Are you too comfy in your leadership role?

Lee Griffith: 00:00:02

It's not butterflies in your stomach,

Lee Griffith: 00:00:04

your stomach dropped out of your backside.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:06

Welcome to the danger zone.

Lee Griffith: 00:00:12

You're listening to how to take the lead with Lee

Lee Griffith: 00:00:14

Griffith

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:14

and Carrie-Ann Wade.

Lee Griffith: 00:00:15

Two corporate colleagues turned business

Lee Griffith: 00:00:17

besties who question everything we've ever learned about

Lee Griffith: 00:00:20

leadership.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:20

What started with us putting the world to

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:22

rights over a gin after work is now a weekly show, challenging

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:25

the myths and perceptions and exploring what leadership looks

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:28

like in the modern day.

Lee Griffith: 00:00:29

We'll also be sharing our experiences and

Lee Griffith: 00:00:31

stories along the way.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:32

You can find our show notes at

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:34

howtotakethelead.com

Lee Griffith: 00:00:35

Hit subscribe to receive new episodes every

Lee Griffith: 00:00:37

Thursday.

Lee Griffith: 00:00:41

And please share your thoughts and stories on the

Lee Griffith: 00:00:44

topics we cover using the hashtag how to take the lead.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:50

welcome everyone to episode five of how

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:54

to take the lead and we are going to be talking all about

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:00:57

stepping outside of your comfort zone and I can see Lee's face

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:02

already. I've got to be honest Lee I think we've been doing

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:06

quite a lot of stepping outside of our comfort zones over the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:10

last year or so.

Lee Griffith: 00:01:11

Yeah I think we've written a book on it

Lee Griffith: 00:01:13

practically.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:15

That'd be next on the list book to come. We

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:17

just thought it would be interesting to explore the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:20

subject of your comfort zone or having a comfort zone and kind

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:24

of what that means for you as a leader how you might want to

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:27

step out of it so and I thought it would just be helpful for us

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:30

to clarify I guess really what we mean by comfort zone. So for

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:36

me I'm not talking about getting out of my elasticated waist

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:40

trousers because I'm actually going into the office rather

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:43

than having an online meeting although recently that has felt

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:47

like having to step outside of my comfort zone. But it's more

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:50

for me about the level at which at which you operate in your

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:54

kind of leadership life in the workplace that feels maybe a bit

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:01:59

more familiar and feels like it comes easy to you so I'm not

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:02:03

sure what your views are on what is a comfort zone.

Lee Griffith: 00:02:06

Yeah, easy is one of those feelings that you get

Lee Griffith: 00:02:10

when you're in your comfort zone is that sense of you just feel

Lee Griffith: 00:02:14

comfortable, safe. It's the routine stuff that you do and

Lee Griffith: 00:02:19

there's almost that security of thinking well, things will

Lee Griffith: 00:02:22

always be alright because it's tried and tested if I keep

Lee Griffith: 00:02:26

things as they are. So I think it's an interesting discussion

Lee Griffith: 00:02:29

today. And I think it's also important to early on to note

Lee Griffith: 00:02:35

that it's not just about physical actions of stuff, it

Lee Griffith: 00:02:39

can be the way that you might think about something or what

Lee Griffith: 00:02:42

you say to someone it can be the difference between not saying

Lee Griffith: 00:02:46

anything to showing your vulnerability which we spoke

Lee Griffith: 00:02:49

about in the last episode.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:02:52

Absolutely a good reminder I think Lee that

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:02:55

it isn't just it isn't just your elasticated waist trousers or

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:02:59

physical stuff, it is also about mindset isn't it. Maybe your

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:04

approach to things that may or may not keep you in your comfort

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:08

zone. And I guess for some people being in their comfort

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:11

zone is not always a bad thing, it might like feel like a place

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:14

as you say where they are safe and secure. But I think the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:18

discussion in this episode might take us to a few different

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:21

places where we perhaps have a different perspective, I guess

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:24

on whether or not you should step outside of your comfort

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:27

zone and I think before I start to ask you a bit more to explore

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:31

kind of the signs of when you might be outside of your comfort

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:35

zone. I guess I felt the need to say that sometimes you might be

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:40

forced, I guess to step outside of your comfort zone as a leader

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:44

in the workplace. And other times you might choose to take

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:48

that step outside of your comfort zone and they probably

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:50

come from two very different mindsets, which probably worth

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:03:54

us bearing in mind as we're having these discussions.

Lee Griffith: 00:03:59

Do you know what's really interesting though, that

Lee Griffith: 00:04:01

concept of are you being forced or you choosing and I think that

Lee Griffith: 00:04:04

that often can come from the point of how subjective a

Lee Griffith: 00:04:08

comfort zone is to someone. So we all find comfort in different

Lee Griffith: 00:04:12

things. And as leaders, we can't assume what the zones of comfort

Lee Griffith: 00:04:18

are. And maybe when we're being forced into things that we don't

Lee Griffith: 00:04:22

feel comfortable with it could be because the person who's

Lee Griffith: 00:04:24

asking us feels totally comfortable with that and

Lee Griffith: 00:04:27

haven't put themselves in your shoes.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:29

I already feel like we get to go to so many

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:31

different places in this conversation because kind of as

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:34

you're saying that as well. I guess that subjectivity is a

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:38

really important point to note, isn't it because actually, what

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:42

might be you feel like you're in your comfort zone might feel

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:45

totally out of someone else's comfort zone if you ask them to

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:48

do the same thing. And also, I guess, you know, you might

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:52

perceive that somebody is operating in their comfort zone

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:55

and they might not be at all they might be really having to

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:04:58

go that extra mile to force themselves to work in a certain

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:02

way or deliver on something but they might just be making it

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:05

look from the outside like it is super easy and that they are

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:09

totally in their comfort zone. So I think we're going to

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:13

explore quite a lot of things in this conversation and I guess I

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:17

wanted to start and I don't know why I've picked this as an area

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:20

to start but because we talked a bit about comfort zones, but I

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:23

guess maybe I could throw a bit of a curveball in the because

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:26

you might not be ready to ask you this question. But do you

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:29

know what your comfort zone is? Are you aware of it when you

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:33

are? Are you aware when you're operating totally within your

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:05:36

comfort zone and examples of when you are?

Lee Griffith: 00:05:39

So I would say 80% of my week when I was starting

Lee Griffith: 00:05:41

my business was out of my comfort zone it was completely

Lee Griffith: 00:05:45

brand new to me and if doing this podcast is well out of our

Lee Griffith: 00:05:48

comfort zones, and we started it when we did the Insta lives that

Lee Griffith: 00:05:52

was something we've never considered doing before. So I

Lee Griffith: 00:05:55

think that for me, I have awareness of when I'm pushing

Lee Griffith: 00:05:58

myself out of my comfort zone. There's three zones that you're

Lee Griffith: 00:06:01

in. So you have your comfort zone, you have your stretch

Lee Griffith: 00:06:05

zone, and then you have the danger zone and the stretch zone

Lee Griffith: 00:06:08

is where you're learning and it's where you feel the most

Lee Griffith: 00:06:11

rewarded. It's when you perhaps get excited and you get those

Lee Griffith: 00:06:15

butterflies in your stomach. So that's when you're feeling like

Lee Griffith: 00:06:18

you're stretching yourself, comforts when you're feeling

Lee Griffith: 00:06:21

safe and secure and you might even feel a little bit fatigued

Lee Griffith: 00:06:25

or you just feel like you're on a bit of a treadmill because you

Lee Griffith: 00:06:29

could be a bit bored and all of those kinds of emotions.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:06:32

Sometimes when comfort zone hits also a bit

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:06:35

feeling a bit lazy. Yeah, that sounds terrible. But it's like a

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:06:40

bit of a lazy day because I'm totally in my comfort zone. And

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:06:43

I'm not having to think about this. I'm just almost on

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:06:46

autopilot because yeah, safe in the knowledge that I just know

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:06:50

what I'm doing. So yeah.

Lee Griffith: 00:06:51

And then you've got that danger zone, which is

Lee Griffith: 00:06:54

like the fear zone where you are. It's not butterflies in

Lee Griffith: 00:06:58

your stomach, your stomach's dropped out of your backside.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:00

As you're saying that I've got welcome to

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:06

the danger zone in my head. I've already taken us to a place I

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:11

was not expecting now my turn to to do bad singing and your

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:15

stomach's droped out of your bottom.

Lee Griffith: 00:07:17

It's that sense of that fear where you might not

Lee Griffith: 00:07:21

even be able to concentrate because you're so distracted by

Lee Griffith: 00:07:25

the thought of whatever it is that you're you're being pushed

Lee Griffith: 00:07:28

to people can go who are really in danger zone, might be getting

Lee Griffith: 00:07:34

palpitations might feel like they're having a panic attack.

Lee Griffith: 00:07:36

So there are physical symptoms almost, of how you might feel

Lee Griffith: 00:07:42

depending on what zone you're in.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:44

Absolutely. And just as you're talking I'm also

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:47

thinking how much you're prepared to stay in your comfort

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:50

zone or stretch yourself outof it can be impacted by so many

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:53

things like how you're feeling that day like you say whether

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:56

you're whether you're just a bit tired and you've got low energy,

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:07:59

that's probably not the day to be stretching yourself. That's

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:08:02

probably the day when you're going to going to want to stick

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:08:05

in your comfort zone.

Lee Griffith: 00:08:06

I just slightly disagree with you though because

Lee Griffith: 00:08:09

I agree to the sense that you will know when is a good time to

Lee Griffith: 00:08:13

stretch yourself or to push yourself and when it's a good

Lee Griffith: 00:08:15

time stay in your comfort zone. But sometimes, like before we

Lee Griffith: 00:08:19

came on to do our podcast recording today I was in such a

Lee Griffith: 00:08:24

low energy place. I could have easily just called you and said

Lee Griffith: 00:08:29

you know what can we rearrange this for tomorrow? And I could

Lee Griffith: 00:08:32

go and get a bag of crisps, a cup of tea and sat and watch

Lee Griffith: 00:08:35

some trashy TV. I could easily have done that because that

Lee Griffith: 00:08:38

would have brought me comfort at that moment in time because my

Lee Griffith: 00:08:40

energy was feeling so low. And this is a stretch out of my

Lee Griffith: 00:08:44

comfort zone for me to be doing the podcast but I'm just talking

Lee Griffith: 00:08:49

to you before we hit record, energised me already and it was

Lee Griffith: 00:08:53

the right call to just push through and do it.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:08:55

Absolutely. And I think that links to the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:08:58

question we'll come to a bit later on because there is still

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:00

something I like to ask you about sort of the importance of

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:04

stepping outside of your comfort zone and I think you're right,

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:07

it's very easy if you're in a certain frame of mind. If you're

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:11

in a certain place in your career sometimes to just go I

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:15

want to stick in my comfort zone because that's what gives me

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:17

that safety and security. And I'm not going to stretch myself

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:20

and I think we will start to talk about why it might be

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:23

important to do the opposite and to stretch yourself for sure.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:27

But I guess to start with and you've touched on this a little

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:30

bit, I think already in terms of kind of physical reactions and

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:34

how you're you might feel but what for you do you think are

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:38

the signs at not you personally but you personally if you'd like

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:42

to share that, but like what are the signs as a leader that you

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:09:45

might be stepping outside of your actual comfort zone?

Lee Griffith: 00:09:48

I think the signs of it is something that you've

Lee Griffith: 00:09:51

probably had to give a little bit more thought to than you

Lee Griffith: 00:09:54

would normally it's probably something where you feel I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:09:57

learning something new. I don't have that knowledge and

Lee Griffith: 00:09:59

experience. I do think learning is probably one of the most

Lee Griffith: 00:10:04

obvious things when you start to step outside of your comfort

Lee Griffith: 00:10:07

zone regardless of what it is I'm not necessarily talking

Lee Griffith: 00:10:10

about education or textbook learning. It could be you've

Lee Griffith: 00:10:14

learned something new about yourself or you've learned a new

Lee Griffith: 00:10:18

skill or you've learned about somebody else you work with. So

Lee Griffith: 00:10:22

it's all kinds of questions that could be answered. If you start

Lee Griffith: 00:10:26

to step outside of your comfort zone. If you stay in your

Lee Griffith: 00:10:29

comfort zone. You don't learn and nothing changes. But in

Lee Griffith: 00:10:35

fact, everything changes because everyone else around you will be

Lee Griffith: 00:10:39

stretching themselves will be growing will be learning and

Lee Griffith: 00:10:42

they'll start to overtake you and you you lose your relevancy

Lee Griffith: 00:10:46

and your currency.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:10:47

And your point about growth I think is a good

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:10:50

one Lee. Because for me it feels like if you feel like you're

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:10:53

stepping outside of your comfort zone you will feel like you're

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:10:56

growing you'll feel like you're expanding your knowledge,

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:10:59

expanding your skill set, expanding your experience and

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:02

actually that might be uncomfortable. For you to begin

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:06

with. It might always feel uncomfortable but like you say

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:09

it's that that's the kind of sign that you are actually

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:11

pushing yourself outside of that comfort zone that there is that

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:15

bit of discomfort, maybe some nervousness, maybe some sort of

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:19

butterflies anticipation that you're doing something that

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:22

you're not used to doing and that you're potentially not sure

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:25

what the outcome of that will be because it is outside of what

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:29

would naturally be your comfort zone. So I think we've started

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:31

to touch on this already in our conversation in this episode Lee

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:36

and I guess I just want to delve into it a bit deeper in terms of

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:41

when you're in a leadership position. Why really is it

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:45

important that you do step outside of your comfort zone?

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:48

And you've mentioned what happens already, I think if you

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:51

don't around people sort of overtaking you and other

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:56

people's growth rates being much, much broader and much

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:11:58

quicker than yours. So do you want to elaborate a bit more on

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:12:01

that? Talk to us about why it's important to take these steps

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:12:05

outside of your comfort zone?

Lee Griffith: 00:12:06

Yeah, I mean, I think the the point I made about

Lee Griffith: 00:12:10

you going backwards almost if you don't challenge yourself and

Lee Griffith: 00:12:14

stretch yourself but also I think, again and it touches on

Lee Griffith: 00:12:18

what we spoke about in the last episode around that need to be

Lee Griffith: 00:12:21

conscious of the standard you're setting for other people. So if

Lee Griffith: 00:12:25

you're not growing and challenging yourself as a

Lee Griffith: 00:12:27

leader, then what's the lesson that you're sharing and showing

Lee Griffith: 00:12:31

to your team and what are they going to take from that I

Lee Griffith: 00:12:34

suppose even more importantly, you are potentially holding back

Lee Griffith: 00:12:38

the progress of your team or your organisation depending on

Lee Griffith: 00:12:41

your seniority in post, and that's when real damage and

Lee Griffith: 00:12:45

disruption can happen. So there's an actual serious

Lee Griffith: 00:12:47

consequence of you sitting in your comfort zone. Now that

Lee Griffith: 00:12:51

doesn't mean hundred percent of your time you need to be in a

Lee Griffith: 00:12:55

stretch zone. But if you spend predominantly all your time to

Lee Griffith: 00:13:00

the majority of your time in your comfort zone, it can have

Lee Griffith: 00:13:03

really serious ramifications if you think about companies who've

Lee Griffith: 00:13:07

been complacent with their performance or resistance to

Lee Griffith: 00:13:11

change. Yeah, what happens to them, they become irrelevant.

Lee Griffith: 00:13:16

They potentially fold other competitors takeover, it could

Lee Griffith: 00:13:20

be performance slips and errors happen and people come to harm

Lee Griffith: 00:13:25

you know, depending on what the organisation is, so I think it

Lee Griffith: 00:13:28

can be we joke about almost being comfy pants and all of

Lee Griffith: 00:13:33

that. But it can be a really serious thing for a leader if

Lee Griffith: 00:13:37

they don't step out of their comfort zone.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:13:39

I think the point you've made about the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:13:41

impacts on the wider team or organisation is probably the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:13:45

crucial bit there. Because I guess it could be your personal

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:13:49

choice about whether you as an individual want to step outside

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:13:52

of your comfort zone or not, or if you're going to resist that

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:13:55

actually if you are in a role as a leader, you have an obligation

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:13:59

to role model that good practice to the rest of your organisation

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:04

or your team as you say depending on your seniority. And

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:07

I think if your team is constantly operating in a place

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:11

where it is the comfort zone only, then you're not creating

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:14

that culture of learning that culture of improved and that's

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:18

really important, as you say to progress, that might be to be

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:22

more innovative, that might be to improve performance. But if

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:26

if the as the leader of that team, you're just very happy to

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:29

sit in your comfort zone and let everyone else do the same. You

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:32

know, that makes it quite difficult, I think for other

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:34

people to potentially raise some challenge and to want to stretch

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:39

themselves and stretch the team because you're not creating a

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:42

culture where that's the norm. And so actually, potentially as

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:45

well, for me, I feel like there are ramifications around sort of

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:49

the retention of really good people. Actually, I think in my

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:52

own personal experience when I've recruited into teams, and

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:56

worked with different teams, really good people who were

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:14:59

motivated who want to excel and to achieve are people who do

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:15:04

want to stretch themselves outside of their comfort zone

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:15:06

and if they don't get that opportunity within your team or

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:15:10

your organisation they will look for that somewhere else because

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:15:13

that is what motivates them and kind of keeps them going. So

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:15:18

yeah, I think you're right in terms of these wider impacts on

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:15:21

more people, just yourself of notstepping out of that comfort

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:15:25

zone.

Lee Griffith: 00:15:25

Are you a new, established or aspiring CEO

Lee Griffith: 00:15:35

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Lee Griffith: 00:15:37

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Visit sundayskies.com to find out more and sign up for my

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Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:16:02

If you're enjoying this episode of How To

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:16:04

Take The Lead, please hit subscribe and why not leave a

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:16:07

review or rating. We'd also love to hear your stories and

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:16:10

thoughts on today's topic, please DM us, our links are in

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:16:14

the show notes or tag us into your socials using the hashtag

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how to take the lead.

Lee Griffith: 00:16:20

I got an email this morning from, I subscribe

Lee Griffith: 00:16:23

to Rachel Watson's email list and I've mentioned her before as

Lee Griffith: 00:16:27

someone that I really value the insights she gives on thinking

Lee Griffith: 00:16:31

differently about stuff and she completely coincidentally sent

Lee Griffith: 00:16:35

an email about comfort this morning and her discussion point

Lee Griffith: 00:16:40

was around organisations try to make people feel comfortable at

Lee Griffith: 00:16:45

work but if you do that, or if you focus on that too much,

Lee Griffith: 00:16:51

actually what you're doing is limiting diversity of thought,

Lee Griffith: 00:16:55

constructive challenge. People stop taking risks in an

Lee Griffith: 00:16:58

organisation so it can actually really reduce trust in the

Lee Griffith: 00:17:01

workplace. And I thought that was such an interesting insight

Lee Griffith: 00:17:04

that I hadn't really considered in that context.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:07

You know, we talk a lot about that trust

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:09

don't we in various other conversations that we have about

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:12

leadership. So the more we're talking about this, the more

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:15

that I'm getting the sense that stretching yourself as a leader

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:19

and stepping out of your comfort zone has so many implications

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:22

for lots of different areas. You as a leader, your team and your

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:26

organisation probably more so than I'd perhaps first thoughtt

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:30

when we started to have this conversation Lee, so that's

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:32

brilliant. I guess that takes me on to what we're talking about

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:36

wanting to sort of stretch yourself but how how can you

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:40

proactively seek out these opportunities to move out of

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:44

your comfort zone as a leader and and I guess for me it's like

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:47

what sorts of opportunities might they be and you know, I've

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:51

got a few examples of my own and definitely this collaboration

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:55

and the how to take the lead stuff is is massively one of

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:17:58

them because I never thought 12 months ago that we'd be sat here

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:01

recording podcasts together talking about this very topic if

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:05

I'm honest with you, Lee and like you say it hasn't just been

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:08

sort of the technical skills that that has kind of stretched

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:12

me and mostly you because you are the techie guru behind the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:15

podcast lets be honest. You know, it's just been that

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:18

putting yourself out there as a leader, sharing your thinking

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:22

and putting it out there in the public domain for other people

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:25

to kind of have a view on can feel like a stretch and feel a

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:29

bit scary but I'm ever so glad that we've been doing it to be

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:32

honest. I don't know if you've got some of your own examples

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:36

already but then we can move on to the how people can seek these

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:18:40

opportunities out.

Lee Griffith: 00:18:42

One thing I would want to reflect on and I'll come

Lee Griffith: 00:18:45

to an example for me if I think to the question around how do

Lee Griffith: 00:18:49

you start to seek opportunities outside your comfort zone I

Lee Griffith: 00:18:53

actually go back to there's a bit of self reflection that you

Lee Griffith: 00:18:57

need to do and it can be looking at perhaps your language. So if

Lee Griffith: 00:19:01

you're using words or phrases like I can't or I'm not very

Lee Griffith: 00:19:06

good at. These are the limiting, wit my coaching hat on, these

Lee Griffith: 00:19:10

are your limiting beliefs that are keeping you in your comfort

Lee Griffith: 00:19:13

zone. So being able to recognise when you are saying that to

Lee Griffith: 00:19:17

yourself and to others is really important. It might be things

Lee Griffith: 00:19:20

that you recognise that you will always avoid doing so are you

Lee Griffith: 00:19:23

avoiding speaking at a meeting or if you get asked to present

Lee Griffith: 00:19:27

are you passing the buck along to someone else? Or wherever are

Lee Griffith: 00:19:30

you trying to find work arounds because you don't feel

Lee Griffith: 00:19:33

comfortable? They're all really good signs that you perhaps need

Lee Griffith: 00:19:39

to be doing something different to push yourself out of your

Lee Griffith: 00:19:41

comfort zone. And I think that absolutely is scary stepping

Lee Griffith: 00:19:45

outside of your comfort zone. We talked about nervousness and

Lee Griffith: 00:19:48

excitement and butterflies. But sometimes it can still be in

Lee Griffith: 00:19:51

feel really scare me. And what I would always say is try and

Lee Griffith: 00:19:56

break that down into manageable chunks. And if I think of an

Lee Griffith: 00:20:00

example for me, I don't I don't like presenting now my self talk

Lee Griffith: 00:20:06

was always good at presenting but actually I just like to

Lee Griffith: 00:20:10

avoid it because I didn't like doing it. And I had to break

Lee Griffith: 00:20:16

that down into lots of small, manageable bite sized chunks

Lee Griffith: 00:20:21

that took me on a journey before I presented and for me it was a

Lee Griffith: 00:20:25

bit like if you've ever watched Charlie Brown really modern

Lee Griffith: 00:20:29

reference there but Lionel's blanket. I would have to do

Lee Griffith: 00:20:34

things that I would need to do around my preparation walk me

Lee Griffith: 00:20:40

through every step, considering the questions that might come

Lee Griffith: 00:20:43

up, knowing what areas I'm going to cover all of those types of

Lee Griffith: 00:20:46

things to get me in a place of comfort to present.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:20:49

I'd like to share with you on that one. But

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:20:51

my natural comfort zone when it comes to things like presenting

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:20:55

is basically to wing it. And if I'm terrible the other way I if

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:00

I feel too over prepared then I go into pieces and I know that

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:03

yeah, it just won't come out how I want it to come out but I

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:06

don't know. I don't know if that's true or if that's just me

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:09

creating an excuse for doing everything at the last minute

Lee Griffith: 00:21:12

There is a really good book I don't know if you've

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:12

And I think there's confidence sometimes

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:12

Lee.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:15

read it The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. You know that the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:18

lady who wrote Grey's Anatomy and Scandal and all of that it's

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:22

basically her true life story of how she recognised and got told

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:26

that she was turning down lots of opportunities that were open

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:30

to her and then she decided that she was going to have a year

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:33

where she just said yes to everything that came her way.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:37

And I found that so inspirational and it actually

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:40

bolstered me to say yes to more things.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:44

that can be gained from seeing other people do that. And seek

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:48

seeking out these opportunities and stepping into a space that

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:51

they're not used to. And it's not at all in the same way. I'm

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:53

not saying I was a Shonda at all, but that year I separated

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:21:57

from my ex husband I decided I was going to spend a year saying

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:01

yes to opportunities so not just work wise, but it was brilliant

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:05

because I found myself doing things that I would have never

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:07

doing things like going out on a canal boat in Birmingham,

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:11

listening to listening to a poetryevening and getting

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:14

dressed up in 1920s clothes to do it and stuff like that. It

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:17

was just, you know, real confidence, to be honest with

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:20

you, but you always need to see other people doing it sometimes

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:24

for you to realise it's perhaps not quite as scary and fearful

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:28

as you think it might be.

Lee Griffith: 00:22:29

So Shonda's, this book idea was stolen from you.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:32

Well. I'd like to say yes, but absolutely not.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:38

And I'm sure that opportunities that came Shonda's way were very

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:42

different to the ones that came my way but I have to say it was

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:45

very empowering to say yes to more things that my natural

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:50

response might have been a no to. And I've got to meet some

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:53

brilliant people both workwise and outside of work and do some

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:22:57

amazing things and I'm not sure why I limited it to a year maybe

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:01

I just need to get back in that zone of like just say yes, more.

Lee Griffith: 00:23:04

Yeah, you and me both.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:07

So say we have talked about how it feels to

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:10

step outside of your comfort zone and why it's important for

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:12

you to do that as a leader and kind of how you can look for

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:16

opportunities to do that. And I liked what you talked about

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:19

around stretch Lee so I guess we're at that point in the

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:23

episode where we share some how tos so Lee what did your how tos

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:28

be in terms of how to step outside of your comfort zone as

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:23:32

a leader?

Lee Griffith: 00:23:32

I think mine would be if I've got three so my first

Lee Griffith: 00:23:36

one would be that honesty with yourself about how much you're

Lee Griffith: 00:23:38

actually operating in your comfort zone. My second one

Lee Griffith: 00:23:41

would be around that stretch. So a good marker is is what's 10 to

Lee Griffith: 00:23:46

15% stretch outside your comfort zone. What does that look like?

Lee Griffith: 00:23:50

That's usually pretty manageable and quite risk free. And if

Lee Griffith: 00:23:54

there is a downside to it, it's likely not to cause any huge

Lee Griffith: 00:23:58

impact. Yeah. So but the plus side is if it goes well then you

Lee Griffith: 00:24:04

can take another 10 15% Step. And so that's a nice way to

Lee Griffith: 00:24:08

start to ease yourself into into your stretch. So and then my

Lee Griffith: 00:24:13

third point would be I think this is one of those areas that

Lee Griffith: 00:24:16

working with a coach is really really helpful and I know I've

Lee Griffith: 00:24:19

benefited in my corporate career discussing exactly this thing

Lee Griffith: 00:24:23

with my with my coach. It is all about how you empower people to

Lee Griffith: 00:24:27

stretch themselves. So if you haven't got a coach, I strongly

Lee Griffith: 00:24:32

not just because I am one don't you don't need to come to me

Lee Griffith: 00:24:34

that isn't a plug.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:24:35

Other coaches are available.

Lee Griffith: 00:24:38

But having having that professional person that

Lee Griffith: 00:24:41

can ask you questions, make you think differently is really

Lee Griffith: 00:24:44

important.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:24:45

I'm going to build on that top tip to sort of

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:24:48

add a little bit from my point of view, I think there is

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:24:50

something about if you're able to have that reflection time and

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:24:53

have these conversations and seek out people to kind of

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:24:57

challenge some of your thinking around that I think it's really

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:00

important to work out where you might stretch. I sometimes think

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:06

it's important to think about where are you going to have most

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:09

impact stepping outside of your comfort zone and potentially not

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:13

just doing it for doing it's sake back to that bit that you

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:16

mentioned, risk and mitigating that risk, really be thoughtful

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:20

about actually what's the benefit to you as a leader in

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:22

your organisation in terms of where you stretch and how you

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:26

kind of direct that stretch and then there's definitely a bit

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:29

for me that you mentioned that I think is a good top tip and how

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:33

to is is just remembering your your role as a leader within

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:37

your wider teams and how you demonstrate that actually is a

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:41

good thing to step outside of your comfort zone so that you

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:45

actually start to create the culture. Let's call it a stretch

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:49

culture that might be what it's referred to in what you were

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:52

talking about Lee but how you start to then create that

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:55

stretch culture within your own team and your own organisation.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:25:58

So some top tips for people to think about in terms of comfort

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:03

zone, I would definitely be really interested to hear from

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:05

listeners about how they are stepping outside of their

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:08

comfort zone and what that feels like so do get in touch with us

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:12

across the socials or DMS. Leave us some comments that would be

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:15

great. As always, Lee, thank you and thank you for being somebody

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:19

who pushes me outside of my comfort zone and gives me those

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:22

nudges to stretch myself it is genuinely much appreciated.

Lee Griffith: 00:26:29

Right back at you you definitely pushed me outside

Lee Griffith: 00:26:32

mine as well I wouldn't be sat here.

Lee Griffith: 00:26:36

So here we are in our stretch zone I don't think we've quite

Lee Griffith: 00:26:39

reached the danger zone with this one yet Lee, let's say

Lee Griffith: 00:26:42

we're still in our stretch zone with this one. I hope that's

Lee Griffith: 00:26:44

provided some food for thought for people. And I'm looking

Lee Griffith: 00:26:47

forward to our next episode.

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:52

Thanks again for listening to today's

Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:54

episode.

Lee Griffith: 00:26:54

Don't forget to hit subscribe so you're the

Lee Griffith: 00:26:56

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Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:26:59

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Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:27:01

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Lee Griffith: 00:27:03

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Lee Griffith: 00:27:05

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Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:27:06

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Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:27:08

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Lee Griffith: 00:27:09

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Carrie-Ann Wade: 00:27:11

until next week - get out there and take the