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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and Goala giving.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host

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<v Speaker 1>Paul fella Aledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode seven twenty nine. Today we're talking about something uncomfortable,

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<v Speaker 2>when seconds matter and processes fail. If you've spent any

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<v Speaker 2>amount of time leading people, you have probably seen this happen.

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<v Speaker 2>A process was built with good intentions, a checklist was created,

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<v Speaker 2>a policy was approved, a committee met, training happened, and

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<v Speaker 2>everyone agreed this would prevent problems. And then reality showed

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<v Speaker 2>up and the process failed. Now, before we go any further,

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<v Speaker 2>I am not anti process. I lead in environments where

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<v Speaker 2>processes save lives. There is a reason pilots use checklists.

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<v Speaker 2>There is a reason ambulances have protocols. There's a reason

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<v Speaker 2>command systems exist. Processes matter until it doesn't, and great

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<v Speaker 2>leaders know the difference. I want you to imagine something.

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<v Speaker 2>A company has a customer service process. Step one, open

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<v Speaker 2>a ticket, Step two, assign a department, Step three, supervisor review.

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<v Speaker 2>Step four is usually escalation. Step five is a response.

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<v Speaker 2>Everything looks beautiful until the customer calls and says, my

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<v Speaker 2>system is down and I'm losing fifty thousand dollars every hour.

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<v Speaker 2>Now the process becomes the problem because everyone is protecting

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<v Speaker 2>the system instead of solving the emergency. Or imagine a hospital,

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<v Speaker 2>or an airline, or a restaurantunt or a public safety agency.

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<v Speaker 2>Someone notices something dangerous, but instead of acting, people start

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<v Speaker 2>asking who owns this? Did you submit the form? Did

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<v Speaker 2>you notify leadership? Can we wait until Monday? That is

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<v Speaker 2>process becoming paralysis and leaders need to understand something. The

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<v Speaker 2>purpose of process is speed with consistency. The purpose of

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<v Speaker 2>process is not obedience. There is a difference. One of

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<v Speaker 2>the hardest lessons I learned over the years in leadership

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<v Speaker 2>is this people often confuse following procedure with achieving outcomes.

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<v Speaker 2>Those are not always the same thing. There is an

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<v Speaker 2>old emergency services mindset that translates beautifully into leadership. Treat first,

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<v Speaker 2>document second. That does not mean ignore accountability, That does

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<v Speaker 2>not mean become reckless. It means recognize the moment. Because

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<v Speaker 2>some moments are routine, other moments are red key moments,

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<v Speaker 2>moments where delay costs more than imperfect action. And this

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<v Speaker 2>is where weak organizations struggle. They train employees to stay

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<v Speaker 2>inside the process, they do not train judgment. Some employees

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<v Speaker 2>become afraid, afraid to act, afraid to move, afraid to own,

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<v Speaker 2>afraid to make the wrong call. Then the organization starts

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<v Speaker 2>saying things like why didn't someone do something because nobody

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<v Speaker 2>gave them permission to think. There's a phrase I use

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<v Speaker 2>with leaders. Processes should create guardrails, not railroad tracks. Guardrails

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<v Speaker 2>keep you safe while allowing movement. Railroad tracks remove options.

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<v Speaker 2>The problem with railroad track leadership is reality never stays

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<v Speaker 2>on the tracks. And I'll give you another example. Your

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<v Speaker 2>employee comes to you there's a customer issue, there's a

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<v Speaker 2>staffing issue, there's a safety concern, and you tell them

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<v Speaker 2>follow the process. Three hours later, the problem gets worse.

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<v Speaker 2>Now you're frustrated, but think carefully, did they fail or

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<v Speaker 2>did you accidentally teach them that compliance mattered more than

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<v Speaker 2>outcomes because leaders train people every day, whether they mean

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<v Speaker 2>to or not. You train what gets rewarded, You train

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<v Speaker 2>what gets tolerated. You train what gets celebrated. If someone

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<v Speaker 2>saves the day and you punish them for skipping step

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<v Speaker 2>four on a form, don't act surprised when nobody takes

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<v Speaker 2>initiative next time. And now there is another side to this.

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<v Speaker 2>Some leaders hear this and go too far. They become

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<v Speaker 2>processed rebels. Everything becomes gut feeling, everything becomes improvisation. That

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<v Speaker 2>creates chaos. You cannot run an organization entirely on instinct.

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<v Speaker 2>The answer is not process or judgment. The answer is

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<v Speaker 2>p us with permission, Permission to escalate, permission to adapt,

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<v Speaker 2>permission to stop the line, permission to say this is

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<v Speaker 2>outside the normal operating environment. Pilots do this. They train

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<v Speaker 2>for emergencies because checklists are amazing until something unexpected happens,

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<v Speaker 2>and then experience communication and command takeover. That's leadership. It's

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<v Speaker 2>not abandoning systems, it's leading beyond them. So here's something

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<v Speaker 2>practical you can do this week. Take one process in

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<v Speaker 2>your organization, only one, and then ask your team these questions.

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<v Speaker 2>If this process failed tomorrow, what would we do? Who

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<v Speaker 2>has the authority to override it? What conditions trigger adaptation?

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<v Speaker 2>How quickly can we move? If nobody knows the answers,

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<v Speaker 2>you have to work to do so, because your organization

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<v Speaker 2>may be optimized for normal days and completely exposed during

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<v Speaker 2>important moments. And here's the final thought. Your people are

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<v Speaker 2>when something goes sideways. They're not measuring how beautifully your

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<v Speaker 2>policy manual reads. They're measuring whether leadership showed up, whether

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<v Speaker 2>leadership adapted, whether leadership made decisions, and whether leadership protected outcomes.

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<v Speaker 2>Process creates order, leadership creates movement. When seconds matter, your

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<v Speaker 2>people do not need a traffic cop. They need someone

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<v Speaker 2>willing to take responsibility. That is the difference, and that

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<v Speaker 2>difference changes everything. So leadership is not proven when conditions

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<v Speaker 2>are perfect in every box gets checked. Leadership is revealed

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<v Speaker 2>in the gap between the process and reality. The question

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<v Speaker 2>is not whether your process will fail. Someday it will.

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<v Speaker 2>The question is what your people will do when it does.

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<v Speaker 2>So train judgment, reward ownership, build systems that move, because

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<v Speaker 2>when seconds matter, people remember who acted. This has been

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<v Speaker 2>the seven minute Leadership podcast and I thank you for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.