July 21, 2025 • 20 mins
If you're a leader, when you enter a room the energy will always change. It will always become either better or worse. It's your job to know this and to make sure your influence on this energy is always positive. A sense of urgency is required but not at the expense of focus from the people on your team.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Hacking Your Leadership.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm Chris and I'm Lorenzo.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
And Lorenzo on this episode, I want to start asking
you a question. Have you ever had a situation or
been in a situation where you were getting your work
done and your team was getting their work done, things
were going well, and your leader or another leader that
you either have a direct line or a dotted line
two walks into the office or the room or the
(00:26):
building wherever you are, and the energy of the room
just changes from from a standpoint of Hey, we're all
getting our work done to oh my gosh, this person's here.
Let's focus on making sure that we do whatever it
is that they want to have done, not what we're
(00:46):
supposed to be doing. Well, what if they want done
what we're supposed to get done. I don't know the
answer to that question. Yeah, I gotta find out what
it is that they want done today, and then we
can decide whether or not we're doing what we're supposed
to do or whatever it is that they want us.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
To do right now.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But but you don't really know what you're supposed to do,
and so there's just kind of this like almost a
scrambling of like let's just try to make sure that
we placate this person.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, that was a really long question first of all,
and it felt like you needed to get that all out.
So I'm here for you and I appreciate you sharing
with me and experience you've been through.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I've been that experience many times.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yes, absolutely, Yes, there is an edge that you want
to have as a leader, which is, you know, like,
let's make sure that we're doing what we're supposed to
be doing. Let's make sure that we're focused on the
work at hands like that. That's a part of that
that you kind of want to have an impact. You
want to be able to shift the energy in a
(01:44):
room as a leader when you walk in the kicker
and I think what we'll talk about today is though,
but what is that energy and how do you do
it in a way that is that may have a
little bit of edge to it, but also that like
it's okay, like like like so I think that, like
I've had leaders that have shown me like both sides
of that where it's like they walk in, everything gets quiet,
(02:06):
everybody gets kind of tight, and it's just like I
don't know, like you know what, there's there's no there's
no understanding of maybe how or what or what they're
going to respond to, what they're going to ask, Like
it just feels like they're monitoring to make sure people
are being productive.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Even if you're being productive.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And they're productive their definition not your own.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Exactly right right yeah, Or and it's like or another
liddle will walk in and just like bringing a energy
that's like fun and like what's going on? Just working
like you know, like what are you guys working on?
And it's not like the what are you guys working on?
But it's more of the like what do you know?
What do you what's going on today? Like walk me
through what you're like that type of energy where it's
(02:49):
like it's fun, it's it is they're doing the job,
is validating, they're making sure that people are getting stuff done.
But there's this feeling of like they're here to help,
they're here to support, they're here to so yeah, like
I've definitely seen a big difference in the energy that
leaders bring in. But I've absolutely seen leaders that walk
(03:10):
into a room and it gets it gets stuffy all
of a sudden, and people are just like, you know,
while we may have been being productive, we probably felt
a little looser, a little bit more like, you know,
we're having a good time while we work hard, and
now it's like it's only time for work, and that
that could that makes it difficult, and it makes it
I think, in a lot of instances harder to.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think harder to.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Bring your all of your own energy to something when
you're kind of feeling like somebody is you know, limiting
that or tapping that to a degree in a negative way. Right.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
One of the things you said there was that as
a leader, you want to be able to impact the
energy of a room, and I, yeah, I agree with that.
I think I think it's a much bigger problem if
if you, as a leader walk into a room and
you have no impact on the energy in either direction,
that that underscores an even larger problem. That means that
you no longer to have influence over your over your team.
But if if most leaders do impact the energy of
(04:13):
a room when they walk in, most do, whether it's
positive or negative. The vast majority of leaders do have
an impact on the energy. And you know, we have
a we have a mutual friend and you know common uh,
you know, leader and mentor that we have had in
our own lives that talked about the importance of the
responsibility that a leader has to make sure that the
(04:35):
energy in a room is a positive energy, that that
even if there's you know, things going on that would
that would not be in necessarily positive things, even if
there's some things to talk about or work that has
to get done that might not be as fun to
get done, or that might not be as you knows,
as celebratory because there's other things happening that that's unrelated.
(04:58):
Like you can do all that all those things and
get all those things done and talk about the difficult
things you have to talk about and get the hard
work done as part of the conversation without having the
energy be negative in the room. Because if the energy
is negative, because you're allowing the subject matter to dictate
(05:18):
your own kind of emotional states when you come into
a room, then that's what's contagious. The news or the
thing that has to be dealt with that might not
be as positive, that doesn't impact the room unless you
allow it to impact you as a leader, and then
you have essentially impacted the room. I think I think
a lot of leaders kind of use as a cop out, well,
(05:41):
I didn't change energy. We have a lot of things
to go over that were not necessarily positive, that were
that were you know, kind of holding ourselves accountable to
results that weren't you know, being delivered, and now we
have to deliver them. All those things and a leader
can say that's what brought the energy of the room down,
not me, and that's be yes, you know, you can
talk about those things in a positive way. And you know,
(06:04):
I read something recently that talked about the importance of
whatever energy that you bring to a room as a leader,
that it creates a sense of urgency. And while I
believe that's true, I do agree that you need to
have a sense of urgency around getting the work done
and around making sure that you understand that you're taking
your job seriously without taking yourself to you seriously. That is,
(06:26):
it's necessary, but not sufficient that definition. So the energy
has to create urgency, But there's plenty of urgency that
gets created by leaders in their energy that is not
urgency around a shared goal or a common vision, or
allowing people to be themselves in whatever space they're in
as far as what their level of energy looks like
(06:48):
and accepting all kinds and understanding that people will be
the most productive if they are able to bring whatever
energy feels authentic and natural to them, and you as
the leader, have to commodate all of those things as
long as you know the people are remaining positive. That's
different than urgency that says, you know, we're going to
focus on the flavor of the month, not overall you know,
(07:11):
guiding principles and overall you know values that that that
suppose that are supposed to impact the works that we're
getting done.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah, it's it's kind of like I can create urgency
by simply saying like, hey, this is this is important,
this needs to be addressed, fixed, adjusted, whatever the case is,
Like we need to focus on this and we need
to make sure that we have a different outcome by
four pm today. Like I can create urgency, right and
then like and everybody knowing that at you know, four
(07:40):
pm today, if we're not there, then we're gonna have
some conversations or validate all your work or dig into
what you're doing. Like there's a way to create that
type of urgency where it's like you have a deadline
or you know, you're applying pressure to create urgency then
there's the urgency that I think you're talking a little
bit about, which is like, hey, here is something that
(08:00):
we are collectively having an opportunity with. We know we
can be better here. We know that when we focus
our energy and our behaviors, we can accomplish this thing.
Let's talk through this. Why do you think that we're
seeing this? What are the things that are maybe stopping
us here? Are we being you know, honest about our
own efforts and making sure that we're doing this thing?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Can we do this today? You know? Do we do?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
We feel that we're capable of delivering on this? What
would it take for us to do that? What we
all have to do? You know, let's and you're gathering
people to say, like, let's let's do we want to
check in by four o'clock. I know that we can
do this if we all put our minds to it
and kind of focus on it. What else needs to
happen today for us to make sure that we get that?
Where do you want me to spend my time as
(08:44):
the leader to make sure that we help to get
this all done? Like you can rally a team, create
urgency and then celebrate when you get to that point
or celebrate like when you've gotten really close if like
the you know, the best effort's been put forward to that.
But I think those are the things that as a
leader considering how do you create urgency? What are the
(09:04):
things that you're saying or doing for your team to
make them either feel like they're a part of it
and they believe and they're up for the challenge, or
it's a requirement, it's an expectation and you're just going
to manage them to get to the to whatever it
is that you want to get accomplished. Like that's kind
of how I think about, you know, kind of urgency
(09:27):
in leadership and the energy that you bring to that.
But sometimes you know there are almost you have to
be very direct. But I think when you have to
get direct or say like, hey, we've got to fix this,
if you've done all of that work ahead of time
and you've built that relationship and that's your style of
working with the team, they can sense the urgency in that,
but they will activate to want to get it done.
(09:48):
Not because today you've been very direct or clear about something,
but because over time you've built that relationship where they're like, no,
we get it. Like, we don't want to let you down,
we don't want to let the company down, we don't
want to let.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The customer down, whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Like they have a feeling of obligation because you've established
it over time, instead of feeling of an obligation because
you told them they have to be obliged to it.
You know, those are two very different things, I.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Think, right, right, if I think back to that four
box that we've talked about before on the show about
if something is urgent or important or urgent and important,
right so creating a sense of urgency, it needs to
it needs to fall in the correct box. Because if
that sense of urgency that you are, that you are
bringing with your energy to a room or to a
(10:35):
team meeting or whatever that looks like, if that sense
of urgency, if if what your people take from it
is I don't know what the expectation is going to
be today. I have to wait and hear Lorenzo talk
about it first before I know what it's going to be.
That that implies either a you don't talk to your
people at all about what the what the goals are,
(10:56):
what the what the responsibility is, and they have to
kind of wait to hear it from you piecemeal on
a day by day basis, or it means that you
don't have a clear vision of what you want people
getting done on a day to day basis, and so
you wait to see what's urgent and important own on
your own plate for that day, and then you delegate
(11:18):
it out to the team, and they say they have
no idea what to expect on a given day until
you get to work and kind of assign their tasks.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
And when that.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Happens, everything goes into the urgent and important category, even
things that don't belong there. And so there's a sense
of urgency, a sense of urgency around something that has
to get done by four o'clock that does fall into
the urgent and important category, a sense of urgency around
something that has to get done by the end of
a quarter or by the end of a year, or
(11:46):
a sense of urgency around just making sure that whatever
metric or scorecard you're looking at, or or a result
that is rooted in behavior as you're looking at, if
the sense of urgency is around just making sure that
it's slowly getting better over time, was that it's better
next week than it was last week, regardless of what
the that outcome looks like. That type of urgency that
(12:08):
is that is rooted in the energy you bring to them,
that's that can be a very positive force. That can
be a force that says, you know, this is important
and it's part of your job expectation, and we have
to get this done. But you know what this is
going to be every day in advance without me even
being in the room. So if I come into the room,
the energy shouldn't change from a from a positive to
(12:29):
a negative. It might be that everybody kind of ups
their game a little bit because the bosses in the room.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You know that.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
That's a kind of a naturally occurring thing that happens
on all teams. But but that energy, that kind of
heightened sense of urgency that happens when a leader walks
in the room, if it's rooted in the right things,
it it won't cause people to scramble. It will just
cause people to kind of maybe up the level of
productivity or or commitment to the behaviors that they're supposed
(12:57):
to be doing all the time. And maybe they do it,
you know, eighty percent of the time when the leader's
not in the room, and then one hundred percent of
the time when the leader is in the room, that
kind of energy is fine. But if it's energy that
starts out with people doing nothing or or kind of
not executing on the behaviors that they're told to do, ever,
and then all of a sudden you walk in the
(13:17):
room and it goes to one hundred percent, then that
implies that you don't have the influence or the authority
to you know, needed to lead them in your own absence,
and you have to be there. And that can be
a very easy cycle to get into. That causes leaders
to bring a sense of urgency that is rooted in
a negative urgency as opposed.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
To a positive absolutely and with that it brings us
to this episode's one minute hack.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
But first a few words from more sponsors.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
All Right, this episode is one minute hack is about
the pre work that you need to do before you
interact with your team to make sure that the urgency
in the energy you bring to the room is rooted
in the right thing. And so if it's rooted in
you transferring the urgency you feel from your own leader
onto your team, that will come off negatively. But if
(14:04):
it's rooted in your actual belief in whatever these things
are that need to get done, not that you just
feel that urgency coming from your own boss. Then it
will come off more positively. And so when you're when
you think about the words that you're saying, understand that
the the transfer of belief that you have as a
leader that is conveyed through your energy and your emotion,
(14:27):
not through the words that you're saying. It's it's how
you say it. There are ways to say the thing
to your team that needs to get done or or
the words can be you know, written down on paper
that say what needs to get done, and depending on
how you say them out loud, that will determine what
they feel about it, not what the actual you know,
(14:48):
task is, or what the the thing is that there's
now some urgency around. It's it's how you come off
in your emotion and your energy when conveying.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It to them.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And so take the time before you do these things
with your team to make sure that it's rooted in
the right place. If you are having a tendency to
transfer a negative sense of urgency to your team, typically
that means that you're not boughting yourself to whatever it
is and you're just trying to hopefully instill that urgency
in them that you feel from your own boss. If
(15:17):
you're feeling that, it's your responsibility to go back to
your boss or somebody else who you can talk to
to figure out what is behind the thing that you
need to get done, or the behaviors that you need
to kind of help roll out to your team, the
strategy that has to be executed. Whatever those things are,
you need to be fully bought into them for real,
not in a fake way, not in I want to
keep my job way, but in a I can see
(15:39):
why this is important to the organization and to me
in my role, and how it can open doors for
my team if it's done correctly. If you go into
it with that mindset and having that belief in yourself,
that will transfer to your team, and that urgency that
gets brought in your energy will be from a positive
place that they can buy into, not from a negative place.
(15:59):
That says, we don't know how Lorenzo's going to treat
us today versus tomorrow, because we don't know what his
boss is going to say to him today or tomorrow
and what things is going to bring to us. That
now all of a sudden, are the most important thing
in the world that weren't the most important thing in
the world yesterday.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, I think it's a great call out, like in
those spaces where you have to create urgency, how are you, Yeah,
how are you thinking about the urgency that you have
to create and why you have to create it? And
you know, most of the time when it's urgent, not
all of the time. I've been there plenty of times
(16:33):
when it's like you've been doing the thing that you're
supposed to be doing, but now like it needs to
happen faster, and it's like, okay, like that that's different then, right,
That's different than all like pulling fire alarms all day
long because you're just not prepared for the things that
have been going on around you. And I think that
to your point as a leader, staying ahead, understanding what
(16:57):
things are truly urgent, knowing why things are urgent, but
also having a team that realizes that, like we're we're
gonna continue to do what we always do because that's
how we do this level of work, and there are
going to be times when urgency is required, but I'll
be clear about it when it's those times and we're
gonna move quickly together as a team. Again, like the
(17:18):
energy that you bring to that and how you perceive
it being that, Like if you get off the call
and somebody's like, hey, I know you've been working on this,
I needed done today, and you're just like, oh boy, right,
right right, And the first thing you want to do
is go tell your team like, hey, we got to
get this done today. Like if like, if you're just
echoing that and bringing that same kind of energy.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
It may get done.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
It probably will not get done with a positive attitude
and or without you know, without without removing some of
maybe the equity you have with the team, especially if
you do it really really frequently.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Right, and it's not it's not replicable even at whatever
level they bring, Like you if you if you can
if you're trying to judge their buy in based on
the results, well, if you've done done it that way
before and all of a sudden you bring the sense
of urgency, they might perform at a very high level.
Like if it's out of character for you, you have the
equity with them in their relationship, still they're going to
perform well on a long enough timeline. Each subsequent instance
(18:13):
of you doing that, you're going to have lower and
lower outcomes, or worse and worse outcomes, lower and lower performance,
lower and lower productivity as time goes on, because not
it's the whole. You know, like to Steve Carell in
the office, you know, Michael, you can't mark every email
as urgent, and then he says, well, if I don't
mark it as urgent, no one will open it and
read it.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It's if everything is urgent, then nothing is urgent anymore.
And if that's the if that's your baseline, if your
baseline is that everything is urgent, whatever whatever it is
that you're that you're saying that it's important to do.
If you if you lend the same level of urgency
to something that is rooted in you know, protecting the
(18:52):
organization from something huge or you know, a potential multi
million dollar you know, profit loss on something, that sense
of urgency needs to feel different than the sense of
urgency around. Hey, this kind of like scorecard metric that's
five levels deep is a little bit lower than it
should be, and it needs to be better than that
by the end of the week. That that that can't
have the same level of urgency in your in your
(19:15):
voice and then your emotion as the as the first
example that I gave, they have to be different and
there and and your team has to be able to
feel the difference in the energy you bring based on,
you know, the the level of importance that is. And
and if what they feel from you doesn't align in
their own minds, like it doesn't jive in their own
minds as far as the what level of importance they've
(19:37):
put on this thing, then one of two things needs
to happen. Either you need to do a better job
as a leader at instilling in them the proper level
of urgency they need to have around something because they
don't get it, or you are lending a higher or lower,
whatever inappropriate level of energy and urgency to an item
that doesn't need that. And the the the in the
(19:58):
incongruousness of of those two things degrades your ability to
influence your team over time. So they need to align
not just in your own head, but with what the
team feels from you and what they can predict from you.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Absolutely and with that it brings us at the end
of this episode, this is hacking leadership. I'm Lorenzo and
I'm Chris, and we'll talk to you all next time.
Welcome to Hacking Your Leadership.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm Chris and I'm Lorenzo.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
And Lorenzo on this episode, I want to start asking
you a question. Have you ever had a situation or
been in a situation where you were getting your work
done and your team was getting their work done, things
were going well, and your leader or another leader that
you either have a direct line or a dotted line
two walks into the office or the room or the
(00:26):
building wherever you are, and the energy of the room
just changes from from a standpoint of Hey, we're all
getting our work done to oh my gosh, this person's here.
Let's focus on making sure that we do whatever it
is that they want to have done, not what we're
(00:46):
supposed to be doing. Well, what if they want done
what we're supposed to get done. I don't know the
answer to that question. Yeah, I gotta find out what
it is that they want done today, and then we
can decide whether or not we're doing what we're supposed
to do or whatever it is that they want us.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
To do right now.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But but you don't really know what you're supposed to do,
and so there's just kind of this like almost a
scrambling of like let's just try to make sure that
we placate this person.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, that was a really long question first of all,
and it felt like you needed to get that all out.
So I'm here for you and I appreciate you sharing
with me and experience you've been through.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I've been that experience many times.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yes, absolutely, Yes, there is an edge that you want
to have as a leader, which is, you know, like,
let's make sure that we're doing what we're supposed to
be doing. Let's make sure that we're focused on the
work at hands like that. That's a part of that
that you kind of want to have an impact. You
want to be able to shift the energy in a
(01:44):
room as a leader when you walk in the kicker
and I think what we'll talk about today is though,
but what is that energy and how do you do
it in a way that is that may have a
little bit of edge to it, but also that like
it's okay, like like like so I think that, like
I've had leaders that have shown me like both sides
of that where it's like they walk in, everything gets quiet,
(02:06):
everybody gets kind of tight, and it's just like I
don't know, like you know what, there's there's no there's
no understanding of maybe how or what or what they're
going to respond to, what they're going to ask, Like
it just feels like they're monitoring to make sure people
are being productive.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Even if you're being productive.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And they're productive their definition not your own.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Exactly right right yeah, Or and it's like or another
liddle will walk in and just like bringing a energy
that's like fun and like what's going on? Just working
like you know, like what are you guys working on?
And it's not like the what are you guys working on?
But it's more of the like what do you know?
What do you what's going on today? Like walk me
through what you're like that type of energy where it's
(02:49):
like it's fun, it's it is they're doing the job,
is validating, they're making sure that people are getting stuff done.
But there's this feeling of like they're here to help,
they're here to support, they're here to so yeah, like
I've definitely seen a big difference in the energy that
leaders bring in. But I've absolutely seen leaders that walk
(03:10):
into a room and it gets it gets stuffy all
of a sudden, and people are just like, you know,
while we may have been being productive, we probably felt
a little looser, a little bit more like, you know,
we're having a good time while we work hard, and
now it's like it's only time for work, and that
that could that makes it difficult, and it makes it
I think, in a lot of instances harder to.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think harder to.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Bring your all of your own energy to something when
you're kind of feeling like somebody is you know, limiting
that or tapping that to a degree in a negative way. Right.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
One of the things you said there was that as
a leader, you want to be able to impact the
energy of a room, and I, yeah, I agree with that.
I think I think it's a much bigger problem if
if you, as a leader walk into a room and
you have no impact on the energy in either direction,
that that underscores an even larger problem. That means that
you no longer to have influence over your over your team.
But if if most leaders do impact the energy of
(04:13):
a room when they walk in, most do, whether it's
positive or negative. The vast majority of leaders do have
an impact on the energy. And you know, we have
a we have a mutual friend and you know common uh,
you know, leader and mentor that we have had in
our own lives that talked about the importance of the
responsibility that a leader has to make sure that the
(04:35):
energy in a room is a positive energy, that that
even if there's you know, things going on that would
that would not be in necessarily positive things, even if
there's some things to talk about or work that has
to get done that might not be as fun to
get done, or that might not be as you knows,
as celebratory because there's other things happening that that's unrelated.
(04:58):
Like you can do all that all those things and
get all those things done and talk about the difficult
things you have to talk about and get the hard
work done as part of the conversation without having the
energy be negative in the room. Because if the energy
is negative, because you're allowing the subject matter to dictate
(05:18):
your own kind of emotional states when you come into
a room, then that's what's contagious. The news or the
thing that has to be dealt with that might not
be as positive, that doesn't impact the room unless you
allow it to impact you as a leader, and then
you have essentially impacted the room. I think I think
a lot of leaders kind of use as a cop out, well,
(05:41):
I didn't change energy. We have a lot of things
to go over that were not necessarily positive, that were
that were you know, kind of holding ourselves accountable to
results that weren't you know, being delivered, and now we
have to deliver them. All those things and a leader
can say that's what brought the energy of the room down,
not me, and that's be yes, you know, you can
talk about those things in a positive way. And you know,
(06:04):
I read something recently that talked about the importance of
whatever energy that you bring to a room as a leader,
that it creates a sense of urgency. And while I
believe that's true, I do agree that you need to
have a sense of urgency around getting the work done
and around making sure that you understand that you're taking
your job seriously without taking yourself to you seriously. That is,
(06:26):
it's necessary, but not sufficient that definition. So the energy
has to create urgency, But there's plenty of urgency that
gets created by leaders in their energy that is not
urgency around a shared goal or a common vision, or
allowing people to be themselves in whatever space they're in
as far as what their level of energy looks like
(06:48):
and accepting all kinds and understanding that people will be
the most productive if they are able to bring whatever
energy feels authentic and natural to them, and you as
the leader, have to commodate all of those things as
long as you know the people are remaining positive. That's
different than urgency that says, you know, we're going to
focus on the flavor of the month, not overall you know,
(07:11):
guiding principles and overall you know values that that that
suppose that are supposed to impact the works that we're
getting done.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah, it's it's kind of like I can create urgency
by simply saying like, hey, this is this is important,
this needs to be addressed, fixed, adjusted, whatever the case is,
Like we need to focus on this and we need
to make sure that we have a different outcome by
four pm today. Like I can create urgency, right and
then like and everybody knowing that at you know, four
(07:40):
pm today, if we're not there, then we're gonna have
some conversations or validate all your work or dig into
what you're doing. Like there's a way to create that
type of urgency where it's like you have a deadline
or you know, you're applying pressure to create urgency then
there's the urgency that I think you're talking a little
bit about, which is like, hey, here is something that
(08:00):
we are collectively having an opportunity with. We know we
can be better here. We know that when we focus
our energy and our behaviors, we can accomplish this thing.
Let's talk through this. Why do you think that we're
seeing this? What are the things that are maybe stopping
us here? Are we being you know, honest about our
own efforts and making sure that we're doing this thing?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Can we do this today? You know? Do we do?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
We feel that we're capable of delivering on this? What
would it take for us to do that? What we
all have to do? You know, let's and you're gathering
people to say, like, let's let's do we want to
check in by four o'clock. I know that we can
do this if we all put our minds to it
and kind of focus on it. What else needs to
happen today for us to make sure that we get that?
Where do you want me to spend my time as
(08:44):
the leader to make sure that we help to get
this all done? Like you can rally a team, create
urgency and then celebrate when you get to that point
or celebrate like when you've gotten really close if like
the you know, the best effort's been put forward to that.
But I think those are the things that as a
leader considering how do you create urgency? What are the
(09:04):
things that you're saying or doing for your team to
make them either feel like they're a part of it
and they believe and they're up for the challenge, or
it's a requirement, it's an expectation and you're just going
to manage them to get to the to whatever it
is that you want to get accomplished. Like that's kind
of how I think about, you know, kind of urgency
(09:27):
in leadership and the energy that you bring to that.
But sometimes you know there are almost you have to
be very direct. But I think when you have to
get direct or say like, hey, we've got to fix this,
if you've done all of that work ahead of time
and you've built that relationship and that's your style of
working with the team, they can sense the urgency in that,
but they will activate to want to get it done.
(09:48):
Not because today you've been very direct or clear about something,
but because over time you've built that relationship where they're like, no,
we get it. Like, we don't want to let you down,
we don't want to let the company down, we don't
want to let.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The customer down, whatever.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Like they have a feeling of obligation because you've established
it over time, instead of feeling of an obligation because
you told them they have to be obliged to it.
You know, those are two very different things, I.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Think, right, right, if I think back to that four
box that we've talked about before on the show about
if something is urgent or important or urgent and important,
right so creating a sense of urgency, it needs to
it needs to fall in the correct box. Because if
that sense of urgency that you are, that you are
bringing with your energy to a room or to a
(10:35):
team meeting or whatever that looks like, if that sense
of urgency, if if what your people take from it
is I don't know what the expectation is going to
be today. I have to wait and hear Lorenzo talk
about it first before I know what it's going to be.
That that implies either a you don't talk to your
people at all about what the what the goals are,
(10:56):
what the what the responsibility is, and they have to
kind of wait to hear it from you piecemeal on
a day by day basis, or it means that you
don't have a clear vision of what you want people
getting done on a day to day basis, and so
you wait to see what's urgent and important own on
your own plate for that day, and then you delegate
(11:18):
it out to the team, and they say they have
no idea what to expect on a given day until
you get to work and kind of assign their tasks.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
And when that.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Happens, everything goes into the urgent and important category, even
things that don't belong there. And so there's a sense
of urgency, a sense of urgency around something that has
to get done by four o'clock that does fall into
the urgent and important category, a sense of urgency around
something that has to get done by the end of
a quarter or by the end of a year, or
(11:46):
a sense of urgency around just making sure that whatever
metric or scorecard you're looking at, or or a result
that is rooted in behavior as you're looking at, if
the sense of urgency is around just making sure that
it's slowly getting better over time, was that it's better
next week than it was last week, regardless of what
the that outcome looks like. That type of urgency that
(12:08):
is that is rooted in the energy you bring to them,
that's that can be a very positive force. That can
be a force that says, you know, this is important
and it's part of your job expectation, and we have
to get this done. But you know what this is
going to be every day in advance without me even
being in the room. So if I come into the room,
the energy shouldn't change from a from a positive to
(12:29):
a negative. It might be that everybody kind of ups
their game a little bit because the bosses in the room.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You know that.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
That's a kind of a naturally occurring thing that happens
on all teams. But but that energy, that kind of
heightened sense of urgency that happens when a leader walks
in the room, if it's rooted in the right things,
it it won't cause people to scramble. It will just
cause people to kind of maybe up the level of
productivity or or commitment to the behaviors that they're supposed
(12:57):
to be doing all the time. And maybe they do it,
you know, eighty percent of the time when the leader's
not in the room, and then one hundred percent of
the time when the leader is in the room, that
kind of energy is fine. But if it's energy that
starts out with people doing nothing or or kind of
not executing on the behaviors that they're told to do, ever,
and then all of a sudden you walk in the
(13:17):
room and it goes to one hundred percent, then that
implies that you don't have the influence or the authority
to you know, needed to lead them in your own absence,
and you have to be there. And that can be
a very easy cycle to get into. That causes leaders
to bring a sense of urgency that is rooted in
a negative urgency as opposed.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
To a positive absolutely and with that it brings us
to this episode's one minute hack.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
But first a few words from more sponsors.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
All Right, this episode is one minute hack is about
the pre work that you need to do before you
interact with your team to make sure that the urgency
in the energy you bring to the room is rooted
in the right thing. And so if it's rooted in
you transferring the urgency you feel from your own leader
onto your team, that will come off negatively. But if
(14:04):
it's rooted in your actual belief in whatever these things
are that need to get done, not that you just
feel that urgency coming from your own boss. Then it
will come off more positively. And so when you're when
you think about the words that you're saying, understand that
the the transfer of belief that you have as a
leader that is conveyed through your energy and your emotion,
(14:27):
not through the words that you're saying. It's it's how
you say it. There are ways to say the thing
to your team that needs to get done or or
the words can be you know, written down on paper
that say what needs to get done, and depending on
how you say them out loud, that will determine what
they feel about it, not what the actual you know,
(14:48):
task is, or what the the thing is that there's
now some urgency around. It's it's how you come off
in your emotion and your energy when conveying.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It to them.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And so take the time before you do these things
with your team to make sure that it's rooted in
the right place. If you are having a tendency to
transfer a negative sense of urgency to your team, typically
that means that you're not boughting yourself to whatever it
is and you're just trying to hopefully instill that urgency
in them that you feel from your own boss. If
(15:17):
you're feeling that, it's your responsibility to go back to
your boss or somebody else who you can talk to
to figure out what is behind the thing that you
need to get done, or the behaviors that you need
to kind of help roll out to your team, the
strategy that has to be executed. Whatever those things are,
you need to be fully bought into them for real,
not in a fake way, not in I want to
keep my job way, but in a I can see
(15:39):
why this is important to the organization and to me
in my role, and how it can open doors for
my team if it's done correctly. If you go into
it with that mindset and having that belief in yourself,
that will transfer to your team, and that urgency that
gets brought in your energy will be from a positive
place that they can buy into, not from a negative place.
(15:59):
That says, we don't know how Lorenzo's going to treat
us today versus tomorrow, because we don't know what his
boss is going to say to him today or tomorrow
and what things is going to bring to us. That
now all of a sudden, are the most important thing
in the world that weren't the most important thing in
the world yesterday.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, I think it's a great call out, like in
those spaces where you have to create urgency, how are you, Yeah,
how are you thinking about the urgency that you have
to create and why you have to create it? And
you know, most of the time when it's urgent, not
all of the time. I've been there plenty of times
(16:33):
when it's like you've been doing the thing that you're
supposed to be doing, but now like it needs to
happen faster, and it's like, okay, like that that's different then, right,
That's different than all like pulling fire alarms all day
long because you're just not prepared for the things that
have been going on around you. And I think that
to your point as a leader, staying ahead, understanding what
(16:57):
things are truly urgent, knowing why things are urgent, but
also having a team that realizes that, like we're we're
gonna continue to do what we always do because that's
how we do this level of work, and there are
going to be times when urgency is required, but I'll
be clear about it when it's those times and we're
gonna move quickly together as a team. Again, like the
(17:18):
energy that you bring to that and how you perceive
it being that, Like if you get off the call
and somebody's like, hey, I know you've been working on this,
I needed done today, and you're just like, oh boy, right,
right right, And the first thing you want to do
is go tell your team like, hey, we got to
get this done today. Like if like, if you're just
echoing that and bringing that same kind of energy.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
It may get done.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
It probably will not get done with a positive attitude
and or without you know, without without removing some of
maybe the equity you have with the team, especially if
you do it really really frequently.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Right, and it's not it's not replicable even at whatever
level they bring, Like you if you if you can
if you're trying to judge their buy in based on
the results, well, if you've done done it that way
before and all of a sudden you bring the sense
of urgency, they might perform at a very high level.
Like if it's out of character for you, you have the
equity with them in their relationship, still they're going to
perform well on a long enough timeline. Each subsequent instance
(18:13):
of you doing that, you're going to have lower and
lower outcomes, or worse and worse outcomes, lower and lower performance,
lower and lower productivity as time goes on, because not
it's the whole. You know, like to Steve Carell in
the office, you know, Michael, you can't mark every email
as urgent, and then he says, well, if I don't
mark it as urgent, no one will open it and
read it.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It's if everything is urgent, then nothing is urgent anymore.
And if that's the if that's your baseline, if your
baseline is that everything is urgent, whatever whatever it is
that you're that you're saying that it's important to do.
If you if you lend the same level of urgency
to something that is rooted in you know, protecting the
(18:52):
organization from something huge or you know, a potential multi
million dollar you know, profit loss on something, that sense
of urgency needs to feel different than the sense of
urgency around. Hey, this kind of like scorecard metric that's
five levels deep is a little bit lower than it
should be, and it needs to be better than that
by the end of the week. That that that can't
have the same level of urgency in your in your
(19:15):
voice and then your emotion as the as the first
example that I gave, they have to be different and
there and and your team has to be able to
feel the difference in the energy you bring based on,
you know, the the level of importance that is. And
and if what they feel from you doesn't align in
their own minds, like it doesn't jive in their own
minds as far as the what level of importance they've
(19:37):
put on this thing, then one of two things needs
to happen. Either you need to do a better job
as a leader at instilling in them the proper level
of urgency they need to have around something because they
don't get it, or you are lending a higher or lower,
whatever inappropriate level of energy and urgency to an item
that doesn't need that. And the the the in the
(19:58):
incongruousness of of those two things degrades your ability to
influence your team over time. So they need to align
not just in your own head, but with what the
team feels from you and what they can predict from you.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Absolutely and with that it brings us at the end
of this episode, this is hacking leadership. I'm Lorenzo and
I'm Chris, and we'll talk to you all next time.
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