In this week’s episode of the Peak Performance Leadership podcast, host Scott McCarthy dives into the crucial topic of getting the results you expect from your team. Drawing from his 20 years of military experience as a senior Canadian army officer, Scott explores the key aspects of effective leadership to ensure that your team not only understands your expectations but also delivers the desired outcomes. Whether you are leading yourself, a small team, or a large organization, the insights shared in this episode will help you navigate the challenges of leadership and maximize your team’s performance.
During the episode, Scott McCarthy discusses the common scenario where leaders assign tasks to their teams, but the results fall short of expectations. He emphasizes the importance of clear communication, availability to provide guidance, and acknowledging that team members may possess valuable insights that differ from the leader’s perspective. Through practical examples and actionable advice, Scott provides valuable insights for leaders looking to optimize their team’s performance.
Timestamped Overview
In this episode I talk about:
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00:00:32 – Introduction: Scott McCarthy sets the stage by introducing the topic of getting the expected results from your team and provides a brief overview of the episode’s focus.
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00:01:46 – Road Reflections: Scott shares his experiences from Poland, where he is recording the episode from his hotel room, highlighting the diverse environments where leadership challenges can arise.
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00:02:35 – Clear Communication: Scott delves into the first key aspect of achieving expected results – ensuring that leaders effectively communicate their expectations to their teams. He emphasizes that without clear communication, teams cannot be expected to achieve desired outcomes.
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00:05:53 – Being Available: Scott stresses the significance of leaders being available to their team members, allowing for ongoing guidance, clarification, and adjustments as they work through tasks. He emphasizes the importance of regular progress updates and open communication channels.
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00:08:35 – Embracing Different Perspectives: Scott discusses the possibility that team members may offer valuable perspectives and solutions that differ from the leader’s initial expectations. He encourages leaders to engage with their team to understand alternative viewpoints and make informed decisions.
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00:10:59 – Closing Reflections: Scott shares closing thoughts and extends an invitation for listeners to share their recommendations for sights and sounds in Warsaw, demonstrating the value of engaging with the audience and fostering community.
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Scott McCarthy
Transcript
The following is an AI generated transcript which should be used for reference purposes only. It has not been verified or edited to reflect what was actually said in the podcast episode.
Scott McCarthy [00:00:01]:
So you’ve gone ahead. You’ve given a task to your teammates, but the results aren’t just there. There’s something wrong. You don’t know what it is and how to fix it? That’s this week on the Peak Performance Leadership Podcast. Are you ready for this? Alright. Let’s do it.
Scott McCarthy [00:00:32]:
Welcome, 1, welcome all to the Peak Performance Leadership podcast, a weekly podcast series dedicated to helping you hit peak performance across the 3 domains of leadership. Those being leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization. This podcast couples my 20 years of military experience as a senior Canadian army officer with world class guests bringing you the most complete podcast of leadership going. And for more, feel free to check out our website at movingforwardleadershippdot calm. And with that, let’s get to the show.
Scott McCarthy [00:01:17]:
Yes. Welcome, 1. Welcome, all. It is your chief leadership officer, Scott McCarthy. It’s so great to have you in for yet another edition of the podcast, if you’re listening to this real time, greetings from B’gosh, Poland. I’m on the road right now for work I’m, recording this right from my hotel room. So greetings from Poland. Beautiful city, great people, good coffee as I sip on 1 right now.
Scott McCarthy [00:01:46]:
And let me tell you, it’s interesting getting back on the road again, after, you know, 2 years of COVID. But nonetheless, we are not here to discuss travel or coffee. There are plenty million other podcasts out there. This podcast is all about leadership. And today, we’re gonna be talking about getting the results that you expect. And I’ll end this one kinda with are the results that you expect the results that you should get as well. So let’s boil this down, shall we? What goes on? So you pass out a task to your team, you say, hey. Here are the parameters that I want you to achieve.
Scott McCarthy [00:02:35]:
Go have it. And when you check-in on it, it’s just not what you thought it would be. It’s not where it should be. So let’s dive into a few of those possible reasons. And the first reason that you may not be getting the results you want is because have you communicated that properly in the 1st place? You see too many leaders out there actually think they communicate their expectations when they don’t, if you’re not clearly communicating your expectations, then there’s no way in hell that your team is actually gonna be able to achieve something that they don’t even know exists. Right, I would love to be able to patent the course on how to read minds. I think that would have an amazing impact across the world, not only in leadership, but, you know, relationships in general. But the thing is reading minds is not going to happen anytime soon.
Scott McCarthy [00:03:54]:
So how do we go about making sure that what we expect is done by those who we expect it from? And that is simply communicating with them that, hey. This is what I expect from you. That is how we develop a culture of high performing by actually talking to each other. Too many times, leaders are actually the source of their own problems. They blame it on their team members, but the reality is they are the source. They either forget to lay out those expectations. Either forget to give critical information, timelines, appropriate timelines, so on and so forth. You can probably get what I’m getting at.
Scott McCarthy [00:04:50]:
You as the leader need to make sure that you are properly communicating to your team all these different things. Now that being said, you’ve done that. Well, what else are you messing up? Right? You’re not being available to your team. You see, when we have expectations and a task given, we also need to be available to our team members so that they can come in to seek clarification or seek additional guidance. And the reason for that is not everything is known out of the gate. Now everything is crystal clear. As you work through a problem, things do become clearer. Assumptions that you have made at the beginning either get validated to be true with their impacts or get validated to be false with those impacts.
Scott McCarthy [00:05:53]:
And sometimes, that requires further direction or guidance or input from you as the leader. And if you’re simply not available, you don’t have your door, if your schedule is too blocked up, then you’re not going to be able to do that. So your team is are going to make decisions that you may not have made or you may have provided them guidance to go in another direction. But if you’re not available to do it in the 1st place, then the point is they’re you or sorry. You are not going to know what they’re doing and therefore, the results are not going to be what you expect. So being available it’s just as crucial as giving proper guidance in the 1st place. If you hear me talk about delegation, I talk about all the time, setting up those regular progress back briefs. Right? And that is exactly for this reason so that you are available for your team members that they can come to you with questions or you can provide them with extra guidance, you know, adjust that flight path.
Scott McCarthy [00:07:14]:
Minor adjustments on the go is much better than large adjustments once every blue moon. So make sure you’re available to your team members. And then the final thing that I want to talk about is that sometimes your team members simply know more than you. So while you hand out a task and what you get back is not exactly what you were thinking was going to come in, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong. Sometimes, what you expect is actually not realistic or not really the outcome that you should be seeking, you see, your team members have a different point of view on the problem at hand in what you do. And you could say you can easily turn that around to me and go, well, Scott, I have a different point of view on what they have. Absolutely true. And if that comes to heed, that comes out where you’ve given a problem to your team and they’ve come back and said, hey.
Scott McCarthy [00:08:35]:
This is what we think. And you go, well, that’s not what I think. What a leader would do would actually sit down with their team and go, okay, run me through the reasons why you think that because I think this way, instead, bosses would simply go, well, I see things differently and I’m in charge, so we are not going to do that. I’ve been in these situations way too many times. Too many times that I can count. And let me tell you, the negative impacts are great. You’re actually undermining your team members’ abilities, their thoughts, how they think. Right? You’re effectively putting them in a box saying to them, right, this is the box that you get to play in.
Scott McCarthy [00:09:38]:
It’s a very small box. And in fact, you’re it’s probably way too small for you, but I don’t care. And when you do that, you’re limiting creativity. You’re not establishing a sense of psychological safety. In fact, you’re driving morale down. So what? Don’t do it. Right? Don’t do it. Sit down with your team.
Scott McCarthy [00:10:07]:
Have a chat with them. See the reasons why they think otherwise. And then from there, you can actually make an informed decision and communicate that decision. Simply stating, well, because I’m the boss and this is how it is, does not work, will never work, and in fact will always be counterproductive. That’s it for this week at the Peak Performance Leadership Podcast, ladies hope you’re doing well. Take care. And if your list is real time, I still got a few days off to Poland, here in Biggash and in a day in Warsaw, so let me know what to do, especially in Warsaw. I’ll have some time to check it out, check out the sights and sounds, so drop me along and let me know if you get any recommendations.
Scott McCarthy [00:10:59]:
I would love to hear about it. Alright. Take care. Remember as always, leave, don’t boss, and we’ll see you
Scott McCarthy [00:11:13]:
and that’s a wrap for this episode, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the Peak Performance Leadership podcast. But you know what you could do to truly support the podcast? And no. That’s not leaving a rating and review. It’s simply helping a friend. And that is helping a friend by sharing this episode with them if you think this would resonate with them and help them elevate their performance level, whether that’s within themselves, their teams, or their organization. So do that.
Scott McCarthy [00:11:44]:
Help me, help a friend, win win all around, and, hey, you look like a great friend at the same time. So just hit that little share button on your app, and then feel free to fire this episode to anyone that you feel would benefit from it. Finally, there’s always more. There’s always more lessons around being the highest performing leader that you can possibly be, whether that’s for yourself, your team, or your organization. So why don’t you subscribe? Subscribe to the show via moving forward leadership .comforward/subscribe. Until next time, lead. Don’t boss, Anne, thanks for coming out. Take care now.