Unlocking Leadership Through Authentic Communication

I often tell people that my day is full of mysteries. It’s true. If you’re anything like me, most of the time I receive a problem and have to work backwards to figure out the root cause to address it. But what do you do if you don’t know the root cause? Instead of waiting for the root cause to fall into your lap, which I do not recommend at all, use this method to start addressing the issue. You’ll even see some benefits from a teamwork standpoint.

I break down the three primary components to a performance conversation and demonstrate how you can have this discussion in an effective and impactful way. This is part mindset, part word choice and a whole lot of commitment. Congratulations! Performance conversations just got easier for you!

If you’re someone who dreads having impromptu conversations about complaints or concerns that come to you without any warning, you absolutely have to listen to this episode. Here, I break down what you should communicate and how you should communicate it to effectively problem solve, build trust and rapport and get people back on the right track.

Do you never say no? Are you available for everything regardless of whether or not you have time, and energy or are the subject matter expert? If you never stop working and have very flexible boundaries about when you’re off the clock, you are in danger of having Superwoman/Superman syndrome and could be facing decision fatigue. In this episode, I talk about decision fatigue and simple things you can do to combat this. So if you can’t hang up your cape, take a listen because these tips take mere minutes to work into your day! 

The number one reason employees leave is because of their leader. So in my book, that makes you pretty darn important! So how do you get it right? How do you figure out what makes people stay and what sends them running for the hills? In this episode, I share my top four leadership attributes that have helped me build strong teams, attract like-minded talent and surpass our team goals. Just ask yourself what kind of leader you want to report to…and then do those things!

If you are not doing “stay interviews” with your team, you’re missing out on a big retention opportunity. Today, I share three of the most important questions I recommend asking your team to understand what it will take to keep them. I also help you weave in some feedback on their performance in the introduction of the stay interview, as many probably haven’t participated in one of these. This quick conversation will help you understand what makes your employees tick, create or build trust and increase credibility with your staff.

We’re talking about the internal locus that drives how you are without even thinking about it. If you’ve never given this much thought and aren’t sure what your “main thing” is, I’ll give you some practical tips on how to figure it out. You’ll also get some recommendations on how to share your main thing and why it’s so important to identify and showcase whenever you get the opportunity.

This is one of my favorite topics. I’m BIG on protecting my energy. Some of you might think this is just a trendy thing that people are saying but I wholeheartedly believe in it. Many years ago, I let people suck the life right out of me. I was complacent and said yes to literally everything even if it was going to dread the commitment until it was over. Today, I manage people in every area of my life much differently and I’m never going back. I’m going to teach you the very simple tactic I use to move the energy suckers out of my life so I have time to be around those who excite and inspire me. And you can do this without pissing anyone off or totally tanking your relationship.

Terminating someone’s employment is the worst part of leadership by far. In fact, it’s so bad that many say that if it gets easy, you should get out of leadership. I disagree. In this episode, I teach you the difference between terminations that are sloppy and and treat people as a commodity versus terminations where work was put in to retain the employee, no one is surprised and they even get an invite to come back. Take a listen to see how it’s done, so you can stop fearing terminations and start putting the time in to make sure they should happen for the good of everyone involved.

Be tactical yet be human with the way you lead an investigation. It is possible and I’m going to tell you how I do it. In this episode, strategy meets human connection in one of the most important parts of your job as a leader.