Unveiling Your Leadership Intention

This is a written Transcription for the Leadership Hustle episode about Unveiling Your Leadership Intention, from Season 1 Episode 9.

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Andrea Frederickson: What is your leadership intention on this episode of The Leadership Puzzle? We'll walk you through creating your leadership promise. Hello and welcome to the Leadership Puzzle. For executives whose companies are growing fast and need leaders who are ready. Welcome to this episode of The Leadership Hustle, where we work with executives whose companies are growing fast and need leaders who are ready. I'm your host, Andrea Fredrickson, and I am here with my co-host, Michelle Hill. Hello. How are you doing?

Michelle Hill: Good. How are you doing?

Andrea Frederickson: Good, good. This is I love doing episodes of these podcasts. These are so much fun. I hope everybody else gets some value from them. Today we are going to tackle the concept of how intentional are you as a leader? Being a leader. And so I want to share a story that just happened just recently. I was working with a senior executive, senior VP, and something that he said caused me to ask him the question like, how committed are you at being a leader? He looks at me like I'm really committed. I'm like, I'm a VP, a senior VP of like, Yeah, but like, how committed are you? And it's like, Well, I would do pretty much anything. You know, I wouldn't break the law or anything, but can't really answer the question Like I, you know, how committed are you? And, you know, I think about this from golf. It's like it's golf season here. And so when somebody goes out and plays a tournament, it's like and they get really, really mad that they are really bad at it. It's like, so what is the commitment here? It's like, did you go practice? Did you go do anything to make yourself better, do all winter? Well, how committed are you to doing that? And so, like, how committed are you? Because we get up and we go through the motions of our day to day. But what is that commitment? And then I asked him, I said, okay, so let's let's take a different question. How intentional are you at being a leader? And he sat back. He's like. Well, sometimes I am intentional, especially after we've had one of our conversations. I said, okay, but how intentional are you daily? Like what? What is your intention? What's your focus? What's your focus? So that's the concept we want to talk about today because I think we get up, we go through our routines and we go through our day and then we rinse and repeat and we have Groundhog Day over and over again.

Michelle Hill: And it's more about task, not necessarily about leading. So I know, Andrew, the question a lot of times is going to be that leadership. What is your leadership promise? What is that leadership, commitment, whatever word you want to flip flop in there. Right. But so kind of stepping away now from that story and we just think about leadership promise or leadership commitment. Tell us tell the audience why? Why do we talk about it? Why is it important And and how how do we go about really putting that together?

Andrea Frederickson: So many people have not heard of writing or establishing a leader, a leadership commitment or promise. And so one of those activities that we love to do is to help them write this. And so in that process, what we're doing is we're saying, I commit to you those I lead to these things. And when we when we talk about those things, there's a few components that I think are super necessary, although there's no right or wrong, right. So when we're establishing a leadership commitment, regardless of the level we are in an organization, there's always something related to your commitment to the vision or the direction and or the strategy of what you're trying to accomplish. So strategy is usually higher, right in the organization. But I'm committed to fulfilling the vision and the direction of the company, or I'm committed to establishing, fulfilling, creating whatever that verb is depends on each role and responsibility that you have. So there's always something future oriented. Second is what are you committed to from the environment? So are you committed to creating an environment that's safe, that is challenging, that's inclusive, that's respectful? What are the things within the environment that you want to ensure are happening and make sure that you are helping set those guidelines and helping people be effective in that kind of environment. Sometimes you're even.

Michelle Hill: Redirecting.

Andrea Frederickson: Exactly right. And then the third component that I, I suggest people do is how are you going to treat or work with those that you lead? Are you going to create an environment where you are helping them learn and develop and grow? Are you helping that that team become cohesive? Like what is it you're doing with your employees? And there are other kinds of components that you can put into this leadership commitment or promise. But what it does is it takes the ideas that you have in your head, puts it down, you know, in in documented format, and then you can adjust it. You can certify it. Yeah. And then what I often do is I suggest or we suggest that we you tell this to the people that you lead, you can do it in a group, you can do it one on one. But if you do that, imagine what that does for people. And so we, you know, all survey a group of people. I was like, tell me why? Why is this important? And what would what would you benefit from in doing this? And I'm like, oh, my gosh, if I told them that, then they'd know there's clarity.

Michelle Hill: Well, they'd understand your intentions. So if your promise is to help make sure that you're developing and coaching your people to, you know, for for their career path, for their future and doing that, I'm we're going to be having conversations and doing that. I'll be giving you feedback right? In doing that, I'm going to be asking questions. So now they're like, Oh, that's why they're doing that, right? It just helps them connect the dots to that intent. The intentions behind your actions, which a lot of times is where the confusion comes into place, right? People don't know your intentions. They can't read your mind, but they feel and experience your actions. Right?

Andrea Frederickson: So and because we're all human, we're going to make mistakes or people are going to misinterpret our intention. So it's also suggested that you give people permission. And if you see me behave in a way that doesn't support what I'm committing to or what I'm promising to ask me a question, ask me like, tell me like, where's the disconnect between what you're seeing and what I'm doing? Because I completely could have gone off on left field or what I'm intending and what you understand could be different. And it's my responsibility to close that gap. So we talk about that.

Michelle Hill: Well, and I know just from conversations it also. Allows you as that that leader to really kind of establish well, model what you what you're looking for in a leader and create that clarity with it. So now you're demonstrating it and helping guide people into, well, that's their leadership promise, you know, and actually even developing their own to a certain degree. So and I know we think because we keep using the word leader when we think about leadership promise as a as a leader, assuming we have authority. So we have a title in there as well. Leadership Manager Talk a little bit about the difference in the two because those words get flip flopped a lot, right? And because we are really talking about leadership when we talk about that leadership promise. But when we think about as transitioning into a new a new role as a new manager or supervisor, what's what, how do we view the difference? And then where are we spending our time and how do we help guide people in prioritizing those?

Andrea Frederickson: Sure. So, you know, we work with leaders from those who haven't gotten into a position of authority yet to all the way to business owners and executives, CEOs. And one of the questions we ask, almost every single one in that entire hierarchy is what's the difference between manager and leader? And so. As many times as I could find an answer for that. We tend to keep it as simple as managers manage resources, money, equipment, time schedules, information. That's manager kinds of things. And leaders are really doing things that help people make better decisions. They set culture, they provide education and coaching. They provide feedback. So so those are the kinds of things that hold all those bricks together from the management side. And yet they are all the stuff that if you don't pull all that stuff together, we have issues, right? And so the question then becomes how much time do you spend between each of those those things. So. When when we look at that question, it really depends on the position that they hold within the company. Like so most people are promoted from being a doer or have come from a position of doing being subject matter experts and technical to going into leading people.

Andrea Frederickson: And for most of those situations, they're still going to have to do some technical yes, definitely quite a bit of management. But you got to do the leading. You've got to make sure that happens. Right. So whether it's a third, a third, a third, whether it is, you know, 10%, 30% management, I don't remember the math, but whatever the remaining is, is leadership. But as you go up into that organization, then there's less technical. Yes. Unless your job truly is. You're the only technical expert in the building. Right. Maybe you're a veterinarian or maybe you are a person who is a special kind of engineer. So you are that subject matter expert, but you, as you lead others, how much of your time is spending spent doing the the things that are more administrative in nature? In some cases it is approving certain things. That's that's fine. But. How much time are we spending? Leading, Communicating. Coaching. Providing feedback, asking questions, setting direction, creating an inclusive environment. Those are the kinds of things that the further up increasing as we go.

Michelle Hill: And it's remembering to the further up you get as you have new people coming on. You know, that's the curse of knowledge, right? We forget. I mean, I guess to a certain degree it's good we forget how painful some things can be initially. But when we initially transitioned possibly from that expert individual contributor role to that now responsible for people, it's a little uncomfortable. We were successful as that doer. And now now I'm really needing to look at I still need to do stuff, but I have to get a lot of stuff done through others. Otherwise why would you have a team, right? If you could just do it yourself? And as we grow, we forget about those challenges. We forget about that uncomfortable awkwardness and having the conversations like we just talked about on accountability and so forth. And so as we as you grow and grow in the organization, how are we coaching those new managers and helping them really prioritize, which we're going to call high, high payoff activities, but prioritize them going from solving all the problems, putting all the fires out and being the subject matter expert to letting others win, letting others put the fire out, and actually spending more time on that leadership piece and reminding yourself that, gosh, yeah, when I did that, that was awkward, that was uncomfortable. So have a little empathy and that, you know, they they're going to have to figure out their sweet spot, too. Right. It's going to be a little different for each person. But talk a little bit when you think about high payoff activities as we kind of throw that word around a little bit.

Andrea Frederickson: So high payoff activities as we talk about it are those things that prevent problems. They also move the needle or you get your biggest bang for your time or money, right? Those are high payoff kinds of things. And then there are those things that they have to be done. There are there are things that are important, but but we tend to look at those in reaction kinds of of of activities so urgent and important kinds of things or things that are just distracting or things that really ought to be someone else's job. And so one of my favorite lines or quotes and I wish I knew who to attribute this to, but our job is not to solve problems as leaders. Our job is not to solve problems. And every time I say that, people look at me and was like, Why the heck am I not? Am I here? Then it's like, No, no, no, no. Your job is to solve problems or to make sure the problem gets solved. Yes, That doesn't mean you have to solve the problem. So if in a manager role you're solving all the problems, you are not giving people the tools and the resources to do their job. You're not training and educating and helping them make good decisions. What you're doing is you're doing the manager stuff and so take a look at how much time. I mean, we really suggest people doing time analysis a couple of times a year, do a time analysis study and look at what are the kinds of activities and tasks that you are doing and are they manager tasks or are they leadership tasks? And by the way, leadership is really hard to check off. It's really it's really hard to check off, but it can come in.

Michelle Hill: You can, but you have to.

Andrea Frederickson: Really did I do coaching? Did I do one on one conversations? Did I do an impromptu conversation? And so the higher you go in an organization. The more you should be spending on a high path activities, which is truly quadrant two. When we talk about the Eisenhower model, but those kinds of things that are leadership, preventative follow through, communication direction setting and you can fill an entire day on those things.

Michelle Hill: Developing your people and developing them. So I like to always view it as they get to win. They get to be the hero right where you were once the hero all the time. Right now, let's let them be the hero.

Andrea Frederickson: And be the hero. And it's okay to let them struggle a little bit. Oh, gosh. You know, I think that sometimes we you know, we look at this from a perspective of, oh, it's really tough to get people right now or I don't really want to train someone else right now. So when things feel like they're getting a little tough or things are getting really hectic or busy, we just start doing things that are management or task related versus helping that person work through the struggles, not saving them, helping them work through the struggles. Because research shows us unless we struggle a little bit, we don't grow, right?

Michelle Hill: It's got to be a little uncomfortable.

Andrea Frederickson: In order to grow, we have to let go of what we currently believe and what we currently do to reach for that next ring. To do something different. So as it relates to this process of intentionality, this this, how intentional are you being as a leader? You know, I think that it really starts off with what does it really mean to be a leader to you and what is it you are committing to those you lead? If you don't have that clear, any Wendell gets you there. Right?

Michelle Hill: Correct. Well, and by having it and taking the time to create it, it then allows you, as we talked about, checklists and so forth, it allows you to evaluate. Am I doing these things? I promised. Right. And now people also know. So there's a little bit of accountability there, too, right? Personal accountability, as I'm saying. But, you know, it now helps you create some clarity of where should I be spending my time, what are my activities? Because if I made this promise to our vision, if I made this promise to creating this environment, and if I made this promise to the people on how they're going to experience me, what am I going to do to help them be successful, then day to day, am I doing those things to follow through on those promises? Right?

Andrea Frederickson: And so in our commitment, we talked about creating the direction. We talked about what the environment is supposed to look like and how we're going to be treating each other. Now as a leader, what you're doing is refining and honing the skills to be better at those areas. It's not just the what. It's the how. And so whether you're listening to podcasts, whether you're reading books, whether you're having conversations with people, whether you are going to courses, whatever you're doing to take in the information, that's information it's important to intentionally now practice. Yes, it's intentional to go to the driving range and intentionally try different clubs to see how far you can hit and how straight you can go or go to the putting range and the putting green to the right and see what kinds of things that you need to do to be practicing. Yes.

Michelle Hill: Well, and to kind of refer that back when you're golfing or whatever sport you play, there's usually a score while your leadership doesn't necessarily have a score. Right. And that is where you need to get more comfortable leaning into getting feedback. It's developing your self-awareness and asking people being very intentional. You know, this is what I'm working on, this is what my promise. Now I'm working on making sure I'm doing that. How am I doing? What are the things that you notice me demonstrating? What are the things that maybe you don't see very often? Right. And what do you like about this and how do I help you? And what are those areas that maybe I'm not helping you? So the feedback is kind of your score no matter what sport you're playing, because otherwise we really don't gauge.

Andrea Frederickson: How we're doing, how we're.

Michelle Hill: Doing. Yeah, we have to get feedback.

Andrea Frederickson: It adds to the transparency, it adds to a little bit of vulnerability. And I realize that some of us as leaders struggle with that transparency and that vulnerability. But those are the things that that really tighten up a team. Transparency doesn't mean you show every single blemish there is and share every bit of information. It shares information that is helpful for a person so that you can help me. I can help you. Here's where we're going. So. You know, we talked about whether or not this was this episode, You know, was this a really intentional was this episode a good episode? Right. And I think that if we don't address the concept of intentionality in our role as a leader, then we're just we're just winging it. And we get caught up in just running that treadmill every single day. And I mean all the best athletes, all the best of the best are doing things with intentionality. And so just a couple of tools that we gave you today should give the audience a couple of things that they can use right away and just hone things up, because obviously those of you who are listening are already really good in your leadership roles anyway. So hopefully the things that we gave you will get you started and give you a plan that you can take forward with your own intentional leadership.

Michelle Hill: That's your own playbook.

Andrea Frederickson: Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Leadership Hustle Subscribe so you don't miss any of the next episodes.