Building and Leading a Team

In your life. Otherwise, there's no way to track it. There's no way to know. And sometimes it's hard to identify what exactly is the specific problem. Like, what's the thing that's not working? So you have to do it, like, by process of elimination or do one at a time. Like when you go to the doctor and they think you have an allergy, they tell you to remove one food group at a time. Stop eating dairy for three weeks. Then we see if there's a difference. If not, put it back. Then you stop eating gluten or wheat for three weeks and see if there's a difference. You know, you have to remove one thing at a time. But that's why it helps to track this stuff. That's why every week I'm like, what has worked in your life this week and what hasn't? Because you have to look at the things that are working well for you and continue to do that, support yourself in doing that. How do you make more of that? And the things that are not working for you, you have to see how to remove or to change or to adapt. Yes, there are things in our life we can't change, but there's always a different way to do things. There's always another way around. Just because there's an obstacle. You can go over, you can go under, you can go right, you can go left. You know, there's always other doors and other ways to get things done, but you have to use a concerted effort. You have to be tracking and measuring and knowing what is working and what is not working to make those changes and to make them effectively. So I will continue to emphasize, because I hope every week someone is starting the practice and someone is noticing something different in this week and last week. Oh, my God. Is it how much you slept? Is it. Is it how much work you're doing, how productive you are? There's always a difference. So track that. So today we're talking about building and leading a team. What can we say about that? This is such an interesting topic, I think, because we all work in teams. No man is an island in this life. We are always working in teams. Whether you're an entrepreneur, you work in an office place, whether it's for your church group, it's for a project you're volunteering on, it's for your Rotary Club, there's always a team. And it's always good to work well in a team because you get more things done. You need what two heads are better than one? I think that's the expression. So when it comes to building a team, the most important thing I always say is you have to look at the skill set that you need and make sure you match that in the team. It's always easier and more fun to work with people who are like you. But if you have the same background, the same skill set, the same ideas, the same interest, yeah, it's more smoother and easier. But you don't get different perspectives, you don't get different skills. So you, whenever there's a team, look at what's the purpose of the team? What do you need this team for? What are they trying to achieve? What's the project? What's the vision? So you look at that goal and then you walk your way backwards. What is the skill set we need to achieve that effectively? If we are all engineers and you are here trying to start a business and none of us has a business background, we're going to have some problems. So you need to recruit someone on the team who has a business background. That's what I mean. Do it strategically, not just about who you like or who is your friend, who asked you to be on the team or who was there. Try and see what's the best way to build this team. What is the team I need? And sometimes it's more difficult because you'll have different personalities, different backgrounds, different opinions. You'll clash, you'll disagree, but that's a good thing. Conflict is bad when you manage it poorly. It's not that you don't want different opinions. Different opinions is a good thing. Conflict is the negative thing. And that is about how you're handling different opinions, different views that are in opposing directions. That's why leadership is important, so that you can navigate that. But when you build the team, you want diversity. And now there's so many studies that show about how diversity impacts teams. You want teams that have different genders because you have different perspectives, different races, different tribes, different cultures, different educational backgrounds, because everyone will come with a different perspective. And that means a different lens. The way you all look at the same thing, you see it differently, which gives you a more wholesome picture of the whole project or the whole idea or the process that you're going through. So you want diverse teams. And you can read about it if you Google diverse teams. I'm sure you'll see lots of articles, studies, reports, because there's more and more research about this. I think what's interesting is historically, teams used to be basically main for things in the workplace. The companies that have these reports and these studies, it's not usually just white men. So all the data, all the things that were processed and researched and made were designed by white men for white men. So a lot of us in the rest of the world are living with products and services that were not designed with us in mind. But now over the last like 30 years, there's been so much more research about diversity. And with all the racism push in America, also with race diversity, with feminist movements, there's diversity in gender. So now people know that it's a good thing thing to have different kinds of people on the team. And that's just like demographic diversity. You want diversity also in skills. So if you're coming together for a project or for a team or an event or something in your workplace, you want to have different people. Like when companies have projects, they'll have someone from different departments. The marketing person, this is who is assigned. Finance assigns this person, Strategy assigns this person. This is the product person. And you work together because you need diversity, you need the different backgrounds. When you're building a team, the most important thing is the diversity. Try and get different people, get different perspectives, get different areas, because you'll get different networks from all these people. They all bring credibility, they'll bring different information and advice. Something you wouldn't have known. If you have a legal person and an engineer and an architect, all on your Rotary club meeting group for this project that you're building, well, somewhere you're all going to have access to different people to fundraise from. You're going to have different opinions on how to build the thing, how to read the documents, how to procure everything. You get different opinions and that gives you variety. So you're able to choose the best option for the vision, for the goal, for the project. So that's why I'm saying work backwards. Always know what's your goal. Start with the end in mind. This is something I do for everything. Whenever someone has an idea or a project or a proposal, or even if I have something I want to do, what is the end goal? What am I trying to achieve now? How do I get there? It's like how with personal development, you need to know where you're trying to go, go, so you know how to move there. Imagine trying to use Google Maps, but you don't know where you're trying to go. Turn left, turn right. How does it take you? How do you know? So always start at the end in mind. Know what's the desired outcome and then see what's the best route to get there. And this is good because also it keeps you flexible. There's never just one way to get things done. There's always a million different routes. You can go this way or that way, this way. But you look for the most optimal one, and you start with trying for that. If you can't get that optimal route, something went wrong. We couldn't get this person on the team. It's okay. Use the next one. You know, sometimes Google Maps, it shows you two minutes longer or six minutes longer. This one has more traffic. You know, stuff like that. So just think about it that way. Some routes have more traffic than others, so know where you're trying to go. That's what's important. And then be flexible about how you're going to get there. But you want to get the team that's going to take you there. That's the first step. Because first you need to build the team. Think about it as assembling your avengers. Get the squad that you want, Think of the dream people that you want, and then start to see how to get those people, what it's going to take to recruit them, to hire them, to get them on board, to get them to buy into your vision. That's how you build the team. Because you all have to have this shared vision. They have to get it. They have to want to go away. You're trying to take everyone, because we're talking about this under the series of leadership. So that's why I'm saying, as a leader in the team, it's up to you to make sure you build the right team and you make sure the team has the vision that you have, that they are all aware of what you're trying to achieve. It's shocking how often we have this miscommunication in life where people are working on the same project and they don't really understand what project they're working on, or they all have a different idea of what the success looks like for that project. So as a leader, it's important for you to communicate what success looks like, what we're trying to do, what we are trying to achieve, so that everyone on the team is on the same page. And honestly, you often have to keep repeating that, because as the project keeps going, taking a different turn, this detour, maybe here, there's some traffic, people get confused, they get misaligned. So keep reiterating, keep reminding everyone why we're here, why we're working on this project, what we're trying to achieve, where we're trying to go. It also helps with motivation. You know, keep pushing people, reinvigorate them, get them to remember what they showed up for. So that's the part I would say about building. You really want to have that diversity and the shared vision and make sure that everyone is on the same page. So communicate a lot when it comes to leading the team, that's where it takes more emotional intelligence, I would say, as the most important factor. Because to lead a team means you are working with other people. It means that you're trying to get the best out of other people. You're trying to get them to excel. It doesn't mean to do everyone's job for them. That is poor leadership. It doesn't mean you're constantly training or you're constantly babysitting or supervising or reminding. That means you're leading at a very low level. What you're trying to do is to get people to see the vision and to try and get there as fast as they can, as most effectively as they can, with high quality, in their own way. So your job as a leader is to inspire them, to facilitate, to support, to make sure everyone is moving and doing what they're supposed to do. Do they have the tools to do what they need to do? Have you given them the resources that they need, the information, the budget, the time you need to give these things as a leader and make it clear to someone. Communicate, communicate, communicate. That should be like Leadership 101. It's just communicate. As long as you're always communicating as a leader, you're not failing completely. Make sure everyone has what they need to do their job. You can't be frustrated with someone upset when the deadline comes and they don't know, they don't have the results you want because you did not give them what they needed. So make sure. You always ask. And sometimes people don't know what they need until they start going. So you have to keep checking on these things. That's why communication is important. That's why you need to have regular updates and meetings. And how is it going and what's the challenge? Have you talked to this vendor? Did you get this part done? Is the website finished? What do you need? What's missing? Is it a photo? Is it some copy? What. What is missing? How can we help you? I feel like that's 90% of my job all day is what I'm. That's what I'm saying. How can I help you? How can I help you? How can I help you? Because my job is to make sure you are able to do your job. That's the whole role that I have as a leader. It's to make sure everyone else is doing their job. That's my job. So I have to make sure that there is a carrot, you know what you're trying to do. There's rewards, there's incentives. We're excited, we're motivated, and there's a stick. There's punishments, there's penalties, there's fines. This is going to happen to you if you don't do it. And also that there's Runway, that you know where you're going, that there's space to do it, to facilitate that environment, to make sure that you are able to do the best that you can do for this project. Because that's why we want you on this project. Never let people forget why they are there. We hired you for a reason. You have a skill set, you have a talent, you have a attitude, a perspective. And we want that on the project and we want that on the team. And so you have to keep encouraging them and get that out of them. And I say emotional intelligence is important because human beings are human beings. Everyone has their problems at home in their personal life. Their insecurities, their negative self talk. They have challenges, they have pressure, they have bills. They also have personalities. This one doesn't like that one. This one doesn't get along with this one. This one is dating that one. This one fought with this one, that one cheated on this one. Unfortunately, we cannot put life in nice boys boxes where these things don't spill into the workplace. They spill, they come. They stress you out as a leader, but that's what it is. So it's about understanding how to navigate the team, how to make the most of the situation you have. Sometimes you inherit a team. You didn't even get to build them. But you have to get to make sure that they achieve the goal, that they achieve the vision that the company has set out or that the project or the organization wants. So as a leader, it's your job to know these people, to listen to them, to hear what they're actually saying when they're saying it. And I don't just mean, tell me your problems, tell me what resources you need. What's going on with you? Are you actually motivated? Are you pissed off that you're on this team? How can we make the most of it? Right now I'm working on a project where half the project team does not want to be there. They don't want to Be involved. They've begged and refused and pleaded like, we cannot be on this project. But it's not their choice. It's not my choice either. We're in a contract. We have to make it work. So now I have half the team that's super energetic and bumpy. Them, they started the project, they're trying to make it work, and the other half does not want to help them. So my job is to help make the team work together. We have to put our differences aside. We have to see what each other needs to make it work. What can we do to make this process easier? What can we do to achieve this goal? How can I help you to not be pissed off every time we call you for a meeting for this project? Because we need to make it work and we're not going to have a poor result at the end. That's not an option. So we have to make it work to the best of our ability. We have to think about our brand, our reputation, our customers, our staff, everyone else who's going to be involved in this project. So we have to take time and care and passion. You have to sort of think about it from everyone's perspective. That's what something sometimes helps me as a leader on a team. I have to try and understand each person's role and each person's situation. You know, we take it for granted the way we are. We assume everyone is like us. This is something I struggled with for a long time. Why can't you get it? If I understand it, why don't you understand it? If I can do it, why can't you do it? You know? But people have different perspectives. This is where the diversity comes in and it's important. So sometimes I'll deal with someone whose personality is completely different from mine, but they're doing work that I am not doing. So I need to put myself in their shoes. What is their day like? What are their struggles in the day? What's stressing them about work? What are their goals? What are the things they're trying to achieve in their day for the project? So I understand them a bit better. How do they navigate this or react with this? During COVID a lot of people didn't have. When we did work from home, they needed Internet. And some people live in areas where electricity is up and down. All of us in Uganda. But some are worse than others. And so I know some of like the big banks were sending inverters to people's houses. Some people were buying Internet for their teams. You have to give People, the resources that you need. But if you don't think about it and you don't ask, I. A lot of the time people won't ask. They won't do work for three days and tell you, I didn't have MBS and you forgot to buy them data and they also didn't want to ask you. So now the work wasn't done. So you have to think about this. Give and take, work together in a team. It's not anyone's fault, but you have to assign responsibility and see who can do what, make sure your team has what they need to work. And that's difficult, especially in small companies. You don't have massive budgets, you're not trying to send people inverters to their houses. You have to see what works. Okay, if you can only switch on your data once a week, let's make sure we do the meeting the day before so that on that day you're doing all the social media posts and you're doing all the comments and the inbox. That's the data we'll give you. You have to do what's manageable for you, what's sustainable. But the job of the leader is to see the whole big picture. To see the big picture doesn't mean you sit in your office and you let the team walk far away. Yes, yes, they are somewhere doing their work. You need to know what they're all going through. Check in with each one of them. How's it going on your end? What are the challenges you're having? What's working? Oh, what's your idea? What do you really think about this? Sometimes it's good to have these conversations one on one, one, because it builds rapport between you and the person. Like they feel like they can talk to you, they have that open communication channel and then also they can share things that they might not be comfortable sharing in meetings. I know I'm always saying speak up in meetings and it's something that's important because you have to be able to speak in public. If you're going to walk in a public situation. Unless you're going to walk and stuff by yourself alone with your computer at home for the rest of your life, you need to be able to pick up in meetings and stuff. So there's things that have to be shared as a team. But it helps if people are prepped before. So you know, all know. Let's say the weekly meeting is on Tuesday. This is the agenda. They're going to ask me these KPIs, these are my Performance indicators, key performance indicators. That's a KPI. So they're going to ask me how much money we've spent, how many customers we got this week, how many products we sold, how many repairs we had to do, how many negative comments we got on Facebook, things like that. You know, they're going to ask you, prepare for it. So if there's something that, you know, someone struggles with or is not prepared for as the leader, talk to them in advance. Say, you know, we're going to bring up this in the meeting. I hope you're prepared. Is there anything you want to go over so that people feel comfortable and can share that with you? You know, every time I talk about the negative feedback, the birth of the team project always gets annoyed with me, like it's my fault. But I've tried to tell the product team, you have to change this. Other the customers keep complaining and it's me they shout at. So you have to understand these different dynamics at play. And these are not technical things that you're just going to train out or buy something to solve the problem. That's why the emotional intelligence part is important. As a leader, most of your time is not in the technical part of your work. It's in managing the people. It's in dealing with people, listening to them, supporting them, helping them with different resources. Sometimes I'll notice someone has a weakness in this area or they're scared about something. I will spend time sitting on YouTube, going through videos, watching till I find the right one. Huh? This is the one that can help and I'll send it to you. Or I'll suggest a book, or I'll suggest a training, or I'll say, come with me for this project and you see how we handle it here. And you learn from that. You have to take that time to be sensitive, to sort of listen to the things that are beneath the surface. Because it really, really affects the work, the morale, the togetherness of the team. It's something that's really important and it's something that we don't always notice. I have an auntie who's very technical and she works in it and she kept getting promoted, which cause she's good at her job. And she told me one day that she misses when she was junior because she used to get to do the actual programming. Now her time is all in management. She's in meetings, she's in HR issues, she's in writing reports. She never gets to actually do the IT part of stuff. And I was like, oh, I'm so sorry. My whole life has been in management, so I don't know what that feels like. But I understood what she meant because management is just about dealing with people. You're not doing technical stuff. Most of the time you're dealing with something someone else had to do. You're reading a report someone else wrote, or you're advising something or approving something or listening to someone or negotiating for something. So when you think about leading a team, yes, there are skills you can learn. Your emotional intelligence, you can improve, your negotiation skills. Bedside manner, man. Oh, my gosh. You know, we only talk about that with doctors. But there's always people in offices who are difficult to work with. They're rude or combative or scary or defensive or quiet. You know, there's so many small things that just make life harder for everyone else. But you have to remember, when you're on a team, there's no eye in team. You got to be working together as a group because you're only as strong as the weakest person on your team. If you all know that there's this one person who's slowing you down and no one speaks up, no one says anything, no one tries to help them, you're all going to move slowly. That's just a fact. So you have to think, what can I do? How can I take some leadership initiative to get this project moving along, to make sure that this team is getting its goals achieved? We're working towards that vision. You have to take that initiative as a leader because everyone is coming from different backgrounds. Maybe the person who has put the team leader is going through their family problems right now. They really don't care what's happening at work. They just have to show up and leave because they are stressed. Maybe you can help them with that. You can talk to the team, you can support people, encourage people, facilitate things. Maybe your team was assigned a huge project and you got a really small budget and you're all stressed about it, but you don't know what to do. So you need to take some initiative. Is there a senior manager you can speak to privately? Is there some way you can get funds from another project that you know is not using them? How can you make sure that you get what you need for your team? Is there a way you can show, if you give us this much money, this is the result we'll be able to get? This is the proven track record we have. There are different things you can do, but you have to take initiative in working with people and building these relationships, cultivating the relationships and seeing how to make it work. That is what managing a team requires. It's not technical skills. Build the team that you need. Ideally, be grateful for the team that you have, because it's very hard to do everything on your own. I think solo entrepreneurs know that when you have to be the finance, the marketing, the hr, the everything for yourself, hard times. But it's also very difficult to manage a team because human beings. Oh, my gosh. You think for a species that is so predictable and is so rooted, like, we do so many of the same things all the time, it would get easy. Yeah, it doesn't. After the first year of working in a hotel, I had never worked with so such a big team. And I remember at some point there was 300 people at skies. It was like running a school. Every day there's a problem. This one did that. This one said this. This one is sick. That one needs this. I'm just like, wow. I asked one of the managers who been in hotels for 15 years, and she was like, yeah, it's always like this. There's no, like, quiet month where everyone is fine and everything is good. I was like, oh, my God. Because with projects, like when you work in construction, you see progress, right? You deal with one problem at a time. That problem is done, you fix it, you move to the next thing. But with human beings, it's never over. That same problem will keep coming up with a different person in a different way. They've stolen this money. This person fought with that one. This one didn't show up for work. This one was late. That one was rude to a customer. Like, it's ongoing. And so you have to get used to, like, mitigating that to make sure things are at least flowing and moving in the general direction that you want. Because it's never perfect. But you have to put in that effort to be there for people, to listen to people, to take the time, motivate them, support them, facilitate, you know, try and make the most of the situation that you're in. I think that helps. Let's see. I think we have some questions. Hola. Okay. I really hope my Internet holds up. What leadership skills do you find most useful? Interesting question. Emotional intelligence. That is something I think is the most useful. It's something that I've had to practice and learn and cultivate. It can be exhausting. It can be scary. But also, you have to do your own work as a leader. You're a better leader if you're a better person. So I think a Lot of the time we're passive about who we are as adults, but we have baggage from our own past, our childhood, our families, our stress, our life, how we think, how we see the world. So the more work I do on myself, I think the better a leader I become because I become a healthier person and also I lead with a better example and then I can teach people what I've also learned. So emotional intelligence is something that I. How did I learn about that? When I was in grad school, I asked one of my mentors, what are the technical skills? What are the key things that I need to learn while I'm here so I can get a job when I finish? And she said, it's not technical skills. I the most sought out things employers are looking for in this job market today is soft skills. You need to really work on emotional intelligence. You need to be able to be a team player, you need to be able to negotiate, you need to be able to communicate, time management, things like that. I was like, okay, okay. I've never heard of these things in like a technical way, but I'm a research, so I got some books, I watched some videos. It's like, okay, I can learn this stuff. And then once you start learning, you start to see it everywhere and you start to apply it and practice it, so you start to improve. So I would say emotional intelligence is a big one for a leader. I would say organization, organization and productivity. Because as a leader, as my mother tells me, the backstops with you, every problem is your problem. So the problems are always going to be there and they're always going to be many. So you have to be efficient in tick, tick, tick, handling this, handling this, handling that. Actually the other day someone in my team told me that they appreciate how I swiftly handle issues. I was like, thank you, that means a lot. Because it really, it takes a lot of effort for me and, and it's something I had to work on because pending problems just add more stress to your life. So I would say those are the top two. Teamwork is a big thing because we always work in teams. And it's not just, I'm on a team, I'm doing the teamwork. There's ways to be a good teammate and there's ways to be a bad one. So it's something to rediscover and learn and it helps you because as a leader, you're on a team and once you're the leader of the team, you have to understand what everyone else is going through. You can't do some. Give someone instructions for something you've never done yourself. It's also something I think of when I'm giving people instructions. When I'm asking them for something and they're failing, I'm like, I'm not asking you to do something I couldn't do. Also me, if I had the time to do your task, I would do it. So I want it done this way. I'm not asking you to do something that I would not put myself through. And it helps if you have experience doing that because you understand what they'll go through so you can foresee and plan those kinds of things. So I would say those are the most important, important skills that I find useful. You have to be so organized, man. You can't be a disorganized leader. You just cause chaos for everyone else. It's very, very important. Next question. How do goals help you become a better leader? It helps with organization. There is no goal if there's no shared vision. We're all like headless chickens. We're all moving in different directions. So my goals have to be personal goals, team goals, goals for the organization, long term goals, short term goals, medium term goals. I have so many goals, but it helps. It's like having a compass. You have to know where you're going. Helps keep you true north. Even with personal stuff, I'm always telling ladies, if you know what you're trying to achieve, it helps you to say no to other things. Because life is always going to throw you tests, obstacles, detours, people will give you distractions. You have to be able to say no. You have to be able to know what the goal is. Is this helping us to go to that goal? Yes or no? If it's not, no, we don't want that. Thank you, but no. Yesterday, someone sent me an Instagram message asking if I could do consulting for training. And I was like, no, sorry, we don't do that. My organization doesn't. I'm very flattered that you think we could, but if I start now thinking, how am I going to do training and consulting for someone's company in another country while I have all the other things I'm trying to achieve, I don't have time for that. So I want to achieve my goals. So you need goals for clarity, so you know what you're trying to do, you know where you're trying to go, and there's integrity in that. So that when you're saying no, you don't feel guilty, you're not feeling, I missed money Or I feel bad I should have helped that person. Because you know why? You need to keep going where you're going. You have a goal and as you achieve goals, you see the value in goals and value in your achievements and how you gain momentum and make progress. Oh my gosh, there's so many questions. I don't have a lot of time. Next. How do you handle disagreements on your team? Conflict resolution, the heart and soul of the leadership. I would say handle it logically. What I always try to do is keep everyone calm, create a calm environment. If everyone is high strung and stressed and shouting, if nothing is getting done, we're all speaking from emotional places and we're not being factually. Try to go to the facts. This person did this, this person said this. What are the facts? What did they actually do? Where is the evidence? You can see this in an email. Did they say this to you? What happened? Get to the fact so people remove all the extra chaos around it. And then always as a leader, listen first. I learned this from Mandela's book. Listen to what everyone else is saying. Give everyone who has a disagreement a chance to present their case. Listen to them, ask questions so you're sure you have a clear picture and then decide or then give your opinion. If as a leader, you always are the first one to have an opinion, other people will be scared to disagree with you. Other people will be quick to just agree with you so that they get brownie points. They're sucking up. It doesn't help you as a leader. There's no clarity and you don't give people a chance to also grow. So when there's a disagreement, make sure you are the last one to speak. Get people to be fair, be open, be reasonable. Give people a chance to present what happened and then see and then be decisive and have a clear way forward. Because what makes a disagreement worse is if everyone goes back into limbo, they still don't know who is right, who is wrong, who is supposed to do what. So once you've decided what to do or who you're going to side with or agree with, make a clear way forward, communicate it, and then stay firm. No one starts going backwards if I make a decision. And now you keep trying to take us backwards and sabotage you become a problem. Next, what was a difficult decision you had to make as a leader and how did you come to that decision? I don't. Well, I make difficult decisions all the time. For me, the most difficult decisions are the ones that have consequences with other people's lives. Like, they're gonna get fired. So I try not to fire people often, although my dad says I fire people way more often than other people. I think it's important to do your job well, and I won't compromise on that. So how I come to that decision is I have. I take notes. Every time you do something wrong, I have you. I keep a file. Like, this is what they did on this day. They missed work. They did this wrong. They delivered this late. They added this one. We didn't ask them to. They removed this. So I keep notes, and I keep track of that so that I go with facts. When I have to make a difficult decision, I let the facts lead. Sometimes, you know, your intuition is involved because you can tell this person is going to mess up. Like, sometimes you'll give someone an instruction, and I just know they're not gonna do it. But you give them enough rope to hang themselves because you look bad. And also, it's not fair to fire someone before they did something wrong. But I know you're going to do it wrong. And as long as it's not something that's going to have huge repercussions for everyone else, I'll let you do it. So that when you've done it, I can show you and say, you see, you did this wrong. This is why you terminated. Hope you understand. All the best in your future endeavors. Use facts, keep track of things, take notes on things, make sure you're aware and you're giving people a fair chance. And look at all the different options. I always think of, like, scenario planning. Whenever you have a different difficult decision, what is the. What are all your options? You could do this. You could do this. You could do this. You could do this. What will the consequences of that be in five years when I have to tell the story of how I dealt with this difficult decision? How will I feel? Will I be ashamed? Will I want to hide? Will I want to lie? No. That means that's not the right decision to make. Will I feel like I made the best decision with my integrity? I can sleep at night. I can't say there's anyone I ever fired that I feel bad that I fired them. I feel, like, sad. Like, I know your family relies on your salary, but you were doing a terrible thing, and you were not doing your work, and it was not what's best for the company. So I have to be able to know I did what I could and I made the right decision. So look at it factually that way. All right? Does team branding Help in leading a team. Yeah, it does. Like when everyone has T shirts that are the same. So that's actually the psychology behind uniforms. So that you all feel united and you all feel the same, and you all feel like you're on the same level and you're more glued together. It's helpful. I wouldn't say it's the most useful thing. Of course, other parts matter if your team is not being well managed. And then just put them in T shirts that help. But everybody loves T shirts. When it's branded T shirt day, you should see how everyone is, you know, excited and happy about that. We don't do that most days in all my companies, so I get to see the difference. Like in the hotels, they have their everyday uniforms, but sometimes when there's an event, everyone gets to wear, like, the same stuff. And you can see there's a uplifting in the attitude. Branding does help. It unites people. Next, how best can you make an incorporative team cooperative? I don't understand what that means. Sorry, Diana. If you can give me some clarity before I'm done, I'll answer that. How do you train a member for future leadership? Interesting. So the easiest way I always say, is you have to let them shadow you. So first you let them observe what you're doing. I think that's one of the ways. I learned a lot about leadership because I used to go everywhere with my dad. Whether I'm just sitting there, taking notes, listening, watching. Sometimes I didn't want to go. It's just like, just come, walk around, see, listen. You start to learn why people do what they do, how they do what they do. And then you get to let them practice. Let them do it a little bit. Give them a small task. Let them try while you're there supervising to make sure, like, nothing bad happens. And then you let them do something without your supervision, and you see what happens. Sometimes my dad calls that school fees when I make a big mistake. And he's like, I knew you were going to make that mistake, but I wanted you to learn from it. So I think, take people through those stages. It's not fair to just drop someone and not give them any kind of help. First let them see you do it, then you watch them do it, then you let them do it. Then they'll grow into that leader that you want them to be and talk to them. Communication helps. Stories, patience, time. Explain why you did what you did so they have the information. You can't assume people think the way you think or Know what you know, how do you manage team failures? I hate it when the team fails. I'm not a gracious loser. So whenever the team fails, I take it so badly. But I try not to, like, upset everyone. I make sure everyone knows you failed, and it's not okay. But what we have to do is, how can we learn from this? Because failing once, fine. Things go wrong. It happens. Fell twice in the same thing. That is a huge problem. We have to learn where we went wrong. Everyone, let's do a debrief. What worked out, what didn't work? Where were the problems? Like at the hotel, Whenever we have big events, we do debriefs after the events. There was a long line on Valentine's Day. On New Year's, this area didn't have enough water. Why? How did that happen? Where was the breakdown in the process? The other day, my dad got an important letter, but we got it, like, three days after it had been sent. And the deadline was there, and he had to be for a meeting, and he wasn't briefed. And I went for his whole team. Guys, how can he not get the letter on the day that they give a letter? It's a legal letter. Like, he needs to be at that meeting. Where did the process break down? Whose job was it to receive the letter? Was it physical? Was it an email? Who checked it? Who forgot it? Did you miss it? You have to go and assess where you went wrong. That's how I handle failure. Because failure is an opportunity to learn. Where did we go wrong? So next time we do all those things better. How best can you manage a workforce that involves different generations where some young people are supervisors of their seniors? Man, Caroline, we all struggle with that. That one is a cultural problem. What the way I handle it is. It is what it is. I'm so sorry if you don't like me because I'm young, but guess what? We have to get done. We have to work. We have to move forward. So with older people, you kind of have to move at a slower pace. No offense. And you have to sort of work in the way that they're comfortable with. If you come as a young supervisor now, you make everything. Technology, apps, changing this. It's informal. We play games in the morning. Then we do this. We all wear T shirts. It rubs them the wrong way. Then they're not happy to be on the team. Then they make your life harder. They also have a lot of wisdom. There's people who are older. They're still on the team because they know A lot. They have experience. So my trick is make the old person, your friend, go to them for advice, go to them to get insight because they do know a lot and then they'll behave better in the group situations because they feel like you respected them and that they have influence with you. It's true, they do have influence with you because you do listen and understand them. But make that time separately for them. Young people are easier because they don't have like habits and they're not set in their ways. And also it's in our culture that older people just think that they're more senior just because they're older. You navigate but don't feel bad about it. You have a job to get done and at the end of the day, if you don't meet your targets or your results, your boss is not going to take the excuse of, oh, there was an old person on my team so we couldn't get the job done. Have to figure out how to navigate that. Very valuable insights. Thank you. How do you manage your own well being amidst the chaos of people management? Man, that one is an important one. Margaret. Self love. There's so much stuff about self love these days. Go on Instagram and type in self love as a hashtag. They'll tell you take a bath, have an affirmation, do a mantra, go for a walk. There's so many things, but this is where organization helps. So for me, I schedule all the things. There are some days I don't schedule stuff or there'll be days where I schedule this time I need to be relaxing or this is where I need to go to the gym or I need to make sure I'm eating this. I make sure there's always water around me. I try to integrate small things into my everyday that keep my well being up, like water, sleep, no phone calls, stuff like that so I can keep going. And then stuff that replenishes you because you have to fill your own cup or you cannot pour into others. And the chaos of people management is ongoing, it is constant and it's never going to stop. So you have to accept that and now see how to fit it in for yourself. If you wait till you're depleted, you get sick, you burn out, it's not sustainable. So you have to integrate pieces for you and yourself. Make that time, which I know is hard, but you have to carve it out sometimes, put it in your calendar like an appointment and treat it like an appointment so that you never remove it. Of all the goals you highlighted, I E Personal goals, organizational goals, which one takes precedence? Is there any priority? You know, John, it's like juggling balls. You can't let any of them fall down because it crashes and it makes the whole of your life a mess. So I think you need goals and you need priorities. But you can't say, okay, the organizational goals are not like a priority this month. Like, it's just not possible. So I think with priorities, as long as you don't have 10 priorities, you can have priorities. Have three things that are important. Like this month of my personal life, this is what I'm the most important. For my work life, this is the most important for my social life, this is the most important. For my spiritual life, this is the most important. You know, three to five goals is okay. Then you work on them on a day to day. Of course there are junior things underneath there. Like if I'm trying to drink more water this month physically, like that's my health goal. That is my 1 priority. It's not that I'm going to eat badly or stop exercising or not sleep or do other bad things for my body, but that is the most important one. So I need to try and add effort to make sure that it's happening. You can't remove one thing at a time. I wish we could imagine you could just pause your life. I won't work for six months, I'm focusing on myself. Then I won't focus on myself for six months, I'm focusing on work. It doesn't work that way. You have to integrate. That's why organization is so important and people really undervalue that. If you organize these things, you plan it. Sit on a Sunday night, look at all the things that you have to do for the week. Personally, professionally, your social life, your commitments, your family, you're out of your church or your society or your group, all of them. Then organize them. Which one is going to take time? Which ones make sense to do them on one day? Because I'll be in that area. Which ones I can do all of them on? Zoom. See how you can organize and make your life more productive, more efficient. Then the goals don't feel so overwhelming and crushing. All right, last question. How best can one prioritize goals? There is something called an Eisenhower matrix, Daniel. You can Google that or I can post it. I posted it somewhere. It's basically things that are urgent versus things that are important. So that's how you look at your goals. Is it urgent or is it important, or is it both, or is it neither? So Something that is urgent and that's important that you have to do, you need to schedule and make sure you get it done. Something that is important but not urgent, you can do it later, but you still have to do it. You still have to plan for it. Something that is urgent but not important, delegate, get someone else to sort that out. Like it just needs to be done. And then something that's not urgent and that's not important, you put in what we call the cutlack. One day I'll get to it when I have some time and space and ability. So you have to constantly be assessing your goals. What is more important and more urgent right now? If I don't do this now, is it going to have long term consequences then I really need to face it now. If I do this later, is there going to be a negative blowback? Will it help me more? Some things you have to invest in yourself, they cost a lot of time or money, like your health or investments. For money now you need to put the money away. But the benefit is so much more if you do it for later. But if you keep putting it off. Putting it or putting it off, you wait till you're old and you're unhealthy and you're sick, or you wait till you're retired and you don't have enough money because you didn't make investments when you were young. So some things you have to figure out now, some things you can do later, some things you can ask someone else to do, some things you can automate. There's apps for everything these days. Make your life easier and keep assessing the goals you guys have to go. How do you handle work? Politics, in leadership, emotional intelligence, there's always politics. Every organization has politics. If you want to be a smart person in the politics, get to know people, build individual relationships. Don't rely on, I'm on this team and the boss likes the marketing team. Get to know other people, get to know what motivates them, what drives them, how you can build that relationship. Because then people vouch for you, you vouch for them. You know what they like, what they don't like. You know what their goals are. They know how ambitious you are, they know where you're trying to go. So build individual relationships, make sure you have genuine connections and people know you and you know them because then you're actually friends. And then you'll be able to navigate the politics better. You have team, you have allies, you have someone who vouchs for you. You also have their back on Certain things. Because there's always going to be politics in the workplace. Guys. Okay, last question. How can you react to a team whereby the team leader always throws favors to sp specific people? I know that's the politics we're talking about. It's very difficult. What you can do is in what's in your control. Do your part well, do your integrity and your job and like your bits well and add value. And now if you have a team leader who always favor someone else, you need to be more visible in the things that you're doing. So if you're doing good work, make sure everyone else knows it's you doing that work. Because then your team leader really can't keep choosing someone else just because they like them. But when everyone knows that this is the person who is doing well also with your team leader, show them how well you're doing. Be visible in your value. And if it's just a personal thing or it's a personal relationship or they're from the same family or the same tribe or their neighbors. I know there's always stuff like that, like, oh, this one went to school. This is my ob. That stuff is annoying. But you can fight it with facts because that way you have. You keep your integrity and you also improve in your own career. Other people will. That person will also start to see you shine. And they can only resist for so long. If you're frustrated and you've tried this and they're still not doing that, that's when you have to make sure everyone else knows how good you are. Because then someone else will vouch for you. A different team leader, a different supervisor, someone else on your team will make sure that you also get opportunities. I hope that's helpful. Guys, I really do gotta run. If you have any other questions, you can send on social media and I will send you a response on like a dm. Have a wonderful weekend.