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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 golajiving. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovaledo.

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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 to seventy eight. Today's episode is called

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<v Speaker 2>fixing the Middle of the Organization. When organizations struggle, leaders

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<v Speaker 2>often look in two directions. They look at the executive team,

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<v Speaker 2>or they look at the frontline employees. What gets overlooked

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<v Speaker 2>is the layer sitting right in the middle. That middle

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<v Speaker 2>layer includes supervisors, managers, shift leaders, team leads, department heads, lieutenants,

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<v Speaker 2>form and project managers, and everyone else responsible for turning

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<v Speaker 2>strategy into action. The middle is where leadership either comes

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<v Speaker 2>alive or quietly dies. Think about that for a minute.

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<v Speaker 2>The CEO can create a brilliant vision, the employees can

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<v Speaker 2>be talented, motivated, and committed. If the middle is broken,

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<v Speaker 2>neither one of those groups will ever connect. The middle

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<v Speaker 2>is the transmission of your organization. It's responsible for taking

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<v Speaker 2>the power from the engine and delivering it to the wheels.

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<v Speaker 2>Without it, you aren't moving anywhere. One of the biggest

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<v Speaker 2>mistakes organizations make is assuming middle managers automatically know how

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<v Speaker 2>to lead because they were promoted. Many weren't promoted because

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<v Speaker 2>they were exceptional leaders. They were promoted because they were

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<v Speaker 2>exceptional employees. Those are two completely different skill sets. Being

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<v Speaker 2>the best paramedic doesn't automatically make make you a great lieutenant.

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<v Speaker 2>Being the best mechanic doesn't automatically prepare you to supervise

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<v Speaker 2>twenty mechanics. Being the best salesperson doesn't mean you'll suddenly

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<v Speaker 2>know how to coach, mentor manage conflict and inspire a team.

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<v Speaker 2>Leadership requires a different toolbox. And here's another problem. The

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<v Speaker 2>middle often gets squeezed from both directions. Executives are pushing

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<v Speaker 2>down with goals, deadlines, metrics and expectations. Employees are pushing

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<v Speaker 2>up with questions, frustrations, scheduling issues, requests, and concerns. Middle

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<v Speaker 2>managers spend their day caught between pressure from above and

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<v Speaker 2>pressure from below. Eventually, many stop leading. They become messengers.

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<v Speaker 2>They forward emails, they repeat policies, they schedule meetings, They

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<v Speaker 2>solve today's emergency, Tomorrow shows up, and they repeat the cycle.

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<v Speaker 2>Months later, leadership wonder why culture has stalled. It did

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<v Speaker 2>in stall because people stopped caring installed because leadership stopped

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<v Speaker 2>developing the people holding the organization together. And here's a

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<v Speaker 2>question every executive should ask, when was the last time

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<v Speaker 2>you intentionally invested in your middle leaders? Not compliance training,

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<v Speaker 2>not software training, leadership training. Have you taught them how

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<v Speaker 2>to coach poor performance, how to hold difficult conversations, how

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<v Speaker 2>to build trust after conflict, how to recognize burnout before

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<v Speaker 2>someone quits, or how to give meaningful feedback that actually

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<v Speaker 2>changes behavior. Many organizations spend thousands recruiting talent while spending

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<v Speaker 2>almost nothing preparing the people responsible for keeping that talent.

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<v Speaker 2>I think that's backwards. So let's flip perspectives. If you're

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<v Speaker 2>one of those middle leaders listening today, this message is

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<v Speaker 2>for you. Stop waiting for permission to become a better leader.

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<v Speaker 2>Your title doesn't determine your ceiling. Your learning does. Read books,

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<v Speaker 2>listen to podcasts, attend conferences, ask mentors difficult questions, study

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<v Speaker 2>organizations that consistently perform well. Leadership is a profession. You

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<v Speaker 2>have to treat it like one. And here's something I

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<v Speaker 2>learned in ems. Every emergency scene has someone standing in

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<v Speaker 2>the middle. They're receiving information from command while directing crews

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<v Speaker 2>on the ground. If communication breaks down there, the entire

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<v Speaker 2>operation slows down. Business works exactly the same way. The

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<v Speaker 2>middle isn't glamorous. Nobody writes magazine articles celebrating the manager

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<v Speaker 2>who quietly kept everything running. Nobody notices the supervisor who

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<v Speaker 2>prevented five problems from ever happening. Great middle leadership often

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<v Speaker 2>looks invisible until it's gone, then everybody notices. If you

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<v Speaker 2>want to improve your organization, spend less time asking why

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<v Speaker 2>employees aren't engaged. Spend more time asking whether your middle

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<v Speaker 2>leaders have the confidence, authority, and skills to create engagement.

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<v Speaker 2>And here's a practical exercise. Make a list of every

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<v Speaker 2>person in your organization who directly supervises other people. Next

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<v Speaker 2>to each name, answer one question, when was the last

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<v Speaker 2>time I invested in this person's leadership. If the answer

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<v Speaker 2>is measured in years instead of weeks or months, you've

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<v Speaker 2>probably found one of your biggest opportunities. Organizations don't rise

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<v Speaker 2>because executives have great ideas. Organizations rise because middle leaders

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<v Speaker 2>can instantly execute those ideas with clarity, consistency, and credibility.

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<v Speaker 2>That's where momentum begins. That's where trust is built. That's

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<v Speaker 2>where culture becomes visible, and that's where leadership earns its reputation.

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<v Speaker 2>So before you launch another initiative, rewrite another policy, or

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<v Speaker 2>announce another strategic plan, spend some time fixing the middle.

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<v Speaker 2>Because when the middle gets stronger, everything above it becomes

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<v Speaker 2>more effective and everything below it becomes more confident. That's

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<v Speaker 2>leadership worth investing in. As you head into your day,

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<v Speaker 2>take a look at the middle of your organization. Ask

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<v Speaker 2>yourself if you're expecting people to lead without giving them

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<v Speaker 2>the tools to succeed. Great organizations are rarely built from

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<v Speaker 2>the top down. They're strengthened from the middle out. Spend

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<v Speaker 2>seven intentional minutes, and that's investing in the leaders who

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<v Speaker 2>connect vision to action and watch what happens next. And

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<v Speaker 2>if you want more free leadership resources, head over to

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<v Speaker 2>paulflovalito dot com and click on free Stuff. I have

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<v Speaker 2>over twenty five free leadership documents you can download and

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<v Speaker 2>start using today. This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast,

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<v Speaker 2>and I thank you for listening.

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