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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 golagiving. This

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

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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 point thirty five. Today. I want to

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<v Speaker 2>talk about something that separates leaders who struggle from leaders

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<v Speaker 2>who seem to just get it. And it comes down

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<v Speaker 2>to what they notice first when they walk into a room,

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<v Speaker 2>take over a team, or face a problem. Experienced leaders

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<v Speaker 2>see differently. Not because they're smarter, not because they went

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<v Speaker 2>to a better school or read more books. It's because

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<v Speaker 2>they've been through enough situations that their eyes have been trained,

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<v Speaker 2>sometimes the hard way, to look past the obvious and

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<v Speaker 2>focus on what actually matters. So what do they see first?

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<v Speaker 2>The first thing an experienced leader notices is the energy

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<v Speaker 2>in the room, not the words people are saying. The energy.

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<v Speaker 2>Are people engaged or just going through the motions? Is

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<v Speaker 2>their tension that nobody's naming. Is the team tight? Do

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<v Speaker 2>they finish each other's sentences or are they politely tolerating

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<v Speaker 2>each other? A newer leader walks in and listens to

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<v Speaker 2>the update. An experienced leader walks in and reads the

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<v Speaker 2>room before anyone says a word. They notice who's leaning

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<v Speaker 2>forward and who's leaning back. They notice who makes eye

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<v Speaker 2>contact and who avoids it. They notice who's quiet that

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<v Speaker 2>usually isn't. That energy tells a story, and experienced leaders

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<v Speaker 2>have learned to read it before they do anything else.

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<v Speaker 2>The second thing they see is where the real influence lives.

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<v Speaker 2>Every team has an org chart, the official structure that's

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<v Speaker 2>who reports to who, And then there's the real structure,

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<v Speaker 2>the person who isn't a manager, but that everyone goes

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<v Speaker 2>to when they have a question. The person who if

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<v Speaker 2>they buy in, the whole team buys in. The person

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<v Speaker 2>who if they check out, others follow. Experienced leaders find

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<v Speaker 2>that person fast, not to manipulate them, but because if

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<v Speaker 2>you want to lead well, you need to understand where

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<v Speaker 2>trust already lives on your team. That unofficial influencer is

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<v Speaker 2>a signal they've earned credibility in ways that don't show

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<v Speaker 2>up on any report, and a smart leader respects that

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<v Speaker 2>and works with it. Third, and this one is big,

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<v Speaker 2>Experienced leaders see the gap between what's being said and

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<v Speaker 2>what's actually true. In most organizations, there's the official version

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<v Speaker 2>of things, and then there's reality. People will tell a

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<v Speaker 2>leader what they think the leader wants to hear. It's

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<v Speaker 2>human nature. People protect themselves. They soften bad news, they

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<v Speaker 2>stay quiet about problems that they're afraid won't land well.

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<v Speaker 2>An experienced leader knows this, so they don't just take

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<v Speaker 2>the first answer at face value. They ask follow up questions.

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<v Speaker 2>They have one on one conversations. They pay attention to

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<v Speaker 2>the stuff people mention, almost in passing, because that's often

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<v Speaker 2>where the real issue is hiding. When someone says, oh,

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<v Speaker 2>it's fine, we're handling it, an experienced leader hears that

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<v Speaker 2>and thinks, are you though, tell me more. They've learned

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<v Speaker 2>that fine is sometimes the most loaded word in the building.

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<v Speaker 2>The fourth thing experienced leaders spot quickly is where the

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<v Speaker 2>pressure's coming from. Every time a team is carrying something deadlines,

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<v Speaker 2>competing priorities, a difficult relationship with another department, a process

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<v Speaker 2>that's been broken for years that everyone's just learned to

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<v Speaker 2>work around. Experienced leaders look for what's wearing their people down.

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<v Speaker 2>Because a tired, frustrated team doesn't perform no matter how

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<v Speaker 2>talented they are. And here's the thing. A lot of

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<v Speaker 2>leaders miss this because they're so focused on the output

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<v Speaker 2>that they forget to look at the conditions producing that output.

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<v Speaker 2>If the conditions are bad, the output eventually suffers. Experienced

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<v Speaker 2>leaders know to look upstream. In fifth, experienced leaders see

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<v Speaker 2>potential that others overlook. They walk into a team and

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<v Speaker 2>they're not just assessing problems. They're looking for people who

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<v Speaker 2>are underutilized, people who have more to give but haven't

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<v Speaker 2>been given the space or the challenge to give it.

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<v Speaker 2>People who've been labeled one thing for so long that

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<v Speaker 2>nobody's noticed they've grown into something more. This is actually

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<v Speaker 2>one of the most powerful things a leader can do.

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<v Speaker 2>See someone before they fully see themselves. Call out of strength.

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<v Speaker 2>If someone doesn't know that they have, give someone a

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<v Speaker 2>chance that nobody else thought to give them. That kind

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<v Speaker 2>of leadership changes people's lives and it changes teams. So

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<v Speaker 2>to pull this all together, experienced leaders see energy, influence,

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<v Speaker 2>truth gaps, pressure points, and hidden potential. They're not just

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<v Speaker 2>looking at the surface. They've learned, usually through trial and error,

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<v Speaker 2>that the most important information in any situation isn't always

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<v Speaker 2>the loudest or the most obvious. The good news is

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<v Speaker 2>this isn't some gift you're born with. It's a skill,

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<v Speaker 2>and like any skill, you get better at it by

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<v Speaker 2>being intentional, by slowing down enough to actually observe before

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<v Speaker 2>you react, by asking questions instead of assuming, by staying

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<v Speaker 2>curious about your people instead of just managing tasks. Start

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<v Speaker 2>paying attention to what you notice and more importantly, what

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<v Speaker 2>you've been missing. So the longer you lead, the more

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<v Speaker 2>you realize that leadership is less about having all the

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<v Speaker 2>answers and more about asking better questions and seeing more clearly,

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<v Speaker 2>every room you walk into is giving you information. Every

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<v Speaker 2>conversation has a layer underneath it. The leader who makes

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<v Speaker 2>the biggest difference are the ones who take the time

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<v Speaker 2>to look. So this week, slow down, watch, listen, and

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<v Speaker 2>see what you've been walking past. You might be surprised

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<v Speaker 2>what's been right in front of you the whole time.

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<v Speaker 2>This has been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast, and I

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<v Speaker 2>thank you for listening.

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