The People Powered Business Podcast

Hello and welcome to Episode 346 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Is there a decision sitting on your desk right now that you keep putting off until you feel more sure about it? Maybe it's the underperformer you've been tolerating, the conversation you've rewritten in your head a dozen times, or the change you know the team needs but haven't started. If you're waiting to feel confident before you move, you're far from alone.

I see this all the time with established business owners. You've built something successful through hard work and good judgment, yet the people decisions are the ones that stall. Most of the time it isn't a lack of knowledge holding you back. It's the belief that you need to feel confident first. That's why I wanted to bring Yasmin London onto the show. Yasmin spent 13 years in the NSW Police Force, much of it as a youth liaison officer, before co-founding the cyber safety education organisation YSAFE. She's now the founder and CEO of First Movers Co and the author of the new book First Movers.

Yasmin's message is one a lot of bosses will be relieved to hear: confidence comes from taking courageous action, so you don't need to have it before you start. She walks us through her FIRST framework, a practical way to work through that hesitation before a big call. We also talk about the tension between control and connection when you're leading a team, including how to let someone go in a way that is respectful and human while still protecting the outcome the business needs (and staying mindful of unfair dismissal risk). Yasmin explains why she sees curiosity as one of the most important skills a leader can build, and why bringing AI into your business should start with your people rather than the tools. She finishes by sharing how to find the smallest possible first step, so you can get moving on that decision without needing to have it all figured out.

In this episode we cover:

• Why confidence comes after you act, and what that means for the people decisions you've been putting off

• Yasmin's FIRST framework for working through hesitation before a big decision

• How to balance control and connection as the boss, including when you need to let someone go

• Why curiosity matters for leaders, especially when it comes to challenging your own assumptions and disagreeing respectfully

• Keeping people at the centre as AI comes into your business, plus a small first step you can take this week

You can connect with Yasmin at https://yasminlondon.com/ or get your copy of the book here: https://yasminlondon.com/first-movers-book

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

Hello and welcome to Episode 345 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

You've hired good people. You've handed things over. You've set up the systems. And somehow everything still lands back on your desk. If that sounds familiar, you're not doing delegation wrong, and doing more of it isn't going to fix the problem.

This week's episode is a little different. It's the recording of a live webinar I ran called Delegation Won't Save You. Over the last few weeks on the podcast, we've been talking about why so many established business owners stay the bottleneck, even after they've tried everything they've been told to do. This is where it all comes together. In more than 25 years of working with business owners, I've seen the same pattern every time a team grows past a handful of people: the business gets bigger, but the way it's led, structured and staffed doesn't grow with it. That isn't a delegation problem. It's a design problem, and the good news is that design problems can be fixed.

In this episode, I walk through the three foundations that either keep you stuck or set you free: you, your structure and your team. We start with you and your boss style, including the two patterns I see most often, the reluctant leader and the control freak (and yes, I'm the control freak), plus why trying to become a different person to be a "better boss" usually makes things worse. Then we look at structure, the most underrated reason owners stay stuck. I explain the Frankenstein effect, where teams get pieced together out of necessity, and why clear roles and a clear owner for every decision matter far more than most small business owners realise. Finally, we get to your team, and why the people who got you here aren't always the people who'll get you where you want to go.

I also share the story of the holiday where I ended up throwing my phone into the water at Four Mile Beach, and what that moment taught me about getting all three foundations right.

As you listen, think about which of the three is the first fire to put out in your business. Most people know straight away.

In this episode we cover:

• Why delegation only does half the job, and what it can't solve on its own
• The signs your business has a design problem, from decisions waiting on you to holidays that cost more than they're worth
• How your boss style shapes what you hold on to and what you hand over
• The Frankenstein effect, and how to build a structure where decisions don't all land on you
• Why good people aren't always the right people, and why it's okay for your team to change as your business grows

Links & Resources:

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

Hello and welcome to Episode 344 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

If you walked away from your business tomorrow for a whole month, with no phone, no email and no checking in, what would you come back to? For a lot of business owners with a solid team, the honest answer is "a mess", or "I'd never even try". You've hired good people, you've got roles and an org chart, and yet the business still leans on you for almost everything.

Here's the thing: hiring a team doesn't automatically give you freedom from your business. Freedom is one of my own values, and it's what I want for every business owner I work with. But so often we build teams and structures that still depend on us completely. Most of us have had the week-long break where we work flat out beforehand to get ready, the team hangs on until we're back, and we return to a pile of questions, decisions and unfinished work. The business didn't run without us that week. It just waited. That's why a month is the real test. It's long enough that client problems, resignations and big proposals can't sit there until you get back.

In this episode I walk you through a simple test you can run today, without booking anything. Picture your first week away and write down who would contact you, what about, and why you'd need to be involved. Then add everything that would sit in the "wait till you're back" pile. I guarantee the list will be longer than you expect, and that's okay. This isn't about judging yourself.

Then I show you how to read that list. Look for patterns rather than individual tasks, and you'll usually find three:

things only you can decide, because the structure doesn't let anyone else decide them

things your team could do but don't, because they know you'll swoop in

things you can't put anyone's name next to, because there's a genuine skills gap on your team

Only some of that is a delegation issue. Handing over more tasks won't fix a structure problem, a leadership habit or a team gap, and that's where the real work starts.

I'd love to hear what comes up for you when you run this. Is it the length of the list, a gap you hadn't noticed, or how many decisions still land on your desk? Email me and let me know, and tell me where you'll go for that first proper break.

In this episode we cover:

• Why a week off doesn't tell you whether your business can run without you, and why a month does
• A simple test to map who would contact you, what about, and what would be waiting when you got back
• How to spot the three patterns behind being the bottleneck: structure, leadership habits and team skills gaps
• Why delegating more tasks won't fix most of what's on your list
• What to fix first, before you run the test again over a month and book the break

Links & Resources:

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

What this episode covers

Many small business owners with a team of 10 to 20 people still can't take a proper break without calls, emails and a backlog waiting for them. This episode gives business owners a practical test to find out how far they are from being able to step away for a month, and how to work out what's really keeping the business dependent on them.

Key insight from this episode

A business that gets through a week without its owner hasn't proven it can run without them. It has usually just waited. Most of what keeps an owner tied to the business isn't a delegation problem. It comes from unclear decision-making structure, leadership habits like stepping in when things go wrong, and genuine skills gaps on the team.

What you'll take away

• A simple test to see which people and decisions would still come to you during a break
• How to separate the tasks you can fully delegate from the issues delegation won't fix
• How to find structural gaps where no one else has the authority to make a decision
• How to recognise the leadership habits that teach your team to wait for you
• How to spot skills gaps by checking which responsibilities you can't put anyone's name next to

Hello and welcome to Episode 343 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Have you ever sat in a team meeting, watched everyone go round in circles on the same problem, and thought, why can't they just see it the way I do? You can jump from the numbers to the client to the team to the tech in the space of an hour without blinking. Your team often can't, and that's one more reason so much ends up back on your desk.

I see this all the time with the business owners I work with. Most of you are wired to switch between different ways of thinking. It's second nature. But we can't expect our team to think like us, because they're not wired the same way. So that's why I've invited Dr Ken Hudson on to chat about his new book, Switch Thinking.

Ken spent around 15 years in marketing with large companies, including as head of marketing at American Express in Australia, completed his doctorate in organisational creativity, and has spent the last 20 years helping business owners and leaders solve problems and think differently.

Ken shares where the idea came from (watching a colleague move effortlessly between Mandarin and English at a conference in Singapore) and why he believes switching your thinking is a skill you can learn and teach, not a personality trait. We talk about why the word "switch" gets a much better reaction from a team than the word "change", and why a switch doesn't have to be permanent. Ken explains his box mode and ball mode approach. Box mode is structure, goals and decisions. Ball mode is play and experimenting with ideas. Neither one is better than the other, and the real value comes from moving between the two. We also get into AI, including how Ken has trained ChatGPT to respond in both modes so it adds to his thinking rather than replacing it.

Here's the part that surprised me most: giving people less time often gets you better ideas. When there are only two minutes on the clock, there's no room for the voice asking "what if I'm wrong?" or "what if I look silly?", so people stop filtering and start creating.

If you're the one in your business who always seems to find a way through, this conversation gives you simple language and tools to help your team do more of that thinking for themselves.

In this episode we cover:

• Why switching between ways of thinking is a skill your team can learn, and how one word can get it started

• Why "switch" lands better than "change" with a team, and why two minutes is the sweet spot for thinking differently

• Box mode and ball mode, and how Ken moved a team from 30 ideas to three they could test in 30 days

• How to use AI to extend your own thinking instead of handing it over

• A simple pause, switch and play approach for when a situation or conversation isn't going the way you expected

You can connect with Ken via: https://drkenhudson.com

Or grab your copy of the book: https://drkenhudson.com/books-videos/switch-thinking-the-book/

Links & Resources:

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

What this episode covers

Business owners tend to move between different ways of thinking without noticing, but their teams often don't, which leaves problems and decisions sitting with the owner. Dr Ken Hudson, author of Switch Thinking, explains why switching your thinking is a learnable skill and shares practical tools leaders can use themselves and teach to their teams. Listeners will come away understanding the difference between box mode and ball mode, why two-minute thinking bursts work, and how to use AI to add to human thinking rather than replace it.

Key insight from this episode

The biggest barrier to fresh thinking is usually a person's own internal filter: the worry about being wrong, making a mistake or looking silly. Short two-minute bursts leave no time for that filter to kick in, which is why tight time limits often produce better ideas than hour-long brainstorming sessions. Switching back to structured "box mode" then turns those ideas into clear priorities and decisions.

What you'll take away

• Use the word "switch" with your team to invite a different perspective without the resistance the word "change" tends to bring

• Run a two-minute thinking burst in a meeting to get past overthinking and generate new ideas quickly

• Recognise whether a situation calls for box mode (structure and decisions) or ball mode (play and ideas), and move between them deliberately

• Take a long list of ideas and narrow it to a few worth testing in the next 30 days

• Prompt AI tools to respond in both modes while keeping control of the thinking and the final call

Hello and welcome to Episode 342 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Someone on your team hands you a piece of work. It's about 80% right. You know it'll take you ten minutes to fix and thirty to explain, so you fix it yourself and move on. If that's happened to you more than once, you're not alone, and it's exactly why delegation hasn't fixed the bottleneck.

I've taught delegation for years, and I've run a business for twenty years, so I've had to get good at it myself. I'm not here to tell you delegation doesn't matter. But if delegating better was the whole answer, you wouldn't still be the bottleneck. So this week I want to look at why smart, capable business owners keep ending up back in that spot, even after they've genuinely tried to hand things off.

I get into why it actually is faster to do it yourself, at least the first few times, and why that instinct isn't wrong. I talk about what your team learns every time you swoop in and finish the last 20% for them, and why "leave it with me" quietly trains people to bring you every problem instead of a solution. The most useful shift I share is a single question that starts turning that around. And I explain why doing more delegating, on its own, doesn't fix the bottleneck at all.

In this episode we cover:

• Why it's genuinely faster to do it yourself right now, and what that's costing you later
• What your team actually learns when you finish off unfinished work
• Why "leave it with me" builds the exact bottleneck you're trying to escape
• A simple reframe to start training your team to bring solutions, not problems
• Why SOPs and handover notes stop working and what's really going on underneath

Links & Resources:

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

What this episode covers

This episode breaks down why business owners who have already tried to delegate still end up as the bottleneck in their own business. It looks at the moment work comes back unfinished, the habits that quietly retrain a team to do less rather than more, and why adding more delegation tools doesn't fix the underlying problem.

Key insight from this episode

The bottleneck isn't created by a lack of delegation. It's created by what happens when delegated work comes back incomplete or a problem lands back on the business owner's desk. Fixing it quietly, without addressing why it came back, teaches the team that the current standard is good enough.

What you'll take away

• Understand why doing tasks yourself feels faster and what it's actually costing your business over time
• Recognise the signal you send your team every time you finish off unfinished work
• Replace "leave it with me" with a question that shifts problem-solving back to your team
• Identify why SOPs and handover processes lose their effectiveness over time
• Start noticing the specific moments that are creating your bottleneck, not just the tasks you haven't delegated

Hello and welcome to Episode 341 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

If you employ health professionals under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award, whether that's physios, OTs, psychologists or anyone else on that award's long list, you are only weeks away from the biggest change this award has seen in over twenty years. If you have been putting off looking at it, hoping it might quietly sort itself out, this episode is your sign to stop.

I'm recording this the same week the Fair Work Commission handed down its final confirmation of the new rates, so this has genuinely been years in the making and it is now locked in for the 1st of October 2026. This is part of the Commission's gender undervaluation review, which looked at a handful of modern awards covering historically female dominated professions and found this one had been undervalued for years compared with equivalent male dominated industries. The fix is a complete overhaul of how health professionals get classified, moving away from the old system, which leaned heavily on time served and some pretty vague guidance, to a structure built on actual qualifications under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and years of experience in the profession itself.

This is not a pay rate tweak. Every single health professional you employ, even if you already pay above award and even if you only have three staff members, needs to be mapped against this new structure before the deadline. I walk you through the five steps to do that properly in this episode: build your staff list, confirm everyone's qualification and AQF level, calculate their actual years of experience in the profession (not years with your business), map each person to their correct new classification, and have the conversation with your team before the change lands, not after. I'll also flag the one thing that catches almost everyone out. Plenty of people currently sitting at level two are about to become a level one under the new structure, through no fault or change of their own, and there are protections in place so nobody's pay can go backwards.

If you would rather have this handled properly rather than figuring it out alone, there are three ways I can help.

1) I'm running a live implementation workshop on the 24th of September to walk you through all five steps hands on. Register here: www.peoplepoweredbusiness.com.au/hpssworkshop

2) You can join our People Powered HR community for ongoing access to the reclassification tool and support, all of the details are here: www.peoplepoweredbusiness.com.au/pphr

3) Or you can email me directly for one on one help if you want someone to just take it off your plate. Just email me at [email protected]

In this episode we cover:

• Why the Fair Work Commission has completely rewritten the health professionals classification structure, and why now
• The five steps to reclassify every health professional in your business before 1 October
• Why years of experience in the profession, not years with your business, now drives classification
• What happens to someone's pay if their new classification would otherwise mean a step down
• Where to get support, from a hands-on implementation workshop to one on one help

Links & Resources:

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

What this episode covers

This episode breaks down the new classification structure for health professionals under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award, effective 1 October 2026. It explains why the Fair Work Commission made the change, what it means for employers of physios, occupational therapists, psychologists and other allied health professionals, and the practical steps required to reclassify a team correctly before the deadline.

Key insight from this episode

Under the new classification structure, many employees currently sitting at level two will move to level one, not because their role, performance or pay has changed, but because the qualification and experience based system, built on the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), replaces years of service as the primary classification factor. Existing pay cannot be reduced as a result of reclassification, which makes clear communication with affected team members essential.

What you'll take away

• How to confirm each health professional's AQF qualification level under the updated award
• Why years of experience in the profession, not years of service with the business, now determines classification
• The five step process for mapping a team to the new classification structure before 1 October 2026
• What protections apply if a reclassification would otherwise reduce an employee's pay
• Where to access further support, including a hands on implementation workshop and ongoing membership resources

Hello and welcome to Episode 340 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

You know the conversation. It's been sitting on your list for weeks, maybe longer. You've rehearsed it in the shower, in the car, at 3am when you should be asleep, and every day you don't have it, you tell yourself tomorrow. If that's you right now, this episode was made for you.

I keep coming back to this topic because it's the one thing I see stopping business owners more than anything else. Not a lack of skill, not a lack of care, just the simple fact that nobody ever taught us how to have a hard conversation with someone on our team. We learn how to run the business, sell the thing, manage the money, and then we're expected to just know how to tell someone their work isn't good enough, without any training at all.

Today I'm talking with Jennifer Bicknell, an employment lawyer who's spent over a decade running her own firm and now spends most of her time teaching people how to have exactly this kind of conversation before it turns into something that needs a lawyer. She's identified the three real reasons people avoid these conversations, and she walks through a simple framework she calls the six Ws, something you can genuinely run through in about five minutes before you pick up the phone or walk into the room. My favourite part of this chat is her point about what you're actually teaching your team every time you let something slide. It changed how I think about the small stuff I let go.

In this episode we cover:

• The three real reasons people avoid difficult conversations, and how to work out which one is driving you
• A simple five-minute framework for planning a conversation so you walk in with confidence instead of dread
• Why naming the outcome you want before you open your mouth changes the entire conversation
• What you're silently teaching your team every time you let something go unaddressed
• How to reframe a hard conversation as an opportunity instead of something to survive

Links & Resources:

To connect with Jennifer:

Website: https://jenniferbicknell.com.au/about/

Newsletter: https://jenniferbicknell.com.au/jens-workplace-news-2-0/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-bicknell-lawyer-coach-speaker/

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

What this episode covers

This episode breaks down why business owners avoid difficult conversations with their team, and gives a practical, repeatable framework for having them well. Employment lawyer Jennifer Bicknell shares the three underlying reasons people stay silent on issues that need addressing, and a simple planning tool for approaching any hard conversation with clarity instead of anxiety. It's built for business owners who lead a team and want to deal with issues early, before they escalate into something more serious.

Key insight from this episode

Every time a leader lets a problem go unaddressed, they are teaching their team that the behaviour is acceptable. Silence is not neutral. It's a message, and the longer an issue goes unaddressed, the more disproportionate the eventual reaction tends to be, which damages trust more than raising the issue early ever would.

What you'll take away

• Identify which of the three core reasons (not knowing what to say, wanting to be liked, or fear) is driving your own avoidance of a specific conversation
• Use a simple framework to plan a difficult conversation in under five minutes
• Name the outcome you want before starting a conversation, so the discussion stays focused
• Recognise the cost of letting small issues slide, and why early conversations are easier than delayed ones
• Approach team conversations as a tool for building trust and performance, rather than something to be feared

Hello and welcome to Episode 339 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

You already know who this episode is about. The employee whose performance has been off for months, the one you keep making excuses for because actually ending their employment feels like the hardest conversation you'll ever have to have. If you've been sitting on a firing decision, telling yourself you'll deal with it next month, or after this project wraps up, or once things settle down, I need you to listen to this one properly.

I'm talking about this today because it's come up in nearly every conversation I've had with business owners this week. In the last seven days alone, I've worked with three different owners who sat on a firing decision for so long that it made the exit far harder than it needed to be. No documented warnings, none of the process followed, because they'd been putting it off for months. By the time they came to me saying "I need to fire them now," I was the one having to put the brakes on so we could actually do this properly and legally. It didn't need to get that hard. It rarely does, if you act when you first know.

In this episode, I'm walking you through the practical checks to run before you make the call, including whether they're still in their probationary period, whether you've actually documented a warning or just stayed quietly annoyed, and whether this is genuinely a performance issue or a personality clash you've let become one. I also get into the real reasons business owners stall on this decision even when they already know the answer, and what that delay is quietly costing your best people, the ones watching how you handle it. But the part I really want you to hear is this: confidence about a firing decision doesn't show up before you act. It shows up after, usually the moment your team finally tells you what had really been going on.

In this episode we cover:

• The legal and practical checks to run before you make the call, including probation status, documented warnings, and whether this is actually a performance issue or a personality clash
• Why business owners delay firing decisions even when they already know the outcome
• What your best people are quietly noticing when you let poor performance slide, and why it's often the reason you lose them first
• Why the rest of your team is almost always covering for an underperformer, and what that's really costing them
• Why confidence about this decision comes after you act, not before it

Links & Resources:

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

What this episode covers

This episode addresses why small business owners consistently delay firing decisions, even once performance issues are clear, and what that delay costs the wider team. It's built for business owners who are avoiding a termination they already know is necessary. By the end, listeners understand the legal and practical checks to run before acting, the real reasons behind the delay, and why confidence in the decision typically follows the action rather than coming before it.

Key insight from this episode

Confidence in a firing decision is not a precondition for acting. It's a result of acting. Business owners who delay a termination while waiting to feel certain are working backwards, because the clarity, and often the affirming feedback from the team, only becomes available once the decision has already been made and acted on.

What you'll take away

• A practical checklist of legal and performance factors to review before terminating an employee, including probationary status and documented warnings
• A clearer understanding of the psychological and business reasons owners delay difficult staffing decisions
• Insight into how ongoing underperformance affects team morale, standards, and the workload carried by other staff
• A reframe of confidence as a result of decisive action, not a precondition for it
• Guidance on avoiding common misconceptions about the legal termination process, including the myth of a fixed number of required warnings

Hello and welcome to Episode 338 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

You've known for two months, maybe longer, that you need to fire this person. You've rehearsed the conversation in the shower, in the car, a hundred times in your head. You keep telling yourself you'll do it when you feel ready, when the timing is right, when they've had one more chance. Here's the truth: that day isn't coming, and every week you wait, nothing is staying the same. It's getting worse.

I've been in business for 20 years, and I've spent most of that time helping business owners navigate what I call the mental game of being the boss. Firing someone, admitting a hire hasn't worked out, having the conversation that makes your stomach drop, none of it gets easier with experience. I still don't feel ready when I have to do these things, and this is what I do for a living. If I don't feel ready after 20 years of doing this and teaching other people to do it too, I can't expect you to feel ready either. So this week I wanted to call out the myth of feeling ready, because waiting for it isn't harmless. It's quietly costing you at every level of your business, and your team is watching you tolerate the thing you should have dealt with weeks ago.

In this episode I'm unpacking why readiness is a feeling, not a prerequisite, and why waiting for it means you end up making the call on someone else's behalf instead of your own. I share the three places I see this show up most in business: delaying a termination, refusing to admit a hiring mistake, and putting off a difficult conversation, plus the trap that catches most of us, waiting until we hit the point of explosion instead of dealing with the issue early, which is often when things get messy and expensive. Rehiring a role can cost you anywhere from half to three times that person's annual salary, so the wrong hire you're avoiding dealing with is more expensive the longer it sits there. I also talk about what doing it scared actually looks like in practice, because that's the reality for all of us, no matter how many times we've done it or how prepared we are. Preparation dulls the discomfort, it doesn't switch it off, and that's something worth knowing before you go in expecting to feel calm.

In this episode we cover:

• Why feeling ready is a myth, and what you're actually doing every time you wait for it
• Why admitting you hired the wrong person is good leadership, not failure
• Why delaying a termination isn't kindness, it's choosing your own discomfort over your team's wellbeing
• The explosion trap, and why waiting for the perfect moment makes the eventual conversation harder, not easier
• What doing it scared actually looks like, and how to prepare without needing to feel calm first

Links & Resources:

💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/

Email me at [email protected]

Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

What this episode covers

This episode is for business owners who are stalling on a hard decision, whether that's terminating an employee, admitting a hiring mistake, or having a conversation they've been avoiding. It explains why waiting to feel ready keeps the problem alive and usually makes it worse, and outlines what taking action before feeling ready actually looks like in practice.

Key insight from this episode

There is no future version of a business owner who finds firing staff, admitting a bad hire, or having a difficult conversation easy. Feeling ready is not a prerequisite for taking action, it is simply a feeling, and waiting for it is often avoidance in disguise. The business owners who move fastest are not the ones who feel most confident, they are the ones who prepare well and act anyway.

What you'll take away

• Recognise when "waiting for the right moment" is actually avoidance
• Understand why admitting a wrong hire is a leadership strength, not a weakness
• See why delaying a termination affects team morale and performance more than the termination itself does
• Learn how to prepare for a difficult conversation without needing to feel ready first
• Build a simple approach for taking action before confidence arrives, not after

Hello and welcome to Episode 337 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

Have you softened a deadline because you didn't want to be the bad guy? Let a piece of work that wasn't good enough slide because pulling someone up on it felt like an uncomfortable conversation you'd rather avoid? Said yes to something you really wanted to say no to, just to keep the peace? None of those moments feel like a big deal on their own. But they're all quietly costing you performance, and there's one thing running through every single one of them: wanting to be liked by your team.

I've been circling a similar theme on the podcast over the last few weeks, and there's a reason for that. I'm celebrating 20 years in business this year, and reflecting on two decades of working with business owners, a handful of truths keep coming back to me.

One of the biggest is this: so many of us are chasing being liked by our team, almost wanting to treat them like family, and in the process we miss the thing that actually matters more, which is earning their respect. You can have both. But you can also have a team that likes you and walks all over you because they don't respect you, and if I had to choose, I'm choosing respect every time, because that's the thing that actually drives performance.

In this episode I'm breaking down three specific ways your desire to be liked might be quietly driving your team's performance down: letting the small stuff slide, slowing your decision-making down to keep everyone comfortable, and what happens when your best people start noticing the pattern. I also get into what actually earns respect, because it's not about being cold, ruthless or hard-nosed, and why more than ever respect isn't something that comes automatically with the job title. It has to be earned.

In this episode we cover:

• Why letting small things slide, like late starts, missed details or average work, quietly resets what your team believes is an acceptable standard
• How defaulting to decisions by committee to avoid pushback slows you down and rarely produces the right call for the business
• What your best people notice when you let things slide, and why it's often the fastest way to lose them
• The real difference between being liked and being respected, and why respect is what actually drives performance
• A simple reframe to shift your focus from being liked to earning respect, without losing your warmth as a leader

Links & Resources:

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What this episode covers

Many small business owners default to wanting their team to like them, sometimes treating their team like family, without realising that likeability and respect are not the same thing, and only one of them actually drives performance. This episode breaks down three specific ways the desire to be liked quietly erodes a team's output: tolerating small lapses in standards, slowing decision-making to seek consensus, and losing top performers who notice the double standard. It's for business owners who sense their team could be performing at a higher level and want to understand what's actually holding that back.

Key insight from this episode

Being liked is a bonus. Being respected is the job. A leader who lets small things slide or makes decisions to please everyone isn't being kind, they're quietly teaching their team that the standard is negotiable. Respect, not likeability, is what gets a team to follow through, trust a leader's judgement, and perform at their best.

What you'll take away

• Recognise how tolerating minor lapses, like late starts or under-par work, resets the standard the whole team performs to
• Understand why seeking consensus or approval before making a decision usually produces a weaker outcome for the business
• See why top performers are often the first to disengage or leave when standards are applied inconsistently
• Learn what actually earns a team's respect, honesty, consistency and clear decisions, as distinct from being liked
• Apply a simple reframe to prioritise respect over likeability without losing warmth as a leader