Episode 186 | Hack Your Leadership Performance | Scott Stein
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For our 186th episode I’m thrilled to welcome back Scott Stein, who was a guest on the show exactly 100 episodes ago!
Scott is the master of making leadership ‘hack-able’. This conversation – just like our first – is packed full of practical tips you can apply right now on your journey towards being a more effective leader.
Scott and I first spoke pre-COVID (remember that time?). Since then, he’s updated his book, Leadership Hacks (a fabulous read) to include an entire section on leading hybrid teams.
I thought I’d heard all the contemporary wisdom on understanding and leading effective hybrid teams – but Scott has come along with new insight and a bunch of practical ideas on how we can all be more effective leaders in this new world.
Lessons Learned
5 global trends that are accelerating the move to hybrid work models:
- The businesses’ need for productivity – businesses need productive people, and a hybrid setup promotes exactly that.
- Employees demand for flexibility – businesses need to create a flexible workplace to attract talent to avoid losing employees.
- Leveraging collaboration across geographical boundaries – information becomes more accessible, resulting in massive competitive advantage to businesses.
- Securing top talent without the bounds of geographical locations – employing people regardless of their locations is actually a win-win for the business and for the talent.
- Advances in technology – there’s been a huge development of platforms that organisations can use in seamless virtual collaborations.
Key idea:
If organisations respond to these trends intelligently, it will produce great results in productivity and job satisfaction.
Scott and I also delve into the pros and cons of a hybrid setup:
Pros
- Improves productivity
- Reduces commute time
- Retains people
- Supports work-life balance
- Reduces traditional costs
Cons
- Keeping a connected culture may be difficult
- Some people (e.g. older ones) may find it hard to adapt to change
- Technology’s occasional failure
- Human Resources challenges
The bottom line:
So how do we balance these negative and positive outcomes? Scott shares these five pillars that organisations must focus on to find success despite the barriers of going hybrid:
- Having a sense of trust (most important)
- Getting clear on expectations
- Creating an environment where people are accountable
- Clarifying limits
- Building a sense of community
Scott’s 3 R’s of remote leadership:
- Relatable
- Reliable
- Responsive
Nuggets of gold:
- Always remember the three types of activity (i.e. work activity, recharge activity, relax activity), this ensures productivity and avoids burnout.
- Be clear of how you want to lead
- Anywhere you go, anyone you meet, increase the use of visuals to help others easily understand your message
Best quotes:
“There is some benefit of having people together, collaborative space, but it doesn’t have to be five days a week. There’s a lot of other strategies that people could use. And I believe that leaders that are going to be able to get this mix are the ones that are going to have the competitive advantage to springboard beyond the pandemic.” – Scott Stein
“There’s a massive upskilling right now, a lot of organisations are going, ‘How do we get the middle and top layers of our leadership to actually start shifting, growing and changing the way they lead?’” – Scott Stein
“The culture, you still need to get that right. If the culture is not right, it’s not going to attract people, you’re not going to retain people.” – Scott Stein
About Scott Stein
Scott Stein has helped thousands of leaders implement fast track strategies that improve results. He is a leading international speaker and an expert on leadership and influence who helps many of the world’s best known brands and government agencies to mobiles their leaders and their people.
Check my conversation with Scott four years ago 086 – Leadership hacks that will revolutionise your office. You should—it’s one of the best episodes ever!
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