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Real conversations about hiring, leadership, and teams - with the experts who know how people and businesses grow.
00:01:31:15 - 00:02:43:00
Unknown
Lorraine, thank you and good afternoon. It's delighted to be part of your very first podcast. So I'm JJ, I head up the training company Leading Edge Leadership. So we do lots of leadership management training, lots of personal development training as well. I also work as a motivational speaker and will be taking part, as you say, delivering two workshops on the 17th of June, and I think we'll talk about those later on, but delighted to be here.
00:02:43:02 - 00:03:12:23
Unknown
Yeah. Very much so. There's a number of challenges out there. I working still AI, but it's really interesting. With every training session that I facilitate, I always start the morning by getting managers to share, you know, what's the one biggest challenge that they have? And the role and the one common theme that always comes out is time. You know, and my message always around time.
00:03:12:23 - 00:03:37:20
Unknown
The biggest team management lesson of all time is there will always be more to do. But what I find the best managers, there's really three things that they need to focus on if they want to be effective when it comes to managing their time. So they need to plan, they need to prioritize, and they need to delegate. So when it comes to planning, they need to do short term planning.
00:03:37:20 - 00:04:01:21
Unknown
And that could be in the form of a to do list. And they also need to do long term planning, for example, in terms of setting goals, both professional goals and personal goals. When it comes to prioritizing, what I tend to find with many managers is they always seem to be chasing their tail because when the priorities, their tasks, they just tend to be.
00:04:02:01 - 00:04:30:01
Unknown
What are the most urgent tasks? Those managers who are effective and prioritizing will always ask two questions of every task. How urgent is this task and how important is this task? And when you do that, you're being proactive. Whereas when you only ask how urgent is a task, then you're just being reactive. And then the other big area is the area of delegating because effective managers are good at delegating.
00:04:30:03 - 00:04:52:15
Unknown
And what I tend to find is that, you know, many managers tend to confuse work allocation with delegation. So work allocation is work that's in some of these job description. Therefore they should be doing it. Delegation on the other hand is work. That's not in some of these job description. So it's over and above their normal duties.
00:04:52:19 - 00:05:41:18
Unknown
And that means that any time that you delegate to one of your team, you always have to make sure that that person sees the task as a developmental opportunity, because it's one of the great ways to help your people to develop and grow is through delegation. So three big areas planning. Prioritizing. Delegating.
00:05:41:20 - 00:06:16:20
Unknown
Yeah. Very much. And I think the key word that you use, their key phrase was the word letting go. You know, many managers find it hard to let go. And that's a number of reasons. Lack of trust. You know, it's a kind of holding on, but it comes with the experience. The more experience you have as a manager, you realize just how important it is to let go and to trust your people and let them get on with it.
00:06:16:22 - 00:06:21:01
Unknown
Yeah. Interesting question. A leadership.
00:06:21:03 - 00:06:44:00
Unknown
I think probably the biggest leadership myth for me is that sometimes team members think that their monitor, their leader knows it all. That's not just possible to know it all. You know, I always say leadership. Management is always about a journey. It's like life. Life as a journey, you know, and you can't know it all. And as a leader, you just need to know enough.
00:06:44:02 - 00:07:06:08
Unknown
You know, if you look at any CEO and any organization, they don't know everything about their organization, but they know enough. So I always, you know, particularly to new managers, to new leaders, I always stress the point, you know, the journey is about acquiring knowledge. And when you acquire knowledge you gain experience with more experience. Generally the better you are at the job.
00:07:06:09 - 00:07:35:07
Unknown
So I think that's the biggest myth. You don't need to know it all. You just need to know enough.
00:07:35:09 - 00:08:03:12
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. And though it's an interesting one, you know, I always say again to managers, generally you either inherit somebody else's problems or you might be lucky enough to start with a clean slate and build your own team from scratch. But there's challenges with both. You know, if you're lucky enough to create your own team, then you're very much accountable for the team that you have recruited.
00:08:03:14 - 00:08:25:06
Unknown
But quite a lot of the time, you know, for most managers it is about inheriting a team and again, inheriting other problems, but equally other opportunities. You know, and I always say regardless of what situation you are, you know, as a new you're most important priority to start is to get to know your team and know your team inside out.
00:08:25:08 - 00:08:49:17
Unknown
Why? Because you can't motivate someone you don't know and understand and you know it later. Be one of the to inherit somebody else's problems. Or you start with that clean slate.
00:08:49:19 - 00:09:26:08
Unknown
I often use the word rescuer and management training quite locker in and I think a lot of managers and it's just part of human nature, of the kindness of their heart in that they rescue people, the micromanage, and they end up a lot of the time doing the work of their team. And I always say, you know, when you do that, you're actually doing the opposite of what really good managers do, because really good managers help their people to develop, and so they delegate to them.
00:09:26:11 - 00:09:47:07
Unknown
They have a coaching approach where they get their team to find solutions for themselves, rather than always giving them answers, whereas the rescuer will give their answers, will give those answers. In other words, they'll always give solutions. And quite often they will sort of carry other people's monkey on their back because they will take on other people's problems.
00:09:47:08 - 00:10:04:21
Unknown
So I always say to every manager, you know, don't be a rescue. And I think that's the mistake that a lot of managers do make.
00:10:04:23 - 00:10:30:19
Unknown
Hugely important. Lorraine. I think as a manager you always have to be flexible. You know, every manager will have their preferred style of working. But people are people. And one of the biggest challenges, again, that many managers would share in the training room is, you know, how do you deal with different personality states, differing working styles? And it's back to the point, again about getting to know your team really, really well.
00:10:30:21 - 00:10:49:23
Unknown
You know, and there's some people you can be very direct with. There's other people you have to throw your arms around and cuddle up to, you know, and it's just once you get to know your team, well, you know, what works with certain individuals that doesn't work with other individuals. And again, that's a big, big priority, particularly for any new manager.
00:10:49:24 - 00:11:15:06
Unknown
And I always say take your time and just get to know your team. Well, you know, you can't do everything in Rome wasn't built in the day and always see it as a journey that you're on.
00:11:15:08 - 00:11:28:14
Unknown
Very much so.
00:11:28:16 - 00:12:00:17
Unknown
I think the most important thing that every manager has to do is to make their expectations clear. You know, if you think about, you know, successful teams, high performing teams, everybody knows the rule. Everybody knows their remit. They know their responsibilities, you know, and people like that because it gives them boundaries and boundaries. Give you Sephardi and the whole big theme of psychological safety today at work.
00:12:00:19 - 00:12:55:03
Unknown
And many, many managers, you know, even many experienced managers quite often don't make their expectations clear. And I think when you do, that's the starting point for helping to make or to build a high performing team.
00:12:55:05 - 00:13:21:03
Unknown
Yeah. No, I think it very much a place in that context, the sales context, as you've just referenced, you know, the plays in nearly every context. One of the challenges that I see around hybrid working in those organizations were hybrid working works really well. It works well because the expectations are really clear of their staff and those organizations that still struggle with hybrid working.
00:13:21:05 - 00:13:40:24
Unknown
I always feel it's because of a lack of expectations. You know, how many days are people expected to be in the office? On what days do they need to come into the office? What happens when they are in the office? What are the expectations of people when they're working from home? So I think it's across the board, whether it's sales targets, whether it's hybrid working.
00:13:41:01 - 00:13:59:06
Unknown
Make your expectations clear as a manager, as a leader.
00:13:59:08 - 00:14:18:17
Unknown
I think there's just generally a bit of a mix marine and terms of, you know, what you generally find as kind of the three two split of the two three split where people are in the office maybe a couple of days a week or three days a week, and then 2 or 3 days at home. And again, sometimes depends on people's job roles.
00:14:18:17 - 00:14:53:03
Unknown
Some people are in the office five days a week because they have to be in, and other people can be remote 100% of the time.
00:14:53:05 - 00:15:24:06
Unknown
Yeah, I've recently worked with a client and again named the client going through major change. They had a new CEO appointed. They had a number of other senior management changes after a very established management team had been in place for a long time. And one of the things that they actually did was they did a series of workshops about being able to embrace change, and they ran those workshops for an entire staff.
00:15:24:08 - 00:15:46:04
Unknown
And what it actually did was it got everybody on board, you know, and it looked at the challenges that they're going to be with the change, the major change for them, but also the opportunities that the change would create. And, you know, I have to say, there's still very much in the early stages of it, but it's looking really, really promising.
00:15:46:06 - 00:16:15:04
Unknown
And I think the big secret of that was, you know, what? They were basically the message they wanted to get across to their staff is this isn't change. It's going to be imposed on you. It's change that we want you to help ship. And that meant people are now taking ownership of the change. So I think that particular client, that organization would be a great example of an initiative that people really bought into.
00:16:15:06 - 00:16:29:24
Unknown
And I think over time they will see the rewards of that.
00:16:30:00 - 00:16:53:13
Unknown
Interesting question. I always say it's probably the number one reason why I'm always so busy, you know, and it's really it's really that challenge. You know, you might get somebody like a software engineer who technically is brilliant at their job, and because they are so good at their job, then they get promoted to manage a team of, say, ten software engineers.
00:16:53:13 - 00:17:20:05
Unknown
And it's an entirely different role. You know, and then sometimes they find their very unhappy in the role because a lot of their focus knows and managing their team as much as the technical side, which they're very comfortable with. You know, I think if you're somebody who steps in or wants to step up to a management role, you need to be conscious of the fact that it is very much a different role once you get there.
00:17:20:07 - 00:17:44:06
Unknown
And again, it goes back to that thing, you know, make your expectations very clear to the team. First thing I think every manager has to do, but also see it as a journey, as a learning journey. You know, I often get managers say to me, I've taken over a team and they've been under the rules for the last five or 6 or 7 years, and I don't really know that much about what they do technically.
00:17:44:09 - 00:18:37:10
Unknown
I always say, that's fine, you know, because it's a journey and just take your time and learn on the journey. So my advice back to your question is, you know, how do you bridge that gap between the technical expertise that you have and the skills of learning to manage people? Just be prepared to learn on the job, but you have to make it intentional and you have to want to learn on the job.
00:18:37:12 - 00:18:42:00
Unknown
I've been doing it for.
00:18:42:02 - 00:19:14:19
Unknown
I've been doing it for 23 years. So quite a long time. And yeah, you know, I do have my favorite books. I always talk about Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People deal, Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. But I think if there's one concept and I think it's very, very relevant now in the hybrid working world again, because what hybrid working has done is it has moved management into the 21st century because you can't make money.
00:19:14:20 - 00:19:47:03
Unknown
Somebody working from home. And I always say to managers, you know, today you have to trust people now than you've ever done more than you've ever done before with people working from home. But equally, you have to hold people more accountable now than you've ever done before. So I know in a previous workshop that I delivered for you on managing performance, you know, I always said why most performance objectives for donors is that they're far too vague because nearly every performance objective starts with the word two two.
00:19:47:05 - 00:20:14:22
Unknown
And I always say a really good performance objective should start with what I call the language of ownership. I need to, I want to, I will, and it's a concept and kind of proud of. It's one that I've created myself over particularly recent years, and I always encourage every manager build the language of ownership into your performance objectives, your targets, because that makes people take ownership.
00:20:14:23 - 00:20:40:03
Unknown
When somebody says, I need to, I want to, I will. Then you can hold them more accountable. So that little leadership concept.
00:20:40:05 - 00:20:56:20
Unknown
Yeah, very much so. And so we've got two 90 minute workshops. The first is all around building high performing team. My style is to be deliver it quite a punch pace. It'll be highly.
00:20:56:22 - 00:21:27:08
Unknown
Yeah. Be highly interactive. So you know we're just going to explore what does make a high performing team about trust being the defining characteristic of every high performing team. We're going to look at how to build trust. You know, in terms of the environment that you need to create to make it busting environment really, really interesting workshop. Everybody will also find out in that workshop what is their preferred style when it comes to building that high performing team.
00:21:27:10 - 00:21:55:09
Unknown
The second workshop will be all around managing change and quite a fascinating subject, particularly with the whole advent of AI in the workplace today as well. And we'll explore things like, you know, why do people resist change? Why do people fear change? Because people actually don't really fear change. They fear sudden change. And the reason why they fear sudden change is because they haven't had time to understand the reasons for the change, you know?
00:21:55:10 - 00:22:43:05
Unknown
And that'll be the big message in that workshop. If you want to have successful change, your people need to understand the reasons for the change. And then we'll explore just the different steps that you need to put in place to create successful change. So yeah, two great topics and I'm really looking forward to delivering them.
00:22:43:07 - 00:23:14:11
Unknown
Thank you. Thanks again. Thanks for your time. Thank you.
00:23:14:13 - 00:23:32:04
Unknown
I, I kind of picked it up a little bit, but not totally.
00:23:32:06 - 00:23:49:11
Unknown
Yeah.
00:23:49:13 - 00:24:21:15
Unknown
So I know you've been involved in the recruitment game a long time. Very well known. Larger than life character. Do you want to just share with us how long you've actually been in the recruitment game?
00:24:21:17 - 00:25:08:00
Unknown
So what inspires you to stay in recruitment all this time?
00:25:08:02 - 00:25:39:00
Unknown
One last question. What what excites you about the whole podcast initiative?
00:25:39:02 - 00:27:21:23
Unknown
So what? What excites you about the whole new podcast initiative?
00:27:22:00 - 00:27:28:11
Unknown
I'm delighted to be your first podcast guest, Lorenzo. Thank you.
00:27:28:13 - 00:27:39:03
Unknown
Well thank you. Bye bye.
00:27:39:05 - 00:27:48:01
Unknown
I'm good with it yet.
00:27:48:03 - 00:27:54:19
Unknown
Yeah. No worries. Thanks, Chris. Thanks. Vicky speaks in a. Bye. Bye bye.