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 Fellowaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six seventy one. Let me ask you something
Speaker 2: right out of the gate. When was the last time
Speaker 2: you checked in with yourself as a leader, Not your team,
Speaker 2: not your metrics, not your inbox, you, Because here's what
Speaker 2: I see happening every day. Leaders are constantly checking everything
Speaker 2: around them emails, schedules, budgets, performance dashboards, but they never
Speaker 2: stop long enough to run a check on the one
Speaker 2: variable that drives all of it, their own leadership. And
Speaker 2: that's problem because leadership drift is real. You don't wake
Speaker 2: up one day and decide to become a disconnected, frustrated,
Speaker 2: ineffective leader. It happens slowly, quietly, one missed moment at
Speaker 2: a time. So today I'm going to give you a
Speaker 2: set of daily self check questions. Not theory, not corporate bs.
Speaker 2: These are real, field tested questions that force you to
Speaker 2: stay sharp, grounded, and accountable. This is your seven minute
Speaker 2: leadership discipline. First question, did I show up the way
Speaker 2: my team needed me today or the way I felt
Speaker 2: like showing up. There's a difference, a big difference. Some
Speaker 2: days you're tired, some days you're frustrated. Some days you're
Speaker 2: dealing with things outside of work. Your team doesn't get
Speaker 2: to opt out of their responsibilities because of how they feel.
Speaker 2: Neither do you. Leadership is not about mood. It is
Speaker 2: is about presence. The second question, what did I ignore
Speaker 2: today that I know I shouldn't have? Every leader has
Speaker 2: these moments. You see something off, a behavior, a comment,
Speaker 2: a shortcut, and you tell yourself I'll deal with it later,
Speaker 2: and later turns into never And what you ignore, you
Speaker 2: approve that small thing becomes culture faster than you think.
Speaker 2: The third question, did I make anything clearer for my
Speaker 2: team today? Confusion kills momentum, It creates hesitation, it creates mistakes.
Speaker 2: Your job is to remove friction, not add to it.
Speaker 2: If your team leaves a conversation more confused than when
Speaker 2: they walked in, that's on you. Clarity is leadership currency.
Speaker 2: The fourth question, who did I recognize or acknowledge today?
Speaker 2: Not everyone needs a trophy, but everyone needs to know
Speaker 2: they matter. And here's the reality If the only time
Speaker 2: people hear from you is when something is wrong, you
Speaker 2: are building a culture of silence and resentment. Recognition doesn't
Speaker 2: have to be big, it has to be real. The
Speaker 2: fifth question, did I listen or did I wait for
Speaker 2: my turn to talk? Be honest with yourself here. Leaders
Speaker 2: love to talk. It comes with the territory. But listening
Speaker 2: is where the real information lives. If you're not listening,
Speaker 2: you're guessing, and guessing is a dangerous leadership strategy. The
Speaker 2: sixth question did I protect this standard today? Standards are
Speaker 2: not posters on a wall. They are lived out in
Speaker 2: real time. Every time you let something slide that violates
Speaker 2: your standard, you lower it and your team is watching closely.
Speaker 2: They are always watching. The seventh question, did I make
Speaker 2: it decision? I've been avoiding. Delayed decisions create bottlenecks. Bottlenecks
Speaker 2: create frustration. Frustration kills performance. You already know the decision,
Speaker 2: you're just uncomfortable making it. That's not leadership. That's hesitation
Speaker 2: dressed up as caution. The eighth question was I consistent today?
Speaker 2: In your tone, in your expectations, in your reactions. Inconsistency
Speaker 2: creates anxiety in teams. People start guessing which version of
Speaker 2: you they're going to get. And when people are guessing,
Speaker 2: they're not performing. The ninth question, did I invest even
Speaker 2: a few minutes in becoming a better leader today? This
Speaker 2: is the foundation of everything I teach? Seven minutes? That's it.
Speaker 2: Read something, reflect on something, think through a decision differently.
Speaker 2: If you're not growing daily, you are falling behind quietly.
Speaker 2: The tenth question, if my team led exactly like me today,
Speaker 2: what kind of organization would we have? This one hits
Speaker 2: different because whether you like it or not, your behavior
Speaker 2: is the blueprint. Your habits become their habits, Your discipline
Speaker 2: becomes their discipline, and your shortcuts become their shortcuts. You
Speaker 2: are the standard. Now here's the key. Don't try to
Speaker 2: answer all of these perfectly. That's not the goal. The
Speaker 2: goal is awareness. The goal is to stop leadership drift
Speaker 2: before it becomes leadership failure. Because the best leaders I've
Speaker 2: ever seen don't wait for performance reviews to evaluate themselves.
Speaker 2: They don't wait for complaints, they don't wait for things
Speaker 2: to break. They run daily checks, quick, honest and direct,
Speaker 2: and they adjust in real time. That's how you stay sharp,
Speaker 2: that's how you stay trusted. That's how you stay effective.
Speaker 2: And here's the part nobody talks about. If you can't
Speaker 2: answer these questions, honestly, you've got work to do. And
Speaker 2: that's okay, because leadership is not about being perfect. It's
Speaker 2: about being aware and accountable enough to make adjustments every
Speaker 2: single day. So here's your move. Pick three of these questions,
Speaker 2: write them down, put them somewhere where you'll see them,
Speaker 2: and at the end of your day, run the check.
Speaker 2: No excuses, no shortcuts. That's your seven minutes, that's your edge,
Speaker 2: that's your leadership. So if you want to stay ahead
Speaker 2: as a leader, it's not about doing more. It's about
Speaker 2: checking yourself more often. Small daily corrections beat massive late
Speaker 2: overhauls every time. Keep your standards high, keep your awareness sharp,
Speaker 2: and never let yourself drift without noticing it. And if
Speaker 2: you want more free leadership resources, head over to paulfallovaledo
Speaker 2: dot com and click on free Stuff. I have over
Speaker 2: twenty five free leadership documents you can download and start
Speaker 2: using today. This has been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Aledo Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.