The Gapology Guys

Mind the Gap. This familiar phrase from our friends across the pond provides a slightly different context when examining Performance compared to Perception. In this week’s Gapology Radio podcast, we discuss all of this through the lens of Gapology. 

When connecting team members to what matters most, the leader matters. They help to show the way and model the mindset needed to live at a "Being Level" for elements most critical to an organization. Listen to our discussion as we describe the "Being Ladder," where we lay out methods to move from "Knowing" and "Doing" to "Being."

When looking at the various levels of commitment shown by team members, we view them through the lens that the team member is solely responsible for being committed to their role, task, or employment in general. What we tend to forget, however, is the leader’s role and responsibility in all that. In this week’s Gapology Radio podcast, we discuss this important topic and show how the leader matters most.

When teams move through moments of change in the workplace, they experience real human emotions and, as a result, human behaviors that must be planned for by their leader. In this episode, we discuss a model called "The DABA Change Ladder" and how leaders matter in smoothly leading teams through these potentially stressful moments.

One of the critical elements A-Group leaders bring to the table is a consistent rhythm around creating accountability. This week’s Gapology Radio podcast episode discusses three key ways these winning leaders create transparent and consistent accountability.

In our new Gapology Radio podcast episode, Mark and Brian discuss the origins of their third book, “Speed of Purpose: Achieve 2.8X Productivity and Beyond.” They share where it came from, how it is all laid out, and how it can help you when you create a clear and compelling purpose that is wrapped around your People, Performance, and Processes of your organization. 

In this Gapology Radio podcast episode Mark and Brian discuss the origins of their second book, “IMBAR: The Pathway of Transformation.” They share what it is, where it came from, how it has impacted leaders from many industries, and how it can help you as well. 

In this Gapology Radio podcast episode, authors Mark Thienes and Brian Brockhoff discuss the origins of Gapology.
Mark shares how he originally began looking at the various similiarities and differences in top and bottom performing groups. Then, through extensive interviews and in analyzing the wide swing in mindsets and behaviors between the two groups, many consistent methods surfaced which created sustained winning performance. From there came Gapology.
Hear his incredible story today!

You must clarify… and exhibit… the expectations and priorities to create a real impact for your team and yourself. In this week's episode, we discuss the importance of your leadership rhythm when it comes to setting and delivering your highest expectations and overall purpose.

If we had to choose one skill that would be the most critical to producing outstanding leadership and impacting your team, customers, or larger organization, it would be Communication. It sits at the heart of every other leadership skill. This Gapology Radio podcast episode discusses methods to create a Leadership Rhythm with Communication that delivers high impact.

One of the critical areas to create lasting high-impact effects on your team is to focus on development. In this Gapology Radio episode, authors Mark Thienes and Brian Brockhoff discuss the importance of carving time into your Leadership Rhythm for planning and executing development elements for your team… and yourself.

When building a Leadership Rhythm that impacts your leadership life and your team’s experience, your efforts must be strategic. Listen in as authors Mark Thienes and Brian Brockhoff share insight into making the analysis of results… and the behaviors that drive them… part of your weekly Leadership Rhythm.

As business leaders, we must always consider what is best for the business in our decision-making process. One of our largest investment areas is our people, and similar to other areas of our organization, we must also define our expectations for the results of this investment area. We must clarify what our expected return must be from it. This is our People ROI. 
Listen in as authors Mark Thienes and Brian Brockhoff discuss the decision of “How do you know when to invest in someone?”

Join our discussion on "Relentless Training" with Martial Arts Hall of Fame legend, Grandmaster Shogun Gregg Brown, 9th degree Red Belt and owner of Shogun Martial Arts, Shogun International Federation of Martial Arts, and Mojo Magic Fitness. Hear about his journey and how a focus on continuous improvement with discipline, balance, and rhythm helps him to improve the lives of the youth, adults, and law enforcement community in the Kansas City area. 

Many questions get raised when leaders and training departments are asked to “retrain” team members. One that we need to ask ourselves is, “Was the initial training insuffient, ineffective, or would we be better served to focus our attention elsewhere to create lasting performance improvement?” In this Gapology Radio podcast episode we explore this common topic. 

You think you may have an idea that someone is ready for the next big step in their career. They seem ready to be promoted… but are they truly? In this week’s Gapology Radio podcast episode, we discuss key things to look for as evidence that they may be mentally and emotionally ready with the necessary skills they will need to really excel. 

How do you know when to add headcount to your existing team? How do you know when to replace existing performers? In essence, when do you make the decision to place that ad on Indeed and LinkedIn?
This is often a tough choice, and in this new Gapology Radio podcast series we begin to ask the question, “How do you know…?” around topics like tonight’s which is “How do you know when to hire?”

As we look at developing lasting engagement in our teams, we must consider how healthy the interpersonal relationships are between individuals and work groups within our organizations. This week’s Gapology Radio podcast discusses how developing these relationships within a strong, interdependent culture takes focus within your larger leadership rhythm... and tips to do so more effectively. 

Like peanut butter and jelly go together, so do Expectations and Accountability. In this Gapology Radio podcast episode, we discuss the important connection between them and provide a clear five-step process to create clarity and engagement around what your team needs to do and what the outcome of their work will need to be to help you deliver your highest objectives. 

Communication is most likely the single skill to build if you want to be an effective leader. Without excellent communication skills and consistent strategies that really work, you will struggle with everything. In this Gapology Radio episode, we discuss creating a leadership rhythm around two-way communication to drive team engagement to help you solidify your role as a Winning Leader.

In the typical employee lifecycle, there are many assumptions made by leaders. We assume that our new team members smoothly onboard to the organization, organically grow their skills, and efficiently begin contributing to our team’s success. In this Gapology Radio Podcast episode, we discuss intentionally developing your strategy of teaching and mentorship to create engagement and winning performance.

What creates the environment, or culture, where team members feel engaged? Well, we should begin by examining the driving force we can directly control… ourselves, as their leaders. In this Gapology Radio podcast episode, we discuss creating a Leadership Rhythm to reflect on the engagement levels of our team and ourselves, to intentionally design our weeks to grow those levels and improve overall results and satisfaction.

Change happens. It happens for our team, and it happens for us. How they, and we, move through the change can often define who we are and the things we work toward. As leaders, it is up to us to help guide and encourage them along that journey. This week’s Gapology Radio Podcast discusses “DABA,” a tool to help prepare for change and support your team as they move through it.

This Gapology Radio podcast episode examines our team members’ level of commitment to the things they do and how our connection with them drives that commitment and overall engagement. Our responsibility as their leader is to understand this to provide the things they require that keep them committed. 

Creating connection begins in the early stages of an employee’s journey with your organization but also throughout their career through development opportunities and launches of new initiatives where learning and growth are required. In this Gapology Radio podcast episode, we discuss leveraging the power of the Habit Ladder, one of our most popular tools, to grow knowledge, skills, commitment, and connection with your team.

In this episode, we look at creating connection with your team to help them move from Knowing to Doing to Being when it comes to engagement in their roles. Performing at a high level is possible when reviewing your team, their level of learning and impact, and then taking action as a leader. 

In this episode, we look at how we, as leaders, connect with our teams and ourselves by leveraging one of our most popular tools, TxM=P (Talent x Mindset = Performance). 

Team dynamics ebb and flow over time. Is yours acting in a dependent state where they rely on you for everything? Are they working solely in an independent, siloed state? Or are you creating an interdependent culture where they work collaboratively and leverage the strengths of each other to create exceptional results? In this Gapology Radio episode, we discuss these questions by looking at them through the lens of Gapology.

We all want to grow. Whether in our personal lives or within the scope of our work, growth is essential to staying effective, efficient, and relevant. Without continuous improvement in our skills and knowledge, we tend to fall into a state of stagnancy and apathy that can be extremely detrimental to our overall life and career goals. In this episode, we discuss ways to apply Gapology to create a culture of growth within your organization and individual life as well.

What methods and vehicles of communication have you found to be the most impactful for your team’s understanding, retention, and action? In this week’s Gapology Radio podcast, we discuss 3 steps to establish a structured, intentional process to deliver the messages you routinely share with your teams. 

Does your organization create action from its results? Do you? What are you doing with any information you gather from your weekly analysis efforts? In this Gapology Radio podcast episode, we discuss methods for looking at your top performers, measuring their results, and then establishing a culture of leveraging that insight to create action throughout the rest of the team. 

On this week’s Gapology Radio Podcast episode, we are thrilled to feature a winning leader from one of our Gapology Workshops. Patrick Gonzales joins us to share his top learnings and how they have impacted his leadership since attending. Listen in to hear how his experience is shaping his career! 

Creating a culture of winning is a process, not a destination. It is a continuous, ever-evolving environment intentionally built through dedication and focus. In this episode, we discuss methods from Gapology that you can leverage to define and design that culture in your workplace.

In this episode, we kick off a new series discussing ways to create specific cultural elements through the lens of Gapology and the methods we share. This series starts with a conversation on creating a "Culture of Purpose." "Purpose" is a critical, foundational element for any successful organization, as it emotionally connects people to the overall objective and provides a clear direction for everyone's efforts. 

Creating the career of our dreams requires a firm understanding of our past and, even more importantly, our present. To get to where we want to be, we need to know where we are, and briefly looking into our past for clues of potential obstacles helps us improve and more effectively move forward. The IMBAR Mapping process is the perfect vehicle to do all of this. As we wrap up our short series discussing IMBAR, we outline this simple, yet powerful process. 

Each of us has a story. We are writing a narrative every day that defines our lives. Many of us are not even aware of this fact, and as a result, we trudge through life without any sense of control or purpose, feeling unfulfilled, frustrated, and directionless. In reality, however, we, more than anyone else, have the ability to create the story we desire. In this episode, we discuss the power of creating a Storyboard based on how we currently see ourselves as a process to design the story we desire.

Like it or not, your IMBAR impacts your team. Your Identity, Mindset, and Behaviors create the Actions and Results that the team produces. You can see it. You can feel it every day. And by knowing this, you have a tremendous opportunity to do something really amazing with it. Their IMBAR is a direct reflection of your own IMBAR. Like a mirror in which you come face-to-face with yourself, your team’s Identity, Mindset, and Behaviors are really your own. 
So how do you create something amazing? Tune in to find out!

In this Gapology Radio podcast episode, we begin a new series discussing a process of mapping your Identity, Mindset, Behavior, Action, and Results, known by the acronym: IMBAR. We share a brief introduction and history while laying the foundation for this new series, where we will share insights into how you can leverage the power of IMBAR to transform your career, life, and the lives of those you impact… no matter what level of an organization you work in. 

Most organizations today have a “Meeting Culture,” and their teams commonly suffer from “Meeting Fatigue.” Driven by remote work and many other factors, there is no getting around it, and if not managed well, a Meeting Culture can be unproductive and demotivating. Listen to this week’s Gapology Radio podcast episode to learn 5 steps to make meetings more effective through a Gapology lens.

Where have you set your "Bar?" Do you know? The “Bar” in this context is the level of expectation for performance that you are going after. In this episode, we discuss five career-building behaviors that winning leaders can leverage to set themselves apart. 

In this episode, we have an in-depth conversation with Jonas Lee-Brockhoff, an Emerging Leader, to hear about his experience as a newly promoted IT Services and Technology Solutions leader and formerly enlisted United States Marine. Jonas shares common struggles and successes experienced when starting a new role and provides relevant advice to our listeners. 

Too much stress? Often stress in Emerging Leaders and their direct reports is due to a lack of clear process, resulting in chaos. In this week’s podcast episode, we discuss leveraging a clear Leadership Rhythm to establish predictable behaviors that your team, and you, can count on. 
Also, read our full blog on this topic here: https://www.gapology.org/post/reduce-stress-with-leadership-rhythm-an-emerging-leaders-episode

Personal and professional growth sits at the heart of winning leadership. Just as the Knowledge Gap is the first Performance Gap we must identify and close when we miss achieving our objectives, self-development must be the first thing we go after when attempting to improve our performance.
Listen to Mark and Brian discuss self-development as they continue their series on Emerging Leaders.

Accountability is a tricky thing to get right. Come on too strong, and you risk alienating the team and breaking apart any positive culture you try to create. Come on too weak, and you put developing respect and confidence at risk. Emerging leaders struggle here. Actually, many experienced leaders do as well.
This week, Mark and Brian discuss this incredibly important subject.

In this episode, Mark and Brian continue their series for Emerging Leaders with a discussion on how to set clear expectations effectively. Often new leaders struggle here, resulting in an overly commanding or weak style that creates teams that are uninspired, confused, and non-committed. Our tips provide a simple, action-oriented method to quickly up your expectations game!
Also, read our full blog on this topic: https://www.gapology.org/post/expectations-emerging-leaders-series

In this week’s Gapology Radio podcast, we discuss how “Emerging Leaders”, today’s young or inexperienced leaders, can leverage a set of behaviors we call “EDGE” to make their impactful mark on their team, organization, and career as a whole. 

In this episode we discuss the importance of defining true Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that really matter to your most important objectives and then building a strategy to deliver them developed from the behaviors exhibited by your top performers. 
Read the full blog on this topic here: www.gapology.org/blog

In this episode, we share our experiences developing and delivering short, impactful lessons that create action with teams. We call these "Teachable Points of View," and they are intended to be delivered in short, bite-sized sessions of around 15 minutes when the situation arises where teams need your teaching, coaching, or inspiration. We recommend developing your own or using some of ours from our book, "Gapology," and keeping them close at hand for when the time is right to show your leadership!
Read our full blog on this topic: https://www.gapology.org/post/teachable-points-of-view-to-create-action
 
 

We are proud to share that our very own Gapologist, Mark Thienes is now a fiction author. His new novel, "Unraveled: The DNA Kill Switch," is available on Amazon, and this is the first interview where Mark shares a little history of this new venture. As we head into a little break, listen in as we discuss his new book!
Pick up your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Unraveled-Switch-Mark-Henry-Thienes/dp/1639884556/ref=sr_1_2?crid=9CDHEWP7YGHE&keywords=unraveled&qid=1660502143&rnid=2941120011&s=books&sprefix=unraveled%2Caps%2C148&sr=1-2
 

As individual contributors, it is often “hit or miss” when receiving individualized training and a focused effort to develop skills by your leader. So what do you do as that dedicated, hard-working individual who wants to succeed? The methods laid out in Gapology point the way. In this episode, we discuss these principles. 
Read the full blog here: https://www.gapology.org/post/becoming-a-leader-with-knowledge-importance-and-action