Back to Cohort Installation

All 16 Sessions

The complete session-by-session breakdown of the Cohort Installation. 3 phases. Each phase builds on the previous. Phase 1 stands alone.

Phase 1 - Sessions 1-66 Sessions

Foundation

The behavioral foundation of GDD. Before the operating system can be installed, leaders must establish who they are under pressure and how they lead. These six sessions build the identity discipline that makes everything in Phase 2 and 3 hold.

1Guide vs Drive at the Leadership Level

The foundational distinction. Getting the best FOR people vs FROM them. Recognizing rescue, control, and driving behaviors under pressure.

2Creating and Giving Trust

Trust as a behavioral standard - extended before it is earned, repaired immediately when broken. The prerequisite for every guiding discipline.

3Knowing Your Team

The Know to Grow sequence. Behavioral wiring, motivator mapping, LifeBlend. You cannot guide someone you do not know.

4Growing Your Team

Know gap vs grow gap diagnosis. GDD Coaching Mode - the 6-Step as a guided conversation. The discipline to let people struggle without rescuing.

5Baker's Dozen and Critical Thinking

The primary guiding conversation tool. 13 questions across four stages: Ground, Clarify, Understand, Own. Applied in real conversations.

6Difficult Conversations

The guiding conversation structure for high-stakes moments - accountability, performance, standard enforcement. Recovery as the foundation of every difficult conversation.

Phase completion: Leaders leave Phase 1 guiding rather than driving. They have a Personal Leadership Score they can state without being asked. They know how to coach rather than fix.

Phase 2 - Sessions 7-126 Sessions

The Operating System

The GDD operating system installed at the individual leader level. Winning, standards, tolerance, recovery, and weekly behavioral governance - all installed and running before Phase 3 begins.

7Upward Influence Mastery

GDD applied across authority lines. Influencing senior leaders and peers using guiding behaviors - not position, not pressure.

8The Accountability Engine

The accountability sequence: Winning -> Standards -> Tolerance -> Recovery. Personal Standards Library: Stop/Start/Protect behaviors.

9The Culture Weight System

The Tolerance Audit - naming every active tolerance. The Culture Weight System - measuring what you are actually allowing. Tolerance reset through guiding conversation.

10The Influence Lab

The Personal Leadership Score - your own behavioral scoreboard. Influence through behavioral predictability. The Team Scoreboard - visible wins and behavioral governance.

11The Leadership Cadence Operating System

The Personal Leadership Declaration. Weekly behavioral governance at the individual leader level. Recovery as a weekly discipline, not a crisis response.

12The Leadership Operating System Install

Full GDD OS installed at the individual level. Monday Morning Implementation (MMI) - the weekly governance rhythm. Personal Governance Protocol - the system that holds without external accountability.

Phase completion: From Session 12 onward, every cohort session opens with a Personal Leadership Declaration: score declared, behavior held or missed with evidence, recovery named. No explanations. Declarations only.

Phase 3 - Sessions 13-164 Sessions

Selection, Cascade, and Permanence

Phase 3 leaders select for the system, cascade GDD to the next layer, and formalize the governance that makes installation permanent. Phase 3 completers become internal stewards - the natural bridge to the Enterprise Installation.

13GDD Role Design

Every role defined through the 6-Step Performance Engine. Behavioral outcome definition. The selection standard as a governance tool - before the hire, not after.

14Results-Based Interviewing™

RBI - the 6-Step applied in Selection Mode. Evidence-based interrogation of results a candidate produced and the behavioral pattern behind them. Not STAR. Evidence.

15Install Your Standard in Your Organization

System Cascade - GDD extended to the next leadership layer. The cascade conversation. Enterprise bridge - how individual installation feeds organizational deployment.

16Personal Durability and Permanent Governance

Personal Governance Protocol - self-sustaining behavioral governance. Peer Accountability Partner - formal handoff of external accountability. Installation is declared complete.

Phase completion: Phase 3 leaders own their standard independently. The Peer Accountability Partner is formalized. Governance runs without LLI. Installation is complete.

Common questions

How is the Cohort Installation different from the Enterprise Installation?

The Cohort Installation deploys GDD at the individual leader level. No organizational authority is required - any leader can apply. The Enterprise Installation deploys GDD across an entire leadership layer, requires CEO enrollment, and runs 20 sessions across 8 phases. Many Enterprise Installations begin with leaders who completed the Cohort first.

Do I need to complete all three phases?

Phase 1 stands alone as a complete program - leaders decide whether to continue after Phase 1, not before. Phase 2 and Phase 3 are available to Phase 1 completers. Each phase builds on the previous one.

What does the completion standard mean?

From Session 12 onward, every cohort session opens with a Personal Leadership Declaration: score declared, behavior held or missed with evidence, recovery named. No explanations - declarations only. If behavior has not changed under live pressure, the installation is not complete.

What if I want to bring this to my whole organization?

Phase 3 positions completers as internal stewards for the Enterprise Installation. The enterprise bridge conversation happens naturally - many Enterprise Installations begin with leaders who completed the Cohort first. When you are ready, the conversation starts at /get-started.

How much time does this require?

Each session is 2 hours, delivered bi-weekly at 8:30-10:30 AM ET. Between sessions, leaders apply what was installed in real work. The full 16-session Cohort runs approximately 8 months.

Is this virtual or in-person?

Both. Sessions are held at 35200 Schoolcraft Rd, Livonia, MI 48150 with a virtual option available for every session.

What about the DEC Foundation?

The DEC Foundation is a separate program delivered in partnership with the Detroit Economic Club - available to DEC members only. It covers the same content as Phase 1 of the Cohort Installation. DEC Foundation completers can bridge directly into Phase 2 of the Cohort. If you are not a DEC member, the Cohort Installation begins at Phase 1.

Every week without this, drift compounds.

The Cohort Installation is 16 sessions over 8 months. Application-based. Not every applicant is accepted.