Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellowledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to this seven minute leadership podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode three sixty and let me open this episode
Speaker 2: with this truth bomb. Your team is keeping score even
Speaker 2: if you aren't. Your employees are paying attention to everything.
Speaker 2: They notice who gets praised and who doesn't, who gets
Speaker 2: opportunities and who gets overlooked, who gets away with showing
Speaker 2: up late and who gets written up, who you defend
Speaker 2: when things go sideways, and who you leave hanging. They
Speaker 2: may not say anything out loud, but they're keeping score.
Speaker 2: So let me ask you. Have you worked for someone
Speaker 2: and thought, wow, they really play favorites or maybe how
Speaker 2: come that guy always gets a free pass? That feeling?
Speaker 2: That's the internal scoreboard lighting up. And now imagine your
Speaker 2: team is doing the same thing every single day. Now
Speaker 2: let's flip the mirror. As a leader, are you consistent
Speaker 2: with your feedback? Do you hold people equally accountable? Do
Speaker 2: you recognize everyone's effort or just the loudest, flashiest wins.
Speaker 2: This isn't about being perfect. Leadership never is. But it
Speaker 2: is about being aware. Because if you think your team
Speaker 2: isn't watching, you're dead wrong. They're watching everything, and it's
Speaker 2: not the big speeches that shape how they see you.
Speaker 2: It's the day to day micro decisions, the quiet ones,
Speaker 2: the ones you don't think anyone notices. Let me give
Speaker 2: you a few examples of the kind of scorecard your
Speaker 2: team might be mentally keeping. Recognition Who gets its acknowledged
Speaker 2: in meetings? Is it always the same two people? And
Speaker 2: what about accountability? Who gets held to the rules and
Speaker 2: who seems to skate by and to access? Who gets
Speaker 2: FaceTime with you? Who gets included in decision making? And
Speaker 2: what about grace? Who do you give the benefit of
Speaker 2: the doubt to? And who do you come down on immediately?
Speaker 2: These are all categories on the scoreboard. And here's the catch.
Speaker 2: The scoreboard is cumulative. It builds over time, and when
Speaker 2: it fills up with unfairness, favoritism, and inconsistencies, it starts
Speaker 2: to erode trust performance in morale. So now let's bring
Speaker 2: this closer to home. You ever wonder why a high
Speaker 2: performer suddenly disengages, or why someone stops going the extra mile.
Speaker 2: It might be because the scoreboard finally tipped too far
Speaker 2: in the wrong direction. So what can you do. Here's
Speaker 2: a few little tactical plays to help reset the scoreboard.
Speaker 2: Number one, audit your own patterns over the next week.
Speaker 2: Write down who you're praising, correcting, involving, and promoting. You
Speaker 2: might spot some blind spots that you didn't know were there.
Speaker 2: And number two ask your team. It takes courage, but
Speaker 2: ask for feedback. Do you feel like recognition and accountability
Speaker 2: are consistent on this team? Just let them talk, don't defend,
Speaker 2: just listen. And number three close the loops. If someone
Speaker 2: feels slighted or overlooked, address it, don't bury it. Transparency
Speaker 2: scores points, Silence costs you. And the next one be
Speaker 2: deliberate with equity. That doesn't mean treating everyone exactly the same.
Speaker 2: It means treating everyone fairly. There is a difference. And
Speaker 2: the last one praise privately and publicly. Not everyone wants
Speaker 2: a spotlight, but no one wants to feel invisible. Balance
Speaker 2: both forms of recognition. Remember, leadership isn't about always having
Speaker 2: the right answers. It's about showing up with the right
Speaker 2: intent over and over again. It's about building trust, one
Speaker 2: decision at a time, and that trust gets built or
Speaker 2: broken on the scoreboard that your team is quietly keeping.
Speaker 2: So here's your leadership challenge for this week. Ask yourself,
Speaker 2: if I sat down with my team and asked to
Speaker 2: see the scoreboard they've been keeping, would I be proud
Speaker 2: of what I saw? If not, don't panic, but don't
Speaker 2: ignore it either. Reset the score, play the next quarter better.
Speaker 2: Your team's already watching, they always have been. This has
Speaker 2: been the seven minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank you
Speaker 2: for listening.
Speaker 1: For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.