WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.240 --> 00:00:04.519 Welcome to Hacking Your Leadership. I'm Chris and I'm Lorenzo. And Lorenzo on 2 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:07.480 this episode, I want to talk about an article that I came across on 3 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:11.919 LinkedIn. It's a couple of years old, but it bears repeating and going 4 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.440 over because I think these are things that they really stand the test of time, 5 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:19.760 and they're important regardless of what an article is written. The article is 6 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:22.879 written by Ron Krucci, who is a friend of the show. He wrote 7 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:25.719 one of the best leadershi books I've ever read, called to Be Honest, 8 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:29.320 a few years ago, and so when I see an article by him, 9 00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:32.799 I tend to like give it a look just to see what's in what the 10 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:36.679 content is. The title of this article is how to make your leadership team 11 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:41.119 Absolutely Exceptional? And you know, I like that. We talk about high 12 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:45.479 performance teams all the time. There are definitely leadership teams out there who are 13 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:49.039 exceptional, But in a lot of organizations and on a lot of teams, 14 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:53.079 there are individual leaders who I think are absolutely exceptional. And then there are 15 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:57.320 individual leaders on those leadership teams who are not exceptional, who are who are 16 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:00.640 mediocre or who need a lot of work, and they're probably some people who 17 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.280 just need to go away all together, but to have a team become absolutely 18 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:07.599 exceptional. To me, what that says is that the whole is greater than 19 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:10.959 the some of its parts. So you know, you get the one plus 20 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:14.280 one plus one equals nine in terms of their impact if you have a truly 21 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:18.319 exceptional leadership team. There's a lot in this article, but there are three 22 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:21.519 different concepts in here that I want to go over because I think they're the 23 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:23.840 ones that our listeners will get the most amount of, you know, kind 24 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:27.280 of a benefit from. But it is definitely worth reading the entire article, 25 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:30.200 So we'll link to it in the podcast description and we'll go over it. 26 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:33.480 What were your thought about the article in general? Yeah, I agree. 27 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:37.120 You know, we're a huge Ron fan here on the show, and he's 28 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:41.480 yet to miss for me everything everything he writes. I'm like, there's something 29 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:45.519 in there that really is phenomenal. And this is the big question that a 30 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:47.760 lot of leaders always have. It's like, you know, how do you 31 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:52.480 how do you lead a team and make them exceptional? And how do you 32 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.799 you know, build high performing teams? And what are the things that you 33 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:59.439 can do to number one kind of check yourself as a leader and making sure 34 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:02.239 that you're showing up in his space. That's creating the opportunity for your team 35 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.519 to be exceptional. But then, also, like what I like about the 36 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:08.319 articles, he addresses some of the things like what do you do in these 37 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:14.840 spaces when you might see some behaviors or something's happening that on the surface might 38 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:17.439 now seem like a big deal, but can really chip away at the ability 39 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:20.719 for you to have a highly exceptional team. I couldn't have said it better, 40 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:24.080 like that's that's what it is. The difference between a truly exceptional leadership 41 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:29.280 team and one that isn't is in these little details. They are the little 42 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:34.360 interactions that happen that you might think don't mean much, and they probably don't 43 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:38.080 individually, but they absolutely add up, and they can add up and send 44 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:40.319 your leadership team in the right direction or send it in the wrong direction. 45 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:46.199 The first one I want to talk about here, I think is I overlooked 46 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:47.919 it it first because I thought, okay, there's some there's some more meat 47 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:52.039 here later on. But one of the first things he talks about is this 48 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:54.000 idea of embodying a charter, and those are those are his words, But 49 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:59.439 what it really means is what are the rules of the team. What do 50 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:05.039 you sit down with and decide are the rules for how things are done within 51 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:07.919 this leadership team. So, if it's a leadership team, you're assuming that 52 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:12.439 these are people who are our peers to each other, and the rules kind 53 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:15.439 of say, what are kind of the guiding principles of how we interact with 54 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:20.199 each other? What are the guiding principles of what we take on as a 55 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:23.840 team in terms of what's our what is our job to accomplish versus what is 56 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:28.199 not our job to accomplish? And it's really important to be clear about these 57 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:34.800 things because you need to be able to figure these out when there isn't the 58 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.840 kind of the emotion and the personal buy in that exists when you can apply 59 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:44.680 it to an individual point in time or decision that has to be made. 60 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:49.319 You figure these out in advance, when no one has any kind of personal 61 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.800 stake in any one item, and then that allows you to just look back 62 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:55.319 at what you all agreed on together to apply it to whatever that moment. 63 00:03:55.479 --> 00:03:59.439 Is much easier to do it that way than to try to convince people I 64 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:01.400 think of that they're you know, that they're doing something they shouldn't be doing 65 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:03.719 in the moment when they're already bought in. Yeah, I love what he 66 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:06.719 says. He says, you know, this is this is a compass and 67 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:13.080 your report card. And I think it's so critical when you are looking to 68 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:16.279 have exceptional teams, is that you've got to have some type of a way 69 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:20.800 of kind of defining the team, some way of like laying out who we 70 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:25.839 are and what we do and how we approach things, some type of mantra, 71 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:29.399 some type of manifesto, whatever you want to call it. But there's 72 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:33.240 got to be something there that can be looked at from a team and say 73 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:36.000 that's who we are. And there are a lot of tools. There's a 74 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:39.959 lot of ways to do that, everything from like assessments that you can do 75 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:44.800 with a team to aligning on certain you know, whether it's quotes or or 76 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:47.519 developmental you know, themes or words or whatever that might be. But I 77 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:51.439 think it's so important for a team to have a sense of identity as to 78 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:55.839 here's here's who we are, here's how we do our work, and here's 79 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:58.560 how we measure it, and we do that with intention. You know, 80 00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:01.360 there's something that a leader of mine said a long time ago that's always stuck 81 00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:04.120 with me, which is like, we don't let things fall off the plate. 82 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:09.319 We push them off. We do everything with intention, and if we're 83 00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:12.279 not good at something, we know that we're not good at it, and 84 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.600 we know why we're not good at it, and we know why we're not 85 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:16.079 focusing on it, and it's not that we can't get better at it. 86 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:19.959 But you have to make decisions as a team to say, these are the 87 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.920 things that we are going to really define us in our success, and then 88 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.560 these other things are things that we need to make sure that we're good at, 89 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:30.319 but we don't have to be great at. They don't have to take 90 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:33.160 a lot of our time and effort because we have clearly defined what the things 91 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:38.759 are that we're doing and we are really aligned on how we do this work 92 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:42.040 and the lenses that we all use collectively and shared. So I'm a huge 93 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.920 fan of this. And then that charter might look different for everyone, but 94 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:49.000 there has to be something there if you're truly talking about exceptional teams. Yeah, 95 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:53.399 I agree that The one thing that I'll say about this that is something 96 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:58.360 to keep in mind is that nothing in this charter can go against or be 97 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:04.120 at odds with the overall values and principles of the organization, meaning you can't 98 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:08.759 use this to set your team apart from a standpoint of, oh, well, 99 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:12.519 these these things that the company put forth, they don't apply to us. 100 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:16.920 We're the exception. Exceptional does not mean exception, right, You still 101 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:19.720 have to it has to be in line with the company as a whole, 102 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:25.600 but it's something that that you kind of it's there. There's self imposed rules 103 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.279 on how you'll work with each other within a team and what you decide to 104 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.199 do as a team. But it can't give the impression to other teams that 105 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:35.040 you somehow believe that your team is either you know, the rules don't apply 106 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.319 to you, or that you are above them, or that you are you 107 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:43.240 know, kind of you know, exceptional from a standpoint of you know, 108 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:46.759 anointed, or or that you that you get to do things differently than they 109 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:51.279 do because of the accomplishments. There there has to be some humility in this 110 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:56.279 and and and really it has to be almost almost innocuous. From an outside 111 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:58.600 perspective, A person looking at it would think, oh, okay, that's 112 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:00.680 just how they that's how they run their team. Right, you know, 113 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:03.360 but from the inside it needs to be something that speaks to you and and 114 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:08.360 every individual and the team deeply, and something that you adhere to and something 115 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:12.360 that you that you honor in your actions to each other. The next thing 116 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:15.800 that he discusses that I want to go over is this idea of creating belonging 117 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:19.399 in every direction, is what he says. Now, I belonging is something 118 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:24.839 that is popped up in a lot of diversity, equity and inclusion conversations recently, 119 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:29.959 and it's great, like the idea of belonging kind of takes that to 120 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.079 the next level in terms of it's this is reported by the employees, not 121 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.319 necessarily by the company. A company can tell you what that what their diversity 122 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.079 numbers are. A company can tell you can tell you, you know, 123 00:07:40.120 --> 00:07:43.040 what the what the demographics are at every level of the organization, and if 124 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:45.720 people have are getting promoted, and if people are you know, all the 125 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:47.959 all these things you can measure. Belonging, I think is very self reported. 126 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:51.439 From the individual standpoint. A company can't say our employees feel like they 127 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:55.399 belong. The employees have to say they feel like they belong and so on. 128 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:01.040 An exceptional team employees have to believe that they belong not just to the 129 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:03.199 leader, but to each other. Yeah. I think this is the ultimate 130 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:09.360 element of like true team work is that idea and feeling that that they work 131 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:11.480 together, that they have each other's backs, that they know they can use 132 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:16.199 each other as resources. There's kind of this idea of like, you know, 133 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:20.000 we can solve it together, and and and you know, and as 134 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:24.240 a leader, that's a space where I think sometimes I see a lot of 135 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:26.639 leaders that have to be the resource for everything. They have to be the 136 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:28.480 decision maker and everything. They're kind of like, you all go out and 137 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.680 do this work and then come back to me and then all make a decision 138 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:35.120 on what we should do next or what the thing is, versus versus saying, 139 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:37.879 hey, here's here's the expectation, here's what we're being asked to deliver, 140 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.840 here's the thing that we need to work on. Let me give you 141 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:43.840 a little bit of my framework on how I'm looking at it and how I 142 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:48.919 think that you know, we should be considering this work and then assign and 143 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:52.919 allow the team or a collection of the team or a pair from the team 144 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.879 to go do that work and build that on and then you know, and 145 00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:01.279 then really provide them with the recognition that you not only see maybe in the 146 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:05.600 outcome of the strategy, but how they got it done, how they work 147 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:09.919 together, you know, kind of building that idea that it's not about an 148 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:13.759 individual and when you sense and hear those things that you kind of have to 149 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:18.120 step in and redirect or make sure that everyone who's involved is getting the credit 150 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:20.960 they deserve. You know that That is where I think when you're creating belonging 151 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:28.200 again, it's building the connections amongst the team and allowing them to function collectively, 152 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:31.279 but then being conscious, like you got to be also really really careful 153 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:35.519 that it doesn't become so tight that it won't welcome others in or not allow 154 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:37.960 for other perspectives or that type of thing as well. So it's it's it's 155 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:41.320 a it's a balance that you really truly have to have there. But I 156 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:46.240 think that you know, I'd rather deal with working through some of the elements 157 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:50.360 of like you know, making sure that it's not getting too clicky, uh, 158 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.000 but but having them function in such a way that they work really really 159 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:58.480 well together is critical. The last one I want to discuss in this article. 160 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:01.639 He says, ampt take collusion immediately, you know. We we think 161 00:10:01.639 --> 00:10:05.759 about this from a standpoint of you know, the meeting, after the meeting, 162 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:07.639 you know, like the meeting ends and everybody gets up and leaves, 163 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:11.919 and then you stick around to say something to your boss that you wouldn't necessarily 164 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:13.360 in front of, say, in front of the group. That's where this 165 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:18.159 can come up, or as Ron puts it, clickiness, you know, 166 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:24.360 gossip and you know, kind of like undermining. Sometimes that can be it 167 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:26.519 can be rooted not in malice. I mean, it could just be that 168 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:31.000 someone doesn't feel comfortable speaking up amongst an entire group and they want to say 169 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:35.080 it to an individual person, and that that implies a lack of psychological safety. 170 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:39.360 But it isn't necessarily a huge issue. The issue comes when people are 171 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:43.320 using it to undermine people, When when they're when they're trying to kind of 172 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.360 like get in and and form like these little alliances that can somehow be used 173 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:50.240 to undermine somebody who they don't like it. And and that's where it's the 174 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:52.840 leader's responsibility to get rid of it right away. Yeah, and like, 175 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:56.279 look, the reality is that this is going to happen regardless on most teams 176 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:01.519 because there are going to be relationships where people have more in common with each 177 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:05.519 other, and whether it's like the amount of time they've worked together, the 178 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:09.320 teams they've worked on, the previous work that they've done. It's like humans 179 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.799 are going to act like humans from time to time. The important part of 180 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:13.759 this, so is as a leader is that when you sense it or when 181 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:18.600 it's brought to you, that's really where you kind of have to force the 182 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.840 hand of breaking this up and stopping it right away. You know, he 183 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:24.320 uses a great example in here, and I love this around Like, you 184 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:26.720 know, somebody is like, hey, you know, have you had a 185 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:30.960 chance to connect with so and so, because you know, I'm not They've 186 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:35.519 they've kind of like been you know, not doing great work or or you 187 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:37.799 know, like I'm trying to work around them. Do you have any advice 188 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:41.120 on that? And instead of being the one who says like, well, 189 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:43.879 I want to give you the advice, you say like, well what have 190 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:46.159 they said? What was their response to the feedback you gave them? And 191 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:48.519 they oh, oh, well, you know I was going to you first, 192 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:50.879 like well how about you go to them, like like, how would 193 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:56.200 you feel if one of your peers came to your boss and was saying some 194 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:58.320 things about you and had not given you the chance yet to even hear it 195 00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:03.000 or understand or address it. So, like, you know, we work 196 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.879 collectively together, you need to go have that conversation if you'd like for me 197 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:07.519 to do that, Like, I'd be more happy to pull them in right 198 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:09.799 now and the three of us can sit down if you want to share what 199 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:13.320 your concerns are with them. But like, that's how things have to work. 200 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.759 You have to work it out amongst each other. And you start to 201 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:20.399 kind of snip that away very very quickly, that forces the hand of the 202 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.840 team to realize, like, okay, like that's not going to work. 203 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.879 We're going to have to work together. We're going to have to not boil 204 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:31.200 up some of these things and kind of get like the leader in charge to 205 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:35.480 have favorites or that type of deal. You really have to work hard on 206 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:39.720 that. Right. If you have a lot of individual contributors reporting to you, 207 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:43.240 right, you're not leading a team of leaders, or you're not talking 208 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:48.799 about a team of leaders, but rather people who don't have people reporting up 209 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.840 to them. How you as a leader deal with this individually? Can can 210 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:58.240 vary from one organization to another, from one team to another. Meaning if 211 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:01.320 someone comes to you and says something about one of the one of their co 212 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:05.320 workers, whether or not you say to them you know, no, I'm 213 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:07.360 not going to deal with this. You need to deal with this. You 214 00:13:07.399 --> 00:13:09.360 need to give them the feedback. In some situations, I think that is 215 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:15.519 appropriate. Meaning in some situations we don't hold employees to a high enough standard, 216 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:20.720 we don't give them the opportunity to do the tough work of giving feedback 217 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:24.080 that needs to be given. We take it off their plate as somehow it's 218 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.159 our responsibility as the leader, and in some situations it is appropriate take off 219 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:30.759 their plate and you, as the leader, have to have those conversations. 220 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:33.960 If you're dealing with a team of people who have said I want to lead 221 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:39.279 people, and they are in that role, it's their responsibility to lead people. 222 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:43.360 This needs to be the default. There can never be a time when 223 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:48.320 on the very first you know, time, feedback is mentioned, the leader 224 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:52.480 takes it off the plate of someone reporting to them. If that person is 225 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:54.320 a leader of people. A person who's a leader of people needs to be 226 00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:58.799 able to give feedback to a peer and to end to other people, and 227 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:03.120 if they are unable to do that, they probably are the wrong person for 228 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:05.000 the job. They're probably in the wrong role. And so it really needs 229 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.320 to be the default to say to people who are coming to you, kind 230 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:13.200 of circumventing the feedback process. If they're leaders that know you're not gonna take 231 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:16.679 us off their plate, that they need to be able to go in and 232 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:18.879 have these conversations with their people. I think it's really important, absolutely, 233 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.759 And with that it brings us to this episode's one minute hack. But first 234 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:26.039 a few words from our sponsors. All right, for this episode is what 235 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:28.360 minute Hackers will want you to do. Click on the article link in the 236 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:33.200 podcast description and read through the entire thing through the lens of your own leadership 237 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.519 team, the team that you that you are on, and look at the 238 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:39.919 items as you read through it that make you uncomfortable, the ones that the 239 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:43.159 ones that you read and go oh, that's great, yeah, I like 240 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.759 that. Typically that means that you're probably already doing that. It's the parts 241 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.879 you want to focus on are the ones where you read and you think, 242 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:52.840 ooh, that's more of a difficult one. That probably means that your leadership 243 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.080 team isn't necessarily great at that focus on those, and that's where you're going 244 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:00.840 to have kind of the low hanging fruit of becoming a more exceptional leadership team. 245 00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:05.000 If you are a leader of a team of leaders, then you need 246 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.200 to go through all of this, maybe even with your people, the people 247 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:09.919 report to you, go through all of this and almost have like a self 248 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:15.399 inventory of where you and the team are doing well and where you're not doing 249 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:18.240 well, and then put it on, you know, put it as the 250 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:20.399 responsibility of the people who report to you to figure out what they can do 251 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:24.559 to get better at this. If you approach it from a standpoint of not 252 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:28.039 an individual problem that has to be solved or an individual person that has to 253 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.320 be solved, but rather the shortcomings of how the team works together as a 254 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:35.559 whole, you will probably have less, you know, kind of push back 255 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:41.120 from a standpoint of individual anxiety around people feeling like they're being coached up, 256 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:45.840 as opposed to the team looking at what they can do better. Because really, 257 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.320 for a team to be exceptional, it doesn't matter how exceptional the individual 258 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:54.960 leaders are. Being able to work together as an exceptional team is a different 259 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.279 skill set, and these are some of the skills that you can use to 260 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:00.480 really get to that next level. Yeah, I like that woman a hack. 261 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:03.440 And one of the thing that Ron says in the article is like the 262 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:07.120 leadership choices that can make or break the cohesion and energizing dynamic of a team. 263 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.879 You know, this is kind of what his version is of these things 264 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:15.399 in this article, and it's so so spot on, like there are there 265 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:19.559 are times when you're gonna make the day to day decisions on projects, on 266 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.440 strategies, on things that have to happen in day to day, but then 267 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:26.399 there are definitely times when you have to pull up, like pull your head 268 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:32.759 up and really think about who are we and how do we what is our 269 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:34.360 charter? How do we function as a team? What is the kind of 270 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:38.279 the sandbox of the framework that you've built as a leader that allows your team 271 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:42.679 to be successful, to work together, to push the boundaries, to challenge 272 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:45.480 one another in a healthy way, to debate. You know, that's really 273 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:49.200 what this is talking about. And if you have yet to define those things, 274 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.200 or if you assume that people know what they are, that's what reflected 275 00:16:53.240 --> 00:16:56.360 on this article should really be helpful with is going through it, like what 276 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:00.279 does that mean? And if I was to ask my team these questions, 277 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:03.720 like what is our charter? What do we stand for as a team. 278 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:06.799 If they can't answer the question, then there's obviously work to do. So 279 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:08.400 like that's kind of what I would suggest, is, like, you know, 280 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:12.599 ask kind of taking these different elements and asking these questions of those that 281 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:17.119 are on your team, that that you trust and that to be honest and 282 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:19.720 to be very transparent with what they believe and see if it's as clear as 283 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:22.200 you believe it is. And I think that will be the first step in 284 00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:25.559 understanding like where the work is that you need to do? Oh do Yeah, 285 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:30.279 that's that's so true. I think this work is incredibly important because there 286 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:34.880 are people who individually are exceptional leaders and they do great work, and then 287 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:41.960 they still leave organizations. And when that happens, oftentimes it can be attributed 288 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:45.240 to not feeling like they are working alongside people who are just as committed as 289 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:49.079 they are, or who follow follow the rules that they follow, or who 290 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:52.279 are committed to doing the best work that these people are committed to doing. 291 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:56.759 You know, typically we look at the people who have dropped off the radar 292 00:17:57.160 --> 00:18:00.480 from a performance standpoint, and we've all our focus on them because we don't 293 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:03.359 want them to want them to step up to what they were before. But 294 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:07.880 oftentimes it's the highest performers that will surprise you and when they leave your organization 295 00:18:08.680 --> 00:18:12.640 and you feel blindsided by it, but it means that there was an issue 296 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:19.039 oftentimes with the team cohesion and how they felt like they worked amongst the broader 297 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:22.480 team. If they're not feeling like they're getting great work done as a team 298 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:26.599 and they're just getting individual work done, that's a recipe for them, you 299 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:30.359 know, being more likely to leave and to you know, seek out greener 300 00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:34.240 pastures where other people might be as committed to the work that they are. 301 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:37.759 So this is very important work to do, and if you have a lot 302 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.680 of high performing individuals, you're definitely on the right path already. Get them 303 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:45.279 working together as a team and it'll be surprising you into you how much they 304 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:48.880 can accomplish. Absolutely, and with that it brings us to the end of 305 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:51.920 this episode. This is acting your leadership. I'm Lorenzo and I'm Chris, 306 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:52.079 and we'll talk to you all next time.