092: Stop Managing Tasks, Start Leading Your People

[00:01:01] Hey, what's going on everybody? David Noe with SpeakEasy HR presented by Payroll Partners. We are back. Brand new guest, brand new episode. It's October 29th and this is episode 92. I am so thrilled to have this guest on. It's been a while since we first chatted and talked about this episode. So I am thrilled to have on Dwight Braswell. Dwight, welcome. How are you my friend?

[00:01:28] I'm doing well. Thank you so much. Yeah, this is one of those that you want to be part of. You have these conversations all the time. So I appreciate not only the willingness to continue the conversation, but I'm glad to be here. So let's do it. Yeah, yeah. We connected on TikTok back in January. I was going back. It was January 21st of 2025. No way! That's so long ago.

[00:01:55] Yeah. And you know, I found your content on TikTok and I just thought it was very simple, but yet powerful. And as I've gotten into my role with my work at Payroll Partners, I'm like, he would be a fantastic guest to share his wealth of knowledge. So here we are, episode 92 and just plugging along. So yeah, congrats on this man. This is great. You're doing a big service for others. So I appreciate the leadership as well. Thanks.

[00:02:24] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I always learn from guests and I hope everybody that tunes in live or on demand listens and finds a little nugget of information. So we are live on LinkedIn, YouTube, potentially other platforms with Dwight. So I I want to go through a couple of questions to start the show. So so this this is just to kind of get to know the guest. Three questions that that I'm trying to gather more about you and share your background.

[00:02:53] So let's start with your career journey, Dwight. So take us back to the beginning. How did your career journey lead you into leadership development and what inspired you to focus on helping others become better leaders? OK, good. So my dad military. So I was moving around a ton. He retired colonel from the Air Force and he joined the military late.

[00:03:17] So as he would go through his different the different ranks and moving up, he would unpack these leadership scenarios with me and we would have these conversations around whether it was war college or a captain comes in and says this or that. And so I had an appreciation from a very early age of situational awareness. Right. The Ken Blanchard thing. And then my first job, I'm a sales guy like through and through.

[00:03:47] So first job, 17, I'm at Future Call in Colorado Springs. And man, it was selling MBNA credit cards in a call center headset. You're making 100 dials. And I dominated. I come from a kind of an acting background, so I've got the energy or whatnot. And within seven months, I was promoted. I was 17. I mean, we're young and I was promoted. Jimmy Shannon came to me and he said, hey, I think you could do something here.

[00:04:16] I'm going to put you as supervisor of the 12 of you on the team. And he said, I want you to improve their performance metrics, blah, blah, blah, by 20%. And so, of course, I'm like, of course, absolutely. I can. I'm ready for that. So I dive right in and I'm like, everybody's at least double my age. So I come in hot. I'm like, if you just do this and I'm listening and I'm telling them what to do and I'm coming in there. If you don't do this, you'd better.

[00:04:45] If you want to be a star, if you want to get paid, if you want all disaster, disaster. I'll never forget it. So it stuck with me, you know, the wrong way to do things. Everything that I had heard, everything that I had walked through with my dad, everything was just gone. So it started me on a journey to understand, you know, this difference.

[00:05:06] I went back to school later for my MBA and I did a an honors thesis about the difference generational studies. You know, how managers at, you know, the millennial level will differ from, you know, the boomers and all of that. And I just started to really soak it up. So I went back to my MBA organizational leadership. I was in house at MCI, Zillow, Trulia, all those.

[00:05:33] But now what has really been the passion is there's a gap. There's just a simple gap. And I've always been a trainer. Like I give people tools to change behavior. I find out what works and then I do that. So the simple manager versus leader. David, I literally stumbled upon this probably two years ago. It's kind of the Simon Sinek, the Brene Brown thing.

[00:06:00] And I really focused in instead of sales training, I moved to leadership and having people go from manager, telling people what to do to inviting them to be part of the conversation. It just hit. And so I basically, I believe you've been preparing for this moment your entire life. And, you know, I'm just serving at the highest level I possibly can helping them just make that little shift. Yeah. Yeah. It's been fun. That is, that is amazing.

[00:06:30] Was there any particular experience or mentor or moment that fundamentally really changed how you think about leadership? Or was it just over time, it's just kind of developed into this now training that you do now? No, I think there's moments. Yeah. I think we all have those moments, right? The, and that's why I think, you know, I always say that your people are waiting for you to become the leader that you're meant to be. Yeah.

[00:06:56] Heather Fernandez, you know, senior, senior leader and executive. She founded Solve and went on to do incredible things. She had a couple of tough conversations with me as a leader myself. And she was so gracious. She spent the time to just give me really hard feedback. I mean, let's just say I was in charge of new hire training and I would talk to salespeople this certain way.

[00:07:26] And when I shifted into leadership development, I came in there with the same energy, the same. Yeah. And she said, that is just not going to work. And he was, it was so hard on my ego. Cause I was like, what are you talking about? I'm like, I crushed this. Are you kidding me? And, um, it w it was, it, it really laid the foundation for, um, not avoiding tough conversations, but doing it in a way that people know that you care. And I knew she cared.

[00:07:56] And so I listened, there's been others that have said things that I've been like, yeah, right. Right. But Heather was fantastic. I'll never forget it. Now it's 15 years ago. Wow. So my next question might've already answered, but I'm still going to ask it because you might come up with another answer, but best, best advice you've ever received. And how has it changed and shaped the person and leader you are today? Yeah. So I now say it all the time and this is actually recent.

[00:08:25] Um, you know, you need to build with your people, not for your people. Yeah. Um, this was, uh, I was working with thumbtack like two years ago and I was coaching on building a culture. And I was like, you got to tell them what the culture is and you got to think about why it resonates to you.

[00:08:48] And I'm, you know, the culture is competitiveness with Michael Jordan and it's, you know, the fire and you're, and I tried to force feed that. Right. I mean, we're late in the game. Yeah. So I believe that we can always learn. We can always soak it up. So I shifted my, my whole, my philosophy around it. And I don't care what it is, whether it's culture, whether it's the solution to whatever problem it is, build with your people, not for your people. Yeah. People support what they help create. So that's all that.

[00:09:18] Absolutely. That's great. Well, thanks for sharing a little bit about your cool journey and your career and everything that's led up to this and what you're doing now. I think it's incredible. So, all right, we're going to shift gears for the envelope icebreaker game. So you didn't know about this. This is, uh, this is a fun part. You, you, you have obviously, um, shared a little bit about your career, but this is something that you just have to pick a number one through 15. So think about that number and I'm going to transition here and then we'll get that in one second.

[00:09:56] All right. One through 15, Dwight, what do you got? If anybody knows me, they know I'm going to pick seven. All right. Number seven. What do we got? This is interesting. All right. What's a TV show or a movie you quote way too often? Uh, so I'm a Jim Carrey, like die hard. Okay. Die hard Jim Carrey. So like it's be a beautiful. I could, I, all day long.

[00:10:26] I mean like all day. Um, I mean, there's just so like just everything that's part of my personality comes out and is that the mask? Was that the liar liar? Was that pin is blue. I mean, I could go all day long. So I think it's a genre slash persona. Can't help it. Yeah. Do you have a favorite movie of Jim Carrey? Oh, you know, I got, I have to go to the, to the Ridge.

[00:10:56] Like for me. Um, yeah, I watched him on in living color and then I went back and studied all of his stuff. But, um, yeah, yeah. The first Ace Ventura. So again, you can tell I've got some energy and it almost gave me permission in 95 when it came out the original Ace Ventura. I know every single line. I know every single whatever, because it, it validated kind of who I was. Right. And instead of this, like, what's his problem? He's a spaz. It was like, oh, that's pretty cool. Hey man.

[00:11:25] So that to me, it really impacted who I was. Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing. Thanks for playing the envelope icebreaker game. I feel like it's world famous now. Um, we're getting there. It's going all over the world. So, uh, payroll partners is a big sponsor of this podcast. So thank you to payroll partners and at payroll partners. We believe in the power of people relationships, making payroll and HR tech easier for businesses. So they can focus on what matters most.

[00:11:55] So just a couple of messages from payroll partners and we'll be right back. So get a drink and we'll be back in a minute. Finding a new employee takes time and money for one position on a single job board. You could easily spend a minimum of five to $10 a day advertising a job post. It's worth noting that the average time it takes to hire a new employee is 36 days. However, it can take longer than that. You could find yourself paying hundreds of dollars a month for a single job board.

[00:12:22] And if you're using multiple job boards for multiple positions, this could add up to thousands of dollars a month. There is a much simpler and more affordable way of finding the right candidate at payroll partners. We offer an applicant tracking system to help manage your hiring process. Our ATS is customizable, allowing you to decide which days you want to run the job and when to close it. So you don't break the bank.

[00:12:44] And this feature lets you e-blast your network, hosting jobs on multiple boards at once, all managed in one location. Payroll partners elevating your payroll and HR experience. So when you run a business, you shouldn't choose and have to choose between great technology and great service.

[00:13:04] So we offer technology, certified experts, customized solutions, personal support to help focus on what you don't want to handle or have to handle in payroll. So check us out, payroll partners, and check me out on LinkedIn. We'd love to connect and hear about your situation. So, all right. So Dwight, we are diving into this topic and cannot wait to start with you and just warm up some rapid fire questions for this.

[00:13:33] If you are watching live on LinkedIn, YouTube, wherever else this is streaming, thanks for making this part of your day. Chat is open. If you have a question for Dwight, throw it in the chat and would love to hear from you. So five rapid fire questions, Dwight. Let's start with those. These are the five second, five to 10 second, you know, answers. All right. Number one, one word. What's the most important quality of a great leader?

[00:14:11] Commitment. Commitment. I love how you paused and just thought about it. Yeah, there's a lot of words, but I need to be committed to my career. My people for sure. Yeah. All right. Next one. Accountability or empathy, which is more often missing in today's workplace? Yeah, everybody wants accountability. Empathy, I think, is the foundation of putting our people first and creating ownership instead of accountability.

[00:14:39] What's one leadership phrase managers need to retire? You're not meeting expectations. Yeah. All right. What's one question every leader should ask their team more often? What's one thing we should change? Okay. All right. Finish this sentence. People don't leave bad jobs. They leave leaders who...

[00:15:12] Don't give them a voice. Love that. That is great. All right. So, gotten through the rapid fire questions now that we're going to dive a little bit deeper into this. So, let's start with the big question, Dwight. So, you say managers manage tasks, leaders ignite people. So, what's the biggest difference between the two and how can someone recognize which one they're being right now? All right. So, I always say this.

[00:15:42] I believe that a manager is going to tell someone what to do. Mm-hmm. And then they're going to watch to make sure they do it. I'm going to hold you accountable. Sometimes I even micromanage. And if you don't do it, there's a consequence. Mm-hmm. I say it literally all the time. Whereas a leader is going to point to the outcome. Here's where we're headed. Here's what we need to do. Here's what good looks like. Mm-hmm.

[00:16:11] How are we going to get there? Yeah. So, the very simple things on all my cards, all my material, I keep it very, very simple. If I'm telling more than I'm asking. Yeah. If I'm walking in, judging and putting into a box instead of inviting, asking, getting curious, that is a manager versus a leader. 100%. Yeah.

[00:16:35] I'm glad you brought up curiosity because I feel like that is such a powerful way to show somebody that you care and that you're not just there to manage them. Um, and so curiosity is just so important. All right. Um, many managers are promoted because they're great at their jobs, never actually are taught how to lead. So what's the first leadership lesson they need to learn? Yeah.

[00:17:05] For me, I, I think it's, uh, my number one video. Literally we talked about TikTok. Uh, if you go popular, it's how to transition into leadership. And the first principle is go from being the best doer to building the best team. You need to take your hand off the wheel. You know, the answer, you know how to do it. Do not go on the field anymore and close the deal. Don't take over the project.

[00:17:33] Don't even the small stuff. You want to invite them, develop them, grow them into, even though it might be frustrating, you are growing and developing your people. That's what I do. If I can do that and get them to close five, 10. Oh, that, that is the shift that you need to make. Yeah. You're telling me you don't just give every one of your clients a magic wand and say, you're going to make leaders. Oh, that doesn't work. Oh man. That's it.

[00:18:02] Hey, this is not easy. Just like when we, you know, I believe a lot of people say, oh yeah, leaders are, are, are born, not made. No, no, no, no, no, no. Just like Simon Sinek and others say that the, these are skills that you can grow. You can develop just like the technical skills that you learned early on when you spend the time with, how do I have these type of conversations? You practice, you role play all of that. It's a skill. It's a muscle you can develop for sure. Yeah. I asked about accountability in the rapid fire.

[00:18:32] So I want to talk a little bit more on that too. So accountability is a struggle in so many workplaces. So how can leaders help people, uh, be accountable without micromanaging or, or damaging trust? Yeah. Um, so I'm going to go in there and there's a right way to do it. If I come in at just, it's a mindset. All this starts with you seeing the situation different. Yeah.

[00:19:00] Trust that they could potentially come up with a better way to do it. Okay. So now what I want to spend time on is make sure that yes, the outcome, what it has to happen, whether it's the deliverable and the deadline that has to get there. We're not going to go soft and just, you know, start like, Oh, squish. No, but imagine them having a better way of doing it or potentially finding a better way.

[00:19:29] That's what I want to open up. Because if I continue to say, I'm holding you accountable, I'm telling you what to do. We've all felt it. We know what that looks like. Yeah. If you're there, I'm going to do it. Sure. I'll do it to be compliant. But if you're not there, I'm not doing it or I'll do it kind of halfway just to stay below the radar. You're not going to get ideas, initiative, anything like that. Yeah.

[00:19:57] We are live with Dwight Braswell. He is the founder of Complete Leadership Academy. And we are talking about managers and really leading people differently and becoming better leaders. So difficult conversations, that is something that I feel like I get involved in from an HR perspective and have for 20 years. It's just, it doesn't change no matter what technology is changing.

[00:20:24] And so difficult conversations are something that many leaders try to avoid. So what's one practical thing a manager can say or do to make those conversations more productive? So I'm a big fan of like models or frameworks. Yeah. I think just like an SOP or anything else, there's a specific workflow that makes us more efficient.

[00:20:50] And then we identify within that workflow things that break down, a sales process, anything like that. And then we can like attack the specifics of what's broken. So I need to start with some kind of framework. So I'm very, very passionate about a couple of these. Number one from Center for Creative Leadership. I talk about this all the time. They're fantastic. It's called the SBI model. If you've never heard of it, you can Google it. You can chat it.

[00:21:18] You can do whatever, but it gives you very simple framework situation. Like when did it happen yesterday during the meeting behavior? It allows me to talk about your behavior and not you as a person. So it takes away the defensiveness as we think about facts, what I saw, what I heard, what I observed versus my feelings. Just have a bad attitude. No. And then the impact.

[00:21:45] I love this because we have intentions that are great. When we first wake up, when people come into your world, I can promise you they're not trying to blow everything up. Yeah. But there's that difference between the intention and the impact. And so if we can give them some self-awareness and you can tell my tone drops a little bit when I share this, that SBI model as a leader, I can walk into a tough conversation, provide that feedback.

[00:22:11] And David, look, this is something I have to sit back and observe and write down like practice. Otherwise I'm going to go in there and not give them the opportunity to win in that conversation. So, yeah, I want to step back, observe for maybe two or three days. They're rolling their eyes. They said this and then I want to have that conversation with them. Yeah. Yeah. I think it goes along with how people take criticism.

[00:22:40] And that's something that I generally try to ask in interviews like upfront. Like, how do you take criticism? It's good. How do you like, you know, how do you like to be managed when you have not done your job? Tell me about that. Like, how did that situation go? So I think if anybody listening that's in recruiting, trying to fill positions, like you're trying to fill positions with the right people. Sure. That could be something you bring up in the interview process about taking criticism and learning from mistakes. Right.

[00:23:10] So, yeah, one of my favorite questions is, you know, how do you like to give and receive feedback for sure? I love that. It's in an early video and I do this. I have a first 90 or first 30 days video. It's one of the first things like, how do you like to be recognized? Yeah. How do you like to give and receive feedback? Like, I want to understand. I want to customize it so that if you need me to be direct, sure, I'll be direct. But if you need me to be a little bit softer and come up with some ideas with you, that's okay.

[00:23:40] Just know that I'm here for growth and not criticism. Absolutely. It's not a one size fits all. Yeah. I love it. All right. Let's talk about disengagement. A lot of people are disengaged in their job. So when an employee seems to check out, how should a leader approach the situation before assuming it's an attitude or performance problem? Yeah. So I go in again, you talked about curiosity. I think we already know how to do this. Yeah.

[00:24:09] I do an activity where we build a quick relationship with each other. And we find out that we already know how to do a lot of this stuff. So instead of coming at somebody, judging them, putting them in a box, this is who you are. I want to find out what's going on. I want to ask like, hey, I've noticed this pattern and we want to talk patterns. So if we've noticed that, hey, you've been disengaged for the last week or so, like what's what's going on? Yeah.

[00:24:37] And then what I like to do is I like to sit back and I actually when I train or I coach, I like to sit back like this. And all I'm doing is I'm giving space for them to feel right. It's that circle of safety, the sphere of safety, all of that, the jar, all that where they can actually share. And I want to allow the conversation to go off topic here. I'm okay with it going somewhere that they need to take it.

[00:25:05] If they need to talk about and I just I'm struggling with this, that and the other. I've got my my mom, she's really whatever. Let's go there. Let's go there and take a minute. Does that mean I'm the most empathetic person and I'm filled with compassion? No, I just think that any of us can sit in the moment and be like, oh, what's going on with that? You already know how to do that. So I think that's primarily where we can start with that type. I love that. And it's so true.

[00:25:34] Like if you're in a meeting with somebody and your elbows are down on the table, you're leaning forward versus like you were like where you were set back. You know, those nonverbal communication methods. I mean, that can change the trajectory of a meeting quickly. Right. So, yeah. Speaking of meetings, meetings can consume an entire work week without accomplishing much in today's world.

[00:26:02] So what's one change that leaders can can make to turn meetings into meaningful momentum? Okay. So first of all, I mean, again, this comes from a video like all day long. One of the top videos, how to conduct a meeting. A couple of things. Again, building with, not for our people. Building with, not for our people. So every time we come into a meeting, first of all, we have to understand what is the objective.

[00:26:29] By the end of this meeting, we will know X. We will decide Y. We will. Right. So there's a purpose and objective. We're here today because of this. And by the end, boom, it's not just all right, let's go through the agenda. Let's go around. And I've been there. Look, I've done meetings like this. Trust me. I get it. All right. Quick updates, everybody. Or I'm just going to talk the whole time. All right. Here's what's going on. No, that's an email. If it's an email, get rid of it. That's like a Gary V.

[00:26:59] Are you kidding me? Get it off the calendar. Give them their time back. Number one, objective. So a purpose and objective. Hmm. Number two is create a discussion. And you'll, you'll see anytime you work with me, you see my videos, you see me in a workshop. I create silence on purpose because as leaders, I think it's very important for us to get comfortable with silence. Because I'm giving space for people to open up and share.

[00:27:28] And David, one of the biggest things that lead up to a meeting is my one-on-one time with people. And if I find gold, I find that they're doing something that's like, oh my goodness, that you can collapse all and save everybody like 10 clicks. Are you kidding me? That is awesome. Sammy, would you share that in our next meeting? Oh, right. I'm looking for gold always. So then during the discussion, I could be like Sammy. Remember when we were talking about that?

[00:27:57] You want to share a little bit about that? Or if there's an insight because I'm in the trenches with my people, I can open that up and invite them to start to share. Now at the very beginning, everybody's going to be like, why are you asking so many questions? Can we just get to this? All of a sudden, the discussion. And then the third thing really quick is ownership. Yeah, I talk about commitment and ownership all the time. Everybody needs to walk away. Not, all right guys, have a great day.

[00:28:26] I need to know exactly what I'm doing right outside of this. Am I going to go make five more calls? Or I'm going to go source three more, right? Or I'm going to go connect with a client or I'm doing a follow up with the two interviews that I had, you know, yesterday. Whatever it is, I have clear ownership. Everybody walks away with that so that we're productive right out of every meeting. I can't wait to go to your meetings. Yeah, definitely. All right.

[00:28:52] How important are regular one on ones for managers and how and what should leaders be asking beyond the how's everything going question? Thousand percent. It's the most important thing that you can do. Yeah. Look, I believe that building a connection with your people is the foundation of everything else. You want me to stay a little bit longer? You need me to push a little bit harder? You want me to go for this promotion or that? Or you need me to step in or you need me to do this? You want to have a tough conversation?

[00:29:22] You want my ideas? All that kind of stuff. I don't need to just pay people more. That is not always the answer. It is literally spending time with them. It is just spending that one on one time. So if you constantly are, nah, it's okay. I'll just, I'll bump it. Hey, do you need to meet on anything today? Nah, I'm good. Okay. No top performer to lowest performer. They need your time and attention.

[00:29:48] And in that, I have a three C's framework, curiosity, clarity, and co-creation. If there's something that's like glowing. All right. So tell me about like the last week as far as whatever it is, the project, the performance, your activity around, you know, your pipeline or this project, whatever it is. Tell me from your perspective, how that's going. What's going on there? Yeah. I go all the way through and then clarity.

[00:30:16] Let's make sure that we're aligned on our expectations of what good looks like on that specific topic. Like I'm aligning. I think walking out with alignment and calibration is critical. Not just I've told you and you better do it. It's so tell me from your perspective, what that looks like. Okay. It's different. All right. And then co-creation. So what do you think we should do next? And then when should we follow up? And what should we be looking for in that follow up?

[00:30:44] When we touch base again, what does success look like? It's co-creation. So they walk away with ownership and commitment. So that for me on top of yes, mood over metrics, I want to get to know them. I want to make sure everything's going all right. All that. Then I move into a three C's conversation. I'll add a fourth C, which I think should be consistency because when, when should you meet with your team? Is it once a week, once a month?

[00:31:12] I know managers have lots of direct reports and I don't know if there's a secret number to like a max capacity. I've heard 10, 20 direct reports. But if someone has 20 direct reports, like that's challenging to do one on ones all week. You know what I mean? So like what's, what's your consistency of one on ones? Do you think is the best cadence? And then also what is like the true like number that someone should be managing?

[00:31:39] And then maybe some companies are giving people too many to manage. Yeah, I think it's. So first of all, to manage, if you're managing 20 people, it's, it's just not fair. You can't spend enough time in the trenches, getting to know them, building those relationships, all that. So maybe it's a team lead that needs to take five of those people and kind of work with them and, and coach and develop them. So maybe you need to build your bench and, and come up with a, a better organizational structure if you can.

[00:32:07] Um, and be honest. So upfront, Hey, there's 20 of us on the team. And I want to be very clear that I want to build with you. I want to be in the trenches with you. I want to learn from you. So we're going to customize what that looks like. Some of you are going to need 15 minutes of my time, and I want to give it to you focused energy on a weekly basis. But some of you are, are, look, I take the initiative. I'm good. I take ownership. So you and I are going to touch base for 10 minutes and that's it. So I like to customize it.

[00:32:37] But in my mind, it depends on what type of, of, um, so for example, in a, um, in a sales environment, I believe you need to have that one-on-one at the beginning of the month. It sets the tempo. We kind of look back at what we did last month and we set the tempo of where we're going to go. We set deadlines. We set goals. Here's where we're going. Why are we going for that? You know, I, I really need to, to zoom in on, is it a money thing that you're trying to save up for?

[00:33:07] Is there a trip? Is there right? Why are we going to push hard this month? I need to develop that. I can't short change that. So that could be 30 minutes could be 60 if we need it. Okay. Depends. And then, um, the second week I need to have a follow-up just to make sure we're on the right track. I always believe in consistency and adjust, right? You need to adjust if I'm going, going, going, but my form is off. I'm doing the wrong activity and I'm not closing deals.

[00:33:35] All of a sudden that deflates the rest of the month. So I'm going to do a quick check week two that makes sure that we're on the right track, that we're doing things in the right way. And then we're on our way. Third week is, Hey, we're about to finish strong. I want to make sure that we have everything we need to close that business to, is there anything that's stuck? Is there anything that's going on? Let's make sure that we're hitting it. And at the very end, I am absolutely going to debrief. I want to debrief. I want to take away learnings.

[00:34:02] I want to take away anything I can for the next month so that we continue to grow. Yeah. So those for me in, let's say a sales environment and you can customize it in your own way. Um, I had a last thing I'll say is I had one guy who came in and he said, I do 15 minute one-on-ones. Here's what we do. And he just, he mapped it out. Everybody knew. And that worked for their, their culture, for their team. Yeah.

[00:34:26] But do not cancel and do not put off one-on-ones because you're in other meetings. That's number one priority. Spend time with your people period. Yeah, definitely. Okay. So you've worked with organizations like McDonald's, Ace Hardware, Zillow, across different industries. What leadership mistake do you see repeatedly happening most often? Yeah, I'm going to take the wheel. I'll just do it. You know what? Forget it. Um, I just, it's easier if I just do it.

[00:34:56] So I'm spending a lot of time. I've been promoted because I was probably the best. And so I'll just, I'll take the, give me the, give me the headset or, you know, I'll find, uh, I'll find the best candidate. I've, I've spent too much time with you. It doesn't matter. Let me just, uh, I'll, let me get on the call with them and I will, um, I'll decide like, who's the best candidate, right? It's us taking over. And instead of coaching, mentoring, allowing our people to figure it out, allowing our people

[00:35:26] to just struggle through and build thinkers. Oh, I just focus on the results. Yeah. I got this. Yeah. Yeah. I want to go back to one of the questions I had before about promoting people that have not been in a managerial role or have managed before, but now they're the new manager in this culture with the organization. So what, what are some, uh, some advice that you would give companies that do want to promote

[00:35:53] people into a manager position to help them be successful and enjoy it, knowing that they're going to struggle, knowing that they're gonna have to grow and learn by making mistakes. But what are some key pieces of advice you'd give companies in those situations right now? Yeah. I, so we, at Trulia, um, we created a team lead program and it really almost was like a taste test for both sides. It was for them.

[00:36:19] It was also for us to be able to see like, is this person like, do they want to, do they have kind of the, the, you know, the, the makeup where they actually want to do this or do they just want to continue to be promoted into level one, two, three, four in their job family. So we did a team lead program and we would build the foundation of what that looks like. So teaching someone very simple, like the framework of, um, coaching, right?

[00:36:49] The three C's like teaching a person that's on the, on the phone, on the floor, uh, sole contributor, because I believe that, and this is another Simon Sinek thing. You know, he says leadership obviously is not a title. We talk about that all the time, but leadership is looking over the person to your right and your left and then helping them rise. These are tools that even in the trenches without the top, without the title, without being promoted, they can start using right away.

[00:37:19] So even as a fundamental class, once a month, we're going to bring our high potentials and just let them know, Hey, we, we see, we see the potential and we want to give you the foundation. So how do I handle tough conversations? How do I coach people time management around? You're going to have 20 different things. How can I do this? Right? So building the foundation first, I think is good. And then identifying what we're actually looking for.

[00:37:46] And I think that actually starts with, um, like the five attributes of what a leader looks like in our organization. If you haven't mapped that out as a leadership team, like defined, are we looking for empathy, integrity, tenacity, right? This is what we're looking for. It's almost like a job wreck, right? I already know the JD says this, this is what we're looking for.

[00:38:11] Well, a lot of us haven't defined what is a leader in our organization so that we can start painting the picture of who that is and what that is and start building them up to that. So I would start there. Great advice. I, I hope everybody listens to that and, and, and really evaluates what they're doing right now in, in their organization. So, all right, Dwight, let's bring it home with this question.

[00:38:36] If a manager wants to become a leader, people generally want to follow what's one behavior they should start practicing tomorrow and one thing they should stop immediately. So I'm going to make this very, very simple. It's not easy to, to execute, but stop telling people the answer.

[00:39:02] When you ask a question, so what do you think we should do? And if they say, I don't know, you can say one of two things. If our roles were reversed, what would you tell me to do?

[00:39:25] First thing comes to mind or if you did know first thing that comes to your mind, what would you say? All I'm doing is, and you want them David to do this. Uh, uh, I don't, um, uh, I don't know. Just tell me, look, I'm going to build up you as a thinker. I want you to be a leader here, no matter what that means.

[00:39:55] What do you think? Continue to ask, continue to ask. So focus more on asking better questions to get more out of your people. I call it spark meaningful dialogue. Um, instead of telling them what to do, it's going to be uncomfortable. It's going to force a little bit, but I can guarantee you in the long run, they'll remember it and I'll thank you for it. It's incredible.

[00:40:23] I, I learn every time I have people on and I really appreciate you coming on Dwight. This was fantastic. I think everybody that does tune into this either today live or on demand in the future will take something away. And where's the best place for people to find you LinkedIn, tick tock those two, obviously, but, uh, just what, what are you focusing on right now with your leadership, leadership Academy, anything new or what's, what's your top kind of ask right now? Yeah.

[00:40:52] So, uh, so I have these light and I say it in every single video, these say this, not that cards. This basically outlines like, what does a manager say versus what does a leader say? And what does a leader ask? Right. So these, I think we sell about 200 of these a day. You can go to complete leadership Academy. Um, you can complete leadership academy.com.

[00:41:17] Um, it says most popular tools there, but then also you can look up CLA, uh, leadership one Oh one on all of your favorite, whether it's LinkedIn or anything else. Um, Dwight Braswell. So we'll have all the links down below. You'll see me do this all the time. So all the links you'll find it, but, um, and then reach out, look, um, just like David, any questions or conversations you want to have, um, let's absolutely do it.

[00:41:43] Um, I'm, I'm a big believer in building tools that you can use like today that immediately makes an impact super tactical. So that's what we do. Yeah. Well, thanks for being on Dwight. Um, thanks for, you know, responding to me back in 2025. You're awesome. And this was a long time coming, but I appreciate you being on and this isn't normally, um, on Thursdays I normally record on Mondays, but Hey, for, for people like you to come on

[00:42:11] and spend time with, with me and, and share your, your, uh, wealth of knowledge to everybody. I, I really appreciate it and best of luck to you and everything you're doing. I love, uh, all the videos, so keep it up. And, uh, there's anything I can do to support you. Just give me a shout. Yeah, no, it's, it's been a pleasure. And look, if anybody's looking for like, uh, you know, half day workshop or in a leadership speaker, all that good stuff, um, reach out. We're here to, to, to help in any way that we possibly can. We do a lot of that now.

[00:42:41] So, yeah. All right, everyone. Thank you so much, David. Thank you so much for, for what you're doing here. Yeah. Take care, everybody. Thanks, Dwight. Talk to you soon. See ya. See ya.