HERE TO LEAD

Did you know troubleshooting is a skill? Because it is a skill, we can develop it. Also, it can be a lot like a game of Chutes and Ladders! You roll the dice and sometimes you get to the right place and climb a ladder, make progress, and sometimes you find yourself in an uh-oh moment, realize you've been wrong and slide down a Chute and have to go back to the beginning or to an earlier starting point.The four phases of Troubleshooting are:Start with what you know.Move forward one square at a time.If you slide, start over.Get to the Finish Line!Visit www.kellybargabos.com to listen to all past episodes and/or connect with Kelly.

It's not what you think. Common misconceptions and stereotypes will tell you that all our teams want is more pay, less work, and more vacation time. But is that really what people want to find work life balance? Tune in to this episode to find out 3 ways you can find the sweet spot of work life balance for you and your teams.Visit www.kellybargabos.com to listen to all past episodes and/or connect with Kelly.

Counterculture advice to leaders and non-leaders: Go All In. Just because corporate environments have an imperfect history or toxic track record doesn't mean you should respond with an apathetic approach to your career.  Of course you shouldn't tolerate hostile work environments, discrimination or harmful leaders.  And yes, you can and should expect market-based pay in exchange for meeting work expectations and doing the job you were hired for. That is your baseline. Heading down the lazy, winding path of least resistance and fostering ambivalence about the work that you do will not ultimately lead to satisfaction or happiness. We all want our work to matter. We need to know that showing up day after day means something. People see you and how you show up, even when you don't feel it. I promise you.Visit www.kellybargabos.com to listen to all past episodes and/or connect with Kelly.

Have you ever had someone question you and your qualifications?  Did you ever go to a private event where people look at you like you don't belong?  And the bouncer or security person walks over to let you know it's a private event and only invited guests should be eating the caviar and drinking the champagne? It's happened to me more than once, and I always love it when I can say, “I'm on the list. I was invited. I'm supposed to be here."As leaders we don't need to wait for permission. We need to be unapologetic in our leadership. Tune in to this episode to find out what the Unapologetic Leader never apologizes for.www.kellybargabos.com

Have you ever wondered how you go from Controller to CFO? Or Director of IT to CTO? Perhaps, VP to Chief Operating Officer?In this episode we break down the three things you need to do to get to the next level in your career.

Whether you need a way to get out of conversations you're not ready to have or don't have time to have, or you're not done with that project your boss gave you, sometimes the best thing you can do is BUY TIME. Buying time is an authentic skill and tool that allows you to disappoint someone in your circle of influence with grace, maturity and professionalism. It saves face for you as a leader, protects your personal brand, while also giving you time to breathe so you can thoughtfully engage with people and projects in a way that works well for everyone.

In this series on communication, the first lesson is learning that the word (pronoun) you use to start a sentence matters and  determines how the conversation is going to end and most importantly, how the other person is going to feel when they walk away from you. You can choose to tear down or build up. Tune in to find out how we can leverage the four dimensions of I - YOU - WE - IT  on a daily basis. 

Leadership is an art and like most artists, our craft is a life-long study of trying different techniques that evolve with our experience, our situations and our culture. What works today may not work tomorrow. But the important thing is that we have tools, resources and examples to access when we need them. HERE TO LEAD: Mastering the Art of Leadership in Order to Execute Strategy, Advance Change and Drive Results includes four anchors along with insight, exercises, tools,  guardrails,  time in the seat, all the things that will transform your leadership from frustration to success, from discontent to satisfaction. 

Corporate buzzwords. We love them, hate them, make fun of them, snicker, and shrug and sigh when we hear them. "Why don't we circle the wagons one more time, peel back the onion, level set our expectations and touch base next week in order to leverage the synergies of our teams?"Sound familiar? While a lot of these expressions and words (buzzwords) are over used and have become cringe-worthy, sometimes they really do originate from a place of authenticity and usefulness. Because this podcast is  committed to exploit the practical, useful, real-world tools and tricks that actually help us in our day to day life, we will face these buzzwords head on and try to discern if they are a real thing we should pay attention to, or BS we can smile blandly at, nod, and move on.Tune in to this episode to find out what Ownership looks like and how we can model it as leaders.

Have you ever wondered, "How do I become more powerful?" Power, in and of itself, is not an attribute that you develop. Power is a by-product. Power is the sum or culmination of experience, craft (working on your art or leadership), skill, confidence, strength, knowledge, influence, connections, generosity, a track record. Those are the things you work on. Focus on. It takes time. Investment. Commitment to those things. Really, when we say we want power, what we really mean is, we want:InfluenceRespectConfidenceHow do I get that?

It is the choices we make in the key moments of our lives/careers that will determine whether or not we move forward and grow...or not.When it comes to key moments in our leadership, we need to:Be Aware of the Moments that matterBe Present in those MomentsEmbrace RealityMake the choice. Be a leader.When you are face with a key moment, what new actions can you take? In what new ways can you respond?

I've got my foot on the gas but I'm not going anywhere. Ugh! Sound familiar? We've all seen it, experienced it and had to overcome it. Spinning your wheels is exhausting and frustrating. As leaders, it is our job to know when the wheels are spinning and to help our teams get out of the mess. Tune in to find out three things you can do to get unstuck. 

Purpose Matters and if we don't intentionally focus on and build culture in our organizations, one will develop by default. Wouldn't you rather take the lead and determine what that looks like?Tune in to learn what purpose is, why we need it and most importantly how we get it.

Tune in as we unpack this question that many of us ask ourselves at one time or another in our career. 

In order to influence our leadership teams and our organization like we need to, it is critical that our messages are heard above all the NOISE. In this episode, we discuss practical ways to reduce the NOISE so our message is heard. N - need to knowO - own your messageI - look in the mirrorS - speak their languageE - eliminate noise when you can

If you're like me, you love a good life hack. Whether it is a shortcut on how to peel garlic or open a beer bottle, hacks save us time, hard work and often times they provide a solution when we don't have everything we need to accomplish the task at hand. Unfortunately, there is no leadership hack.In Season 1 of Here To L.E.A.D., we've learned the four anchors necessary to bring our leadership to life on a daily basis. The practical tools and advice consistently applied will transform our leadership from a static idea on paper to a real life, effective and powerful force.  After all, it is what we're here for.

The ABCs of Driving Results-Assign-Beware-CommunicateThe final key to success for us as leaders in driving results is to COMMUNICATE. Communication is a powerful, dynamic, two-way force that is vital and necessary. The life of your organization, your team, and your success depends on it. Communication sets the tone, determines culture, it can motivate and tear down, it can lift up and destroy, it can be productive or destructive.  Most importantly, communication drives engagement. The word “engagement” has become one of those corporate buzzwords in the last couple of years. Organizations have spent millions of dollars surveying their employees, measuring results, all in an effort to measure “engagement.” Why? What is it? If employees are engaged at work they are passionate about what they do, they want to come to work every day, they are connected to the company's purpose and they understand their role in the mission statement, they are committed and connected to their co-workers. Why do we suddenly care so much about this? Because we've come to realize that if employees are engaged it will drive a better performance from them and our employee turnover will decrease. In the world of Social Media, “engagement,” speaks to how many people are interacting with your posts, your graphics, your topics, your content on Facebook, Insta, Twitter, Youtube, wherever you are posting content.  We've come to realize that the market is saturated with social media content and activity and that to really stand out, we need to ENGAGE with our audience, not just have an audience. We measure followers and likes and re-shares and re-tweets. Why? Because we are convinced that it will ultimately drive sales of whatever we're selling and by acquiring and retaining loyal customers to our brand. Both of these examples measure and focus on engagement because ultimately we believe that if people are paying attention they will stay committed to us.We want the same thing in our organizations when it comes to our strategic initiatives and priorities. We need engagement. We need our staff to have passion, focus, commitment and loyalty to our projects. This will keep them connected to the goal and will drive performance and results. How do we leverage communication to drive engagement? We accomplish this by being:ConsistentConciseRelevantAuthentic

The ABCs of Driving Results-Assign-Beware-CommunicateThe next key to success in driving results is for us as leaders to BEWARE. Any good driver knows that you need to keep your eyes on the road. Why? So that we can see what's coming and be on the lookout for any flying mattresses or other debris, danger, weather (hail, snow, ice or tornado funnel) and the signs that would alert us to a change in speed limit, or a construction zone or falling rock zone, landslide area, steep grade...you get the idea.As leaders, we must be vigilant as well and keep our eyes on the road that our projects and initiatives are traveling down. We need to BEWARE. Be cautious, guard against, look out for distractions, conditions, we need to know what's coming, are we in danger of stalling?What are some of the things that we need to Beware of? You need to look out for projects that are:1.     Lost2.     In need of a detour3.     Stalled

The ABCs of Driving Results-Assign-Beware-CommunicateAs leaders, we can do a great job at developing vision, setting strategy, figuring out what needs to be done, and then leaving the details to our staff while we move on to something more worthy of our time and amazing leadership skills. We can view this level of detail as below our pay grade. As a leader, it is your job to make sure this detailed work gets done before the project is launched, and that you have all the answers to these  questions. What are you going to do?Who will do it?When will you be done?Why? What is your why? Or the impact that you're hoping for? How will you measure it?

We've developed our elevator pitch and have a better understanding of who we are as a leader, we've learned what it takes to execute strategy and affect change.  You'd think that the hard work is done and now the results, the outcomes, the goals we were trying to achieve, should just come naturally as a by-product of all that work.  Unfortunately, that's not how it works. The word “drive” means to cause and guide the movement of an automobile or an animal. In our context, it means to cause and guide the movement of your team, your department, your organization, depending on where you are at in the leadership team. Unfortunately, driving results takes some work. Even if you have all the leadership skills and have mastered the execution of strategy and affecting change, you will still need some tools to make sure you are driving results. It doesn't happen automatically. Results are not a given.We tend to have ADD or a lack of focus, especially if you are working in a start-up or entrepreneurial culture. Often, projects get kicked off and started, and then the leadership moves on to the next great idea. People get bored. They need adrenaline so there are many projects started, it's exciting, there's a kick-off meeting, but then as time moves on, people lose focus, they lose the will to maintain, and no one is reminding them of their commitments.In Here to L.E.A.D., we are all about the How. How do we do it? What does it mean to "drive” in this context? How do we keep our hands on the wheel, our car on the road, moving in the right direction? Lucky for you and me, driving results is as easy as our ABCs.The ABCs of Driving Results-Assign-Beware-Communicate

Tune in to an episode from my other podcast, All There Is,  for some relevant thoughts on leadership and why it is the thing we need most right now. Authentic Leaders provide Vision, Unity, Inspiration and Strength, and we all know it when we see it.What the World Needs Now, is Leadership, sweet Leadership, it's the only thing that there's just too little of....

Leading your teams through Change is a daunting task. Tune in to discover some suggestions on how to make it a successful endeavor.It is a powerful thing to have your team use their own words to describe how they feel about their work, what they value, and how they want to be seen and known by others. This is a great starting point for implementing change.

How long will it take to advance  the change I need? Well that depends. In the context of advancing change, we need to understand two things:1) That Time is RelativeJust like boiling a pot of water...it depends on the temperature you're beginning at, the size of the pot, and how intense the flame is. 2) We must be willing to Go The DistanceWhat does “Go the distance” mean? Well if you're a boxer, it means you last the entire fight or 15 rounds. If you're a major league baseball pitcher, it means your arm holds up for all nine innings. If you're a NASCAR driver in the Daytona 500 it means you didn't crash and burn, hit the wall or give up before crossing the finish line after 200 laps on a 2 ½ mile track.As a leader advancing change, it means you do whatever it takes to stay in the game, to keep standing, to cross the finish line until your change is realized. In order to Advance Change you must give it time. You must understand the details relative to the particular change and then go the distance, LEADING your team with focus, motivation and DETERMINATION. After all, it's what we here for!

Change is necessary. And hard. It takes Courageous Decisions to ignite change, but the small, day by day choices are the fuel that keep the fire of change burning.Courageous Decisions are achieved with these three steps:1) Decisions: Make the right decision to begin with. Quality decision-making is a skill that must be developed at the leadership level.2) Choices: The choices you make on a daily basis will either compromise or protect the decision you just made.3) Pivot: Be willing to walk away if necessary, know when to fold 'em.There is no instant change. It is a process that happens at the decisions points. Change comes by making different decisions than you've made in the past in similar situations. Courageous decisions are both the big-ass, strategic, monumental decisions, that set strategy and direction and vision, and the small, minute decisions that are necessary to keep you on course throughout the journey. And in some ways it is easy to make the big, life-changing decisions. The real work, the real, lasting change occurs in the day-to-day, moment-by-moment choices that we make. At every decision point, we have an opportunity to create the change we've already said we want and know that we need, or to retreat back to the status quo. It is the decisions we make that determine whether or not we will stay comfortably at rest or on our current path, or allow the force of change to do its work. As leaders, our job is to ADVANCE CHANGE. It's what we're here for!

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCEWhat is it? Why do I need it? How do I get it?We've established that change is often a reaction to internal or external forces. But it can also be purposeful and intentional and part of the culture of the organization, department or team. The term operational excellence by itself sounds abstract and lofty. Here's how I define it: Operational Excellence is a way to create intentional change before it becomes a crisis or barrier to executing strategy, growth or business continuity. It  is a philosophy or culture where problem-solving, teamwork and leadership focus on improving the daily activities in the workplace, in order to serve the customer and meet the needs of the business, while keeping the employees positive and empowered in the process. Operational Excellence is to an organization what weeding is to your backyard garden. It is hard work, it is not always fun, it takes discipline, commitment, the right tools, but it is necessary in order to get the results you want. If you ignore a garden for a length of time, it will become overrun with weeds.You need it to keep your organization nimble, healthy and productive, as well as positioned for growth.How do we get it?Get buy in. Get the right people in the room. Get it on the calendar. Develop a list. Limit the number. Keep a parking lot. Then start weeding. And don't forget to LEAD. Change can be purposeful and necessary, or a reaction to internal and external forces. Creating and committing to a culture of Operational Excellence will free up resources, improve the customer and employee experience, streamline and scale processes, which will ultimately position your organization for the future and growth and allow you to accommodate change in whatever form it comes.Remember, we are Here to LEAD and that involves the ability to advance change. Tune in to find out what steps you can take to bring Operational Excellence to life on a daily basis. www.kellybargabos.com/podcasts.html

What does Change mean to you?Change is one of those words, like leadership, that has many different definitions depending on who is discussing it and the context around it. For me, I've come to realize that Change is the intersection of discernment, discovery and determination, or for my accountant friends, Change = Discernment + Discovery + Determination.It is human nature to dislike change and to avoid it at all costs. Regardless of human nature, change is a necessary reality and without it, crisis will occur. Not only do our teams need bold leaders to help them through the internal and external forces of change, it is one of the reasons you were hired or placed in a leadership position. As leaders, we are expected to Advance Change in our organization and within our teams. Leading an organization through change, positive or negative, will be one of the most challenging things you do as a leader, but can also be one of the most rewarding. How can we make change happen? It would be nice if we could just have a meeting, send an email or set a date on the calendar, announce the change we need and everyone would say, “Yes, I'm in,” and change happens. Unfortunately that's not how it works.  Change happens when we are committed to these three things:1.     Operational Excellence2.     Courageous and Bold Decisions3.     TimeTune in to find out what makes change so hard, and more importantly,  HOW we can lead our teams through it on a daily basis.Leaders advance change.

The Red Light Green Light Decision Matrix and the Crossroads 2 x2 graph are practical and useful guardrails for quality decision making and will help you and your team execute strategy. These tools will give you the courage, the platform and the support you need when the answer is no, and they will also give you the confidence and courage you need when your answer is yes. 

When it comes to executing strategy, one of the challenges or road blocks we can encounter is that we spend our precious time and resources doing the wrong things. How does this happen to good leaders? 1) We get distracted by good ideas2) We are often unwilling or unable to pull the plug when a project isn't performing like we thought it would3) We get off-track and aren't sure how to find our way back

The second reason we fail to execute strategy is we let the day-to-day priorities, fighting fires and too many meetings steal our time. We need to protect our time by not ignoring the reality of our day-to-day needs and the impact and load on our resources, reacting appropriately when fires do flare up and limiting the amount of time we spend in meetings.

Megan Ahn, President and Founder of an Executive Search firm based in San Diego, CA, gives us her insight and expertise into the Interview process with practical tools to help you nail your next interview and get the offer!In this episode we learn that a successful interview is all about asking questions and listening in order to find out how we can apply our experience and skills to resolve the needs of the organization. They have pain and we have the skills to treat it. We also learned how to answer those tricky questions that can trip us up, and we learned that the number one goal of any interview is to get the offer. Then, and only then, do we bargain or negotiate personal terms. So much good stuff in here. 

Resist the urge to do too much. One of the reasons leaders fail to successfully execute strategy is because we try to do too much, which will overwhelm the resources of an organization to the point where nothing gets done.

Make sure your leadership avoids the fate of the fancy living room!

Develop your own elevator pitch of leadership.

What's your definition of leadership?

Introduction to Here to LEAD and Kelly Bargabos