Just as Gandalf disappears a few times during the story The Lord of the Rings and trusts that his allies will carry on the journey, our CEO trusts us to do the same while he is gone. He trusts that we will not only keep business running as usual, but thrive doing it. Mark, Phase 2’s CEO, has been supporting an amazing organization called Young Life through a bike ride across the country starting on the coast of California and ending on the coast of Virginia on the 4th of July, 2016. You can read more about the coast2coast4yl bike ride in a recent Journal Record article. We have learned a lot through this process and don’t want to bottle-up our findings any longer.

• 1. Transformative Leadership Approach

  The leadership approach in our company is about walking the walk, not just talking the talk. We have executives and employees throughout the company who have learned the skills and disciplines that they will need to carry a team. It is much like the old saying, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” We constantly work as a team to figure out problems and learn from them. Do you have transformational leaders in your company? "Research evidence clearly shows that groups led by transformational leaders have higher levels of performance and satisfaction than groups led by other types of leaders," explained psychologist and leadership expert Ronald E. Riggio in an article appearing on the Psychology Today website.

• 2. Establish Clear Standards - Software Bill of Rights

  Our job is to make software that helps our clients be more successful. Easy to say, difficult to accomplish. Our Software Bill of Rights are the expectations we believe our customers should have during any software project. This gets everyone on the same page about what quality is expected and the necessary steps to assuring the development of a successful end product. When everyone knows what is expected, they keep themselves in check regularly without having to have someone babysit the process.

• 3. Establish Measurable Goals

  Having measurable goals goes hand-and-hand with clear standards. When both are present, the company will not fall apart or stay stagnant. The way we do this in our office is having measurable quarterly goals that help us to stay on focus and on track. We see the progress towards each goal during our monthly meeting. Our monthly meetings include everyone in the company. Everyone can see where we want to be and we all work together to get there. It is important to not just establish measurable goals but to express them to everyone. If company goals are not public knowledge, then the chances of the goals being met are substantially lower.

• 4. Self-Motivated Employees

  The question is not whether a boss can see an employee sitting at a desk for eight hours, but whether the employee is producing the work they're supposed to and meeting expectations. It is important to hire not only for talent, but for characteristic traits that define a self-motivated employee. At Phase 2, we have built a team of passionate people who love crafting beautifully useful software. The passion and inquisitive engineering mind-sets we look for naturally leads us to finding people who are self-driven and do not need external motivation from a boss.

• 5. Hiring and Developing a Good Executive Team

  If our executives were not here, our company would not survive with Mark being gone for that long. Our executives are not just business men who are concerned with financials and deadlines. They know what we are doing on each project and interact with the team every day. They are not statues behind wooden desks with fancy nameplates. They are a vital part of the team that understands software development as well as the client side of the process. Our executives live by the Software Bill of Rights and have helped to make it a part of our company culture so we can assure our clients are getting the best we have to offer. Mark has reached the shoreline of Virginia where the Coast to Coast for Young Life bike trip ends. We imagine him saying something to the tune of Gandalf's farewell message, “Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea...I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are evil.” He will start his journey back to the Phase 2 office where we will take back his throne and share tales from the journey. We are proud of Mark for going the extra miles to support the Young Life organization and create a company culture and structure that allowed him to be able to take this once in a lifetime opportunity.