Climbing the leadership ladder can be a dizzying experience, fraught with hard-learned lessons at every rung. Join me, Colby Morris, as I discuss what has shaped my understanding of what it means to lead in the modern era.
In a world still reeling from the pandemic's seismic shifts, leadership has undeniably transitioned into a more relational and people-centric realm. I grapple with the nuances of this transformation, addressing the conundrum of delivering value to both new managers and established executives alike. Through an honest dialogue, we navigate the post-pandemic focus, striving to bridge the gap and forge a middle ground where the content resonates deeply and universally. No matter your current role or leadership level, this exploration is designed to resonate with your journey and arm you with the knowledge to harness the people-centered approach that's vital for today's leaders.
Climbing the leadership ladder can be a dizzying experience, fraught with hard-learned lessons at every rung. Join me, Colby Morris, as I discuss what has shaped my understanding of what it means to lead in the modern era.
In a world still reeling from the pandemic's seismic shifts, leadership has undeniably transitioned into a more relational and people-centric realm. I grapple with the nuances of this transformation, addressing the conundrum of delivering value to both new managers and established executives alike. Through an honest dialogue, we navigate the post-pandemic focus, striving to bridge the gap and forge a middle ground where the content resonates deeply and universally. No matter your current role or leadership level, this exploration is designed to resonate with your journey and arm you with the knowledge to harness the people-centered approach that's vital for today's leaders.
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, your leader and host for the podcast. Hey, some of you I realize some of the last few podcasts don't know much about me. I'm going to talk a little bit about that today, but before I do that I really want to say thank you to everyone who's been connecting with me and really trying to be a part of what we're doing here. I've got several more questions from LinkedIn and I promise there are a few more episodes there just to answer a few of those. I think would make a great show in themselves. But again I want to kind of reintroduce myself, as we've been 30 something episodes now. 30 something episodes now. Sorry, I have a weird throat tonight, but I want to make sure that I do a better job of explaining who I am and where I'm coming from and what I'm trying to accomplish.
Speaker 2:
This does end with a bit of a rant today, and I hope that's all right because I want to get to the heart of some things. So let me just say this in the quickest way I can. I've held every single leadership position there is. I have been just a peer leader, leading groups of my peers. I started out as the new manager, trying to figure out my head from a hole in the wall and then up to middle management and then up into the executive level. So I've spent significant time at all those levels and I learned a lot of lessons, most of them the hard way, and and my goal with this podcast is to try to help you learn the lessons and give you tools that are actionable, that shortens that process, that that takes you from new manager to executive or new manager to manager, to middle manager or whatever it is. That that's your goal right now to shorten that process by giving you the tools that you need to get there. And again, I'm I really want to make this more actionable, and I say that, um, knowing that tonight's podcast is not actionable, so so my apologies, but I want to help you get there faster.
Speaker 2:
So tonight I want to talk about my conundrum, my sticking point, the thing that I wrestle with the most when it comes to this podcast, when I kind of pull back the curtain a little bit and let you in on kind of my struggle here. See, everyone in podcasting says you have to know your niche, you have to really niche down and find out who you're really talking to. So this is a leadership podcast. So if I was to niche, niche down, I'd be left with a couple options. One new managers, people who have been recently promoted, recently got into leadership positions. And then, in my head, the other option is seasoned or experienced managers or executives, and I realize there could be a middle ground there. We could talk middle management, but those are kind of my two options in my head.
Speaker 2:
So, while I can see some truth to what people out there are saying, here's why I am struggling to niche down. You see, after the pandemic, everything changed. Everything changed about leadership, let me put it that way. I've told people this I think more changed in the last four years now, since 2020. I think more has changed with leadership in the last four years than has changed probably in the last 30 or 40 years combined. And there's there's one thing to it that that has been blatantly obvious to me and that is this that everything, that is this, that everything, especially leadership, but everything became relational. It's people-focused, people-centered, and that changed a lot of how we have to do things. So here's kind of the struggle why I have this struggle of the niche and where I'm trying to get to with this whole rant and I hope I don't ramble, I hope you stay with me and really understand why I feel this way. I feel this way. So I feel like we're in this kind of vicious cycle or kind of a no man's land of, so to speak, where most of our or maybe I shouldn't say most, maybe I should say many, many of our experienced, seasoned leaders were never trained or never developed to be people-centered, to be people-focused. They were, they were really trained to be results focused and yeah, we get those results through people, but but they've never really made that connection. So everything is about the results and how do we get there? And really it doesn't matter who we step on in the process, how many bodies we go through, how many people we fire, how many people we onboard or how poorly we do an onboarding process. All that stuff just went by the wayside because it was just about getting the result and then the pandemic happened. So those leaders are really struggling right now. If they're even still in the company. They're really struggling.
Speaker 2:
Now let's go to the flip side of that and go with the new manager. The new manager just came into leadership, so obviously you're you're struggling, just trying to get your head above the water with all the things that you're suddenly responsible for, right, but you have to be people-centered, and the only people you have to train you are who? The seasoned leader, the executive, the experienced ones that don't know how to be people-centered. So we have new managers not learning how to be people-focused because they're being mentored and trained by the seasoned leaders, who don't know how to be relationally focused. But after COVID, everything had to be relationally people-centered, people centered.
Speaker 2:
So I ask you, where, where am I supposed to niche in that? Because I feel all levels need this help. I feel that the new manager needs as much development and guidance and tools as the the season leader, who was never given that training before. And so to stop this cycle of poor leadership in organizations. I don't know that I can niche right now. I don't know if that's what I'm kind of being called to do, because I feel like there's not a, there's not a win there, if that makes sense, like if I exclude one, it doesn't help the other. So if I only focused on the new manager, then the season manager is not going to get any better and so therefore will not mentor future new leaders any better. If I focus on the executive leader, the season leader, maybe they can start training the new leaders. But we're hiring so many new leaders at such a pace. I don't think that that ratio evens out. I don't think we have enough of the good executives, the good trained people, centered leaders, to train all the incoming new people, all the incoming new people.
Speaker 2:
So, colby, why aren't you, um, why aren't you niching? Why? Why haven't you niched down? That's why and you saw in some of my previous uh episodes I tried no-transcript, so that's my struggle. That's why, one, I haven't niched. But two, that's why I have the podcast.
Speaker 2:
To begin with, because I felt like there are leaders out there that need tools, they need to understand how to do this better, because there's really no one standing in that gap. There's really no one standing in that gap. Don't get me wrong. There's amazing leadership coaches out there. Okay, I've told y'all many times I cut my teeth on John Maxwell. That's where I went and what I learned from. But since then, you know there's a ton of other people that have really started. You know kind of getting more meat from and getting more tools from, and that's why I'm trying to pass that on to you. But, man, it is a. It is a challenge to try to figure out where to go, and I know this, this is a rant that's kind of getting off off track here, so I'll stop it and I'll just say this my biggest goal is to make sure you are getting value, that that you understand that you you've got to be a, a people-centered leader, and that you take these tools that I've been giving you and you and you start implementing them so you can be that relational leader. You can be that person that you can make a difference. Where you are Now, what do you do?
Speaker 2:
What do you do if that's not been you? You're thinking Colby, I've been in this leadership position for however long. I'm definitely not a relational leader. I've been focused on results. Hey, it is not too late. What your team needs from you is for you to be vulnerable, to look them in the eyes. Yes, I said vulnerable. It's okay to be vulnerable and I'm going to explain how you do that. You have to look your team in the eye and you just got to be honest with them, be vulnerable, be, be transparent and say look, you know, I, I have been a results focused leader and I realized that's been the wrong focus. I need to be a people-centered leader, a relational leader, and I'm going to do everything I can to make that change and I need y'all's help. I need you to help me be that person, because I want to be a better leader. I want to lead differently. I want to be a leader. I want to have influence and relationship with you and then watch how they react.
Speaker 2:
Now, depending on your past behavior, they may look at you like you're crazy, but if you've been a somewhat good person, they'll understand exactly what you're talking about. They'll understand exactly where you're coming from and what you're trying to do, and you know what They'll help you. They will will open up to you in ways that that you've never imagined possible, and that's exactly what you want. That's that is where you start, and then you start working on some of these tools that I've been giving you. You know your one-on-ones. I tell everybody you have to build a foundation of trust, and you do that with your one-on-ones, and if you're not doing that and you want to truly be a relational leader, you're going to have to start doing it. That is is a foundation. So I'll stop with that, but I want to.
Speaker 2:
I just wanted to let everybody know kind of where I was. If you're wondering, you know why do you do? Uh, you know new managers for four or five weeks, and then you talked about you know season leaders and all that. That's why I'm I'm just struggling to figure out who I need to talk to, but I'm not convinced. I need to narrow the focus because I think leadership is universal. I think you know, uh, leadership happens at all the levels and we have to do our best to reach all the leaders. So if you would help me with this, help me reach those leaders. You know a leader out there, you know someone who needs to help, um, become more relational. They need tools, they, they just need to work on being a better leader, and that's that's the amazing thing is, if they're, if they're receptive, they can do that, they can become a better leader.
Speaker 2:
So if you would please share one of the episodes you don't have to share this one, but share one of the episodes, one that you think they could really get some value from, and just say, hey, I've been listening to this guy for a while and kind of wanted to see what you think. I'd love it if you'd listen to a couple of these and maybe we can work on some of the things he's talked about. But make the introduction, just send it. Do a screenshot and send it to him, ask him if they've heard of me, or something like that. But I want to make sure we're truly reaching leaders. Okay, so please go out there, be relational, start relating with your team, talk to them, develop the relationships, and you know why? Because those are the things that leaders do.
Speaker 1:
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.
