Managing People Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All: Let’s Talk Leadership Challenges

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Managing a team isn’t just about getting the work done—it’s about leading people, and people come with personalities, preferences, and past experiences. In this Ask Me Anything episode of Leveraging Operations in Leadership, we’re diving into two of the most pressing leadership questions:

1. How do I manage different people with different personalities?
2. What do I do when my team doesn’t respect me?

Whether you’re a new manager navigating team dynamics or an experienced leader trying to reset team culture, this episode will give you tactical strategies you can apply right now.

Leadership is not about having all the answers; it’s about knowing how to lead different people well. And if your team doesn’t seem to respect you, don’t panic. We’ll unpack what could be going wrong and how to reset the tone.

Ready to become the kind of leader your team respects and trusts?
The Leadership Shift Coaching Program is built for leaders who want support, tools, and a space to grow, not just more theory. Explore the program here: https://go.cignalpartners.com/shift

Want ongoing leadership tips and tools to lead your team with clarity and confidence? Join the Team Navigator newsletter: https://go.cignalpartners.com/teamnavigator

Got a question you'd like me to answer on a future AMA episode? Send it in, we're building better leaders, together. Text it or email to [e-mail]

Tired of feeling stuck between upper leadership and your team?

The Leadership Shift Coaching helps mid-level leaders lead with clarity, influence outcomes, and build teams that thrive without burning out. https://go.cignalpartners.com/leadershipshift

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey there and welcome back to another episode of
Leveraging Operations andLeadership, the podcast where we
bridge the gap between strongleadership and operational
excellence.
I'm your host, tanya D Harrison, and today's episode is an Ask
Me Anything edition.
And today's episode is an AskMe Anything edition.

(00:28):
Every couple of episodes, I amtrying to carve out time to
answer real questions fromleaders just like you.
Leaders who are doing itday-to-day in the trenches,
managing teams, jugglingstrategies and doing their best
to grow themselves and theirteam without burnout.
I did one of these episodes alittle while ago and it did

(00:53):
extremely well and I got reallygood feedback, so I have made it
a norm.
At least once a month we'regoing to have one of these
episodes.
Month we're going to have oneof these episodes.
I have two questions today.
They are powerful questionsthat came in and, just trust me,
these are some big ones andhopefully, if this is a question

(01:16):
that you had, you are able totake something with you that you
can apply immediately.
And if one of these questionsis not a question that you've
had, feel free to send in yourown.
You can use the send by textoption in the Apple podcast
player, right up at the top, oryou can email me at info at

(01:39):
signal partners signal with a Cpartnerscom.
Partners signal with a Cpartnerscom.
You can email me your questionthat way.
So, either way, reach out, letme know what you got and
eventually we'll answer it onthe podcast.

(02:02):
So our first question how do Imanage different people with
different personalities?
This is one of the most commonchallenges for both new and
experienced leaders.
This is something that allleaders face, and the truth is,
managing people well, it startswith understanding them.
We have to take the time tounderstand the people that we

(02:25):
are leading, the people that weare working with.
Here are a few strategies thatI recommend.
The first thing is know yourteam, each individual person on
the team.
Take time to learn whatmotivates them, how they prefer
to communicate, what their workstyle is, what their goals are,

(02:51):
how they like feedback.
Is it public, private?
Are they analytical, bigpicture thinkers?
You get the message.
This is why I am such a fan ofone-on-ones.
It allows you to get to knowyour individual team members on

(03:11):
a deeper level, and I know, whenyou have a lot going on, a
one-on-one seems like justsomething else you are adding to
the list.
I know this because that's howI felt, and then I realized the
power of one-on-ones when I tellyou I was able to not just

(03:34):
build a high performing team, Iwas able to build teams that
actually like coming to work,that like what they did, that
you know were engaged, that likewhat they did, that you know
were engaged.
That's a whole nother levelthat you reach when you are
developing teams, and that isthe power of one-on-ones.

(03:55):
So the first thing I want youto do is get to know your people
.
I recommend doing one-on-onesbecause they are truly effective
and maybe you know I talk aboutthis in other episodes, but
maybe I need to do one episodespecifically to one-on-ones.
The second thing is adjust, butdon't abandon your leadership

(04:19):
style or your standards.
You don't have to become adifferent person to lead
different personalities.
However, adaptability is aleadership superpower.
It really is.
That might mean giving oneperson more structure and giving

(04:39):
another person more autonomy,or one person may need more
reassurance than the other,while still holding both to the
same standards, because we wantto make sure that we are moving
in fairness, right, but youstill have to be able to adapt.

(05:02):
I have had people that wereextremely sensitive.
So the way I gave them feedbackwas different than somebody
else Always respectful but Iadapted it to that specific
person, still gave the feedback,but I adapted it.
Even if you have to writesomebody up, still write them up

(05:31):
, but you adapt it.
So number two is adjust, butdon't abandon your leadership
style or standards.
The third thing is tocommunicate with clarity and
consistency.
The more clearly youcommunicate expectations and the
why behind the decisions, theless room there is for confusion
or misinterpretation.
And this is regardless of thepersonality type Making sure

(05:55):
that you clearly communicatewith every person on the team.
The fourth thing is that youcan use is tools to support you.
There are a lot of differentpersonality frameworks out there
.
I work with Myers-Briggs andBTI that's the one that I'm
certified in but there is thisand strength finders and all of

(06:18):
these other things that may kindof help you with understanding
more about the different peopleand the different personalities
on your team.
But let me just tell you youdon't need a tool if you are
really developing relationshipswith your team.

(06:39):
One of those tools is exactlythat.
It's an additional layeredresource, but it doesn't replace
the one-on-ones, thecommunication or anything else
that we've talked about.
Let me say this about thisquestion it's not about treating
everyone the same.
It's about leading everyonefairly and intentionally All

(07:04):
right.
So I hope that helps withquestion number one.
The second one is a doozy, andthis is a tough one what do I do
when my team doesn't respect me?
First, let me acknowledge thatif you're in this situation, it

(07:25):
probably feels heavy andpersonal and frustrating, and
you're not alone.
I have had my own experienceswith this as well, and it
happened to me early in the game, so it could have went a lot
differently, but I thank Godthat it didn't.

(07:47):
But growing up, I was alwaystaught to respect people and
it's something that I feelstrongly about, which is why it
is one of my core values.
However, let's be real.
The world has shown me thateveryone will not respect me,
and it's not because ofsomething I've done or didn't do

(08:08):
, but simply because of mygender, my color or even my age.
I've experienced each of these,and my first experience of
disrespect as a leader was whenI was promoted to a management
position.
I was on the younger end, I wasearly 20s, and I was managing

(08:31):
people that were twice my ageand they let me know it.
They reminded me of it.
There were two women that reallytook issue to the fact that
they had to report to me.
They would question everythingI told them and they felt
strongly enough about how theyfelt about me to have a

(08:55):
conversation in the middle ofthe floor where others could
hear them.
So they really didn't care andthey were talking about the fact
that they knew more than I didand they were doing this job
when I was in Pampers.
This was a conversation andthey just really had no respect

(09:15):
for me, no value for me, youknow, or anything that I said.
When I shared my feelings withmy manager, she basically told
me to handle it, but didn't tellme how, and let me just say
this as a sidebar Just rememberpeople can't give you what they

(09:37):
don't have.
If you ask somebody for adollar and they don't have a
dollar, they can't give you adollar.
Same thing with leaders Peoplecan't give you what they don't
have.
She did not have the tools inher leadership toolbox in order
to help me through this.
She was still learning as well.
I remember feeling so alone andunsupported, but I remember

(09:59):
feeling very frustrated becauseI worked extremely hard and,
while I may not have had all ofthe answers, I would always find
the answer.
I believe that everyone shouldjust automatically be respected.
That's how I was brought up.
That's not how everyone wasbrought up.
Here's what I want to tell youand what I learned from this.

(10:20):
And as I walked through this, Idid some reflection.
Like what did I do?
Was there something that I didthat may have broken the trust
or the credibility?
I went back and I evaluatedthat I respected them because

(10:42):
that was just a matter of how Iwas raised.
I even I even this was back inthe day I even would ask people
what was the best way to toaddress them.
Do you want me to call you MsSheila, mr Harrison, like what?
What do you want me to call you?
Cause?
I felt so awkward callingpeople by their first name, like

(11:05):
Sheila, and, and, and I get it.
It was in the workplace, but Iwas just still raised that way.
So the first thing I did is Idid some reflection, like what's
up?
What did I do to cause this?
And that's what I wouldencourage you to do, the very
first thing.
The second thing is to addressit directly.
Tiptoeing around it does nothelp.

(11:26):
That was I how I started.
I would hear the murmuring andyou know, and get the questions
and I knew that they werechallenging me every step of the
way and I kind of tiptoedaround it and I was hoping that
it would resolve itself,especially after I went to my
manager and she didn't have anyhelp for me.

(11:47):
I decided that I was going tohave an open conversation with
the team and then with theindividual members about what's
working and what was not working.
I had a general conversationwith my team talking about
respect, how important it was tome, and then I pull the ladies
aside individually and I had adirect conversation with them

(12:13):
aside individually and I had adirect conversation with them
and I let them know that I hadheard what they said, you know,
and some other comments thatthey had made as well, and I
told them that I found itdisrespectful and I asked them
was there ever a time that Idisrespected them?
And they could not come up withany and I made it clear that,
just as I respect you, I expectrespect in return.

(12:34):
There is no negotiation on this, regardless of how old I am,
and that was extremely helpful.
I definitely would address itdirectly, don't tiptoe around it
.
If you could find somebody thatcan kind of help you through
the wording, because I ended upgoing to the director of human
resources, which she was areally cool lady, and I told her

(12:58):
what I wanted to do and shehelped me through some of the
language and the words that Ishould use in order to have this
conversation.
The other thing you want to dois you want to model what you
want to see.
One of the biggest things thatI had under my belt is the fact
that I was respectful toeveryone.
If you want your team to berespectful, you have to be

(13:21):
respectful.
If you want your team to beaccountable, you have to be
accountable.
If you want transparency, youhave to practice transparency.
So you basically set the tonefor your team and that's what I
did.
I was respectful.
That's why I was able to askthem has there ever been a time
that I've disrespected you?
And then the other thing is isis check the environment.

(13:42):
Sometimes there is a lack ofrespect that is rooted in in
deeper issues.
It could be like the culture ofthe organization.
It could be the prior manager,like before you.
It has nothing to do with you,but you're walking into a space
where people already feel acertain way.

(14:03):
You want to kind of evaluatethat, and it may take more
conversations, it may take somecoaching, it may take support
from HR in different ways and iteven may take shifting team
composition I've had to removepeople from the team and things
like that.
You know, really just kind oftaking a look at it and thinking

(14:24):
about that.
But the key is to focus oninfluence over control.
That's what the core ofleadership is.
It's about being able toinfluence other people in a
positive way.
You can't force respect, butyou can lead in a way that makes
it easier for people to give it, and you can also set your

(14:45):
boundaries about what you'regoing to accept and what you're
not going to accept, and thatneeds to be clear.
Those are the things that Iwould recommend and I would say
I understand that it is a big,heavy issue to deal with and
many of us deal with them fordifferent reasons.

(15:06):
So there you have it Two bigquestions, two leadership
challenges that are more commonthan we often like to admit.
And if you've been navigatingeither of these, know that
you're not alone and you canlead your way through it.
If you want to dive deeper intohow to lead a team of diverse

(15:26):
personalities or rebuild trustand respect, I'd love to support
you through the LeadershipShift Coaching Program.
It is designed to help leadersstrengthen their confidence,
sharpen their leadership skillsand navigate the demands of
leading a team more effectively.
You could click the link in theshow notes in order to learn

(15:49):
more.
And, hey, if this episodehelped you, take 30 seconds to
follow the show and leave aquick review.
It helps more leaders like youfind us.
And until next time, lead well,live fully and remember your
team's performance reflects yourleadership, not just your
effort.