The number one challenge I see with the leaders is wanting to understand WHY they’re not taking people with them to deliver their big vision. In this episode I’m uncovering the factors that may be influencing this.
I’m talking with Julie Hutchison a soft skills and communications expert who works with leaders in the tech industry.
We discuss:
Julie's Bio
Julie Hutchison of Think Be Do Leadership
Julie is a Team Performance and Leadership Specialist, focusing on helping Tech leaders to build soft skills and communication confidence and influence to build performance and productivity in their teams.
After an initial career as a Manufacturing Engineer, Julie then spent 16 years as a Police Inspector in the UK police force, ranging from working with prolific offenders, to senior policing leadership, government and community roles.
In policing, she learned to build relationships in minutes, and influence people in seconds. This became a key part of Julie’s success in dealing with the criminal side, but also in managing her team of 54 officers and civilian staff.
From that experience, along with her Technical background, she has developed the Team Performance Engine™, a practical and effective methodology for Leadership and Team Performance that.
Want to know the secret of great leaders? In Leaders with impact we'll be exploring what makes an impactful leader; sharing stories of success and strategies that set them apart.
If you are ambitious for your organisation but are struggling to identify what you can do differently as a leader to deliver the right improvements, then hit subscribe to learn how you can get clear on your strategy, implement some self-leadership and connect with those you serve.
New episodes are released every fortnight.
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If I had a pound for every lead who is moaned about
Unknown:their team members not doing what they're supposed to be
Unknown:doing, I would be a very rich woman. Or I'd be paying back my
Unknown:debt from when I was working my corporate role. The number one
Unknown:challenge I see with leaders I work with nowadays is wanting to
Unknown:understand why they're not taking people with them to
Unknown:deliver their big vision. In today's episode, I'm uncovering
Unknown:the factors that may be influencing this. I'm Lee
Unknown:Griffith, a communication strategist, executive coach and
Unknown:around champion of leaders who shun the old school stereotypes.
Unknown:I'm here to help you get clear on your strategy, implements
Unknown:himself leadership and connect with those you serve through
Unknown:your communications. If you want to focus on the impact you're
Unknown:having as leader book him for a free consultation call with me,
Unknown:where we'll explore how you can fine tune your performance in
Unknown:order to deliver improved organizational results. Visit
Unknown:Sundayskies.com. For details. Today, I'm talking with Julie
Unknown:Hutchinson, a soft skills and communications expert who works
Unknown:with leaders in the tech industry. Julie shares the free
Unknown:reasons why your teams might not be performing for you as a
Unknown:leader, and what you can do about changing the impact you
Unknown:have enjoy.
Unknown:I'm delighted to welcome Julie Hutchison to the leaders of
Unknown:impact podcast. Thank you for joining me today. Oh, it's an
Unknown:absolute pleasure. Thank you. Just tell us a little bit about
Unknown:who you are and what you do. Yeah, sure. So I, Julie
Unknown:Hutchison, and my company is called Think B do leadership.
Unknown:And I am a communications and soft skills specialist for tech
Unknown:leaders essentially. Which means that I love talking anything,
Unknown:people communications behavior, and all that stuff of why people
Unknown:do what they do or not, let's say.
Unknown:And we we've soft skills. We're gonna dive into that in a
Unknown:minute, because we have views.
Unknown:I wanted to touch base, because I know that you've got quite an
Unknown:extensive background in policing. Yeah. And I suppose I
Unknown:know, that isn't where you work now when you work with tech
Unknown:leaders, but I'm interested in I suppose that changing direction,
Unknown:but also what you've learned about leadership that perhaps is
Unknown:serving you in the work that you're doing now? Yeah,
Unknown:absolutely. Yeah. So I did 16 years in Hartfordshire. Police,
Unknown:when I left I was an inspector. I've done lots and lots of
Unknown:different roles. I always say that one of the things for me
Unknown:and in the police was that I was never very good runner. So if I
Unknown:wanted to arrest anybody, I needed to be able to convince
Unknown:them to come with me a bit all during that time. And in my
Unknown:previous time, I was in engineering as well, that what I
Unknown:realized was that I needed to be able to convince people to come
Unknown:alongside because you know, you don't carry a gun, you don't,
Unknown:you can't bash everybody over the head, if they want them to
Unknown:do something, you've got to be able to communicate, you've got
Unknown:to be able to get people onside. And regardless of what they've
Unknown:done, in fact, and actually, the outcomes that, that you get
Unknown:particularly pleasing it are so much better if even if you've
Unknown:got the most hideous person in front of you, you know, they've
Unknown:done the worst thing and you know, they've done it, if you
Unknown:can build rapport, if you can get them on side, if you can
Unknown:make them feel like they trust you to respect them as a human
Unknown:being, and you know, that you walk alongside them, let's say,
Unknown:you're gonna get that, that communication, you're gonna get
Unknown:the outcomes that you want. They might even admit their crime,
Unknown:let's say, but they're going to work with you to do things. And
Unknown:that might sound really weird. But that was my whole ethos in
Unknown:the police was, how can I work with people rather than working
Unknown:it's and it's not just for the good ol criminals, but it might
Unknown:be for the council, or the schools or the whoever it is,
Unknown:you know, the, the lay down the road or, or whatever it might
Unknown:be. But it taught me that people won't do what you want them to
Unknown:do, unless they want to do it. And they can do it, you know,
Unknown:and so that that really taught me that I needed to focus on how
Unknown:I show up and to end and obviously, being an inspector
Unknown:and I had a team I had 54 staff at one point. And so all of that
Unknown:was about how do we all show up to influence other people to to
Unknown:be the help or hinder them to do what we or they needed to do as
Unknown:a massive lesson in, in you can't you can't force people,
Unknown:you can chat with them in the you know, if there's been a car
Unknown:crash or something like that, you can, you know, right, do it
Unknown:now. And that's about the only time when you really can just
Unknown:say just
Unknown:and they might do it, but but policing was it's not what
Unknown:everybody thinks, I think a lot of the time and you know,
Unknown:there's there's a it's called policing by consent for a
Unknown:reason. And it's that consent for for police officers to you
Unknown:know, to be able to do the things and to get collaboration
Unknown:with the people, you know, of the town or wherever it is
Unknown:they're working with and to to work with them and get their get
Unknown:the best outcomes. And so that was a massive, massive learning
Unknown:curve for me over the 16 years.
Unknown:And inside internally, what I recognize is that we need to
Unknown:give people the skills because it's very easy to think, Oh, I
Unknown:just need to know the law, I need to know what to do, you
Unknown:know, how do I arrest somebody, and there's, there's so much
Unknown:more to it. But also internally, if we want our teams to do what
Unknown:we want them to do, we've got you know, that that was a, that
Unknown:was another realization for me that we could give people the
Unknown:skills to, to understand themselves and to understand,
Unknown:you know, how they're showing up, and to be able to manage
Unknown:each other when we're not in that emergency situation, let's
Unknown:say. And so I ended up learning coaching, whilst I was in
Unknown:policing, and I also became a workplace mediator, which was
Unknown:even more funny, because internally, you know, the
Unknown:communication and the conflict that would that would come up
Unknown:because of some of the issues that we just talked about, would
Unknown:cause huge amounts of problems. And so when I started doing
Unknown:internal mediation, we see that actually, it's always about
Unknown:communication, it was always about something that somebody
Unknown:either did or didn't do, or said or didn't say, somebody's took
Unknown:offense. And so we have to understand, you know, what's
Unknown:really going on behind all these layers that people have, whether
Unknown:we're a police officer, whether we're, you know, a random person
Unknown:walking down the street, or whatever it might be. And it's
Unknown:that the gap between what we believe is going on and what's
Unknown:actually going on what we put in place of that gap. That is the
Unknown:is the crux of, you know, whether I feel comfortable,
Unknown:whether I trust you whether I want to be around you, and
Unknown:therefore, whether you're going to get the best result out of
Unknown:the interaction that you've got. And if you think about
Unknown:forensics, I love this little, little phrase of every contact
Unknown:leaves a trace, which is a forensic term, meaning, you
Unknown:know, if you've done something and you've, I don't know, stolen
Unknown:the TV, or whatever it is, put it in the boot of your car, then
Unknown:something on that will leave a trace on the car, but it also
Unknown:leaves trace on that on that TV. And if you think about that, if
Unknown:I were to translate that to people, every contact leaves a
Unknown:trace, when I'm talking to you now that you know, something of
Unknown:me will rub off on you, good or bad.
Unknown:But also something of you will rub off on me, good or bad? If
Unknown:we're aware of that. And this is kind of the realization I had
Unknown:while I was while I was, you know, all those years in
Unknown:policing, and the end before it opened probably the world of
Unknown:work being so old I am, it made me realize that actually, well,
Unknown:if every contact leads or trace, better be a good one. Let's look
Unknown:at how do we make that happen. And that's kind of why I then
Unknown:decided that this was the era I wanted to specialize in.
Unknown:Because I saw the benefits of that in such a big way. And then
Unknown:coming into why am I in tech, you might say, Well, why are you
Unknown:not working with police officers, but my previous
Unknown:background being in engineering, and what I, what I found was
Unknown:that I had an affinity towards people who were really, really
Unknown:good at the task, the technical focus of what they did. And I
Unknown:translated these learnings of communication and and that, that
Unknown:leaving a trace into how do we help tech leaders to use their
Unknown:soft skills and not think, Oh, they're really, I will say soft
Unknown:skills shouldn't be hard work, you know, but how do we stop
Unknown:them from being hard work because it's easy to avoid and
Unknown:just think about the task. The reason why I'm hit where I am
Unknown:now is because there's a natural translation to helping people
Unknown:who maybe don't feel very comfortable with those
Unknown:communication skills with understanding some of the the
Unknown:nuances of what's going on, and maybe avoid it a little bit or
Unknown:hope it will go away sometimes dealing with those difficult
Unknown:conversations or having you know, having those people
Unknown:conversations aren't always so easy for for some people in
Unknown:tech. And so I found there was a real need for my skills in that
Unknown:area. And so it's kind of where I've, you know, I can I can work
Unknown:with anybody that would that's not the point because the
Unknown:passion needs to be where somebody wants, wants me and
Unknown:where I can do my best work. And so that's kind of where that's
Unknown:how I got here. And why I use what I use, really, you've
Unknown:touched on briefly there, that people who perhaps have those
Unknown:really specialist skills or working really specialist areas.
Unknown:And I always find this and the leaders that I work with, and
Unknown:they get promoted, promoted and promoted because of the
Unknown:specialist knowledge that they have. And no one ever really
Unknown:looks at the other stuff that's required when you're in a
Unknown:leadership role. And it's really exposing and vulnerable for
Unknown:those people. To me, I think it's almost cruel lead, you
Unknown:know, fancy that, you know, like, Oh, you're really good at
Unknown:what you do. Let's put you in a role now that you have no idea.
Unknown:And not only that, they I don't know about you, we probably have
Unknown:experiences that often didn't give them any help until it's
Unknown:until it's like oh, we need to sort that out now, you know, but
Unknown:they don't think Oh, right. Okay. You've gone into a role
Unknown:that you've had no experience in let's give you those. Either the
Unknown:skills or the understanding, so that you because everybody can
Unknown:do it, because there's a
Unknown:dare I say a formula but there's, you've got to learn
Unknown:certain things.
Unknown:But there's some there's some ways of looking at it and
Unknown:simplifying it, that can help you. But if you don't get that,
Unknown:then how are you supposed to know about it? You know, and in
Unknown:your experience, I'm sure people are just, well, you're really
Unknown:good at no coding or something, or you're really good at
Unknown:cooking. I don't know what it could be. But then you suddenly
Unknown:find yourself in charge. Yeah. And it's a scary place to be
Unknown:sometimes. Yeah, absolutely. And you say the help might come, but
Unknown:it's more of an intervention than a help. It comes when it
Unknown:when it's got to the intervention.
Unknown:And, and it's usually at a point of such high pressure, that
Unknown:you're almost bound to fail, because it's, you know, it's
Unknown:built up this, this pressure head just, they've almost been
Unknown:set up to fail. Yeah. And you think that if you if you imagine
Unknown:how somebody must feel like, yeah, here I am, I was really
Unknown:good at what I did. And now I feel like a failure. I don't
Unknown:want to admit that I feel like a failure, because someone was
Unknown:like, really good at what I did. And every thought was amazing. I
Unknown:don't want to say, but equally, I don't know what to do. I don't
Unknown:know how to deal with these people who now don't really,
Unknown:I'll say like, but I mean, we're not there to be liked, per se,
Unknown:you know what I mean? But I don't have that relationship.
Unknown:Now. Everybody's finding it a little bit uncomfortable. I
Unknown:don't know what to do. So people, it's almost like you
Unknown:pulled them out of their success, and threw them into
Unknown:failure,
Unknown:which I think is negligent, at the very least, but you know,
Unknown:pretty cruel, really, and and that's where you and I come in,
Unknown:because there's a need for people to understand, well, one,
Unknown:it's not so scary. And it can it can be learned and nuanced. And
Unknown:yes, you may not be always that comfortable with people in my my
Unknown:area. Maybe they mean they're not. But you'll know what to do,
Unknown:and you'll know how to do it. And you'll know you'll be given
Unknown:the ability to at least try it out and give it a go and know
Unknown:where you should be and and set up to succeed rather than set up
Unknown:to fail. It's so important is we've we've touched on this
Unknown:already, but what our common interest is, I suppose it's
Unknown:almost our hatred for the word soft skills because it's seen as
Unknown:this nice to have thing in leadership and I think they
Unknown:they're they're your vital skills, not not soft skills.
Unknown:Everybody thinks you're fluffy on a cloud don't yeah.
Unknown:It's it's so undervalued by but not by leaders who get it but
Unknown:but by leadership communities. I think they it's an undervalued,
Unknown:undervalued skill set, I think by organizations, they look at
Unknown:the hardest stuff, they look at the outcomes, but not thinking
Unknown:about what what's needed to get to those outcomes. Now, you've
Unknown:focused your business around the soft skills world, saving a
Unknown:thing.
Unknown:But what have you noticed, I suppose, in the work that you're
Unknown:doing, and particularly in the sectors that you work with,
Unknown:where perhaps the focus is on that specialist, technical
Unknown:excellence, and therefore soft skills is seen as the pink and
Unknown:fluffy. Quite often what I hear, I'm just, I've gotten to my head
Unknown:that because I hear this all the time, I'm thinking about certain
Unknown:people, what I hear is Oh, like, I'll call him Bob, for want of a
Unknown:better name is I need to sack Bob, or Bob's not performing
Unknown:Bob's rubbish, or if we need to employ some people. And Bob
Unknown:looks the best, because Bob's got all the skills that we need,
Unknown:all the technical skills that is, and so we, we either when
Unknown:something goes wrong, we tend to think that we need it's Bob's
Unknown:fault, and we need to sack him. Poor Bob Exactly. And then when
Unknown:we're recruiting, we set ourselves up to fail, also, by
Unknown:looking very much on the technical side, and not looking
Unknown:at how that person is going to fit in what what communication
Unknown:skills they have, how are they going to work with the team? Or
Unknown:how are we going to give them the opportunity to work with the
Unknown:team. And so on two levels, where, again, you know, putting
Unknown:our foot in their mouth, really, and not really thinking about
Unknown:the wider picture. And so, for example, when if we look at, you
Unknown:know, Bob's not doing the right job, he's not working. I hear it
Unknown:all the time. And I say that actually, you know, we should be
Unknown:looking to ourselves, because it's us as a leader, or how do
Unknown:we either help them we talked about it before, but how do we
Unknown:either help or hinder somebody to to be able to do the job they
Unknown:need to do and quite often the person has the skills,
Unknown:but they, for some reason, either can't do it, or won't do
Unknown:it? Or I say Lee Don, well don't do it. Those three things that
Unknown:happen, but all we're focusing on
Unknown:is in many companies is is can they actually have a good
Unknown:skill. But there's these other reasons why somebody is not
Unknown:performing. And the responsibility often lies with
Unknown:the person in charge of that person to look at how they are
Unknown:influencing that ability. I call it the call do I do don't do.
Unknown:And it's, it's so, so important to understand which one of those
Unknown:actually is it? And is there any way we can, I suppose salvage it
Unknown:or change the outcome. But if you think and you know, this,
Unknown:the but if you think about it, you know, if I'm looking at
Unknown:somebody's behavior, it's generally as a response to
Unknown:something, a stimulus, probably our behavior, if they're our if
Unknown:their boss or somebody else in the team, let's say so. So we
Unknown:have to look at things as a whole of like, what's the
Unknown:stimulus? What's happening? You know, if we were to think about
Unknown:what button do I need to press? If we're simplifying it down to
Unknown:you know, what, what is the issue? And how do I solve that.
Unknown:And generally, we can break that down into those three areas. And
Unknown:when we do that, it means that
Unknown:even if I'm not a really confident leader, or I'm really
Unknown:not a confident communicator, and I'm really, you know, like,
Unknown:at my first stage of leadership, or I'm, you know, I've avoided
Unknown:it for long enough. And I can sit there and say, like, let me
Unknown:just look at Bob, and ask myself, those three questions.
Unknown:He can't do his it won't do or is it don't do I probably need
Unknown:to explain those three things. Yeah. But that's that literally,
Unknown:we can ask those three questions. And the minute we do,
Unknown:it's like, a lightbulb goes off for people. And I had 35 tech
Unknown:leaders in a room the other day, we were talking about this, and
Unknown:everybody kept coming up to me afterwards go, I've just
Unknown:realized it's this. It's not okay. Now, we no need to know
Unknown:what do we do about it? But let's look at you know, at least
Unknown:we've got a start of what do I and suddenly the responsibility
Unknown:of who I need to be thinking about how I'm showing up here,
Unknown:which was really good. Can't do won't do don't do? Yes, let's
Unknown:take each each of them and and talk through what maybe some of
Unknown:the characteristics might be that you would see if they fall
Unknown:under that category. Yeah, I'm so so can't do can't do. So.
Unknown:This one sounds like the easy one. So can't do means that they
Unknown:either can't do because they don't have the skill, which is
Unknown:the one that everybody goes for. Or they don't have the
Unknown:confidence to make good decisions in that business.
Unknown:Because you and I know that, you know, if what do we want? What
Unknown:are we therefore, as a leader, we're there to help other people
Unknown:to, to to succeed so that we leverage, you know, what, what
Unknown:we what we know, and how we work with people to get more. Here,
Unknown:we're saying well, the either they can't do it because another
Unknown:skill or that person is not sure and can't be leverage, because
Unknown:they don't know how to make good decisions in the business. So if
Unknown:people could make good decisions,
Unknown:then you could step back, let them get on with it. And they
Unknown:would know the decision they need to make and therefore
Unknown:they'd say, Do I go left or right out of my office? And they
Unknown:know what to do and why they need to do it. Okay. Can't do
Unknown:consists of those two things. And, and so when we're looking
Unknown:at that, what I mean by that is, you know, like, Well, if the
Unknown:poor poor Bob, if Bob Carr Hunter hasn't got the skill,
Unknown:then we know we need to try and Bop. That's the simple bit.
Unknown:Yeah. But if Bob isn't making good decisions, and you're
Unknown:thinking more cautionary, even though he he can do I know he
Unknown:can do it. He's not done here. Maybe he doesn't have a
Unknown:confidence, because he's not sure what good looks like or
Unknown:what, what, you know, how you want that done. Okay, so, or the
Unknown:fact that you are perhaps micromanaging or haven't given
Unknown:him the trust and confidence so that the Bob actually thinks
Unknown:that you know, what, I'm gonna put my head above the parapet,
Unknown:and I'm going to make a good decision. Okay. So there's two,
Unknown:there's two elements there to can't do. But if we were to
Unknown:focus on the simplicity of just like, is there some reason why
Unknown:this person can't do it? That's an easy fix. Okay. And then
Unknown:there is, well, I won't do it. And that's complete ly
Unknown:different. So let's say they know what good looks like they
Unknown:they have all the skills they're perfectly CV looks absolutely
Unknown:amazing. We know they've done it before, but they're not and
Unknown:won't do is because because they won't do it for you. Okay, or
Unknown:for somebody else in the team. Like it's because of a
Unknown:relationship. It's because of the impact that you're having
Unknown:behaviorally, or, you know, something that is there between
Unknown:two people, two or more people even, and we come down to
Unknown:conflict, or do we come down to like, I just don't like you very
Unknown:much, or you're so different from me. Why are you like that?
Unknown:Why do you do things that way? You know, I mean, you've
Unknown:probably explained anybody listening, it's probably
Unknown:experience where you look at somebody think, why are they
Unknown:doing that? You know, like, I don't do it like that. I'm not
Unknown:thinking like that. Why are they thinking like that? It might be
Unknown:that they, they in the enth detail of something and you're
Unknown:like, Come on, hurry up, just get off my thing, or whatever.
Unknown:So it could be
Unknown:It could be, like, literally, I don't like you. But equally, it
Unknown:could be like, I don't understand where you're coming
Unknown:from your perspective, or the way you work or all of those
Unknown:things. And so swear, sorry, I swear, it might be a values
Unknown:misaligned, or what some, someone finds important is
Unknown:different. And so no, no, not yet. That's what you're getting
Unknown:ahead of yourself. Sorry. So, no, that'll be the next bit.
Unknown:Because here we're just talking about like, like, I won't do it,
Unknown:because there's something that makes me not want to do it for
Unknown:you so very much for the person. So it's yeah, it's about like,
Unknown:do I like, like that person? I suppose you could say like, do I
Unknown:like them? Do I understand them all about the people that are
Unknown:there.
Unknown:And so if I don't like the person, or I don't feel
Unknown:comfortable, or I don't trust them, or they're so different
Unknown:from me that I've like, feeling a bit weird, and I don't know
Unknown:how to deal with them, then that's going to stop me from
Unknown:performing. Okay? Because if I don't feel comfortable, I'm
Unknown:going to spend most of my time worrying about things or it
Unknown:could mean that I end up off sick or you know, especially if
Unknown:there's conflict, all of those things, you know, I, I'm not
Unknown:going to perform, but it's very different from, could I perform
Unknown:the Oh, can I? Yes, I can, but I don't because of this
Unknown:relationship issue of some description.
Unknown:The one that you're talking about there, then you've pulled
Unknown:on, which is super, super important as well, is the third
Unknown:part, which is darn well don't two, which is if I don't like
Unknown:where you're going. Okay, or I don't know where you're going
Unknown:these the other thing, because obviously, you and I both know
Unknown:that quite often, people in leadership positions, haven't
Unknown:told everybody where they're going, or what the purpose of
Unknown:what they're doing is, or, you know, like, what the big picture
Unknown:is, and and therefore they peak when people either don't agree
Unknown:with it, or they don't have any idea, what is the big picture?
Unknown:They're kind of at a loss. It's a bit like if you come to a
Unknown:roundabout, you know, and you're driving like, nice and steady.
Unknown:Let's say you're going at a nice pace, it comes to the
Unknown:roundabout, and you and I lay or go around this roundabout, and
Unknown:I'm in the driver's seat, and I'm like, appealing. Which way
Unknown:are we going? And you go, I'm not entirely sure. Hang on a
Unknown:second, I just look at the map. I don't know. And I'm like, for
Unknown:goodness sake. going round and round this roundabout really
Unknown:slowly going, tell me which way to go. And you can't tell me
Unknown:which way to go. Because you don't know. And then you're
Unknown:like, Okay, fine. Finally you say like, oh, it's the a 30 or
Unknown:whatever. And I'm, oh, good, great. And then when I get on
Unknown:the 30, I can go fast. But until we know where we're going, we're
Unknown:gonna go around around about super, super slow. Or if we if
Unknown:we do to where we go in and say we use it to me, Julie, we're on
Unknown:the A 30 Because we go into I don't know where we're going
Unknown:now.
Unknown:Salisbury Andover, I think somebody on here is going to
Unknown:correct us on that one.
Unknown:Let's just say it's Andover. And I'm like, oh, no, I don't want
Unknown:to go to Andover. I don't like and I'm sure it's wonderful. But
Unknown:like, if I don't want to go there, then I'm gonna put my
Unknown:foot on the brake. I'm like, No, I don't want to be on this, this
Unknown:this in this car or on this bus or whatever it might be. So the
Unknown:point about Darmowe don't do is that actually, I don't want to
Unknown:go where you want to go. And imagine that. Imagine that
Unknown:you're in an organization that you can you applied for this
Unknown:job, for example, you, you really want a job, you need the
Unknown:money, you've got the skills, but you're not entirely sure
Unknown:about this, this place. And it might you know, it might be what
Unknown:their values are, you might say, Oh, actually, you know what, no,
Unknown:I don't like the values of this as well. So when I say where
Unknown:they're going, it could be all of those things. And you think,
Unknown:Well, I can do it. But I just don't feel good about it. I
Unknown:don't want to be here. It doesn't, it does not, it's not
Unknown:me. And what happens is, is that people, they, you'll find them
Unknown:in the corner complaining, basically, you'll find them in
Unknown:meetings with their arms folded, looking pretty annoyed and being
Unknown:really awkward, because they don't want to go where you want
Unknown:to go. And therefore you can you can cajole them, and they could
Unknown:probably think you're a nice person as well. But if they
Unknown:don't want to go where you go, then they're not going to go,
Unknown:they're not going to do their best work. And so as a leader,
Unknown:you need to understand that and make sure you've told them where
Unknown:you're going and, and what the values are. And if they match
Unknown:that they're going to come with you, they're going to get on the
Unknown:bus. Yeah, you know, I've seen this I've seen I've seen that
Unknown:with certainly executive teams that I've worked with where a
Unknown:new leader might come in, and they'll get they'll come really
Unknown:frustrated because of like, we're doing this big strategy
Unknown:piece of work or we're launching this in the organization. And
Unknown:you know, I've sat around with my colleagues and I gave them
Unknown:the presentation and everyone was really quiet and some of
Unknown:them nodded their heads, but they've all walked out the room
Unknown:and they're not aligned at all they're carrying on with their
Unknown:own agenda. They're doing their then they're not giving the
Unknown:messages I want them to give like, but they didn't say
Unknown:anything in the meeting and say this lack of alignment is really
Unknown:a big problem I see in leadership teams. Absolutely.
Unknown:So, so the, the, if they don't agree, that's the, that's the
Unknown:Dodwell don't do. If there was a reason why they don't want to be
Unknown:doing it, like our, I don't like the way you put it across or you
Unknown:know, you know, then that's the best a different reason. So
Unknown:that's the one to pop. And you're absolutely right. You
Unknown:know? And if, if we see it in a slightly different way, when
Unknown:they don't bother telling them, you know, they just think, Oh,
Unknown:you will not get on with it. Then people are sat there
Unknown:wondering, well, what why are we doing the thing we're doing? And
Unknown:you know, as human beings, we always want to know why, even
Unknown:when we will, you know, when we're kids, why are we doing
Unknown:this? Why are we doing that? And it doesn't change when we're
Unknown:adults? Because we want to know,
Unknown:is this is this something that I can get behind is this something
Unknown:that I can I can be interested in and believe in, because the
Unknown:more I believe in it, the the more I will be able to do my
Unknown:best work. And, you know, as an example, I was laugh at myself
Unknown:for one of my first job opportunities when I when I left
Unknown:university, after having done my engineering degree, it was with
Unknown:United biscuits, and I thought, you know, I did biscuits, like
Unknown:it was just like my dream job.
Unknown:And they were like, oh, yeah, no, go along to this place. And
Unknown:oh, you're you're in the rush, Young's division. And I was
Unknown:like, okay, yeah, fine. Wonderful. Now, as a naive,
Unknown:university, graduate, let's say, I thought, yeah, briskets.
Unknown:Fantastic. And what I didn't realize is that Ross Young's
Unknown:actually is the chicken, man, plump. And fish, oh, they
Unknown:probably do fish as well, I've never gone that far, to be quite
Unknown:honest. Because what happened was, and just for anybody in the
Unknown:audience, I don't eat me, I'm vegan. I was vegetarian at the
Unknown:time. And then they I showed up at this place. And my goodness,
Unknown:I thought I could cope. But so even though I had the skills to
Unknown:do the job that they were asking me to do, when I walked in
Unknown:there, my values my, you know, where do I want to be? Like, you
Unknown:know, what do I agree with, you know, when I looked at what they
Unknown:were trying to achieve, I was like, Oh, God, no. And the fact
Unknown:the the HR lady looked, took one look at me, after we'd done the
Unknown:tour of The Killing pot.
Unknown:It was like green, and she just looked at me and she went, This
Unknown:isn't for you is it and I said, it's not for me. And it was had
Unknown:nothing to do with my skills, it had everything to do with my
Unknown:values and my desires, and what I was interested in or not
Unknown:interested in. And so that's kind of an example of what I'm
Unknown:talking about here is that, if it's against your values, or a
Unknown:gift, or just not of interest to you,
Unknown:then you're not going to want to do it. And so, as leaders, we
Unknown:have to make sure that we've told people, and we've inspired
Unknown:people to go on the journey that we want to want to take, because
Unknown:it's all very well telling them and they say yes, great, I want
Unknown:to be there, I don't want to be there. But if you just leave
Unknown:them to nothing, they're going to make up well, what is it
Unknown:about on and
Unknown:that's where conflict comes, because then we got good people
Unknown:kind of going rogue because they don't know, they don't know
Unknown:where you want them to go. It's like making a cake. You know,
Unknown:like, I could make lots I can beat the I can beat the sugar
Unknown:and the butter together, and I can put the flour and everything
Unknown:else. But the thing that comes out, it's got to look a
Unknown:different, you know, you can make it into different shapes
Unknown:and put different things on top. And so if I don't know where
Unknown:you're trying to get to, I'm going to make the wrong cake.
Unknown:You know, but because I've got skills, it's almost even more
Unknown:dangerous. Because I'm a fight without direction, I'm going to
Unknown:do the wrong thing. Because it will be my idea, not yours, I'm
Unknown:using the analogy of cake making, because that's why
Unknown:I find that some of the ingredients that leaders need is
Unknown:they they can fixate on that I need to tell ya, and not so much
Unknown:on the I need to tell from a point of view of the other
Unknown:person not from my point of view, because I think that can
Unknown:often be where a gap emerges, because leaders will will
Unknown:concentrate on their needs and what they want to get out of
Unknown:something or not try to understand where the people that
Unknown:they're trying to take with them are coming from. And therefore
Unknown:that also I'm assuming plays into the comp and why because
Unknown:then you're not taking that time to to notice to understand to to
Unknown:check in to see if there is that alignment because they come in
Unknown:in such a narrow focus of me rather than I always say there's
Unknown:no me and team and this is where there is but it's just
Unknown:yeah, you're absolutely right. So if you think about it, like
Unknown:if it's the the leader, why don't do it, you know, that's
Unknown:the sort of the big picture of like values and vision and
Unknown:mission and have i Any idea where we're going and then the
Unknown:other side of like what does that person need to be able to
Unknown:perform is like the recipe side that's the can't do because
Unknown:they've got the skill, but alongside the skill they need
Unknown:the recipe they need the guidelines they need the the
Unknown:ways of being able to
Unknown:To be autonomous. And so that's where we need to bring in, as
Unknown:you were quite rightly saying, we need to listen more. And
Unknown:instead of telling people what to do, we need to employ a bit
Unknown:more of a coaching style, so that we give that person the
Unknown:ability to make those good decisions. So they know where
Unknown:the big picture is, they know where the guardrails are, and
Unknown:they are able to go or think that's right. But also they,
Unknown:they trust us. And they know that you're not going to slap
Unknown:them down if you make the wrong decision. So you're building a
Unknown:skill of can do, yeah, but you're building not only see, do
Unknown:I have the physical skill of being able to do it, but do I
Unknown:have the ability to think and be confident and capable, so that I
Unknown:can go Yeah, I'm gonna apply this skill. And I know that this
Unknown:is what they want. This is where we go in and I don't need to
Unknown:knock on Julie's door, and ask her what's next? Julie? I can
Unknown:just go well, I think that she you know, given that this is
Unknown:what we're going for, I think this is the right decision. And
Unknown:that confidence to make those good decisions is where, you
Unknown:know, when we think about leveraging our teams is that's
Unknown:where it comes from, because they don't need to ask us. Yeah,
Unknown:but that only comes when we grow their skills in making those
Unknown:decisions. And that only comes from listening, and coaching
Unknown:people so that they they know they don't have to ask us they
Unknown:know that they are more capable than maybe they thought
Unknown:originally they they can contextualize things, they can
Unknown:ask themselves good questions.
Unknown:But we have to allow that we have to stop micromanaging, we
Unknown:have to coach we have to ask good questions. And we have to
Unknown:trust those people. So that, you know, so that they they they
Unknown:think well, you know, actually, I, I'm willing to put my head
Unknown:above the parapet and say, I think we should do this, you
Unknown:know, and then suddenly, if you do bad, if you've coached people
Unknown:who have good skill, if you coach them, and they know where
Unknown:they're going, think about if we put that jigsaw together, now I
Unknown:can do it. I want to do it for you. And I know where we're
Unknown:going. So I will do it. Because I now come to get on with my
Unknown:job. Knowing the context, knowing the understanding and
Unknown:feeling comfortable and trusting that person to support me in me
Unknown:taking my part up in this team, which is what we've now created
Unknown:of people. And so when we take it back to what he does, you
Unknown:know, what did we as a leader need to be able to do that, we
Unknown:need to look at our impact, because all of these things are
Unknown:about our impact in some way or another. Did I explain that? Did
Unknown:I build trust? Do they understand me? Do I understand
Unknown:them? Have I told them where we're going? Am I bringing them
Unknown:with me.
Unknown:And to get conscious of our impact is what I call you.
Unknown:That's why we probably both fight over the words Oscars,
Unknown:because it's about communication. So it's all a bit
Unknown:of a thing, you know, but but really what I'm talking about is
Unknown:getting conscious of how we show up. Yeah, behaviorally, let's
Unknown:say,
Unknown:and making sure that that's a positive thing. I don't mean
Unknown:being positive all the time. I mean, it's a positive experience
Unknown:for that person, even if I have to say something awful, but it's
Unknown:a positive experience. And when it's a positive experience for
Unknown:somebody, we build trust, we build that collaboration, we
Unknown:build capability, we build confidence. And when we do that,
Unknown:we've got a team of people that are willing to give it their all
Unknown:their best in the direction that we actually want them to go in.
Unknown:So we don't have Rogue, we have really, really engaged people
Unknown:who are excited for what we're trying to do, and are enabled by
Unknown:us to just get on with it.
Unknown:Which means that we can step back as a leader and do the
Unknown:things that we're supposed to be doing instead of getting on and
Unknown:getting in there and picking, we can strategize or whatever it
Unknown:might be take the day off if we need to, or you know, whatever
Unknown:the thing is good, but stuff that only we can do. That only
Unknown:we can do. Yeah, exactly. And go to the you know, go to that
Unknown:future planning, meeting and create whatever we need to
Unknown:create, knowing and trusting that the people that are in our
Unknown:team are capable and confident and and collaboratively working
Unknown:towards what what we all agree. We need to get to. I was
Unknown:thinking as you as you were summarizing that, that in the
Unknown:sense of can't won't don't almost I'm thinking if leaders
Unknown:are listening to this and noting it down with thinking about
Unknown:their team and how you can't help but think about how you
Unknown:might categorize the people that you're working with. But I
Unknown:almost think actually let's do it for ourselves first. Got to
Unknown:the leader needs to do yeah, um, I can do well, yeah. Because
Unknown:because you are you are leading what you are almost in some
Unknown:ways. Yeah. You got to look internally and say, you know, do
Unknown:I even know where I'm going? Do I, you know, am I in the right
Unknown:place? Do I have to? Am I living my values? Out? Do I have that
Unknown:capability and also to look up and think you know, if you've
Unknown:got your, your organization, think about it. It's
Unknown:It's every level. So the organization needs to make sure
Unknown:that that that's, you know, whoever that is, if it's not
Unknown:you, then they need to
Unknown:say, Where are we going? And how are we going to engage people?
Unknown:And how are we going to set the culture of, you know, a coaching
Unknown:and collaborative culture? How are we going to, we're going to
Unknown:make sure that that's rewarded? Are we going to make sure that
Unknown:that's noticed and encouraged? Or are we going to do it the
Unknown:other way? So at every level of leadership, it's very important
Unknown:that we need to look at ourselves in terms of like,
Unknown:Well, how am I creating this? You know, like, so I'm saying,
Unknown:Oh, Bob can't do it because of this isn't this, but always it
Unknown:comes back to so what do I need to do to change that? Yeah. You
Unknown:know, like, if Bob doesn't, like, I'm saying, I keep using
Unknown:the word like, but if Bob doesn't like working with me,
Unknown:let's say, yeah, why not? You know, like, do I need to
Unknown:understand, but better? Does Bob need to understand me better?
Unknown:But like, it's because I'm the boss. It's my responsibility to
Unknown:look at this and go, What, what, what thing Do I need to do?
Unknown:What's missing? What's missing from that jigsaw puzzle? And
Unknown:what I think is important, as you say, is to look at
Unknown:generally, what am I like? Like? So for example, I could say,
Unknown:Okay, so like, I mean, we break down candy one to two wider
Unknown:pieces when work people but but when we might say, okay, so does
Unknown:you know, if you were to score yourselves, you know, red, amber
Unknown:green, or whatever you want to do? You know, where would where
Unknown:would be your strength, and we have to be a witness. And you
Unknown:might say, oh, yeah, I'm actually really good at helping
Unknown:people to understand where we're going in the vision of values
Unknown:and that sort of things. But I'm actually really bad because
Unknown:generally, when I get annoyed, for example, I let off steam by
Unknown:shouting at people or whatever the thing is, you know, so
Unknown:that's a general thing of like, how am I generally and we can
Unknown:start to pick apart like, Okay, I need to work on this area,
Unknown:generally, for me, because I know that actually, probably
Unknown:that impact is not going to be great, or that's good, or this
Unknown:is not good. So that's a general one. Okay. But then we can say,
Unknown:Okay, now specifically, let's walk through every single member
Unknown:of my team, and go so for Li, what's the situation? Ah, yeah.
Unknown:So between the between us, the specific situation where there
Unknown:is actually you know, what leaves, you know, she's, she's
Unknown:really not very excited about everything you say, Okay, once
Unknown:you
Unknown:know, I've got a complex,
Unknown:excited, but you know, she doesn't care, you could just
Unknown:imagine what people know, she doesn't care. She just turns up
Unknown:for the money. And he's like, stop, stop, and ask yourself a
Unknown:better question. Why is she not excited? Oh, okay. Well, I
Unknown:haven't actually excited her by telling her where we're going.
Unknown:Or she's vegan, and I'm trying to put her in a chicken factory.
Unknown:And so I, as the leader now need to fix that, at the very least
Unknown:have a conversation with with Lee and say, you know, this is
Unknown:where we're going, you know, you don't seem very excited about
Unknown:it. Oh, no, I really don't like, actually, you know, I think
Unknown:you're doing it all wrong. Oh, and then if you can't convince
Unknown:Lee, that that's the right way to go, then we might need to
Unknown:leave her that point. But but you unless you sit down and
Unknown:actually ask yourself the question, Why are that? Why is
Unknown:that person behaving like that? It's a stimulus response from a
Unknown:stimulus and, or lack of a stimulus. And therefore we need
Unknown:to ask ourselves, what stimulus did I put in place or not? as
Unknown:the case may have been? And so here we go, we've got lady she's
Unknown:not very excited. So actually, I'm gonna go into and say, Do
Unknown:you know that your role is super, super important? Because
Unknown:this is how it impacts on the big picture. And this is what
Unknown:we're trying to do. And suddenly, you turn around and
Unknown:go, Oh, I never thought about it like that. That's amazing. I
Unknown:feel much more engaged in where we're trying to get to, and I
Unknown:really want to do my part now. Yeah. One of the really good
Unknown:examples, I think of this specific thing is during COVID,
Unknown:do you remember, if ever you went for your vaccinations,
Unknown:everybody listening? If you did, there was always these people
Unknown:standing outside, like waving you in. And then people in the
Unknown:corridor waving you in the right direction and doing all the
Unknown:things and they were these volunteers, or maybe they got
Unknown:paid a bit, but they never got paid an awful lot of money to
Unknown:stand in front of people who might have COVID all day, I
Unknown:mean, seriously, like, took about a risky job, okay. And I
Unknown:went to our local one to have my job done. And it was snowing
Unknown:sideways. It was horribly windy and cold. And these people were
Unknown:standing outside and I said, like, Hey, are you okay? They're
Unknown:like, yeah, we're all good. You know, like, fine, we're fine.
Unknown:And they were so happy to be standing outside in the wind and
Unknown:rain. And it really struck me as like, why would you be happy to
Unknown:do that on a voluntary basis? And the point is, is because
Unknown:they believe in the cause. It's not because their biggest life
Unknown:what's the word? exciting thing for their life? Yes, thank you.
Unknown:Their mission is that they wanted to stand outside a
Unknown:building and wave people in and that's not it wasn't what they
Unknown:were doing.
Unknown:It was why they were doing in. Okay. So even the people who are
Unknown:literally just standing, pointing fingers and go that
Unknown:way, we're engaged and excited and pleased to be there. And
Unknown:it's a fabulous example of engaging people in the in the
Unknown:reason why you're there, the mission, the vision of what
Unknown:you're trying to do. And that's what I'm saying. Because if that
Unknown:person, if that person says, You know what I actually like, let's
Unknown:give that example. I don't believe in COVID vaccines, for
Unknown:example, it didn't matter how much you paid them, you could
Unknown:offer them 100 quid an hour. Actually, they might do 400 quid
Unknown:now, but I doubt it. But let's say you could offer them all the
Unknown:money in the world. And they're like, No, I don't want to
Unknown:because I don't believe in the vaccines. And there's the
Unknown:difference. So you have to make sure that person can understand,
Unknown:you know, can I get excited over where you're trying to get to
Unknown:otherwise there will be disruptive there will be toxic
Unknown:in the environment, and you need to not have them there, if you
Unknown:can't convince them, if that's where you're going, and they
Unknown:want to come with you. So that's a really good example of, of
Unknown:that side effects. And I find that sometimes in organizations,
Unknown:the most sitting at the board level will come up with a
Unknown:strategy, and then they will have a conversation about, we
Unknown:need to get this out into the organization. But then they
Unknown:leave it to local leaders to try and do the hearts and mind
Unknown:connection piece. But they don't, again, going back to the
Unknown:soft skills. No one's ever trained people how to do this,
Unknown:how to have these conversations, blah, blah, blah. And so and
Unknown:then they wonder why people aren't bought into the bigger
Unknown:picture or don't see themselves, they see themselves working. And
Unknown:we used to get this sometimes in the health service when I worked
Unknown:in it, that people would be very wedded to their ward or their
Unknown:department, but perhaps felt hugely disconnected to the
Unknown:broader organization. And they just didn't see that. And and
Unknown:it's because that investment doesn't come and go into every
Unknown:level. How are we building leaders to have skilled skilled
Unknown:conversations around this kind of stuff? Yeah, I think that
Unknown:there's a there's I think there's there's do we do the
Unknown:people have the skills to do it, the capability or the desire? Or
Unknown:has the organization at the very top actually, like, really
Unknown:engaged people in it? And I think what it does is it ends up
Unknown:building those silos that we all know about, because now I'm, as
Unknown:you say, there, I can see how what I do helps my department.
Unknown:Yeah, so I am, like, totally bought in at that level. But
Unknown:you're right, what happens is, is that we often in large
Unknown:organizations, we might be bought in at that level, but
Unknown:we're not bought in at the at the bigger level. And that might
Unknown:be because they didn't give the skills to those leaders, or they
Unknown:just sent an email out. And the culture is that we don't bother
Unknown:telling people. So there's, there's a number of different
Unknown:reasons why that might happen. It might be they don't have the
Unknown:skills or the will to do it, because they don't think it's
Unknown:important that comes back to that point of like, why would I?
Unknown:Why would you not? And not understanding how important it
Unknown:is that we actually look at the human eye and go, Why are they
Unknown:not engaged? Or how can I generally get them more engaged.
Unknown:And it's because well, they need that information. So we put in
Unknown:the importance on that on our skill as a communicator, on our
Unknown:on our skill as creator of culture, and creator of belief
Unknown:of where we're going as an organization. And if we don't
Unknown:bother with that, we just expect people to turn up and let's just
Unknown:say, do their job as we hear. So why don't we? Why don't they
Unknown:just do their job. And it's like, because really what you're
Unknown:asking people to do is not just their job, because anybody could
Unknown:just do the job. But it's got to be in the context of what are we
Unknown:trying to achieve with the job.
Unknown:And with all the in, in collaboration with all the other
Unknown:people. And so it's it's that context and understanding that
Unknown:brings about that, that. That part of like, I will do this for
Unknown:you. Because I believe in that context and understanding. And
Unknown:then the won't do is well, I will do it for you because I
Unknown:believe in you.
Unknown:And the can do is because I believe in me.
Unknown:And our job as a leader is to help them to believe in them
Unknown:enough so that they can do those good things, whether that be the
Unknown:skill or the or the confidence to be able to take those
Unknown:decisions. But that's our job to help them to have that
Unknown:confidence. And that's where those skills of communication,
Unknown:the skill of being aware of our own impact through our
Unknown:behaviors, and understanding that that every contact leaves a
Unknown:trace and being mindful. You know, okay, how am I showing up
Unknown:today? Am I enabling people? Am I getting people on board here?
Unknown:And I think a lot of the time that, you know, especially with
Unknown:some larger organizations, we've lost that ability to filter that
Unknown:down to everybody
Unknown:And we think we've done a good job by putting it on a poster
Unknown:somewhere in the corridor.
Unknown:I remember those posters, and with like, a million words on so
Unknown:that nobody actually read it anyway. But But like, you know,
Unknown:it's not good enough for the poster in the corridor. It's got
Unknown:to be lived by the leaders. It's got to be explained to
Unknown:everybody. But also we need to show it in our behavior. Yeah,
Unknown:yeah.
Unknown:So I'm conscious of our time. Now I've got one final question
Unknown:which I asked everyone. And it's the what's the one piece of
Unknown:advice that you want everyone that's listening today to take
Unknown:away with them? I think the biggest piece of advice is, when
Unknown:you look at your team, if you're a leader, and you look at your
Unknown:team is stopped saying
Unknown:Bob lead Sackett, or Bob's not performing? And just ask
Unknown:yourself a better question. Is this can't do is it won't do? Or
Unknown:is it don't do?
Unknown:And then say, what button do I need to press? What thing Do I
Unknown:need to do differently? To change it? For the better?
Unknown:Perfect? How can people reach out to you if they want to
Unknown:connect or you know, feedback on the episode? Where can they find
Unknown:you? You can find me on LinkedIn, Julie Hutchison, with
Unknown:no end in the middle, or you can email me at Julie at think B do
Unknown:leadership.com Or give me a shout. I've got phone number on
Unknown:LinkedIn as well, if you want to find me or on my website, which
Unknown:is think b Do leadership.com. And we'll put all those links in
Unknown:the show notes. Well, thank you very much. I've really enjoyed
Unknown:this conversation. I'll be meeting Kim been doing wine and
Unknown:all of that today.
Unknown:Last night, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you.
Unknown:If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a review on Apple
Unknown:podcasts and let me know what you thought on LinkedIn. You can
Unknown:find me at Lee Griffith. I'll be back with the next episode in
Unknown:two weeks time. So in the meantime, sign up to my
Unknown:newsletter at Sundayskies.com for monthly insights on how else
Unknown:you can lead with impact. Until next time!