June 5, 2024 • 30 mins
Stephanie Allen, a strategic CEO advisor and fractional COO, reminds us about the need to ask if we can give feedback. If the other person is not ready to receive it, we’re likely wasting everyone’s time and creating unnecessary conflict. She also reminds us that feedback is a gift, and sometimes it’s a gift we didn’t think we needed. Feedback loops are important; while we can’t control people, we can influence them. One key aspect to all of this is, “Don’t accept assumptions.” Leaders need to clarify and verify.
Radical Feedback by Kim Scott
For more info regarding feedback and how you can develop yourself or your team, email contact@learningbridge.com.
Brought to you by the LearningBridge Team
Check out the free Q&A videos that we have produced with tips to help you receive feedback graciously and act on it visibly at www.learningbridge.com/tips.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stephanie Allen (00:01):
"Ask, 'May I give you some feedback?' and
making sure that the feedbackcan be seen as great stuff or
tough stuff. So reallynormalizing that. And so when
you ask someone permission togive them feedback, it doesn't
matter whether they're a CEO oryour peer, you're going to have
someone be ready to receive itbecause either they're gonna
say, 'sure, yeah, go for it' or'you know I'm in the middle of
something, can we have anothertime where we do that?' The
(00:22):
challenge is giving feedback ifthe person you're giving
feedback to isn't ready toreceive it, then it's not a
valuable use of anyone's time.
And all it does is createunnecessary conflict."
Troy Blaser (00:34):
Hello, welcome to Simply Feedback, the podcast
brought to you by LearningBridge . And I'm your host,
Troy Blaser. It's great to bewith you today. I'm excited
about our guest today. Her nameis Stephanie Allen of Stephanie
Allen Consulting. Stephanie isa strategic CEO Advisor and
Fractional COO, who's renownedfor her work in scaling
operations and leadershipdevelopment within the digital
(00:57):
marketing and tech industries.
Creator of The PanoramicOperations Roadmap, Stephanie
helps companies achievesubstantial growth through
streamlined processes and clearorganizational objectives. Her
approach emphasizes thecritical role of effective
feedback loops in drivingbusiness success, a topic she
has explored in depth atnotable industry events.
(01:18):
Stephanie’s insights onnurturing transformative
leadership and operationalexcellence make her a welcome
guest on today’s show.
Stephanie, welcome to SimplyFeedback. It's great to have
you with us today.
Stephanie Allen (01:30):
Hi Troy. I'm really excited to be here.
Thanks for having me .
Troy Blaser (01:35):
Yeah. We'll start with a question that we always
start with because I love tohear the stories and it helps
us get to know you a little bitbetter. But I wonder if you
could tell us about a time thatsomebody gave you feedback and
maybe it was feedback that hadan impact on your life or your
career, but was a turning pointfor you. Is there a story you
could share with us?
Stephanie Allen (01:52):
Yes. The turning point or something that
had a big impact on my life wasduring university that actually
led the way for maybe how Icarry myself in my career
today. And it was by the deanof my program at university.
And the feedback was, you needto show up the right way
(02:12):
regardless of what's going onin your life. And to be in my
late teens, early twenties andhave someone share that with me
was really beneficial. So thestory behind that is that I was
in my second year of universityworking two part-time jobs and
just getting by with managingall of my schoolwork and
raising money to fund myuniversity life.
Troy Blaser (02:34):
Sounds like many students.
Stephanie Allen (02:36):
Yes and in that time a dear friend was
diagnosed with cancer and theypassed away. And when that
happened, it really rocked myworld in a way that I didn't
anticipate. And I sort ofstopped showing up. I was
really questioning what my lifewas about someone to die so
young that I cared about and Ilet things slip with school
(02:59):
and, and I was just kind ofgoing to work. And it was a
pivotal time in my universitycareer and I actually ended up
failing the year because ofthat moment and I had a
decision to make, do I keepgoing or not? And so I was
talking with the, the dean andshe shared her feedback with me
and it really resonated. Butthere was a second person,
(03:19):
another professor on the teamwho I sat with because I had
failed his course. And heshared some interesting things
with me that I didn't fail bymuch. And that out of everyone
in the class, I would probablyone of the most successful
people in my career, eventhough I had failed this
moment. And it was really whatI needed to hear it at that
time to keep going with myschooling. And so I went back
(03:43):
and I redid the year and I wasin the top of the class. And so
why was this so pivotal? Well,it's because I received really
tough feedback. I really failedbig time . But I also had
feedback that it didn't defineme in that moment. I had an
option to keep going and tryagain. So now today when I give
feedback, I give the toughfeedback, but I don't hold onto
(04:07):
that. Like that is the onlything I think of that person.
The next conversation we have,I am thinking about what
they're great at and whatthey've done well, and showing
them that that tough moment wasnot the be all end all of who
they are to me or the business.
And I think that that was apivotal time in my my life, but
(04:28):
it was also a pivotal time ofsetting the foundation of the
value of feedback and how tonot assume that one bad moment
with someone is going todetermine what they are like in
the future. And I think that'swhy I'm kind of known for
seeing the greatness ineveryone. So I always like to
see what is someone reallygreat at and how can we
(04:49):
leverage that? And I make surethat they know that even if
there's something they're doingthat is not going well.
Troy Blaser (04:55):
Oh , that, that's really fantastic. I mean that,
like you kind of said, thatformed a foundational
experience in your life thathas really given you a platform
to grow from. That was adifficult challenge and a
difficult experience to gothrough. But you said, I'm not
gonna let this failure defineme. But yet in a way it sort of
has because it has made yousomeone who watches for that
(05:16):
greatness in others and and isable to focus on that as you're
sometimes sharing the toughfeedback.
Stephanie Allen (05:21):
Yes. That's a good point. That's good.
Troy Blaser (05:23):
No, it , it's inspiring and it's so wonderful
to hear these kinds of storiesand hear about the mentors, you
know, the dean or the otherprofessor who are in that
position for you as a studentto really make a difference
that has lasted with you formany years after university.
Well, okay. So as I was kind ofgetting ready for our
(05:44):
conversation today and gettingto know you a little bit,
reading through that bio that Ishared, I came across a term
that was new for me, FractionalCOO. Can you just quickly
explain that for me and forothers in our audience who
might not be familiar with thatterm?
Stephanie Allen (05:57):
Yes, definitely. What it means is
you get someone that can beyour COO or your second in
command on a interim basis fora defined period of time. Or
they are with you for a shorterperiod of time each week for a
long period of time. So youhave fractional COOs that are
just happy to be a fractionalCOO and they have their one
(06:18):
company they work forfractionally or a handful, or
you have other fractional COOsthat are doing just consulting
and giving the strategy. And Iwould say I'm a bit of a hybrid
of both of those. So I go inand I give the strategy and and
help people design the bestoperations possible. But I also
go in and I do theimplementation on an interim
(06:38):
basis. And sometimes I'm therefor a year, sometimes I'm there
for three months or six months.
It depends on the needs of thebusiness. But I always go in
with the philosophy of how canI work myself out of this job
so that I know the company isset up for success and can do
what it needs to do in its ownway and be sustainable. And I
(07:00):
found that to be really fun andexciting because I get to work
with multiple businesses at thesame time and throughout a year
that my ability to understandwhat's happening in the world,
because I do this globally, hasmy knowledge has increased
exponentially. And I wouldnever wanna give that up.
Troy Blaser (07:17):
Well , that's really cool. It sounds like
maybe something applicable,especially to a small or a
mid-size business that maybeisn't quite ready for a
full-time COO , but can stillbring in that expertise on a
temporary basis or just for apart of the week for a fraction
of the week, I suppose, right?
Stephanie Allen (07:33):
Yes. And so I often talk about how to know if
you're ready and when the theright time is. That's a good
time to bring someone in likethat. But I also think it's
understanding the overlap ofthe C-suite because you've got
COO, you've got CIO, you've gotCFO, and you know, the O and
all of that is kind of alloperations. So you need to
figure out what is the need ofthe business and what core
(07:57):
skillset do I need tocompliment our current team or
myself and bring the rightfractional executive into help.
And I think there's someconfusion about sometimes what
A COO is versus a CIO or a CFOor a CMO. Sometimes people use
those terms interchangeably forme. And that's okay. There's a
(08:17):
lot of acronyms there toremember, but I think it brings
to light that it's not easy toknow about fractional because
you've got the fractionalaspect of it and then you've
got the skillset that you needto get clear that you need
fractionally. And that makessense. It's great for smaller
intern businesses to start toget it right. But what I'm
noticing evolving in mybusiness is that the larger
(08:38):
organizations are bringing mein to support their leadership
team actually real at thethings they need to do as well.
So as a fractional COO it couldevolve, your clientele could
evolve as you evolve.
Troy Blaser (08:50):
Oh yeah. And of course the fact that you are
working across multipleorganizations, as you said,
your knowledge increases andyou're able to bring that into
those different organizationsto kind of bring in the best
advice, the best policies,procedures that you see across
the different industries thatyou work in. So as you're
working with these differentorganizations, I wonder what
(09:10):
are some of the commonchallenges that you've observed
that companies face thinkingabout simply feedback our
podcast today? So thinkingespecially about feedback
systems, can you share some ofthe challenges that you've seen
and maybe what you advise themto do to overcome these
obstacles?
Stephanie Allen (09:25):
Yes. The big challenge, if you're thinking
you need to improve yourfeedback or things aren't going
as smoothly as you'd like inyour team, you're not sure how
to have the behavior change orto improve things. You know, my
recommendation is you firstlook at how you're
communicating as a team becausefor me, feedback is a form of
communication. So the firstpart is to look at how are you
(09:47):
collaborating and communicatingon the work that you're doing .
And once you evaluate that, youmight see gaps. So here's a
really good example. You have amanager that is not happy with
how their direct report istaking the information and
applying it, and they're notseeing the progress they're
expecting based on the timesthat they're talking about
that. First thing I look at,well, how often are they
(10:08):
connecting? And if this manageris only meeting with a direct
report once a month, then Iwould say, oh, maybe there
isn't enough connection time toactually have progress happen.
That's a long time to go fromgiving someone direction to
wait three, four weeks to havea follow up about that. Now, if
you're meeting once a month,but you are having weekly
(10:30):
updates reported to you and youcan see the progress and you
have a great relationship withyour direct report and you can
message them or give them avoice message, you know, with
feedback, that's a differentstory. But that's what I mean
about you have to first look atwhat are the forms of
communication you're using? Howoften are you communicating and
are you actually setting theteam up for success to be able
to receive feedback and act onit quickly so that you see the
(10:53):
progress happening. So I thinkcommunication is the first
thing I would look at if peopleare having challenges. And then
I would look at the individuallevel of manager to direct
report relationship andunderstand how that is going.
And then the third thing Iwould look at is how is the
team coming together and are wehaving tough conversations? Are
(11:14):
we sharing bad news and thewins together so that we can
help each other evolve andchange how we're working for
the better? And so if you havegreat communication and you
have great direct report tomanager relationship, but
you're not having transparentopen conversations as a
collective, you still mighthave some challenges with
(11:34):
feedback loops because feedbackis actually so much more than
just a manager to directreport. It could be direct
report to manager and it couldbe peer to peer and it could be
executive to someone doing thework. It could be someone doing
the work to executive. So forme, feedback is an always, like
I tell my son, when you crossthe street, don't just look
right and left. Look alwaysthese days there could be a
(11:56):
bike, there could be someonewalking a car turning down the
wrong street. So it's the samething for communication. We
need to make sure that peoplecan stop and look always with
the communication and feel setup for success to have that
conversation.
Troy Blaser (12:10):
I really like that idea that in its very basic,
most simple form feedback iscommunication and vice versa.
Meaning, you know, you and Iare having a conversation and
as you're speaking I'mlistening to what you're saying
and sort of processing it andthen offering in implied
feedback in , in my answers, inmy path of the conversation. So
(12:32):
there's feedback going back andforth in every communication
that happens, even if it's nota formal answer, these
questions, you know, to, togive me feedback on how I'm
doing as a leader. But justthat everyday communication
that can be so, so useful asfeedback. So another part of
the work that you do is toadvise CEOs as you come in to
(12:54):
work with an organization, arethere challenges that you tend
to face as you work with thoseCEOs? And what advice do you
give them about their companiesor about themselves
specifically as leaders?
Stephanie Allen (13:05):
Yes. There are always challenges. I think
operations and challenges kindof go hand in hand. If there
weren't challenges, I probablywouldn't be there.
Troy Blaser (13:14):
Right. If there weren't challenges, they're
making a whole lot of money andvery happy. And they don't need
you. Right.
Stephanie Allen (13:18):
They don't need me. They got ,
everything's going well. So Ihave observed, I'll give you
the common threat . I'm in aunique situation. Because right
now, when I go in fractionally,I'm invited, I wanna be there,
my insights and feedback iswelcomed, but that doesn't mean
it's not challenging to givefeedback. And I think first of
(13:38):
all, I have a model I use likeyou have to ask people. And
this isn't mine alone. I , youknow, if I can credit someone,
I went through the managertools learning and conference
to understand how to givefeedback and side note, I
thought I was really good atfeedback before I did that. And
then I did that program and Igot so much better. So, you
know, there's a whole otherstory there for another time.
(13:59):
So I, I like to use the model,"ask, may I give you some
feedback?" and making sure thatthe feedback can be seen as
great stuff or tough stuff. Soreally normalizing that. And so
when you ask someone permissionto give them feedback, it
doesn't matter whether they'rea CEO or your peer, you're
going to have someone be readyto receive it because either
(14:20):
they're gonna say, "sure, yeah,go for it" or you know, "I'm in
the middle of something, canyou tell me that? Can we have
another time where we do that?"The challenge is giving
feedback. If the person you'regiving feedback to isn't ready
to receive it, then it's not avaluable use of anyone's time.
And all it does is createunnecessary conflict.
Troy Blaser (14:35):
Yeah. I really like that. By asking the
question, it sort of sets thestage in that person's mind.
Okay, I need to be in a mode toreceive it. Especially if it's
tough feedback. It could comeas an insult or why are you
trying to offend me? Right. Butby prefacing it with that
question, with asking, are youin a spot where you, I can give
you some feedback, then thatdoes make a shift for the
(14:56):
person.
Stephanie Allen (14:57):
Yes. And the time that I had the most fun
giving feedback to CEOs isactually in a leadership
meeting with everyone there.
And when the CEO is frustrated,okay, this is my favorite time
to be in the room because weneed to listen to the CEO and
understand what is frustratingthem and listen. And so I get
to model for the other leadersin the room how when they feel
(15:21):
concerned or upset orfrustrated, that's when I get
really calm. I work really hardto do this, but I get really
calm and I stop and I justreally zone into like what is
happening.
Troy Blaser (15:32):
Okay.
Stephanie Allen (15:33):
And I focus just on them and then I reflect
back what I hear and I simplifythe situation. And so I've had
other leaders say, I wanna beable to do that. That was just
awesome how you handled that.
So it's not just about megiving feedback to the CEO when
I go in there, it's actuallyteaching and showing the other
(15:54):
leaders how to do that so thatit is a healthy environment
when I'm not there anymore.
Troy Blaser (15:59):
Yeah. Is there a specific case or a time you can
think of when feedback loopslike that have impacted a
company's growth or theirefficiency?
Stephanie Allen (16:07):
Yes, it happens all the time because
assumptions are not made whenyou can do that. When your boss
or a CEO gets really frustratedand their , their anxiety
levels go up, right? Becausethey just need, and often it's
because of something thathappened in the past, an issue
they've resolved and they don'twant it to happen again. They
are going through their ownhistorical memory and it might
(16:29):
not even be about what'shappening right now. It's that
it's familiar and there's aworry that would happen before
is gonna happen again. That'slike eight times outta 10 why a
CEO gets frustrated. I've seenit happen over and over and
over again. So if you don'tactually slow down and realize
it's not about me, like youhave to almost, if you're new
with this, it's not about me.
(16:49):
It's not about me. Let mereally figure out what is going
on here. But if you don't dothat, what happens is people
stop talking, "oh, my boss isupset. I'm just gonna stop
talking and not say anything".
And that's actually the mostdangerous thing that can happen
because then work productivitygoes down, morale goes down, it
(17:09):
starts right there. It's reallysubtle, it's hard to measure.
There's no data point for this.
But this is the moment in timewhere that happens. So when I
teach people how to do this,there are no assumptions and
you actually get to a solutionand then productivity goes up
and the culture of the team isreally healthy. So I've often
gone in when the engagement islow and after working with me,
(17:32):
the engagement exponentiallyimproves because I've opened up
the lines of communication andI've shown how to do that in
different forms. I've modeledthe ways that would work, not
just told them what to do.
Troy Blaser (17:44):
As you've worked with different organizations,
are there key components of afeedback culture that you bring
in, apart from goodcommunication, are there
specific principles orcomponents of a feedback
culture that you would bringinto an organization?
Stephanie Allen (18:00):
I think the main thing I do is I talk about
radical candor. I love thatbook. There was a time where I
had a team of project managersand I gave them the book to
read because it reallyinfluenced how we interacted
with the scrum teams and thingslike that. It was really,
really helpful for them tounderstand what I meant by
being open and transparent withcommunication when it came to
(18:22):
agile methodology and Scrum. Soradical candor, it's a great
book. You know , I think if Icould sum it up in a couple
words, I see feedback as agift. And sometimes when you
get a gift, you really love it.
Like, oh my gosh, this is agreat gift. And sometimes when
you get a gift like , oh , Ididn't think I wanted that, but
oh, I actually need that.
(18:43):
Right. So it doesn't mean thegift is always like Christmas
morning and wow, it's reallyexciting. But it's a gift that
maybe you need that you didn'tknow you needed sometimes. And
when you think of it that wayand you realize if I am open
and honest with the situationhere and I'm speaking about the
reality of the situation, theteam is happy, the clients are
(19:03):
happy, the boss is happy, thatthat is just the bottom line to
me. And so I bring that into anorganization. Recently we had a
big quarterly meeting with aclient and we didn't do a good
job getting our transparentcommunication in line before we
went into a meeting. And so theclient was hearing it for the
first time, but it wasn'thorrible because at least we
(19:26):
were being transparent. And Itried to turn that into a
lesson and I went first and Isaid, I don't like how that
went. I don't like how I saidthings there because I didn't
realize we weren't really readyto say that or that I didn't
realize that it would bereceived that way because we
hadn't talked about itinternally enough. And now I
know. But then I also shared, Ineed everyone here to be honest
(19:46):
with me about where we're at ina project so that we can get
things in line to actuallyshare it with the client. So
that's an example where I'mteaching in real time and
changing that. And I knowthat'll never happen again
because we had this really niceheart to heart with the CEO ,
the actual team and me afterthat moment, we did it right
(20:06):
after. And so supporting theCEOs that wanna do fast
feedback and making sure thesystems in place support that,
and then helping the teamdigest the feedback and making
sure that we're beingtransparent. So I'd say radical
candor is something I probablyalways bring with me.
Troy Blaser (20:22):
I love that. And that implies, and it requires a
high level of trust on the teamas well, right. To be able to
give that feedback and then toreceive it requires trust among
the teammates so that they knowit's being given in the best
interest of everyone on theteam.
Stephanie Allen (20:39):
Yes. So what do you do when you don't have
trust? Right? Well, as leaders,we have to practice the radical
candor first, even when theteam is not ready to do it with
us. And when they see itconsistently happening, you're
consistently showing up withthat radical candor. It will
happen. It might take twomonths, it might take four
months, but if you see progressand they're evolving, it will
(21:00):
happen. And so it's not givingup on it, it's showing up the
way you want the team to showup. And then they will trust
that you'll be good to themwhen they are radically candid.
Troy Blaser (21:12):
Yes. Really leading by example in that case
to create that culture oftrust. Well, at the beginning
of our conversation, I askedyou about a time in your life
when you received some feedbackas you have worked with
different companies, differentCEOs. I wonder if there's a
time or an experience whenyou've seen feedback cause a
point of inflection insomeone's career or in their
(21:34):
life that you've been workingwith, whether that was for
useful constructive feedback orwhether the feedback experience
went poorly. Is there anexperience you could share with
us?
Stephanie Allen (21:43):
Yes. I'll share one with a CEO and then
I'll share one with a more of ateammate level. And what's
happened with multiple CEOsI've worked with is when I show
them what I would do in asituation, I share my
observations. I'm not actuallygiving them direct feedback,
I'm just sharing informationand scenarios that could
happen. Every time there's alight bulb that goes off in
(22:06):
their head and goes, "oh, maybeI'm getting in the way." " Oh,
maybe I need to do somethingdifferent." Or "maybe I need to
have a conversation with morepeople in the room than just
one person. And that's whatreally brings me joy when I
work with CEOs with that growthmindset. And it's not like I'm
giving them direct feedback.
I'm just showing them anotherway or giving them options and
(22:29):
they figure it out on theirown. Like, CEOs are really
smart. They've done a lot toget to where they are. But it
takes a lot of bravery andcourage and honesty to share
information with them thatothers would be afraid to. And
that's really I think thebenefit of having the right COO
for you. You've got someonethat that's that reflection or
(22:50):
mirror or is keeping youconnected to what others think
and sharing observations withyou. So that you can then
decide how you want to continuein that situation. And then the
COO supports you on rolling outthat new way of working. And
that's really what leads tosuccess in a business with
multiple people and not wantingto be in the day-to-day all the
(23:10):
time is the the leader.
Troy Blaser (23:12):
I love that.
Stephanie Allen (23:13):
So that's the pivotal point. And then I think
the one that sticks with me themost is more of the flip side
of giving a teammate feedback.
Like working through with them,giving them time to show how
they can improve, reflectingback that I'm not seeing the
progress. So really doing mybest to be a good leader and
support them. And then themrealizing that they needed to
(23:35):
go, like it wasn't the rightfit for them. And helping them
come to that realization ontheir own versus firing them.
And I think that's the thing Ilike most about feedback is
that you're just the vessel ofinformation and you're there to
equip people with informationand then it's what they do with
it. I think as leaders, wecan't really control people,
(23:57):
but we can influence them andwe can give them information to
make a good decision for them.
And sometimes the best decisionis helping them exit the
company, not necessarilystaying in the company. And
when you practice this feedbackmodel, that will start to
happen more and more too. Andit's being prepared for that,
that that could happen. Andthat's in the best interest of
(24:18):
the CEO , the team and thecompany when you do that, and
the individual as well. Youknow, why would they wanna stay
somewhere where it's not gonnawork repeatedly for them? So I
think those are the twoscenarios that I've seen have
pivotal moments on otherpeople, but I, I don't truly
know how it impacts people allthe time. Right. And there
could be times where I thinkI'm doing a great job and it's
(24:41):
actually caused someone somediscomfort.
Troy Blaser (24:43):
Sure.
Stephanie Allen (24:44):
You know that that's a growth thing. As a
leader, you have to make sureyou're doing your best to
provide it in a safe way, butnot worry too much about how
people are gonna feel when yougive the feedback. Because that
could stop the feedback fromhappening.
Troy Blaser (24:56):
You know, as you were talking about the CEOs,
you're able to talk with themand you present that
information and you love itwhen the CEO figures it out for
themself , "oh, maybe I need tochange this" or "I need to do
something". Or "maybe I've beenthe obstacle". It's so
encouraging because then ifthey're figuring that out on
their own, then you're like,well it's likely that they
(25:18):
could do that next time whenI'm not in the room presenting
that information.
Stephanie Allen (25:21):
Exactly.
Troy Blaser (25:22):
That can be very encouraging. Thinking about our
audience, we have HRprofessionals, maybe some CEOs
or COOs listening to ourconversation. Is there anything
else, any other specific adviceyou would wanna share with our
listeners ? Amazing, awesomeprinciples that would benefit
us?
Stephanie Allen (25:39):
I have one.
Don't accept assumptions. Itsounds really easy, but it's
really hard.
Troy Blaser (25:46):
Okay.
Stephanie Allen (25:47):
So if you are feeling like, "I don't really
understand, but I'm gonnaassume what someone told me is
what I need to do, but doesn'tquite make sense". That's an
assumption. Don't accept that.
Go get information. Or you'relike, "I'm not really
comfortable with how thatconversation went. Was that me,
how I showed up was I didn'thave enough information". Or
"I'm not really sure my directreport likes me". You know,
(26:10):
maybe that's something youshouldn't assume. Like actually
get to a point where you get agood relationship with them and
then the feedback's easier.
Just be really consistent withnot accepting assumptions. And
if you have a team that is onthe lookout for that, you will
help each other clear up thoseassumptions.
Troy Blaser (26:25):
Awesome. I love it. I think that all of us can
take that away and think, okay,are there places in my career
in my job where I'm makingassumptions that need to be
questioned or that I need toget some more information on
it? I mentioned as I wasintroducing you, I talked about
the panoramic operationsroadmap. Can you just tell us a
little bit about what that isand why you're passionate about
(26:47):
it?
Stephanie Allen (26:48):
Yes, definitely. Well, it's a model
I've created just based on myyears in operations. And I've
got it into a half dayworkshop. So I do preparation
based on a questionnaire that'sgiven by the client. And then I
go into this workshop with theCEO or the CEO and their
leadership team, and I givethem my thoughts about where
(27:09):
they're at in their businessfor the vision and impact that
they're doing, like theirmission, the finance, HR team,
development operations, andalso the long-term vision. Like
there's all the areas of thebusiness. And I give them a
summary of what's going well.
So what they should keep doing,stop doing and start doing. And
(27:30):
we have this greatcollaboration together where we
map out what they need to do inthe next 90 days, what matters
most to get their business tothe next level. Why I'm
passionate about, it's becauseit's a really fun exercise.
It's not very heavy lifting onthe team that I'm helping. It's
a very short engagement over afew weeks and they have this
amazing plan to run. And thenthey can always bring me in to
(27:52):
help them with different areasif they need to. More and more
I'm getting to work with otherCOOs and other executives and
support them in beingsuccessful in leading their
team, which is ultimately whatmy goal is, is to help create
as many healthy and wealthybusinesses as possible.
Troy Blaser (28:09):
Yeah. So if someone is interested in what
they've been hearing abouttoday, if they want to know
more, what are some ways thatthey could continue that
conversation with you? What aresome ways they can connect with
you?
Stephanie Allen (28:20):
Well, I'm very active on LinkedIn, so they can
definitely connect with methere. And there's a link to
book, a quick little meeting tolearn more about each other, a
discovery call. And they'llalso be able to learn more
about me on my website. Andthey can book a call from there
as well with me and they canlearn a little bit more about
the services I offer there aswell.
Troy Blaser (28:40):
Fantastic. Well, Stephanie, thank you so much.
I've enjoyed our conversationtoday. It's always great to
think about feedback loops,think about ways we can improve
our communication. It's beenwonderful to get to know you a
little bit. Thank you forjoining us today.
Stephanie Allen (28:53):
Thanks for having me. It was a lot of fun.
"Ask, 'May I give you some feedback?' and
making sure that the feedbackcan be seen as great stuff or
tough stuff. So reallynormalizing that. And so when
you ask someone permission togive them feedback, it doesn't
matter whether they're a CEO oryour peer, you're going to have
someone be ready to receive itbecause either they're gonna
say, 'sure, yeah, go for it' or'you know I'm in the middle of
something, can we have anothertime where we do that?' The
(00:22):
challenge is giving feedback ifthe person you're giving
feedback to isn't ready toreceive it, then it's not a
valuable use of anyone's time.
And all it does is createunnecessary conflict."
Troy Blaser (00:34):
Hello, welcome to Simply Feedback, the podcast
brought to you by LearningBridge . And I'm your host,
Troy Blaser. It's great to bewith you today. I'm excited
about our guest today. Her nameis Stephanie Allen of Stephanie
Allen Consulting. Stephanie isa strategic CEO Advisor and
Fractional COO, who's renownedfor her work in scaling
operations and leadershipdevelopment within the digital
(00:57):
marketing and tech industries.
Creator of The PanoramicOperations Roadmap, Stephanie
helps companies achievesubstantial growth through
streamlined processes and clearorganizational objectives. Her
approach emphasizes thecritical role of effective
feedback loops in drivingbusiness success, a topic she
has explored in depth atnotable industry events.
(01:18):
Stephanie’s insights onnurturing transformative
leadership and operationalexcellence make her a welcome
guest on today’s show.
Stephanie, welcome to SimplyFeedback. It's great to have
you with us today.
Stephanie Allen (01:30):
Hi Troy. I'm really excited to be here.
Thanks for having me .
Troy Blaser (01:35):
Yeah. We'll start with a question that we always
start with because I love tohear the stories and it helps
us get to know you a little bitbetter. But I wonder if you
could tell us about a time thatsomebody gave you feedback and
maybe it was feedback that hadan impact on your life or your
career, but was a turning pointfor you. Is there a story you
could share with us?
Stephanie Allen (01:52):
Yes. The turning point or something that
had a big impact on my life wasduring university that actually
led the way for maybe how Icarry myself in my career
today. And it was by the deanof my program at university.
And the feedback was, you needto show up the right way
(02:12):
regardless of what's going onin your life. And to be in my
late teens, early twenties andhave someone share that with me
was really beneficial. So thestory behind that is that I was
in my second year of universityworking two part-time jobs and
just getting by with managingall of my schoolwork and
raising money to fund myuniversity life.
Troy Blaser (02:34):
Sounds like many students.
Stephanie Allen (02:36):
Yes and in that time a dear friend was
diagnosed with cancer and theypassed away. And when that
happened, it really rocked myworld in a way that I didn't
anticipate. And I sort ofstopped showing up. I was
really questioning what my lifewas about someone to die so
young that I cared about and Ilet things slip with school
(02:59):
and, and I was just kind ofgoing to work. And it was a
pivotal time in my universitycareer and I actually ended up
failing the year because ofthat moment and I had a
decision to make, do I keepgoing or not? And so I was
talking with the, the dean andshe shared her feedback with me
and it really resonated. Butthere was a second person,
(03:19):
another professor on the teamwho I sat with because I had
failed his course. And heshared some interesting things
with me that I didn't fail bymuch. And that out of everyone
in the class, I would probablyone of the most successful
people in my career, eventhough I had failed this
moment. And it was really whatI needed to hear it at that
time to keep going with myschooling. And so I went back
(03:43):
and I redid the year and I wasin the top of the class. And so
why was this so pivotal? Well,it's because I received really
tough feedback. I really failedbig time . But I also had
feedback that it didn't defineme in that moment. I had an
option to keep going and tryagain. So now today when I give
feedback, I give the toughfeedback, but I don't hold onto
(04:07):
that. Like that is the onlything I think of that person.
The next conversation we have,I am thinking about what
they're great at and whatthey've done well, and showing
them that that tough moment wasnot the be all end all of who
they are to me or the business.
And I think that that was apivotal time in my my life, but
(04:28):
it was also a pivotal time ofsetting the foundation of the
value of feedback and how tonot assume that one bad moment
with someone is going todetermine what they are like in
the future. And I think that'swhy I'm kind of known for
seeing the greatness ineveryone. So I always like to
see what is someone reallygreat at and how can we
(04:49):
leverage that? And I make surethat they know that even if
there's something they're doingthat is not going well.
Troy Blaser (04:55):
Oh , that, that's really fantastic. I mean that,
like you kind of said, thatformed a foundational
experience in your life thathas really given you a platform
to grow from. That was adifficult challenge and a
difficult experience to gothrough. But you said, I'm not
gonna let this failure defineme. But yet in a way it sort of
has because it has made yousomeone who watches for that
(05:16):
greatness in others and and isable to focus on that as you're
sometimes sharing the toughfeedback.
Stephanie Allen (05:21):
Yes. That's a good point. That's good.
Troy Blaser (05:23):
No, it , it's inspiring and it's so wonderful
to hear these kinds of storiesand hear about the mentors, you
know, the dean or the otherprofessor who are in that
position for you as a studentto really make a difference
that has lasted with you formany years after university.
Well, okay. So as I was kind ofgetting ready for our
(05:44):
conversation today and gettingto know you a little bit,
reading through that bio that Ishared, I came across a term
that was new for me, FractionalCOO. Can you just quickly
explain that for me and forothers in our audience who
might not be familiar with thatterm?
Stephanie Allen (05:57):
Yes, definitely. What it means is
you get someone that can beyour COO or your second in
command on a interim basis fora defined period of time. Or
they are with you for a shorterperiod of time each week for a
long period of time. So youhave fractional COOs that are
just happy to be a fractionalCOO and they have their one
(06:18):
company they work forfractionally or a handful, or
you have other fractional COOsthat are doing just consulting
and giving the strategy. And Iwould say I'm a bit of a hybrid
of both of those. So I go inand I give the strategy and and
help people design the bestoperations possible. But I also
go in and I do theimplementation on an interim
(06:38):
basis. And sometimes I'm therefor a year, sometimes I'm there
for three months or six months.
It depends on the needs of thebusiness. But I always go in
with the philosophy of how canI work myself out of this job
so that I know the company isset up for success and can do
what it needs to do in its ownway and be sustainable. And I
(07:00):
found that to be really fun andexciting because I get to work
with multiple businesses at thesame time and throughout a year
that my ability to understandwhat's happening in the world,
because I do this globally, hasmy knowledge has increased
exponentially. And I wouldnever wanna give that up.
Troy Blaser (07:17):
Well , that's really cool. It sounds like
maybe something applicable,especially to a small or a
mid-size business that maybeisn't quite ready for a
full-time COO , but can stillbring in that expertise on a
temporary basis or just for apart of the week for a fraction
of the week, I suppose, right?
Stephanie Allen (07:33):
Yes. And so I often talk about how to know if
you're ready and when the theright time is. That's a good
time to bring someone in likethat. But I also think it's
understanding the overlap ofthe C-suite because you've got
COO, you've got CIO, you've gotCFO, and you know, the O and
all of that is kind of alloperations. So you need to
figure out what is the need ofthe business and what core
(07:57):
skillset do I need tocompliment our current team or
myself and bring the rightfractional executive into help.
And I think there's someconfusion about sometimes what
A COO is versus a CIO or a CFOor a CMO. Sometimes people use
those terms interchangeably forme. And that's okay. There's a
(08:17):
lot of acronyms there toremember, but I think it brings
to light that it's not easy toknow about fractional because
you've got the fractionalaspect of it and then you've
got the skillset that you needto get clear that you need
fractionally. And that makessense. It's great for smaller
intern businesses to start toget it right. But what I'm
noticing evolving in mybusiness is that the larger
(08:38):
organizations are bringing mein to support their leadership
team actually real at thethings they need to do as well.
So as a fractional COO it couldevolve, your clientele could
evolve as you evolve.
Troy Blaser (08:50):
Oh yeah. And of course the fact that you are
working across multipleorganizations, as you said,
your knowledge increases andyou're able to bring that into
those different organizationsto kind of bring in the best
advice, the best policies,procedures that you see across
the different industries thatyou work in. So as you're
working with these differentorganizations, I wonder what
(09:10):
are some of the commonchallenges that you've observed
that companies face thinkingabout simply feedback our
podcast today? So thinkingespecially about feedback
systems, can you share some ofthe challenges that you've seen
and maybe what you advise themto do to overcome these
obstacles?
Stephanie Allen (09:25):
Yes. The big challenge, if you're thinking
you need to improve yourfeedback or things aren't going
as smoothly as you'd like inyour team, you're not sure how
to have the behavior change orto improve things. You know, my
recommendation is you firstlook at how you're
communicating as a team becausefor me, feedback is a form of
communication. So the firstpart is to look at how are you
(09:47):
collaborating and communicatingon the work that you're doing .
And once you evaluate that, youmight see gaps. So here's a
really good example. You have amanager that is not happy with
how their direct report istaking the information and
applying it, and they're notseeing the progress they're
expecting based on the timesthat they're talking about
that. First thing I look at,well, how often are they
(10:08):
connecting? And if this manageris only meeting with a direct
report once a month, then Iwould say, oh, maybe there
isn't enough connection time toactually have progress happen.
That's a long time to go fromgiving someone direction to
wait three, four weeks to havea follow up about that. Now, if
you're meeting once a month,but you are having weekly
(10:30):
updates reported to you and youcan see the progress and you
have a great relationship withyour direct report and you can
message them or give them avoice message, you know, with
feedback, that's a differentstory. But that's what I mean
about you have to first look atwhat are the forms of
communication you're using? Howoften are you communicating and
are you actually setting theteam up for success to be able
to receive feedback and act onit quickly so that you see the
(10:53):
progress happening. So I thinkcommunication is the first
thing I would look at if peopleare having challenges. And then
I would look at the individuallevel of manager to direct
report relationship andunderstand how that is going.
And then the third thing Iwould look at is how is the
team coming together and are wehaving tough conversations? Are
(11:14):
we sharing bad news and thewins together so that we can
help each other evolve andchange how we're working for
the better? And so if you havegreat communication and you
have great direct report tomanager relationship, but
you're not having transparentopen conversations as a
collective, you still mighthave some challenges with
(11:34):
feedback loops because feedbackis actually so much more than
just a manager to directreport. It could be direct
report to manager and it couldbe peer to peer and it could be
executive to someone doing thework. It could be someone doing
the work to executive. So forme, feedback is an always, like
I tell my son, when you crossthe street, don't just look
right and left. Look alwaysthese days there could be a
(11:56):
bike, there could be someonewalking a car turning down the
wrong street. So it's the samething for communication. We
need to make sure that peoplecan stop and look always with
the communication and feel setup for success to have that
conversation.
Troy Blaser (12:10):
I really like that idea that in its very basic,
most simple form feedback iscommunication and vice versa.
Meaning, you know, you and Iare having a conversation and
as you're speaking I'mlistening to what you're saying
and sort of processing it andthen offering in implied
feedback in , in my answers, inmy path of the conversation. So
(12:32):
there's feedback going back andforth in every communication
that happens, even if it's nota formal answer, these
questions, you know, to, togive me feedback on how I'm
doing as a leader. But justthat everyday communication
that can be so, so useful asfeedback. So another part of
the work that you do is toadvise CEOs as you come in to
(12:54):
work with an organization, arethere challenges that you tend
to face as you work with thoseCEOs? And what advice do you
give them about their companiesor about themselves
specifically as leaders?
Stephanie Allen (13:05):
Yes. There are always challenges. I think
operations and challenges kindof go hand in hand. If there
weren't challenges, I probablywouldn't be there.
Troy Blaser (13:14):
Right. If there weren't challenges, they're
making a whole lot of money andvery happy. And they don't need
you. Right.
Stephanie Allen (13:18):
They don't need me. They got ,
everything's going well. So Ihave observed, I'll give you
the common threat . I'm in aunique situation. Because right
now, when I go in fractionally,I'm invited, I wanna be there,
my insights and feedback iswelcomed, but that doesn't mean
it's not challenging to givefeedback. And I think first of
(13:38):
all, I have a model I use likeyou have to ask people. And
this isn't mine alone. I , youknow, if I can credit someone,
I went through the managertools learning and conference
to understand how to givefeedback and side note, I
thought I was really good atfeedback before I did that. And
then I did that program and Igot so much better. So, you
know, there's a whole otherstory there for another time.
(13:59):
So I, I like to use the model,"ask, may I give you some
feedback?" and making sure thatthe feedback can be seen as
great stuff or tough stuff. Soreally normalizing that. And so
when you ask someone permissionto give them feedback, it
doesn't matter whether they'rea CEO or your peer, you're
going to have someone be readyto receive it because either
(14:20):
they're gonna say, "sure, yeah,go for it" or you know, "I'm in
the middle of something, canyou tell me that? Can we have
another time where we do that?"The challenge is giving
feedback. If the person you'regiving feedback to isn't ready
to receive it, then it's not avaluable use of anyone's time.
And all it does is createunnecessary conflict.
Troy Blaser (14:35):
Yeah. I really like that. By asking the
question, it sort of sets thestage in that person's mind.
Okay, I need to be in a mode toreceive it. Especially if it's
tough feedback. It could comeas an insult or why are you
trying to offend me? Right. Butby prefacing it with that
question, with asking, are youin a spot where you, I can give
you some feedback, then thatdoes make a shift for the
(14:56):
person.
Stephanie Allen (14:57):
Yes. And the time that I had the most fun
giving feedback to CEOs isactually in a leadership
meeting with everyone there.
And when the CEO is frustrated,okay, this is my favorite time
to be in the room because weneed to listen to the CEO and
understand what is frustratingthem and listen. And so I get
to model for the other leadersin the room how when they feel
(15:21):
concerned or upset orfrustrated, that's when I get
really calm. I work really hardto do this, but I get really
calm and I stop and I justreally zone into like what is
happening.
Troy Blaser (15:32):
Okay.
Stephanie Allen (15:33):
And I focus just on them and then I reflect
back what I hear and I simplifythe situation. And so I've had
other leaders say, I wanna beable to do that. That was just
awesome how you handled that.
So it's not just about megiving feedback to the CEO when
I go in there, it's actuallyteaching and showing the other
(15:54):
leaders how to do that so thatit is a healthy environment
when I'm not there anymore.
Troy Blaser (15:59):
Yeah. Is there a specific case or a time you can
think of when feedback loopslike that have impacted a
company's growth or theirefficiency?
Stephanie Allen (16:07):
Yes, it happens all the time because
assumptions are not made whenyou can do that. When your boss
or a CEO gets really frustratedand their , their anxiety
levels go up, right? Becausethey just need, and often it's
because of something thathappened in the past, an issue
they've resolved and they don'twant it to happen again. They
are going through their ownhistorical memory and it might
(16:29):
not even be about what'shappening right now. It's that
it's familiar and there's aworry that would happen before
is gonna happen again. That'slike eight times outta 10 why a
CEO gets frustrated. I've seenit happen over and over and
over again. So if you don'tactually slow down and realize
it's not about me, like youhave to almost, if you're new
with this, it's not about me.
(16:49):
It's not about me. Let mereally figure out what is going
on here. But if you don't dothat, what happens is people
stop talking, "oh, my boss isupset. I'm just gonna stop
talking and not say anything".
And that's actually the mostdangerous thing that can happen
because then work productivitygoes down, morale goes down, it
(17:09):
starts right there. It's reallysubtle, it's hard to measure.
There's no data point for this.
But this is the moment in timewhere that happens. So when I
teach people how to do this,there are no assumptions and
you actually get to a solutionand then productivity goes up
and the culture of the team isreally healthy. So I've often
gone in when the engagement islow and after working with me,
(17:32):
the engagement exponentiallyimproves because I've opened up
the lines of communication andI've shown how to do that in
different forms. I've modeledthe ways that would work, not
just told them what to do.
Troy Blaser (17:44):
As you've worked with different organizations,
are there key components of afeedback culture that you bring
in, apart from goodcommunication, are there
specific principles orcomponents of a feedback
culture that you would bringinto an organization?
Stephanie Allen (18:00):
I think the main thing I do is I talk about
radical candor. I love thatbook. There was a time where I
had a team of project managersand I gave them the book to
read because it reallyinfluenced how we interacted
with the scrum teams and thingslike that. It was really,
really helpful for them tounderstand what I meant by
being open and transparent withcommunication when it came to
(18:22):
agile methodology and Scrum. Soradical candor, it's a great
book. You know , I think if Icould sum it up in a couple
words, I see feedback as agift. And sometimes when you
get a gift, you really love it.
Like, oh my gosh, this is agreat gift. And sometimes when
you get a gift like , oh , Ididn't think I wanted that, but
oh, I actually need that.
(18:43):
Right. So it doesn't mean thegift is always like Christmas
morning and wow, it's reallyexciting. But it's a gift that
maybe you need that you didn'tknow you needed sometimes. And
when you think of it that wayand you realize if I am open
and honest with the situationhere and I'm speaking about the
reality of the situation, theteam is happy, the clients are
(19:03):
happy, the boss is happy, thatthat is just the bottom line to
me. And so I bring that into anorganization. Recently we had a
big quarterly meeting with aclient and we didn't do a good
job getting our transparentcommunication in line before we
went into a meeting. And so theclient was hearing it for the
first time, but it wasn'thorrible because at least we
(19:26):
were being transparent. And Itried to turn that into a
lesson and I went first and Isaid, I don't like how that
went. I don't like how I saidthings there because I didn't
realize we weren't really readyto say that or that I didn't
realize that it would bereceived that way because we
hadn't talked about itinternally enough. And now I
know. But then I also shared, Ineed everyone here to be honest
(19:46):
with me about where we're at ina project so that we can get
things in line to actuallyshare it with the client. So
that's an example where I'mteaching in real time and
changing that. And I knowthat'll never happen again
because we had this really niceheart to heart with the CEO ,
the actual team and me afterthat moment, we did it right
(20:06):
after. And so supporting theCEOs that wanna do fast
feedback and making sure thesystems in place support that,
and then helping the teamdigest the feedback and making
sure that we're beingtransparent. So I'd say radical
candor is something I probablyalways bring with me.
Troy Blaser (20:22):
I love that. And that implies, and it requires a
high level of trust on the teamas well, right. To be able to
give that feedback and then toreceive it requires trust among
the teammates so that they knowit's being given in the best
interest of everyone on theteam.
Stephanie Allen (20:39):
Yes. So what do you do when you don't have
trust? Right? Well, as leaders,we have to practice the radical
candor first, even when theteam is not ready to do it with
us. And when they see itconsistently happening, you're
consistently showing up withthat radical candor. It will
happen. It might take twomonths, it might take four
months, but if you see progressand they're evolving, it will
(21:00):
happen. And so it's not givingup on it, it's showing up the
way you want the team to showup. And then they will trust
that you'll be good to themwhen they are radically candid.
Troy Blaser (21:12):
Yes. Really leading by example in that case
to create that culture oftrust. Well, at the beginning
of our conversation, I askedyou about a time in your life
when you received some feedbackas you have worked with
different companies, differentCEOs. I wonder if there's a
time or an experience whenyou've seen feedback cause a
point of inflection insomeone's career or in their
(21:34):
life that you've been workingwith, whether that was for
useful constructive feedback orwhether the feedback experience
went poorly. Is there anexperience you could share with
us?
Stephanie Allen (21:43):
Yes. I'll share one with a CEO and then
I'll share one with a more of ateammate level. And what's
happened with multiple CEOsI've worked with is when I show
them what I would do in asituation, I share my
observations. I'm not actuallygiving them direct feedback,
I'm just sharing informationand scenarios that could
happen. Every time there's alight bulb that goes off in
(22:06):
their head and goes, "oh, maybeI'm getting in the way." " Oh,
maybe I need to do somethingdifferent." Or "maybe I need to
have a conversation with morepeople in the room than just
one person. And that's whatreally brings me joy when I
work with CEOs with that growthmindset. And it's not like I'm
giving them direct feedback.
I'm just showing them anotherway or giving them options and
(22:29):
they figure it out on theirown. Like, CEOs are really
smart. They've done a lot toget to where they are. But it
takes a lot of bravery andcourage and honesty to share
information with them thatothers would be afraid to. And
that's really I think thebenefit of having the right COO
for you. You've got someonethat that's that reflection or
(22:50):
mirror or is keeping youconnected to what others think
and sharing observations withyou. So that you can then
decide how you want to continuein that situation. And then the
COO supports you on rolling outthat new way of working. And
that's really what leads tosuccess in a business with
multiple people and not wantingto be in the day-to-day all the
(23:10):
time is the the leader.
Troy Blaser (23:12):
I love that.
Stephanie Allen (23:13):
So that's the pivotal point. And then I think
the one that sticks with me themost is more of the flip side
of giving a teammate feedback.
Like working through with them,giving them time to show how
they can improve, reflectingback that I'm not seeing the
progress. So really doing mybest to be a good leader and
support them. And then themrealizing that they needed to
(23:35):
go, like it wasn't the rightfit for them. And helping them
come to that realization ontheir own versus firing them.
And I think that's the thing Ilike most about feedback is
that you're just the vessel ofinformation and you're there to
equip people with informationand then it's what they do with
it. I think as leaders, wecan't really control people,
(23:57):
but we can influence them andwe can give them information to
make a good decision for them.
And sometimes the best decisionis helping them exit the
company, not necessarilystaying in the company. And
when you practice this feedbackmodel, that will start to
happen more and more too. Andit's being prepared for that,
that that could happen. Andthat's in the best interest of
(24:18):
the CEO , the team and thecompany when you do that, and
the individual as well. Youknow, why would they wanna stay
somewhere where it's not gonnawork repeatedly for them? So I
think those are the twoscenarios that I've seen have
pivotal moments on otherpeople, but I, I don't truly
know how it impacts people allthe time. Right. And there
could be times where I thinkI'm doing a great job and it's
(24:41):
actually caused someone somediscomfort.
Troy Blaser (24:43):
Sure.
Stephanie Allen (24:44):
You know that that's a growth thing. As a
leader, you have to make sureyou're doing your best to
provide it in a safe way, butnot worry too much about how
people are gonna feel when yougive the feedback. Because that
could stop the feedback fromhappening.
Troy Blaser (24:56):
You know, as you were talking about the CEOs,
you're able to talk with themand you present that
information and you love itwhen the CEO figures it out for
themself , "oh, maybe I need tochange this" or "I need to do
something". Or "maybe I've beenthe obstacle". It's so
encouraging because then ifthey're figuring that out on
their own, then you're like,well it's likely that they
(25:18):
could do that next time whenI'm not in the room presenting
that information.
Stephanie Allen (25:21):
Exactly.
Troy Blaser (25:22):
That can be very encouraging. Thinking about our
audience, we have HRprofessionals, maybe some CEOs
or COOs listening to ourconversation. Is there anything
else, any other specific adviceyou would wanna share with our
listeners ? Amazing, awesomeprinciples that would benefit
us?
Stephanie Allen (25:39):
I have one.
Don't accept assumptions. Itsounds really easy, but it's
really hard.
Troy Blaser (25:46):
Okay.
Stephanie Allen (25:47):
So if you are feeling like, "I don't really
understand, but I'm gonnaassume what someone told me is
what I need to do, but doesn'tquite make sense". That's an
assumption. Don't accept that.
Go get information. Or you'relike, "I'm not really
comfortable with how thatconversation went. Was that me,
how I showed up was I didn'thave enough information". Or
"I'm not really sure my directreport likes me". You know,
(26:10):
maybe that's something youshouldn't assume. Like actually
get to a point where you get agood relationship with them and
then the feedback's easier.
Just be really consistent withnot accepting assumptions. And
if you have a team that is onthe lookout for that, you will
help each other clear up thoseassumptions.
Troy Blaser (26:25):
Awesome. I love it. I think that all of us can
take that away and think, okay,are there places in my career
in my job where I'm makingassumptions that need to be
questioned or that I need toget some more information on
it? I mentioned as I wasintroducing you, I talked about
the panoramic operationsroadmap. Can you just tell us a
little bit about what that isand why you're passionate about
(26:47):
it?
Stephanie Allen (26:48):
Yes, definitely. Well, it's a model
I've created just based on myyears in operations. And I've
got it into a half dayworkshop. So I do preparation
based on a questionnaire that'sgiven by the client. And then I
go into this workshop with theCEO or the CEO and their
leadership team, and I givethem my thoughts about where
(27:09):
they're at in their businessfor the vision and impact that
they're doing, like theirmission, the finance, HR team,
development operations, andalso the long-term vision. Like
there's all the areas of thebusiness. And I give them a
summary of what's going well.
So what they should keep doing,stop doing and start doing. And
(27:30):
we have this greatcollaboration together where we
map out what they need to do inthe next 90 days, what matters
most to get their business tothe next level. Why I'm
passionate about, it's becauseit's a really fun exercise.
It's not very heavy lifting onthe team that I'm helping. It's
a very short engagement over afew weeks and they have this
amazing plan to run. And thenthey can always bring me in to
(27:52):
help them with different areasif they need to. More and more
I'm getting to work with otherCOOs and other executives and
support them in beingsuccessful in leading their
team, which is ultimately whatmy goal is, is to help create
as many healthy and wealthybusinesses as possible.
Troy Blaser (28:09):
Yeah. So if someone is interested in what
they've been hearing abouttoday, if they want to know
more, what are some ways thatthey could continue that
conversation with you? What aresome ways they can connect with
you?
Stephanie Allen (28:20):
Well, I'm very active on LinkedIn, so they can
definitely connect with methere. And there's a link to
book, a quick little meeting tolearn more about each other, a
discovery call. And they'llalso be able to learn more
about me on my website. Andthey can book a call from there
as well with me and they canlearn a little bit more about
the services I offer there aswell.
Troy Blaser (28:40):
Fantastic. Well, Stephanie, thank you so much.
I've enjoyed our conversationtoday. It's always great to
think about feedback loops,think about ways we can improve
our communication. It's beenwonderful to get to know you a
little bit. Thank you forjoining us today.
Stephanie Allen (28:53):
Thanks for having me. It was a lot of fun.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com