Speaker 1: Welcome to Backing Your Leadership. I'm Chris, Lorenzo and Lorenzo.
Speaker 1: In this episode, we're continuing our discussion that we've had
Speaker 1: for the last three mondays on kind of going through
Speaker 1: the backlog of questions that listeners have submitted to us.
Speaker 1: These are some great conversations with some great questions, and
Speaker 1: I feel like I wish we'd gone through them earlier,
Speaker 1: but I like that we're getting these answers out to
Speaker 1: the people who've reached out over the last few months
Speaker 1: and said that these things are important to them or
Speaker 1: they're curious about them. On this episode, the first question
Speaker 1: that I want to kind of get to is this
Speaker 1: idea of competing priorities in the workplace. And so a
Speaker 1: listener reached out to us a few months ago and
Speaker 1: asked about strategies they can use to keep people engaged
Speaker 1: and performing and working hard with there's a growing list
Speaker 1: of distractions and competing priorities. And I think it's a
Speaker 1: very relevant question because you know, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of it is driven by technology. I think in a
Speaker 1: lot of organizations, the access to technology and the access
Speaker 1: to communication is allowing employees to be inundated with things
Speaker 1: that are not work related even while they're at work,
Speaker 1: and the kind of the kind of meshing or melding
Speaker 1: of the you talk about work life balance, there is
Speaker 1: no work life balance anymore. There's just life and work
Speaker 1: is part of it. And those other things that are
Speaker 1: going on in a person's life are going on whether
Speaker 1: they're at work or not. And so those distractions and
Speaker 1: competing priorities can absolutely lower employee engagement. If they can
Speaker 1: lower productivity, they can lower the a person's you know,
Speaker 1: buy in to doing great work while they're there. But
Speaker 1: I think a lot of leaders go about this the
Speaker 1: wrong way because there the actions they take is in
Speaker 1: the spirit of trying to eliminate those distractions competing priorities,
Speaker 1: rather than acknowledging their existence and trying to work through them.
Speaker 1: And so I think this is it's a great question
Speaker 1: because it's not going to go away. The distractions and
Speaker 1: the competing priorities are going to continue to grow over time.
Speaker 1: They're not going to get less.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's for a while. Like things
Speaker 2: have always existed obviously, right, And even when we talked
Speaker 2: about like our culture acronym, like one of the elements
Speaker 2: of that is like what we call lending air support,
Speaker 2: which is you know, stopping so much of getting through
Speaker 2: to the team around distractions and things that would take
Speaker 2: them off course on you know, the focuses of the
Speaker 2: work that you have them doing. I think today though,
Speaker 2: what's different in this space is where there are so
Speaker 2: many distractions coming from so many different places, and I
Speaker 2: think the things that are happening around the workforce and
Speaker 2: just kind of where we're at from a society standpoint
Speaker 2: in social media and how much time we spend kind
Speaker 2: of in those spaces discussing those things, Like there's a
Speaker 2: lot more of that that I've seen now than ever before,
Speaker 2: where it's just like there's so many things that can
Speaker 2: you know, shift our attention. And again not not even
Speaker 2: not not so not not only just workplace distractions and
Speaker 2: maybe sometimes like too many strategies or competing priorities at work,
Speaker 2: or you know, things that are happening that may pull
Speaker 2: our attention away from a professional work environment, but just
Speaker 2: the the world and society in general is creating a
Speaker 2: lot of you know, ways to to pull all of
Speaker 2: our attention and it happens to all of us. And
Speaker 2: I think that you know, in those types of spaces,
Speaker 2: taking the time to engage human to human, taking the
Speaker 2: time to not just get to know people, but but
Speaker 2: talk to people daily, have pieces of your interactions that
Speaker 2: that that have to do with with them and life
Speaker 2: and the journey of life that they're on and things
Speaker 2: that are going on. Like that element of personal connection
Speaker 2: I think human human personal connection I think is so
Speaker 2: important to be able to create space where sometimes like
Speaker 2: just being at work is a distraction from everything else
Speaker 2: going on outside of work, right, you know, and like
Speaker 2: so it's almost kind of like there's a there's a
Speaker 2: there's a there's a connection here, there's a space here,
Speaker 2: there's a capability of having a shared goal and work
Speaker 2: in progress to get something done that can feel you know,
Speaker 2: satisfying and it's complete. It can feel you know, maybe
Speaker 2: tough to get through, but at the same time, you're
Speaker 2: doing something, and you're doing something with others that are
Speaker 2: also focused on the same goals. Like I just think
Speaker 2: that there's a lot of intention to be had now,
Speaker 2: specifically with with with connecting with people in a very
Speaker 2: different way that allows them to feel seen and heard
Speaker 2: and empowered while they're at work. And I think those
Speaker 2: are to me, like the pillars of engagement right now
Speaker 2: and kind of going forward right right.
Speaker 1: So there, this question can be or printed two ways,
Speaker 1: because you know, growing workplace distractions and competing priorities. You know,
Speaker 1: the distractions could be not work related, they could be
Speaker 1: coming externally. They could be coming from, you know, a
Speaker 1: text message that shows up on your watch from a
Speaker 1: family member who you know has an issue that maybe
Speaker 1: thirty years ago you may not have even seen until
Speaker 1: two hours later or three hours later, and now it's
Speaker 1: it's instant. And so this the the kind of the
Speaker 1: the arrows that are coming in from all over the place,
Speaker 1: all of which can make an employee feel like everything
Speaker 1: is the priority. And when and when you feel like
Speaker 1: everything is the priority, then one of two things happen.
Speaker 1: Either nothing is the priority, or you try to make
Speaker 1: everything the priority and you either burn out or you
Speaker 1: get frustrated, or you end up pathassing everything because you
Speaker 1: can't put your you know, your all of your efforts
Speaker 1: into one thing that you're focusing on. So that's the
Speaker 1: first part of it. And then workplace distractions, you know
Speaker 1: it it comes from I'm thinking about the quote from
Speaker 1: Office Space where he sits down with the bobs and
Speaker 1: he's like, ah, eight bosses and they go eight eight,
Speaker 1: Hey Bob, eight bosses, you know, and it's it's there's
Speaker 1: so much kind of separation of a lot of roles
Speaker 1: and support roles within organizations. Now that you might have people,
Speaker 1: you might have one in most organizations, you're only going
Speaker 1: to have one straight line to one boss, but you
Speaker 1: might have dotted lines to five or six other people
Speaker 1: who each have their own list of priorities. And and
Speaker 1: if you are feeling this pressure, honestly, that's on your leader.
Speaker 1: So if you're thinking about it from the standpoint of
Speaker 1: you as a leader, because everybody, if you're a leader
Speaker 1: of people, you also are on a team and you
Speaker 1: have a leader too, So from your standpoint, your responsibility
Speaker 1: is to make sure that that doesn't happen as much
Speaker 1: as possible for your team. And so if the person
Speaker 1: who reports directly to you also has several dotted lines
Speaker 1: to other people who are reaching out to them, it's
Speaker 1: important that you, as a leader reach out to all
Speaker 1: of those people, not to the employee directly, but to
Speaker 1: all the people who might be talking to your employees
Speaker 1: and make sure that they and you are on the
Speaker 1: same page with what the priorities are and that nothing
Speaker 1: is blindsided. So you know, if you have people reaching
Speaker 1: out to your people directly, you don't want to stop
Speaker 1: those those interactions from happening, but you want to make
Speaker 1: sure that there's absolute clarity between you and your employees
Speaker 1: on what the priorities are, so that when they hear
Speaker 1: something from other places and they think, oh, I guess
Speaker 1: this is a priority now, that their first thought is,
Speaker 1: you know what, let me let me talk to Lorenzo
Speaker 1: really quickly first, and let's make sure that this fits
Speaker 1: within the structure of the of the priorities. Because then
Speaker 1: it's on the leader to make that to call. And
Speaker 1: if if your employee comes to you and they're feeling
Speaker 1: all these this pressure coming from other places, and you
Speaker 1: provide them clarity and say no, don't do that right now.
Speaker 1: This is what you're focusing on. You can't just hang
Speaker 1: them out to dry either. Once you've on that, you
Speaker 1: have to go to the person who's reaching out to
Speaker 1: your employee and say, hey, I just want to let
Speaker 1: you know I told them this because I don't want
Speaker 1: you to think that they drop the ball for you.
Speaker 1: This was my call to do this because this is
Speaker 1: what they're focusing on right now and we'll do our
Speaker 1: best to get that in also, or or they come
Speaker 1: to you and you say, yeah, I like that idea
Speaker 1: that you can focus on that. So either way, you
Speaker 1: have to have the kind of relationship with all of
Speaker 1: your people that says that when they hear something that
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to fit in with the conversation you've had
Speaker 1: with them about what priorities are, that they want to
Speaker 1: seek clarity on those issues, as opposed to just thinking,
Speaker 1: no matter who gives me anything, I guess I have
Speaker 1: to do it all now, because that's a great way
Speaker 1: to burn out your employees and so kind of being
Speaker 1: that line of defense for them and and you know,
Speaker 1: taking that weight off of their shoulders I think is
Speaker 1: the right thing to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I think it's. Yeah, it's it's such an
Speaker 2: important part of leadership and it always really has been
Speaker 2: to be able to take on the things that will
Speaker 2: just create noise or distraction for your team, and you
Speaker 2: have to be aware of them. Like you you also
Speaker 2: have to be in a place where you understand what
Speaker 2: is noise and distraction and let me let I'll let
Speaker 2: you it in a secret that noise and distraction might
Speaker 2: be really important to somebody else, right, like.
Speaker 1: Your noise and distraction is their number one priority. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So like let's let's call it what it is,
Speaker 2: Like like that's going to happen sometimes, and you've got
Speaker 2: to figure out a way to navigate that relationship or
Speaker 2: that strategy or you know, not write somebody off, but
Speaker 2: like help them get what they need. But but by
Speaker 2: making sure that you're not continually just rolling down those
Speaker 2: requests to your team constantly and giving them so many
Speaker 2: other things to think about and to go do, when
Speaker 2: when you've got them hyper focused on the things that
Speaker 2: are really really important and so like that that's I
Speaker 2: think from a lot of leadership standpoints, like where I
Speaker 2: see leaders have a hard time is like it's it's
Speaker 2: not it's not tough to keep my team focused and
Speaker 2: attuned to the goals that we have. It's what happens
Speaker 2: when there's other people that are of other areas of
Speaker 2: authority or a job, you know, like bosses or bosses,
Speaker 2: bosses or somebody in this part of the work, Like
Speaker 2: when people are vye for your time and attention and
Speaker 2: for your team to get things done or to get
Speaker 2: information or data that ability to navigate those relationships and
Speaker 2: still make sure that other people in the organization get
Speaker 2: what they need, you know, in a way that's helpful
Speaker 2: so that they can achieve their goals, but not putting
Speaker 2: your team at risk of being distracted because there's so
Speaker 2: many things they have to get done. That's where I
Speaker 2: see a lot of leaders sometimes struggle is that it's
Speaker 2: tough to you know, they either want to say yes
Speaker 2: or they want to say no, and then try to
Speaker 2: figure out how do you say yes absolutely, but no
Speaker 2: not this way. It's kind of like the magic in
Speaker 2: figuring out that behave right.
Speaker 1: Well, maintaining relationships is not just about saying yes. So
Speaker 1: so if you if you're a leader of people and
Speaker 1: your boss reaches out to your people directly to talk
Speaker 1: to them about something that is a priority, you know,
Speaker 1: your people might think, oh, well that that came from
Speaker 1: my boss's boss, so clearly that's a priority. That isn't
Speaker 1: necessarily the case because hopefully your boss came to you
Speaker 1: first and said, Hey, I'm gonna be talking with your
Speaker 1: people and this is what I'm gonna tell them, and
Speaker 1: you and your boss can align on something before those
Speaker 1: conversations happen. You can't always rely on that happening though,
Speaker 1: and so you as a as a leader of people,
Speaker 1: need to feel comfortable going to your own leader to say, hey,
Speaker 1: I've been hearing this. I just want to make sure
Speaker 1: that are you are you? Are you changing what the
Speaker 1: priority is? Because the how I'm talking to my team
Speaker 1: is based on the conversation we had two months ago
Speaker 1: on what these are the priorities are. But they're hearing
Speaker 1: something different from you directly, So do I need to
Speaker 1: change what the what the priorities are? Because and then
Speaker 1: if if your boss says oh no, no, no, yours
Speaker 1: yours is fine, and then this is this is this
Speaker 1: is what's happening too, then at that point you have
Speaker 1: to say, okay, well let me let me make sure
Speaker 1: that we're clear on what the bandwidth is of what
Speaker 1: they're doing and what the realities are of what they
Speaker 1: can get accomplished versus what they can't get accomplished, and
Speaker 1: you have a real realistic kind of thumb on the
Speaker 1: pulse of what that looks like and and not just
Speaker 1: saying no for the sake of no, because if they
Speaker 1: can get something done, that's a great way to strengthen relationships.
Speaker 1: But if what they're being asked to do is contradictory
Speaker 1: to something that you put in place, that's where the
Speaker 1: problem can happen. Because if employees believe they're being asked
Speaker 1: to do two things that aren't just competing with each
Speaker 1: other from a time perspective, but they're competing with each
Speaker 1: other from an actual outcome perspective, you will have a
Speaker 1: team of people who starts rolling their eyes at what
Speaker 1: they're being asked to do and telling their own story
Speaker 1: about oh, well here, yeah, how do we do this
Speaker 1: and this at the same time, like you're you're saying
Speaker 1: that the most important thing is sell, sell, sell revenue,
Speaker 1: revenue at all costs, you know, and then somebody else saying, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we don't want to discount anything. It's profits, profits, profits
Speaker 1: at all costs. It's like, well, you don't get both,
Speaker 1: Like you can't have both. It's one or the other.
Speaker 1: And if you want to see that both as a priority,
Speaker 1: then that's fine, but you have to understand that neither
Speaker 1: is going to be at the highest level because they're
Speaker 1: taking into account each other as they're rolling through those priorities.
Speaker 1: And that's a very simple, stupid example of it. But
Speaker 1: it happens all over the place where an employee can think,
Speaker 1: I've been told to do two different things here, and
Speaker 1: it's actually not possible to do both because each one
Speaker 1: is it works against the other, and so I can
Speaker 1: only focus on one of these two things, even though
Speaker 1: I have time to do both. It's not a time thing.
Speaker 1: It's a that the don't. They don't live in the
Speaker 1: same universe together because they can't. And so that conversation
Speaker 1: is different than the one you have about well, how
Speaker 1: much time do I have and how many things are
Speaker 1: being added to the plates of my employees. They both
Speaker 1: cause problems but want but they require different conversations between
Speaker 1: you and your leader to make sure that your employees
Speaker 1: are on the same page and that nothing kind of
Speaker 1: shakes that foundation of the core of what they are
Speaker 1: here to do, whatever their job is that needs to maintain,
Speaker 1: you know, at the top spot is whatever that those
Speaker 1: core values or core focus areas.
Speaker 2: Are, absolutely and with that it brings us to this
Speaker 2: episode's women in Hack. But first a few words from
Speaker 2: our sponsors.
Speaker 1: All Right, this episode's women ate hack is all about communication.
Speaker 1: When you have a discussion with your boss and you
Speaker 1: align on priorities that you have to then give to
Speaker 1: your team, send a follow up email kind of relating
Speaker 1: back what the conversation was about, what the priorities were,
Speaker 1: what you agreed upon, what the goal is moving forward,
Speaker 1: and the actions you're going to take moving forward to
Speaker 1: get your team aligned on it, so you can look
Speaker 1: back at that and make sure that what you're doing
Speaker 1: is in spirit of that. If your boss wants to
Speaker 1: change that, then it's important that you have that information
Speaker 1: to say, well, this doesn't seem like it aligns with
Speaker 1: what we talked about before, doesn't need to change and
Speaker 1: that's fine, and if your boss wants to change that,
Speaker 1: then they can change that. And then having that communication
Speaker 1: that says that you're on the same page, that you're aligned,
Speaker 1: allows you to go to your people to say, this
Speaker 1: is what we're supposed to be doing. It's important that
Speaker 1: you're doing this every single interaction you have, because conversations
Speaker 1: can get forgotten, and recapping a conversation, especially when it
Speaker 1: comes to strategic priorities or what the focus is moving forward,
Speaker 1: it's really important to be able to bring that information
Speaker 1: up later on and say we're operating under these guidelines
Speaker 1: that we discussed and agreed upon, and that way, if
Speaker 1: they do need to change, you can at least say,
Speaker 1: you know, what I was doing was in spirit of
Speaker 1: this conversation that we had, and then we can change
Speaker 1: it if we need to change it. Having that two
Speaker 1: way communication, both to your people and to your boss
Speaker 1: directly is the best way to make sure that your
Speaker 1: people don't feel like they are on the receiving end
Speaker 1: of competing priorities. This work is done in advance of
Speaker 1: those priorities. If you're if you start from a standpoint
Speaker 1: of just hoping it works out and then reacting to
Speaker 1: them when they happen, you're going to be reacting to
Speaker 1: them all the time. People don't know what they don't know.
Speaker 1: And if your boss is reaching out to your people,
Speaker 1: or if you have a peer somewhere else who has
Speaker 1: a dotted line you know, directly to your people and
Speaker 1: you haven't spoken to them about what the priorities are,
Speaker 1: then they think they can just reach out to your
Speaker 1: people and start throwing things that they're played. Maybe they can,
Speaker 1: but it's important that you reach out to them in
Speaker 1: advance and say, hey, this is what I'm working on
Speaker 1: with my team right now, this is what the priorities are.
Speaker 1: If there's something that you need to get done that
Speaker 1: doesn't align with these priorities, I'd appreciate if you reach
Speaker 1: out to me first before just throwing something at my team.
Speaker 1: And that's a great way to make sure that you
Speaker 1: that you stop it from running into a potential where
Speaker 1: the relationship is degraded by having those conversations in advance,
Speaker 1: and then they are more likely to respect that interaction
Speaker 1: and then not reach out to your people directly with
Speaker 1: something that competes with the priorities you've put out to
Speaker 1: your own team. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think communication, communication, communication, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like really and and especially with those that are from
Speaker 2: a work standpoint, looking to gain the attention of your team.
Speaker 2: And that's really what we're talking about, is like you know,
Speaker 2: where where's the attention going and what do you need
Speaker 2: to focus on? And a lot of you know, a
Speaker 2: lot of middle management to a degree, is a lot
Speaker 2: of this job. Sure of like what are the what
Speaker 2: are the you know, organizational things that are important and
Speaker 2: focuses that you want to make sure are getting done.
Speaker 2: Then what's your what's your boss's preference on how that
Speaker 2: gets done? Then what's the other partner's you know, preference
Speaker 2: on how that gets done. Like a lot of it
Speaker 2: is navigating these types of things, and to your point
Speaker 2: in the hack here, like that communication is absolutely critical,
Speaker 2: right and you have to spend some time saying hey,
Speaker 2: like i've you know, tell me more about that, or
Speaker 2: or help me understand what you need specifically and when
Speaker 2: you need it buy you know, I want to make
Speaker 2: sure that that my team is you know, fully focused
Speaker 2: on this thing that we know as a priority that
Speaker 2: we're getting done. But I want to get you what
Speaker 2: you need, So give me some more details, let me
Speaker 2: know what this looks like when it needs to be
Speaker 2: done by what information, Like let me really understand what
Speaker 2: you're asking for, and then let me let me figure
Speaker 2: out how I'm going to get you that info while
Speaker 2: keeping my team fully focused on the larger tasks that
Speaker 2: we've got going on, or the major priorities that we've
Speaker 2: already established or whatever that might be. But that that's
Speaker 2: going to be a critical part of being able to
Speaker 2: get both things done right.
Speaker 1: And and keep in mind too that influence and getting
Speaker 1: things done that you need to get done looks different
Speaker 1: if you have a direct line to a person who
Speaker 1: reports directly to you versus if you have a dotted line.
Speaker 1: So's it's one of the one of the reasons why
Speaker 1: I think there's so much value in being put in
Speaker 1: positions where you have to lead and influence people who
Speaker 1: don't report directly to you, because because that's a way
Speaker 1: to show whether or not you whether or not people
Speaker 1: you know, not just respect. Respect is the wrong word,
Speaker 1: whether or not people, whether or not you are good
Speaker 1: at creating disciples or followers in terms of the values
Speaker 1: that you hold. Is whether or not people want to
Speaker 1: follow you when they don't have a direct line to you.
Speaker 1: And so people who are reaching out to your people
Speaker 1: who don't have a direct line to them, but they
Speaker 1: have a dotted line to them, throwing out different things
Speaker 1: and saying that these are priorities. They have a tough
Speaker 1: job because they have to get people to get the
Speaker 1: job done that has to get done without those people
Speaker 1: reporting directly to them. And that's a tougher thing to
Speaker 1: do than if they were just that's your team and
Speaker 1: you're the boss, and you can have them do what
Speaker 1: you want them to do. And so being respectful or
Speaker 1: at least cognizant of that and understanding that you want
Speaker 1: to preserve not just that person's belief that their role
Speaker 1: is important in the organization, but preserve the relationship that
Speaker 1: exists between them and your people, because the more open
Speaker 1: communication that your people have with everybody in your organization,
Speaker 1: the better it will be for them because they will
Speaker 1: they'll strengthen their network, they'll you know, be in in
Speaker 1: places where they can get more experience to get more
Speaker 1: things done. So it's not about hiding them away and
Speaker 1: preventing it from happening. It's about making sure that everybody
Speaker 1: is in agreement with what the core priorities are, whether
Speaker 1: that has change weekly or monthly or quarterly or annually,
Speaker 1: but whatever they are, they are and agree upon that
Speaker 1: so that something has to be contradictory to it or
Speaker 1: flies in the face of it, that the conversation happens
Speaker 1: in advance, and you don't set people up for failure
Speaker 1: by thinking, oh, you know, all Lorenzo's doing is stopping
Speaker 1: me from getting the stuff that I need to get
Speaker 1: done because he's not letting his people do the things
Speaker 1: that I need to get done. If you've gotten to
Speaker 1: that point, it means you didn't have the communication to
Speaker 1: begin with, and you go back a few steps and
Speaker 1: kind of level set what that looks like and what
Speaker 1: those interactions don't look like going forward.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and with that it brings us to the end
Speaker 2: of this episode. This is Hacky leadership. I'm Lorenzo and
Speaker 2: I'm Chris, and we'll talk to you all next time.