A Key Differentiator for Success

Followership is an essential element to being a highly effective and high performing organization. Healthy followership is a real, genuine employee response to healthy, sincere leadership, especially if that leadership is clear about the vision for the organization and a good plan is in place to achieve that vision.

How a #2 makes a company #1
While analyzing our most effective clients at the Big River Group, we discovered that their key differentiator was the presence of a strong and effective #2 person. A #2 is the backbone of a business. It is the person you rely on when you cannot or do not have the personal resources to attend to business yourself. You trust and rely upon them to manage your business as if it were their own. These are the people that can:

• Think like an owner
• Model effective, healthy followership
• Understand, promote and help deliver the organizational vision
• Manage essential outcomes as identified within the strategic plan
• Help employees to persist, succeed and thrive
• Learn and model new skills
• Be comfortable with role ambiguity

Most #2 employees stand out from day one. They ask how high they should jump and they regularly jump without being asked. They are at the office early and they stay late. They anticipate issues and develop solutions, frequently on their own time.

There is always a high demand for outstanding #2s. The economy does not affect their ability to be approached by another company. Good leaders know the importance of their second in command and they must understand what it takes to make #2 employees productive and happy – beyond a salary.

Equipping #2s 

To better understand #2s and followership, Big River Group staff spent hours interviewing successful #2s in business. The #2s shared what makes them happy and, more importantly, what makes them stay at their place of employment. Some of the #2s started out in the #2 position, while others naturally transitioned up due to their drive and personality.

The findings and analysis are discussed in the book Looking Out for #2. We have also developed a unique training session that helps both #2s and #1s better leverage their skill sets and influence to deliver the best results for the organization.

Looking Out For #2 Training

This training day is designed to offer something specific to the #1s and #2s of an organization. The morning session targets #1s (such as business owners, CEOs, VPs, COOs, etc.). The afternoon session is for #2s (such as VPs, supervisors, managers, etc.). The two groups come together during lunch. Participants are encouraged to ask questions throughout the training session. Handouts detailing every strategy, tool and research summary are distributed.

Session #1: How to Work Smarter Through Your #2

This session helps owners and leaders get the most out of their most important asset: their #2 employee. This is the person you rely on when you cannot attend to every facet of the business. You trust and rely upon them to manage the place as if it were their own. Participants receive information and training on:

• Finding and selecting #2s
• Communicating the organizational vision
• Teaching, coaching and developing them
• Delivering feedback
• Getting them to deliver results
• Reinforcing them
• Getting them to think like an owner
• Retaining them