Volkmar Völzke's BLOG

Let's cut to the chase: with a mediocre team, you can achieve mediocre results at best. More importantly, you run the risk of becoming progressively obsolete, if only because there will always be teams that perform better than yours.

I define a top team (or winning team) as one that consistently delivers top results and has fun doing it. So, it's not about running on the afterburner, but - on the contrary - full energy for team success, based on high inspiration and fun.

And, it's not just about teams in the narrower sense, but sometimes about entire companies.

When I look around, I see most teams in companies running at half power at most. And most of them are not even fully committed and enjoying their work.

On the contrary, those teams that are top performers are much more attractive to talent and display positive energy.

So, what are the top three levers you can use to create a winning team?

1. Clarity of identity. You may be surprised that this comes first. The longer I coach...

One of the most powerful concepts in psychology and leadership is that we always behave according to our identity. "Identity" here means the very person we believe ourselves to be.

Sounds complicated? Well, it's quite simple if we explain it with examples: If you give yourself the identity of being a trusting person, you will deal with other people differently than if you have the conviction that others are to be distrusted first, before they have earned your trust.

Or: If your identity is also defined by the fact that you want to live in security and prosperity, you will deal with money quite differently than someone who focuses on risk and variety.

Two things are important here: Your identity determines your success much more than your abilities. And second, you can reshape your identity at any time. You are responsible for it.

And one more thing: teams and companies also have a self-imposed identity that they behave according to. This is extremely important if you want to take...

Every week I send out an issue of the Friday Noon Memo to ambitious people - and I've been doing it for 600 weeks!

That's an impressive number. And it confirms one of my principles for success: Consistency and follow-through are an essential foundation for success.

Here are three of the memos from the past years. Enjoy reading, watching and applying!

Is your company exciting or perfect?

One of the thought models I use with leadership teams is the typical business development curve between the two dimensions “Enthusiasm” and “Perfection”. The typical life cycle of any business starts out with high enthusiasm and high imperfection of anything they do. Read more

Among friends

Do you feel like being among friends at work? Otherwise success potentials will be neglected!  Read more

The amazing differences

Most people never look beyond their own beliefs and experiences. Here are three ideas about what you can do for you and your team to...

In my workshops and also in coaching, I hear this objection time and again: "Why should I even want to achieve more? I'm satisfied as it is!"

Now, of course, there is little to be said against someone being satisfied. But many people confuse satisfaction with happiness and fulfillment. The problem is that you almost always notice the difference only after a long delay:

What makes me "satisfied" today makes me unhappy and, above all, unfulfilled in the long run.

There are studies on what people wish most, shortly before they die, if they could have changed something in their lives: They often wish they had dared and tried more, but never that they had had a calmer and more satisfied life.

If that's not enough for you to question your contentment, here are three more rational reasons why you should definitely be more ambitious:

1. Standing still is an illusion. There's the famous saying "stagnation is regression". This is absolutely true: there is no "standing still" in nature or in...

You're probably familiar with the Theory of Constraints, which is all about uncovering and removing the biggest bottlenecks to greater success.

Behind this is the unproductive habit that we often improve those things that have little notable impact on results. Conversely, we care too little about what is really the bottleneck to our success.

Why is this so? Two reasons:

• Lack of awareness. Many people are not even aware of what their biggest bottlenecks are in life and work. A coach helps to identify them.
• Avoidance. Eliminating our biggest chokepoints is often uncomfortable. Namely, it is our dear habits that stand in our way. Here, too, a coach helps.

To make it a little more concrete, here are three typical bottlenecks for you as a leader that get in the way of your success:

1. Hanging on instead of letting go. After all, it's good to reinforce what makes us successful. The only thing is that over time, the parameters change so that the very thing that made us successful now...

On a scale 1 to 10: How focused on the most value-creating activities are you, on average? By “value-creating”, I mean those activities that represent the best use of your time to move you toward your goals. Those can be personal or business goals.

The key question is not how much time you put into tasks, but how much value you put into time.

This is because time is the only limited resource. Most people would score below 5 on this scale, which even includes accomplished business leaders. 

As a consequence, all successful people try to become increasingly focused. But there is a trap: By becoming focused on only a few things, many leaders ignore any other input that comes unexpectedly. They might be focused, but become ignorant of new ideas. 

Typical statements of CEOs: “We are focused on cost saving. I have no time to listen to your ideas for increasing revenue and profitability in the short-term.” Does this sound ridiculous to you? Careful:

...