Slack Or Lack
The Amplified Impact Podcast
January 2nd, 2023
If you’re going to lead a team, you have to first be able to look inward when things go wrong. All roads lead back to you as a leader. Active communication is the key to leadership.
In this episode of Amplified Impact, Anthony talks about the challenges that come with managing and leading a team.
He explores the importance of setting clear expectations and accountability for team members for everyone to succeed and discusses the importance of looking inward and taking responsibility as a leader, rather than placing the blame on others.
By addressing these key issues, you will be able to build better businesses and create a culture of success and excellence in the workplace.
TWEETABLE QUOTE:
“There can be so many reasons why a great employee can just turn from an A player into a C player… and it’s usually poor leadership.” – Anthony Vicino
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Episode Transcript:
Amplified Impact
Anthony: [00:00:00] All right. All right. All right. Welcome back to Amplified Impact. This is the podcast where we talk about how to build better businesses, invest in real estate, and how to hyperfocus on what matters so that we can maximize our return on life. Today we got a topic that I want to discuss. That’s going to be very important if you’re an entrepreneur, a small business owner that has employees, or if you work with vendors or you outsource.
Anthony: This is going to be very important if you’re any kind of manager, if you’re overseeing other people or relying on other people to get jobs done, to move projects forward on your behalf if you’re in some kind of leadership role. So you’re going to want to pay a pretty close attention. This is something that took me a really long.
Anthony: To, I wrap my own head around. I’m, I do not think of myself as a great leader or a great manager of people. It is a skill that I’ve had to work really, really hard at. this doesn’t come naturally to me, and quite often I always, I find, I find myself very disappointed and frustrated by the performance of, people on my team.
Anthony: And [00:01:00] that’s more of a reflection of me than it is them. It is more a reflection of the fact. Poorly articulate my expectations of what I want, the outcome of a situation or a project to look like. Um, it’s because I’m a little bit, I, I just don’t like explaining myself. I don’t like going into great detail, and that’s at the detriment, um, of the project.
Anthony: And ultimately me being disappointed is really just it’s my own fault that I didn’t sit down and put in the effort to like, make sure expectations and accountabilities were set very clear from the. And, but this took me a really long time to understand. And so I would spend like, you know, the early days when we were hiring a lot, say at Escape.
Anthony: Um, really frustrated because I, I like to, my, my, my, my, my approach to hiring has always been I want to hire brilliant people who are really great at what they do. So I don’t have to explain how to do the thing to them. In fact, I want them to be better at it than I am so that they can just come in and take the project and start running.
Anthony: I want to get out of their way so that. Live and express their unique genius. [00:02:00] That’s my goal is just to be able to set vague, um, expectations, towards direct goals. Right? So I want you to go there. I don’t care how you get there. Go get there. But then inevitably, um, they would either not get there, they get lost on the way, or they’d get there in a way that when I th when I said, I don’t care how you get there.
Anthony: Turns out I, in fact, I did. Okay, so first is that as a leader, we always have to be looking in the mirror when things go. and looking out the window when things go right. That’s, that’s number one. If you want to be a successful leader or, you know, run a successful team, you have to, when things go right, you’re not looking in the mirror and pointing at yourself and saying, good job.
Anthony: Kudos to me. I, I did awesome there. No, you need to be looking out the window and finding and pointing fingers at the team, the people that made that, that win possible. And when things go wrong, we’re not looking out the window, we’re not looking for places to displace that blame. We’re looking in the.
Anthony: Because it’s on us at the end of the day. So let’s start there. When things are not going as [00:03:00] planned, when your team is not performing up to your expectations and projects aren’t getting done on, I’m just going to turn off the, turn off my space heater. I live in Minnesota and it’s cold right now, so I’m just, I’ll buttoned up.
Anthony: I I’m going to turn that off. When things don’t go to plan, we have to look first at what was inside of our control. What could we have done, differently and, and start from a position of extreme accountability because it’s only by accepting that we are to blame that there was something that we could have done differently.
Anthony: That we ultimately can claim control. And when we point fingers at other people, um, we’re really abdicating responsibility and saying, well, this isn’t my fault because that person should have known this. So in the early days of hiring and training and bringing on rockstar team members, There was this framework that, um, I, I found useful when evaluating the, the performance of my team, because it does come to this point when you have to ask yourself, okay, [00:04:00] have I clearly articulated the expectations?
Anthony: Have I given the tools and the resources for you to be able to do this job? And to the level that my, my expectation, were you hired with the expectation that you would be able to do it at this. or is it something else that’s happening? Because there are bad cultural fits. Sometimes there’s just cultural misalignment from day one or maybe a seeps in after time because you’ve maybe, as a leader, you’ve allowed a toxic culture to kind of proliferate, or over time the culture just kind of shifts and or maybe get more clarity on where you’re trying to go.
Anthony: And so the culture that you brought somebody into versus where you’re trying to get to ultimately isn’t in alignment. And so there becomes a disconnect. So, There is, the reality of the situation is that there are people that are not going to be good fits for your organization, for your team, and you’re going to need to be able to figure out what is actually you and what could you control as the leader, as like the owner or the hire or the recruiter or the coach, whatever.
Anthony: And what are the things [00:05:00] that are just at the end of the day, like you’ve done everything that you can, you can’t do anymore if this person isn’t willing to put in the work. And that’s a hard question to answer, but the way that I think about it is when somebody is not living up to my expectations, my internal expectations, um, or the externally expressed expectations, I start by saying, are they slacking or are they lacking?
Anthony: So let’s unpack that. Because that’s really, at the end of the day, the only two outcomes that I can see, um, are the only two drivers for why we, our performance might, might not be leading up to the expectations. So on the lacking side, let’s start there because this is where we need to go through. I think quite often when somebody turns in that report or they do that project and you’re like, that’s garbage.
Anthony: What, what the heck were you thinking? We want to assume. They’re, they’re ignorant, they’re stupid. They’re dumb. They’re, they’re doing this with malice, they’re lazy, whatever. Like we just, [00:06:00] our natural inclination is probably to jump to the place of like, that person screwed up, but let’s put that to the back.
Anthony: Right Now. Let’s start with the lacking. When it comes to lacking, we have to ask ourselves, is this person lacking the skills, the training, the resources to do their job? Do they. The, the expectations clearly communicated, like, what is it that they are lacking? That I, their leader, their coach, their whatever should have given them.
Anthony: In short of what I should have given them, what can I now give them to enable them to go and win their job for that day or that week? That, how, how can we help them win their job? Because at the end of the day, people want to do great work. Nobody want, nobody gets out of bed. Generally get, nobody gets out of bed wanting to do just like the bare minimum and just put out a terrible product, right?
Anthony: Like, It doesn’t feel good to, to not live up to your capacity. And that’s a [00:07:00] recurring theme of this podcast. The idea of like living a life of amplified impact is by, we only do that when we really tap into that internal greatness that we all believe we have inside of us. And so first is to understand that like your employees, your people, your, they want to do great work.
Anthony: So let’s start by saying what are they lacking? Is it training? What have I falsely? Assume this person is capable of doing when in reality I haven’t equipped them with the training and the protocols of systems to be able to do that job well. Is there something that I could do moving forward that would get them up to speed, that would sharpen that, that toolbox, so that that’s no longer the thing that they lack?
Anthony: Is it resources like, Hey, did they not have the time? Did I not give them the time? Did I not set this as the clear priority? Did I not take other things off their plate because there was too much competing priorities? Was it. A resource, deficit in terms of they didn’t have the software that they [00:08:00] needed, they didn’t have the computer, the office space, like whatever.
Anthony: What are those resources that a person needs to be able to do their job very, very, very well, and often? I think most of the reasons why somebody’s going to fail in their day-to-day job is as a result of one of those two things. Like right there. Like they’re either lacking the training or the resources is, is very largely what it’s often, comes down.
Anthony: So that’s what we want to start with first, the lack. What is this person lacking when we say are they slacking or are they lacking? Let’s start with the lacking. Because those are things that we as the leader are responsible for that we can help with. We can fill that, that void and say, okay, you lack the skills, you lack the resources, the training.
Anthony: Let’s fix that. . And if you’ve done that and you’ve done that over and over, and you keep looking back at the equation, you keep saying, okay, well you were lacking this and then we filled that gap, and now you’re lacking this, and now you filled that gap and you keep doing that. And then you’re like, wait, so now I don’t understand.
Anthony: You have the skills, you have the training, you have the resources. Why is [00:09:00] it still not getting done on the deadline at the quality? Why is it not meeting standard expectations? And then that’s when we go to the other side of the paradigm and we. Are they slacking? Are they not using the skills or resources, the time that they have adequately to be able to do the job?
Anthony: And usually they’re slacking as a, and when we get to this point, , it’s, we’ve, we’ve tried to amend the issues of like time management and teaching, because that’s a, if that’s, if they don’t have time management skills, that’s a lack, that’s a skill that we should have. We should help equip them and train them for, right, because, Until they can do that, then we can’t really say that they’re fully slacking, because if you don’t have a schedule that you’re trying to live your day-to-day life by, or your work, or your, your prioritizations, then you’re never really slacking because there’s nothing like that you’re really doing.
Anthony: So we have to help them with that [00:10:00] first if they don’t know how to run their calendar, that’s a, that’s a lack. . But if they have that skill and you look over it and you’re like, you’re still not just, you’re not applying the things that we’ve, we’ve, we’ve gone over the things that we’ve taught, the skills that you, we know you have and you’re not utilizing the resources, then we have to ask, is this person just slacking?
Anthony: And that’s usually where it’s like a cultural misfit. For whatever reason, maybe they came in and it was a good cultural fit, but maybe something happened throughout where you just did a bad job of communicating expectations consistently enough where they just got fed up with it. They started checking out mentally, or you are micromanaging them all the time, and so they just decided, I’m done with this.
Anthony: Like for whatever. There can be so many reasons why a great employee can just turn it like an A player can turn into a C player and it’s usually poor leadership. I’m just going to put that out there. It’s usually on us. It sucks, but it’s. . But when they get to that level and they backslide down, say they’re a C player now, and you’re like, what can we do, if anything, to [00:11:00] bring them back up to an A or we have to let them go.
Anthony: Those are the choices. And here’s the, here’s the harsh reality is, and I’ve, I’ve tried with dozens and dozens of employees that have gotten to this point where I’ve allowed them to backslide, and this is on me. where I’ve personally, maybe this is a skill that you could adapt you, you have as a leader or a coach, a trainer.
Anthony: Um, I’ve never been able to turn a player who was once a backslid the C and then got them back to an A. I’ve never been able to do it. Once you start backsliding within an organization, it’s, it’s usually. because something in the mindset, the culture has shifted. The persons that they were is just not that person.
Anthony: How they show up anymore, it’s very, very difficult to get them to turn around. And so when we’re looking and evaluating our, our employee be, um, performance, we start, we always, we ask this question, are they slacking or are they lacking? And we start by asking the lacking and really working through that.
Anthony: And if that’s, [00:12:00] if we’ve done everything that we can, And we ask them too and get their input. What are you lacking that would help you get this done? And if they get to the point where it’s like, I don’t know, there’s nothing else, then we have to ask a question. Are they just slacking? And then if that’s the case, here’s the, here’s some more harsh reality guys is in Galveston.
Anthony: You have to pull that band aid sooner than. The, the decision to let somebody go is never easy, but keeping people on into positions that they’re no longer mentally checked into, they’re no longer a good cultural fit, they’re no longer growing, you’re only doing damage to them as an individual and to you as an organization because the organization’s growth is going to be stifled.
Anthony: It’s going to have this toxic relationship. This within the team because somebody’s just not performing at that a standard. And if you let one person not perform at the A standard, then it pulls [00:13:00] starts to pull down everybody else. And it’s not good for that individual either, because again, nobody wants to wake up and do mediocre work that we want to, we want to express our greatness.
Anthony: And so by keeping them in a position where they’re not doing that, and for whatever reason, they just can’t turn that corner well. They’re not living their best life and you need to help them move on so that they can find that next opportunity that will allow them to live in alignment with their greatness.
Anthony: And that’s hard. And so on a future episode, I think maybe what we can do is actually start talking about how do we let people go graciously and in a way where both sides. Yes, it’s difficult and nobody wants to get fired. Nobody wants to let anybody go. But how can we do it in a way where both sides walk away going, that was the right decision?
Anthony: They feel empowered and they feel optimistic and hopeful about their future. Because that’s one of the things is that you brought this person into your fold and you failed them. [00:14:00] You brought them in because you thought that they could do an amazing job. You, you thought that you could together create something amazing and you failed.
Anthony: That’s on you. You made a bad hiring decision. You did a bad job. Coaching and training and, and maintaining their excellence that’s on you. And so you need to own that and figure out how do you help them move on to that next thing. You owe it to. So, and this, obviously precludes like gross negligence where somebody just like, um, is, is willfully being negligent in the workplace and, and malicious, and, and that’s a different conversation, which let’s, let’s save that for a different episode, but.
Anthony: Hopefully this framework. I know this kind of got long and kind of rambly and maybe doesn’t apply to a lot of people, um, that are listening to this, but my guess is if you are a business owner, an investor, or just a high performer in general looking to maximize their return on life that you are doing so by working with and through other people, you’re not [00:15:00] in a silo and you recognize that your ability to go far in life is predicated on your relationships.
Anthony: And so this is a skill that you have to be able to develop is to look at a situ. and say, are they slacking or are they lacking? And by asking that question of what are they lacking and what could I fill that void with in terms of skills, resources, whatever, that’s going to help you become incredibly effective manager of people.
Anthony: So hope this was helpful if you found this at least remotely interesting. If you got any kind of value out of this, and please do me a favor, share this episode with somebody that you. Would get some value out of it and then go leave a review over on iTunes, please, please. And that’s like, please, it’s from the bottom of my heart.
Anthony: It means so much to me when you guys take a little bit of time just to give a little some feedback. It helps me know that people are listening and getting value out of this, but it also helps other people who are coming along and not sure if they should give some time to this podcast. It just gives that little bit of extra social validation to say, this podcast, it’s worth your time.
Anthony: Go [00:16:00] check it out. So please go leave a review to everybody that has already reviewed the podcast. It means the world to me. I appreciate it and I’ll catch you in the next episode.
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