Embark on a leadership voyage with me, Colby Morris, as we chart the course from rank-and-file to leader in our latest TLD podcast episode. If you're a new manager grappling with the daunting transition to captain of your team, I'm here to navigate those choppy waters, sharing the lessons I've learned on my own journey up the corporate ladder. Together, we'll uncover the mindset shifts that are essential for steering your team to success, and why taking command of your crew's triumphs and tribulations is key to becoming a leader who truly leads.
In this episode, we're laying the keel for trust-based leadership that stands the test of time. I discuss the importance of forging deep connections with your team through strategies that transform leadership from a title to a testament of trust. You'll hear how to implement weekly one-on-ones that really resonate—backed by Harvard Business Review findings—and why those informal coffee catch-ups can be just as pivotal as any scheduled meeting. For any new manager seeking to chart a trusted course and cultivate a crew that sails smoothly through the highest of business seas, this guidance is your nautical chart to being more than just a manager—you'll be a leader who makes waves.
Embark on a leadership voyage with me, Colby Morris, as we chart the course from rank-and-file to leader in our latest TLD podcast episode. If you're a new manager grappling with the daunting transition to captain of your team, I'm here to navigate those choppy waters, sharing the lessons I've learned on my own journey up the corporate ladder. Together, we'll uncover the mindset shifts that are essential for steering your team to success, and why taking command of your crew's triumphs and tribulations is key to becoming a leader who truly leads.
In this episode, we're laying the keel for trust-based leadership that stands the test of time. I discuss the importance of forging deep connections with your team through strategies that transform leadership from a title to a testament of trust. You'll hear how to implement weekly one-on-ones that really resonate—backed by Harvard Business Review findings—and why those informal coffee catch-ups can be just as pivotal as any scheduled meeting. For any new manager seeking to chart a trusted course and cultivate a crew that sails smoothly through the highest of business seas, this guidance is your nautical chart to being more than just a manager—you'll be a leader who makes waves.
Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that uncovers the secrets of becoming an extraordinary leader. If you're a leader who's constantly seeking growth, inspiration and tangible ways to level up your leadership, then you've come to the right place. Remember, the world needs exceptional leaders, and that leader is you. Now here's your host, Colby Morris.
Speaker 2:
Hey leaders, welcome back to the TLD podcast. This is Colby, I'm your host, and if you're wondering what we do here, well, my goal is to help you learn from my mistakes. My goal is to take the leadership lessons and all the tools that I learned along the way, provide them to you so you can get further down the road in a little less bumpy method than what I did. See, I've been in every position. I've been a frontline leader, I've been a middle manager, I've been in the C-suite, and all those positions required different tools, but they were all about people and that's kind of what the focus is today. But I wanted you to know I've been where you are and my goal is to try to help you get where you're going, but with some tools in your tool belt to help you get there.
Speaker 2:
So, real quickly, today's topic I had someone ask me this question on LinkedIn last week and I thought it would be great to address for the new managers out there. This person asked me. He said I've recently been promoted to a new manager role and it's my first leadership role. What do I need to do to shift or to change my mindset from employee to leader? Wow, first of all that is insightful. That is an amazing first step in realizing that a shift needs to happen, that you can't have that same mindset when you go from one position to the next, that something has to change, the maturity has to happen and a different light needs to come on. So, adam, this episode, as promised, is for you. So the first thing a leader needs to do in order to make this, this mindset shift try that again mindset shift is to realize that they must start taking ownership and accountability of the team and the team's results.
Speaker 2:
What does that mean? It means sometimes your team will win and sometimes they will lose. When they win, you give them all the credit. When they lose, you take all the blame. Now, some of you are like whoa, hang on, I don't know that. I like that. Well, as a leader, you are directly responsible for that team. So if they fail, ultimately that is on you, because there's probably something you could have done, there's probably a step you could have taken, there's probably something you could have said or a pivot you could have made that would have saved that project or whatever it was. So realize that when they are successful, you need to give them the credit because they did all the things they needed to do in order to be successful. So realize that you now own the outcomes, okay. Whereas you were once just like a piece of the puzzle, you now provide the whole puzzle that everyone worked on, okay.
Speaker 2:
The second piece of the mindset shift make sure I say it right at that time is to realize that you must immediately start investing time into your team. What does it mean to invest time? Well, chances are you could be very new to your team. They may be completely unfamiliar with who you are as a leader, who you are as a person, what your expectations are, how you're going to communicate. So you're going to have to invest some time. So what's the best way to do that? The best way is your one-on-ones, okay, a scheduled formal sit down with that particular team member. You do it for every single person on your team, okay. And I would say, for the first at least four to six weeks that you're there, you have one-on-ones with every single person on your team, weekly, I know, and you're like oh, I've got so much to do. I'm drinking from a fire hose. Hey, I get it. We have literally all been there. But I'm telling you, if you will take the time and invest it into each individual, your job will be incrementally easier going forward. Why? Because they're going to get to know who you are, they're going to trust you faster.
Speaker 2:
Trust is the basis of any relationship and relationship is the basic of influence, so you need one to go to the next. You cannot just go from new hire to trust. It doesn't happen that way. There's a process where you are going to have to go through to build the trust, and the easiest way to do that is formal one-on-ones and to do it weekly. Now you need to have a standard set of questions, some things that you talk about each time, and if you want to know a little bit more about that you can go to. Might even be episode one, the one-on-one, and I really go into detail there. But one thing that's different from that is I used to tell everyone you need to meet monthly, and that was the standard Meeting monthly, doing formal one-on-ones. That was the standard.
Speaker 2:
But a new bit of information has come out from the Harvard Business Review. Now I don't know about you, but when I say Harvard, I think you have to say it in a funny tone, like Harvard, because they're better than you and they know more than you. The Harvard Business Review said that of the studies they did with the companies they worked with, that weekly one-on-ones was actually the best way to go. You could do bi-weekly, but they only recommended that if you had a large team. So bi-weekly is kind of the acceptable, but if you really want to make headway you need to be meeting weekly. Why? Because so much can change. There's so much they may want to tell you or need to tell you, or that has happened that if you're not doing weekly you're going to end up losing something. Okay, so do your one-on-ones.
Speaker 2:
The second one is informal, informal one-on-ones. This is when you get there early that morning. Maybe grab a couple of them and go for coffee, hang out, figure out what they did that weekend or what's coming up this weekend, or what their kids are doing, how the basketball game go, whatever it is. But be a little more informal, let them kind of see you. That's not the complete work. You Keep it professional, but you're going to have to share some of yourself because they're sharing some of theirself. So those informal one-on-ones very important.
Speaker 2:
And then the last piece of this is make sure you're working on their development, whatever it is that they need to grow is what you need to work on Now as a new manager. You may not know, you may not know, you just got there. So ask them. I know radical thought. Ask them what it is they've been working on or they would like to work on as a leader. What are the things they need to develop? Or is it a managerial skill? And the difference in manager and leadership? There is a difference. Okay, but ask them, and once you get to know them you're doing your one-on-ones and having these informals you'll start to see and you'll start to see their performance that there are things that they need to work on developmentally that you can help them with. And maybe it's not in your wheelhouse, maybe you're not developed enough yourself in that, but you know what. There's this great thing they came up with and you may have heard of it. It's called Google. Yeah, you can search it. Okay, as my kids say, you can search it up. There's anything that you wanna find out. There is available and you can help them.
Speaker 2:
All right, the next thing you'll need to help make your shift in this mindset and I hinted on this earlier. Probably, actually, I may have just said it, but leadership is about people. Period, full stop. Now you're probably focusing on that next goal making sure your hitting goals that you've laid out for your first 90 days, whatever the case may be. But you have to realize it's the people you lead that make that happen. Okay, you lead people. You manage things, you manage a budget, you manage the overtime, but you lead people, and I've said this so many times, but I wanted you to really hear it. Don't miss this. Everything gets better when the leaders get better. If you want better operations, develop your leaders. You want better financials, develop your leaders. Everything, literally everything, gets better when your leaders get better, the more you invest in them and you realize that they are people to be led.
Speaker 2:
What does that mean? It means you have a personal relationship with them, a professional, personal relationship with them. What's the difference? You're not going out with them, you're not hanging out with them outside of work, but you know all about them. You know their spouse's name, you know their kid's names, you know what they have going on in their lives. Okay, when you have that trust and that relationship, that's everything that you need in order to influence their life. You don't get permission to lead. Okay. You do not have permission to lead them until you have a relationship. And until you have that relationship, nothing changes. Nothing's going to happen. You're just a boss. And if you don't know the difference between a boss and a leader, you haven't been in the workplace very long, because most of us can tell you the difference in a boss and a leader. It's pretty simple Invest in your people, because they are people. All right, that was a quick one today.
Speaker 2:
I just want to make sure I answered Adam's question Again. If you want to connect with me, you want to ask me any questions feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram. Both of them are linked out in my show notes. There's also the last week for the survey that I have on there. It's going to help me out, realize who I'm talking to, who my audience is. I want to make sure that I'm capturing that so I can be as much value to you as I can possibly be.
Speaker 2:
Y'all, I would love it if you would rate and review the show, invite other people to follow and, just right now, just take a screenshot and post it on whatever social media you have. If it's Facebook, if it's Instagram, linkedin, I would appreciate it. It means the world to me that all of you are listening, that you're giving me the feedback that you do. It is not lost on me. Thank you for being part of this community and helping leaders get better quicker. That's the whole goal. So go out there and really invest in your people. Work on changing that mindset. Shift it to leader versus employee. And you know why? Because those are the things that leaders do.
Colby:
Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do. If you're looking for more tips on how to be a better leader, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and listen to next week's episode. Until next time, keep working on being a better leader by doing the things that leaders do.
