Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goalagiving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six forty six. Today we're talking about upgrading
Speaker 2: your skills without a coach. Now, let me be clear,
Speaker 2: I believe in coaching. I am a certified coach. I've
Speaker 2: invested in coaching, I've hired coaches. Coaching works, and not
Speaker 2: everyone has access to one, not everyone can afford one.
Speaker 2: Not everyone is in an environment where mentorship is strong,
Speaker 2: and some of you are operating at a level where
Speaker 2: there's no one above you who truly understands your seat
Speaker 2: you do, you become your own development engine. One of
Speaker 2: the biggest myths in leadership is that growth requires permission.
Speaker 2: It does not. Growth requires discipline. If you want to
Speaker 2: upgrade your skills without a coach, you need structure, not motivation. Structure.
Speaker 2: So here is the first shift schedule. Seven minutes a
Speaker 2: day for skill sharpening, not scrolling, not reacting sharpening. That
Speaker 2: is the foundation of seven minute leadership. Small consistent upgrades
Speaker 2: beat occasional overhauls every time. Seven minutes reading something challenging,
Speaker 2: seven minutes analyzing a decision you made yesterday, seven minutes
Speaker 2: rehearsing a difficult conversation before you actually have it. Seven
Speaker 2: minutes a day for a year is more than forty
Speaker 2: hours of intentional development. That is a work week invested
Speaker 2: in yourself. Second, audit your blind spots. Most leaders plateau
Speaker 2: because they stop seeing themselves clearly. Without a coach, you
Speaker 2: must become ruthless about self review. Record yourself in meetings.
Speaker 2: Listen to your tone. Are you talking too much or
Speaker 2: you interrupting? Are you vague? After major decisions? Ask yourself
Speaker 2: what assumptions did I make? What information did I ignore?
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 2: What did I feel emotionally during that moment. High performers
Speaker 2: do not avoid self evaluation, They lean into it. Third,
Speaker 2: create a feedback triangle. If you do not have a
Speaker 2: formal coach, build a small circle, one peer, one direct report,
Speaker 2: one senior leader. Ask each of them the same question
Speaker 2: once quarter. What is one thing I do that helps
Speaker 2: this team? What is one thing I do that hurts
Speaker 2: this team? Then do not defend, do not explain, write
Speaker 2: it down. Feedback without ego is a master class. Fourth,
Speaker 2: turn your job into a laboratory. Every meeting is a
Speaker 2: chance to test clarity. Every presentation is a chance to
Speaker 2: test influence. Every conflict is a chance to test emotional control.
Speaker 2: Stop waiting for a formal training environment. The field is
Speaker 2: the classroom. When you walk into a meeting, pick one
Speaker 2: skill you're consciously working on brevity, listening, framing, presence. Then
Speaker 2: after the meeting, grade yourself, not emotionally, tactically did I
Speaker 2: execute the skill or not. This is red key thinking
Speaker 2: applied to personal growth. Some moment are routine. Some moments
Speaker 2: define your credibility. Recognize which is which. Fifth, study patterns,
Speaker 2: not highlights. A lot of leaders consume leadership content like entertainment.
Speaker 2: They look for a quote, a quick hit, a dopamine spike,
Speaker 2: a screenshot. That is not development. Real development is pattern recognition.
Speaker 2: Why did that project succeed? Why did that hire fail?
Speaker 2: Why did morale dip? In Q. Three, When you study patterns,
Speaker 2: you stop reacting to noise and start seeing systems. Sixth,
Speaker 2: read outside your industry. If you only study your lane,
Speaker 2: you limit your creativity. Hospitality teaches, service, tech teaches speed,
Speaker 2: manufacturing teaches process, discipline. Finance teaches risk pollination sharpens perspective. Seventh,
Speaker 2: teach what you learn. There is no faster way to
Speaker 2: expose gaps in your knowledge than trying to explain something
Speaker 2: to someone else. Host a short internal training, share one
Speaker 2: insight at your next team meeting. Write a short reflection
Speaker 2: and send it to your leadership group. Teaching forces clarity. Eighth,
Speaker 2: build personal performance metrics Without a coach, You need a scoreboard.
Speaker 2: What are you tracking? Response time, meeting length, employee turnover,
Speaker 2: project completion rates, follow through on commitments. Leadership is not vibes,
Speaker 2: It is results. If you say you're improving, show it
Speaker 2: in the numbers or show it in behavior. Change. In ninth,
Speaker 2: eliminate passive time you drive, you walk, you wait in line.
Speaker 2: Those are classrooms. Listen to something challenging, Reflect on a
Speaker 2: leadership mistake, rehearse in upcoming conversation. You don't need more
Speaker 2: hours in the day, You need tighter use of the
Speaker 2: ones you already have. In tenth, protect your credibility. Skill
Speaker 2: upgrades are meaningless if your integrity slips. Accountability, honesty, inconsistency
Speaker 2: are not advanced tactics. They are foundational. When you mess up,
Speaker 2: own it quickly when you commit to something, deliver when
Speaker 2: you give feedback. Be clear. No coach can fix a
Speaker 2: credibility problem that you refuse to address. And here's what
Speaker 2: I've learned over nearly three decades on the front lines.
Speaker 2: The leaders who grow the fastest are not the ones
Speaker 2: with the most resources. They are the ones with the
Speaker 2: most intentionality. They do not wait to be developed, They
Speaker 2: develop themselves. They do not complain about the absence of mentorship.
Speaker 2: They build micro mentorship moments into their week. They don't
Speaker 2: chase hype, they chase discipline. You want to upgrade your
Speaker 2: skills without a coach, great, That means you're taking ownership
Speaker 2: in ownership is the beginning of advanced leadership. So if
Speaker 2: you're serious about leveling up, start today. Block seven minutes,
Speaker 2: pick one skill and track it for thirty days, reflect, adjust,
Speaker 2: and repeat. You do not need permission to grow. You
Speaker 2: need consistency. The chair you sit in demands it, your
Speaker 2: team deserves it. In your future, yourself is counting on it.
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 Paulfelloalito dot com.