly pick up on body language and subtle cues which is a plus. On the downside, habits that tend to cause people to go blind could set in; 2. An agile approach is ideal in situations where the rules have either fallen apart or it is an exploratory situation where there frankly aren't any rules. This is the nature of complex and chaotic situations; 3. Conversely, in simple situations where the rules function well there is no reason to confuse and overcomplicate by acting as if the situation is actually more an R&D endeavor; 4. The word "principal" was contrasted with the word "habit." It was agreed that those who are principal-based should and do have habits which reflect their awareness of the situation and the appropriate application of principles. This is in contrast to a more negative use of the word "habit" where individuals are mindlessly going about doing their work without bothering to see if what they are doing is actually appropriate for the situation. Also, habits can shift over time based on the continual, flexible application of principles; 5. Essentially, it's critical to avoid going on autopilot without reflecting when making decisions as to the best way to proceed; 6. The importance of being on guard with respect to expectations and working to avoid letting them cloud one’s vision; 7. The importance of focusing on commitments and areas of agreement to help avoid the team falling apart due to internal differences. The conversation then shifted to misconceptions regarding agility, e.g., agile approaches are undirected, agile approaches are just another form of anarchy, agility has no safety net, agile approaches are dangerous because products are released without adequate testing, etc. While there is some documentation, one of the key aspects of agility is the project living within the relationship between the team members. Consequently, having and appreciating diversity is critical if the customer is to be served appropriately. This lack of documentation can be taken to the extreme is expressed in Haydn Shaughnessy and Finn Goulding's book, "12 Steps to Flow," where the documentation is limited as much as possible to post it's on the wall, Twitter, text messages, and phone calls. The conversation returns to a discussion of simplicity and, specifically, the use of waterfall methodologies and when they are appropriate. Essentially, when a proven methodology has been established, e.g., say, laying a foundation for house, then there is no reason to use an agile approach. Stick to the methods that work. Agility in this case would cause confusion and over-complicate the situation. What this gets down to is the need to use the right tool at the right time that’s appropriate for the situation. Waterfall is good for some projects while agile approaches are good for others. The important point here is to avoid viewing any particular methodology as the "religion" of the "true believer." It's that sense of religiosity which makes what was initially a very healthy approach into something that is counterproductive. There is also the need, as Carina says, to pay attention to the fact that we live in the "real world." This means that regulatory, financial, and risk-oriented stakeholders may demand compliance with a particular methodology that may run counter to using an agile approach. The key point that Carina wants to reinforce is reflected in the book "The Four Agreements," by Don Miguel Ruiz. Her point being there's actually a Fifth Agreement, be skeptical. This allows for considering various ways to view a situation in order to get the best solution, which brings us back to the value of diversity, which brings us back to Women in Agile. Have questions, wonder what the story is behind a situation, etc. This leads to practicing cognitive dissonance which is the ability to carry multiple models of the situation simultaneously in one's head and go back and forth between and/or choose combinations of the various models. Again, a diverse conversation is quite beneficial. It gets beyond cultural biases as reflected in sexist approaches. The conversation then shifted to agility versus lean and the relationship between the two. Essentially, they can work well together where, say, in a manufacturing situation lean is appropriate but when an unanticipated problem surfaces a switch to agility could be the best way to resolve the issue and get back into steady production. At the extremes, agility relies on a Bayesian statistical approach, i.e., as new information is gathered the model or frame of mind one is using to solve the problem shifts accordingly. This is in contrast to a lien approach where one may be looking at "six Sigma" statistical certainty. How this relates to Women and Agile is this: if you want to have a disciplined, flexible, fluid team that can get to the heart of a matter and solve problems and create solutions then diversity is needed along with a correspondingly safe environment where the team members can be spontaneous and proactive…free of worry or retribution for being put down or being sidelined. The Toyota-GM joint venture, NUMMI, is offered as an example of culture, discipline, teamwork and the need for safety and what happens if those factors are missing. TPS, Toyota Production System is referenced as a method that combines management philosophy, production methods, and societal influences to increase the level of quality and sustained success. This is grounded in allowing people working on the line to stop production when observing a safety or quality issue that is best resolved now. This is contrasted with the punishing aspect GM held at the time towards workers who would stop the line. The point of all this is it is critical to allow the workers to perform in an agile manner even when it cuts against the expectations associated with formal processes. Again, we come back to the importance of diversity. Finally, we all flip to an agile frame of mind routinely even when working with standardized methods, we may just not call it such. So just stop, look, and think about what the best tool for the situation is. Whether or not that proposed solution comes from a woman is essentially irrelevant. The important thing is deciding whether or not senior management, the team, and associated stakeholders will unite and embrace the discomfort they need to walk through in order to identify root causes and succeed. Dealing with this challenge is something Gary runs into in his consulting and coaching practice. You can contact Carina Silfverduk on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/silfverduk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgileCarina You can reach Gary Monti on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garywmonti/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/garymonti Center for Managing Change: https://www.ctrchg.com/contact/ If you are working in Agility and dealing with complex situations, you can download CMC’s free e-book MINDSET – 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO LOOK AT COMPLEX PROBLEMS and learn how to find a simple vantage point from which you can resolve challenges. Your feedback is important. Choose from the following options: • place a review in iTunes, • click on “leave a comment” below, • send any comments along with your name and the show number to support@ctrchg.com Listen to future episodes for our reply.

In this podcast Gary Monti, Jeffrey Cochran, and John Riley with Center for Managing Change discuss how your business is a reflection of you and how you view and interact with the world. They also provide tips for what to do so that you can get focused, get on track, and get profitable growth.   Points covered include: Jeffrey started the conversation with the need for a consultant to think about where they are with their OWN business. There’s a need to walk the walk. John talks about needing to level-set before even doing a small piece of work. It’s all about adding value. The challenge is success brings us to our next challenge, e.g., trying to expand or grow one’s company. Strengths have been exhausted. It’s time to lean into the more challenging part of oneself so in order to improve their organization right along with themselves. Personal lives are a reflection of what is going on in the business. There’s an urge to go out and “buy a piece of software” to cover all the difficulties that really are being caused by personally internal issues. So what does the journey look like? It’s about leaning into the chaos and complexity and admitting the rules are falling apart and a change in perspective is needed. The urge is to amplify what has worked in the past instead of making genuine changes. In a word, denial is the issue. Jeffrey gives a great example where unique code with no documentation was written and the owners were challenged in trying to figure out how to move forward. The move for the unique code was painful. A method for deconstructing denial is presented which gets into the huge challenge of dealing with fear. John talks about how dealing with fear when working software in the trenches there’s a potential for fear of having one’s hand shot off it it raised to state there’s a problem. Gary shifts the conversation to the work load associated with pulling one’s difficulties out of the company. People have adapted in order to survive and cry “unfair” when the company is re-structured in a healthy way. John brings up the denial mechanism associated with CEOs who say their door is always open…they fail to mention that employees don’t trust them. Jeffrey points out it will be reflected in excessive turnover and that it will take diligence and a lot of humility to turn the organization around. The conversation shifted to a stable, growing organization where everyone had a clear understanding of each other’s position. Sales personnel working throughout the company for up to 2 years in order to have a clear understanding of how genuine growth could be achieved. This means being honest about the reality of the situation. The challenges of self-organization or being proactive in dealing with problems are discussed with respect to the degree of trust present. When self-organization occurs the team can dive into The Why, The How, and The What. This gets to asking, “Why would someone want to work with me?” A critical form of denial that can be very destructive is purchasing the Silver Bullet product, e.g., software, or hiring/retaining the White Knight that will solve EVERYTHING! It can also show up in overestimating one’s strength in a situation and having tunnel vision which can lead to destructive decision-making. Hiring “Yes” men and -woman is another form of preserving denial. By owning your shortcomings and bringing everything to the surface leads to the best decision-making. It is a reflection of your culture. Allow for a culture of experimentation! Also, allow for the direct challenges you’ll experience where your shortcomings are brought to the surface. Be humble, own them, deal with them direction and take a leadership position by changing behaviors. There will be a payoff in terms of growth and abundance. Pay attention and maintain a healthy level of stress during the change process — not too lax and not to fast.   If you need help in gaining clarity when dealing with complex situations, you can download CMC’s free e-book  MINDSET – 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO LOOK AT COMPLEX PROBLEMS and learn how to find a simple vantage point from which you can resolve challenges.   You can contact Jeffrey, John, or Gary at support@ctrchg.com or call us at:   Jeffrey Cochran 614-565-8073 John Riley 614-778-1514 Gary Monti 614-226-1333   Your feedback is important. Choose from the following options: place a review in iTunes, click on “leave a comment” below, or send any comments along with your name and the show number to support@ctrchg.com   Listen to future episodes for our reply.

On this episode of Lee After Dark, Gary Monti joins Lee Rowley for an insightful discussion on secular Buddhism, letting go of attachment to outcomes, and embracing past hurts to welcome each day with hope, clarity, and inner calm. If you're a stressed-out entrepreneur, don't miss this conversation! Find out more about Gary at https://www.ctrchg.co Want to know more about your bow-tied host? Check out www.LeeRowley.com More episodes at www.LeeAfterDark.com.

Today’s episode in a panel discussion on Value, Success, and Joy with John Riley, An Agile coach and consultant (https://www.readysetagile.com/), and Jeffrey Cochran, Human Resource consultant (https://www.hrperspectives.org/) in terms of self, family, business, and your customer. At the core the customer focus answers the question “Who’s the customer and what problem do they have that needs solved?” The importance of collaboration and negotiation are discussed along with the damaging effects unresolved personal biases can have. This rolls into a shared vision within the team and with the customer so that a balance can be found between scope, time, and budget. Product development is an important component making Agile methodologies ideal  for providing incremental deliverables the customer can examine and determine the appropriate path for solving the problem. This leads to the creation of an agreed-upon mission statement which increases the odds of success for Human Resource efforts especially with regards to talent acquisitions. The conversation moved to the foundational relationship between product management (the Iron Triangle) and project management (the Triple Constraint) which together provide a basis for weaving all the intangibles together leading to the creation of a realistic plan, effective execution, and maximum value for the customer. An important consideration here is products are ever-evolving while projects have specific end-dates. This means collaboration with the customer and between product and project management is essential to avoid confusion. Agile methods are ideal in such situations. The importance of the 3 Pillars of Agility, transparency, inspection, and adaptation, were discussed. This is important in product development because some of the pieces of the puzzle are firmly designed, e.g., labor law, limits of the technology used, etc., and others are more fluid requiring constant experimentation and, again, close collaboration with the customer. Examples of the latter being screen design, product feature layout and ergonomics, and the ultimate feature set the product contains. This increase in complexity makes vulnerability among all the stakeholders involved a key consideration. Honesty, transparency, and authenticity are critical if the collaboration is to be successful. The conversation moved to the importance of vulnerability and collaboration to increase the probability of experiencing joy and thriving. This especially is required so that the team can fail forward fast in determining exactly what the customer needs to solve their problem. It also pushes on the client to do their part in creating a User’s Acceptance Test (UAT) that becomes the hub around which all work is performed and gauged for adequacy. The situation can get dicey if the UAT evolves over time. Stress can go up putting pressure on each individual’s ability to trust. An example was presented when hubris, arrogance, and a lack of honesty, humility, and team work are used to solve problems...France’s attempt to build the Panama Canal. A minimum of 30,000 workers died and France was brought to the edge of bankruptcy. This is on contrast to America’s approach where, among other things,  Dr. Walter Reed went in and determined solutions needed for the public health issues present. To encourage the listener the podcast closes with Jeffrey, John, and Gary each giving their individual sense of Value, Success, and Joy.   For Human Resource concerns contact Jeffrey Cochran at: https://www.hrperspectives.org/ 565-8073 jcochran@hrperspectives.org   For Agility needs including coaching contact John Riley at: https://www.readysetagile.com/ 664-9606 john@readysetagile.com   You can contact me, Gary Monti, at: https://www.ctrchg.com/ 614-388-8917 gary.monti@ctrchg.com   This episode  is sponsored by the Business Agility Midwest Conference, November 6-7, 2019, Columbus, OH. You can access the conference web site directly for any comments or questions, https://businessagilitymidwest.com/, or you can contact me at https://www.ctrchg.com/contact/   In line with Business Agility and dealing with complex situations, you can download my free e-book MINDSET – 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO LOOK AT COMPLEX PROBLEMS and learn how to find a simple vantage point from which you can resolve challenges.   Your feedback is important. Choose from the following options: place a review in iTunes, click on “leave a comment” below, send any comments along with your name and the show number to support@ctrchg.com or call us at 614-388-8917 and leave a message including your name, the podcast number and podcast title.   Listen to future episodes for our reply.

Audio recording of January 10 presentation to North Columbus Lions Club by Gary Monti, the presenter.
GOAL: Create a business-oriented presentation for the PTPNOTES:
1. working to "own" my presentation, consistent with my style and work-life.
2. Generate a PTP presentation biased towards business life.
3. work political application in tangentially after establishing rapport with the audience.
4. lead audience towards understanding that the PTP is about life, not just one particular segment.
5. Chance to work with Linda S, another PTP volunteer. She speaks some in the latter 1//3 of the recording.Please listen and comment. Use any part for your presentation in your own presentations.TECHNICAL:
1. recorded with Voice Record in my iPhone7 Plus using the built in mic. Very solid app!
2. wanted to see how the simplest setup that was stable would work. Might add lavalier mic but was concerned if people saw recording equipment it might turn them off.
3. recorded at 33kHz (odd setting, not sure how that happened), edited, and exported as a WAV file at 48kHz.
4. did some editing to boost the voices that were at-a-distance from the iPhone.5. feedback was provided stating the presentation was not only excellent it was entertaining. 6. Also, 7 out of 16 people took the pledge!Let me know what you think. If you are thinking of talking with groups, please feel free to use anything from the presentation that would work for you. Also, if you want to discuss, send Gary an email at gary.monti@ctrchg.com

Gary teaches us how we can change our companies by changing ourselves and how this change can lead us to be more persuasive and more successful. Check out our free guides here: Free Guides Keywords: negotiation, negotiate, persuasion, influence, leadership, psychology, sales, compassionate curiosity

Gary teaches us how we can change our companies by changing ourselves and how this change can lead us to be more persuasive and more successful. Check out our free guides here: Free GuidesKeywords: negotiation, negotiate, persuasion, influence, leadership, psychology, sales, compassionate curiosity

Converting negative energy to positive is the topic of today’s podcast, the next in a series regarding the power of humility. Your host, Gary Monti,   picks up from previous episodes discussing how damaging reactive emotions can be. The 6 reactive emotions are: Rage or hatred Greed Instinct Desire Jealousy Pride The healthy counter to […]

In this episode your host, Gary Monti, continues the discussion of the power of humility in dissolving reactivity by using four other emotions/approaches to life. The six reactive emotions are discussed in greater depth: Rage Greed Instinct Desire Jealousy Pride The emphasis in this podcast, though, is counteracting reactive emotions through connections – connections with […]