Consensus Creates Momentum

I'm Alex and this is The Momentum Podcast, made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers, and creators of all kinds, those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution. Sure we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will. We don't accept our destiny, we define it. We don't understand defeat because you only lose if you stop, and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority, the few, who are willing to hallucinate there could be a better future and instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world, because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive human evolution, and we always will be.

Consensus creates momentum. When you're an entrepreneur who's working on your own you can just go, you can just do, you can just make things happen. If you're an entrepreneur working on your own, you should. You should be getting things done, shipping, making things happen, talking to people, selling product, doing what you have to do to build the [inaudible 00:01:26], the figure, the foundation where you can launch your company from.

The second you do, and you get to the point where you bring in a team, you have to radically shift the way you've been doing things.

Here's the challenge for most entrepreneurs with a team is that they don't realize that consensus is what creates momentum, getting peoples' agreement and buy in, and belief that what you're doing is going to work, changes everything.

This weekend I was talking to a couple of clients of mine. Like so many of my clients, there's a operator and a visionary [inaudible 00:02:05]. The person who operates the business was telling me that in a lot of ways the people in their organization are afraid of the visionary partner. They're afraid that he does too much, they afraid that he can sell too much, they're afraid that his ideas are so big that it's going to overwhelm them in the company, but they don't say anything to him.

They don't communicate with him because they're all so in awe of how he builds the organization and he grows things and he makes things happen and he makes marketing happen. It blows everyone away at how wildly talented he is, but they're scared.

My reply back to her was that in a case like that this is where you have to start creating consensus. Let me explain the difference here so if you have a team you can understand how immediately you can start changing the way they work with you and get so much more out of them.

There's two ways that people manage teams. There's the way to manage without consensus. This is where you come in and like a dictator you tell people what to do. You dictate to them. You say, "Here's what we're doing, this is what we're going to do, this is where we're going to go, and here's your part in it." Human beings are completely and totally demotivated by being dictated to and told what to do.

Now, you don't have to change the outcomes you're getting. You have to change where you're going. You can know exactly what you want, but go into your team and instead ask them, "Hey, here's what I'm planning on doing. What do you guys think? Here's what I'm planning on doing. What's your input? Here's what I'm planning on doing. What am I missing?"

Have the discussion with your team, "Guys, can we do this? Do you see any roadblocks? Are there any issues?" Have the meeting where you drive for consensus. You have everyone in the room agree on the plan that you've laid out because you allow for an open and transparent discussion where people can actually tell you what they're thinking and how they're feeling. Then, they can help you understand what's needed for you to actually achieve what you want.

See, this is where you get consensus. There's this magical thing that happens when the people on a team agree to something and they're not dictated to. See, if you come in and you tell them where you're going you are dictating. You are a dictator, and the fact is people will try and please a dictator, but they're not going all in for a dictator.

When you come in and you drive for consensus, you let the team know how important they are by involving them in the decision-making, you let them give you feedback because, let's be honest, you and I both know you need it. You can't do everything yourself once you have a team.

You let them show you what they think is right, what they think is wrong, how they would modify the plan, what part they play in it, and how they can achieve more. You let them explain to you exactly how the whole team can make it happen and achieve it.

When you do this with your team you get consensus and it changes everything because people will support what you ask them to, but they will passionately support what they co-create. When a team gets together and they plan together and they create the outcome together, and they talk about it together and they discuss it and they change what they need to change, and they understand how things should happen, there's a strength and a bond that's created around the outcome because everyone was part of it.

When a team is allowed to co-create an outcome together, when they're allowed to act as a functional team that can get together, and call their shots and say where they're going and understand it and hash it out, everything in your business will change, because you will create a team where transparency is not only allowed, it's necessary, because that's how we're going to achieve everything.

You will create a team where people have each other's backs and they actually work as a team. You will create a team where people communicate together because they know they have to because they were in a meeting talking about exactly how they were going to do all this together. You will create a team where people are passion about what they're doing with you, they are passionate about what co-created.

Here's the key to that is that when you move a team to the place where you have consensus, when you move a team to a place where they have ownership in the decision-making, when you move a team to where they believe in what's going on, you will get their discretionary time.

Here's what discretionary time is. It's when they're driving to work and thinking about your business. It's when they are working out in the morning by themselves and they're thinking about what they're going to do that day for the company. It's when they are making breakfast or doing something else and they can't get their mind off what they're doing for you. It's when you have a vacation day and the team members are still checking in because they are so motivated about what they're doing in the company.

You get there through consensus, because I've never worked with anyone who likes being told what to do and told where they're going. I don't hire those types of people, and I don't think you do either, but I've worked with tons of people that when they're allowed to create and believe in an outcome they will make it happen.

I've worked with teams that we've sat down and gained consensus on what the rest of the world would've said was truly functionally impossible, and then we all went out and crushed it because we had consensus.

I've worked with teams where there wasn't enough resources, wasn't enough people, anyone from the outside looking in would've said we were destined for failure, and we still made it because we had consensus.

See, there's this switch that goes off in peoples' heads. When you say "Here's what you must do" they know that the failure's on you if it doesn't work out they can say they were told to do it, but when someone's given the opportunity to choose, the opportunity to decide, the opportunity to commit on their own, to create consensus, to say yes that we can do this, the level of ownership they have in that outcome goes up exponentially.

There is no comparison between a human being told what to do and being allowed to be part of the decision-making process and make the decision with a team. When you create consensus your results will happen.

Now, this might require you to slow down a little bit as an enteprenuer. This might require you to start having meetings where you tell people what you think you're going to do rather than telling them what you're going to do. This might require you to in the short-term put more process in place so that the team truly knows what's going on and they can have intelligent decision-making with you.

I want you to know if it feels like you've slowed down, if it feels like you're not doing as much, if it feels like you are taking too many steps, that's okay because if you've never done this before you will not recognize the level of productivity you can achieve when your team has consensus versus what you'll get when your team is told what to do.

When you drive for consensus you exponentially increase the potential output of your company and you leave it there permanently. If you wonder how world-changing teams go out and make things happen, if you've wondered how other entrepreneurs look like they're having so much fun with their teams and going out and achieving, and if you've wondered how you can build a team where you feel comfortable, you know things are going to happen, you can grow greater outcomes, and you never feel like you just want to quit and go back to doing it all yourself, learn how to gain consensus and commitment with your team. Show them they are part of the process, alow them to co-create with you, and they will passionately go out and achieve your goals.

The opportunity we have as entrepreneurs to make things happen in the world is overwhelming. If we're willing to give that opportunity to the people around us the amount that we can do, the outcomes we can create, and the results that we will have all shift up in a way that I can't possibly explain. You have to experience.

Drive for consensus with your team, let them know how important they are, show them they are part of the process, and your entire business will level up.

If you're ready to change your business, change your life, and finally build the team around you that's going to help you grow a seven figure business, or if you've grown a seven figure business and want to go to eight figures, I have a group where we help entrepreneurs that have created a seven figure opportunity, so $83,000 a month or more, grow to the point where you can get to eight figures or more.

We recently had clients go from $2 million [inaudible 00:11:01] to a $15 million [inaudible 00:11:05] rate in just under seven months. I know you can too. If you've created a massive opportunity and you're ready to take advantage of it and finally build the team around you, get in touch. We're ready to talk.