0:00:00.0 Jen Thornton: Has it been noisy for you recently? It seems like it has been for me and for so many others. Welcome back, friends. This is your place for cutting edge tools, exercises, best practices, and modern leadership strategies. Because when the world is changing, it's time to bring our leadership styles along for the ride. Whether you're a company leader, a corporate visionary, an entrepreneur, this show gives you new insights into the neuroscience and the language of leadership, plus practical steps and tips to lead your team in a powerful way. It'll also help you keep your people happy and engaged, all while achieving your biggest goals. I'm your host, Jen Thornton. I'm a talent strategist, a brain-based executive coach, speaker, and the founder of 304 Coaching. Now, let's fix leadership.
0:00:52.2 JT: Sometimes there is a common theme that bubbles up across multiple clients, and over the last couple of weeks that common theme has been how to lead through the noise. Leading through the noise, it is not easy. The noise can be overwhelming, and too often and it distracts us from our core responsibilities of strategic thinking, problem solving, and developing our teams. And when we are distracted and living in the noise, we get stuck there and we don't even notice that we're stuck there, but that's when we start to wonder why is nothing getting done? Why are the teams spinning their wheels? Why is everyone exhausted and overwhelmed and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and all this stuff. Successful leaders know how to lead through the noise. Let's start to understand that noise. The noise encompasses everything from the oceans of emails flooding our inbox, the back-to-back meetings filling our calendars, to the urgent but not important tasks that demand our immediate attention.
0:01:52.2 JT: It's the operational tactical details that while necessary, can distract us from focusing on strategic goals, innovative solutions, and nurturing the growth of our team members. And the work someone didn't get done because we didn't develop them or didn't give them clear direction or didn't hold someone accountable for their performance. The noise can come from so many directions. Now, you might be saying, but all of this still has to get done and I just can't let this stuff sit around and you would be right. You do have to manage and work through the noise. What we're talking about today is not letting the noise become the main story. It's about making leading through the noise the main story. Now that we've come to terms with the fact that the noise will always be there, let's jump in and think about how to lead through it. Of course, it starts with the art of prioritization.
0:02:50.3 JT: The first thing to prioritize is removing work that doesn't impact the business, and I'm sure you're saying to yourself right now, there is none of that. But I promise if you stop and really think about the work everyone is doing, you'll find work that has little to no impact on the business. After that work has been removed, then prioritize the work by the items that have the biggest impact on the business, the customer or the strategy. Now that the work is prioritized, we have to remove the noise from our calendars and our team's calendars, so we have to strategically delegate. Great leaders learn to trust their teams and to delegate tasks that do not require their direct inputs. This not only frees up times for leaders to focus on strategic initiatives, but also empowers team members and it promotes their development and it creates more engagement. Effective delegation requires clear communication of expectations and outcome, and it requires that you give team members the resources and support they need to be successful.
[music]
0:04:00.1 JT: Let's take a quick break from the conversation. Do you have new leaders on your team and you can see their potential? You can see their runway, but you cannot figure out how to get them across the finish line. Reach out to 304 Coaching and learn more about our brain-based competency focused executive coaching.
[music]
0:04:21.8 JT: Strategic delegation and trust also creates an environment where people feel empowered to make decision. This removes even more noise. When individuals feel confident in making decisions, projects move faster. The conversations are not around what should I do, they're around what I did and why I did it. One of the high impact activities you can do as a leader is to develop your team. When you are trapped in the noise, finding time to develop someone can be really difficult. And criticism when someone does something wrong in your eyes, that is not development. Development is getting out in front of the situation, educating people on how to do the work effectively. When you focus on developing that next generation of leaders, making mentoring and coaching a priority, you continue to remove noise from the day to day. One of my favorite things to do to remove noise is to cultivate strategic quiet time.
0:05:18.5 JT: Creating space for strategic thinking is essential when trying to remove the noise. This may involve blocking out regular times in the calendar specifically for reflection, planning and problem solving, and this time has to be free from distractions of emails and meetings and texts and phone calls and social media, all the noise. In today's noisy world, we have to find those moments to think and reflect. If we aren't thinking and reflecting, it would be almost impossible to lead through the noise. If you never step away from the noise, how can you lead through it? The last trick in leading through the noise is adopting an adaptive leadership style. The business environment is constantly evolving and what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. Adaptive leadership involves being open to change, ready to pivot strategies as needed, and encouraging a culture of innovation where team members feel empowered to bring forward new ideas. Leading through the noise isn't easy. Our worlds get noisier by the day. When it gets noisy, remember these easy tips. Remove activities that do not impact the business. Prioritize activities with true impact, delegate with a strategic mind, develop your team, create quiet moments, and embrace adaptive leadership techniques. This combination not only will help you lead through those extra noisy times, but also will start to reduce unnecessary noise because no one ever fixed leadership while trapped in the noise.
[music]
0:07:00.8 JT: Thanks for listening to Let's Fix Leadership. By hanging out with me today, you're already on your path. If you're looking to learn more and to see if your company is a good fit for our coaching and leadership education, then hey, visit 304coaching.com. If you got value out of this podcast, share it with a friend and it would mean the world to me if you would leave a thoughtful review and a rating on iTunes. Thanks again for listening, and I appreciate your work in fixing leadership.
