Cascading Leadership Series – Go Team!

Just to refresh, we’re talking about Cascading Leadership—leadership at all levels. The kind of leadership that soaks everything in its path with your vision and values, like a waterfall soaking all the rocks as it cascades down. In the last couple of months, we’ve talked about job titles and descriptions, Learning Paths, and senior management decisions—all worth checking out if you’ve missed it or just joined us! Today, we’re hitting another aspect of leadership structure—language and labels.

Building Team Spirit

We use military language at Nolan Painting—we talk in terms of teams, crews, and squads—each with a different name and logo.

Using teams and logos is an easy win when creating a cascading leadership structure because it’s a fun and interesting way to unite a team. I involved the employees in this process, and many came up with team names and logos that are symbolic and meaningful to them. They even create their own logos!

Easy Win and Positive Drama!

An apprentice might be a member of Alpha Squad, the Coyote Crew, and Team Thunder. I know it sounds complicated, but it’s not really. It’s certainly not more complex than figuring out how the teams are divided up in the NFL, the NBA, or MLB.

The team concept is important because it gives people identities and a sense of belonging. No one wants to have their identity as. “I am part of Jack’s team.” Instead, they proudly say, “I’m a member of The Boltz!” The teams are allowed to pick their own names. As CEO, I act as the commissioner and approve (all but the absurd) requests. This boosts morale and serves as another form of positive drama that keeps employees engaged while providing a clear structure for our leadership and org chart.

Win-Win!

You gotta build fun and positivity into your company culture where you can. Till next week, build muscle (and make it fun)!