Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golachieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode five sixty seven. Every leader I know has
Speaker 2: lived this moment. You had good intent, you showed up, prepared,
Speaker 2: you thought through the decision, you believed you were doing
Speaker 2: the right thing for the team, and then you rolled
Speaker 2: it out and hit resistance. Not loud rebellion, not open defiance,
Speaker 2: but the subtle kind, crossed arms, side conversations, passive compliance,
Speaker 2: silence where there should have been buy in. That moment
Speaker 2: messes with leaders because in your head you're thinking, I'm
Speaker 2: trying to help here, I'm trying to fix something. Why
Speaker 2: is this so hard? This episode is about what to
Speaker 2: do next, not how to avoid resistance. Resistance is part
Speaker 2: of leadership. This is how to course correct when your
Speaker 2: intent is good but your impact misses the mark. So
Speaker 2: let me ground this with a simple truth. Intent lives
Speaker 2: in your head, impact lives in their world, and leadership
Speaker 2: is judged on impact. I see this all the time
Speaker 2: in ems, business, nonprofits, startups everywhere. A leader changes a
Speaker 2: process to improve safety or efficiency. A leader tightens standards
Speaker 2: to raise performance. A leader rolls out a new tool
Speaker 2: or expectation because it makes sense on paper. The intent
Speaker 2: is solid, the execution is clean, the reaction is cold.
Speaker 2: Here's where leaders often make their first mistake. They defend
Speaker 2: the intent instead of diagnosing the resistance. They say things
Speaker 2: like I'm doing this for your benefit, or this is
Speaker 2: better for everyone, or you'll see why this matters later.
Speaker 2: And none of that helps. In fact, it deepens the resistance.
Speaker 2: Course correction starts with this mindset shift. Resistance is data,
Speaker 2: not disrespect. When I was learning to fly, one of
Speaker 2: the first things drilled into me was this. When the
Speaker 2: aircraft drifts off course, you do not panic. You do
Speaker 2: not argue with the instruments. You make small, deliberate corrections,
Speaker 2: and leadership works the same way. When resistance shows up,
Speaker 2: it is telling you something. It might be fear, it
Speaker 2: might be fatigue. It might be confusion. It might be history.
Speaker 2: It might be timing. It might be that you're right,
Speaker 2: but you move too fast. Step one is slow the
Speaker 2: moment down. Do not double down immediately, Do not force compliance.
Speaker 2: As a reflex pause long enough to ask yourself one question,
Speaker 2: what are they reacting to that I may not be seeing?
Speaker 2: And that question alone separates seasoned leaders from reactive ones.
Speaker 2: Step two is name the resistance out loud. This is
Speaker 2: where a lot of leaders get uncomfortable, but it matters.
Speaker 2: Silence allows stories to grow. You do not need to
Speaker 2: justify the decision. You need to acknowledge the reality. You
Speaker 2: might say, I can feel some hesitation around this, or
Speaker 2: I'm sensing some pushback and I want to understand it,
Speaker 2: or this change landed heavier than I expected. That kind
Speaker 2: of language does two things. It lowers the temperature and
Speaker 2: it invites honesty. People resist harder when they feel unseen,
Speaker 2: they soften when they feel heard. Step three is set
Speaker 2: operate the goal from the method. This is a critical
Speaker 2: leadership skill. Many leaders fall in love with their solution.
Speaker 2: They confuse the objective with the path they chose to
Speaker 2: reach it. Your goal might be safer operations, your method
Speaker 2: might be a new checklist, or your goal might be accountability,
Speaker 2: and your method might be stricter documentation. Or your goal
Speaker 2: might be growth. Your method might be new metrics. When
Speaker 2: resistance shows up, revisit the goal together, re anchor on
Speaker 2: the why, then be open to adjusting the how. This
Speaker 2: isn't weakness. This is command presence. Strong leaders protect the mission,
Speaker 2: not their ego. I tell leaders all the time, do
Speaker 2: not die on the hill of a method if the
Speaker 2: mission still gets accomplished. Another way, Step four is own
Speaker 2: what you missed. This is where trust is built or lost.
Speaker 2: If you move too fast, say it. If you did
Speaker 2: not explain the reasoning clearly, say it. If you underestimated
Speaker 2: the workload impact, say it. If you assumed buy in
Speaker 2: without earning it, say it. Owning the miss does not
Speaker 2: erase authority, It strengthens it. People follow leaders who are
Speaker 2: real enough to self correct in ems. We run after
Speaker 2: action reviews for a reason, not to assign blame, but
Speaker 2: to learn leadership should work the same way. Step five
Speaker 2: is reset expectations. Clearly, course correction does not mean abandoning standards.
Speaker 2: It means recalibrating how you get there. Once you have listened, clarified,
Speaker 2: and adjusted where needed, you restate the expectation with confidence, calm, clear,
Speaker 2: and steady. This is what we're trying to accomplish. This
Speaker 2: is why it matters. This is how we're going to
Speaker 2: move forward together. Clarity kills resistance faster than pressure over will.
Speaker 2: And let me leave you with this. Good intent does
Speaker 2: not guarantee good leadership. Awareness does. The best leaders I
Speaker 2: know are constantly making small corrections. They read the room,
Speaker 2: they listen without flinching. They protect the mission while respecting
Speaker 2: the people. They do not confuse resistance with failure. They
Speaker 2: treat it as feedback from the system. Leadership is not
Speaker 2: about getting it perfect the first time. It's about recognizing
Speaker 2: when the plane has drifted a few degrees and calmly
Speaker 2: bringing it back on course. So if you're facing resistance
Speaker 2: right now, do not retreat and do not bulldoze, pause, listen, adjust,
Speaker 2: and lead forward. That is how trust is built. That
Speaker 2: is how momentum is restored. That is how good intent
Speaker 2: turns into real impact. So if this episode hit close
Speaker 2: to home, take seven minutes today and reflect on where
Speaker 2: resistance is showing up in your leadership. Ask yourself what
Speaker 2: it might be trying to tell you. Small corrections made
Speaker 2: early prevent major problems later. So stay grounded, stay accountable,
Speaker 2: and keep leading from the front. And this has been
Speaker 2: the seven minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts. Visit paulfellowalito dot com.