EM 211 | How to Develop Yourself as a Leader

Interactive Transcript

Speaker A I think, what are our values? How do we communicate? What do we celebrate? That's a huge one. What do we reward? What do we celebrate? What do we count as a win? And that's part of the shared goals. And then I think, how do we deal with things like failure? Is that a sign that we're trying new things? We're being innovative, we're being creative. And the goal isn't to avoid failure. The goal is to learn from failure. Again, I think it all comes down to values.

Speaker B Welcome to Executive Minds, the podcast helping you convert your potential into high performance so you can grow your career. Here's your host, Kevin B. Jennings.

Speaker C Welcome to Executive Minds, where we help ambitious professionals like you convert your potential into high performance so you can grow your career. I'm Kevin B. Jennings and in every episode you'll get principles, strategies and tools from experienced and emerging leaders. Our guests have maximized their potential to do things like launch ideas, lead teams, build businesses, improve communities, and ultimately make a difference in others lives. Today we're doing another remix, which is a short episode where we revisit strong, timeless principles or even relevant hidden gems from previous podcast episodes. And for this episode, we're going Back to episode 105, when Heather Zimple of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. joined us to talk about how to build great teams and develop leaders. Today though, we're going to zoom in on the portions of our conversation that specifically talked about leadership development. And in this episode, you'll learn a helpful framework that you can use to develop yourself and others as a leader. Now, before we jump into that conversation with Heather, I want you to know today's episode is brought to you by the newest productivity tools from Full Focus. See the all new desktop tools, planners and accessories built to take you and your team's productivity to new heights, accomplishing your most ambitious goals. And as a special gift to listeners of executive minds, get 10% off site wide at the Full Focus Store until midnight on Friday, March 18, 2022. So visit ExecutiveMinds Co FullFocus that's ExecutiveMinds Co Full Focus Focus. Today's episode is also brought to you by Learners Library. It's an initiative I've started to give away books every single week. Why? I believe that books can help you connect with great minds, develop new skills, grow your ideas and grow yourself. So go to Books for free me to sign up for this week's giveaway and be notified of upcoming giveaways. Well, fellow go getters and future difference makers, eventually, eventually your career will give you opportunities to lead projects and people if you're not doing it already. And here's how it happens. You do a great job fulfilling your role. People see that and they start to ask for your help on additional things within the organization that's outside of your role or maybe even adjacent to your role. And then when you do a great job with that, people will ask you to oversee and or execute a small project that needs to be completed. Then you may be promoted to oversee the people doing the work you used to do. And it's that last step that trips many professionals up. It's this last step where I've seen plenty of professionals lose their way. See, your expertise and experience doing the work aren't the same as the expertise and experience required to help others do the work. Think of like the best salesperson on the team who is no longer using their gift and experience on the phone with prospective clients and is now responsible for leading and developing the other sales team members. This requires a different set of skills. In this situation, it is your leadership ability, not your subject matter expertise, that will cap your growth. So to help you navigate this critical stage of your career, we wanted to revisit episode 105 of the podcast when I spoke with Heather Zimple. Now, among her other responsibilities at National Community Church, Heather directs leadership development training. And before joining National Community Church, Heather obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in biological engineering from Louisiana State University. She also worked as an environmental engineer and as a policy consultant on energy and environment in the United States Senate. So when we talk about her having to lead things at some high levels, we're talking to someone who understands this reality of going from the expert to the leader. Leading experts well, I know personally how respected Heather is behind the scenes. I mean, she's viewed as a leader of leaders, and we are honored to have her on the podcast. Now, before Heather shares how we can develop as leaders, she helps us understand what the key characteristics of a leader are by sharing what to look for in potential team members and leaders. She shared this in response to a question I asked her about how to build a team from scratch. So, Heather, would you tell us how you navigate building a team and then share what you look for in a leader?

Speaker A There are a couple of ways to come at this. Whenever I launch a project at ncc, for instance, that requires a team to come around, I look for three different kinds of people. I want somebody who can bring something to the table either in the way of they have expertise or they have Training, or they have knowledge, or maybe they have a value or a strength that complements mine. Who are the people that can bring something to this, that we need in this process? Then I look for people that are around the table that can bring someone to the process. In other words, they're going to be the brand event. Maybe they don't have a lot of expertise to offer, maybe they don't have a lot of skills in that area, but they are going to be a brand evangelist. If we sell them, if they feel ownership, they feel bought in, their fingerprints are on it, then they're going to bring a whole lot of other people with them.

Speaker C That's great.

Speaker A And then thirdly, I always like to have around the table someone who can learn something. Maybe they're young, maybe they're new to the team, maybe they're inexperienced, but being a part of the process means they're going to learn something. And what I found every single time is that they always bring something, even if it's fresh eyes and fresh perspective, and they can think outside the box because they don't know what the box is in terms of, like, if it's a team that you're putting together, like, you're hiring new people. There are kind of four categories I'm looking at. One is character. And I think, you know, that's talked about so much in leadership circles and team management and team building. That again, that's one of those things you could spend an entire podcast just, you know, our series talking about. Just character. How do you dig into that? So character, culture, I mean, is there. Are their values going to fit with our values? Capacity? Can they stretch? Can they grow? Do they have hunger? Are they humble? And then finally, competency. I mean, can they do the job that we're needing them to do? So that's a couple different ways to kind of approach that, building a team.

Speaker C So say those four more time, make.

Speaker A Sure we all say, yeah, character, culture, capacity, and competency.

Speaker C That's great. As Heather just said, culture can be a bit of an abstract concept, and I want to make sure we all get it and are on the same page as we move forward. So, Heather, what would you say are the components of a culture?

Speaker A Yeah, I think. What are our values? How do we communicate? What do we celebrate? That's a huge one. What do we reward? What do we celebrate? What do we count as a win? And that's part of the shared goals. And then I think, yeah, like, how do we deal with things like failure? Is that a sign that we're trying new things. We're being innovative. We're being creative. And the goal isn't to avoid failure. The goal is to learn from failure. I think having some. Again, I think it all comes down to values. Values, how we communicate what the expectations are, and then what we celebrate are all components of culture.

Speaker C I find what Heather just shared incredibly helpful. In the episode, she gave a bit more context on culture that I believe will be helpful for us here. So, Heather, would you please elaborate on culture as it relates to creating a strong team?

Speaker A Yeah, I think that having a set of aligned values makes for a good team. Like, everybody knows we all have our individual values, and I think knowing what those are can help shape the corporate values. But these are our corporate values. This is how we work together. This is how we talk together. This is what we're going for. And then I think breaking that down, there's, I think, honest communication. Knowing I can be honest with you, I can shoot straight with you, I'm going to do it in an honoring way and in a humble way, but I'm going to be honest is important. I think having clarity around goals. We all know what we're going for, and we know what our role is in that. And then I think just having a strong culture and culture is kind of one of those buzzwords that we all use it. Nobody knows what it means. Nobody. But I think all of those are pieces. I think values, communication, goals, all of that plays into the culture. And I think a leader of a team, culture building and culture maintaining and culture celebrating is part of the role of the leader that you cannot delegate. And so, you know, are we a team that, you know, what's more important for our team? Punctuality or flexibility, Excellence or experimentation. And those things don't always have to be polar opposites. But just deciding as a team what is going to be our culture and how are we going to celebrate that? I honestly think teams reading books like Radical Candor, Crucial Communication, Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Anything by John Gordon, like anything by Carrie Newhoff. Teams that learn together are going to grow together, and I think that makes a strong team.

Speaker C I love it. Okay, I think we are officially ready with all of this in mind. Heather, what are the essential ingredients of leadership development?

Speaker A Yeah. In terms of building other leaders. Some of the things I'm about to talk about, whether the words or the concepts we ripped right off of some people that I built relationship with the North Point Community Church. But when we think about leadership development, one of the most important mindsets Shifts for us was thinking about what's the best way to deliver leadership development. I think a lot of times we think, oh, we got to gather everybody in a room and have a big presentation and program, and then people are going to be developed. The reality is that's usually not the best way to develop people. And so we think in terms of kind of four categories. One is when you're given, when you're delivering leadership development, is it best as a resource? I mean, that could be a podcast just like this, like, hey, go listen to this and then maybe let's talk about it. Maybe it's an article, it's a book, but what leadership development is best as a resource? What leadership development is best is a conversation. When you're trying to, you know, if it's a leadership development thing that's trying to troubleshoot or trying to figure out a communication challenge or how to handle conflict, that might be best as a conversation. And then what's best on the platform, that is, you know, when you want to cast vision, platform is great for that. When you want to rally the troops or celebrate something in culture, then the platform might be best for that. And then the fourth one would just be in the trenches, like where those leadership development opportunities where you just throw somebody into something and then walk alongside them in the process. So in terms of ingredients of leadership development, I mean, I think those are four different avenues for doing it for different delivery mechanisms. And then in terms of what we're actually developing, I kind of go back to character, culture, capacity, and competency.

Speaker C That's great.

Speaker A Which I probably stole from somebody somewhere sometime. Those words, you know, in that combination aren't my own, I don't think. But like, those are kind of the four topics then. So there's topics and delivery mechanisms.

Speaker C After this quick break, we'll hear Heather's advice on what we can do to develop ourselves as leaders. Focusing your efforts on work that matters is what I call effective productivity. The challenge is keeping those tasks front of mind throughout each hectic work week. That's why I'm excited to share four new products from the leader in effective productivity. Full focus. Like the weekly Big three bookmark, which holds your place while reminding you of your weekly Big three goals. Or the weekly Preview desk tool, giving you an at a glance view of your week, including your personal care and weekly goals. Or the Meeting Notes Desk tool, which helps transform your meetings into valuable occasions that your team looks forward to and moves your goals forward. I've recently purchased all three, and I cannot wait for them to arrive. Oh, and there are two other new additions to the full Focus Planner line, including the new Navy Coil and Large Format Gray Portfolio Planners. This is the planner I personally use, and this is a productivity line you need to see. Even better, take 10% off site wide until March 18, 202022 when you go to ExecutiveMinds Co FullFocus don't let your life's crazy pace throw you off your game. Go to ExecutiveMinds Co FullFocus and stay focused on the work that matters. To be successful, you need to grow personally and professionally, but you don't know what to do or where to start to develop yourself. Maybe you also don't have access to the resources or mentors you feel you need to succeed. All of this can leave you feeling confused or frustrated, stuck, overwhelmed, and if we're honest, sometimes inadequate. You might even feel forced to play small. But you don't have to limit your ambition to achieve your goals. This is why I created Learners Library a Return Free online library, helping business and creative professionals leverage nonfiction books to access the guidance they need to succeed. Every week we give away books for free. So just go to booksforfree me to sign up for this week's giveaway. Join a waitlist for a future giveaway, or join what we call the checkout. That's our newsletter, which provides a curated list of some of the best and mostly free professional development resources on the Internet. What you have and who you know shouldn't limit your growth. Go to booksforfree me and visit Learners Library today. Okay, to wrap up Heather, what advice would you give to everyone listening about how they can develop themselves as leaders?

Speaker A Yeah, so I would say. I mean, first of all, just read. Read all you can. I'm a reader, so maybe that's unfair for me to say. And I know not everybody is, you know, wired that way. And yeah, audiobooks and in podcasts. I mean get a regular, you know, diet of podcasts that you're listening to when you're driving to work, walking to school, you know, on the, you know, treadmill, at the gym, running whatever you're doing. Like maximize your time. So listen, read. I would say try new things and cross pollinate. Some of the best leadership lessons I've learned have not been from reading leadership books, but reading, gosh, historical biographies, sports biographies, science books. I say cross pollinate. Don't just look to leadership books, podcasts, things like that. But cross pollinate. I would say follow some other people. Like get behind a leader that you really respect and do whatever you have to do to get close to them, look for ways. And don't ask for time on their calendar. Ask how you can help them achieve their goal. One of the things I've found is if we will help someone else achieve their vision, we learn valuable lessons in the process when we're asking other people to follow our vision. So get behind a leader. Help them, add value to them. And then I would just say in your personal life, and this goes along with kind of the reading and the learning, but just have intentionality. I mean, make a growth plan for yourself. Nobody is going to care about your growth more than you will. So make a plan and hold yourself accountable. And I usually think in terms of a certain period of time, and I think in terms of what routines, what rhythms, what relationships, and what resources. I grew up Baptist, so everything's got to start with the same letter, I guess.

Speaker C Yeah, I'm saying, I'm a Southern boy. I'm like, preach, preach.

Speaker A So routines are kind of the habits we have every day. Rhythms are like, how is my life ebbing and flowing in this season? The relationships, who do I need to be pouring into? Who do I need to be receiving from? And then the resource, like, what am I going to be listening to, learning from? And again, like, make a growth plan for yourself. Hold yourself accountable. Bring somebody else into the process with you so you're doing it with somebody and just hold on tight. Opportunity advantages. I mean, take advantage of the opportunities as they come to you.

Speaker C Thanks again to Heather for coming on the podcast and sharing how she and her team at National Community Church develop leaders in their organization, but also for her sharing how she has developed herself. Now, there's a lot we could discuss here, but today I just want to focus on reinforcing what Heather said near the end about taking your growth into your own hands. Have you created a growth plan yet? If not, I do want to advise that you go Back to episode 203 of the podcast where David Farmer and I talk about how to create your own professional development plan. Then you can come back and you can reference the ideas that Heather shared today and incorporate them into your plan. And lastly, I want you to consider how you can intentionally include the four areas that Heather discussed today. Things that help you develop your character, increase your capacity, help you strengthen or add competencies, and ultimately help you also clarify your personal values so they can be lived out within the organization's culture. How can you create a steady diet of resources, conversations, learning from presentations or events, and even experiences in the trenches? We here at Mentor and Executive Minds want you to be ready to lead well, and I can't emphasize this enough. Going from expert to leader or practitioner to leader of people is one of the most common stumbling blocks I've seen over my career. And every leader I know, when you bring it up, they all nod in agreement because it happens to the best contributors. It is so hard to go from the best player on the floor to the coach of the team because it requires such a different skill set than the one you've mastered. And we hope today's episode is helpful on your journey now. To access a summary of this episode, just visit executiveminds co. That's executiveminds co 211. And with that, I want to thank you for joining us for another episode of Executive Minds, where ambitious professionals like you convert potential into high performance to grow their careers. If you enjoyed it, please subscribe. Subscribing automatically delivers episodes to you every week, so you grow on the go. You can also find Executive Minds everywhere you enjoy. Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. You know the list. Also, please help us spread the word and support more ambitious professionals and leaders like you by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Then join us for next episode when my friend Caleb Mason of the Learner's Corner Podcast is going to be on and we'll be discussing how we can learn and grow from what we read when our ambition exceeds our access to mentors. Books are a powerful tool to help us navigate challenging situations with wisdom from brilliant people that are often further along than we are. And of course, coming off of Heather's advice today about the power of reading or even Shane's recap in his annual review about making sure he maintains an aggressive rate of internal change to stay ahead of external change. I think this conversation with Caleb is going to feel quite timely for all of us. Please subscribe so you don't miss it. Until next time. Remember, organizations are just groups of people with a shared purpose. That means your organization grows when you grow. So today, grow where you are and grow what you're given without anyone's permission, because growth is a choice. See you next time.

Speaker B Thanks for listening to Executive Minds, the podcast helping you convert your potential into high performance so you can grow your career. Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or follow us on Spotify. Then join us for the next episode. For show notes and more resources, visit executiveminds Co. That's executiveminds Co, the Art of Leadership Network.

EM 211 | How to Develop Yourself as a Leader

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