Leadership strategy

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So we're back for another episode of how to take

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the lead. Good afternoon Carrie-Ann How are you feeling

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this fine week?

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Carrie-Ann Wade: I am good thank you very much Lee

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I'm feeling all right.

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Carrie-Ann Wade: I feel like time is whizzing by faster than

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the speed of light. But otherwise I'm feeling good. How

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are you feeling?

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I thought you when you first started talking I

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thought you're gonna say I feel like chicken tonight. I don't

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know why that was very nice reference there. Yeah,

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Carrie-Ann Wade: and we're always shown our age on this

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bloomin podcast with our niche weird references to stuff on TV

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and magazines and things board games. I don't actually I'm

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having chicken tonight if you're interested. But not the chicken

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tonight

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tonight if that makes sense. Do they still even

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do those? That's a thing.

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Carrie-Ann Wade: No idea. I've got it lined up with things like

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Fray Bentos pies Do they still I feel yeah sort of easy. Some

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INEC jar just use it and go yeah chicken by

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someone reference smash the other day and I

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definitely thought that that was an eight is like left in the 80s

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but someone was definitely this

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Carrie-Ann Wade: powdered mashed potato vibes. Did not know that

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was a thing. Everything. Everything from our youth is

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having a comeback. It would seem it cares what I'm having for

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dinner. How's your week been? Lee?

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My week has been good. It's been a good week

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we're it's kind of hump day today isn't recording this. So

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we're at mid midpoint of the week where it's either gonna go

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up or down. Who knows?

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Carrie-Ann Wade: I love on a cliff edge. We've not got a

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sense which way it's gonna go. So you've left us hanging there,

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Lee. So next episode I'm gonna be checking in didn't go up or

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did it go down. So

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if you are new to the podcast, or you're watching

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us for the first time on YouTube Hello, please do hit subscribe,

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follow whatever the button says on your device so that you keep

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getting this fantastic leadership chat that we are

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demonstrating so clearly as we open this episode. Join us upset

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community if you haven't already. That's where we kind of

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old school blogging style just having a bit of a nonverbal chit

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chat about leadership stuff. So if that's if that's your thing,

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come and join us there are reading lists still available?

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We love a leadership recommendation leadership book

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recommendation, I

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Carrie-Ann Wade: should say that's available if you sign up

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to the community. Absolutely. There might be some new lists

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come in for a new year potentially. Just Just things up

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a little bit. Keep things exciting.

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Yeah. Tell us tell us if we would do a leadership

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list what would you want us to list? That's that could be a

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good challenge. Yeah. So

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Carrie-Ann Wade: I had in my head TV programs that are

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weirdly about leadership without being that leadership but you

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know, I know what that was just in my head but we want to

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respond to listeners need to her style of listening and, and

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engaging and understanding what our stakeholders want. Let's

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let's throw it open to the listeners.

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I mean, I could do a whole list of of TV

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recommendations just based around Murder She Wrote that

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might be too niche for this audience. But if there is, if my

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fellow keener out there and want that, let me know. I mean,

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Carrie-Ann Wade: if there are fellow kin out there for you,

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I've got the sense there might be a third podcast on the

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horizon. Oh, just very niche Lee about that. I'm gonna have this

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in my I'm going to be distracted all episode now while I try and

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think about what that podcast needs to be called.

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Jessica does leadership. Now that sounds like

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a poor? No, no. Let's move on. Move on today's episode, right.

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So we've kind of I think, touched on this already in the

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two episodes that have already been happened, but it happened

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great English there. The two episodes that we've already

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broadcast and published in this series have touched on this

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topic, but I want to delve a little deeper into leadership

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strategy. And I don't mean your organizational strategy, though.

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Obviously, you do need one of those two. And that's a whole

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other topic. I'm talking about your personal strategy as a

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leader. So this is one of the three core books I'm gonna go

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for call this cogs, this series with a buckets before now. Yeah,

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cooks love it. This is this is one of three cogs that I think

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is essential for leaders to consider if they're going to

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make the right impact in their role. So for me, having that

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clarity in your leadership strategy is like the most

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important thing because it's how you determine how you operate in

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your post, how you operate in your organization. It's how you

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define what your approach is going to be what your style is,

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what your values are, is basically your vision for what

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you want to achieve and how you're going to achieve it as a

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leader. And as I say, we've kind of touched on this already in a

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couple of the past episodes. But I really wanted to focus in on

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this because I think we can get too caught up in organizational

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strategy and all of that kind of stuff, and that you lose the

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essence of view and what you want to achieve as a leader. So

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carry on, what's your views? Does, does having a personal

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leadership strategy vary from from an organizational

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leadership? One? And you know, is it something that you've

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seen?

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Carrie-Ann Wade: It's definitely different. So having a

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leadership strategy is definitely different from having

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an organizational strategy. And where the organizational

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strategy is there to set the direction of travel for the

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organization, the goals, the targets, kind of where the

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organization is heading. For me, if you are a leader in that

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organization, having your own personal leadership strategy is

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really important. Because I feel like that's very much part of

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the how you get there, like, how is that going to be delivered?

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It's almost for me, like the human part of that. And

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actually, you could move to a different organization that's

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got a different organizational strategy. But actually, your

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personal leadership strategy might not change that much,

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because it's really about who you are, and your approach as a

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leader, and being really clear about that, and how you're going

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to implement that. So that was definitely my kind of first

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thoughts in that space.

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Yeah, one of the things that I often talk about

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with leaders and if anyone's listened to my my other podcast,

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you will have heard me mentioned like their love it, leaders of

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impact cost, he then put cost Yeah. But as a leader, you're

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going to be suited for certain types of either situations or

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certain types of organizations. And over time, you will figure

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out where you thrive. And all of that, I think becomes part of

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your strategy. When you go for new roles. For example, The this

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is who I am, and this is this is what I offer, which is kind of

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what you were saying there carry on. So how consciously Have you

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thought about your personal leadership strategy and

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approach? I

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Carrie-Ann Wade: would say, I've been thinking about this. And I

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would say I probably probably for longer than I would

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initially recognize, but I probably wouldn't have seen it

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at the time as being consciously focused on my own personal

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leadership strategy. So I think probably from my point of view,

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now looking back with hindsight, where some of that started, was

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recognizing and learning from other leaders that I've worked

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with and been around. So as I've been progressing through my own

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leadership journey, maybe thinking about, like the styles

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of leader that have really got the best out of me. And maybe

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those who've, inadvertently or maybe even on purpose, got the

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worst out of me, and kind of reflecting back on my own

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leadership approach and style and going like, oh, yeah, for

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me, like that resonates. And I'm going to be intentional in terms

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of being more like that, because that seats me as a person. And

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I'm going to intentionally do less of that, because I don't

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think that is really particularly motivational. But I

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don't think when I was thinking those things at the time, I

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thought, oh, that's about my personal leadership strategy.

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But I think as I've become more experienced, and you touched on

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sort of understanding maybe what your strengths are, as a leader,

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I think there's something in there about understanding sort

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of your own values, and what's important to you, I think I have

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been more intentional with the leadership strategy, mostly

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focused on trying to get the best out of the people that I'm

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leading for the organization that I'm in. So that's probably

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been about thinking about what's important for me and how I feel

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like I can be the best leader. So things that are important to

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me are around collaboration, compassion, authenticity,

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integrity. And I've been looking to create those conditions, I

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guess, as I've evolved and developed as a leader. And then

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I've made some conscious decisions about actually, where

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sometimes my leadership, style and approach doesn't fit. That

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may be that's not the right place for me. And that's not to

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say you can't be adaptable as a leader. But I do think there are

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some things that are really intrinsic to how you might

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approach your leadership strategy and what feels good for

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you that you're actually going to be able to deliver on which

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means sometimes you will make these different decisions, which

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is actually this isn't the space for me now. And, and for

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example, I know part of my personal leadership strategy is

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always about growth and development of the team that I'm

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leading. I feel like that's actually what I'm really good

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at. I'm good at growing and developing people and teams and

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sometimes doing that from scratch. So actually, I've been

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naturally drawn to roles and organizations where that

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opportunity has been there to enable me to enact that that

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kind of leadership strategy, I guess. So yeah, that's some of

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my own initial thoughts and reflections around that space.

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For me personally, how about? Oh, you've got question?

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Yeah, no, I was gonna say, I was just say, How

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is it driven? That your job search, I suppose, because I do

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think this is part of the positioning that you do. When

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you're applying for roles. And you're thinking about career

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development, your strategy is about aligning up your USP with

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what an organization might be seeking. So yeah, so how's that

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worked?

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Carrie-Ann Wade: I think that's something about the research

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that you do in today's organizations, isn't it? And so

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there's something for me about some of my personal sort of

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drivers and valleys definitely align themselves better to

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public sector, voluntary sector more. So that kind of service

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based space rather than maybe a more cutthroat or my perception

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of that's terrible, isn't it, but maybe a more corporate

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sector that's perhaps more financially driven. So I feel

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like my leadership is maybe better suited to organizations

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that are more about providing service for people than perhaps

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anything else. So that's definitely maybe driven some of

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my career choices and my professional growth. And then I

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think there's also been something about really, under

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trying to understand as best you can, you don't really know this

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until you go into an organization, do you but

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understanding what the leadership team and the culture

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and the ethos of the organization that you're going

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to be a leader in is, is really like, as best you can, like,

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sometimes you might be, you know, bit blindsided by

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something that you weren't expecting, but actually being

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able to kind of understand what are other people's perceptions

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of this organization? You know, how do people feel about working

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there or receiving a service from that organization? And then

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kind of weighing up, like, what's my value add gonna be in

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that space? Because sometimes there won't necessarily feel

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like there is one, and then you kind of think, Okay, well, I'd

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be able to have impact. And there is something for me about

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understanding that everyone in that leadership space that

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you're going into is probably got their own leadership

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strategy and approach and style. And while you want the

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alignment, personally, for me, I don't want to work with a whole

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set of people who are exactly like me, because I feel like

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that challenge won't be there. And that diversity of thinking

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won't be there. So as much as there might be certain other

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types of leaders that I definitely wouldn't want to work

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with, because I would find it far too challenging. I don't

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want to work with lots of people who just gonna operate and have

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the same leadership strategies I've got, because that might

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feel like there's no sort of grit in the oyster, or I don't

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know if I've got the right set now, am I deadly? But you know

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what I mean, you need that bit of challenge to kind of keep you

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motivated and energized, I think and thinking differently.

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Yeah, I think that's why you, it doesn't

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matter if there is a misalignment, I suppose between

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an organizational strategy and your leadership strategy, as

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long as you aren't fundamentally opposed. I think that's the

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thing you can have. I'm trying to think of an example where

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there has been a mismatch a little bit. And there isn't one

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that's coming immediately to mind. But I'm thinking of there

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can be leaders. I don't know, maybe maybe an organization's

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really into growth, but your leadership strategy is around

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how do I get growth through nurturing? So I don't focus on

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the growth per se, I focus on how do I get the best out of

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people, and a byproduct of that will be growth? I don't know

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that. Yeah, probably not the best example. But I do think

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Carrie-Ann Wade: I had a similar one in my head about change,

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like if the organizational strategies about like a

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turnaround or a change, but actually your leadership

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strategy is something about trying to keep things more

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settled and on an even keel and like balanced for people that

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that might be quite, that's not quite the right description. But

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that might be quite challenging, because you're probably not

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going to be operating in a space where that feels comfortable and

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that you're able to have impact.

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Yeah, and I think that's that's the nuance you

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need to be mindful of, of the scale of misalignment. So, we've

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talked about different leaders suited for different situations.

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So part of your strategy is that awareness of knowing what type

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of leader you are and where you're going to thrive in what

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types of conditions and then that becomes your USP. So some

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leaders are people who will Well, I'm the turnaround leader,

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I'm just going to come in, I'm going to do short, sharp action,

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and I'm going to get results. But then I'm going to exit

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pretty quickly, because I'm not the one that's going to stick

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around and nurture you, there's a cold shower. Yeah. And you

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will need a different kind of leader for that. So part of your

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positioning of your leadership strategy is understanding, well,

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I'm this kind of person versus that kind of person, and

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aligning how you talk about yourself with what the goals

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might be of an organization and identifying, I suppose, what the

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extent of risk they want to take on you as your leadership

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approach, if that makes sense.

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Carrie-Ann Wade: Yeah, absolutely. And there will

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always be that level of risk involved right there, like for

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the organization, and then you personally, but also, for you

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going into a group of leaders who may be might be more

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established in that organization, or you might be

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challenging some of their thinking. And like I said, you

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know, you were talking about what, what the approach has been

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that have worked for us as much as you can try and do your

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research and understand where that fit might be or where that

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misalignment potentially might be, and work out whether that's

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okay, just sometimes you just won't know, you're in that in

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that space. And it's all working itself through because sometimes

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that misalignment like you say, if it's not a huge amount,

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doesn't matter, because there's someone else in that leadership

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team with you, who can do the bit, that's, you know, their

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skill or their expertise, or where their strengths lie, where

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yours don't, and that's okay. And I think sometimes you have

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to think about that when you're building your own team. So I

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think about that a lot when I build teams, and I'm thinking

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about who might be the right fit to be in a deputy position for

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me, for example, because there will have to be some alignment.

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But actually, their leadership strategy can be different to

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mine, it doesn't have to be the same because again, you want

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that bit of rub sometimes and that bit of constructive

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challenge that that will bring. So

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if someone's listening to this, and they're

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knowing that perhaps they're not being very clear with their

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people, so maybe they're not bringing people together around

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vision, they might be giving mixed messages about who they

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are. And they may be struggling to define what sets them apart

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from from other leaders. How do you start to go about getting

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that clarity around you and your strategy?

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Carrie-Ann Wade: I think for me, if you're thinking about how you

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start to work out what your leadership strategy should be,

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you do have to do that in a sort of self work, if I'm honest, I

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think you do have to be clear, for example, on what your values

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are, and how you might be demonstrating those values.

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Because it's really easy to say your values are like no one,

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collaboration, compassion, all of those things. But actually,

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you probably have to start questioning and seeking

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something I've talked about this before seeking some feedback to

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work out whether that is actually how you are coming

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across. And it's not just a tick box and me saying all these

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things, actually, do I deliver on those things, from a values

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point of view? I think you have to think about how you are

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articulating your vision and test that out with people find

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out if that's London, I mean, first of all, you have to

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obviously be clear what your vision is. And I think that's

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really linked to your purpose. And I think we talked in a

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previous episode, even in this series about your why

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understanding your why I think is quite important. But it's

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also important to be able to articulate that to people in a

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way that matters to them. And it's something that we've talked

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about before when we've entered teams as new leaders, but there

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is something about understanding the sort of stakeholder needs

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and and Testing, testing that out through the lens of your own

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leadership strategy. So actually, what you know, and

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that's the conversation, I think we were just starting to have

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around, you know, what do these people need from me as a leader?

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And is that something that I'm able to deliver on or not, and

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be unable to accept that maybe it's okay, if it isn't a

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different type of leadership is required that might not sit

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comfortably with you. So that's how you make some of these

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decisions. But I think once you're starting to think about

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those things around your personal values, Vision purpose,

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the next step is then to create that intent. So are you is

Lee Griffith: 00:19:26

everything that you're doing? Intentional in terms of

Lee Griffith: 00:19:30

demonstrating and delivering on that leadership strategy that

Lee Griffith: 00:19:33

you're starting to define for yourself? Because if it isn't,

Lee Griffith: 00:19:38

then something doesn't feel quite right there. I would say,

Lee Griffith: 00:19:42

yeah, yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:19:43

I do. I call them intensive days with, with people

Lee Griffith: 00:19:50

on I know how, but we work on what someone's strategy is and

Lee Griffith: 00:19:57

their messaging and all of that kind of stuff with view of

Lee Griffith: 00:20:00

where, where do they want to get to whether it's over the six to

Lee Griffith: 00:20:04

nine months, whether it's with a particular project, and it can

Lee Griffith: 00:20:08

sound really grand or what's your leadership strategy, but

Lee Griffith: 00:20:10

it's just it is just like an organization or program

Lee Griffith: 00:20:14

strategy, you know, you need to have that vision, you need to

Lee Griffith: 00:20:17

have objectives, you need to be clear on what your measures are.

Lee Griffith: 00:20:19

So you know, what your outcomes that you're seeking to, you need

Lee Griffith: 00:20:22

to have some tactics, you need to be clear on your messaging,

Lee Griffith: 00:20:26

you need to be able to then map that out and go, right. Well,

Lee Griffith: 00:20:29

you know, if, for example, if you are starting in a new role,

Lee Griffith: 00:20:34

and it could be well, my leadership strategy for the my

Lee Griffith: 00:20:37

first 100 days is going to be by that, by the end of the 100

Lee Griffith: 00:20:41

days, I want to have heard and understood the concerns of my

Lee Griffith: 00:20:47

organization, I want to have a clear roadmap of how we're going

Lee Griffith: 00:20:50

to define what the organizational strategy is going

Lee Griffith: 00:20:53

to be, I want to have met the key stakeholders or whatever it

Lee Griffith: 00:20:56

could be, and then that broken down. So it's really, really

Lee Griffith: 00:21:01

intentional to the point that you will be able to measure the

Lee Griffith: 00:21:04

impact that you're having. And I

Lee Griffith: 00:21:05

Carrie-Ann Wade: think there are a couple of things that came

Lee Griffith: 00:21:07

into my head as you were talking there, and one is about that

Lee Griffith: 00:21:10

measurement. So actually, you also have to build in those

Lee Griffith: 00:21:13

opportunities to evaluate how it is going. And actually, does

Lee Griffith: 00:21:18

something need to tweak Have you been too focused on one part of

Lee Griffith: 00:21:21

your leadership strategy and ignored another bit that

Lee Griffith: 00:21:24

actually needs you to invest some more time and energy in it?

Lee Griffith: 00:21:27

How is it landing with people? How are people feeling about the

Lee Griffith: 00:21:31

way in which you're leading them? Are you? Are they getting

Lee Griffith: 00:21:33

the results you wanted them to get through your leadership? So

Lee Griffith: 00:21:36

I think that evaluation and sort of measurement point is really

Lee Griffith: 00:21:40

important. And then, you know, I know, you talk about it a lot,

Lee Griffith: 00:21:43

Lee with your 100 day plan, conversations, but I think, you

Lee Griffith: 00:21:48

know, there's something for me, and I was gonna say, there was

Lee Griffith: 00:21:50

an example of the chief exec who I know, you know, well, in the

Lee Griffith: 00:21:54

NHS, Laura escaped knight who started a new job in a new

Lee Griffith: 00:21:58

organization and talked about her intentions for her first 100

Lee Griffith: 00:22:03

days quite publicly on her social media channels, and then

Lee Griffith: 00:22:07

published her 100 Day report, which was her findings from what

Lee Griffith: 00:22:10

she set out to achieve. And, and I think that's the other bit,

Lee Griffith: 00:22:13

there is absolutely no point. And this does not matter if it's

Lee Griffith: 00:22:17

your own personal leadership strategy, and organizational

Lee Griffith: 00:22:20

strategy or any other form of strategy in between, if you're

Lee Griffith: 00:22:24

not able to communicate that strategy, and you're not

Lee Griffith: 00:22:28

signaling to people that you are operating with intent to deliver

Lee Griffith: 00:22:32

on that. What's the point in having one, it just becomes a

Lee Griffith: 00:22:35

document or thoughts in your head or whatever, that's just

Lee Griffith: 00:22:38

filed away, and you've done a huge amount of work invested in

Lee Griffith: 00:22:41

it, but then you're not actually keeping it alive. So that could

Lee Griffith: 00:22:45

be unable to communicate what your strategy is, is as

Lee Griffith: 00:22:48

important as when we've talked about communicating your vision,

Lee Griffith: 00:22:51

you know, giving clarity around direction of travel, like I

Lee Griffith: 00:22:55

think it's as important to be able to get comfortable in

Lee Griffith: 00:22:58

talking about what your leadership strategy is with the

Lee Griffith: 00:23:00

people that you are working with.

Lee Griffith: 00:23:04

That's, that's absolutely why I see it as a

Lee Griffith: 00:23:06

cog. Because for me, the three cogs are that that complete

Lee Griffith: 00:23:10

clarity on what your leadership strategy is, then that piece

Lee Griffith: 00:23:14

around self leadership. And I, I mean by that, how are you

Lee Griffith: 00:23:19

executing your leadership strategy? What are the

Lee Griffith: 00:23:24

boundaries you're setting? How are you working? How are you

Lee Griffith: 00:23:26

organizing in yourself and the people around you? And then the

Lee Griffith: 00:23:31

communications being the third cog. So if if you're not

Lee Griffith: 00:23:34

communicating those other two things, and you're not giving

Lee Griffith: 00:23:38

clarity around those things, then you're not going to take

Lee Griffith: 00:23:41

people with you. And you need all three of those to be moving

Lee Griffith: 00:23:44

in harmony for you to have the right impact in leadership role.

Lee Griffith: 00:23:49

Carrie-Ann Wade: Yeah, absolutely. I don't disagree

Lee Griffith: 00:23:51

with you. I think that's really important. Like you say they

Lee Griffith: 00:23:54

don't like none of that really works. If you take one bit out,

Lee Griffith: 00:23:57

no, it's so interwoven, isn't it? And we've talked a lot

Lee Griffith: 00:24:01

about, you know, clarity, you need to give us a leader and how

Lee Griffith: 00:24:05

to communicate better as a leader. So absolutely, I can see

Lee Griffith: 00:24:08

how that will work. So definitely, for me, it's about

Lee Griffith: 00:24:11

that, you know, once you've done that work, to determine what

Lee Griffith: 00:24:15

your leadership strategy might look and feel like and what it

Lee Griffith: 00:24:17

actually is. It's that kind of delivery of it and acting within

Lee Griffith: 00:24:21

it, you know, being intentional to operate in the way that

Lee Griffith: 00:24:24

you've set out from the point of view of your leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:24:28

strategy.

Lee Griffith: 00:24:29

Getting really practical, I suppose, and using

Lee Griffith: 00:24:33

you as the example. But

Lee Griffith: 00:24:35

Carrie-Ann Wade: how about me on the spot, I'm in the hot seat,

Lee Griffith: 00:24:38

how much we talked about intentionality. We talked

Lee Griffith: 00:24:42

about awareness, we talked about all this stuff, how much time

Lee Griffith: 00:24:46

and space are you given to the development and evolution of

Lee Griffith: 00:24:52

your leadership strategy?

Lee Griffith: 00:24:54

Carrie-Ann Wade: If I'd be really honest, because what's

Lee Griffith: 00:24:56

the point in having this conversation? If not, not as

Lee Griffith: 00:24:58

much as I probably should? Be. And I think that's probably one

Lee Griffith: 00:25:02

of the challenges that leaders face. Because they get so caught

Lee Griffith: 00:25:05

up in everything else that's happening in their organization

Lee Griffith: 00:25:09

that they may be, don't feel like they are able to, or often

Lee Griffith: 00:25:14

don't feel like they should, because maybe it feels a bit

Lee Griffith: 00:25:17

selfish, because you're talking about you as a person, aren't

Lee Griffith: 00:25:19

you like individually? Making the space to do that reflection

Lee Griffith: 00:25:24

that monitor in that checking in? On my date? I think

Lee Griffith: 00:25:27

sometimes you feel a bit of guilt about making that time to

Lee Griffith: 00:25:30

do that. But I think it is absolutely crucial to do, I have

Lee Griffith: 00:25:35

to say, I probably do it better. And I don't know if this is

Lee Griffith: 00:25:40

going to make sense when I say I probably do it better in the

Lee Griffith: 00:25:44

space in which I operate through cat's pajamas as my business

Lee Griffith: 00:25:48

than I do maybe in my day job. And I think and I don't know, I

Lee Griffith: 00:25:52

think I carve out more time in that space to be intentional

Lee Griffith: 00:25:55

around, you know, being really open about trying to demonstrate

Lee Griffith: 00:25:59

what my values are, for example, as part of my leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:26:03

strategy. So people are clear, like what I stand for as, as a

Lee Griffith: 00:26:07

leader and as an individual. And I think maybe on reflection, I

Lee Griffith: 00:26:11

could do more of that in my day job space, because actually,

Lee Griffith: 00:26:15

that would be helpful for for my team and my team's own growth,

Lee Griffith: 00:26:19

and obviously, the broader organization. So I think, yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:26:22

as you've said it and put me in the hot seat, I'm starting to

Lee Griffith: 00:26:25

think like, How can I weave this more into just how I operate as

Lee Griffith: 00:26:28

a leader, rather than it being? Right, next, you know, once

Lee Griffith: 00:26:32

every four or whatever it is, once a month, I'm going to set

Lee Griffith: 00:26:35

time aside to spend a good chunk of time being focused on that

Lee Griffith: 00:26:39

it's about how do you actually make it part of your business as

Lee Griffith: 00:26:42

usual. So every day, you're kind of checking in on this, and

Lee Griffith: 00:26:45

there probably a subconscious ways that you are doing that

Lee Griffith: 00:26:48

through feedback from other people where you think, Oh, that

Lee Griffith: 00:26:51

reflects on me, because I clearly haven't articulated my

Lee Griffith: 00:26:54

vision properly, or whatever. And so you do make those small

Lee Griffith: 00:26:57

tweaks and adjustments, and you're probably not aware that

Lee Griffith: 00:27:00

you're doing it. But we've talked a lot helped me in how to

Lee Griffith: 00:27:03

take the lead about carving out that time to deliver as a

Lee Griffith: 00:27:08

leader, and I understand what you're all about and reflect and

Lee Griffith: 00:27:11

learn and grow. And so I think it's definitely important to do,

Lee Griffith: 00:27:15

and I am conscious that I make time to do it. But I guess it's

Lee Griffith: 00:27:19

about flipping that to go shouldn't be making time to do

Lee Griffith: 00:27:22

it. It should just be part of how you operate every day. Yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:27:26

yeah. It can feel a bit grandiose can't let go, I

Lee Griffith: 00:27:29

need to work on my leadership strategy.

Lee Griffith: 00:27:32

Carrie-Ann Wade: Actually, people watching that was a great

Lee Griffith: 00:27:34

expression there for those on the podcast. Sorry, but that is

Lee Griffith: 00:27:37

a brilliant face me.

Lee Griffith: 00:27:39

But it's it's that sense of you know, it doesn't

Lee Griffith: 00:27:42

need to be this you don't you don't need a document that you

Lee Griffith: 00:27:46

put on your shelf never to look at again, it is it is all about

Lee Griffith: 00:27:50

intentionality of showing up. And it could be as simple as,

Lee Griffith: 00:27:54

like, what's what's, what's my end game? And what are the

Lee Griffith: 00:27:58

stepping stones I'm going to do to get to the endgame, whatever

Lee Griffith: 00:28:01

that might be over the and then reflections at the end of each

Lee Griffith: 00:28:06

week around? How am I showing up as a leader this week? Do I feel

Lee Griffith: 00:28:10

comfortable with this? And

Lee Griffith: 00:28:11

Carrie-Ann Wade: we do lots of things don't we generally in

Lee Griffith: 00:28:13

life around things like gratitude journaling, and all of

Lee Griffith: 00:28:16

that kind of, you know, what three things am I grateful for

Lee Griffith: 00:28:18

this week, this day, whatever. But actually, you could very

Lee Griffith: 00:28:21

easily build into a daily practice something around

Lee Griffith: 00:28:25

leadership for sure. And, and there's even things where I have

Lee Griffith: 00:28:28

started to think about how I manage my time during the week

Lee Griffith: 00:28:33

and have in my life three non negotiables of the week. And

Lee Griffith: 00:28:36

actually, if other stuff doesn't happen, those three non

Lee Griffith: 00:28:38

negotiables are really important. And actually, they

Lee Griffith: 00:28:42

don't those three, non negotiables don't have to be

Lee Griffith: 00:28:44

really operational things they could be about, okay, this week,

Lee Griffith: 00:28:48

I need to prioritize working with my team and being really

Lee Griffith: 00:28:52

clear on setting out my vision because I feel like I haven't

Lee Griffith: 00:28:55

done that very well recently, or that things have shifted, and

Lee Griffith: 00:28:58

I've not articulated that. So those sorts of things should be

Lee Griffith: 00:29:01

part of like what you want to achieve in a week. It shouldn't

Lee Griffith: 00:29:04

just be like, make sure I've got the budget set in sorted. You

Lee Griffith: 00:29:07

know, like all the really operational stuff that might be

Lee Griffith: 00:29:10

part of your role.

Lee Griffith: 00:29:12

But then you say, like budget setting? Why would

Lee Griffith: 00:29:16

you be focusing on budget setting, if you're not clear on

Lee Griffith: 00:29:18

what the outcome you're trying to achieve? Like, if we could

Lee Griffith: 00:29:20

jump into the execution of the operational detail without ever

Lee Griffith: 00:29:25

tying it back up? And this is where I think your leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:29:27

strategy is, is the anchor that you can keep returning back t

Lee Griffith: 00:29:31

because your game right, you know, the decisions I've made

Lee Griffith: 00:29:35

this week, are they aligned with where we need to go to and if

Lee Griffith: 00:29:39

they're not aligned to or the types of things I don't need to

Lee Griffith: 00:29:42

be making decisions about then I've got a bigger question

Lee Griffith: 00:29:45

around how am I prioritizing my time? What am I focusing on all

Lee Griffith: 00:29:48

of that kind of stuff.

Lee Griffith: 00:29:49

Carrie-Ann Wade: And I think that can be part of your

Lee Griffith: 00:29:51

leadership strategy content about actually doing that check

Lee Griffith: 00:29:55

in that you are spending your time as a leader on what you

Lee Griffith: 00:29:58

should be spending your time on. As a leader, and that's part of

Lee Griffith: 00:30:01

being intentional as well, isn't it? And, and I've definitely

Lee Griffith: 00:30:04

noticed that recently for me, I have been, I have shifted my

Lee Griffith: 00:30:09

strategy around that because for various reasons, I have found

Lee Griffith: 00:30:12

myself and others in my own leadership team, that thing we

Lee Griffith: 00:30:16

hate getting into the weeds, that stuff and being far too

Lee Griffith: 00:30:20

operational, and having to do that self checking, actually,

Lee Griffith: 00:30:23

that's not what I'm here for. I'm not here to be solving the

Lee Griffith: 00:30:26

problem. I've got trusted people whose job it is to do that I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:30:30

here to be up here thinking about the longer term strategy

Lee Griffith: 00:30:33

and actually, those weedy things that people are dealing with

Lee Griffith: 00:30:36

down here, what's the impact they're going to have into the

Lee Griffith: 00:30:39

future, for example. So I think you can do those check ins for

Lee Griffith: 00:30:43

yourself, can't you where you might just go, I'm drifting away

Lee Griffith: 00:30:46

from my leadership strategy a bit here. And I just need to

Lee Griffith: 00:30:49

pull myself back into it. And there might be actual actions

Lee Griffith: 00:30:53

you have to take to do that, like, delegate more give

Lee Griffith: 00:30:56

decision making to other people when it's not a decision you

Lee Griffith: 00:30:58

need to be involved in. So and some of that will be really

Lee Griffith: 00:31:02

complex, because there might be a whole host of reasons in the

Lee Griffith: 00:31:04

background, why that creepos, or shift away from your strategy

Lee Griffith: 00:31:09

started to happen. But actually being conscious of that and

Lee Griffith: 00:31:12

aware of it, and being able to start having those

Lee Griffith: 00:31:14

conversations, even just with yourself is quite helpful space

Lee Griffith: 00:31:18

to be in.

Lee Griffith: 00:31:19

Yeah, great. Well, we're getting to the end of our

Lee Griffith: 00:31:22

time. And I could be talking about this for forever. Well, I

Lee Griffith: 00:31:25

do talk about this every day, because it's my job. But that

Lee Griffith: 00:31:30

aside, we need to wrap up this episode because people need to

Lee Griffith: 00:31:33

get on and do the doing. So hack into our how tos, I suppose.

Lee Griffith: 00:31:38

What one action do you think someone could take following our

Lee Griffith: 00:31:42

conversation today to help them to get clarity on defining what

Lee Griffith: 00:31:48

their leadership strategy is?

Lee Griffith: 00:31:50

Carrie-Ann Wade: Does there have to be one? Or can I have to be

Lee Griffith: 00:31:53

like, sorry, I'm not following the rules. I definitely think

Lee Griffith: 00:31:58

there's something for me about taking some time, to yourself

Lee Griffith: 00:32:04

initially, to start, particularly if you've maybe not

Lee Griffith: 00:32:07

considered yourself as having a leadership strategy before to

Lee Griffith: 00:32:10

actually do some of that work about defining what that might

Lee Griffith: 00:32:13

need to look like for you. And I think you will need to get input

Lee Griffith: 00:32:17

into that. Some points on that, that will be the testing it out

Lee Griffith: 00:32:20

with people, some of it might be through a coach like yourself,

Lee Griffith: 00:32:22

Lee or a mentor, just to kind of maybe support you to think a bit

Lee Griffith: 00:32:28

differently if leadership strategy hasn't been something

Lee Griffith: 00:32:31

that you've really dealt with before. So I think it would be

Lee Griffith: 00:32:34

about, you know, posing some of those questions to yourself and

Lee Griffith: 00:32:37

really challenging yourself about what that might look like.

Lee Griffith: 00:32:41

And I also think, maybe identify, because it's a bit for

Lee Griffith: 00:32:46

me, it's about the acting with intent. So maybe look to

Lee Griffith: 00:32:49

identify some leaders, maybe who are high profile in the public

Lee Griffith: 00:32:53

sphere, or maybe people that you work with yourself, where

Lee Griffith: 00:32:57

actually, when you consider it, you can see that they are

Lee Griffith: 00:33:00

actually enacting their own leadership strategy, because I

Lee Griffith: 00:33:02

think you can tell who those people are that you work with,

Lee Griffith: 00:33:05

or that you see in the public domain, and maybe start to get a

Lee Griffith: 00:33:08

sense from them about how they might be actually doing it. What

Lee Griffith: 00:33:12

like, how are they showing up? Why, why do you get the sense

Lee Griffith: 00:33:15

that they're very clear on what their leadership strategy is?

Lee Griffith: 00:33:18

And how are they acting with intent? And they might be people

Lee Griffith: 00:33:21

you have the opportunity to have a conversation with about that.

Lee Griffith: 00:33:24

But if not, maybe just observe some of that and see what that

Lee Griffith: 00:33:27

looks like and feels like for you. So that you can start to to

Lee Griffith: 00:33:31

think about you operating in a similar sort of space. Yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:33:35

fantastic. I think that's really useful. The only

Lee Griffith: 00:33:39

thing I would add to build on what you've said is, it goes

Lee Griffith: 00:33:44

back to impact for me, so ask yourself, What's the impact I

Lee Griffith: 00:33:49

want to make in my role in my organization, whatever it might

Lee Griffith: 00:33:54

be, and then compare that against what's the impact you

Lee Griffith: 00:33:58

think you're having and test that a little bit and to see

Lee Griffith: 00:34:00

where the gap is? And start, then you can be more conscious

Lee Griffith: 00:34:04

and intentional in trying to close it. And

Lee Griffith: 00:34:06

Carrie-Ann Wade: I think that's a really good one for people who

Lee Griffith: 00:34:08

have have been a leader somewhere for a long time,

Lee Griffith: 00:34:11

because I guess it's easy, isn't it to focus on that if you're

Lee Griffith: 00:34:13

new in this space, what's your strategy going to be? But

Lee Griffith: 00:34:16

actually, even if you've got one or you've never had one, there's

Lee Griffith: 00:34:19

always opportunity as a leader to revisit and refresh. So I

Lee Griffith: 00:34:23

think that's really good. good piece of advice, Lee.

Lee Griffith: 00:34:26

Perfect. Well, thank you. That was a quick

Lee Griffith: 00:34:28

quick whizzed through, but we will be back next week with more

Lee Griffith: 00:34:32

how to take the lead in stuff