Hi friends. I hope your week is going great and welcome to the darn good leadership podcast. This show is all about being a strong and effective leader. One that creates positive impacts on your teams and communities. You're going to get ideas, inspiration, and practical advice. You can take action on to be a darn good leader. I'm your host, Emily Holting hello. And this month folks has kicked off our second season together and the start of 2023, or we are taking the driver's seat of our careers and we are taking extreme ownership of our leadership. And we are holding ourselves accountable for our happiness growth and setting the example for those around us. In week, one of this year, we discussed why you work, where you work. And when we two, we talked about working savvier and doing that through a clear strategy and strong time management skills. With a new year always comes new opportunities and new challenges. And when times are tough or challenging, it's when we need leaders to be at their strongest. So this week we're talking about how you're showing up as a leader and what type of example you're setting for your teams and communities. But first a story. I have three sisters and they all have kids. And over the last 19 years of being an aunt, I've been aware of how I'm showing up for them, the examples and I'm setting. I live pretty far away from everybody else. So when I am with my family and my nieces and nephews, I try to be present. I try to play with them. I ask them questions. I listen, I try to show them how much I love them as best I can. And three of my nieces are now, essentially in their teenage years. So they have phones and they're on Instagram and I've been really mindful more recently of what I'm posting there, the frequency of my posts and ensuring they're all setting good examples for them. Because I know they are always observing me in their own way of how I act in real life. And also when I'm posting on social media, A couple of weeks ago, my sister told me that it was pretty late at night and she heard one of my nieces still up watching something. And she went to her room when she was like, okay, come on. It's bedtime. Turn it off. What are you watching? And my niece replied, she wasn't watching anything. In fact, she was listening and she just said, mom, the episode is almost done. Episode. What episode are you listening to? She asked. And my niece replied, I'm listening to an Emmy. I'm listening to the darn good leadership podcast. So when I heard this. I was incredibly surprised because I wouldn't have thought that one of my nieces at their age would be listening to this content. I shouldn't be surprised about that either, But I was filled with joy. And a way that I hadn't really felt before. I also learned my other two nieces tend to listen to me from time to time. And all of them were asking if I had any darn good leadership swag for them. T-shirts or sweatshirts which I most certainly will do for them. Of course. Now I started this podcast to build a community of leaders and to help create positive impacts on teens and communities and hopefully the world. It just never dawned on me that part of this community of leaders was or could be my nieces. Without even realizing it. I had been setting an example for them. And in turn that is just motivating me even more to continue to show up to this community, do my best work. And hope that I can continue to set a positive example that they can be proud of and inspired by. So why do I tell you this? Why am I talking about my nieces other than the fact that they're wonderful. Hi guys. If you're listening well, whether you realize it or not, how you are showing up is being observed by those around you. What energy, what effort. What your attitude is, what your quality of work and outputs are, how you communicate. All of that is being taken in. People teams, groups, they are all forming an opinion of you and a perception of you. Now you can't control how people think. But you most certainly can control how you're showing up. And the example you are setting. so I'm going to walk you through five different areas in which leaders show up. And you can do some self evaluation into which camp you fall more into. So here we go. Uh, evaluation number one. How do you work with your teams? Are you a leader who swoops and poops. Or are you leader that aligns and calibrates so if you've never heard of the term. Swoop and poop. It is one of my favorites. I love this term so much. I hate when it happens, but I love the term swoop and poop. This means that you're a leader. Who's not really paying attention to the details, but every so often you decide to swoop down to the people that are actually doing the work squawk loudly about everything you see that is wrong. And needs to be fixed and you should basically all over everyone about the work. And then you fly away leaving the team and the people to clean up all the mess that my friends is a swoop and poop leadership. Not good.. Or are you in align and calibrate type of leader? This is a leader where you clearly articulate the what and the why from the start. You also have frequent checkpoints with your team to ensure you are aligned and calibrating together as needed. This is much more collaborative in your leadership, still empowering, but collaborative. It takes on more of a inspect and adopt model. and if things are to get tough, this isn't a model where you just poop and fly away from your team. This is a model where you roll up your sleeves and dig in and help. Newsflash here. Good leaders don't poop on their teens in case that wasn't obvious, but your teams and their output are a reflection of your leadership. So if they're producing stuff that isn't good. Take a strong look in the mirror. That's you? So ensure you are driving clarity around your goals. And that you are frequently inspecting and adjusting as needed throughout the progression of your goals. And you're rolling up your sleeves when the work gets hard and not just flying away. Moving on to evaluation. Number two. What's your typical energy as a leader. Are you a leader that is more of a bring it downer. Or a leader that is a lift it upper. Okay. A bring it down. Our leader is one who makes individuals and teams more anxious, more concerned, more stress, more frustrated about the work and makes them feel overall worse after meeting with them. These are the people that when asked, how was your day they launch into a 15 minute diatribe about everything and anything that is wrong with the company, wrong, with the work, wrong with everyone else who they work with. And it's just doom and gloom. That's a bring a Towner. A lifted upper leader makes individuals and teams more calm, more energized, gives them direction, inspiration and guidance. Helps them see a path forward when there are challenges and makes them feel. Better after meeting with them. When these leaders are asked how their day is, they don't lie. If it's been a hard day, they recognize it, but then they quickly refocus back on the positive things that are more hopeful. As a leader, you should know how to encourage and inspire your teams. That is what you're here to do. Your energy and your presence as a leader makes all the difference. And your negativity or positivity is contagious. So be mindful of that energy, you are projecting onto others. Evaluation number three. How do you communicate? Are you a leader that is talking at your people or are you a leader that is actively listening and having conversations with your people? Talking at your people means you interrupt. You don't really hear what they're saying. Cause you have your own opinion and you've loudly interjected it. Many many times you tell people what to do and you take more of a command and control style. When you're a leader that is actively listening and having conversations with your people. This means you aren't just hearing what they're saying, but you are seeking to understand you withhold your judgment and you reflect on what is being said. You clarify it, you summarize it and you have meaningful discussions around the things that matter most. The impact of active listening is immense. Listening builds trust it creates transparency and it fosters loyalty. Active listening also gives leaders insight and it makes them more mindful of the stress and tension points of the people that you're leading. It encourages stronger communication between leaders and team members. And it drives engagement because again, if people know that they're going to come see you and they're not going to be heard, they're going to stop talking to you. Whereas active listening and having conversations is going to encourage them to come back and share and do more of that. It creates a virtuous cycle. Uh, evaluation number four. How do you operate? Are you a leader? Who's more complained, blame and ignore. Or a leader who comes with constructive honesty and solutions. All right. The first one, if you're a leader who is more complain, blame or ignore, this means that when things aren't working, you do one of the three things. You spend most of the time complaining about how horrible things are. You blame everyone else for what has occurred and for them not taking action on it. Or you just completely ignore altogether what is going on? Where the other leader who was the one who's coming with constructive honesty and solutions. This means that when things aren't working. You take ownership of your area. You also come in with clear data points. And thoughtful ideas and solutions on how you can go onto a path to improvement and offer up specific things you can do and take action on. When things go wrong or aren't easy or challenging or hard. There've been so many leaders, I've seen show their true colors at this time. They begin finger pointing. They go off nonstop about everyone else's fault, or they just completely check out altogether. This is careless leadership and the exact opposite of being a darn good leader. You want to own up to your own mistakes? You want to come in with honest data points and not names or assumptions. And you want to bring in a couple ideas on how to improve. This is leading by example at its finest. This is how you show your teams. What real leadership looks like. And that's what we want to cultivate more of and coach more of and develop more of at every company. And finally number five. Are you a leader that is a waster. Or a creator. Okay. What's a waster. We'll always serve somebody who you waste people's efforts by giving them no clear strategy or goals. You waste their time with endless meetings that have no agendas. You waste their patience with your consistent talking. That leaves no time for others to speak or be heard. You waste their concentration by expecting them to respond immediately to you. The moment you, I am email call or text them. You waste resources by demanding them and then producing a little to no results. You waste people's potential by not coaching them effectively and demonstrating to them how to be a strong leader. Okay, let's talk about a creator. When you're a creator, you create inspiration for the people through clear strategy and goals. You create more opportunities to spend time wisely through effective meetings and smart, asynchronous communication, and being mindful that people need focus time. You create value by empowering your people and leveraging their talent to the fullest. And you create potential by coaching individuals effectively and consistently modeling how a strong leader behaves, acts and shows up. So let's recap the five valuation area. So you can think through again where you land on that barometer. Number one. How do you work with teams? Are you a swoop in pooper? Or an aligner and calibrator. Number two. What's your typical energy as a leader? Are you a, bring it downer or a lifted upper number three. How do you communicate? Are you talking at your people or are you actively listening and having conversations with them? Number four. How do you operate? Are you a complain, blame and ignore, or are you coming with constructive honesty and solutions? And finally number five. Are you a leader that is a waster. Or a creator. As you reflect on where you fall on these five areas and your opportunities to improve how you're showing up. I want you to think about this. If you weren't, you. Would you hire you? If you weren't, you. Would you want to work with you? If you weren't, you. Would you want you as your employee? What about as your manager? If you weren't, you would, you want to partner with you ongoing on a long-term project? What does that look like? If you weren't, you, would you promote you. Would you be inspired by you? And if you weren't, you. Would you put you on point to lead a project, a task, a team that was literally a make it or break it for the company. If you answered no to any of these. That's okay. If you're not where you want to be or where you'd like to be. Just acknowledging it. That's step one. Let's start to think about. What might you do differently so that you can turn that no into or resounding hell yes. 2023 folks. This is the year. So don't shy away from your potential step up, set the example for your teams. And also for those that you have no idea are watching. Because they are. They are observing you. They're taking it all in. They are seeing how you're showing up and they will begin to model that same thing. So think about what type of things you are demonstrating to your people, to your teams, your communities, and make sure you're showing up in a way that you feel good about. As a followup from last week. I officially started 75 hard as a way to set the tone and example for the people in my life. This means for 75 days, every day, I will be doing 2 45 minute workouts, one inside, one outside. I will be doing 10 pages, minimal of reading. I will be drinking one gallon of water. I will be following a diet of my choice and there will be no cheat meals or alcohol. So this is not a fitness challenge. This is a mental toughness challenge. And it also. Just helps you kind of keep you in check, keep you accountable. I've done it before with incredible results about a year and a half ago. And I'm ready to go at it again. So you'll be hearing. a little bit about my journey in different segments of these podcasts. If you care. So my first book, because you got to read books and they can't be mindless fiction is called the customer success economy. My Nick Mehta and Alison pickins. So once I complete this book, I will give you my full review. That's a show guys. Thank you for keeping me accountable if you liked today's episode, please share it with those. You think it could also benefit?