LEAD with Jen Madden

Read any book or article about leadership and you are sure to read that effective communication is one of the most important things to focus on in the workplace.  That’s great!  Let me just add that to my to-do list: Communicate Effectively Today If only it was that easy. What is effective communication? That is pretty cut and dry.  It’s making sure everyone is on the same page. Why is effective communication important?  That is pretty easy too - having every one of the same page makes work more enjoyable, effective and efficient.  The hard question is “How do I communicate effectively?  That’s a whole other story. Tune in to find out how!

If you're struggling to get your to-do list done, this episode is for you.  I dig into a strategy that will help you get your stuff done.  Yes, it includes managing your time or should I say managing yourself around your time. If you follow this stratgy, I promise you will get your to-do list done - and you will have lots of free time as a result.  Seem impossible? It's not.  Tune in to find out how!

What is it that holds you back from making a decision?  In a nutshell, it is fear.  Fear of making the wrong decision.  I am sure you’d agree but it actually goes a little deeper than that. It is the fear of how we will feel about that decision.  Remember, I teach the worst thing that can happen is a feeling.  If you make a decision, you may have a negative emotion – even if it is “the right” decision.  Tune in as I teach how to make a decision.

When you think of your team as one big family, you are risking your business.  You need to have a high-quality team to help you grow your business and every hire you make must be strategic and results-driven. Treating your team like family may cause you to hesitate to hold them accountable to your expectations, you may settle for good enough or terrible employees because you feel bad letting them go.  This thinking will cause you to lose money. Tune into to learn why treating your team like family is making your job, as a leader, harder.

Do you worry that other people seem smarter, more talented, and more lovable than you? Does your brain constantly tell you that you might be exposed as a fraud, even though you haven't lied about who you are in the first place? That is what we call IMPOSTER SYNDROME. By definition, imposter syndrome is the fear that you will be exposed as a fraud or an imposter. It’s generally accompanied by perfectionism, black and white thinking, and fear of rejection and failure.  It creates the perfect storm of anxiety, insecurity, and stress. Ultimately, Imposter Syndrome is a collection of thoughts and feelings.  Tune in to learn how to change the thoughts that are making you feel like a fraud.

We live in a world that embraces busy and hurrying.  Everything needs to be fast. The struggle to slow down shows up when business owners need to build their business foundation with things like job descriptions, expectations, systems, and procedures.  Some of them don’t see the need - ahem until their business is suddenly chaotic - and others just want to rush through this step just to get it done. By going slowly, with purpose, your brain and body have a better opportunity to learn and understand what is happening around it and to it. You are able to sustain that energy. You are able to be relentless. To complete tasks successfully. When you are building a solid foundation with which to grow your business, it is imperative that you take slowing down to heart.  Tune in to learn how slowing down can actually speed up the success of your business.

When your team starts working together, they are in essence a group of strangers.  The longer they work together under solid leadership the more united they become but the path is not all sunshine and roses. Bruce Tuckman came up with the phrase ‘forming storming norming and performing’ to describe the path most teams follow to high performance.   This episode focuses on Tuckman’s path because most leaders are unaware of the natural process teams go through to get to high performance. Once they develop this awareness, they realize nothing has gone wrong and they know how they can assist the team in moving through the phases quicker.

On today's podcast, I talk to you about self-confidence. ⁠ ⁠ Many people tell me they aren’t confident - especially the clients I work with. ⁠ ⁠ And often they say it in a way that they think it is unavailable to them ~⁠ ⁠ As if you are either confident or you’re not.⁠ ⁠ That’s not how it works.⁠ ⁠ Self-confidence is being secure in yourself and your abilities. ⁠ ⁠ It’s your ability to trust yourself knowing that you can experience any emotion – including failure. ⁠ ⁠ It is your overall opinion of yourself.⁠ ⁠ If that sounds like an impossible goal, I want you to know that self-confidence is learned. ⁠ ⁠ It’s not like you have it or you don’t.⁠ ⁠ Tune in and I'll teach you how to increase your self-confidence.⁠

Before you can even start thinking about working with a team to grow and scale your business, you need to start with managing yourself first - which means managing your brain. You need to evolve as a person in order to meet the demands of a growing business.  If you don’t learn more about yourself and understand what you need to learn to become a leader, you won’t be able to grow your business.  And this growth starts with your brain. Your brain is the most important thing that you will manage, not just in your business, but for your life.  

Today I am going to talk about the power of asking questions.  More specifically, the power of asking yourself questions. I have been a self-help junkie for as long as can remember.  I have always been interested in what makes us tick as humans.  I find our brains fascinating and I love learning about it.  This love is what inspired me to get certified as a Life Coach.  Almost every self-help book I read contained some version of mastering your thoughts because our thoughts have a lot of power over the way we live our lives.  I would read these books and think, “Yes, my brain is like the energizer bunny.  It just keeps going and going.”   And, of course, most of my thoughts weren’t great and I really wanted to change them, but I never quite figured out how to do this…until I read “Loving What Is” by Byron Katie.   That book changed everything for me. It was the first time I really understood the power of asking questions. The episode explains why there is so much power in asking the right questions and I give you some powerful ones for you to ask yourself.

Here is your PSA for the day, in case you forgot: You're the boss. That may seem obvious but many of you forget in your day-to-day operations that you are the boss. I can’t stress the importance of you remembering you are the boss. Your team needs you to perform your responsibilities as the boss.  They need direction.  They need to know what you expect so they can perform their job effectively. They need to know when they aren’t meeting your expectations so they can adjust and start doing a good job. Your team will respect you and work harder for you if you lead them.

Holding your team accountable to the expectations you have put in place is critical to the success of your team.  It not only holds your employees to the standard you have set for them as a team, it teaches them to trust you as a leader.   Tune in to learn an easy approach to holding your team accountable. www.jenmadden.com/success

One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is not setting expectations for their team.  This leads to many problems including poor work and miscommunication. Tune in to learn how to set expectations for your team that set them up for success. www.jenmadden.com/success

The podcast takes a holistic approach to leadership.  In order to be a successful leader, you need practical tips and strategies to effectively lead your team.  But you also need to focus on your SELF first.  When you are taking care of your mind and your health first, you show up as a stronger leader with your business and your team. www.jenmadden.com/workwithme