Welcome to Visionaries Pursuit, a podcast where we explore what it takes to turn your bold and inspiring ideas into reality. I'm Carolina Zuleta. I'm a life and a business coach and your host for this podcast. I'm thrilled to have you here. Welcome back. And this is episode 18. And we're continuing talking about the theme of goal setting and visioning.
 Welcome back. This is episode 22 of the Visionaries Pursuit Podcast. Before I jump into today's episode, first of all, I want to say thank you. I know this podcast is pretty new and I was looking through Spotify and Apple podcast and I saw that some of you already went and gave it a rating and even give it a review and I'm so grateful.
And if you haven't done yet and you really enjoy the content, I would really appreciate if you go rate it, even give us your feedback. It's so important and valuable to get this podcast going and making it better every time. Now, jumping into today's episode, I was thinking about visionaries and all of you have these amazing ideas that you're probably already executing on them, or you're thinking about doing them and how.
Visionaries in general are incredible at taking action, can do so many things, be so efficient and effective and productive. And that at some point when you're launching an idea, you need a team. You need people to help you. And from my experience, coaching visionaries, I've noticed that. The transition from being on your own to having your first team is challenging.
Anywhere from hiring them, motivating them, retaining them, giving them feedback. It's almost like it's hard to communicate the standard and what you want them to do and for them to actually execute it to your standards. So I went through my notes to identify patterns and to put up solutions that I think can help any of you who have your first team, even if you've had a team for a while.
I think these are still very useful. Since the episode ended up being a little bit longer, I'm going to break it into two episodes. This episode this week is going to be about you and your relationship to your team, and the one next week is going to be about some tools and some ideas you can put in practice immediately.
So I'm going to go back to the first time I had a team. I had been hired for a corporation and to be the director of training and development for that company. And I had to hire, build, develop my first team. And I had a mentor back then. And he said to me, listen, your job as a manager, your job as a leader is to have A plus players in every seat.
You need to become an expert at hiring, training, And also firing when that person in that seat is not delivering to the level that we need them. And through the years, I've been paying attention to leaders and noticing how the best leaders are the ones that have the best teams, know how to create the best teams to motivate them and to hold them.
I even remember listening to an interview with JJ Abrams, who is the director of the latest Star Wars movies. And someone was asking him, listen, aren't you nervous? Like, you have such a good Brand as a director in Hollywood, and you're taking on Star Wars, which has a lot of fans who have very high expectations.
And you know, your risk and the probability of failure is very big. And why would you take this risk when you're so well established? And what he said in this interview was. That he didn't worry about that, because he knew that these movies were not only about him and his abilities, but that he had the best team, and that even if he made a mistake, he knew his team had his back, and that because he had the best team, he knew he was gonna succeed.
So it's true, right? When we have the best people doing the things that we need in our corporation, in our project, we know we're more likely to succeed. So what gets in our way of having the best team? What I've noticed is the first place we need to look is inside our minds. As you know, I believe that everything starts with our thoughts because our thoughts end up showing up in our actions and in our results.
And when we're new at building a team, maybe it's the first company we're starting or we're hiring people that are older than us, are better than us at different things. We really need to build that confidence inside to be able to lead a team of A plus players. And I've noted that a lot of us who are visionaries have common mistaken beliefs.
So I want to start by sharing those mistaken beliefs with all of you. So in case you have it, you can start becoming aware of that mistaken belief. So the first mistaken belief I often hear is I want my team to be happy at their job. And it sounds so beautiful, of course we want our team to be happy. But the thing is that the happiness of each person in the team is not in our hands.
I mean, we can give them the best tools, the space, we can help them manage their time. But for someone to be happy, it has to do with their own thoughts, with their own perspective, how they look at life. And a lot of the times just thinking, I want every employee to be happy means that I don't want to make them feel uncomfortable.
I don't want them to have to work extra hours. I don't want them to feel tired. So what we do is we hold back in asking our team to perform at the level that we want or to take on the responsibilities that we know are required for us to succeed. in whatever endeavor we're in. And from that belief, right, like I want everyone to be happy, stem a couple of other beliefs that are tied to that.
So one of them is, Oh my gosh, since we're a small business or we're just starting, I really want to make sure that I please this person, that I give them everything they want so they can stay here. And again, when we start playing this game, first of all, not treating ourselves as leaders that are capable of having that A plus player, but we're also holding back on what we need from the team.
And even sometimes when we are not demanding from our team players. what we really want. They also become bored and they will notice that we're not satisfied. So then becomes this passive conflict in which we're not telling what we want because we want them to stay happy at work. So they're not delivering what we want.
So then we're feeling frustrated, but we're trying not to show our frustration. And yet that tension can be felt in the air. So our team members might feel like there's no way I can win here. She asked me to do this thing, and I do it, but it seems like it's not enough. And a lot of it stems because we, as leaders, are having the belief that we need to please them, make them happy, so they can stay here, and therefore we're not demanding or expressing specifically the requirements we have of them.
And this group of beliefs can be seen in many ways. Like I said, I want them to be happy, I don't want them to burn out, I want them to feel like this is their family or their home, I need to protect their workload, I don't want them to feel bad about their work, I don't want them to feel hurt by my words.
Right? Anything that you're doing or you're thinking. To protect the emotions of your team players is actually holding you back from developing the best team that you can develop. And the other side of that thought is, I want my team to like me. I want my team to respect me. And listen, and that is a very human thought.
As humans, it's incredibly important to feel liked and appreciated by others because intrinsically we have this fear that if people abandon us, we're going to be alone. And that means that our survival is very low. So as human as it is to want to be liked or respected by your team. That is a thought that will get in your way and stop you from being the leader your team needs.
Because, again, you'll end up people pleasing, not giving the feedback, right? All these consequences that are holding you back from leading your team. Asking for what is required, getting the best out of each team player. And honestly, you're also holding them back. When I worked at Morgan Sally, my boss there, she was incredibly straightforward.
And sometimes even the way she would tell me what I did wrong or what she wanted extra from me could feel a little harsh. But I was always so grateful to her because I knew where I was standing. I knew what she actually wanted from me. Versus at another job, I had a boss who I couldn't figure out what he was thinking.
I would go into his office with my agenda, asking him very specific questions, and I would leave thinking, I'm not sure what he wants. I'm so confused. And that was way more frustrating for me as an employee. And I see this all the time when I talk with the employees of, of the leaders I coach, I hear them say things like, well, I'm confused.
I can't read their mind. I thought I was doing a good job, but then I feel like some frustration, so I don't know what's happening. Right? Instead of leaders who are very direct, very frank in what they need and what they ask and give very specific feedback, then the employees know, okay, this is what's required of me.
This is what I need to do. Now, maybe some employees will say they're asking too much of me and they might quit. But you know what? If they quit because they can fulfill the expectations you have for that role, that is a really good thing because it's a good thing for the employee because it wasn't the best workplace for them.
And it's a really good thing for you as well as a leader, because then you know that that wasn't the person who would. So again, if you are running a team right now, I ask you to look inside yourself. What is the story you're telling yourself? Are you saying, I want everyone to be happy, I want to everyone to be pleased, I want them to like me or respect me.
Or are you saying we have a vision, we have a mission, we're going to work hard. Of course, we're going to be respectful and we're not going to abuse of any of the employees, but we are an important team and there's important work that we have to do here and we're all going to work. towards that. So the first step to elevate your team is to look within yourself around the thoughts and the beliefs you have about your team and the relationship you have with them.
So it's interesting, right? Like we're talking about elevating your team and I'm asking you to look within yourself. Because really to elevate your team, you have to elevate yourself first. So first, you're going to review these thoughts and disbeliefs. The second place where you can look to see how you're performing as the leader of the team is in your actions.
And I'm going to share with all of you right now, some of the common actions I see in some of my clients that are holding them back from being the best leaders. They end up doing the work of their team. They're not giving them enough feedback. They're not setting clear expectations. They're not making the time to really put into words all the things they expect from their team to do.
All the little details, even from the way your team is writing the emails or setting up the calendar invites, communicating with your clients, attending meetings, if they need to have their camera on in a meeting or not, if you want them to not be distracted, the things that might feel like micromanagement, if it's an expectation you have and you're not communicating it, then you know you're not leading the team the best way you can.
And then the other side of it, you don't. Share the expectations, but then when you do share expectations, then you don't hold them accountable to those expectations. One time I was talking with a client and she started telling me that she's waking up at 4 a. m. to work, going to bed at 11 midnight because she's still doing some work at night.
And when I asked her, why are you working so many extra hours? Her answer was that she had asked her team to put together a presentation and that they hadn't met the mark. That when she was reviewing the presentation at 7 p. m., she started seeing all these mistakes and things that she didn't like or didn't look the way she wanted it.
So she ended up doing this work. And when I asked her, well, one, why didn't you review what your team had done earlier? But more importantly, why hadn't you told your team the moment that you're reviewing saying, hey guys, This is not meeting the mark here. And again, her thought was, well, it's too late. I don't want them to work this late.
And then she did the work and never told them that she had done extra work. So they didn't know, they were confused. They thought that what they had delivered was good. And that starts creating a cycle in which employees are underperforming. You are feeling frustrated with them, but you've never really held them accountable to the expectations that you have.
Another action that I see commonly, and I see this often in companies that are just starting, who have a really good financial year and because they're so scared that the employees are going to go, they overpay them, or they give them bonuses or gifts that are not sustainable over time. Actually, this happened to me.
I started working for An organization and in their first year, they surpassed all of their financial targets. It was a really great success. They actually raised even more money. So that first year they were very successful financially and they treated us so well. I remember we got this incredible bonuses and gifts and perks and then the second year we did that as well.
But then financially, those perks they were giving us, those bonuses they were giving us were not sustainable. So we started not getting those every year, even to the smallest things like a hat or a notebook, all those little things they used to give us very abundantly, they stopped doing it. And as employees, we felt it.
And even though we've kept working as hard as we were the previous years and our clients were as happy, why are they being less generous with us? What is going on? Are we not getting feedback? So we need to perform better. And I remember a lot of my peers saying, I no longer want to work here. So I am all for being generous with your employees.
And when you're generous, think is this sustainable? Is this a way that we can continue motivating our employees in the long term? Another story comes to mind of a client who was starting a project for the first time and he was so scared of not getting the best people, or not even getting people for his team, that he started giving percentage of the company to those first employees, but what ended up happening is that these first employees were not They were not as committed, they were not performing at the level he wanted or that the company needed for them to be at.
And it was a very awkward situation because now they owned a percentage of the company, but he didn't want them there. So he had to fire them, but they continue to be his business partners. And it all stemmed from the fear that business wasn't enough, that he had to over deliver, overpay, over give things to these employees so they would stay.
So to recap, right, if you want to see if you're elevating your team to the best, look at your actions as well. Are you doing that work for your team? Are you not setting expectations clearly? Are you not holding them to the expectations you have? Are you extra rewarding them financially when you know that that's not going to be sustainable in the long term?
So bottom line. To elevate your team, you must elevate yourself. You must elevate yourself in the way you're thinking about your business or your project, about your capacity to lead, about why people want to work with you. Not because you're going to make them happy, you're going to pay them extra, but it's because the mission, the vision you have is so worthy and you believe in it so much that you know the right people will join you in this journey.
So this first part of you becoming aware of your thoughts and your actions is 80 percent of the work. Because when we can identify, Oh, I see why this is not working. Oh, I see why my team is not performing to the level I want. And it is because I'm having these beliefs, or I'm doing these actions that don't contribute to having or developing the best team you can, then you can start making changes.
As I tell all my clients, awareness is 80 percent of the work. When we become aware of how the story we're telling ourselves is impacting the results we're creating, it's a light bulb moment. So stay tuned because what I'm going to do in the following episode is give you some tools and some strategies.
And some processes that will help you become a better leader and that are very applicable that you can actually start using them right after you listen to the podcast that will really, really help you in elevating your team. Stay tuned and I'll see you next time.
If you're currently pursuing a big, bold idea and would love some support, let's talk. In my coaching program, I'll teach you how to manage yourself, your own thoughts and emotions, as well as your team and your money. So you can turn your beautiful idea into a reality. Go now to. carozuleta. com slash consult.
That is C A R O Z U L E T A dot com slash consult. And complete the form to book a complimentary call with me. See you there!
