Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golachieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Felloalido.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode seven hundred and today. I want to take
Speaker 2: you somewhere most leaders never go. I want to take
Speaker 2: you underneath leadership, into what I call the hidden architecture.
Speaker 2: Because here's the reality. Every organization you walk into already
Speaker 2: has a structure. Not the org chart, not the policies,
Speaker 2: not the mission statement on the wall. I'm talking about
Speaker 2: the invisible structure that actually runs everything. The way decisions
Speaker 2: really get made, the way people really behave when no
Speaker 2: one is watching, the way standards are either upheld or
Speaker 2: quietly ignored. That is the architecture, and most leaders never
Speaker 2: see it. They spend their time repainting the walls while
Speaker 2: the foundation is cracked. Let me explain what I mean.
Speaker 2: Every organization has three layers. The visible layer this is
Speaker 2: what everyone sees, meetings, emails, policies, uniforms and titles. The
Speaker 2: spoken layer this is what people say matters, accountability, teamwork,
Speaker 2: culture and respect. And then there is the hidden layer.
Speaker 2: This is where leadership actually lives. This is where people
Speaker 2: decide whether your words mean anything. This is where your
Speaker 2: team learns what really matters based on what you tolerate.
Speaker 2: This is where your culture is either built or quietly destroyed.
Speaker 2: And here's the radical shift I want you to hear today.
Speaker 2: You're not leading what people see. You're leading what people
Speaker 2: believe is real. That is the architecture. And I'll give
Speaker 2: you an example. You tell your team that accountability matters.
Speaker 2: Sounds great, but then someone shows up late, nothing happens,
Speaker 2: someone skips a report, nothing happens, someone cuts a corner,
Speaker 2: nothing happens. And now your hidden architecture just sent a message.
Speaker 2: Accountability is optional, not because you said it was, because
Speaker 2: you build it that way. Leadership is not what you declare.
Speaker 2: It is what your system proves. And every day your
Speaker 2: team is studying that system. They're not listening to your speeches,
Speaker 2: they are watching your patterns. And here's where this gets powerful.
Speaker 2: Most leaders think culture is created through big moments, a speech,
Speaker 2: a policy change, a team meeting, and that surface level thinking.
Speaker 2: The hidden architecture is built in micro moments. The five
Speaker 2: second pause before you respond to a mistake, the decision
Speaker 2: to address something or let it slide, the tone you
Speaker 2: use when no one is recording you, the consistency of
Speaker 2: your reactions. Those moments are laying bricks, and over time,
Speaker 2: those bricks become the structure your team operates inside. Here's
Speaker 2: the problem. If you do not intentionally design that structure,
Speaker 2: it will design itself, and it will not design itself
Speaker 2: in your favor. It will default to comfort, it will
Speaker 2: default to shortcuts, it will default to lowest acceptable standards.
Speaker 2: That's human nature. So the question is not do you
Speaker 2: have a leadership architecture. You do. The question is did
Speaker 2: you build it or did it build itself. Now, let
Speaker 2: me take this one step further. There's something even deeper
Speaker 2: inside this architecture. Pressure points. Every organization has them. Moments
Speaker 2: where things get tight, staffing shortages, customer complaints, deadline conflict.
Speaker 2: These are the moments where your architecture gets tested, and
Speaker 2: this is where most leaders get exposed because under pressure,
Speaker 2: people do not rise to the occasion. They fall to
Speaker 2: the system. If your system allows excuses, you will get excuses.
Speaker 2: If your system rewards shortcuts, you will get shortcuts. If
Speaker 2: your system protects standards, you will get performance. Pressure does
Speaker 2: not build your culture, it reveals it. So here's the move.
Speaker 2: If you want to become a next level leader, stop
Speaker 2: focusing on what people are doing and start focusing on
Speaker 2: what your system is allowing. That is a completely different
Speaker 2: way to lead. Instead of asking why did they do that?
Speaker 2: Ask what in our system made that acceptable? Instead of
Speaker 2: asking how do I motivate my team? Ask what in
Speaker 2: our system is draining motivation? Instead of asking how do
Speaker 2: I fix this person? Ask what in our environment is
Speaker 2: shaping this behavior. That is leadership at the architectural level,
Speaker 2: and very few people operate there. Now, let me give
Speaker 2: you something practical you can do starting today, Run a
Speaker 2: silent audit for the next twenty four hours. Do not
Speaker 2: change anything. Just observe. Watch how decisions are made, Watch
Speaker 2: what gets ignored, watch what gets praised, watch what gets corrected.
Speaker 2: And then ask yourself one question. If I were a
Speaker 2: brand new employee, what would I believe matters here based
Speaker 2: on what I just saw, not what's written, not what
Speaker 2: is said, what is actually happening. That answer will show
Speaker 2: you your architecture, and I promise you it will surprise you.
Speaker 2: Because most leaders think they are running one system, but
Speaker 2: their team is living in another and once you see it,
Speaker 2: you cannot unsee it. And now here's the final Great
Speaker 2: leaders do not manage people. They design environments. They build
Speaker 2: systems where the right behavior is the easiest behavior. They
Speaker 2: remove friction from doing things the right way, they increase
Speaker 2: friction for doing things the wrong way. They create clarity
Speaker 2: so people do not have to guess. They create consistency
Speaker 2: so people can trust what happens. Next, that is architecture.
Speaker 2: And when you get this right, something powerful happens. You
Speaker 2: do not have to chase performance anymore. Performance becomes the default.
Speaker 2: You do not have to constantly correct behavior, the system
Speaker 2: corrects it for you. You don't have to motivate people
Speaker 2: every day, the environment sustains them. That is what real
Speaker 2: leadership looks like. Not louder, not more visible, stronger underneath.
Speaker 2: So here is your challenge. Stop decoring your leadership, start
Speaker 2: engineering it, because at the end of the day, your
Speaker 2: team is not working inside your intentions. They are working
Speaker 2: inside your architecture. So make sure you build it on purpose.
Speaker 2: And if you want more free leadership resources, head on
Speaker 2: over to Paulfallolito dot com and click on free stuff.
Speaker 2: I have over twenty five free leadership documents you can
Speaker 2: download and start using today. This has been the seven
Speaker 2: minute leadership podcast, and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fello Alito podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com