Let's Fix Leadership

Have you ever wondered how some people can take the most disparate dots floating all over the place and connect them into one cohesive, powerful idea?

Like some sort of computer, they see intersections where others see separate concepts and have a knack for finding the missing links that transform everything. That project your team has hit a wall on? They can see the solution instantly. That plan you thought was iron-clad? They can (lovingly) poke holes in it in seconds.

Ever wonder how in the world did they do it?

These people are synthesizers. They have the incredible superpower to collect information, see the unseeable intersections, and understand how each intersection impacts the others. They make a coherent whole out of all of the parts. 👊

I think we can all agree we need more coherent wholes in the workplace!

Want to become a world-class synthesizer? In this episode, we'll explore why synthesizing is a competency that will boost your organization and how to develop it.

Make Synthesizing Part of Your Culture

Build roadmaps in your mind

Too often, our teams find themselves down a path on a project or product only to realize something isn't connecting. So much time is wasted! When you have the ability to synthesize, you can hear pieces of information and how they fit together. Saving precious resources and building better outcomes.

Become a super synthesizer

If synthesizing information doesn't come naturally to you, no problem; you can build up this muscle over time. How? Just start listening more - no, I mean really listening. In every conversation, think about the root cause, and start to find the separate strings that connect it all together.

Listen to the synthesizer

Sometimes a synthesizer can feel like such a downer, poking holes into the fantastic ideas you've come up with, but your team needs them. We've got blind spots, and if someone can identify them early, why not listen to them?

Have you ever had a workplace nemesis? Just thinking about one of my old supervisors can send my nervous system into a bit of a tizzy. I can remember it like it was yesterday, sitting stalwart, staring at my laptop, shut down to any motivation for my job, day after day. It was like the man had reached into my soul and fundamentally changed who I was as a person. I felt petty; I felt judgemental; I felt angry. I truly let this guy get the best of me. I was acting out of character, always in reaction. How I felt about him was changing how I felt about me.

Over time, the tension and resentment had built up so much that I was acting in ways that weren't true to myself. That was tough on me—and it was tough on my career.

What I didn't know then, and what I do know now, is that I had complete control over that situation the whole time. I was letting someone else change and impact my daily performance. The key words here are: I was letting them. (To quote one of the great southern poets of our generation, Taylor Swift, "It's me. Hi. I'm the problem, it's me.")

If this story sounds all too familiar, don't worry, it happens to the best of us.

Nothing gets you to act out of your integrity like a workplace nemesis. Even one interaction can ruin your day and leave you internally rolling your eyes and complaining to other colleagues. In this episode, let's talk about something we're probably all familiar with. This is "how to keep your cool and your integrity in your daily interactions" 101. I hope it helps. Five Things To Take Away From This Episode

Recognize how this dynamic has impacted your behavior.

If you've been participating in "smack talk," or are actively wishing this person their comeuppance, or your communication has become toxic, it's time to get honest with yourself.

You get to decide how you're going to be and respond.

Does someone just rub you the wrong way? The way they work, lead, show up, and prioritize, it's just…different. (That's definitely not how you would do it.) That's on them. You do you.

Get real about their contributions.

If your personality conflict is getting in the way of a harmonious workplace, put down the power struggle and focus on relationship building. Start paying attention to what they contribute, not how they do it.

Clock your cortisol. When you are in conflict with someone your nervous system will react. Cortisol, stress hormones, flood the system and they stay with you all day. What's more, our brain remembers and will start to pre-react accordingly. Change the predictive chemicals by changing your mindset.

Never stop being the person you are. Give up your power for that chucklehead? No way, man. Control who you are, how you show up, and how you respond. Let go of your judgy obsession and focus on yourself. Otherwise, you're denying the rest of us the gift of your authentic self.

We're all used to the idea of vertical leadership, a leader and their team. Everyone in the group looks up to the boss, and the boss looks up to their boss, and so on, and so on. We understand the hierarchy.

What many of us don't expect, as we move up the ladder, is that the higher the climb, the more we must look laterally: other leaders at level, other teams below them.

A manager who moves to an executive role must start to think horizontally and think vertically.

It's not enough to lead your team in a silo; you must now consider the integration of all parts of an organization.

The higher you go in an organization, the more you have to lead horizontally and also in balance with vertical leadership. You have to think holistically; take into account the needs of the business as a whole, as well as the needs of your own group.

For most people who get promoted into executive roles, this transition can be challenging, especially when you may have to give up some resources — and some ego —to achieve real integration.

What are the key benefits of horizontal leadership? Why, nothing less than making more informed decisions, learning new things, and contributing in new and different ways, of course. Did I mention that your own team will also reap the benefits of your knowledge building and relationship cultivating? Booyah! 🤠

In this episode, I talk about how vertical and horizontal leadership are two sides of the same coin, a lucky penny in your leadership pocket.

Four Things To Take Away From This Episode

Understand organizational priorities and why they matter.

Your success as a leader will hinge on your ability to identify ways to get your team to intersect with the rest of the company. Identify what your group actually needs and doesn't need and put everything into context with company objectives.

Learn a little bit about what everyone else does.

No one likes operating in the dark. Come out of your comfort zone and start making connections between departments, roles, and people. Understand just enough to be dangerous about how the organization functions across all verticals.

Let go around ego.

This is the time to tap into your sense of the greater good. Yes, you may lose precious talent, time, or budget to some other more urgent need, but if you can frame it from a global perspective no one will take it personally.

Get comfortable with curiosity, challenge, and conflict.

The ability to have frank, honest conversations in a no-drama zone is a skill you can improve with practice. Look for opportunities to challenge your peers, ask questions, and coach peers into shifting perspectives. The more you communicate effectively and with emotional intelligence, the more acute your understanding of the board, the game, and all of the players.

Are you the kind of leader who demands innovation from your team, but kill new ideas through your language?

Being an idea killer only stifles creativity and makes it really hard for people to have the kinds of conversations that move an organization forward.

How do we become leaders that welcome innovation and give it a comfy and roomy seat at the table?

In this episode, you'll learn what stunts innovation, and how to change it with one sentence…. "I don't see it, but change my mind".

Three Things To Take Away From This Episode

Spark innovation through conversations

With one simple statement, create a conversation that inspires today and in the future.

I don't see it, but change my mind

Instead of shooting down ideas and discouraging people, use this one simple statement to encourage thought and innovation.

Not a great idea? How do you say it without discouraging future ideas?

We don't have to like every single idea people share with us, how do we say no in a constructive way?

For better or worse, the language we use as leaders creates the world our people work inside of. Based on what we say, we can make them feel like they're on a winning team or a losing team, especially on long-term projects.

Our teams need to feel like they are winning in some way every day, and if we're not allowing them to celebrate the smaller milestones, success will always feel out of reach.

So how do we create a winning environment through our words? In this episode, I'm talking about using our language to build our teams up and keep them marching forward -- together.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

How to create winning energy ​The work is the same, but your language creates the energy.

How to make people feel like winners even when the finish line is out of sight ​Before we jump into the next stage of a long-term project, why do we need to create room for reflection and celebration?

How to prevent burnout and overwhelm ​Let the team celebrate over time, so they can build up evidence of success.

To download the free worksheet accompanying this episode, visit https://304-coaching.ck.page/1c7e31eac7. Perfectionism might seem like a benign or even a positive trait to bring to work, but it does more harm than good. It holds us back from our best work, hinders creativity, and when it spreads to our teams, it kills all innovation and productivity.

If it feels like the world will crumble if you don't do A++ work every single day or if you're hyper-focused on getting every tiny little thing right, remember that perfectionism is only a tool of fear.

How do we move past perfectionism, and lead people who struggle with it? In the first episode of Let's Fix Leadership, we're digging into the neuroscience behind perfectionism and how to eliminate it.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

The pursuit of perfectionism is unproductive

Can perfectionism ever coexist with innovation and progress?

One question to combat perfectionism

Perfectionism is rooted in the fear of the worst-case scenario. How do we challenge it?

The dangers of perfectionist leadership

How can perfectionism hurt an otherwise great team?