The Confident Podcast

EP 170 | 3 Habits All Successful Leaders Should Have

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Ever wonder what makes a successful leader…successful? Leadership looks a little different for everyone, but we are breaking down the top 3 habits all leaders should have to be effective in their roles. Ready to elevate your leadership game? Listen now for tips to help you start growing into the leader you want to be!

Chapters:

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 6:30 - Continuous Growth
  • 17:10 - Effective Communication and Time Management
  • 27:45 - Key Takeaways & Outro


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Lisa:

successful leaders, going back to that habit, are continuously learning how to be effective communicators for their team, to their families, to their friends, to all the different audiences, as well as honestly effective communication to themselves. Welcome to the Confident Podcast. I am Lisa Targinton, your host of this podcast. If you found yourself hitting play on this podcast, it means it was meant for you. My goal is to help, empower and guide you to become a better version of yourself through conversation, advice and tips that are real, vulnerable and authentic. I'm excited to have you join this journey with me. So let's get started. Hey everybody, welcome back for another episode of the Confident Podcast. I am your host, lisa Tarkington, and I am very excited for this podcast.

Lisa:

Normally, or recently, I have been bringing on more guests. We are going to have so many amazing guests coming on in the next couple of months, but today I am back in the seat doing this podcast solo. I hope that I can give you guys all the tools that you need to walk away with some of the amazing things that we're going to be talking about today, even though we don't have a guest. But you know what? We have to kind of have some fun and shake it up sometimes because I know that I hear from my audience everybody loves some and everybody loves them solo, and so we're just doing it all. And when I get to do these solo podcasts, I get to share with you guys some life updates or things that are going on in my life. And I think last week I talked a lot about how I spent a lot of time in my routine around professional development. That has not changed. I actually think more in the last couple of weeks, last couple of months, I've been more laser focused on that than I ever have before. And I say that because I also I'll say two before, and I say that because I also I'll say two things. I'll say that because I've noticed that I'm spending a lot of my time doing reading again, looking at goals and things that I want to accomplish. It's also season of our business in general where we look at our goals for next year already. Yes, we're already looking at next year's goals. We're already planning our budget for next year. We're looking at all of these things, and when it comes to all of that, then it makes me really frame my mindset of like, well, what are the things that I want personally as well, and so that's been really, really helpful for me.

Lisa:

I think the other thing I've done is I've actually slowed down and reflected on some of my growth opportunities. So slowed down and reflected on some of my growth opportunities so, if you take me back to when I was 26 years old, I had a dream about becoming a certified coach and I looked at how much it was going to cost, I looked at how much time it was going to be and at that moment in my life that just wasn't going to fit for me. But over the years I have found myself kind of like OK, I need to do this, this is something that I've wanted to do. And, reflecting back on me getting certified last year, going through a year of programming, a year of training it was so worth it. And on top of that, I was taking speaking classes and just really trying to grow in all of the skills that I knew that I wanted to grow in because of the goals that I have for myself and I share that because when I was 26 years old, I knew that this is something that I wanted, but I knew I wasn't ready.

Lisa:

Honestly, at the same time, I really wasn't sure where I was going to go with my life. There was a lot of opportunities, a lot of things that were kind of going on in my mind and looking back, I always say like, oh, I wish I would have started sooner. But I always also believe that we start when we're meant to start and when we're ready to start. And so over these last couple of years, me really investing in myself in these areas, I feel more confident than I ever have before. So if you are wrestling with some things yourself, I would suggest kind of just sitting down and being like does it feel right to move forward right now or do I still need to figure some things out? And there is no right or wrong answer to that. But it's also about what you're ready to do.

Lisa:

And so, at the age of 34 that I am, I feel like, while sometimes I might feel too old for things, I'm definitely not. I have a lot of life to live and I'm excited for the future. But I really really trust that my gut was right on all of those moments and I really want you to trust your gut as well, whether that's with your confidence, with your wellbeing, anything with your journey or maybe even a career shift For me. I went through that when I was 29 years old. Looking back five years later, it's a whirlwind to think about, but it's so powerful when you allow yourself to really live out your purpose and you know. That's the professional side, but the personal side is.

Lisa:

Summer is here in Michigan. It's been fabulous Lots of time with my family, my friends and my two pups, and I'm really trying to slow down, reflect, set my priorities straight so that I can move forward. One of the pieces of advice one of my employees gave me when we were in November was we need to slow down, to go fast, and I feel like every time I've slowed down, I've been able to rev up, and I feel like July was a season of just constant growth for me as a person, and so I'm really excited to see what the future has, and I'm excited for all of you guys, because I know that your futures are bright too. So with that, let's dive into today's conversation, which is all about the three habits successful leaders have, and this is important, and this is something that I really, really wanted to talk about today, because I work with leaders basically on a daily basis.

Lisa:

Not only do I lead an organization, but I'm a coach to leaders people that are already in leadership roles or people that are trying to become leaders and wherever you are, leaders might look a little bit different, but there is these certain habits that I truly, truly believe that every successful leader needs to have. Now I'm only showing three today. These are the three top ones that I want you to start with. Now. There's many other skills that I truly believe leaders need to have, especially sometimes when you're niching in a certain area. But if we don't start in these three areas, we are going to kind of go into leadership, maybe with some unknowns, maybe not being as prepared, or maybe we won't be as effective as we want. So drum roll please, because we are going to go over the first one, the top one, the one that if you've listened to any podcast before, you know that this one is why I started my podcast basically, and why I find it important, and it's that people have continuous learning and self-improvement and the reason why one of the reasons why I started this podcast was because I wanted to help people grow in confidence.

Lisa:

The other piece is is if we are not evolving and growing and continuously trying to learn new things, we are just kind of like staying stagnant. And this is my number one, because I truly believe and I truly see that when leaders have really strong soft skills, it is a game changer for their company's growth, and I'll say that again. So when leaders have really strong soft skills, it is a game changer for their companies. And so to anybody listening in that might be someone that's hiring or a recruiter or anything these are skills that I want you to look at is what are they listening to? What are their podcasts? What are things that they're continuously evolving in? What are the skills that they already know that they need to grow in and what are they doing about it? If you're listening to this, not from that perspective, but just I want to grow it's, I would tell you, is start now right. It's about setting yourself up for success. It's looking at what are the things that I need to do right now to really have that continuous growth.

Lisa:

On the flip side, I hear a lot from people that, oh, my company doesn't do that. Oh, you know all of these different pieces, and what I've noticed is that companies a lot of times don't look at continuous growth and continuous learning as a continuation. They do it when we need to do something. Something's wrong, versus being a preventative, and sometimes they have their reasons for that right. Maybe they have short-term focuses, maybe they have operational pressures that they have to have, maybe it's a lack of money or lack of awareness of what needs to happen. But oh, and the other one I would say is time, because, let's be honest, when you are learning new skills or anything, it does take time.

Lisa:

But I'll tell you guys, this continuous learning and self-improvement is essential. I talk a lot about confidence on here and the ups and downs and the flows with that. The same thing happens with self-improvement and continuous learning. So what I have found with successful leaders is the ones that make the time to focus on themselves and continue to learn. They're the most successful ones. They're the ones that are thriving, they're the ones that are leading the path. They're the ones that people are looking up to being like. I hope to be a leader like them. They're staying informed on trends in their industry. They might be attending workshops, they might be having a coach, they might be doing some online research, they might be doing a variety of different things as reading books or sitting in a mastermind. There's so many things that you can do to improve yourself, and so what I want to do is share with you guys a story about when I did not do these things.

Lisa:

And so this was really early on in my career. I had just gotten out of college and I was like I made it, I'm going to work All of these feelings of just like working and then hanging out with friends, going to parties, basically living it up in my 20s, but I wasn't continuously learning and I wasn't putting a lot of work on my self-improvement piece there. Sure, I was working out and getting healthy there, I was hanging out with people and being social, but I wasn't doing the inner work and I also was not looking at my industry and thinking about well, what are the skills I need to have to become that leader? What are the things I need to learn about my industry to really become a trendsetter or follow the trends and learn and evolve and be ahead of them? And looking back, had I done that, I would have set myself up for major success, but I didn't.

Lisa:

Honestly, I remember getting feedback in some of my performance reviews about certain things, and I think I truly just had an ego at a young age where I was like, well, I could do that, I just need the chance. But instead I wasn't showing up and I wasn't doing the things already to really show that, and then I burnt myself out for a while, right, because I was just not in a good place. And so since then so this has been like probably about 10 years, even 12 years, of me just trying to grow I have just seen the more that I invest in myself having a coach, taking online courses, becoming a coach, continuously staying up on trends. I am a way more successful leader than what I was before, and that's huge and that's something that I like, really, really want people to take in, because I didn't always do it and I saw the side effects of it. I did not get leadership positions I wanted. I didn't get the promotions I wanted. I didn't get all of those things because I wasn't also growing for myself as well.

Lisa:

And so some things that you can do to really help you grow in that area is, you know, another drum roll for this word is having the self-awareness to know how you're handling situations, seeing things, noticing like, wow, I'm not really good at this. Is this a skill that I need to grow in. Okay, I'm keep getting feedback on this area. I should probably dive into it and do some improvement there.

Lisa:

The other thing that you can do is seek feedback. So I would say, if you would have asked me five years ago if I enjoyed taking feedback, I probably would have played it off like yeah, sure, but I don't think I really was that great at it, and I think now, in the role that I have, I just get feedback in every aspect of my life, and we've done feedback podcasts before, so please go check them out. But I wanted to share this that employees who receive regular feedback are 3.6 times more likely to be engaged in work. So that means that to become a successful leader, it's about being engaged in your work, but to do that, you need to continuously asking for feedback and taking feedback as well, and so those are the two things that I would say when it comes to continuous learning and self-improvement that I would highly suggest you focus on.

Speaker 2:

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Lisa:

So check it out. One of the things I am most proud of is how I continue to put personal development at the forefront of my growth. I know this is something many people struggle with, because we don't always know where to start. There's almost too much information out there. It can become overwhelming and requires research to ensure credibility. I also want something that's accessible anytime and that I can pick back up where I left off. Not only has this been my personal experience, but I've had countless individuals reach out to me for resources. This is why I'm so excited to share with you Lead Within, an online membership platform created for adults, parents and teenagers. It empowers adults in their personal and professional growth, guides parents to nurture resilience in their children and supports teenagers throughout transformative phases. If you are struggling with confidence, self-doubt or stress, lead Within offers practical tools. This platform has content covering a wide range of topics and interactive learning resources. With continuous updates of fresh content. Your growth journey never ends. Thank you, and use the promo code PODCAST50. Again, that's promo code PODCAST50 to unlock your potential today. Together, let's thrive, grow and lead with confidence. All right.

Lisa:

Number two this one is massively huge and it's a very broad piece. So the second one is effective communication. So effective communication is through verbal, it's through written, it's through systems and processes, which I'll get into here in a second. But these are really, really important because one of the things that I hear from anybody that I work with is that they know that they want to grow in communication. They want to become a better communicator. A lot of my coaching clients that I work with I make them before they even work with me. I ask them, from a scale of one to 10, where would you say that you are the best communicator, one being really bad, 10 being really great? And then, whatever the number they give me, I always ask them well, what number do you want to be at? And then we have to figure out what's that gap that we need to fill to get to that point right. And usually we know that we're not a good communicator, because maybe a message that we were trying to give was not coming across strong, or maybe someone gave us feedback on something, or, as you thought you communicated something, something you received back from another person wasn't what you asked for. So all of these things help us kind of see like, am I a good communicator? But I will tell you, the most successful leaders are ones that really understand what effective communication looks like for them. So it's not only understanding for them, but it's also understanding for their team. Is my team a verbal communicator? Are they written? How do we work together on this? And it's having back to that word self-awareness to really help you process what you need to do as a leader to be successful.

Lisa:

When it comes to all of these things, the one piece that I can't stress enough, and it's not talked about enough, is effective communication also comes when you have really strong systems and processes in your workplace. So when I say that, there's a lot of times where people say, like, well, they missed that deadline or they missed this or all of these different like pieces of communication where there was just like someone just didn't communicate directly. But when it comes to that, I also ask people well, what's your system in place? Is that a regular thing that they should know? Is it laid out somewhere of how that system's supposed to be or that process is laid out? And many times the answer is no, and so sometimes I say, well, then the process or the system is maybe a little bit broken not fully broken, but a little bit, because the communication pieces were not clear, and so what we have to do is zoom out to see okay, I asked someone to do this, maybe the process in which I handled it wasn't clean. Or, okay, I'm handing off this project. Do they have everything that they need? Do they have the deadlines? And so it's asking yourself those questions to really understand those things. And I will tell you, as someone who thought she had all the systems in place, there were a few years where I didn't. And I will tell you, as someone who thought she had all the systems in place, there were a few years where I didn't. And I think it was also because I was creating systems and processes that worked for me, but I wasn't sitting down with my team and saying this is what I need, this is my process, does this work for you? Right back to that effective communication. That is really big.

Lisa:

The other thing, too, is like, when it comes to effective communication, it comes down to, like, problem solving. It's around solution based, it's around all of those pieces. Are you problem solving with your team or are you making them figure it out right, like, how does that relationship work and is that communicated directly. How does your processes work? When someone comes to you with an issue, are you stating to them that you want three solutions too, or are you mad at them because they're not coming with solutions? And I always tell people is people are not mind readers, even though we would love them to be, and so if you are not communicating your needs or asking that of other people, there might be some disconnect there, and I will share a story here. So I'm going to share some stories and I'll share with you guys some ways of how to take care of this.

Lisa:

But for me, I went to school at Michigan State University with a majors in communication no-transcript. But through my whole life I have learned that when I'm a good communicator and when I'm not so great and it's usually by how someone responds to something or how I put a process in place or I haven't asked the right questions and so if you are trying to figure out like am I being? Am I an effective communicator? I would have you ask yourself some questions about you know what is your communication style? Does that work for your team? What are the processes and systems you have in place, and are the expectations very clear to the other person, or is it just very clear to you? Because I think that that's the other thing, too, is we sometimes put our assumptions on other people and then we get mad when they didn't read our minds.

Lisa:

But successful leaders, going back to that habit, are continuously learning how to be effective communicators for their team, to their families, to their friends, to all the different audiences, as well as honestly effective communication to themselves. And so some ways that you can do this is really asking powerful questions. I always say asking what questions and how. Questions you know is really great. The other thing is is like follow up, having those open ended questions of like what challenges did you face when completing this task? How can I communicate more effectively so that we don't have this disconnect in the future? Would you mind repeating back everything that you just heard me say so that we can make sure that there weren't any disconnects? It might sound really simple, but I will tell you that a lot of leaders don't do those things and they just are like okay, cool, you got this. Go Versus sitting back and being like does my team understand this? And I'm not going to say that I'm perfect at that. I'm still working on those things, but I'm way better than where I was, but you have to start somewhere, all right.

Lisa:

Third one this one is honestly the coolest one. I mean, they're all great, but this one I just feel like I've just like found such a love for this past year, and it's probably because my word of the year is discipline. So the third and final habit for successful leaders is time management and being able to prioritize things in their life. And so, kind of back to my word of the year is discipline, and this really came because I knew that I wanted to accomplish a lot this year. I also knew that I needed to set myself up for success in order to help my team, to help my family and to help myself. And this is really big, honestly.

Lisa:

So, according to a study done by Workfront, 57% of workers say that prioritizing their task has been their biggest challenge, and it's because sometimes they don't know how to delegate. Sometimes it just looks like a big overload and overwhelming. Sometimes we think that we have to do everything right now. That's a me, that's a me problem, not anybody else's problem, right, guys? But what I've learned is really setting your priorities. I think my team's done an amazing job at getting better at this. If you would have asked me last year at this time what my priorities were, I probably would have given you 20 priorities that I wanted done in the next three weeks. And that was a personal thing that I just had really high expectations of myself. But then I felt like I was always getting it done but working crazy hours to do it.

Lisa:

But setting priorities and really setting the tone with this successful leaders I've seen do really well is by having time blocks. They also look at the big picture of what do I need to accomplish this month to move the needle forward and what do I need to do this month to really help my team and then setting up two to three things that they need to do for the month. But then also looking at the week and being like what's the one thing that, no matter what I have to get done Now don't get me wrong, there's a lot of pebbles but I also look at like what are your big stones that you need to do throughout the week to move things forward and that's what you should be prioritizing first. Now there's a lot of us that are checklist people that's me included but what I have found is that if I checklist all the things off, I'm doing all these little tasks and then I save the big task for last, when really I've had to reverse it and really focus and how do I set my priorities of these, things need to come first and those emails can come last, because it doesn't take as much mind work, and this is something that I constantly work with all my coaching clients with, and I've just seen them grow so much from this.

Lisa:

The other thing is is really time blocking, and this one has been a game changer. So I'm going to share a few different things that I've done to really help you guys. So, first off, I'm going to share a step that I find so interesting. So time blocking has increased productivity up to 150%, based from the American Psychological Association, and so this is huge because if you time block, they're saying that you will increase productivity by 150%, and I personally know that that's true because I see it in my day-to-day.

Lisa:

So I'm going to take you guys back one month of what I did, and so I was talking to one of my friends. She was actually on our podcast a while ago and I listened to her podcast and she talked a lot about like how she really time blocks her week and how it's been very effective for her to kind of work less hours. And so I decided to do that and I went through a whole week and I'm not even kidding, I broke it down almost to the minute I grabbed an Excel sheet, I put at the top my like key of like the different colors and the different like focus areas, and then every day I did that and that week was a really big eye opener for me to see, like A, how many times did I allow me to take my mind off the big task? B, where was I focusing my time? And, honestly, c was a big eye opener of how much time I was actually working. And then I had to do something about it, right?

Lisa:

So then it's about like OK, how many hours do I want to work a week? What is those time blocks look like? And so I've really had to look at when am I most tired throughout the day? When do I have like kind of a lull? Ok, that should be for the projects that don't take as much energy. Where is the time of day where I have the most energy? Okay, that should be my time where I'm really focusing on the bigger projects. And then, when, do I know, by? You know, for me, friday is usually the day where I'm like I just need to like, clean up things and prepare for the following week. So then time structuring that.

Lisa:

So first off, you have to understand yourself, you have to again back to that self-improvement piece, and then it's about OK, time blocking and also having workflows. So, do you have workflows? Do you have processes and systems? Are you using companies like project management systems, like Mondaycom, I believe it's called, or we use Asana at my organization. Is things very clean or are things a little bit messy? And if so, clean up the mess and then start to time block a little bit. But I will tell you, it has been a game changer for me and I noticed the minute that I stopped doing those, I would say check-ins with myself and surveying and reevaluating my work schedule is when I'm overworking myself, when I'm probably focusing on the things that don't matter, and so that has been huge and I will tell you, it has been a game changer for my own success, and I've seen tons of leaders do the same thing, and to give you some examples of leaders who have done it.

Lisa:

So I'm going to go back to all three of these things so systems and processes and looking at effective communication and looking at all of these amazing things. The first one is Oprah. Oprah is someone that I have always admired since I was little. I used to joke that I would be Oprah one day and she is very much on continuous learning and she's a big reader. Lebron James, which many people probably know, is a big, active listener, so he's always making sure that he's listening to people. Again, that's back to effective communication. Simone Biles, that we've all been probably following in the Olympics. She's really good at prioritizing things prioritizing her health, prioritizing herself and prioritizing what she needs to do in the gym. Kaitlyn Clark is a great example of someone that time blocks. I mean she went from the college the women basketball college world to playing in the WNBA and she's getting so many endorsements that she's had to time block where she's spending her time so that she can really focus on what's most important. I've heard that the CEO from Coca-Cola does an amazing job at his messaging.

Lisa:

It's very clear and I bet, as I'm saying all of this, you're probably thinking of other leaders who have been successful with the four, with the three different areas I talked about, and so, as I say all of this today, what I want you to do is take away from today what are you going to do differently to be a successful leader? You wouldn't have hit play today if you weren't looking for the tools, maybe to even relate or maybe find ways to improve that. And so please drop a comment in any of our videos, or into or send me an email at lisaatleadconfidentlyorg. I'd love to help you on these things, because my biggest passion is helping people reach their full potential and have them leverage their strengths and to know that, if they really want to be a successful leader, these are the tools that they need to put in place. Not only that that is why I built that membership platform that we have called Lead Within, because I want you guys to learn all of these things.

Lisa:

Soft skills are such a game changer for people, and I don't think that that is. I think it's undervalued. Sometimes, to be honest with you, maybe it's because I work in this space and I see the progress, but I will tell you the minute that you put those things in focus, you are going to see changes in your life that you've never imagined, and they're all positive and they're always strong, and I am a living testament of that. So, to kind of close out today, I really, really hope that all of you guys took away some key things that you can implement into your life. Don't overdo it. Take one simple thing. Maybe that's time management, maybe that's systems and processes, maybe that's an area around effective communication. Whatever that is for you, I cannot wait to hear how it goes for you and, as I always say at the end of these, continue to spread love and kindness to everybody that you meet and have a great day.

Lisa:

Thank you for tuning into the Confident Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, follow the Confident Podcast on Instagram and TikTok and share it with those who might benefit. Also, if you are looking to work one-on-one with me, message and follow me on Instagram at LisaTarkingtonOfficial. Stay confident, stay inspired and until next time, keep striving to be the best version of yourself. Take care.

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