Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of financial Snickens. Today, we're going to be talking about this incredible article that I read on Harvard Business Review called the Odyssey Leadership, actually the Leadership Odyssey. And it was a such a good article. I did it with my women's business book club. And the phrase that kept going through my mind in this article was about what got you here, won't get you there.
And the article was about how becoming a CEO, that leadership that is needed for a CEO is so different than where you started and how you got there. So it got me thinking about small businesses and thinking about, like, what has got you to where you are? Right now is not going to get you to the next step in your journey, and you [00:01:00] have to really think about what your leadership skills are like, and who you are as a person.
And we were talking in our small business, uh, women's Business book group. And one of the things that we talked about is that sometimes it's easier for possibly women to do this, to, um, empower those around you to have a more effective leadership. So the article mentions that there's three stages to this journey that you have.
And the first stage. was absolutely the most painful. It's when you have the departure of what you're currently doing. So the three stages are departure, voyage, and return. And so you realize through some type of teaching moment that will happen over and over again until you change that something needs to be done differently.
And they call this stage departure because it's a departure from your old ways. And this is where that [00:02:00] phrase comes into play. What got you here won't get you there. And so everything that's created success for you up to this point, you're thinking, I'm going to keep doing it. It's not really what works to get you beyond where you are now.
So you need to become this great leader and you will recognize this stage by the repeated feedback. That you're not doing something right. Either it's from colleagues or from employees. And look, this doesn't happen overnight. It's usually a long time and it's repeated incidences before you recognize what is happening.
Sometimes you can find a senior person who has the skills that you lack and you can emulate them. And this is really helpful in changing that behavior. So, the second step is going to be That voyage and the voyage, typically you need some outside help to make the change [00:03:00] and it takes more effort than you realize.
Sometimes when you enter the second stage, you say like, Oh, Hey, I can do that. I can fake it for a while and then it'll be fine and I'll get past that, but it actually doesn't work. So what behavior that needs to change has to be sustainable. And once you figure out what the issue is, then you can move into this stage called the voyage, where typically you have to figure out, um, someone to help you, or you have to create a new context for learning.
So what you can do is you can put yourself in a situation where you have no direct authority and you need to empower others without being the boss. So you might Volunteer someplace to be on a board where you actually don't really have authority, but you want everybody to do the [00:04:00] work that you see as success.
So you develop a collaborative style as opposed to holding people accountable and driving objectives and achieving results. It kind of seems counterintuitive because you've been doing this all along, but to really move to the next stage, to be able to manage. More than a handful of people to be able to delegate to your managers to pass on your culture and your mission and your vision.
You need to empower them and you need to develop this collaborative style and the learning can be done by asking questions instead of giving directions and pushing those questions towards a desired income. We called this. Influence without authority and we actually likened this to client relationships because you really don't have authority over your clients, but you can influence them and you can ask questions [00:05:00] to push them in a direction that will be helpful to you to be able to.
Get the outcome you want. So another successful tactic to work through the voyage is to take what you know in other areas and apply it to your current situation. Um, in the article, there was an example about parenting and collaborating with someone else to raise a child and anybody who's raised a child knows how difficult that is.
So when you're working with someone else to do that, you know that it's incredibly difficult and it requires finesse. And asking questions and there's no, it doesn't work when you just push your own agenda. So the other thing that you can also do is to enlist the help of colleagues, close ones, someone that you know, you feel really close with and that you could ask them when you are exhibiting the behavior, you want to change, you've identified it.
Now you want [00:06:00] to change this behavior. That colleague to let you know, I was recently with a couple and one of them was telling a story and the other interrupted the first person. And then the first person said, I need a minute and the other person stopped and they explained that this is their code for telling the other person politely to shut the hell up and I love this because it starts to put in place a trigger to stop this behavior and I thought it was really good because I saw it.
In working right there in front of me, but I believe that you can do this also when you want to stop some behavior when you want to empower people instead of pushing your thoughts on them. So, and I find this part of the journey to be really arduous. arduous, really hard. There can be setbacks and this is when you can [00:07:00] lose that motivation to continue, but you need to focus on the small wins and know that they're piling up.
So The return stage is super easy to recognize. It's the last one. It's when you feel at ease in those situations where you felt frustration before, where you felt people telling you you're doing something wrong, and now it's not happening anymore. And you have this new superpower as a reflection of who you are personally and professionally.
And you've made the change. From pack, from practice to your identity. The journey is not over because it never is, but at least it has become self sustaining. You now identify as this new person that you have created. And another key factor in this part of the journey is you have the desire to share your learning.
You want to teach others [00:08:00] what you've learned and in turn, make your workplace grow. Emotionally. And to be successful on this journey, you can start by mapping a learning agenda. Decide what this is. What is the voyage? What is going to happen to you? What is that starting point where you identify what your issues are and you're going to make that departure from it?
Those habits that you have that are not going to get you to the next stage, and you need to decide you're going to map out this learning during because you have to decide where do you want to go, where do you want to be, and what are the steps to get there, what changes do you have to make to get there.
to your goals because you are the only person holding you back. I highly recommend reading this article. I'm going to put the link down below. Um, you can get it at your public library, or you can pay for a [00:09:00] subscription at Harvard Business Review to get the article. And, um, I also highly suggest reading the book Atomic Habits.
It talks about making changes and Making it part of your identity and that's how those habits become self sustaining. It's all about changing these small things about you to create success in you and your business. If you have more questions or want to chat some more, head over to my website, firststepsfinancial.
com or shoot me an email, Alisa at First Steps Financial.
