1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,000 [MUSIC] 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,480 Welcome to the Executive Connect podcast, a show for the new generation of leaders. 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:19,760 Join Melissa R. Skog as she speaks to a wide variety of guests that bring new insights into 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,760 leadership, prosperity, and personal growth. 5 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,960 While now it has all the answers, by building a community of open-minded and 6 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:33,560 gauge leaders, we hope to give you the tools you need to help you find your own path to success. 7 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:38,440 [MUSIC] 8 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:45,720 I am over the moon today to have one of my dear friends, Michelle Klein, join me on this podcast. 9 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:51,160 When I first decided to do my own very own podcast, the first person that came to mind was 10 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:56,440 Michelle Klein. And I knew I was gonna wait until she was ready to do my first podcast. 11 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,600 So I'm thrilled she's here today to speak with you. 12 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,520 Michelle, do you mind telling our listeners a little bit about you and your background? 13 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:10,120 Well, first of all, thank you, Melissa for having me and congratulations. 14 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:16,680 Starting up, podcast is a big endeavor and it's exciting and I'm so happy for you. 15 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:21,800 So my name is Michelle Klein. I am president and operator of Klein Hospitality. 16 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:29,640 Company where we help people grow, we work on leadership and performance coaching both on 17 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:34,520 an individual setting and a group setting. So basically what we do is we create 18 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:41,560 difficult conversations that produce growth and transformation in individual contributors and 19 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:47,880 in teams as well. I love it and when I think of leaders, Michelle, I think of you. 20 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:55,400 So we could talk for hours about leadership, but generally speaking, what does leadership mean to you? 21 00:01:55,400 --> 00:02:04,680 That's a very loaded question and I know you send a few options of questions there and I was 22 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:09,240 thinking through this last night and it's really a really loaded question why because leadership is 23 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:16,440 a lot of things, right? Leadership is teaching leadership is helping others grow. Leadership is 24 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:23,000 knowing how to guide people in times of crisis and how do you go through crisis as opposed to avoiding it. 25 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:30,760 There is no way to avoid that. It's inspiring, it's coaching, it's having those difficult 26 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:37,960 conversations with specific examples of how the other person can do things a little better, 27 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:45,880 how can they progress, right? It's communicating efficiently is finding common ground and looking 28 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:54,760 for win-win situations. Leadership is the opposite of being selfish, right? And I think that above all, 29 00:02:54,760 --> 00:03:03,640 this is something that I talk about a lot is, leadership is connecting with people at their highest 30 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:10,760 level, right? So knowing that you can elevate each other through a conversation and creating that 31 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:16,520 connection that will put the conversation and put the relationship on a very different level. I 32 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:23,000 think that one of the best skills that a leader can have is to be able not only to communicate 33 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,960 efficiently and effectively but also to be able to connect with people in a different way. 34 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:35,240 Absolutely, I love that. I always say as a big time lover of the Wizard of Oz, I always tell my 35 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:41,080 teens that I've led that my job is to keep you guys on the Yellow Brick Road and keep the Yellow Brick 36 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:49,400 Road clean and pave the way forward for you. Yeah, I love your comments on leadership because it is 37 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:54,520 communication and we all communicate differently and we're from different backgrounds and different 38 00:03:54,520 --> 00:04:02,760 cultures and it means different things to different people and I appreciate you sharing that. 39 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:08,840 So from your perspective, can you share the finding moment in your leadership journey and what 40 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:18,680 you learned from it? Yes, there are many defining moments in one's careers, right? It's, 41 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:27,000 leadership is really a journey. So it's hard to pinpoint one specific moment, but if I had to choose 42 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:37,640 that one turning point where I was pushed to make a very difficult and scary decision was 43 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:48,840 a little bit of the background story was I had a CEO who was had a very different leadership style 44 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:58,040 than mine. Let's just say that and I was in charge of a specific region and he decides to show up 45 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:04,680 at my region without much notice and the region was rather large and he demanded he wanted every single 46 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:13,320 person in our leadership team to be part of this specific meeting. So I scramble to A, make sure that 47 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,720 all my properties were covered, that all the operations were going to continue to run smoothly. This 48 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:25,320 was I was in charge of several departments in various hotels and you can just take off, right? There 49 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:32,680 has to be someone there who's ready to make decisions and well, I had to pull everyone out. So 50 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:40,440 with every effort of getting the team out to this one particular location or this meeting was 51 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:47,320 going to happen. No agenda was really shared. So we didn't really know what was expected from us 52 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:55,560 or what was to be expected from that meeting. So I gather all my resources, I put a plan together, 53 00:05:55,560 --> 00:06:02,920 get the team out there and as we are sitting in the in the meeting, I start being up on this vibe 54 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:13,240 that is my CEO just being upset at the team, being a rude to the team, like very aggressive, 55 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:19,160 very aggressive and I talk, I share the story in one of the books that I collaborated in and 56 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:24,440 there's the details there. I don't want to bore everyone on the other side, but here's the thing, 57 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:30,680 it was something that I did not want to be associated with. At the end of the day, that team was my 58 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:40,840 responsibility and putting them, I felt like I was putting them through this nonsense completely 59 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:46,840 a necessary type of situation, right? We were the highest revenue generating 60 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:57,320 region in the country. We had incredible results. We had super high customer service scores. 61 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:05,240 We had the lowest turnover rate in the country. So there were all these positive things 62 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:15,880 and in working with other of the regionals in the organization, I knew that my region was always 63 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:22,360 being used as an example. So I was like, what is going on here? Like where is all this meanness 64 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:29,480 coming from, right? And again, like, we're all adults here. I don't want to put my team through this. 65 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:37,720 I don't want to be associated to this. And it took a lot of courage to end that meeting with 66 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:47,640 a positive mindset, right? And not simply say, let's go, walk away and you can't do that. I can't 67 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:54,120 drag people with me. But on the other hand, I could not accept my team having to go through that. 68 00:07:54,120 --> 00:08:00,920 And I'll give you a quick example. He was saying things like, you will never be good enough, 69 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:05,160 you will never do this, you will never do that. You will never own this. Your mother should be 70 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:10,600 ashamed, crazy talk. And this was to every single leader in the room. It wasn't just 71 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:20,440 pointed at one person. No. So we leave the meeting. You could hear a pin drop. It was terrifying. 72 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:27,640 We leave the meeting. And obviously we won't go from the meeting space back to our office. The 73 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:34,200 office was at the back of the house at the hotel. And this entire time, you have to go across, 74 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:41,000 like two different towers, a specific gaming floor, then another gaming floor. And it's like, 75 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:47,720 you can't hide. Right. And I have all my leadership team gloomy walking through the floor. And I 76 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:54,120 noticed that as they left that meeting room, they put on their happy face because they knew that 77 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:59,800 guest service was way more important than anything else that happened in that room. So by the time we 78 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:05,720 get to the office, I was like scrumbling in my head, what do I do to pull them out of this funk? 79 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:10,760 This is terrible. They should have never been a part of this. So I decided to have them 80 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:19,640 write down, take the time, write down how these meeting made you feel, right? The behavior of this 81 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:25,000 particular person focusing on the behavior, not so much on the person. How did that make you feel? 82 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:29,480 And they wrote in a piece of paper. And then we all stood around, 83 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:39,000 we had a huge shredder. And I asked each one of them to read out loud what was on the paper. 84 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:46,520 One by one. And then just shred it. And that was leaving things in the past. And knowing that we were 85 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:52,840 there to operate in our highest performing way. We were there to be a team. We were there to serve the 86 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:59,800 guest. Yari, yari, yara, all those beautiful things. But on my drive home, I started processing what I 87 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:07,400 was feeling based on that particular situation that had happened. And I started thinking, I just, 88 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:13,320 I can't be associated with this. I cannot be face to this. I cannot be responsible for this. And I 89 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:20,040 know in control of how this person will feel. And the reality is that in any organization, 90 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:31,320 the heads of the organization are the people that are going to drive the culture. And in a toxic 91 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:38,680 environment, what can you expect from that culture? What can you expect the people below them will do? 92 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:43,800 How are they going to react? How are they going to behave? So that was a pivotal moment for me when I 93 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:52,520 thought, you know what? I can't do this. I love my industry. I love my people. But I am going to 94 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:57,720 start flying solo. I'm going to make my own rules. I'm not going to associate myself with this kind of 95 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:05,000 behavior anymore. This is not leadership. This is just BS for lack of better terms. So I think 96 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:11,720 that that was a pivotal moment for me to say, I have the courage I can do this. And then from that day 97 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:19,880 forward is when I formed my, my own company and I decided to start touching operations in a very 98 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:28,920 different way and being in control of not only the end result, but also what is that journey going to 99 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:33,160 look like? I'm not going to beat you up for not making your numbers, which at the end of the day, 100 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:41,240 we were making our numbers, right? But the journey is as important as the outcome. So that that was it. 101 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:46,440 That's one of the stories. I love it. I love the shredding of the paper. I'd be like, that's brilliant. 102 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:54,040 Because I know I've come across similar situation. I'm like, how many use that next time? So that's a great, 103 00:11:54,040 --> 00:12:00,680 great idea. And I love your attitude with this, which being aware and mindful and having a high 104 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:06,920 emotional intelligence and being knowing your people and how to respond to them. Because ultimately, 105 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:15,000 like you said, we are responsible for the people and the culture that of our people is super informed. 106 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:20,680 Because if they don't like to come to work and they're scared about their boss or the energy that he's 107 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:26,280 bringing or they disagree, it's only a matter of time before it breaks the team or people quit and 108 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:31,320 the morale goes down and the profitability goes down. So it's amazing that you notice that, 109 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:39,400 which leads me to my next question. Kind of similar where we were going, what role do you think 110 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:49,640 emotional intelligence plays in the leadership approach? That's a very good question. It's a two-way road, 111 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:59,240 right? It's critical that not only leaders have a high emotional intelligence level, which by 112 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:06,680 the way, something that you can learn EQ is definitely something that you can develop. So anyone who 113 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:12,200 feels like they need a little push on that, I highly recommend that you take a course, take a class, 114 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:17,320 hire a coach, do what you need to do because you put you on a different level. But also it's on the 115 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:26,440 other side, right? So EQ is all about mindset. It's about understanding that I may not be in control 116 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:35,640 of a specific situation, but I am most definitely in control of the way I feel and the way I react 117 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:43,480 against that situation. And then on the other hand is putting yourself in the shoes of a person 118 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:49,400 that is in front of you. If you're about to have that difficult conversation, how can you craft? How 119 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:55,720 can you prepare for that conversation so that A, you're empathetic of what's going on on the other 120 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:04,040 side? You understand that person's world. Sometimes, you know, leaders will jump into conclusions with 121 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:09,720 really knowing what that person's world looks like. And by world, I mean, what are the resources, 122 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:14,360 what are their challenges on a daily basis? What are those things that they're lacking? 123 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:24,200 Right? And obviously having social skills, being self-motivated, being able to motivate others 124 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:32,360 in difficult times, right? Keeping in mind the motivations of others too, right? How can I get to you? 125 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:37,640 Being empathetic, being self-aware, what are the things that I am doing that are triggering 126 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:45,560 things on the other person's soul? And that's why they're reacting that way, right? It's not walking 127 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:53,960 away from a conversation. It's being prepared for that conversation, right? It's self-regulating when 128 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:59,640 you're in front of someone who's screaming at you. We see this in a hospitality all the time. You have 129 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:06,840 a guest who just arrived to check in at 10 o'clock at night at the front desk with three kids coming 130 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:11,720 from the other side of the country. They've been traveling the entire day and your front desk 131 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:17,480 agent says, "I am so sorry, but your room is not ready." And the person on the other side, the guest is 132 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:23,000 like, "Are you kidding me? It's 10 o'clock at night. I have three children that have been driving me nuts 133 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:28,200 for the past six, seven, eight hours that we've been traveling. What do you mean my room is not ready? 134 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:35,080 Or what do you mean my I don't get adjoining rooms? I have kids. They can't be on their own, right? 135 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:44,920 So how does that front desk agent react to that situation? Being proactive, you can manage that 136 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:49,320 conversation or manage that communication in a different way. You may be able to be think creatively 137 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:57,080 and find other solutions. So EQ is important in every level of the organization. I love it. And you know, 138 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:04,840 it's, I love that you said you can learn it. You know, I'm a math and science girl. I studied engineering. 139 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:12,920 So EQ wasn't at the top of my list. And I had to teach myself that in how to be aware of 140 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:20,520 people's emotional feelings or their pressures or understanding their desk and what is giving 141 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:27,080 them a hard time and reversing onto them. So I think personally anybody who's managing people 142 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:32,680 or leading people in teams, you're right. They need to learn it. They need to understand it and 143 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:39,800 take a course because when you understand the motivation behind your people and what's driving them, 144 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:47,400 you're better able to lead teams. So knowing people from a personal level and a professional level, 145 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:52,280 because if we understand that they have to pick up their kids at four o'clock in the afternoon, 146 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:57,800 we can better understand what happens for them at the end of the day or whatever they have going 147 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:02,760 on. If they have to drop their kids off in the morning or they have a sick family member. And when 148 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:10,600 you're, you're more understanding of that to employees, they're more likely to go the other 149 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:17,160 direction for the company versus shutting off their computer or ignoring an email. I think it's 150 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:23,640 goes both ways. Absolutely. And here's the thing Melissa, if there is one thing, there are many things that 151 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:31,160 happened during 2020, many things, many scars that 2020 left. But then there are many other things 152 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:38,680 that we can take as learning experiences, right? And then on the other hand, many things that we 153 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:47,080 were able to stop doing do less off because they weren't serving us as a video contributor 154 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:54,200 as often organization, as human beings, as members of a family, as members of our community. 155 00:17:54,200 --> 00:18:04,280 And there is one thing that I can say that COVID left is a higher degree of awareness when he comes 156 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:12,120 to, I want to feel human. Yeah, that's the problem. Yeah, people want to feel human. So like you're 157 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:19,000 saying, if you have a team member that needs to leave at four o'clock three days a week, how can we 158 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:25,400 make this happen? There's always creative ways. And I always use this analogy. Once you stop holding 159 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:31,640 the world, you realize that the world continues to spin. So the same thing happens for your team member. 160 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:37,480 Is there a creative way for us to provide a solution? Because at the end of the day, that person is 161 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:42,600 going to become more engaged, that person is going to become more loyal to the brand, that person is 162 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:51,080 going to want to go the extra mile without anyone asking them. So it's critical that we bring the human 163 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:59,080 back into the way that we do business. And EQ plays a huge role on that. Yep, I love that. And I think about 164 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:08,920 my career journey, I very rarely in my career, if ever have had people ask me how I'm feeling or 165 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:16,120 what's going on in my life. And it also wasn't until I had a child that people were like, oh, 166 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:22,920 maybe we should ask her how her kids doing. And so if you're out there and you are managing people, 167 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:28,200 I challenge you to find out something you don't know about your employees because they could be 168 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:34,440 struggling with the sick parent or sick child or dealing with things that are affecting their 169 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:41,320 emotional, their emotional needs and their their their their brain space. And by being empathetic 170 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:47,080 and understanding what's going on for them, they will repay, repay the favor down the way. 171 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:54,920 Absolutely. And here's a quick tip, if if I may, you have leaders that go from never asking those 172 00:19:54,920 --> 00:20:03,240 questions, right? Never, never bridging that gap between I am the boss, you're the team member. 173 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:11,240 And as we move through this couple of years out of COVID where people seek to be seen or see, 174 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:18,200 people seek to be understood in a different level, where people seek to connect, how do you move 175 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:26,360 that leader from there to bridging that gap, right? And there is a very quick tip that I can share 176 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:33,160 with your audience, which is instead of going straight to asking the question, how is your kid 177 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:38,120 or how is your father? Because you know that the father was going through some surgery and you don't 178 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:45,320 know it from that team member, but you know it through someone else, right? So instead of perhaps 179 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:53,720 starting with a question, if you want to get warmed up, I wait to do it is by simply mentioning it. 180 00:20:53,720 --> 00:21:01,960 I hope your father is doing great. I hope your father is progressing. I hope your kid is growing healthy. 181 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:08,520 Or I'm sure you're if you know about, I don't know, your kids about two years old, well, maybe you say 182 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:14,840 something like, I hope your kid is not driving you crazy with the terrible tools, right? Yeah. 183 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:21,880 But if you need to warm up to creating that bridge, that's a great and easy way to start. 184 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:31,960 100% that's a great example. So kind of keeping to this flow here, what advice do you have for leaders? 185 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:38,760 To see to what advice you have for leaders, seeking to drive positive change in their industry? 186 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:45,960 So if somebody is managing people and maybe profitability is down or morale is down or anything 187 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:50,840 that the organization is focusing on, what advice do you have for them to drive some change? 188 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:59,480 So I would say, and this may sound a little bit like a cliche, but I would say be the change. 189 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:06,600 If you can remember those three words, you're good to go because you know what kind of change you're 190 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:15,880 seeking. Yeah. Be the change, right? We have to build cultures of trust when people trust each other, 191 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:21,240 when team members know that there is a way that I can raise my hand, there is a way that I can 192 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:31,080 disagree and we can disagree with a level of communication that is eloquent and is factual 193 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:41,240 and is respectful, then you build trust, right? When people operate in environments of trust, 194 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:48,680 you move the needle faster. You're not asking for specific checkpoints. You're definitely moving 195 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:54,200 faster. You trust that person is going to take this project to the finish line, right? Yeah. 196 00:22:54,200 --> 00:23:03,400 One thing that I will say is, never stop learning, right? Don't stop learning. If you want to drive 197 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:09,400 positive change, ask your people what they're seeking, ask your team, what is it that we need? 198 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:15,400 What makes us different from our competitor, from a human standpoint? 199 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:22,520 Find that out. Speak with your colleagues. Everybody has networks. Speak with your colleagues and 200 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:28,040 find out how is that your guys are dealing with this or how are you doing this? Have you improved 201 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:33,720 any of your non-traditional benefits? What does that look like? So don't stop learning. Be curious, 202 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:41,240 right? The other thing that I would say is in order to drive positive change is believing people. 203 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:49,640 How are them to do? If you're always the one who's behind everything, one of your team members, 204 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:57,400 because you have a hard time letting go, because you enjoy your tasks so much. Here's the newsflash. 205 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:05,240 You're in a different role now. Let go. Teach your team, train them, provide them with the tools 206 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:12,600 that they need, equip them to be successful and then empower them. Because empowering people 207 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:19,160 will make them feel that they can believe in themselves. And when people believe in themselves, 208 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:23,560 then there is so much more that they're going to do for the organization. 209 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:35,000 So that is positive change. Moving from being strict, moving from not trusting that team members 210 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:43,000 can grow within their roles, right? To developing the people within. That's positive change. Be creative. 211 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:50,440 Find roles that that meet their strengths know that people is not replaceable. Why do we have high turnover? 212 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:57,000 It seems to be an epidemic, but here's the thing. We got to look in order. We have to see 213 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:05,160 from an organizational standpoint, what are we doing that is driving people away? It's not just the money. 214 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:09,320 It's not just the money, right? Be strategic. 215 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:17,160 Yeah, 100%. I agree with all that. One other thing that comes to mind too that you mentioned. A lot of 216 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:23,080 times people correlate leaders with people that are managing people. So I'm a manager of X people or 217 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:31,880 a director of EP. Even if you're not a leader of people, you're a leader of yourself at first. And 218 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:39,160 you can influence organizations and change. And so if you go to the break room and everybody's 219 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:45,800 complaining that you have to come in at five and you were leaving it for, be the catalyst and the 220 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:52,440 change to talk through a strategy with other people. Why is that such a big deal? What about this? 221 00:25:52,440 --> 00:26:01,240 And be a positive catalyst for solutions to problems that may happen, even if you're not managing 222 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:06,840 people or yourself. Or maybe this is the year that you've decided that you're going to read more, 223 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:13,880 get in shape and leading yourself and be a positive catalyst for change for yourself and being your 224 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:21,080 own biggest cheerleaders is key as well. So a lot of times people say, "Oh, well, you know, you're 225 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:28,440 leading people." And I always say, not really, the way I see organizations is we're all supporting 226 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:35,800 the cause. And we're doing it together. Whether it's an executive title or an admin title, we're all 227 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:42,600 on the same level, driving the same things and supporting each other. And I think when you build a 228 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:50,920 culture like that that everybody's ideas and opinions are valued, then it creates safety for people 229 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:57,560 to want to come forward to share their opinions, to share their feelings about whatever the company is 230 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:04,680 working on. Absolutely. And you said a few very key points. Number one, it starts with you going to 231 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:14,120 the break room. Walk to the break room. Sit with them. Listening on those conversations. Leaders 232 00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:20,920 who manage their teams and their operations from behind a desk, they don't get to see what's 233 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,920 out there. They don't get to see where we're failing, where the challenges are, what are people 234 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:30,840 thinking? So going into that break room and being part of that conversation is absolutely critical. 235 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:36,440 And if anything, that could be the very easy first step, right? Another thing that you said that is 236 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:45,880 very critical is allowing the team to know, to know that every single piece of the puzzle, every single 237 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:52,840 one of them plays a specific role. Every piece of the puzzle makes the bigger picture. Absolutely. 238 00:27:52,840 --> 00:28:01,000 So even if you are a janitor, we still need you. And you are a very critical part of our operation, 239 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:06,840 because what are you? You produce that the first experience, which is walking through those 240 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:15,240 building doors, right? So it's it's important for people to know that every single one of them is 241 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:22,360 an important piece of the puzzle. And that is driving positive change. Yep. Absolutely. 242 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:28,600 People, people follow, it's like children, you know, I have a one year old and I have to be careful 243 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:35,160 what I say now. If I say something, he says something. And if you're leading people, you should be 244 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:43,480 a leader of people and do what you say, not do as I say, not as I do. So if you're leaving early 245 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:48,200 and you're upset because your people are leaving early, you can appreciate that they may not 246 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:55,000 respect you if you're, you know, driving down requirements of them, but doing the exact opposite. 247 00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:01,880 And, and being aware, like you said earlier, and, and understanding your, you know, emotional 248 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:07,800 intelligence and how that plays into the organization. But I love what she said, getting face to face 249 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:14,600 with your people is key, key, key, you know, managing behind a desk is easy to do. Actually talking and 250 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:20,760 getting out there to people is key to building relationships. Yeah. Switching gears a little bit. 251 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:27,560 People that are looking to lead people are emerging in a leadership position and their long time 252 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:35,480 goal is to be a manager of people. What advice can you give them to aspire to become a leader such as 253 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:45,240 yourself? So emerging leaders are my favorite kind, and I'll tell you why, they are excited about 254 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:52,600 learning. They're excited about knowing what else do I need to do to get to that level, right? So 255 00:29:52,600 --> 00:30:02,520 the, the one thing that I'm going to say is everyone is a leader. Everyone is a leader. 256 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:09,480 Personally, professionally in your community, every single human being is a leader. 257 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:16,040 If you're impacting someone, unless you live in a bubble and you don't interact with absolutely 258 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:22,440 everyone, you're more than likely impacting someone. Now, there's ways and ways. You can impact 259 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:30,200 someone in a positive way or you can impact someone in a negative way, right? So it is entirely up to 260 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:36,840 you to decide what kind of leader you want to be. Do you want to be the one who's remembered because 261 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:41,960 of the great things that you taught them? Or do you want to be the one that is remembered because 262 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:47,480 you had to put your entire team in an office space, write down what they were feeling and shred it? 263 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:58,440 Right? Work hard, be present, put your phone down, connect with people, raise your hand, 264 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:03,960 ask questions. It's okay to ask questions. It's the only way that you're actually going to get to 265 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:12,040 learn anything, right? Find clarity. You cannot have goals unless you're clear about what exactly it is 266 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:21,640 that you need and want, right? Stay focused. Be prepared. Don't just show up, show up at your best 267 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:28,680 self. When you're prepared, you perform better. Period, bottom line. That's that, right? I would say 268 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:35,880 follow your dreams. Yes, follow your dreams, but plan. I want you have a plan in place. Make sure you 269 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:41,800 have a deadline and you know what resources you need and then take action and then do temperature 270 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:47,320 checks or checkpoints where you know how am I gauging? Where am I going? Am I winning? Am I losing? What's 271 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:54,680 going on? Right? Another thing I would say is never let anyone alter your moral compass. 272 00:31:55,560 --> 00:32:01,720 You've there is something or a situation that you're in that you feel this just doesn't feel right. 273 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:09,640 What go away? What go away? You don't have to be in that situation, right? And if I can 274 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:20,840 encompass all the above into one description, be a unicorn. Be a unicorn. Be that 275 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:27,640 unicorn leader that everyone wants to hire the one that has a little bit of knowledge on many things 276 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:33,400 and if they don't have that knowledge, you're going to research it. But then you know several things 277 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:42,200 that are very specific, right? You are a beacon in that particular area. Understand that, 278 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:48,680 showing up and showing up in your best self and showing up to work early or being prepared. All those 279 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:56,440 things that I just mentioned, that makes the the explanation of what a unicorn employee is. 280 00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:01,000 That's who you want to be. You want to be the unicorn leader. So there is no doubt 281 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:07,000 and your people love you and you're the people that you report to love you and you're invited to 282 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:12,680 that table. And if you're not invited, you are confident enough to pull up a chair, right? And if 283 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:19,160 the door's not there, you will work on, you know, having your tools to create that door and eventually 284 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:24,920 the door opens to the other side. So be a unicorn. I love that. And one other thing I think of is 285 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:31,640 be genuine in when you're asking questions. People can tell that when you're 286 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:37,320 robotically going through things or, you know, if you're asking them, how is your weekend and they 287 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:43,480 get halfway through their sense and then you're telling them about your weekend. Let them finish their 288 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:49,800 thought. Ask a question to understand. Oh, wow. How was that, you know, how was that movie? You know, 289 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:55,800 my kids mentioned they wanted to see it. What did you like about it and asking to genuinely understand 290 00:33:55,800 --> 00:34:01,000 not because you're trying to check a box today that you talked to your employees about how the weather 291 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:06,680 was or, you know, how the weekend was, people can sense that. They can sense that you don't gen 292 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:12,520 you and we care what they say if you're cutting them off in halfway through the sentence to get 293 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:19,960 your points across. Absolutely. It's all about listening with with intentionality, right? I'm asking 294 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,880 how was your weekend because I really want to know if I'm just checking a box, yes, they'll read 295 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:29,960 through it. But listen with intent. How does that information will be useful as you move forward? 296 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:36,600 You know, sometimes I do this when I can tell people aren't listening to me. I ask this question, 297 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:43,080 what do you think about what I said and see if they can remember what actually came out of my mouth? 298 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:51,240 And I've found in multiple situations, most people cannot recurgitate much of what I said if 299 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:58,040 they're not listening, right? So trust and verify, right? If they're actually listening. 300 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:06,360 I know we're getting closer to the half an hour. Any final thoughts or anything you want our users to 301 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:14,680 know? Are listeners not users, I guess? I think that something that is probably common knowledge to 302 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:23,640 most because we see a trend, we've seen a movement. But a good reminder, if you already know this and 303 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:33,800 if not, something new that you can pick up, which is the world is huge. There is room for everyone. 304 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:41,800 People have different tastes, people want different things. There is space for everyone. So there is 305 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:47,320 so much more that we can do through collaboration than there is when we do things individually. 306 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:54,760 So just go for it and lean in and find ways to collaborate with people, to connect with people 307 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,640 and to bring the human back into the way that we do business. 308 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:05,560 Well said, well said, find your tribe and respect the others through your journey, right? 309 00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:12,600 I want to thank you so much for making time today. I know you're a busy, busy woman and I adore and 310 00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:19,640 appreciate all you have said and reach out to Michelle Clan. She's a rock star, leadership 311 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:25,880 and performance coach. I absolutely recommend her and I hope to chat with you again soon. 312 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:31,000 Thanks again for making time. Thank you so much Melissa. Thanks everyone for being on the other side. 313 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:41,720 You've been listening to the Executive Connect podcast. If you have questions or ideas on how 314 00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:48,280 to bring leadership to the next level, email us at executiveconnectpodcast@gmail.com. 315 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:58,920 And don't forget to subscribe so you can catch every new episode. Until next time.