Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and Goala giving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellavaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode seven forty. Today we're doing something a little different.
Speaker 2: I want you to imagine I walked into your office
Speaker 2: right now with a cardboard box, no warning, no explanation.
Speaker 2: I look around and say, you have sixty seconds. Put
Speaker 2: in this box. Anything that should not be in a
Speaker 2: leader's office. What goes in? Because offices tell stories, people think.
Speaker 2: Leadership lives in meetings, speeches, strategic plans, and performance reviews.
Speaker 2: Sometimes leadership is sitting right there on your desk. Your
Speaker 2: office is not decoration. It is a mirror. Today I
Speaker 2: want to remove a few things from yours. Not because
Speaker 2: minimalism is trendy, because clutter creates friction, and friction creates
Speaker 2: bad leadership. So item number one, the chair that faces
Speaker 2: you instead of them. Look around. How is your office arranged?
Speaker 2: Does your desk create distance? Do people walk in and
Speaker 2: immediately feel like they're being interrogated. I once heard someone
Speaker 2: say your office should feel like a conversation not a courtroom,
Speaker 2: and that's stuck with me. If every chair is lower
Speaker 2: than yours, farther away than yours, are positioned awkwardly, people notice.
Speaker 2: Employees decide within seconds whether this room is safe. So
Speaker 2: try this. Move the chairs sit beside. People occasionally create
Speaker 2: angles instead of barrier. You do not lose authority by
Speaker 2: making people comfortable. You gain information and information wins. Item
Speaker 2: number two. Awards that expired ten years ago. I know
Speaker 2: this one hurts. The plaque, the Employee of the Month,
Speaker 2: the conference certificate, the trophy. Listen carefully, keep meaningful accomplishments,
Speaker 2: remove museum exhibits. If somebody walks into your office and
Speaker 2: learns more about who you used to be than who
Speaker 2: you are becoming, you have a problem. Replace one old
Speaker 2: award with something current. A project roadmap, a customer letter,
Speaker 2: a team photo, a quote that challenges you. Leadership is
Speaker 2: not preserved in amber. Your office should communicate motion Item
Speaker 2: number three, the pile of I'll get to it. Every
Speaker 2: office has one papers, sticky notes, random printouts. That pile
Speaker 2: is not paper. That pile is stress. It's delayed decisions.
Speaker 2: So I want you to ask one question. If this
Speaker 2: pile disappeared tonight, would anyone notice? If the answer is no,
Speaker 2: throw it out. Leaders lose energy carrying unfinished business. Create
Speaker 2: three folders instead action, waiting, archived, Everything gets assigned. No
Speaker 2: orphan paperwork. Item number four the giant desk calendar full
Speaker 2: of firefighting. I see leaders do this all the time.
Speaker 2: Their schedule becomes proof of importance. Back to back meetings,
Speaker 2: no breathing room, no thinking time. Their calendar says, react, react, react, react.
Speaker 2: Where's your leadership time? Block? Seven minutes a day, seven
Speaker 2: intentional minutes, no phone, no email, no meetings. Think and
Speaker 2: ask what am I missing? Who needs recognition? What problem
Speaker 2: is coming next? Your office should remind you to lead,
Speaker 2: not survive. Item number five the candy bowl. Nobody talks about.
Speaker 2: Stay with me. This is not about nutrition. Every office
Speaker 2: has symbols. A candy bowl, a coffee station, open door,
Speaker 2: the guest chair, the whiteboard. What symbols exist in your office?
Speaker 2: Because culture leaks through objects. If your office says come in,
Speaker 2: people will. If it says do not interrupt, people obey,
Speaker 2: So design intentionally. One leader I know keeps blank thank
Speaker 2: you cards visible. Another keeps an empty chair and calls
Speaker 2: it the customer seat. Everything communicates. Item number six, the
Speaker 2: hidden door policy. You say your door is open, but
Speaker 2: is it. If employees have to schedule three meetings and
Speaker 2: send two emails to talk to you, your office is closed.
Speaker 2: Remove unnecessary gates. You do not need to become available
Speaker 2: every second. You do need to become reachable. Try office hours,
Speaker 2: Try walking meetings. Try spending thirty minutes per day outside
Speaker 2: your office. The best leaders are often found where the
Speaker 2: work happens. Item number seven. Remove the fake productivity props.
Speaker 2: Multiple monitors, seven notebooks, six apps open, five half read
Speaker 2: leadership books. Looking busy is not leading. What's in your
Speaker 2: office exists only to make you feel productive, be honest.
Speaker 2: Remove one thing simplify. Complexity makes leaders feel important. Clarity
Speaker 2: makes leaders effective. Item number eight. Remove one thing that
Speaker 2: no longer represents you. This is your challenge today, before
Speaker 2: you end work, Remove one object, just one thing that
Speaker 2: represents old thinking, old habits, old identity. Replace it with
Speaker 2: something intentional. Because offices are not storage units, they are
Speaker 2: command centers, and command centers should reflect where you're going,
Speaker 2: not where you got stuck. If somebody walked into your
Speaker 2: office today and had to describe your leadership style using
Speaker 2: only what they saw. What would they say? That question
Speaker 2: might tell you more than your annual review ever could.
Speaker 2: So take ten minutes this week and just stand in
Speaker 2: your doorway, look at your office like a visitor would
Speaker 2: see it, and just ask yourself, does this room create clarity?
Speaker 2: Does it create connection? Does it create conversation? Does it
Speaker 2: create momentum? Leadership leave's finger prints everywhere, even on your desk.
Speaker 2: This has been the seven Minute Leadership podcast, and I
Speaker 2: thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com