105. Overall Leader Connectivity

Foreign. Hey, my friend. Welcome back to leadership in a nutshell. Cracking that code of the driven mind. We're gifted with my friend. Episode 105 overall leader connectivity. Today I want to just take a moment to, to jump in with kind of how you stay connected as a leadership team. And so I get the great ability to work in some high level teams and see the communication and how different leader departments kind of play off of each other and how some are just intrinsically more connected through the day to day operation than others in the business. And the bigger the business grows, the more you have to stay in awareness and intentionality with keeping everybody connected in your leadership team. And so in today's world, you know, you might have multiple locations, you might have leaders in different areas. I know, you know, I run a business right now that has five people on the leadership team with Christy and I and, and then three other, other leaders in the business that we all live in different areas. And so it's a challenging situation where you're working to stay connected through Zoom meetings and, or video meetings, I should say. Zoom's kind of the ban. I'm sure there will be other video platforms that come along, but right now we're using vm, vume, Zoom at the time of this recording. But you know, there, there, maybe I just created a new video platform called vume. I don't know. Anyway, I digress. Hey, I view this as a chance for us to connect and that's why my editors don't edit this stuff out. We just have a good time and play full out. If you want something formal and dry and dry and bland, then you best find somewhere else because that's not what you're getting here. I want you to think about own leadership team, regardless how big you are, how small you are. Maybe it's you and your spouse are the leadership team right now because you're up and coming. Maybe you're a leader in a business that has multiple departments. Maybe you're, you know, running a $50 million, $150 million company where you have some different locations, you know, whatever that is. Just think about your overall leadership team right now and think about whether it's geography. And guess what? When I say geography, it could be upstairs, downstairs, it could be down the hall, or it could be across the country, or in some cases it could be across continents. And so I want you to just think about, you know, geography and how that shows up of where the physical separation is between the leaders in your own organization. Okay? Now I want you to Think about what the communication platform, we'll call it the connectivity platform is for the business. So, you know, are you using some messaging software? Do you use a lot of email? Do you use text messaging? Are you using one of the communication platforms online, whatever that is? How, how are you communicating with each other throughout the day and how well is that maintaining connectivity? Because there's two types of connectivity. There's kind of operational connectivity and then there's what I would call leadership connectivity. So I think about, you know, for Chris and I, the president of blue collar and myself wearing the hat of CEO at the moment, you know, as I look at our communication, we have a standing weekly 90 minute meeting. He lives in Florida, I live in Arizona. And our time changes twice a year right now, where I meaning that because Arizona doesn't change times. Our time gap, if you will. You know, half the year Arizona's on what we call Pacific time, and half the time it's on mountain time. Yes, there's legislation, they might be changing that stuff, but meaning, sometimes there's a two hour time difference, sometimes there's a three hour time difference. And weekly we meet and we schedule it for 90 minutes. Sometimes there's something that happens and it, you know, it gets pushed or we can't do the full 90 or whatever. But every single week we have intentionality that, that is on and we connect. And if we're not going to, we connect in a different way, shape or form. Whether it's a phone call and that is a video meeting, by the way, with us being remote with each other. I want a direct connection in a video fashion so I can see him, so I can share energy, so I can check in on physiology and he can see mine. A lot of stuff gets lost. So again, back to geography. Could be you're upstairs and somebody's downstairs and you're, you know, messaging them through a group message platform that they get on their desktop. And yet there's no context to the message. There's no inflection in your voice in a message. There's, you know, some of those different things. So connectivity means also physical or at least visual when, you know, when we think about the ways people connect. When I've got audio, I've got visual here now, you know, one of the reasons that I ended up going, I started this as a video and audio podcast. And then through consulting that I received as a podcaster, I had an expert in podcasting that guided me to just go, just go audio. And what you'll notice with a lot of audio and video podcasts is if you're watching it on YouTube per se, you know, there you, you have to, you have to commit to one platform first. And when I was shooting this podcast started with me shooting on YouTube or a video, I should say. And like right now, I'm using my hands and you can't see my hands, therefore, I just had to say, I'm using my hands as I'm talking. If, if I was recording this on video right now, I wouldn't have said that. And if you were listening on audio, you would miss that point. So you see what I'm saying? Like, so I think a lot of, a lot of podcasters record audio and strip the video out of ease of use. And I get that podcasting is a lot of work. So I understand that rather than shoot a video and then record an audio. But what I'm saying is that understanding the platform of communication for you and I, I know I've only got you from an audio standpoint today, so I want you to just take a deep breath right now and put your index fingers on your temple and close your eyes and breathe. Now, as I guide you through that, if you played along with me, I had to paint a visual picture in order for you to do that. If I was on camera, I would just say, hey, do this. Hold your fingers up here and follow me on. Right? So it's a different thing now. I just say that because even if you're a small business and it's just you and your, your spouse, let's say, that are running the business, there's also all kinds of disconnect. Maybe you're working in the field, maybe she's working in the field. Maybe you're in the office, maybe she's in the office and I'm speaking from male to male. Maybe if, you know, just depending, maybe you're the owner of the business as the female and you've got your husband that is disconnected, doing something else. All of this matters with the different platforms and the different types of things. And look here I'm catching myself trying to be politically correct. I'm just going to do the best I can. If you're married to a man, don't be offended. If you're married to a woman, as a woman, please don't be offended. I talk from my own perspective, and I'm a man married to a woman, so that's what I'm saying. So as I, as I talk through this, please just understand. As you communicate with leaders in the business, though, Regardless of how disconnected or where you're at, what are your check ins looking like? Because if I connect just through operations, everything's tactical and task oriented. If I'm looking to connect from a leadership level, everything can be a little bit deeper, a little more intrinsic. And so you've got to make sure both happen. Because I see in businesses where, oh, we have a monthly leadership meeting or maybe we have a weekly leadership meeting, but it's all task oriented. And so there's, there's this deeper level of connection that some of the leaders need, not all of them, let's be clear. Leadership teams are made up of leaders. Leaders are made up of people. Some people need more connectivity than others, period. I personally believe we all need some at a certain level. But as I personally believe that that could just be my own perspective because I like to feel connectivity. And now I feel more connected to humanity than I ever have because I've been able to connect to my own self, divine connection and spirit in a way that I never have before. Therefore, I feel very connected to you. Even though we're only just connecting through audio today. I didn't always used to feel that way. I used to feel I had to be face to face with Chris more often than not in order to feel connected with him. That's because I was disconnected from myself. And that's okay. It all runs its course. It all goes through different times as we evolve as leaders. But I want you to make sure that as a leader, regardless of how many are on your team, that you're being intentional, that you're constantly making sure that you're playing the same game. Because it could be internal office leaders and production leaders. Some people are going to be focused more on sales, some people are going to be focused more on crossing T's and dotting I's with systems and structure in the business. And so the production leaders might be meeting constantly and might be having one off and got a minute meetings and making sure that. And so they feel very connected. They might go to lunch together, they might go to lunch with, you know, wholesalers or suppliers or different things like that that take place. And yet then we've got office in HR and call center management and you know, running payroll and bookkeeping and the CFO and making sure that all of that stays in alignment. You've got to have meetings. Yes. You've got to have individual check ins. Yes. I'm not telling you how often to schedule them, how often to do them. I'm honoring you that you need to make sure that your team is feeling the connection they need. So thinking back to your own business, your own structure, whether it's you and a spouse, whether it's you, an entire team, it's you, a spouse in a team. Where do you need to like uplevel your game a little bit? Think about the individuals on your team. Is there anybody that might need a touch that you haven't touched in quite a while? Is there anybody that might need a text or a phone call or a one on one or just periodic just check in? Stop now. Think about it. Create some clarity. I want you to decide who and I want you to decide when. Overall leadership connectivity is not to be undermined. It's not to be taken for granted. It's not to be taken too lightly. As the leaders go, so goes the business. And I want you to just remember that when I would also say, however connected the leaders are, the business can only be that connected. So when you think about your culture, when you think about who you want to be, how you want to act, how you want to show up, that all will manifest throughout the entire company, depending on how connected you remain as a leadership team. Overall Leader Connectivity Episode 105 I'm your host of Leadership in a nutshell. Please do us a favor my friend. Share this like us. Review us. Make sure that you kick this to some other leaders in your organization, peers of yours regardless of industry. We focus on home services here, but I hear from a lot of people that a lot of different people are getting value from this podcast. Please kick it in an email. Just copy the link and kick it to somebody that you care about until we talk. Make it a better than fantastic week, my friend. I will see you very soon. Thank you.