by Renee Coulombe
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Businesses today need to move fast to stay competitive. But how can today's leaders help their organizations move faster? One way to speed business execution is through better communication.

Here are three ways that business leaders can improve communication without slowing things down —so work can move forward quickly.
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by Staff Writer
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By the end of this year, enterprises are expected to pass the 50 percent milestone for cloud adoption, meaning that half of businesses will be using at least one cloud application, platform, or service. But this prediction also means that by 2019, the other half will still be missing out on the tremendous benefits cloud computing can offer.

The cloud refers to software and network infrastructures that are hosted in remote data centers rather than on your business’s premises or devices, accessed via the internet. The slow rate of adoption means that many businesses have yet to realize the operational improvements and efficiencies that can come from the cloud.
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Words from Ian Khan, technology futurist and author of Cloud Wars, stand out: “We still have a lot of catch-up to do. Enterprises are planning the future, but many are still living in the past.”  But for growth-focused organizations, he says, “there’s no other option. The future is about the cloud.”

How can moving to the cloud benefit your business? By taking a page out of Khan’s book, we’ve identified four key benefits.

by Staff Writer
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Have you done anything different this past week? Something you’ve never done before?

It might be something as simple as talking to a coworker you haven’t met before, or trying a new way to complete a task. Or maybe something bigger, like taking a training course on a topic you’ve been wanting to learn more about, or signing up to speak at a conference.  
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by Renee Coulombe
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Business today is moving faster than ever, and leadership must accelerate work processes in order to stay competitive. In fact, a survey by Forbes found that 92% of executives believe that organizational agility is critical to business success.

But how do you speed up in the right way? Here are ten ways a work execution platform can help you move faster — so you can say yes to more ideas, more customers, and more revenue.
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by Stephen Danos

The benefits of building and maintaining a culture of quality can be measured in dollars. According to a 2014 study, companies that emphasize quality, and ultimately make fewer mistakes, can save an estimated $67 million per every 5,000 employees.

At a time when customers increasingly use social media and online reviews to make informed purchasing decisions, the pressure is increasing for businesses to continually raise the quality of their offerings. This emphasis on quality — combined with pressures to respond to changing demands at speed — can lead to more mistakes for companies that lack a clearly defined doctrine of quality.

So, how do effective leaders build and sustain a culture of quality — without sacrificing speed? Here are some ways business leaders can get started.
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by Stephen Danos
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Before founding his own company, Kevin Carroll led and contributed to teams of all shapes and sizes. He served in the Air Force as a translator, was Head Athletic Trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers, and facilitated change at Nike as a “Katalyst” — a role where he helped leaders and teams reach their creative potential through balancing play and productivity.

Suffice to say, Mr. Carroll knows the value of how clear communication, visibility, and creative confidence make teams of all types productive.

After giving a guest talk at Smartsheet, he took time to chat with us about his philosophy on structured play, what makes for successful teams, and how leaders can create a positive environment for speedier business execution. Out of this talk emerged three traits that impactful leaders need to build trust and stay motivated.

In addition, he shared how to build an inclusive, winning workplace culture, and some relevant books that all leaders should read.
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by Stephen Danos
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Earlier this month, we posted an interview with author and speaker Kevin Carroll that delved into three traits that all successful leaders have that help motivate their teams.

When it comes to company cultures, there is another concept Carroll espouses that helps to unite and motivate teams — play.  

“What I love about play is it allows you to have a level of confidence, especially creative confidence, and agility and nimbleness. As far as play, you have to problem-solve on the fly.”
—Kevin Carroll

Purposeful play can organize teams around common goals, then motivate them to problem-solve, create, and collaborate more effectively and quickly than before.

by Stephen Danos
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Many powerful business leaders no longer leave their work at the office. Instead, they’ve intentionally embraced work-life integration over work-life balance, and expect their employees to follow suit.

Work-life integration is a more harmonious approach, entwining career and personal activities so that professionals can make decisions wherever they are in order to execute on business objectives. Basically, if you are productive, excited, and joyous at work, the thought is you will bring that home with you, and vice versa.

For those who embrace work-life integration, here are some tips and tools that free you up to move faster on higher impact work throughout your day.
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by Stephen Danos
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by Stephen Danos
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In order to gain a competitive advantage in today’s business world, companies need to make speed a habit and accelerate workflows, all while avoiding the Red Queen Effect: working faster and harder to stay in the same place.

As pressure to innovate grows, companies need to continuously improve on their products and processes, taking in to account internal observations and customer feedback. This means being proactive and, like experienced chess players, thinking several steps ahead to compete without sacrificing quality.

The combination of a clear foundational vision, organizational alignment, and emphasis on speed allows business leaders to build successful, cross-functional teams. Once these are firmly in place, businesses can run faster and smarter.
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