155: #LeaderSHIFT from Trendy to Tenacious

We’re continuing with the #LeaderSHIFT series on the podcast this week. These episodes are very direct & to the point, where we'll talk about the different challenges leaders tend to face & how to shift into becoming an influential leader who leads a healthy culture & engaged team!

In this episode, I’m sharing how you can shift from being trendy in our leadership approach to having the tenacity to lead meaningfully!

Mentioned in the Episode:

Get 15% off the Employee Engagement Planning Packet – Take the guesswork out of engaging your team with 50 + employee engagement activities & planner templates here – USE CODE engpp15:
https://baproinc.com/product/employee-engagement-planning-packet/

Ego vs. EQ: How Top Leaders Beat 8 Ego Traps with Emotional Intelligence: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1937134768/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1937134768&linkCode=as2&tag=b0b869-20&linkId=d39962a3cc90535463a65652268e3693
Need one-on-one help with your employee engagement plan? Schedule your complimentary clarity call with me here! www.baproinc.com/ep154

Apply to join the New Leader, BIG IMPACT Coaching Program to level up your leadership & build an engaging team... even if the culture is toxic & without management's support! https://baproinc.com/newleaderbigimpact

Questions about this episode? Topic suggestions for future episodes? Send them to [e-mail]

Let's chat about this episode on Twitter: @BAPROINC or IG: @CultureBuildingPRO

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to the Culture Building Like aPro podcast, helping small business owners and
managers lead a company culture where employeesare engaged to do their best work because
they want to and not because theyhave to. Now, let's jump start
your culture transformation with company culture strategists, leadership coach and trainer Deanna Applin.

(00:28):
Happy Tuesday, and thank you forlistening to the Culture Building Like a Pro
podcast. I'm Deanna and I'm excitedto be back with you for another episode
this week. But that's not new. I'm excited for every episode and a
chance to talk to you. Sothanks for tuning in and we are going
to dive into another hash tag leadershiftepisode. These episodes are very intentional where

(00:55):
we talk about some of the commonchallenges that don't get talked about enough in
leadership, and more importantly, wetalk about how we can overcome them and
shift into the level of leadership thatcreates an impact and influences excellence among your
team. Recently, I heard aphrase that I haven't heard in a while,

(01:19):
and it's have that bulldog tenacity.Have you ever heard of that?
I remember the first time hearing thatyears ago and thinking about what that meant
and you know, we all knowwhat a bulldog is, and they're in
a sense of reputation for being strongand tough. And to have a bulldog

(01:40):
tenacity, it basically just means tohave a firm grip and hold on to
something. And when you think aboutthat in terms of a bulldog, it
really means to stick to something,hold firm to something, like a dog
with a bone. Now I don'thave a bulldog, but I do have
an adorable little Shitsu doony. He'smy baby. He's the sweetest thing ever,

(02:06):
even though he's super sweet, lovespeople all the things. Everyone loves
him. He's the cutest. Buthe has that same tenacity even though he's
not a bulldog. If you givehim a toy or even just trying to
play fetch with him, he holdson to his toys so much and with
so much tenacity that he won't evenlet you continue to play the game with

(02:30):
him. As soon as he goesto get the toy, he won't bring
it back. He'll just hold itin his mouth because he doesn't want you
to take it from him. That'sthe grip that he has on his toy.
But to get back to the entirephrase of the bulldog tenacity, and
when I heard that not too longago, it made me think about how

(02:52):
that can apply in leadership. Insociety alone, one thing we see a
lot of is trends. There aretrends everywhere. There's so many trends,
especially in the world of social media. Like you hear a sound that's trending
in TikTok, what recipe is nowtrending? And all the dances, challenges,

(03:16):
all the things. I mean evenrecently my family and I when we
got together are on Christmas, weeven participated in one of the TikTok trends
called the Usher Challenge, where wehad to sit on the stairs and try
to mimic a song by Usher Raymondthe Artist, and it was hilarious.

(03:38):
But my point is everybody falls intothe trap, if you will, of
a trend in some way, shapeor form, and it doesn't mysteriously go
away when it comes to leadership,and I specifically mean that when we're talking
about doing and mimicking what we've seenoftentimes with other leaders behaving like leaders that

(04:09):
we see who maybe get results orwho tend to have a reputation of being
the bulldog or not to play with, and when you're new to leadership,
it's very easy to subconsciously adapt tothat way of leading, to those behaviors
that pushes the needle and gets thingsdone, the type of person who calls

(04:30):
the shots, the type of personwho's feared. And because you see it
so often in probably your workplace,your work experiences, if you're just going
to a local store and you seehow a manager may be treating their staff,
or even on TV and in movies, we see this trend so often

(04:53):
and it creates this myth about whatservant leadership actually is. It gives us
the idea that servant leadership and beingof service to your team means that you're
being a pushover. It means thatyou're weak. But the truth is,
it takes strength to lead by servingothers. It doesn't make you a doormat.

(05:16):
It makes you empathetic. It makesyour leadership about being understanding of your
team and leading with a vision thatbenefits everyone. Now, being that mean
or bulldog type of leader, oroftentimes a dictator. On the other hand,
those behaviors can be very very toxicto your workplace and to how you

(05:43):
lead your team. It may seemlike a shortcut to getting everything done and
gaining respect. But the truth isthat it stifles creativity, it demotivates your
team, and it leads to aculture of fear. True strength lies in
your ability to serve, inspire,influence, and lead with a purpose.

(06:05):
So in today's leadershift, we areshifting from following the crowd and doing what
seems normal by other leaders, inother words, being trendy and having the
tenacity to lead meaningfully. So hereare some ways, some practical and simple
ways that you can implement this inyour leadership journey to be a tenacious leader

(06:30):
and having the audacity to lead withmindfulness and lead meaningfully. The first thing
that you can focus on is toremove obstacles from your team. Your role
as a leader is to pave theway for your team's success, remove obstacles
from their path, and you dothis by identifying and eliminating the obstacles that

(06:56):
hinder them from doing quality work,whether it's an outdated process, lack of
resources. Clear the path so thatyou can watch your team thrive. Number
two, maintain your self awareness.Now, this is something that takes courage
to do. In other words,it doesn't mean that it's easy. It

(07:17):
doesn't mean that it's comfortable to do. It takes courage for you to understand
yourself so that you can lead otherseffectively. Recognize your patterns, the things
that trigger you, and the thingsthat are challenging for you. This level
of self awareness prevents you from projectingyour issues onto your team, and it

(07:41):
helps you navigate situations with more clarityand empathy. The next thing is to
plant seeds of engagement daily. Employeeengagement is not a program and it's not
a one time event. It isdaily commitment to relationship building. So when

(08:01):
I say plant seeds of engagement,I simply mean treat it like a garden.
Nurture it regularly daily, and youdo this by being intentional with adding
employee engagement to your schedule and makingit a part of your routine. Doing
this positions you as a leader totend to engagement on a regular, consistent,

(08:28):
non negotiable basis, and when youdo so, you'll watch these seeds
start to grow. You'll start tosee engagement increase, and you'll start to
see people have more buy in onthe job. If you struggle with knowing
what to do to plant seeds ofengagement every day? How do you actually

(08:50):
decide what things are engaging? Don'tworry. I created something that will help
you do this seamlessly and add itto your scale. I have an employee
engagement planning packet that has several employeeengagement activities gestures ideas several different things that
you can do and implement into yourschedule so that you can make sure this

(09:15):
is a consistent part of your leadershippractices. I will leave the link to
this packet in the show notes.The fourth thing that you can do to
be more tenacious in leading meaningfully isto encourage work life harmony, not balance
harmony. And this is what Imean by this. To have balance in

(09:37):
something, it means that you haveequal distribution. And we know that when
it comes to work and life,it's impossible to equally distribute and contribute parts
of yourself to both at the sametime. It doesn't work that way.
So I want you to get awayfrom the idea of creating an encourag uraging

(10:00):
balance to give fifty percent of yourselfto work, fifty percent of yourself to
your personal life and home life.But instead, let's focus on creating harmony
and encouraging our team to do that, and harmony simply means that although the
contribution may not be quote unquote equal, it works together. And you do

(10:24):
this by acknowledging and keeping in mindthat your team members have lives beyond work,
so respect their personal time so thatyou can help them prevent burnout and
ultimately boost their satisfaction on the job. And you can do this by implementing
flexible work schedules or remote work optionsif you don't already have that when possible,

(10:48):
and even just as simple as encouragingyour team to take their breaks and
use their paid time off. Doingthese things help you courage work life harmony
for your team. Next, beempathetic. Put yourself in your team's shoes.

(11:09):
Now oftentimes people confuse empathy with sympathy. Sympathy is simply just feel sorry
for someone, whereas empathy helps yourelate to what this person is feeling,
helping them feel heard, understanding whattheir needs are or what their struggles are,
and you can do this in yourleadership practices without enabling negative behavior.

(11:35):
Being empathetic simply shows that you careabout their challenges, even if a mistake
occurs, and as a leader,your goal should be to support their growth
and success, and you do thisby understanding where they are and where they
want to be and helping them getthere. And the sixth thing that you
can do to be more tenacious inyour leadership and avoid following the trends of

(12:03):
toxic and dysfunctional leadership practices is tofocus on emotional intelligence. Manage your emotions
when you're interacting with your team andespecially when you're addressing conflict. Leadership is
about influence, not ego, soas you practice emotional intelligence and understanding what

(12:24):
that means, you are then helpingto create a positive, healthy and safe
work environment for your team. Ifyou like to learn a little bit more
about what emotional intelligence is, Ihighly recommend reading the book Ego Versus EQ,

(12:46):
How Top Leaders Beat eight ego trapswith Emotional Intelligence. The author is
Jen Shirkhani. I always recommend thisbook to leaders. I love this book.
I think it's a very simple wayto understand how leaders can fall into
the trap of not operating from aplace of emotional intelligence and operating an ego,

(13:09):
which of course is something that isnot useful in leadership. I'll have
the link for this book and theshow notes as well, if you're interested
in checking that out. If thisepisode was helpful for you in any way,
I would love it and appreciate it. If you could leave an honest
rating and review in Apple Podcasts,and if you could share it with someone

(13:33):
you know who would also benefit fromthe episode, or share it on social
media. Just get the message out. And if you have any questions for
me about the episode, of courseI would love to know what they are
and to hear from you, feelfree to email me directly. And that
addresses culture at Business advocatespro dot com. Remember that if the idea idea of

(14:00):
serving others triggers you in some wayor makes you feel uncomfortable, it could
be because you are approaching leadership withego rather than your influence, and the
risks of that are a dysfunctional ortoxic culture, a disengaged team, and
missed opportunities for growth and impact.All of these you want to avoid at

(14:26):
all costs. It takes courage tobe the type of leader that isn't trendy,
that isn't forceful in getting their way, that isn't toxic. The greatest
leaders get the best results with theirteams. Not by being a dictator,
calling all the shots and being abulldog, but by removing obstacles from their

(14:48):
team's path, showing empathy and understanding, and leading their team to a vision.
That's the true measure of not onlystrength, but a meaningful, tenacious,
and influential leadership as well. Havea great meet