This question transforms leadership mindset

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hi, my name’s Neil Poynter and welcome to The Leadership Soapbox.

On this first video, I want to start with a question. And it’s a question, not that we ask of others, but it’s a question that we ask of ourselves, and it’s one that I’ve seen people use and when they do it well it really transforms their thinking and their mindset about leadership.

So, here we go, here’s the question;

What support does my team need from me today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, in order for them to be as successful as possible?

Let me do that again.

What support does my team need from me today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, in order for them to be as successful as possible?

Let’s just think about that.

Now what I want to do is break that down and I’m going to do it from the end back to the beginning.

So, let’s start with the end piece.

In order for them to be as successful as possible. Now in order for them to be as successful as possible, in order for me to give them the support they need to do that, I’ve got to know what that success looks like.

So, that prompts my thinking straight away.

So, what does that success look like? What are the numbers? What are the outcomes?

What’s that going to be?

What’s that going to look like, feel like, sound like, all of that stuff?

So, we’ve gotta have a goal, the end goal.

Where’s the end goal?

Where’s the end goals in time, performance, whatever they are?

So, we’ve got a performance statement there.

Secondly, coming about, we had the times, today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. This is about me thinking not just in the moment, but I’m also planning ahead. I’ve gotta be thinking, what are they going to need from me?

What do they need?

Now that brings up all sorts of topics as to what that support might be and when they need it, but it means I’ve got to plan.

Now, I have heard people have difficulty in seeing planning as work, but this question proves that we need to be planning ahead. We need to be thinking ahead as good leaders in order to set our team up for success.

Okay, let’s come back to the beginning.

What support does my team need from me?

Now, what this does is it puts us into the place where I was taught right from the beginning in my leadership career as an Army Officer at Sandhurst, serve to lead.

In order to lead people, we serve others.

Now, it’s a really good approach to have because what it then does is go, okay, so what do my team need?

What do they need?

They might need direction. They might need decisions. They might need planning.

They might need. Now, that’s another video that I’m going to do as a followup to this, but it puts me in the mindset of, what does my team need from me?

And, it puts me looking outwards to my team, rather than inwards to me. The visual of this is turning an organization chart upside down.

So, if we’re the boss, we’re the boss and it fans out above us. And if you think about it, it’s those people at the top of the organization chart when it’s flipped upside down that we want to make successful and that’s our job.

If we make them really successful at what we need them to be successful at, it’s all going work.

And that’s what this question does.

Now, in the next video what I’m going to do is I’m going to look at a model that is perhaps a basis for what that support might be, and so that we can develop this and go, okay, I’ve now thought about that, let me look at the boxes that I might have to tick and where do I need to take action?

Okay, so there’s the question.

I wonder what that does for you.

I wonder how that feels to you.

I’d be really interested to hear. So please, comment back to me, either in the comments below on YouTube or by email or on LinkedIn, however you feel. But, it’d be really good to get some feedback on this because what I have seen is that this works if it’s done right. Okay, great to speak to you again, great to be with you and I’ll look forward to hearing back from you. Thanks very much.

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Welcome to The Leadership Soapbox

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hi. My name’s Neil Poynter and welcome to The Leadership Soapbox.

What I’d like to do in this introductory video is firstly, I’d like to give you an idea of what’s this all about?

Why is it important?

Why perhaps am I doing this now?

Secondly, I’d like to tell you a little bit more about why I’m doing, why is this important to me and perhaps a little bit about me and what I think I bring to this.

Thirdly, I’d like to give you an idea about what you’re actually going to see and hear on here and how it might, well, pan out for us and what we might be able to get up to together.

So first of all, why is this important?

If I look around the news and the media right now, there is active discussion about the subject of leadership. It’s being talked about. We find ourselves in extraordinary times at the moment, and perhaps one of the major skillsets that is going to help us get through this, is good leadership.

And I don’t think this is just at the political level. Although that’s the one that’s perhaps dominating the news at the moment.

I think this is going to have impact down into our local communities. I think it’s also absolutely critical in the organizations that we find ourselves working in, whether they be commercial or charity, because we are all facing incredible difficulties at the moment.

So this is something that is going to impact all of us, from the smallest organizations to the biggest multinationals across into the international politics, in right down into our local communities.

So this is something that is potentially very critical to what we are involved with right now in our lives.

So why is this important to me?

Why am I doing this?

I have been passionate about leadership and its impact on people and organizations for 35 years. This started off for me as being an army officer in the British Army and the Royal Engineers, and also being an instructor at Sandhurst for two years.

And it’s something I have seen in my subsequent career. Working in the software industry, and then as a consultant in leadership and management development.

I have seen the importance and the impact of good leadership skills on everyday people and the success of the organizations that they’re involved in.

And I passionately believe that good leadership is at the absolute core of having successful organizations and communities. So this is something I really believe in.

Thirdly, what are you going to see in here on here?

Well, what I want to do is do a mixture of things from bringing topical subjects that I see in the news that are perhaps worthy of discussion and debate. And I do want some debate on here.

I want to do to use comments, I want to get people perhaps talking on here. And not just me. The whole idea of the Leadership Soapbox, it’s not me on the Soapbox, it’s leadership that’s on the Soapbox.

I’m also going to bring, where examples of good practice, perhaps some models and some questions, perhaps for all of us about being able to look at ourselves and examine and go,

“Well, what can I do to raise my game? What can I do to raise my team’s game now in these times that are absolutely critical for us?”

So that’s it.

That’s what the Leadership Soapbox is all about.

The first video, which is going to be a question that I think, and I’ve seen used by good leaders. And I think it’s really a great way of getting our mindset right. And that’s the first video that’s going to be out in the next couple of days. I look forward to interacting with you, Neil@NeilPoynter.com

I really, really look forward to being in contact with people. And let’s engage on this. Thanks very much. I’ll hopefully speak with you soon.

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