Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building and Goala TV.
Speaker 1: This is the seven minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul fella Aledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to this seven minute leadership podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six twenty nine. Let me tell you something
Speaker 2: that should keep you up at night. Your best employee
Speaker 2: is not going to quit on their best day. They're
Speaker 2: not going to resign after crushing a project, getting praised
Speaker 2: in a meeting, or landing a huge client. They're going
Speaker 2: to quit on their worst day, the day they feel invisible,
Speaker 2: the day they feel blamed, the day they feel alone,
Speaker 2: the day they think maybe this place would not even
Speaker 2: notice if I was gone, And if you're not careful,
Speaker 2: that day will blindside you. I've seen this in ems,
Speaker 2: I've seen it in corporate teams. I've seen it in
Speaker 2: small business. A rock solid performer hits one bad shift,
Speaker 2: one bad meeting, one bad week, and suddenly they're polishing
Speaker 2: their resume. Not because they're weak, because they are human.
Speaker 2: And here's the truth. Most leaders miss. High performers carry
Speaker 2: more weight than anyone else. They say yes more often,
Speaker 2: they fix more problems, They clean up other people's messes.
Speaker 2: They answer the phone when no one else will. They
Speaker 2: are strong until they are not. And when they crack,
Speaker 2: it's rarely loud. It is quiet. It looks like silence,
Speaker 2: It looks like disengagement, it looks like I am fine.
Speaker 2: You have to catch it before it turns into a
Speaker 2: resignation letter. So how do you prevent your best employee
Speaker 2: from quitting on their worst day? First, you create relational
Speaker 2: equity before the storm hits. In aviation, we do not
Speaker 2: build trust in the cockpit during turbulence. We build it
Speaker 2: on clear days through checklists, through repetition, through respect for roles.
Speaker 2: When the engine sputters at three thousand feet, that is
Speaker 2: not the time to figure out whether you trust the
Speaker 2: person next to you. Same thing in leadership. If the
Speaker 2: only time you talk to your best employee is when
Speaker 2: you need something you are already behind. If your communication
Speaker 2: is transactional, they will treat your organization as transactional. You
Speaker 2: want loyalty on their worst day, invest in them on
Speaker 2: the ordinary days. Second, pay attention to micro shifts. Your
Speaker 2: top performers stops speaking up in meetings, they stop volunteering,
Speaker 2: Their emails get shorter, they stop bringing you sos and
Speaker 2: start bringing you problems. That is not attitude. That is fatigue.
Speaker 2: You cannot manage what you refuse to see. Leadership is
Speaker 2: situational awareness. In the cockpit, we call it being ahead
Speaker 2: of the aircraft. In your organization, it means being ahead
Speaker 2: of the emotional state of your people. Don't wait for
Speaker 2: the explosion, look for the flicker third, protect them from
Speaker 2: death by a thousand cuts. High performers get punished for
Speaker 2: being capable more work, more responsibility, more expectations, fewer breaks.
Speaker 2: I've watched leaders unintentionally burn out their best people while
Speaker 2: protecting their average ones, and that's backwards. Your best employee
Speaker 2: should not feel like the organizational pack mule when they
Speaker 2: mess up. Do not crucify them when they say no.
Speaker 2: Do not guilt them when they are overwhelmed. Do not
Speaker 2: remind them how good they are as a way to
Speaker 2: load more weight on their shoulders. Sometimes your job is
Speaker 2: to pull work off their plate, not pilot on fourth.
Speaker 2: When their worst day hits show up fast, not with policy,
Speaker 2: not with a lecture, not with corporate buzzwords, show up
Speaker 2: like a human. Pull them aside, close the door and
Speaker 2: say I saw what happened. Talk to me and then listen.
Speaker 2: You do not need to solve everything in that moment.
Speaker 2: You need to make sure that they do not feel
Speaker 2: alone in it. A five minute conversation at the right
Speaker 2: time can save a five year employee. I remember a
Speaker 2: paramedic years ago, sharp, dependable, the kind of person who
Speaker 2: makes your organization better without asking for credit. One bad call,
Speaker 2: one public complaint, one rough conversation, and I could see
Speaker 2: it in his face. He was done. I didn't quote policy,
Speaker 2: I didn't talk metrics. I said, you've given this place
Speaker 2: too much to walk out on a bad night. Let's
Speaker 2: walk through this together. He stayed, and he's still one
Speaker 2: of the strongest leaders in that system. That was not
Speaker 2: about management. That was about ownership, which brings me to
Speaker 2: red key moments. A red key moment is when the
Speaker 2: stakes are high and your response defind your credibility. Your
Speaker 2: best employee's worst day is a red key moment for you.
Speaker 2: If you respond with ego, indifference, or delay, you will
Speaker 2: lose them. If you respond with clarity, accountability, and presence,
Speaker 2: you lock in trust. Leaders always think retention is about money, perks,
Speaker 2: or benefits. It's about how you handle people when they're fragile.
Speaker 2: And here's the final piece, make it safe for them
Speaker 2: to struggle. If your culture only celebrates perfection, your best
Speaker 2: employees will hide their cracks until they shatter. You want
Speaker 2: them to raise their hand early. You want them to say,
Speaker 2: I'm not one hundred percent this week. That only happens
Speaker 2: if you model it first. You admit your own tough days,
Speaker 2: you own your own mistakes. You show that strength includes recovery.
Speaker 2: Your best employee does not need you to be impressive.
Speaker 2: They need you to be steady. So if you take
Speaker 2: one thing from today, let it be this. Your best
Speaker 2: employee will have a worse day. It's guaranteed. The question
Speaker 2: is whether you will be the reason they stay or
Speaker 2: the reason they leave. Leadership is not tested when everything
Speaker 2: is smooth. It's tested in the moment someone you value
Speaker 2: feels like walking away. Be present, be early, be human,
Speaker 2: Protect your people when they are at their lowest, and
Speaker 2: they will run through walls for you when you need
Speaker 2: them the most. This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com