Episode 043 - Steve Yencich, CAE

 

Continuous improvement is the number one way to stay relevant to your membership or client base. It doesn't matter how long you have operated under your current patterns, you always have the choice to make a change.

Steve Yencich, president and CEO of the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association, has been practicing how to stay the course of continuous improvement to help lead his organization to new growth. He talks to Mike about what he has learned by going counterintuitive to old business patterns. 

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QUOTE IT

“This planning process really empowered [the board] to start to look from that 20, 30-thousand foot level.” (4:48)

“If we don’t create an experience compelling enough...they’ll go somewhere else.” (11:12)

DIG IN

At 3:25 Steve gives a first-hand account of why it’s so important for the executive director to own a reinvention plan from the start.

Mike and Steve start to talk about how a feedback loop drives new behavior to stay in continuous improvement mode around 16:45. Listen closely to Steve’s clever approach.

TAKEAWAYS

1- Write your own plan and be accountable to it, even when it means accepting responsibility for the failures.
2 - Guard against falling back into old behaviors on a day to day basis.
3 - Good leaders are partners in the change process with their board, staff and other key stakeholders.
4 - Be willing to make course changes as you get new feedback while you’re connecting your plan to your audience.
5 - There’s a hidden opportunity in pulling old goals and objectives out of the mothballs to reinvigorate your core purpose.