In this episode we are joined by Meredith Bell, a distinguished leadership development expert who shares her wealth of knowledge accumulated over more than three decades.

She articulates the significance of character and communication mastery in cultivating effective leadership, highlighting the innovative tools developed by her company, Grow Strong Leaders, which empower leaders to build trust and foster high-performing teams.

We explore the barriers women face, such as imposter syndrome, and the essential skills required to transcend these obstacles, ultimately advocating for a culture of feedback and mutual support within organizations. Join us as we uncover strategies for sustainable leadership transformation, underscoring the profound impact of nurturing both personal and collective growth within the business landscape.

Our Guest This Week:

Meredith Bell is a leadership development expert, author, and podcast host with over 30 years of experience helping organizations cultivate stronger leaders through character and communication mastery. As the Co-Founder of Grow Strong Leaders, she has pioneered assessment and development tools that equip leaders at all levels with the skills needed to build trust, resolve conflict, and foster high-performing teams.

Meredith is the co-author of "Connect with Your Team" and "Peer Coaching Made Simple," and her company’s innovative GSL 360 feedback platform and SkillBuilder program provide real-world solutions for leadership growth. As the host of the Grow Strong Leaders Podcast, she interviews executives from Merck, Moderna, FedEx, UC Berkeley, and more to uncover what it takes to create positive workplace cultures where people thrive. With a deep commitment to sustainable leadership transformation, Meredith helps visionary women founders and executives develop the skills needed to scale businesses of substance and impact.

Takeaways:

• Meredith discusses the significance of feedback in leadership development processes.
• The conversation highlights the necessity of overcoming limiting beliefs to foster personal growth.
• Character development is essential for effective leadership, as it encompasses multiple attributes.
• The episode encourages leaders to adopt a growth mindset for continuous improvement.
• Practical tools for peer coaching and accountability are presented as vital for nurturing leadership skills.

Chapters:

08:15 The Importance of Self-Awareness in Leadership

14:10 Navigating Feedback and Leadership Challenges

19:58 Developing Character and Leadership

28:33 The Power of Peer Coaching

35:03 The Importance of Trust and Feedback in Leadership

46:54 Embracing Kindness in Leadership

What You'll Gain by Listening In:

1.Why character development is essential for long-term leadership success

2.How feedback tools like 360 assessments create stronger, more self-aware teams

3.Practical ways to foster trust, communication, and accountability in your company culture

4.How peer coaching relationships can drive transformation (without adding extra cost)

5.Why courageous, values-aligned leadership starts with the founder

Burning Questions Answered:

1.Why do so many leaders resist feedback—and how do we shift that?

2.What blind spots are hurting your leadership (and how do you uncover them)?

3.How can founders let go of control while growing their impact?

4.What does it take to build a truly values-driven team culture?

Favorite Quotes:

“There’s never going to be a moment where somebody gives you permission to make a bold ask. It’s just something you have to do.” – Meredith Bell

“Exposure to information doesn’t equal behavior change. Practice does.” – Meredith Bell

“We aren’t trying to turn a weakness into a strength. We’re learning where our behaviors might be creating issues we didn’t even know about.”

Offers & Contact Information:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeredithMBell 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Yqt-i8ehRSj5pEb1VEgSA 

X (Formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/meredithmbell 

Website: https://growstrongleaders.com/ 

Follow the #WisdomOfWomen show for more inspiring stories and insights from trailblazing women founders, investors, and experts in growth and prosperity.

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/yja3w7nh

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4tak8ajk 

Amazon Prime: https://tinyurl.com/366syddj 

Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/bdhananz 

RSS Feed: https://feeds.captivate.fm/womengetfunded/ 

Coco Sellman, the host of #WisdomOfWomen, believes business is a force for good, especially with visionary women at the helm. With over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, she has launched five companies and guided over 500 startups. As Founder & CEO of A Force for Good, Coco supports purpose-driven women founders in unlocking exponential growth and prosperity. Her recent venture, Allumé Home Care, reached eight-figure revenues and seven-figure profits in just four years before a successful exit in 2024. A venture investor and board director, Coco’s upcoming book, *A Force for Good*, reveals a roadmap for women to lead high-impact, high-growth companies.

Learn more about A Force for Good:

Website: https://aforceforgood.biz/ 

Are Your GROWING or PLATEAUING? https://aforceforgood.biz/quiz/

FFG Tool of the Week: https://aforceforgood.biz/weekly-tool/ 

The Book:  https://aforceforgood.biz/book/ 

Growth Accelerator: https://aforceforgood.biz/accelerator/ 

Welcome to the Wisdom of Women Show.

We are dedicated to amplifying the voice of women in business.

A new model of leadership is emerging and we are here to amplify the voice of women leading the way.

I am your host, Coco Selman, five time founder, impact investor and creator of the Force for Good system.

Thank you for joining us today as we illuminate the path to unlocking opportunities and prosperity for women led enterprises by amplifying the voice and wisdom of women.

So today I'm so excited to be on with a entrepreneur extraordinaire, a leadership expert.

Today we have Meredith Bell.

She is a leadership development expert, author and podcast host with over 30 years of experience helping organizations cultivate stronger leaders through character and communication mastery.

As the co founder of Grow Strong Leaders, she has pioneered assessment and development tools that equip leaders at all levels with the skills needed to build trust, resolve conflict and foster high performing teams.

Meredith is the co author of Connect with your team and Peer Coaching Made simple.

Her Company's innovative GSL360 feedback platform and skill builder program provide real world solutions for leadership growth.

And as the host of the Grow Strong Leaders podcast, which you definitely want to pick up, go and check out, she interviews executives from all kinds of backgrounds and more to uncover what it takes to create positive workplace cultures where people thrive.

With the deep commitment to sustainable leadership transformation, Meredith helps visionary women founders and executives develop the skills needed to scale businesses of substance and impact.

Welcome Meredith.

Thank you Coco for that wonderful introduction.

I'm really excited to be here to talk to you today as you are to have me.

So this is going to be great.

Yes, and I want to hear because you are an author and so I'd love to know from you what is a book that you've read written by a woman that has significantly influenced your life?

I'm so glad you asked that question because it's one that may not be familiar with your with some of your listeners.

It's not a new book.

It's called the Last Word on Power by Tracy G O S S and the subtitle is Executive Reinvention for Leaders who must make the impossible happen.

Don't you love that?

Because anytime we start a business, we really are looking at creating something that hasn't been before in some form or another.

And what I love about her book is the way she challenges the read to break out of your past winning strategy.

What's worked for you up to this point is not going to serve you going forward because we are surrounded by our own Limiting beliefs and other limitations that we've unwittingly put on ourselves.

So I love her call to actions which are focus on who you're being, not so much what you're doing.

And this whole idea of making bold requests and bold declarations caused me to expand beyond what I typically might have thought would be incremental growth and challenged me to look at what would be spectacular or what is seemingly impossible, but making it possible because of who I'm being.

Oh, I love that.

I am going to pick up that book today that sounds really rich.

And I know your tools help with continuous internal and external growth.

And what you said about whatever your strong suits or your.

Whatever your strengths have been to this point is probably getting in your way to get to the next place.

Is that your experience?

I can give you a personal example because one of my strengths is building trust and building relationships.

But a part of what's held me back is I'm always focused on helping somebody else.

You know, what can I do for you?

And so I was more hesitant to ask.

And especially a bold ask, you know, something that I wanted and needed.

I would feel like I first have to earn the right to ask.

I need to do so much for someone else before I've earned the right to do that.

Instead being driven by my knowing that I have that strength of serving and yet not be limited by it, to say I have to do so much before I deserve to ask.

Setting that aside and really getting into the feel of what I'm so passionate about and what I believe will be helpful to someone else, therefore being able to enroll them in my idea without hesitating.

Making bold asks has been something that I found just doing.

There's never going to be a moment where somebody gives you permission.

It's just something you got to do.

I really like that idea of standing on the conviction of your own awareness of worthiness.

I think it's such an important topic for women because sometimes we feel with the imposter syndrome thing and the am I worthy thing, do I have to prove myself?

Thing that's present in society, but we gotta bust through that, right?

Absolutely.

And I think that is one of the things that can hold us back as women because of what we've absorbed from the culture about who we ought to be and some of the messages that we've received that we've absorbed and not questioned, and so that willingness to step out of that comfort zone, step back from messages we've heard, and ask what's necessary, what's important.

For me to do right now that's going to help move my company, move my vision forward.

Instead of getting into the thought that oh well, I haven't done this yet or I haven't done that yet, or feeling like we need to somehow qualify with checking the box of all these prerequisites that are created in our own mind.

They don't exist except in our own minds.

Exactly.

I'm fascinated.

The things I love about your business, Grow Strong Leaders is how you have created assessments and tools that help people kind of see themselves be able to help develop other leaders.

And anybody can use them within any company and help them with themselves as well as with their teams.

So when you are thinking about the tools that you're developing and how you're putting them into the world, what is the leadership gap that you're helping to solve?

What's missing in today's business leaders that your tools really help us overcome.

And maybe explain a little bit what your tools are for our listeners, what you do and what your business is about.

Well, for 30 years my two business partners and I have worked together which anyone who has founded a business and has had a business partner, you know, that's rare very that you can sustain a relationship with two other people for 30, it's actually 33 years now we've been in the business of this whole feedback process as a result of consulting work we had done early on.

We where in the early 90s, 360 feedback was brand new technology.

And it's a process where you gather input from others about someone's performance rather than just relying on the boss in an annual review.

You're asking people who have firsthand knowledge of that individual, how are they doing in these specific behaviors that are deemed by the organization to be essential, usually for leaders, although we also can assess individual contributors.

We all have blind spots about both our strengths, what people appreciate about us, as well as areas where we might be creating problems without realizing it.

This is an automated process where if you think of a regular survey, people are familiar with surveys.

This is simply a survey about one individual.

It might ask questions about how well they delegate, how well they listen, how well they give feedback with specific behavior based questions.

So it isn't asking you to get inside that person's mind and guess how they're thinking, it's how do you experience them in your work with them.

This process sends out the questionnaires, gathers the data and prepares a report that summarizes the input so the person can read a report and find out.

Oh, and also they assess themselves so they're able to see where are there gaps in my perception of how I'm doing relative to input from others.

And the data can be broken out by relationship types.

You might see different ratings from your manager or in a case of an owner or founder, maybe you're getting input from your board of directors.

Did they perceive you differently than your employees or other stakeholders like your customers?

So you can get input from various groups depending on who's observed what behaviors of yours.

One of the gaps is between what I think I'm doing and what others experience me as doing.

So this can help eliminate some of those blind spots and make us aware.

Oh, people really appreciate it when I do these things and I just took them for granted, give myself credit for it.

So it isn't about finding out criticism from others.

It's getting that full picture because we can't see ourselves completely the way others see and experience us.

How do you guide people going through the process to prepare to receive feedback?

I love that question.

It's true of any feedback we get in life is really seeing this as a gift, seeing this as an opportunity to learn and grow.

It's hard sometimes because even though we acknowledge I'm not perfect, it's hard when we have things pointed out to us that shine the light on the fact that we aren't perfect.

It's rare for someone not to have at least one area where there's a gap between what they see themselves as doing or being and others perceptions.

I'll give you a quick personal example.

When we did this in our own company years ago for the first time, I experienced what a feedback recipient, that mixture of looking forward and a little anxiety about what am I going to learn.

Yeah.

So the one thing that stuck with me was that when people came into my office to ask me a question or bring information, oftentimes I would look up and they perceived it as me scowling at them.

What would happen is I'd be working on something intensely and then when they walked in, I was shaken out of whatever I was focusing on.

And so I did have this look on my face that communicated, you're not welcome here.

I learned from that.

I think a key thing for someone receiving feedback is recognizing it's a gift, it's an opportunity to learn.

And it's also an opportunity to strengthen my relationships with others in the way I respond to them.

And so after I'd had a chance to study that, I sat down with the team and I said, I apologize I had no idea I was doing this, so thank you for pointing it out to me.

And what I'm going to do is be more clear with you in the future by either closing my door or giving you advance notice that when I'm working on something where it's better for me not to be disturbed, I let you know because that was what was happening.

It wasn't to make excuses, but it was to explain why they were probably seeing what they saw and understanding what they needed from me and how I could best match the timing.

Questions?

Yes.

And, you know, I also think about, for founders, two things come to mind.

One is that we get in the habit of doing everything ourselves at the beginning.

As we grow the business, we have to learn how to let go and let other people do it, or else we'll drive ourselves crazy and we will limit our growth.

And there are things that we do out of habit that we're not the best at and we actually don't really like doing, but we're doing it, and it gives us the opportunity to pass on those things that someone else could do and probably do better than us and also relieve us from something that's probably we're not well suited.

The other thing I was thinking about how, you know, founders, I'm a founder, so I speak this personally.

I have a very strong streak of independence, and I like to do things my way.

And, you know, anybody who can really start a company and do it over and over again, they've got a little bit of that.

And there's a part of us who doesn't want to have oversight.

There's a part of us who doesn't want feedback, you know, and that's something we need to grow through and confront.

Do you see that?

And do you see that with entrepreneurs?

Sure.

Not just with entrepreneurs, but as I was listening to you talk, I thought, yeah, that's me.

We're willing to tolerate and work through those ups and downs that come with starting and running a business because it's inevitable we're going to have those challenges so that we can have that control over our destiny that, say, in our future and we are able to make changes in our direction.

It is possible that we can be less open or less excited about receiving feedback.

But honestly, when it comes to getting constructive feedback, I think there's something in human nature that causes us to want to not know or not realize that we have things causing problems from others.

Only by finding those out can we make different choices.

It isn't like we're trying to turn a weakness into a strength.

It's looking at, where are our behaviors creating issues for other people that were not intended.

You know, we aren't doing these things on purpose to create pain for others.

But I'll give you another quick example where Denny, one of my two business partners, used to interrupt Paula and me and finish our sentences because he was impatient and wanting to get onto the next thing.

I find many leaders have this action orientation.

Get to the point.

Let's move quickly.

He got feedback in his report around this interruption.

And so we thought, all right, how can we support him?

He wanted to change his behavior.

And I think this is a key piece for leaders acknowledging, I understand you want me to do this.

This is an ingrained habit I've had for a long time.

I need your help.

So we came up with a couple of things that would be visual cues or verbal cues for him to catch himself.

And one of them was in a person to person conversation, putting our hand up like a stop sign.

That would be his trigger.

And the other one was, please let me finish.

How you say that is very important because if you start putting irritation in your voice, like, please let me finish, that doesn't serve as a supportive tool.

And so the three of us sometimes are in conversations and we might get excited and start to interrupt because we're brainstorming or whatever.

If we simply say, please let me finish or I wasn't done yet, then that's the cue for the one that interrupted to stop.

It's finding these things where we don't take it personally, make it about a defect in our character, but simply take it as information that can help us be more effective with others.

Because that's what feedback really is about.

When somebody has the courage to tell us you did this, it had this kind of impact on me.

The way we respond has everything to do with the information we're going to get from them in the future.

We can train them to shut down, or we can train them to share and shine and trust.

Right.

It's all in those moments of how we respond.

You said in your last statement you were talking about character and the pieces of character.

I was doing an exercise with a coach recently and we were looking towards the end of life and what is it we want to see in our lives at the end?

How do we want to look back and what are the moments we want to be creating in our lives?

It was so clear to me that having people feel a sense of love from me, having people feel a sense of care, true Care from me.

And it's in the daily ways we interact.

It's like when you look up because somebody's interrupted you.

I'm the same way, Meredith, by the way.

And, like, I don't like to be interrupted.

I want my husband, my daughter, or my work partner to feel a sense of genuine care and love.

And, you know, I also want to have integrity.

I always want to work on my level of integrity and showing up in all the ways.

Not missing an email that comes through.

I missed an email that Meredith sent me.

I want to be always growing as a person and growing character in various ways.

And I know that's a big part of what you do.

Can you talk more about character and leadership and growing.

Love that the key thing I think about character, this is something Denny and I have talked about, written about.

In fact, he has a book called Grow Strong Character.

Because we believe character is not just one thing.

It's made up of multiple aspects of who we are.

The idea of becoming a strong person or person of strong character is multifaceted.

And we've actually created three different aspects of that related to building a stronger self, stronger relationships, and a stronger work ethic.

Fundamentally, we believe that character is something that can be developed.

If you go back to Carol Dweck's book on fixed mindset versus growth mindset, when you have a fixed mindset, you tend to say, well, that's just the way I am.

And you don't think it's possible to change this core element of who you are.

The growth mindset is one where I can always be learning.

And we believe these aspects of character are areas for development.

We can all grow and learn.

In every single one of these, there's actually a total of 36, three per group.

So, for example, under growing a stronger self, we have things like self awareness, self discipline, humility, and patience.

There are different aspects under relationships.

Integrity is a big one.

And that's what most people tend to think of when they think of character.

It's a big part of character because it's that who you know, can people trust my word, Will I do what I said I will do?

That's an important aspect.

But also around relationships are things like fairness and compassion and empathy.

So there are multiple areas related to each one of these.

And finally, with the work ethic, we have things like, am I willing to be responsible, to take responsibility, to be held accountable, to make an effort, to seek excellence, to take initiative?

Each one of those, if you think about it, it's a behavior pattern and it's one that, yes, we have a way of doing things, but we can change that over time.

A key aspect of any leadership development coco that we see happening in organizations is often there's this program that's put in place and delivered and then the assumption is, you've got it now, so go use it.

I'll never forget one executive that I talked to who reached senior levels in a Fortune 500 company.

He told me every single leadership development program he attended in all his years.

There was never any follow up.

It was just assumed they would use it.

And that's the shortfall in many development programs.

Exposure to information does not equal behavior change.

Because what's really required is, yes, you've got to have the knowledge, here's what that skill looks like done well, but then you've got to have the practice and the follow through afterwards.

Because what's really going on is we're rewiring our brain.

Just like when you think of an athlete practicing a specific skill over and over again, it's to get that pathway so it's automatic.

The same for learning a musical instrument and a specific piece of music.

It's the same for any skill.

It's that repetition that causes the brain to make this strong pathway that becomes your new normal as opposed to the old way of doing things.

It's like driving on a gravel road and it's bumpy and uncomfortable.

When we first start out with that new behavior, we're not going to get it right every time, but we need to stick with it, keep practicing, and eventually it becomes a superhighway.

It's amazing as you're talking about some of these character strengths, things like, I love discipline, it's something I lean on.

Patience is when I can always work on that piece of feeling responsible.

And I'm thinking of for all of us, but for founders like that, responsibility, accountability, we have to sometimes as founders go looking for it right, we have to put measures in place so that we will stay accountable.

Because sometimes if we have all the decisions and we don't have any checks and balances, we can get ourselves into trouble.

So I love this.

So from training to transformation, how can leaders create lasting change then for themselves.

Or for their people or both?

For both?

Well, it starts first with looking at what is the behavior I want to adopt, what is the new skill.

We all come to the workplace with certain skills already in place.

So it's not that we are acquiring something from scratch, it's how are we learning to do it in a different way so we can be more effective.

That's the first thing is identifying A good place to start is looking at what are the values that we as a company have adopted and say are important to us and the way that we are going to operate as a business.

What I have seen over time is companies will invest a lot of time and money creating values and communicating them to everybody.

And that's where it stops.

What is done to help bring those values to life?

If we say we are a company of integrity, how do we keep our word with each other, with our customers?

You know, when we say you have on time delivery, do we do that?

And so what often happens is these statements or values aren't fleshed out enough to know what does that look like in action.

And then the next step is how do we develop into those?

What does that look like?

What agreements do we need to make with each other?

This is how we operate around here because that's what culture is all about.

How do we want to do things?

How are we currently doing them?

And are there gaps between the two?

Because that's where the development opportunities come in.

Where are we not living up to what we say our values are?

Are we treating everybody fairly?

Are there areas where we are not inclusive, where we are not giving everyone an equal voice?

Speak up.

So it's examining, I think first, what are our core values as individuals, as an organization, and what do we need to do differently so that they're not just aspirational, they're how we live, they're.

Concrete and they're behavior oriented.

There's actions associated with it looking to say, well, what does integrity look like in our marketing?

What does it look like in our sales channel?

What does integrity look like when we pick up the phone and call somebody?

It's.

It's way more specific than just words on a.

On website, the word integrity, people have different interpretations of what that means.

And so having a conversation, if that is one of our values, having a conversation, even having people write down individually themselves and then share with the group, here's what I think of.

You're going to find all kinds of different variations, all of which can enrich the definition.

It's not like you have to come up with the one right one.

It's one of the aspects of integrity that we want to embody as individuals and as a company.

Beautiful.

I love that.

Tell us more about.

You have peer coaching and power partnerships.

What is that and how that can help leaders?

The development programs we have are around what we call skill builder which is helping people develop both communication skills and character over time.

The power partners is around the communication skills.

Both of them have an element of coaching involved.

And while it's ideal to have one on one coaching, hiring an executive coach for everyone is prohibitive in terms of cost.

One of the things we have found to be effective is helping people learn how to be peer coaches.

Because it doesn't have to be overly complicated.

It's a matter of saying we are going to work together to check in with each other on a regular basis for support, encouragement and accountability.

It's simply a matter of making commitments.

I've done this with somebody I met at a conference over five years ago and she and I have weekly check ins through emails of what our goals were for last week and how we did in accomplishing them.

So that was our accountability check in.

Here's what we have planned for the coming week so that we know what to anticipate the person is going to be focusing on.

So each week we send an email that's got those two things.

What was my focus last week and how well did I accomplish it?

And then what am I going to be focusing on this week?

It doesn't have to take a lot of time.

We also have these monthly check in calls.

People being peer coaches can be in the same organization, maybe even on the same team or they could be in different departments.

It could be somebody you've met through your network, whatever works for you.

But the key is consistency and what are we going to be checking on.

In our case it was business related but we ended up adding some personal things we were working on too.

So it was kind of an overall whole person accountability.

It stays in my mind throughout the week.

Oh, I know I have to get back with Becky on this.

I need to get it done.

It'll cause me to put in that extra time or be more intentional.

It's like going to the gym and working with a personal trainer.

You stick with it better when you have somebody not just holding you accountable but you know, has got your back, has, you know, is supporting you in this process and can give you helpful ideas or encouragement if you have a setback.

It's very powerful to have a person like that, that you are equally committed to each other's success.

I feel like that's such a wonderful part of a culture to put into a company.

Right where because if you have to me, if you, if you were in a company that had this kind of coaching relationships, part of, part of, as part of it, you would learn how to be a good listener, you'd learn how to be a supportive coach.

You'd learn how to receive feedback, you'd learn how to be accountable.

All these wonderful things could come from having that as part of your culture.

You just hit on something so important.

Coco, this idea of becoming an effective peer coach has a ripple effect in every other area of your life.

And so you become a better leader to people on your team because of the skills you're developing as a peer coach.

That listening, the giving feedback, the asking of questions.

Because effective coaching doesn't involve pressure to tell somebody what to do, it's helping to draw out in them the brilliance and the strengths they already have.

It's just being willing to ask the questions.

I think that's such an important piece for founders and totally where we, because we're doing so much ourselves, as we bring more people on board, that willingness to let go and also not be the answer person.

I don't have to tell them the answer if they come to me with a question.

Learning to ask questions back so they don't come to you initially when they have a question, and it frees up your time.

So.

So to simply ask, what have you thought of so far?

What options have you considered and which one do you think is the best?

So when we get those kinds of questions to them, they learn, oh, I need to think this through before I take this question to Coco.

You are then presented with their question, with their ideas and recommendations, saving you a lot of time.

And then your questions can be around where there might be shortfalls that they haven't considered or other questions that will help them think it through more effectively.

It's really a powerful way to lead and to create innovation leaders within.

I mean, it really is so powerful.

One of my areas of focus this year in my development of the Force for Good system is around the three core values.

Be wise, be transformative, and be of highest and best use.

How you create an environment where people can learn and grow.

And we have in the system meetings and how you hold a meeting so that people feel that way.

This idea of peer coaching goes even deeper where it's sort of the one on one level, then the container of the team and then the container of the whole company.

And how do you create a place where people can feel like it's safe and exciting and fun to grow as humans?

It all starts with how you as the owner respond.

It's one thing to tell people we are this kind of company, but if they don't see you Living it.

It's going to ring hollow for them.

And there's not going to be the trust and credibility.

Trust is the foundation piece of everything for a leader.

That's why humility to us is a core character strength.

If I'm not willing to admit I'm wrong, then I'm going to be sending a message to others.

It's not safe for you to admit when you're wrong.

And so they're going to be hiding it.

They're going to be blaming.

This whole culture of accountability will be lacking because you, as the owner, have not demonstrated a willingness to say, I was wrong.

Or as Gary ridge, the former CEO of WD40, says, I don't know if you're willing to say.

Those were his three favorite words.

I don't know.

Because he wanted to draw out from others.

He wasn't afraid to say that.

Afraid.

Afraid of looking foolish or not competent.

All goes back to that feeling like, I'm enough.

I am a learner, so I'm not going to know everything, so it's okay to admit it.

It's not a personal defect for me to say I don't know.

Yes, that's such sage advice for any of us.

You talk about trusted communication and how a big part of your programs and assessments and your whole foundation is around building trust and having good communication that fosters trust.

If you could share.

You've talked a little bit about this, but maybe some.

Any other pitfalls that you see happening that could get in the way, as well as any other steps or practical advice to help build that culture where people feel heard and valued and engaged.

You know, it goes back.

It's a combination of communication skills and character.

So another aspect of character is courage.

To me, that goes hand in hand with the willingness to give people feedback.

We talked earlier about receiving feedback, but the idea of giving constructive feedback as well as giving positive feedback are really critical skills for leaders.

Because if we don't address behavior that's causing problems, then other people notice that and it sets the bar and the culture as one of, well, this behavior apparently is okay because they're getting away with it.

Whether it's showing up late for meetings, not delivering reports on time, having a report that you do turn in that's filled with errors.

One leader was always fixing the problems that were in the reports rather than handing it back to the person and having them fix it.

Whatever it is that's keeping us from giving feedback to people, we need to examine that.

Why am I being hesitant to be honest with the person.

Sometimes we don't know the best way.

A simple structure for feedback is to open up with something you appreciate about the person.

Put it in context.

Let's say you've got a customer service person who you observed being rude or less than exemplary with one of your customers, and you notice how the customer left.

So rather than going up to the person and saying, why were you just rude to this person?

And immediately putting them on the defensive, have a conversation that starts with, you know, let's say I'm talking to you, Coco.

Normally you have such a great style with our customers.

They smile when they leave.

I noticed today, though, that when Mrs.

Jones came in, there was an exchange between the two of you, and she left pretty upset.

One of the first things to do is not make assumptions about the person's motive.

We don't know what happened to you before you came into work that day.

You could have just gotten some devastating news, or it could be that Mrs.

Jones said something to you before.

I noticed that really upset, you know, was upsetting to you.

So we want to ask questions in the course of giving feedback to find out, you know, I noticed your exchange, what was going on with you, where that interaction occurred, listening to the other person explain that and following up being empathetic or whatever is required, then stating what it is that you expect in the way of the behavior so they have a clear understanding of what is required in this situation.

I understand it was upsetting when she said this to you.

It's important in these situations to remain calm.

That's another character.

Strength, composure, remaining calm in difficult situations, then explaining the impact.

I'm concerned that when someone leaves here unhappy, not only will they not bring us business in the future, they're going to tell other people about that experience, which will have an adverse effect on our company and our reputation.

Helping someone who's normally a very good employee understand the impact of their behavior helps create that buy in for the expected behavior.

And then the final thing with giving feedback is getting their agreement, their commitment to actually perform the behavior that you've outlined.

Too often we think, okay, I've told you, this is due by three, and from now on, you're going to get in by three, and that's the end of it.

If they don't say, if we don't take the time to have them say, yes, I can do that, or do you see any reasons why you won't be able to deliver this, then we are closing off the door versus opening it up and continuing the dialogue.

Because maybe 3:00 presents a problem and 4:00 is reasonable.

You know, these little things that we can clarify.

And then the final thing is expressing your belief in their capabilities and letting them know you're in their corner and that you support them.

Sometimes people object to this, what we call sandwich approach, where you start with a positive and end with a positive.

To me, it's all about what it is you say and how you deliver it in the context of the overall conversation that you're having.

I heard you say appreciate and then express a concern or the issue, the negative impact, and then actually form an agreement that they actually agree to.

And then your belief in that.

What a great system.

And it's again, one of those things we can practice.

And if we leave out a step one time, we just need to have a few words in our mind when we go to address this to alleviate our own anxiety about talking to them and recognize this is an opportunity for both of us to learn and grow.

So tell us, Meredith, how can all.

We've just talked about a lot of concepts and so tell us how grow strong leaders.

Your company can help our listeners, our founders and our teams and our leaders.

What do you offer?

Explain how your tools are offered.

Thank you.

Yes, we are a product company, not a consulting company.

So we have our tools used by consultants and coaches with their clients and also by people within an organization that want to bring these kinds of tools internally and manage them.

The 360 assessment is one of these where you get a dashboard and you set up the questionnaires and send them out.

The dashboard allows you to set up any number of surveys.

So that's one piece.

The assessment up front to find out what are people's strengths, where could they have the opportunity to develop.

The other programs are online subscription services where you sign up for a year, where you have access to all this content.

But it's only.

They're like micro lessons.

We know people have short attention spans these days.

And so the real work is in the practice.

We give you tips and ideas for becoming a better listener, for strengthening patients, for example.

And then it's going out to practice and then coming back to the program and answering some questions to reflect on how it went.

And this is where that coach comes in because we have the ability pair you with a coaching partner.

If you are a coach or working with a coach, that individual can be plugged in to see your answers so that you then have that accountability and support on an ongoing basis through using the program.

So over time you're practicing a specific skill, making improvements in it based on all these tips you're getting and applying where you actually can improve over time.

And our website, GrowStrongLeaders.com has information about those programs.

Also our books on character and communication and peer coaching, as well as my podcast.

If somebody's interested in hearing these conversations that I have with leaders about how they've grown as a leader and how they help grow others as leaders.

Awesome.

And so a founder could sign up her team for one of these programs or the360 and or the subscription or could do it herself, correct?

Yes.

What I would suggest is there's a place for them to contact me on our website or they can email me at meredithgrowstrungleaders.com or connect with me on LinkedIn and have a conversation about what they are currently doing and what we offer might be a fit for them.

It sounds like this is a great additional feather in the cap of a coach or consultant.

I have lots of coaches and consultants who listen into the show.

So what's the best way for a coach or consultant to learn more about your toolkit and how they could use it?

Client going to our website.

We've worked with consultants for almost 30 years now with our 360 feedback tool where that's a part of the package they offer to their clients either in their one on one coaching or as part of a leadership development program.

It's the front end piece so there's a lot about it that can be customized and branded for a coach or a consultant to use.

That is really cool.

That sounds like a great toolkit for someone in that type of business and a great value add.

Not having to create everything from scratch.

And you have.

It's a really.

You've worked with a technologist.

I was just talking to the person that you've been working with and your team has grown a really neat technology platform.

Somebody could really benefit and leverage the 30 years of work you've put in.

What is that final word of wisdom or insights you'd like to bring to founders who are growing their companies and facing all the challenges of growth?

I think this area of appreciation of yourself and others, if we can bring loving kindness to ourselves and to every individual we interact with, that will have a profound impact on the world.

It might be our world, but the ripple effect of helping others know how much we value them, what it is about them we appreciate.

Not just in the words that we say, but in the attention that we give them.

The questions we ask them the words of affirmation that communicate to them.

I matter because at the end of the day, when we think about our dying and what impact have we made, I think when we can elevate others in their own minds about who they are and who they can be, including ourselves, that's one of the most profound gifts we can give to another human being.

So I would just encourage your listeners to think about how can I be that with everyone I encounter at home, at work, with my friends, in every aspect of my life.

Beautiful guidance.

Now that sounds like the wisdom of a woman.

Thank you Meredith.

Thank you so much for joining us today and for bringing these beautiful tools, this really deep, wonderful guidance that we can use with our teams and with ourselves.

For everybody listening, thank you for being here today.

Thank you for creating businesses that matter and create good in the world.

And certainly be sure to Visit.

Our.

Websites growthleaders.com Is that right?

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