Transformative Leadership: The Power of Observation and Effective Communication

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
I think one of the healthiest things that we can do
as leaders is to simply observepeople.
Now, sometimes we can't justsit within the vicinity of our
own people and observe.
Yet I would encourage you topartner with people, but you
want to be careful, you don'twant to have people spying on
your employees, but just simplyto observe and maybe condition
the response to be sure.
Three things that you see thatmy team is doing well.

(00:23):
Make sure you nurture andcelebrate those, and maybe an
area where they could improve.
Let me share with you somethingthat happened this morning and
on February 21st 2025, I don'tknow if I've ever seen somebody
do this.
I won't mention the companybecause I don't want someone
locally to read into what I'mdoing or saying and it was a
local coffee shop and I live inCedarburg, wisconsin, and there

(00:48):
are a couple of ladies therehave gotten to know me and I'm
not a coffee drinker, I'm a hotchocolate person, and when I
walk in they ring up my orderevery single time.
They just know me.
Remember me.
Hey Tim, how you doing?
How was your trip to Florida?
And just incredible service.
And one of the ladies that Iknow ended up having a

(01:08):
conversation with a younggentleman who I think was the
new manager and you could tellhe was emotional, you could tell
he had a higher emotional levelthan the two ladies who was
working behind the counter andthe one woman who knew me looked
at him and said do you want usto do that through you or get
approval through you?
And he goes yes, I'm, you know,I've got it.

(01:30):
And he's really amped up.
And he said I've got to havethis.
I'm obviously the number oneguy here.
And I sat there and I wasreally stunned because she had
turned and whispered.
He had yelled back from behindthe counter loudly well,
obviously I'm the number one guy.

(01:51):
Well, first of all, it was twoladies.
He used the term guy, he didn'tsay person, and he said I'm the
number one person here.
And the woman that I knowturned.
She goes okay, I'd be happy todo that, I'll go through you.
And it was some internal thingwhere you know he didn't want to

(02:12):
be blindsided or didn't wantpeople to do something
arbitrarily on their own.
I'm not really sure, to behonest, and I watched the facial
expressions and the one womanwho was not involved in the
conversation raised her eyebrowswhen she heard him say
obviously, I'm the number oneguy.

(02:32):
Think about that statement.
Think about that statement.
If you were one of two or threepeople and someone said well,
I'm the number one person hereand you're talking to other
people or customers, thatcomment should never have been
made.

(02:52):
Then afterwards he said well,we're all doing a great job, you
know we're all doing.
I'm just so happy with the waythings are going.
And then he kind of counteredhis first message.
So now it was a little bitinconsistent and clumsy and then
it started the domino effect.
So I got my hot chocolate.
I pretended not to listen, Ipretended not to react to it,
and I got my hot chocolate andas I was walking out, I could

(03:13):
see the two ladies whispering.
He had left behind the counter,went in the back room and they
started to whisper.
They didn't turn their backs.
You could see they werewhispering.
You could hear they werewhispering.
You couldn't hear them in theirdefense, but they were
whispering.
Now, as you hear this narrationof the story, it seems simple,
right, it seems trite, doesn'tseem like it's a big deal.

(03:34):
Oh, I think it's going to be ahuge deal, because here is a
young guy, very clumsy-like,telling people I'm the most
important person here, I'm thenumber one guy, and I sat there
and I thought, wow, how would Ihave reacted to that?

(03:54):
What was his point?
Now, what could he have donedifferently?
I think we all agree I wouldn'teven give the solutions because
, you know, quite frankly, hecould have brought her back in
the back room and said look, nottrying to play the role of
manager here.
Yet, if you wouldn't mind, yes,I'd love to have it come
through me.
Sometimes, if somebody asks mewhat's going on, I could be
undermining your guy's work bynot knowing, and I really want

(04:16):
all of us to be a united front,or whatever the solution is.
Yet he got amped up, emotionaland said, obviously and this is
verbatim, this is not myinterpretation.
Obviously, I'm the number oneguy.
So when I watched the reaction,when I heard the women

(04:38):
whispering when I was walkingout, that culture just changed
instantly.
And when you're in retail, youcan't hide.
It's tough.
People are watching you as acustomer, probably because my
antenna is probably too high.
Yeah, I was a little taken back.
I was a little bit.
Wow, I can't believe he saidthat.

(04:59):
So, with that being said, Iwould just share with all of you
that sometimes we make mistakes.
He realized, I thinksubconsciously, and I'm assuming
, by saying, hey, I also thinkwe're doing a great job also.
He used the word also and Ithink that can be a mixed
message right, it goes throughme, but you're doing a great job

(05:21):
.
And it really undermined hisleadership.
And I could tell he was in avery reactive emotional state.
You could tell because he wasamped up, his blood pressure was
up.
You could tell because he wasamped up, his blood pressure was
up and he used language.
You could just feel even otherpeople in the coffee shop kind
of cringe.

(05:41):
Well, obviously I'm the numberone guy.
So sometimes when we observe,it teaches us so much.
Have somebody, observe yourpeople, not spy, just sit and
absorb.
It's one of the healthiestthings that we can do.