Sylvia Henderson, CEO
MindTeam Solutions, Inc. was formed in 2017 as a collaboration between two vastly different people. Josh Silverstone is the COO and co-founder. We met when he was in a mastermind group that I ran. He liked my thoughts about bringing the mastermind concept to organizations and approached me about partnership.
At the time, I was very frustrated as a solo coach, consultant, and speaker. So, I welcomed the chance to have a business partner to focus on business development. Josh is the sales guy. And partnering up was a brilliant decision that I made.
As MindTeam Solutions, we do a lot of strategy work. We help organizations with strategic planning, then ask: what solutions do you need that we as a company can offer?
Coaching? Consulting? Masterminds? These are some of our primary methods.
We bring masterminds into organizations to help create long-term “stickiness” for the material. New learning sticks through repeated connection, and people need to be able to practice the things they learn in training and coaching. Middle management is whom we serve, but the C-suite signs the contracts.
Then, we partner with other practitioners to provide a range of services that Josh and I no longer offer directly. We have someone who does assessments. Same with specific training. I no longer want to be in front of a classroom, so we bring in trainers if we need to build training into a contract.
This is why I love connecting with Chambers, Black organizations, and other organizations like the Montgomery County Black Database. These are the places where I source subcontractors to provide many of the services we deliver to clients.
Our mission at MindTeam Solutions is to help people grow in their jobs and lives, which makes them better contributors to their organizations. Building the organization is what we do, but we do it through the people who work for those companies.
What's Top of Mind Today for MindTeam Solutions Clients?
These days, people are returning to work from years of remote work. Companies are asked: “How do we get our people back, working together, back in the office, being cordial with each other, being professional again when they have gotten used to working in sweatpants and pajamas? Companies are asking us for help training their people on people skills, which is different from where we intended to focus at this juncture – but I’m good at helping companies deal with that.
People need to come together for connection, engagement, and collaboration. They do this effectively in small groups that can be facilitated, that are formal, and that work together over time: internal masterminds, in fact. (We wrote the book on that: Internal Masterminds).
Another new issue for companies is the loss of people who exited during the pandemic, the epidemic of “quiet quitting.” And newer people may not have experience as managers. While they may be smart and capable technically, not all new managers have emotional intelligence competencies. How do we help these new managers get up to speed? A lot of the skillsets that make a highly effective manager are skills that have to be learned.
Where is MindTeam Solutions Heading in 2023?
One of the things we preach to clients – and that we do for ourselves every quarter – is to take a hard look at our goals for the coming months. We have developed a one-page planning tool to help companies with this process. This kind of planning brings us down to the projects, the timeline, and the actions needed month after month to ensure we realize our big, annual goals. It makes strategy real and actionable.
So I know that in the next few months, we will pivot away from what we’ve been dealing with for the past year and a half: How do you manage the hybrid environment? Now, more and more companies are forcing people back into the office, and remote work is less and less accommodated. We see a lot more focus on leadership – mid-level management, new managers – and what’s now shaping up is: how do we get these people to be effective managers?
We want to offer our direct content to mid-level managers, and we also need to develop e-courses. Content development will be my focus. I’ll be using LinkedIn more effectively to establish the thought leadership that attracts the decisionmakers we need to reach. Josh will be doing hard-charging business development.
I also do some independent small-group facilitating for a couple of clients to keep myself in the game – “sharpen the saw,” as they say.
What County Resources Have You Relied On While Building Your Business?
I’ve used a number of the resources under the economic development umbrella – I refer to them as “the offices on Rockville Pike.” However, many agencies have new names, and the people running them have changed. But early on, I leaned on some of those small business and entrepreneurial resources.
Now that we’ve moved more to a corporate market, I still use the Maryland Black Chamber. We’ve started a new Leadership Academy year, and I’m facilitating those sessions at the Chamber for my second time. I know a lot of people there, and I call on some of them when we need to tap into things like HR resources and payroll resources. We don’t do those things ourselves.
Also, Leadership Montgomery. I went through that class many years ago. I still use a lot of resources from my member colleagues.
I’m president of Montgomery Women, where I encounter many advocacy and nonprofit resources.
And I am a member of the National Speakers Association – where I can find resources and partners for coaching, training, and assessments.
Advice for Young and Emerging Businesses
I have learned to be more selective in what organizations I join. And my networking is more strategic. Today, I’m asking who can introduce me to corporate clients. Who is already working with corporate clients but needs specific skillsets that we have that can meet their corporate clients’ needs? So, corporate is my focus. It’s essential to be clear about whom you’re serving.
We are a C-corp with the intention to grow into a company that can be acquired or sold. We look at our business now as a corporate entity rather than as solo entrepreneurs. I constantly ask myself, as the CEO, and Josh, as the COO: What is it that only we can do? We’re focusing on the decisionmakers now. So, when I’m not maintaining that focus, I’ll catch myself and ask: Why are you doing that? As the CEO, I need to focus on the things in my lane: networking, business development, and creating structure and strategy for the business to continue beyond me.
Don’t get caught up being the CEO – Chief Everything Officer. Base your business decisions on the question: How can I build something that can live beyond the next two or three years of me working on my own?
That’s the main thing I encourage entrepreneurs to think about.
