Podcast Summary
Mentoring junior consultants without overstepping peers: Effectively lead by using subtle influence and understanding peers' desires to evolve junior consultants without conflict or overload
Effective leadership involves using the minimum amount of force necessary to achieve desired outcomes while preserving leadership capital. A new senior project manager is facing the challenge of mentoring junior consultants without overstepping the boundaries of more experienced peers. He recognizes the need to fill this leadership void but also understands the importance of treading lightly. By using subtle influence and understanding the desires of his peers, he can effectively lead and evolve the junior consultants without creating unnecessary conflict or overloading himself.
Help team members grow, even when they're not aware: Effective leaders mentor team members, navigate relationships, and set aside ego for development, enhancing team performance and fostering a culture of continuous learning
Effective leadership involves helping those around you grow, even if they're not fully aware of their own challenges. By becoming a mentor and navigating relationships between team members, a leader can improve the overall performance of their team without causing friction. This approach requires setting aside one's ego and focusing on the development of others. Additionally, taking on subordinate roles, such as mentoring junior team members, can benefit both parties, as the leader gains experience and the mentee learns valuable skills. This leadership style not only enhances team performance but also fosters a culture of continuous learning and growth.
Recognizing expertise and utilizing team strengths: Effective problem-solving and collaboration require self-awareness and situational awareness. Recognizing team members' strengths and utilizing them can lead to improved skills and better outcomes.
Understanding your surroundings, both physically and socially, is crucial for effective problem-solving and achieving success. Just as recognizing the terrain on a battlefield can help you make informed decisions and navigate effectively, being aware of the dynamics and egos of those around you can lead to better collaboration and learning. In the conversation discussed, Jocko recognized Dave's expertise in cover moves and asked him to share his knowledge with the team. By doing so, everyone benefited from Dave's perspective and improved their skills. This small act of acknowledging and utilizing each other's strengths demonstrates the importance of self-awareness and situational awareness in any context. Additionally, the conversation highlighted the significance of knowing where you stand in relation to others and being able to adapt to the terrain, whether it's the physical terrain of a battlefield or the social terrain of a team. By recognizing the importance of both self-awareness and situational awareness, individuals and teams can effectively maneuver through challenges and achieve their goals.
Changing team dynamics takes time and effort: Identify root causes, collaborate for change, and practice long-term leadership strategies
Changing unhealthy relationships within a team or between teams requires patience, understanding, and a long-term perspective. The speaker uses the metaphor of being pinned against a cliff to describe the feeling of being stuck in a difficult situation. Just as you can't bench press someone off of you when they're applying pressure, you can't force a change in team dynamics overnight. Instead, it's important to identify the root causes of the friction and work to address them in a collaborative way. In the scenario discussed, the a team and b team have a history of poor communication and underperformance. A new senior engineer on the a team recognizes the need for change and seeks to improve the relationship between the teams. However, the deep-rooted issues and past experiences make this a challenging task. The speaker emphasizes the importance of leadership strategies like conforming to influence and playing the long game to bring about meaningful change.
Joining a new team as a senior hire: Build credibility and improve team dynamics: As a senior hire, understand the root causes of team friction and facilitate better communication and collaboration between high-performing and underperforming teams to improve overall team dynamics and productivity.
When joining a new team, it's essential to build credibility and influence to help improve team dynamics, especially if the new team member is a senior hire brought in to assist a high-performing team while also addressing issues with an underperforming team. This situation presents a significant opportunity for the new team member to positively impact both teams by understanding the root causes of the friction between them and facilitating better communication and collaboration. The new team member's role as a senior engineer on the high-performing team implies that their boss recognizes the need for leadership and improvement within the underperforming team. Placing the new team member on the underperforming team might reinforce the team's perception of being the problem, so it's crucial to approach the situation with empathy and understanding. By working closely with the underperforming team, the new team member can help identify and address the underlying issues, ultimately improving the overall team dynamics and productivity. This approach not only benefits the underperforming team but also strengthens the relationship between the teams and the organization as a whole.
Neglecting to help teammates hinder progress: Focusing on others' mistakes instead of helping them improve can damage relationships and hinder progress.
Focusing too much on the mistakes of others and neglecting to help them improve can hinder progress and damage relationships. This lesson was learned by the speaker during his military training, where he was so focused on passing inspections that he neglected to help his teammates. When an instructor noticed his razor-sharp knife, he praised him, but when he saw one of his roommates' dull knife, he criticized both the roommate and the speaker. The speaker felt ashamed and realized that he should have helped his teammate instead of just focusing on himself. In the long run, recognizing the potential for improvement in others and helping them grow can lead to better outcomes for everyone involved.
Supporting each other instead of pointing out mistakes: Instead of focusing on others' mistakes, offer help and support to create a positive work culture and build stronger relationships.
Instead of focusing on the mistakes and shortcomings of other teams or individuals, it's more productive and beneficial for everyone to work together and support each other. Bringing attention to the mistakes of others may make us feel good in the moment, but it creates a toxic work environment and damages relationships. Instead, by offering help and support to other teams, we can create a positive work culture where everyone is working towards a common goal. This not only benefits the teams involved but also the overall organization. Additionally, people naturally want to be part of a team that is successful and supportive, rather than one that is divisive and negative. So, the next time you're tempted to point out the mistakes of others, consider how you can help them instead. This approach not only makes for a better work environment but also makes you a better teammate and leader.
Focus on building each other up instead of tearing down other teams: Instead of wasting energy on negativity towards other teams, focus on supporting and helping each other succeed for long-term improvement and growth.
It's easy for teams to bond through negativity towards a common enemy, but this approach can be counterproductive in the long run. Instead, it's important to resist the temptation to tear down other teams and focus on building each other up. The energy required to maintain negative views towards others can be draining, and it's ultimately more beneficial to find ways to support and help each other succeed. The long-term goal is to create a cycle of improvement by connecting the principles taught to the team's world and helping them see how applying these principles can make their lives and their team better. When talking about the long game or strategic win, it's important to remember that it's unconstrained by time and space. So, while it may take time and effort to make meaningful changes, the payoff can be significant in the long run.
Witnessing a company's growth and evolution: Jocko values long-term business relationships, learning from clients' challenges, and helping them grow and improve over time.
The long game in business is a continuous process without an end. Jocko Willink, the speaker, emphasizes that they get to solve various problems for different clients, learn from them, and implement solutions in a condensed timeframe. The coolest part for him is staying with a company for an extended period and witnessing the organization's growth and evolution after implementing principles and strategies. He didn't anticipate that addressing a company's initial issues would lead to new challenges and the need for further growth and improvement. The companies recognize the value in continuing their partnership to tackle new obstacles and develop their leaders.
Fostering growth and self-sufficiency through long-term partnerships: Building long-term partnerships by aligning leadership principles, fostering growth, and training in-house sustainment teams.
The goal of providing solutions to problems in a business context is not just about leaving once the issue is resolved, but also about fostering growth and self-sufficiency. This approach, inspired by special operations units, allows for long-term partnerships and the eventual training of in-house sustainment teams. The alignment of leadership principles is crucial in this process, and can be applied to organizations regardless of their current state. Echelon Front's mission is to assess, reinforce, or build leadership principles within a company, without disrupting existing ones. This approach ensures that the company can carry on independently, ultimately leading to a mutually beneficial and sustainable partnership.
Continuous learning and leadership insights: Learn from experts like Jocko and Dave, and their resources, to improve as a leader and embark on a continuous learning journey.
Importance of leadership and continuous learning. Jocko and Dave, the speakers, have dedicated their time to understanding and sharing insights on leadership through various books, podcasts, and merchandise. Their works cover topics such as extreme ownership, leadership strategy, and tactics. To support their efforts, you can purchase merchandise from jockostore.com or originmain.com. The key message is that leadership is a continuous journey, and by learning from the experiences and wisdom of others, we can improve ourselves and lead more effectively. So, go out there, keep learning, and lead with purpose.
