1st Lead U - Leadership Development
This podcast, now in Season 3, is dedicated to self-development, self-awareness, and learning to lead oneself so listeners can lead others well. If someone cannot lead themselves well, it will be difficult for them to be an effective leader of others. This podcast will help listeners understand what it means to 1st Lead U and build confidence in themselves and their leadership ability. Personal Growth Coach John Ballinger has spent 35 years developing the knowledge and material he shares with individuals, business owners, and leaders from a variety of areas.
1st Lead U - Leadership Development
C.H.A.R.T.ing a New Path to Leadership - The Overview
There are things that happen in people's personal life, from a leadership standpoint, that frame how they react inside a company. They may not know that some of the reasons they react like they do to certain employees in a company is because of things that happen outside the company.
Intro Voice Over:Welcome to First Lead you, a podcast dedicated to building leaders, expanding their capacity, improving their self-awareness through emotional intelligence and developing deeper understanding of selfless leadership.
John Ballinger:Hello America and welcome to First Lead you where we believe selfless leadership is essential. America is suffering a leadership crisis. Self-awareness and emotional intelligence is the key to developing selfless leaders.
Intro Voice Over:Now here is personal growth coach John Ballinger. Hello.
John Ballinger:America, hello world. Welcome to First Lead you, I'm John ballinger, with my trusted co-host, mr douglas ford hello john.
Douglas Ford:Episode one, season three wow, season three.
John Ballinger:You know, if we go way back to the numbers we were numbering nascar, number three, dell earnhardt, gotta be my favorite number. That was my guy this is going to be a special season. Season three happens to be my favorite number and favorite race car guy. For those that listened that far back, you'll know what we're talking about. But now this is a special episode because there's been a lot of thought and effort put into what we heard from either listeners of season one and two, either listeners of season one and two, experiences that we've encountered through season one and two, where we're actually implementing in whether it was a business or, you know, whatever it could be us.
John Ballinger:You know we had our own modifications. That took place, you know. But, man, season three, episode one, and here we are and, uh, it's a, it's a. It's actually a blessing, you know, for us to be sitting in front of these microphones recording this, especially when I have somebody that just left our office say I've been waiting and I last week I was like I keep waiting on it to download and say there's a new available, and then my own family say that know. My sister said you know when's when's it coming, and so here we are.
Douglas Ford:So yeah, it's great to uh to get started and, like you said, we've got a lot to share this season. I think, uh, we have uh probably as good a season as we've had so far and uh, a good structure that we're going to go through. Uh, this year we're going to spring, or this season we're going to sprinkle in, some year we're going to spring, or the season we're going to sprinkle in some interviews. So we've got a couple of really good interviews that are becoming up, oh, and we'll probably incorporate a couple more as we go throughout the season. But, uh, I'm I'm excited for the new content and for us to share share our experiences, what we've learned, what we're seeing in the marketplace as we continue to move forward with uh first lead juice.
John Ballinger:So, yes, it's going to be exciting. Yeah, so we uh this, uh, this information that we're going to put out today, just kind of a, I guess, an overview of some of the things that the audience is going to be hearing in season three. Um, they're called a chart, mr board Ford.
Douglas Ford:Like a chart. What kind of chart are we talking about?
John Ballinger:Well, it's actually a chart, that is a group of letters C-H-A-R-T but those letters represent leadership styles, traits, things that we want our leaders to learn in order to lead themselves well, so they lead others. Because what we kept hearing is how do we do it? But it's got to be with all the busynesses of the busyness of a leader. It's got to be clear and concise and it's got to be, you know, something that we can almost look at daily on our desk or on a wall and say, oh, I got to do this, oh, I need to do it this way, or this is how it should go. Even if they've done something wrong, they can reflect back to it and say, oh, I should have probably done it that way. So we've got a chart.
Douglas Ford:Yeah Well, I would say you put a lot of thought and time into. It's really, if I'm going to use this word correctly, an acrostic, uh, that we have several words that come off of each of those letters. Right, so that help us to kind of remember different aspects of leadership and what we need to think about when we're going through the first lead you process. And I would say, prior to you developing this over the last couple months of 2024, we were very organic in our approach to first lead you process. A lot of it developed out of your tenure of doing 20 plus years of working with leaders, mentoring people, discipling people. You had just kind of internalized a process that we were continuing to struggle to figure out.
John Ballinger:We were chasing as well.
Douglas Ford:Trying to figure out, like, how do we actually get this into a format that can be repeated by someone who just happens to come across the information or who is intentionally looking for the information? We're presenting the information to them, what can we leave that makes sense to them and they can refer back to and not have to kind of remember your train of thought and where you were going and the different examples. So this really kind of lays it out and we've got a lot of things that will be coming out related to this. But, yeah, I'm excited to walk through this briefly today and then really we're going to spend all season unpacking this because as we go through it, you'll see there's a lot to it, a lot to think about and remember.
Douglas Ford:But again, I think you did a masterful job in coming up with ways to help the listeners remember it and put it in a format that will be easy to use, um, both for us as we go forward and we talk about it, but also listeners who may want to, uh, download the information or, you know, at some point, if this happens to be in a book at some point in the future, um, then it would be easy for them to to utilize as well. So uh. So congratulations and good work on that Cause. It's uh. I think it's going to be a uh Sentinel part of what we do going forward.
John Ballinger:I do appreciate that and kudos to you for continuing to push me to search and put it in a format that is something that is easy and simple to relate back to, because when you anyone that knows that's developed something or created something, you get it in your head and like, well then, everybody should. You know, and one of the things you challenged me to do is now you get it out of your head but get it into your, get it into a format that's duplicatable, that a leader could look at and say, oh, that's, that's how I need to do, and you continue to push me, so thank you. Um, I wrote down at the top of of some notes because I asked a leader two weeks ago this question are you coachable?
Douglas Ford:That's a good question.
John Ballinger:Yeah, and the leader that I don't understand what the question is. I said I don't understand what the question is. I said I don't know how to phrase it. There are, can you be coached to be a better leader? And they just looked at me perplexed, Like I don't understand that. Don't even make sense to me. Now the reality is, is anybody that's dealt in any type of athletics or sports, you know, whether it's coaching your kids playing or whatever. There's a term that gets used a lot called x's and o's. It's just the x's and o's of the game and that coach is responsible for teaches teaching the x's and o's to the players in hopes that the players win whatever game they're playing. In this chart, it's really the X's and O's of leadership. If you hit these metrics as a leader and you look at the X's and O's and you embrace yourself and let's just start, can we start with C? Absolutely, that's a let's just start.
Douglas Ford:Can we start with C? Absolutely, that's a great place to start.
John Ballinger:Let's just start with C. On the chart and this is actually the CHRT chart is something that since last episode till probably about three weeks ago, just kind of kept evolving so we could get to this. Charting a new path for leaders is what the at the top of the document and the C's are important for a leader, because someone that is in a leadership position kind of takes on one of these C's as a predominant trait. What we're going to teach through season three is this these four C's. A leader needs to learn when to use one interchangeably throughout the day and may several times use all four, depending on the circumstances of the day.
John Ballinger:So the C is are you a coach in a particular situation that comes across your desk that day or circumstance? Are you a commander? Are you a cop? Are you a counselor? Really, if you take the embodiment of a leadership and what they should be able to do throughout the day thinking about compliance issues with the company, thinking about human resources, thinking about people, a vendor relationships, developing a strategy for growth in the company and teaching You're going to hit those four C's throughout the day and maybe multiple times, but too many times we go into a company and the leader is nothing but a commander and they position everything from a command position and they're going to beat everybody into submission and today's environment, mr Ford, doesn't work.
Douglas Ford:Yeah, we've uh, we've talked about that, I think quite a bit on First League U that what worked pre-COVID I mean we'll just go ahead and get back into it doesn't work post-COVID. The commander we're talking about here is different even than the command and control methodology that was used prior to. But I mean all the changes that we've gone through, from the great resignation to the great renegotiation to quiet quitting, to quiet firing I mean we've just gone through so much in really such a short period of time in terms of evolution. And now everybody's starting to talk about return to work policies and kind of we're kind of angst and anxiety that's creating not only for people who are going to be coming back to work but also the managers and the leaders who are going to be quote unquote welcoming people back and what's that going to look like and how are we going to manage that? And just trying to be aware of the state of mind that people are going to be in as they come back.
Douglas Ford:And so I think again, I think this is really good and starting off with that, I mean we have that question out there who are you when you are thinking about your leadership style and what you're doing and, as you said, I mean somebody's going to take on a dominant trait. There's going to be one that they naturally kind of gravitate to, but it's the development of all four of those kind of roles that you would play different hats if you were, that you wear throughout a day. That really helps you be a leader, because you do need to change those depending on the circumstances, depending on the meeting or whatever it is you're going to need to change those hats and be able to change them quickly, uh, throughout the day, week or month, uh, certainly throughout the year.
John Ballinger:Right, yeah, and what's some irony to you know, going back into going into a company and seeing a different style, you can recognize the dominant trait of the leader in the organization or in a department Well, that's their nature. Of the leader in the organization or in a department, well, that's their nature. And if it's purely just counselor type, you see them get walked on a lot. A very strong employee will see a leader's nature and they'll take advantage of it, of it. Conversely, a leader in a position where it's all commander or all coach or all cop or whatever it is, can get so tunnel vision and isolated that their crew, the employees, their team members look at them like are they even hearing me? They even know what I'm saying because they'll shut me down real quick or I don't even think they listened to me.
John Ballinger:And we we've had a unfortunate circumstance of working inside a company where someone was very commander ish and didn't listen. And we also got the unfortunate um communication not too long ago that that that Manders no longer there and that company and to say that we called it, I mean as a, as a group of people that had gone in to help develop the company to say that, yeah, that wasn't going to last. Uh, it's unfortunate for the team, but you know they won't listen. They won't listen. So, uh, who are you and when are you is something that we're going to explore on one of our podcast episode so that the, the leader, understands how to evolve from their dominant trait and incorporate all four of these c's into leadership style. Second h we've talked about H quite a bit. I think first season was H.
Douglas Ford:Yeah, it definitely was, cause this is something that you've had for a while and, like I said, the way you've been able to incorporate some of the things you've used over the course of time into this, uh, c-h-a-r-t chart, uh, acrostic is really, um, really going to be beneficial. People are going to hear things that they've heard before, but we're again, we're just putting it in a fashion and a form that will allow them to utilize it more effectively, as, as we move forward, that's repeatable.
John Ballinger:Is it really what it's intended to do as a leader is be so imprinted in your brain that through the day, while you are dealing with crisis after crisis, opportunity after opportunity, negotiation after that, those letters just come back in your head. The H obviously humans. The first thing for a leader to truly understand that not only are they humans, their team members are humans, understand that not only are they humans, their team members are humans. And once they recognize that, understanding that each one of those humans that themselves included have human natures, some of it born inside of them, dna traits, some of it developed, some of it could be life circumstances. There are things that happen in people's personal life, from a leadership standpoint, that frame how they react inside a company. They may not know that some of the reasons they react like they do to certain employees in a company is because of things that happened outside the company and it's developed in them. So the human nature exists. I think it's one of the most impactful realizations for a leader to understand the human nature of themselves and their people, because it helps them understand how to actually relate. Once they understand that, giving the humans themselves included the resources needed to mature themselves as leaders and their team and, as we've said, once you understand the humans, the nature of it and the resources it creates, the human capital that the company needs in order to move forward and stabilize the company for future growth for the owner, the leaders and the team members. Future growth for the owner, the leaders and the team members. And so many times you see big layoffs happening in companies because the leader didn't set the course trajectory properly and they'll say, well, they're laying off 20% of the work, 30% of the work, and there's a lot going on right now, by the way, because people didn't know how to course correct for the economy and inflation and everything going on, and I guess just the easiest thing to do is just cut because payroll is heavy. We didn't build a plan to withstand what was going on, so let's just wreck people's lives, right. And so that that is what you understand as a leader, where we said, see is who you are and when the H is what you understand, a, and this is something that really started evolving I started asking myself what are these leaders missing?
John Ballinger:And I kept coming back to the one thing that I felt like leaders miss is they don't have good self-awareness in who they are and if they don't have good self-awareness in who they are and if they don't have good self-awareness in who they are, how can they even begin to understand who their team is and the awareness so we've got? Uh, awareness. Are they approachable as a leader? Probably one of the biggest complaints that I get from team members is my leader is not an approachable person, especially if it's been a bad day. You just need to leave them alone. And there are times where a leader needs to be able to tell listen, not right now, I've got 10 fires going on. I do want to get back to you, but at least they're approachable enough to be able to have that conversation and the person know they're sincere enough that they will get back with them even while they're under duress.
John Ballinger:That leader, as they're understanding that they're approachable, has to also be adaptable. That's another thing leaders do not like to hear. Why should I have to? I'm the boss, they should to me? Wrong answer leader, you have to learn how to adapt. We talked about it, I believe in season two that a company today, because of the economy, because of what's going on in just our population, may have up to four generations working for them that hear differently, see things differently, react differently between those four generations and if you're not adaptable as a leader to understand that you may have four generations that you're talking to, it's probably going to put you out of a position pretty quick. And then, lastly, show appreciation, boy. What, what about that, mr Ford? What about a leader actually showing appreciation in all that they've got to deal with today, post-covid, but still being walking and saying you know what, thanks for what you're doing.
Douglas Ford:I really appreciate that yeah, and we've, you know, seen studies, we've talked to people. I mean, time and time again, that's sometimes even above pay, right? I mean, in terms of what would you like from your job or from your leaders, pay is obviously always among the top, but it's not always the top. I mean, a lot of people are like I just want to be acknowledged for what I'm doing and somebody to say thank you.
John Ballinger:Yeah. So we're going to take a break and we're going to come back and we're going to finish out with the r and the t, and then we've got a sidebar four sets of letters outside of that. That really kind of plays into the whole entire chart that we're going to, we're going to talk to our listeners about.
Douglas Ford:So let's take a break. Hello, welcome back to First Lead U. We are talking today about our new chart C-H-A-R-T that is going to help us navigate our way through Season 3. And so far, in the first part of this episode, we've talked about the C, the H and the A, and real quickly. The C is the four different hats that you wear the coach, the commander, the cop and the counselor. The H is understanding that we are humans, that we have human natures, that we need human resources to help us grow and mature. And then, finally, human capital is what is needed for companies to push and propel the company forward. And finally, just before the break, we talked about the A's, which was awareness, approachable, adaptable and appreciation. That's how you're going to respond as a leader when you're interacting with your team and or your colleagues, other team leads in your organization. But, john, go ahead and bring us on through the rest of the chart, the R and the T. Tell us a little bit about that.
John Ballinger:So these are new, mr Ford, and they took a lot of my mental brain power to go through and really narrow down to round out the chart. And they're new, but they're tough, okay. So on our, I want you to think from a leadership standpoint what you need to build inside yourself and your team, what you need to build with the ours. You've got to build respect and you have to build relationships. Now can I stop there for a second?
Douglas Ford:Let's pause for a moment.
John Ballinger:One of the most difficult things that I've had to teach leaders how to do is that how to create relationships with your team at an arm's distance. Don't let them get too close because they're going to feel like that. They can take advantage of that, but learn to build a relationship with and I'm telling you I don't if, if we're going to have to really work on a podcast that they can refer back to. The our side of this is going to be some of the most challenging, because of just that word relationship, because I don't. I personally don't feel like that society, that the mentorship programs, that MBA schools you just make PhDs. I don't care you, you name the letters that people try to go get. One of the things that is not, uh, taught is how to develop relationships with your team. We're going to do it.
Douglas Ford:In a lot of areas of society that's not taught, especially in business and leadership, because, as we've already talked about, I mean for so long that wasn't really part of the equation. I mean, you certainly had companies that understood that and companies that did that and that was part of their culture. But I mean, if we're looking across the broad spectrum of work right, especially in the United States, relationship between their leaders and their reports, that just wasn't part of the equation by and large. And so, yeah, I think this is essential and, as we've said, we're seeing more and more information that's coming out. That's talking about a lot of these things that we've already mentioned, but but the idea of creating relationship is key to where we're going forward with leadership.
John Ballinger:That, that big consultant, I'm going to quote that big consulting company that put out report. How many pages was that?
Douglas Ford:Uh, yeah, it was 127 pages, I think it was yeah.
John Ballinger:I mean, think about that. Yeah, big consulting, seven pages, I think it was. Yeah, I mean, think about that, you know, big consulting. So we've been. We've been talking about this for now going three seasons, but prior to this we've been actually doing it. And now these big consulting companies have finally stepped up and they're developing these hundred page plus reports about why this needs to happen. And I keep telling Doug, yeah, but you're not showing people how to. You can. You can read a paper all day long, but if you don't apply that paper, all you've done is read a piece of paper that somebody developed Uh, resiliency, you know, I kind of working on through that. What does that mean? A leader today has to be more resilient than they've ever been.
Douglas Ford:And they got to be able to lead their team to be resilient.
John Ballinger:They do, they do. But when you create respect through relationships that create resiliency, that last R is you get results. That's why I think the R, part of this and the T when we get into the T, when I say they're tough, they're tough because it's the things that are the toughest that, once you learn how to do them, actually propel you as the leader and your team forward during the difficult time. The T is training. I've heard more times than men.
John Ballinger:You have fingers and toes. I'll hire somebody and I'll just throw them in and figure it out. If they seek or swim, if they, if they learn how to swim, then I'll spend some time on them. I'm thinking, hmm, so that's your model, while you're damaging that person and your team. That's there because your team knows that's what you're going to do. They're going to have to pick up the slack for that person that you just threw in the in the pond and so figure it out. There has to be training. That's done, and it also starts with you, the leader. Don't, don't think that you're you know you get a pass on the training. No, that's no, you can, but it could be like that executive that got walked out of the company. Everybody else was doing what they needed to do. He didn't.
Douglas Ford:They're there, he's gone else was doing what they needed to do, he didn't. They're there, he's gone and you know, it goes back to uh kind of a antidote that we've shared before, which is the ceo and the cfo talking right oh yeah ceo says, hey, we've got to invest more money in, in developing our people and training our people over the next, uh, three to five years.
Douglas Ford:If we're going to stay a relevant company and the CFO goes well, what if we spend all that money on them and they leave?
Douglas Ford:And CEO says, what if we don't and they stay, where are we going to be? And so, yeah, I mean training is essential, and I think it's becoming more and more apparent a lot, because that's what team members are asking for, like that's what they're looking for when they go to a job. That's what team members are asking for, like that's what they're looking for when they go to a job. Nobody is wanting to go and be in a position for 5, 10, 15 years and have no growth, have no development. They're wanting to be, even if there's a slow process or slow path to advancement, like they want to be ready to step into those roles when they become available, and so they want that training, and so it's. It's essential, going forward, that you focus on that and you're going to be asking them to probably do more with fewer team members, and so why not prepare them to be able to do those jobs effectively and efficiently?
John Ballinger:Right, what? What happens we're talking about the second T on here when the training takes place through transparency. So the leader comes in and says listen, the next growth phase for this company is going to be a little bit challenging the market environment. So you know what I need? Y'all's help. Let's develop a training program that we're all comfortable with to help us move this company forward. And I'm going to select this team member, this team member, and we're going to do this because we need to do it together.
John Ballinger:That's going to build the next letter in T, which is trust.
John Ballinger:When you can learn to be vulnerable as a leader and ask your team to do some things that will help you as a leader, you're not weakening yourself as a leader.
John Ballinger:You're actually creating trust with your team that they understand that they're valued and you need them and you're listening to them as a leader.
John Ballinger:When all that takes place, when that training takes place, when the transparency takes place from the leader and that trust is built, you have what I witnessed in the military teamwork and you witness teamwork quick to where you're literally what I call what I've referenced in the head nod where you know, that they know, they know, you know and everybody can just nod at each other and move forward with trust and teamwork. So when you think about just what we've gone down with the C H, a, r T and we get to break these down per episode and teach our leaders how to incorporate them in everyday leadership by their company, you're going to see that, if done, the leader and it's I'm talking to the leaders that if done to the leader and this is I'm talking to the leaders If you do these things and you actually apply them in your everyday walk and leadership, you're going to see yourself and your team and the responsibility you have in your position whether it's a company or a department, you're going to see it move forward, because I've went, you've witnessed it.
Douglas Ford:Yes, we've definitely seen it.
John Ballinger:We've seen it happen.
Douglas Ford:Conversely, if you don't, we've seen it not happen we've seen it not happen.
John Ballinger:It's ugly, yes, uh, so that's chart, and we're going to be going through those, uh, one episode at a time to to unpack those. And now I've got this fourth set of F's words that I want the leader to understand, that their reaction to everyday firefights or the things that are going on in their company. We've heard two of these F's for years and that was when something happens, you either fight or flight, and by and large we've seen leaders do one or the other. But there's also two letters that in psychology, are used quite a bit, that I think are more prevalent today than the fight or the flight, mr Ford, and that's freezing and fawning. So fight, flight, freeze or fawn. Now the freezing is your people come up to you and they've got something's going on, something just happened, and as a leader, you just freeze. You don't know what to do. Is the decision I'm getting ready to make? Is it a decision that's going to propel things forward or make things work? Are they going to look at me? After I made the decision, they try to go implement it and it fails. What an idiot, why not? What did he say? Do it like that? Are they walking away saying what he just said, or she said, ain't going to work, but I'm going to do it anyway, because that's what they said to do.
John Ballinger:A lot of leaders today are freezing when it comes down to decision-making. The second thing I see is the fawning. So if you think about a deer in the woods, it's just you know, they lay down in the woods, that's where the fawning comes from, and they get very submissive when the firefight's going on. But after it's over with, then they get angry because they were put on the spot. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to make a decision. I didn't want to see me freeze, mr Ford. So let me just lay down, not do anything. They'll walk away and then I'm going to get sideways after it's all over with. I see so much of that freezing and fawning in today's leadership and so, yeah, we're going to attack that too.
Douglas Ford:Yeah, well, certainly seems like an ambitious season we've got ahead of us, but I think, uh, I think we have a good plan to move forward and, like I said, uh, we're going to take time to break these down, one at a time, uh, in each episode, to really unpack them in a way that uh will be we hope will be beneficial to the listeners.
John Ballinger:Yeah, we can put the. We can put this out on the website or social media so that the listener can walk through these with us. Uh, because I really want the listener to print this off, put it next to you and, as we're going down through here, especially if you find yourself on a C and say you know what my natural bend is? This is what C I am. But I really need to understand how to incorporate those other three C's into my daily leadership. I want you to, I want us to be able to do that.
Douglas Ford:So we'll have this posted out on LinkedIn. Yeah, we'll put it on our website, our social medias, and we'll have this posted out on uh linkedin. Yeah, we'll put it on our website, our social medias, and, uh, we'll develop a uh button for people. They can download it from the website.
John Ballinger:Yeah, so yeah, so, and also the f's. So we're going to unpack the f's on an episode. Um, I'm really excited about one of the uh interview uhs that we're going to have. It's actually going to be a podcast where there's three of us is what we're headed toward. Um, that have a unique skillset. Each three of the speakers have a unique skillset to actually helping leaders unlock their potential uh that they have inside of them. So I'm I look forward to that as well.
Douglas Ford:Yes, We've got some uh very interesting conversations coming up and uh as well, yes, we've got some uh very interesting conversations coming up and, uh, I look forward to sharing those with the audience.
John Ballinger:So, welcome back and, uh, I look forward to season three, episode two. We'll see you next time.
