Leading Off the Ladder Requires Better Communication

 keywords

leadership, communication, business growth, team respect, personal development, home service industry, podcast, SEAL Pro Painting, Branden Sewell, Off the Ladder Podcast


 summary

In this episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast, Branden Sewell discusses the importance of leadership development, effective communication, and respecting team contributions. He emphasizes the need for business owners to invest in their leadership skills and the significance of clear and consistent communication with their teams. Branden also highlights the value of respecting team members and recognizing their hard work as essential for business success.


 takeaways

Invest in your leadership to succeed as a business owner.
Effective communication is crucial for leading a team.
Be consistent in your actions and words as a leader.
Clarity in communication prevents misunderstandings.
Respect is fundamental in all interactions with your team.
Your team plays a vital role in your business success.
Leadership is about serving and supporting your team.
Continuous learning is essential for growth as a leader.
Respect leads to mutual respect within the team.
You cannot achieve success alone; rely on your team.


Titles

Mastering Leadership for Business Success


 sound bites

"Be consistent in your leadership."
"Clarity is key in communication."


Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Off the Ladder Podcast
01:28 The Importance of Leadership Development
04:18 Effective Communication in Leadership
11:58 Respecting Your Team and Their Contributions

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.568)
I'm Brandon Sewell. I'm the owner of SEAL Pro Painting and the host of the Off the Ladder Podcast. And we exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off of the ladder. Welcome to today's daily episode. calling these short episodes called Off the Ladder Daily. the purpose of these shorter episodes, if you're new and just joining us for the first time.

we do a lot we or sorry, we do a episode every Wednesday. That is a longer form episode. but I'm doing these daily episodes every other day. and they're short, 15 minutes or less, just making them with leadership points that will help you in business now where you're at. and you can listen to them on your drive to a job site.

maybe while you're at on the job site or on your drive home. Just something quick that will feed you, give you something to think about, and something that you can take massive action on right away. what I've been doing right now is reading from a devotional called Leadership Promises for Every Day by John Maxwell. you know, and I it's funny, just before I jump into this devotion, I wanted to share

You know, I was thinking I got into the painting industry, which is, you know, what I've been doing for almost ten years. I got into it and I didn't have the actual like painting experience. Now, I have experience painting, but not necessarily painting like residential homes and things like that. I have painted

artistically for years since I was in high school. but what I had a background in was sales, you know, graphic design, marketing, you know, those kind of things. And I worked in full-time ministry for six years and learned a lot about leadership. but what I wanted to say with that is I have invested hundreds, if not thousands of hours

Branden Sewell (02:25.715)
into learning and growing in this topic of leadership. it's what I study, it's what I love. so I've read, you know, you know, probably I don't know how many books. I've read a bunch of books on leadership, personal development, and just knowing that side of running a business, from a leadership standpoint and things like that. So,

All that to say is I think it is one of the most important things that you can do if you are going to lead a business effectively and be off the ladder. If you're not willing to invest in your leadership, if you're not willing to read books, if you're not willing to listen to podcasts to learn, if you're not willing to listen to audiobooks, if you're not willing to, you know, set aside time that you could be doing something else, you know.

I I don't play video games, but you know, it put aside video games, pick up a book, read a book on leadership, read a book on personal development, you know, on business, on marketing, on sales, on hiring, whatever. you know, invest that time into yourself so that you can grow your knowledge. if you're not willing to do that, if you're not going to invest in yourself.

It's gonna be really hard for you to succeed as a business owner because it's already hard. Even the people who s do that, even the people who educate themselves and read and listen to podcasts and listen to audiobooks and pay for coaches and get around people who are smarter than them still struggle. It's hard. So you have to equip yourself.

And if you aren't doing that, then you have no one to blame except for yourself. so anyway, I just wanted to share that really quick. So let's jump into this devotional for today. it says communicate well to lead. And so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

Branden Sewell (04:47.307)
Matthew 7, 28 through 29. John Maxwell goes on to write, John W. Gardner observed, if I had to name a single all-purpose instrument of leadership, it would be communication. If you cannot communicate, you will not lead others effectively. If you lead your team.

Give yourself three standards to live by as you communicate to your people. Be consistent. Nothing frustrates team members more than leaders who can't make up their minds. Be clear. Your team cannot execute if they don't know what you want. Don't try to dazzle anyone with your intelligence, impress them with your simple straightforwardness. Be courteous.

Everyone deserves to be shown respect, no matter what their position or what kind of history you might have with them. If you are courteous to your people, you set a tone for the entire organization. Never forget that as the leader, your communication sets the tone for the interaction among your people. It's really good. so just kind of going back to this,

these these three standards to live by in communicating, be consistent. that's a really challenging one. And I think you know, we have so much going on as business owners, right? It's it's hard for us to remember to to be consistent. and I think that's not just consistent meaning like say the same thing over and over again, but I think it's consistent meaning like do

what you say you're going to do, let there be a consistency between what you say and what you take action on. don't just say something and then not take action. Now something I think that your team may underestimate is the time that it takes to implement. So don't don't confuse that. Sometimes you may speak something like a vision for something and I think

Branden Sewell (07:06.515)
your team might assume, that's now. But I think because of the nuances and the difficulty of businesses sometimes it takes time for those things to unfold. So definitely be consistent, but also give yourself some grace and understanding that it takes time to do some of the things that you want to do. being clear is, you know, obviously that's pretty straightforward. Just you know, don't

Don't try to I I've learned this probably the hard way.

I've lacked clarity with my team in the past. It created situations or circumstances where I was forced to be clear and bring clarity. And I learned that the thing that I feared about bringing clarity was not real, if that makes sense. So we oftentimes can create a narrative in our mind that if I'm clear.

This bad thing is going to happen. Where when we're not clear, we're actually inadvertently making the bad thing happen that will force us to have to be clear. And when we are clear, we will find that there is so much relief in just being clear. and I know it's it's hard, but you know, hopefully you take away from this that like

Sometimes we create false narratives in our minds. So just be clear. it's better to be clear. be courteous. everyone deserves respect. And so that's something that I really firmly believe in, man. I I believe my guys, like they are grown men, right? I do not treat them, nor do I want to treat them like they are children or like they are.

Branden Sewell (09:09.671)
somehow inferior to me just because I own the business. I've never felt that way. I've I've always felt like you're a grown man. You know what is right from wrong. I don't have to like treat you like a child. You're either gonna do what is right because you have the character to do what is right, or you're not. And there's no sense in me babysitting you or babying you or

or even chastising you. It's like you're either gonna do what's right, and stay here and be a part of the team, or you're not, and your lack of character is going to help you find your way out of here. now some people do lack character, but they're willing to grow and change. And those people, you know, they go through a process and they stay and they grow and

I have a lot of grace and understanding for those people too. Cause again, it's like being it's like understanding, you know, everybody it deserves respect. And so, I think the best way to exemplify that to our team is to show them respect. And to get respect in return, you show them respect. And so,

Yeah, I just think that's that's such an important thing and and realizing like your your team or what you do as a business is not about you as the owner. you can't accomplish what you do without your team. So if you want to get off the ladder, you have to put aside your ego and thinking that everything has to get done because of you. I'm actually the I'm like, nothing's gonna get done if it all relies on me because

I rely on my guys. Like my I need my guys. And so I have a lot of respect for what they do, the hard work that they put in. And so you have to have that for your people. You have to respect them. It doesn't matter what they do in your organization. You have to realize they're doing it and you're not. Well, if you're off the ladder, that is. They're doing that work and you're not. And so you should be respecting them because

Branden Sewell (11:30.465)
they're they're working, right? They're doing this hard work. and so anyway, I think it's just really important to keep that in mind and you know as you communicate with your your people communicate from those three areas. and and how you do those things matters. It'll set the tone for what your team is like. I've failed in those areas.

and I've learned the hard way how to get better in those areas. but it's a process. And the the quicker you can learn to implement those three things in your communication with your team, the better off you're going to be. And it's a process. I I think that's another thing. Like you got to give yourself grace as a business owner and realize it is a process. you're not gonna arrive tomorrow, but just constantly be learning.

constantly be growing in that area and trying to get better. Well, anyway, that brings this episode to a close. I hope that you got something out of it. Please share your feedback. if you need resources for your business, check the show notes below. if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the podcast, share this with somebody, and as always we'll see you next time on the next episode of the Off the Letter Podcast.