Meet Tim Novak

Tim Novak is a John Maxwell Certified Executive Leadership Coach with over 30 years of experience in sales and business leadership. As a young entrepreneur, he started his own business and quickly became one of the highest performing salespeople in the organization. He grew into a leadership position where he oversaw sales and operations for a Fortune 500 organization with over 1700 franchises nationwide.

Tim believes in real leadership and lives out what it takes to achieve your full potential: Be all-In. Be real. Be bold.

Your Guide to Real Leadership

Expert guidance and practical solutions to transform your culture and scale your business.
Keynote speaker
Custom workshops
Private or group coaching
Books and courses

Six Words That Changed Tim’s Life “I Know You Can Do It”

The Woman Behind Tim’s Personal Transformation

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CYT Austin
Giving Back to His Community

Christian Youth Theater (CYT) Austin is an after-school theater arts and training program for students ages 8 to 18. Founded in 2015 by Julie and Tim Novak, CYT Austin helps participants build character and creativity while fostering Christian values.
Tim Novak serves as the Managing Director of CYT Austin. In his role, Tim provides leadership to CYT Austin while ensuring it fulfills its mission. His efforts help young people develop their talents, build confidence, and make a positive impact on the community.
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Singing In The Rain
Bye Bye Birdie

It’s OK to say, “I need help.”

As a business owner, you dream of having a profitable company you love—one with a healthy culture, empowered employees, and a leader (you!) with the skills to manage it all successfully.

But let’s be real. The day-to-day is often far from that vision. Instead, you’re putting out fires constantly—employee conflicts, team dysfunction, disappointing results. It’s exhausting and demoralizing.

You’re not alone in feeling ill-equipped to handle it all. Most of us never learned in school how to lead people, build a great team, or navigate the nuances of workplace dynamics. We were thrown into the deep end as business owners, left to figure it out on our own.

Here’s the good news—these are learnable skills. With some focused training and support from the John Maxwell Academy, you can absolutely turn this ship around. You can get your people working together smoothly, nip the drama in the bud, and create the business of your dreams.

It starts with investing in yourself and your leadership abilities. Seeking out those who have been where you are and come out the other side. Having the humility to say “I need help” and the courage to accept it.

You’ve got this. And you don’t have to do it alone.

Case Studies

Proof that Leadership is Learned

Meet high-achieving business professionals that have leveraged the power of Tim’s real leadership training to transform their businesses.
Novak Development clients are looking for an answer to a question— often related to understanding why leading and managing people can be such a challenge. For example, they may want to know why people do what they do, why change is so painful, or why their business is struggling to grow or scale.

The following high-achieving business professionals asked Tim to come in, listen to what is wrong, analyze the situation, and implement a practical solution. They wanted growth to be less of a struggle. They wanted a healthier cultures, high-performing teams, and more peace in their lives. They wanted to be effective, authentic, impactful leaders.

These clients accomplished their goals, and you can too.
  • Carve out a proven path to a healthier culture and bottom line.
  • Build effective, authentic, and impactful leaders.
  • Reduce the struggle and grow your business with peace.
Meet Lauren
Dentist and Owner of Dental Practice

Lauren was equipped with all the clinic skills to take care of patients, but not the business skills to run and operate her practice. Trying to manage people and be a boss without understanding different personality types gave Lauren a very painful season of life, where she did not think owning a practice was worth it anymore.

Lauren went from feeling unconfident and ill-equipped to feeling confident and well-equipped. Before Tim, Lauren felt like she was the problem. After Tim, she learned that it’s not her, it’s just the nature of employing human beings with unique personalities. Read Lauren’s story.

Meet Jeff
CEO of Mortgage Company

Jeff started a mortgage company but realized there was no developed talent his area, so he would have to hire at the entry level and build from the ground up over time. Since this has not been done before, Jeff knew that if this venture was going to succeed, he would need to get help from an expert on leadership, sales, and relationships.

Before Tim, Jeff felt ill-equipped and challenged by risk of innovating. His team lacked both soft and hard skills needed to be successful. After Tim, Jeff felt well-equipped and built a high functioning team. His company is now a top industry leader. Read Jeff’s story.

Meet Morris
CEO of Commercial Leasing Company

Morris was an all-star salesman, but his business was stagnant. Tim helped him realize that he was at a fork in the road—he would continue selling forever or train others to do what he did. With Tim’s help, Morris made the bold decision to leave his sales role and move into management. He effectively grew a team of all-star salespeople and triple his income.

Before Tim, Morris felt stagnant in his business and that his team did not have enough business savvy. He wanted his sales team to be smarter business people. After Tim, Morris gained a system to grow and scale. Read his story.

Meet Patrick
Manager at Manufacturing Company

Patrick faced the most painful season of his life after trading an incredibly successful sales position for a management role. He lacked an understanding of how to get employees to buy in and change or improve themselves. As a very driven person, failing to get people to come alongside him led him to almost reaching a breaking point.

Before Tim, Patrick was struggling, confused, and in pain. As he transitioned from sales to management, he couldn’t understand why people acted the way they did. After Tim, Patrick was confident, clear, and his well being was no longer affected by the little things. After getting focused on the people, things got easier. Read his story.

Build High-Performing Teams to Set Record Profits

Tim Novak’s strategies have helped businesses triple their income by improving employee communication, reducing workplace drama, increasing retention, and more.

Download this free guide now to learn how you can build high-performing teams to set your own profitability records.

7 Proven Strategies for Building High-Performing Teams

A FREE guide from Tim Novak

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Meet Jeff

CEO of Mortgage Company

Challenge: Building a Team Without Existing Talent

Jeff faced a major dilemma. As the founder of a new mortgage company, he realized there was no developed talent in the area. This lack of experienced personnel made it challenging to foster a high-functioning team—moreover, the high risk associated with his innovative approach added to the pressure. Jeff needed a system to help entry-level employees progress, and he needed to address the clashing personalities and big egos common in the mortgage industry.

Clashing Personalities:

In the mortgage field, there are a lot of big egos. Jeff’s team was unable to foster a safe space where ideas could be challenged but still constructive.

High Risk Innovation:

With innovation being so risky, there was a very real possibility that Jeff would fail. Without outsider expertise, Jeff’s team would not have developed the hard or soft skills needed to build a competitive business.

Lack of a System:

Jeff needed help creating a system that would allow entry-level employees to progress to the next level, managers to progress to leaders, and leaders to run the business exceptionally well.

Solution: Targeted Training and Leadership Development

Tim stepped in to help Jeff by leveraging his expertise in leadership, sales, and relationships. Using the DISC assessment, Tim could understand and appeal to the team members while helping them understand each other. Tim also provided leadership training based on John Maxwell’s frameworks and drew from his extensive sales experience to train the sales teams. This approach ensured that both soft and hard skills were developed.

Key strategies implemented:

DISC Assessment:

Being a master of the DISC assessment and interpreting the results allowed Tim to better understand who he was serving, how to appeal to them, and how to help them understand each other.

Leadership Training:

Using John Maxwell’s frameworks, Tim challenged and trained the leaders at Jeff’s company. He ensured that management was being developed and that the company was moving in a healthy direction from the top down.

Sales Training:

Leaning into his 38 years of incredible success as a salesperson, Tim provided the sales teams with valuable training.

Results: a thriving, top-performing team

Thanks to Tim’s strategic guidance, Jeff’s mortgage company has become a powerhouse. The sales team and managers are well-developed, there is a low turnover rate, and the company enjoys a unique competitive edge in the industry. Additionally, team members understand the DISC assessment, leading to greater trust and engagement, and strong relationships within the team.

  • Sales team is developed
  • Managers are developed
  • Low-turnover rate
  • Best in the business
  • Unique competitive edge
  • Understand DISC
  • Greater levels of trust and engagement

 

Meet Morris

CEO of Commercial Leasing Company

Challenge: Stagnant Business and a Tough Transition

Morris, an outstanding salesman, found his business at a standstill. Business was stagnant, with salespeople lacking the business acumen to scale effectively. Morris, stuck in his role as the top salesperson, needed to step into leadership. Without understanding how he could leverage leadership to change and grow the organization, he felt stuck.

Stagnant Business:

The salespeople were not business people, therefore building, creating, and growing would not be feasible without intervention and change.

Lack of Leadership:

Without Morris in a leadership position, the team suffered. For the business to grow, Morris had to learn how to be an effective leader so that his team could grow and thrive.

Strong Personalities:

With strong personalities inside the organization, change and growth seemed elusive and difficult.

Solution: personalized training and DISC assessment

Tim Novak created a personalized training plan to help Morris and his team improve communication and understand each other better. These strategies strengthened their leadership and sales skills.

Key strategies implemented:

Workshops:

After asking “What’s going on?” Tim created and led Morris’ team through a series of workshops. He would come in once a week for six weeks to conduct each workshop.

DISC:

Being a master of the DISC assessment and interpreting the results allowed Tim to help Morris and his team with their communication. They gained a better understanding of one another, how to appeal to each other, and how to effectively communicate.

Results: tripled income and doubled team size

With Tim’s guidance, Morris transitioned successfully into a leadership role, building a high-performing sales team. The business grew significantly, with the team size doubling and revenue tripling. Morris now regularly brings Tim in for workshops to continue their development.

  • Each team member became their best self
  • The team size doubled
  • Revenue tripled
  • Enhanced customer engagement
  • Improved communication skills
  • Improved customer service
  • Better understanding of team dynamics
  • Continuous growth and development
  • Engaged new customer segments

Meet Patrick

Manager at Manufacturing Company

Challenge: Transition FROM SALES to Leadership

Patrick was an incredibly successful salesperson but found moving into a management position extremely difficult. He could teach selling principles but couldn’t get his team to buy in and execute as a team effectively. Patrick didn’t understand why people behaved differently from him and struggled with leadership, leading to significant stress and confusion.

Painful Leadership Transition:

Moving from sales to leadership was extremely difficult as Patrick struggled to inspire his team.

Not Understanding People:

Patrick could not grasp the diverse motivations and communication styles of his team members.

Solution: Understanding People

Tim implemented the DISC assessment to help Patrick and his team understand their personality types. Tim had every employee take the assessment and held boardroom sessions where everyone was valued and heard. He also conducted one-on-one sessions with the company’s leaders, which positively impacted their leadership styles and trickled down to the teams.

Key strategies implemented:

DISC Assessment:

Leveraging his expertise in DISC assessments, Tim provided insights into individual personality types, enabling Patrick to tailor his leadership approach effectively.

Board Room Sessions:

Tim facilitated inclusive boardroom sessions where every team member, regardless of position, felt valued and participated actively in fostering a cohesive team environment.

One-on-One Coaching:

Personalized coaching sessions with Patrick and his leadership team helped refine their leadership styles, fostering a culture of servant leadership and mutual understanding.

Results: Successful Leadership Transformation

With Tim’s help, Patrick’s team started to understand each other better, leading to a more peaceful work environment. Managers became servant leaders, employees bought in to the team culture, and turnover was low. The business saw increased long-term partnerships and more effective communication throughout the company.

  • Managers became servant leaders
  • Enhanced understanding of individual needs and communication styles
  • High employee buy-in and low turnover
  • Increased business and longer partnerships
  • More effective team communication
  • Less stress and pain for staff

Meet Lauren

Dentist and Owner of Dental Practice

Challenge: Managing a Dysfunctional Team

Lauren’s team lacked communication skills, leading to daily drama and low morale. Lauren felt stressed, unconfident, ill-equipped, and alone. She second-guessed herself and believed she might be a bad boss. She had no knowledge of DISC personality types, causing further misunderstandings and conflicts within the team.

Key challenges:

Unhealthy Culture:

  • Dysfunctional team lacking interpersonal communication skills
  • Daily drama and conflict due to inconsistent expectations
  • Stress, confusion, and frustration leading to hostility and hard feelings

Emotionally Draining:

  • Lauren feared she was a bad boss and felt isolated
  • Lauren believed selling the business was the only solution due to constant workplace drama

Conflicting Personalities:

  • Lack of exposure to DISC personality assessment
  • Misunderstandings/miscommunication due to different personalities

Solution: Implementing DISC Profiles and Team Building

Tim introduced DISC personality assessments to Lauren’s team, which helped them understand each other’s unique traits. He also facilitated team-building activities to strengthen relationships and build trust. These strategies improved communication, reduced drama, and fostered a healthier workplace culture.

Key strategies implemented:

DISC Profiles:

Tim had everyone take the DISC assessment independently and then discuss as a group. This fostered a mutual understanding of each team member’s unique traits.

Team Building:

Tim implemented team-building activities to strengthen relationships.

Executive Coaching:

Tim provided executive coaching to Lauren, helping her develop leadership skills and build confidence. Tim also empowered Lauren to manage her team effectively and successfully navigate the complexities of running a business.

Results: Thriving Practice with Record Profits

Lauren’s practice is thriving, as is her quality of life. After six years, Lauren continues to bring Tim into her business annually for “Tim Time.” This has become a cherished event for her team. His teachings are now deeply integrated into the company’s culture, significantly improving team dynamics. The practice has achieved record profits, stronger relationships, and better communication. Lauren feels confident, equipped, and loves her life again.

Key benefits of working with Tim:

  • Improved culture
  • Healthy relationships
  • Team trust
  • Less drama
  • Better communication
  • Record profit months