The Problem Was Never the Business

I recently sat down with Jonathan B. Smith, better known as JBS, and we traded session-room stories.

Early in our conversation, he shared a story that gets to the heart of team health. He was facilitating a session with a family business when two family members started yelling at each other. The team couldn’t just keep working through the agenda like nothing had happened. Before they could solve anything in the business, they had to deal with the relationship issue between the people leading it.

I’ve been in a version of that room. Years ago, I was working through an Accountability Chart with a team. We were hours in and getting nowhere. The chart wasn’t the problem. Two leaders didn’t trust each other, and everyone could sense it. Once we said it out loud, the entire conversation changed.

Leadership teams can spend a lot of time trying to solve business issues when, in reality, a team health issue is shaping the conversation. They keep pressing on, hoping the right tools will create a breakthrough. But when trust is low, even the best tools won’t create real progress.

Focus Points
“I believe that team health is 70% of making EOS work.”
- Jonathan B. Smith

Impact Moments
When Every Seat Points to You

JBS has been around EOS® almost since the beginning. He was Gino Wickman’s second client, has facilitated more than 1,500 leadership team sessions, and is now an Expert EOS Implementer™.

In this episode of Impact Moments, he shares lessons from the session room, including what he’s learned about team health, trust, and the conversations leaders often avoid. He also shares his experience working with Chris Voss, author of Never Split the Difference, and how negotiation principles can help leadership teams work through difficult moments.

On the Calendar
What Team Health and Scorecards Have In Common

JBS and I spent a lot of time talking about the issues teams avoid. A good Scorecard helps leadership teams spot issues earlier, before they turn into bigger problems.

On July 2 at 1 p.m. ET, Ninety Product Marketing Lead Spencer Williams will walk through what strong Scorecards measure, how to build them inside Ninety, and how to create consistency across teams.