Lead with Confidence

Well, welcome, welcome this week to the podcast. I'm so thrilled that you're here and I have a special treat for you this week. I am sharing with you a never before broadcasted masterclass that I created and have just not published yet. It's called Leading with Confidence. It's the 10 steps you need to follow in order to really regain the confidence, your confidence, or actually tap into it maybe, if you've never really felt that level of confidence, in how you manage your team.

So what you're gonna find here is the audio recording on the podcast, but if you would like to have access to the video and the PDF that I created, which is a guide to go with it, then all you have to do is go to thevisionary.CEO/leadwithconfidence. That's thevisionary.CEO/leadwithconfidence. And we're gonna make sure that you can watch the video, and if you'd like you can download the PDF.

Okay, that's all there for you. There's no fee involved. It's just yours if you'd like it. Okay, so I hope you enjoy this recording and if you'd prefer to watch the video and also get the pdf, go to thevisionary.CEO/leadwithconfidence and you'll find it there. Alright. Okay, let's get started.

Welcome to the masterclass, Leading with Confidence. This class is perfectly designed for you if you are a woman who is leading a business or a large team. My name is Kris Plachy. I'm the creator of Lead for Women, which is the only leadership training, development, and advisement program specifically designed by women, for women.

And we're super, super excited to be able to give you this preview of what it's like to work with me and my team. If you decide that you wanna invest in transforming how you feel about leading so that you can lead better, and enjoy your life better and have more peace- because leading people can be fun and somewhat challenging.

So what we've prepared for you today is a Leading with Confidence masterclass. What I've done is I've taken the 10 things that, if you and I had a conversation today and you needed to know, "Listen, I'm struggling. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I don't know how to deal with this. I'm not sure what to do next about this."

These are the things that I would walk you through to see like diagnostically, where are you, what are the challenges you're facing? What are the decisions that you haven't been able to make? What are the issues on the team that you're not sure how to handle? And we, I'm gonna walk you through exactly what I would do with you in a conversation. Because what I want you to understand is that leading, especially for women, is an incredibly intuitive process.

It doesn't have to be complicated, but there is a lot of unpacked baggage for a lot of women when it comes to being in a leadership role. And there's not enough time in this masterclass to go through all of that history. But I think it's fair to say that you would understand me when I tell you that most of what we have learned how to do, when it comes to leading and managing people, is we have learned the ways that have been in place forever. And those ways that have been in place forever, were also originated out of very masculine driven masculine energy, masculine approach to achieving results through people.

And if we go back one layer, even more, if you look at hierarchy and how decisions have been made for thousands of years, it's based on monarchy. It's based on a caste system. So like I said, there's a lot in here that we are not gonna solve today, but I want you to understand that what presents now for women, is us trying to follow formulas and processes that everybody's been teaching for thousands of years, or advocating, or modeling, and we don't even realize how, by following all these approaches, we have silenced the wisdom that we already have as powerful women.

And so my goal through this 10 steps is to give that back to you so that you really see like, listen, this actually is quite formulaic when it comes to achieving results as a leader and being very aligned with how you do that. So it doesn't feel like you have to be someone you're not. It doesn't feel like you have to hide who you really are. It doesn't feel like you have to be tougher or stronger or whatever than you want to be. That you can be who you are and you can still have a great team, still achieve the success you want for your company. All the things. Okay? So that's what we're gonna talk about.

Now, one of the things I love to do with my clients is I love to give you a visual outside of just my face while we're doing this work together. So I'm gonna be sharing my screen and what I'm gonna be sharing with you is the actual ebook, the reflective journal that you got with this masterclass. So I'm showing you what it looks like in my Remarkable, because that's what I use. But if you use an iPad, however you download your PDFs, I just want you to see what it looks like, and it also will be our guide as we go through each of them. All right?

Now, the purpose of this masterclass is to really introduce all of the elements and to give you enough so that you can get started. I would be remiss, and I want you to know, the reason that we have put this out there for you is we want to invite you to consider joining us in Lead for Women. Lead for Women is, honestly, it's one of the only programs on the planet that has specifically been designed to help women learn how to lead with confidence and grace and competence. How to trust your intuition. How to understand how to deal with the emotional triggers that come with leading people. How to feel like you know what you're doing every day. And how to really become and transform into that sage leader, a woman who operates out of wisdom instead of out of tactics.

Tactics are exhausting. Right? They're exhausting. And so this journey that we take, and Lead is the beginning of that together, all right? And you investing in who you are, and who you're becoming as a leader is gonna be the best investment you can ever make. Because once you know how to lead your business, lead your people, lead decisions, lead critical challenges, and do so with grace and confidence, it doesn't matter what comes up.

So I want to be very frank with you. The goal of this masterclass is to give you some insider knowledge of what it would be like to work with us in our robust curriculum in Lead. That is a compliment of both curriculum like this, and live advisory sessions and calls with myself and my team. Because we know that in order for you to learn, we need to give you the information you need to apply it to yourself. You need to reflect on it. Then you need to find a way to make it yours, and then you need to go test it.

And it's through that latter half, making it yours and testing it, that you definitely need mentorship and advisement. So we don't want you to have to do it alone, but that requires an investment in yourself. I know we have so much evidence of women who make the decision to invest in themselves as leaders, and they double, and they triple their revenue, which is lovely.

But honestly, what I want most is for you to feel good, for you to take a vacation, for you to be able to leave the office, for you to trust your team, for you to trust yourself. But that's what we're gonna do. All right.

So, as I said, we are looking at Leading with Confidence. The ebook that you will have gotten as a compliment to this masterclass, it's very robust, has a lot of really great information in it, and this is gonna be your guide. And my recommendation is that honestly, that you listen to this once and then you go back and you do the work of reflecting and writing and all the pieces of parts that go with it.

So, Step one. We're gonna be talking about is understanding where are you going. Now, this is true whenever you are in charge. So, when you have raised your hand and said, yes, I would like to be in charge. You have to know where you're going. It sounds so elementary. Now, whether you wanna call this a vision, or a mission, or a purpose, or your core directive, you know, list, you get to decide, okay? There's no right thing here. I use the word vision just because I've used it forever. But I want you to understand that my goal for you is for you to not regurgitate what I teach you. It's for you to listen to the core principle underneath it.

Why does it matter? If we don't know where we're going, we cannot possibly rally people to join us and help us. Isn't that true? But all too often visionaries are confused. They see what they want. They can vision it. There's like this future that's out there, but then you start to talk yourself out of it. You don't think it's possible. Other people don't think it's possible. Other people think you're ridiculous.

I don't. I think because you have been kissed with an idea that's for you to deliver on. Why not? But we have to get really clear about what we're trying to do. So this section is all about your clarity. It's all about you narrowing down what it is that you and this business are on the planet to do.

Step two, when we have any kind of group of people, there have to be norms and values. These are the behaviors that govern how we all interact with one another. Unfortunately, we can't just say, you expect people to just be like adults and mature. People don't understand what that means from your vantage point. And one of the things we do in Lead is we really dig into, because honestly, in order to be effective leader, you have to understand human behavior.

The more you will understand why humans do what they do and why humans don't do what you want them to do, you become stronger in helping coalesce the minds and hearts and efforts of others. So I know when you decided to be an entrepreneur and make sunglasses, or you know, create some product or service or be a dentist or whatever it is, whoever you are that's watching this, I appreciate you didn't think, I have to become an expert in human behavior, but you really do. Because the more you understand humans, you'll understand yourself and you'll understand them.

And so in Lead, I really give you the be all, end all understanding of how to get, why we can be so far apart, and also how we can bring each other together. And it's through the clarity of norms and values. Do people know what it means to work in your business? Do people understand what the expectation is for how they all interact with each other, and where's the line and what happens if they cross it?

Step three. Everyone needs to know what they're doing in smaller startup companies, and even those that get to more people. There is a tendency to create, what I think I heard Kelly Roach say, Frankenstein positions, right? These are positions that just end up, like you just keep giving them more stuff to do. And then there's a lack of clarity and people don't know what they're supposed to deliver on, and frankly, neither do you.

And what we know as a human species is we want to win. Most people want to know and feel like they matter. That like, what they've done in the world, what they've done in their job, and what they've done in their home, and what they've done in their family is seen and matters. But if you are not clear about what it is they're here to do, then they don't know how to succeed. And you also will not know how to tell them that they've succeeded.

So, we dig into this even more again in Lead. But where this is gonna show up in your company is if you have people who aren't achieving the results that you want. The first three things that I've just shown you are exactly the, it's like a check mark list that you should be asking yourself, do I have a clear heading? Have I established norms and values? And does everybody know what they're doing?

If the answer to one of those three questions is no, it's not to be mad at yourself. It's not to beat yourself up. It's just to say, yeah, I've had my head down trying to launch this company. I haven't thought about that yet. Okay, good. Let's do it now. And in the lead program, we teach you how to write all the role descriptions, how to set those up and not do it so it you wanna punch your face in. That's so much work, right? There are ways to make that not so awful.

So what I show you here is basically the three steps. Does the position, do positions have clear roles and responsibilities? Do they have clear objectives? Do people know what they are? It really isn't as complicated as it might feel, and it's a game changer, especially if things feel very fractious.

Step four, we have to make sure that everyone knows how their success will be measured. How will they achieve what they need to achieve? Is there a percentage, a quantity, a revenue number, a volume of something? Timelines. Benchmarks. How do people know that once they have role clarity, that they're delivering on the expectation of the role?

One of the things I like to say is that every position has a promise to the company. Is every person in a position fulfilling on the promise of the position? And the way that we know that is by measuring it. And again, some of these can be trickier than others. And so that's why those live advisory calls in Lead are really valuable. Because you can come to a call and say, okay, I have this position. I don't really know how to measure it, and we'll help you figure it out. Because it's solvable. I promise you everything that you're wrangling right now, totally solvable.

Step five. Do you conduct honest conversations often and consistently? When there is trouble on the team that has gone for any length of time, it's usually because there's a lack of consistent communication. And honest communication is not me telling you my opinion about you. Honest communication is always based in facts. And we have a whole model that we teach around how to deliver honest feedback, how to conduct an honest conversation, even if it's really difficult as the leader of your business.

You have to be able to do this. You cannot hide from people. You cannot avoid the trickiest of conversations. You have to be the model. I realize that may not be what you signed up for when you decided to start your company, but I'm telling you now that comes with being an entrepreneur and a leadership professional, is that level of maturity and communication. We have to be willing to learn how to do some of these tough things.

And the truth is, there are some conversations that you'll learn how to do that won't really be that hard anymore. And there are some conversations that you're gonna do that will always be hard. And I've been doing this for 30 years and it's, some are still hard for me, but you know what is true is I know how. And because I know how I do it, because that is what I signed up for, that is part of my responsibility.

Step six. You have to be clear about what you are expecting in terms of production. So, performance is both behavior and production. We talked about behavior a little bit when we talk about norms and values. This one is the production, right? Deadlines, benchmarks, defining success. Do people know when they need to have things done? What success looks like? What having it done looks like? Do they understand that there's impact of when they deliver something to the rest of the organization?

So a lot of times we, we say to someone, "Hey, can you work on this?" We don't land the plane. We don't clarify when we want it done by, what it looks like when it's done, when they can give it to you to review all of those pieces, right? And so what we talk about in Lead is we actually make a big distinction around delegating and the transfer of ownership. Which is a very different way to think, and that's where so many of my clients get very frustrated.

Because you inherently are an owner. You take responsibility for your commitments. And a lot of the time, a lot of the people that you might hire, that hasn't been their life experience. They haven't been held accountable to the same level that you've been holding yourself accountable. So there are elements of mentorship that are required. And in Lead, I have a whole module on mentoring and why we have to, as women, accept that role, but that we're also very good at it.

Because there's a whole slew of team members coming to your company who haven't gotten a lot of professional development. So we can't just be mad at them for it. We have to decide if we wanna be able to build a team that can thrive through our philosophy. Are we willing to invest in them? I say yes.

Step seven, delegate to transfer ownership, not to just get tasks done. So just as I refer to, when we talk about delegating, a lot of times the way that we do that is we say, "Hey Joyce, can you work on this?" And I give her something that's mine that I want her to do. And I give it to her, and that's how it goes for a lot of people. That's about it. "Can you work on this?" There's no, when can it, would it be done? What does success look like? How will I know it's done? Let's look at it before you're done so we can make sure you're on the right track. Like, all the elements, right?

When I transfer ownership, I wanna do is say, "Joyce, I would like to give this responsibility to you. This responsibility is now transferred to you." So it's not still mine. If I delegate, it's still mine. You're just doing it for me. If I transfer ownership, it is now yours and you're completing it for you and for the organization.

That sounds like semantics. It's huge when it comes to human behavior and human nature. We have to give them responsibility. A lot of people get afraid of what that means, but you can do that through a process. There are steps to do that, okay? That's what we walk you through a little bit here, and we go way deep into that in the Lead program.

Step eight, promptly address performance issues related to behavior or productivity. So I said to you already that performance is behavior and productivity. Now, what happens is a lot of us will have people who are high producers, but they have some behavior challenges, and we ignore those. That tends to be the biggest issue we face. But we have to be able to base performance feedback on behavior and production.

So how do you give feedback based on behavior? You have to make sure that those norms and values are clearly established. Have you been clear about what it means to behave, to act with one another? This is where stuff like gossip, being short with people being negative, being abrupt, interruptive, this is where those kinds of things come into play, because it's stuff that really can impact people's ability to work together.

But it's very uncomfortable oftentimes to address. Understanding why people might act that way, in any of those ways, and more entitled, I mean, insert here, right? Discontent, complaining, late to work, all the things that I know often plague you. They frustrate you because you also don't know how to tell someone to stop being negative. How do you tell them that? I could teach you that.

But what we first have to know is that we know how to just immediately address those issues. How are you doing that? And here's the tip. You have to level everything in facts. So we don't ever wanna tell someone they're being negative. What we want to say is, "In the meeting, you said this, this, this, this. Why did you say it? Yesterday I heard you talking about Carol and she wasn't here. Why did you do that?" We'd let them label their behavior, but you have to address it. But you address it with facts, not your opinion about the facts, and that is a huge thing for you to hear me say.

Performance is not an opinion. Performance has to be based in facts, which is why we have to set the guidelines for their role, their measures, their norms, and the values. It all matters. It's all performance.

Step nine. We're almost done. If you have none of these steps in place, build them. Now is the time, right? I want you to see, like I don't, I know that you're gonna yell at me, but that work right there, you could have done so quickly. And then what you do is you have a meeting with each person and you say, "Hey, I'm so excited. I wanted to let you know. Here's the vision, here's the norms and values. Here's your role description. Here's how we're gonna measure your performance." I promise you, if you just do that, it will change everything.

Then if you start having performance conversations and you start talking to them and you give them a little more feedback, these are the things that will remedy challenges. And here's what else will happen. The ones who are not gonna join you and change, you'll know it right away. But right now, if you don't have these things in place, we can't know. We can't know where the issue is.

My goal is to help you feel more confident. And I know if you do this work and you never ever did Lead and you never worked with me on any level ever again, I am confident that if you went all-in here, you would feel better as a leader and you would have more answers, and you would move your team through the challenges that you're facing.

I also know that the majority of the women that I coach, and most of my clients that I work with on a regular basis are seven and eight-figure earners. These are big businesses with lots of team members and lots of cash flow, lots of revenue. That even those women still struggle with these issues, so I do not want you to feel like you're alone.

It's just that we get confused about what we should be focused on, especially when it comes to delivering results on a team. But I know it's solvable. There is nothing you are navigating right now with that team of yours that we can't help you solve. And I say that with a hundred percent confidence.

There is nothing I can't help you solve. I know it. And here's what I really want you to hear me say. I also know that you know how to solve them. You just need some support, couple ideas, little validation, and maybe to listen to some other women like you and know that you're not alone. All right?

So step 10 is what you might expect, which is to revisit this and do it on a regular basis. Once you've done it, it's not a set it and forget it. It's once a quarter. You review the vision once a quarter. You talk about norms and values once a quarter. You do performance reviews once a quarter. You revisit people's role descriptions.

Don't let this get away from you. I have a girlfriend who runs a billion dollar business, and she's done several guest expert presentations to my clients and what she says every time is, "My most important job as the CEO of this billion dollar business is the team."

The challenge with entrepreneuring is that you built your business based on your own practical expertise. You were and are the expert of whatever it is that you created, right? And so you grew up through the business, which means you understand everything about it. But if that business is now generating revenue and you have a proven business model, and you have people that you are hiring to deliver results, you are the one who has to step up.

You have to learn how to lead and not manage. You have to learn how to be the visionary, not the operator. Okay? And that is a movement for you. And I always hope to catch people before they're at 3 million in their business revenue, before their business gets too complicated. Not because we can't solve those. It's just easier if you're at $700 K and you have a couple people, we can get this going faster, right?

But if you're at $5 million and you haven't done this before, it's all doable, but it has to be done. Otherwise, you're running a joby, you're running a business that is daily slap together, and it's exhausting you, and it's exhausting the team. And I know it's solvable.

So take what I've taught you and do the work. Do the work. And if you want support and you're ready to step up and be involved in an environment with me and my team and other women like you, then please join us in Lead. Go to thevisionary.CEO/lead.

Lead for Women is now open for registration. If you're a woman and you are also a visionary, somebody who sees the world differently than it is, and you are eager to achieve that through your work and by leveraging the hearts and minds of others, then I invite you to go to thevisionary.CEO/lead and learn everything you can about our Lead program.

While it's not for everyone, it really is for you if you are a woman who is ready to learn how to think better, so you can lead better, and you can live better. You have a legacy to leave here and I wanna help you leave it by enhancing and improving how you show up as a woman who leads. Join us there.