TSLP Season 4 Ep. 5- Fixing the Pipeline

🎙️ New Episode Alert: Fixing the Pipeline with Dr. Sharma
If your results are inconsistent, the problem may not be your team it may be your pipeline.

In this episode of the Transformation Station Leadership Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Sharma to break down what it really takes to fix, strengthen, and scale your pipeline for sustainable growth.

We explore how many leaders focus on outcomes without addressing the systems that drive them and why a weak pipeline leads to pressure, unpredictability, and missed opportunities.

Learn more about Dr. Sharma:
Website: https://www.rahulkaransharma.com
YouTube:    / @rahulkaransharma 
LinkedIn:   / rahulkaransharma 
Facebook:   / preparewithrahulsharma 

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Until next time, stand tall, step bold, and own your transformation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Organizations don't fail because of a lack of talent. They fail many times because of broken pipelines. Well, today on Transformation Station, we're talking about how leaders can fix the pipeline, develop future leaders, and ensure growth doesn't stall when it matters the most. Come on, let's get this conversation started. Welcome to Transformation Station Leadership Podcast, where leaders grow with clarity, resilience, and purpose. I'm your host, Adrian Benton, and today's conversation is one of the most critical. It's critical because it's often overlooked. We're talking about the responsibilities of leadership, building and sustaining a strong leadership pipeline. I can't wait for you to meet our guest today. He is going to bring some powerful insights into how leaders can intentionally develop talent, strengthen succession, and create environments where future leaders are prepared, not just positions. But before we meet him, I want to remind you that here on Transformation Station, we are building a community through mobilizing with impact. We have an event coming up that I want to show you and tell you about. That's right. We have the second lead her shift virtual conference that will take place. We had our first conference in January. Over 400 of you registered. Well, we have our second iteration, which this time is going to be lead her shift adjustment, which we're saying that when when challenges happen, you don't have to quit. All you have to do is adjust. So listen, registration has opened. It opened on March 13th. The dates for the conference are 13 to 16th April. I want to invite you to go right now to Mobilizing with Impact. Click that link, register, and don't come by yourself, but bring another woman leader with you. All right. And then also just remember that every Monday and Wednesday, we have Transformation Station Leadership Podcast. So go ahead and subscribe so that you don't miss one episode. Well, it's time for us to meet our guest. So excited. I've been waiting for this for a while. I want you to meet Rahul Sharma. He's a leader leadership strategist, he's a staffing expert and a transformational coach. He's the author of Be Action Orientated and Habits for Miracles, both number one releases and the host of the Climb Podcast. Raul's Climb framework empowers leaders to cultivate mindset, magnify impact, and build legacy. It is my honor at this time to welcome to Transformation Station Raul. Welcome to our leadership podcast today.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Thank you. Thank you, Adrian, for having me. It's my pleasure to be here on your podcast, on your show, and enlighten the audience on what it matters the most from a leader perspective. So thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Absolutely. Well, listen, I'm excited because in this conversation, we're talking about several things. One of the things that I've been thinking about ahead of time is the fact that Rahu leadership pipelines, they generally don't break overnight, right? Um, they tend to weaken over time. So I want to start off with this question. From your experience, your expertise, what are the most common reasons leadership pipelines tend to break down even, and this is important, even in high performing organizations?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yeah, I think uh that's a just a great question, and I would say it is a good problem to have uh for many organizations. One of the primary reasons I have seen, Adrian, is most of us, most of the organizations, they start grooming their leaders when they take up on the leadership role. And that's in my opinion, is too late. And leadership pipeline don't break because organization lack talent, they break because organization confuse performance with readiness. In my experience, and in many of the leaders that I speak with, Adrian, I have noticed leaders get promoted because of their phenomenal individual contributor performance.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

They are great in numbers, uh, their uh top line is good, they are hustlers, and that's what brings them the promotion or the leadership role. Now, what we as many leaders miss is the other aspect of the leadership, which is very important, which is leading people. And someone who is producing results not necessarily will be a good leader. So we often promote capability in doing the work instead of capability in leading humans, and three things happen in my opinion, uh Adrian, is expectations change overnight, support doesn't change, and identity doesn't evolve. So when you move from an individual contributor to a leader, you are still leading from that individual contributor mindset because your mindset does not change overnight. So, in my opinion, the number one uh problem or challenge I would say is do not promote someone who is just a high producer. You promote someone who is capable to lead people and them early on, uh, give them the mentorship role, give them uh that teaching, give them that uh leadership program, awareness of leadership program early on. That's where I see the gap uh you know bridges more, and that's where the pipeline collapses.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, I love that. I love that. You know, here in Transformation Station, we always give our listeners and viewers an opportunity to stop and assess. And what Rahul has shared with us is goal right now, right? He's talking to all of us as leaders and saying, hey, you're leading a team right now, you are in a position of influence, be mindful not to promote based on dot dot dot, right? And we want you to go ahead and fill in the blank and look at your culture and look at what it is that you're prioritizing to your team. Because as many times as leaders, Raul, we have the opportunity to influence, right? And our team models what we put out. So if we say the priority is X, they're gonna run to try to get to X, right? But we want to make sure that we are promoting properly, which makes me think also, you know, as you were talking, I was thinking along along with that is sometimes we don't prioritize performance over development. You know, I I have been in organizations where I have people I've seen people who it appears as though they're meeting the mission, right? That listen, it's like they know exactly what to do to get the job done, but they have skipped all of the steps that would really develop them into being a leader. So they were promoted because they met the metric, but they when they when they got to that new rank or that new promoted position, they were not capable of leading their team because the development that was necessary to be a leader, like for example, communication, knowing how to communicate properly, they totally missed that lesson because they were focused on the metric. What do you have seen that before?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

So many of the time, and I think you are bringing uh another important, uh burning topic, I would say, because many organizations we we tend to tell people about from a training perspective more as a as a reactive mode rather than a proactive. And it is also uh kind of using as a skateboard from a training perspective because when your performance goes down, if you really do not know the real problem, you come up with this solution as a training. Now, a training is not always the solution for every problem. Because when you train people, you give more information, and information, more information rather, does not reduce pressure.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

What reduces pressure is the clarity, clarity for their role, clarity for their next steps. So most training they includes uh, as you mentioned, about you know how to communicate, how to delegate, how to run meetings, or some people also are training on how to give feedback. It's very important, you know, feedback as a few. But you know what? Again, the burnout rarely comes from lack of tools, the burnout comes from the decision fatigue and the emotional load. And most of us we are not very good with when it comes to emotional regulation because we go through emotions from day in and day out. Um, when we are coming to work, if something is not right at our own family, that impacts our work. And today, leaders we carry many invisible targets, any many, many invisible weight, I would say. The responsibility for results, the responsibility for people, the responsibility for uncertainty. And what I have experienced as an Landy Heard Adrian is the training, it improves skills, but the burnout improves only when you know inside you, when you have the clarity from within. I have seen, uh Adrian, is whenever a problem exists, we always tend to look outside in. The person who is inside you is the only person, in my opinion, is responsible for the result that you need for yourself, that you need for your organization. So that's something I would say is just information overload is not the solution. Bring that clarity in your people's mind, bring the clarity in your leaders' mind. They have all the tools, they have all the ammunition. Where they are lacking is that decision making, the decision for. That's where what has been my experience.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

No, I I love this 1000%. I mean, you you've said so many things. I'm just like, I wish I had my pen. I was writing this down. Um one, I totally agree with you of you know, foot stomp clarity is pivotal, it is so important. I agree with you. Many times that burnout is happening because there's no clarity. You're just, you know, just kind of like running, trying, trying to find the target, trying to hit the target, but you don't have that organizational clarity, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Correct, correct, correct.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

And uh yeah, man, you said so much that I'm gonna have to go back and watch this on the replay. This is like golden. And to all of our leaders who are listening and watching right now, I want to invite you right now to go ahead in the chat and tell Rahul and I what is resonating with you from this conversation. What have you seen in your work environment? And begin to share with us right now what hope is welling up inside you for how you can move forward with the conversation from the conversation that we're having today. So, you know, Rahul, you talk about mindset as a strategic asset in leadership. So let me ask you this why do so many organizations overlook mindset when measuring success.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

I think uh again, a great point. And in the last two years, since I have been out of corporate Etrium, I have encountered many people who use this lingo of mindset. I have encountered many mindset coaches also, because it's been it's been trending. So everyone is talking about mindset, but what I see why many organizations they are still not able to tap that mindset aspect. The simple reason is you don't see it is invisible in the spreadsheet. And we as leaders, what we look at the spreadsheet, the numbers. Uh many of us we measure revenue, we measure attrition, we measure the utilization of resources, we measure the retention of people, we measure the output. But mindset, in my opinion, determines all of them. But there is no uh very meaningful way for you to measure the mindset. So that's where people overlook, organization overlook on that. The way I look at it is a fearful manager is the one who micromanages his or her team, and micromanagement that kills that concept of intrapreneurship, that kills the concept of ownership, and it is that ownership that really drives people to get better, not just for themselves, but for the organization. And if you don't have ownership in your people, that actually uh is a loss of performance. Because sometimes the individual contributor or your manager, they need to take that decision right in the moment.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

We all know about Southwest Airline, you know, how successful uh for decades they have been very successful and profitable airlines. And one of the uniqueness when I did my own deep research about them, they give full empowerment to their front desk people, to that front. They their if you are on a call with them, very rarely you will hear, can I put you on hold? Let me talk to my manager. They have that empowerment to take the decision, they have the empowerment to make the call right there and then, and that is also I have experience with this company called Zappus. Uh, Tony Shay was the CEO, and the way he created the culture was phenomenal. You know, the people were at this point. So that's where you know I'm too big on the mindset part, Adrian, because it determines everything. Your mindset determines your action. First of all, your mindset determines your thoughts, your thoughts determine the action, and it is based on those actions, whether the results are on a positive way or a negative way. And yet, many of us, many organizations, we try to fix our performance with processes. And yes, processes are important, the systems are important, but it is also the psychology of people, how people work, what motivates them, what really excites them is the missing link. And and mindset is no more of the soft skill, uh, in my opinion, it is the operating system behind every decision that we make or our leaders make. So that is what I would say. And as I said earlier, rarely we see that in our spreadsheet. You will never find uh anything around mindset on the balance sheet, so it's invisible. So if you can't see, you cannot measure, you cannot observe.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

But it's so pivotal, like you're saying, right? I I saw this and I loved it. It says, mindset, however, is a leading indicator, like Raul is saying, it shapes resilience under pressure, it shapes decision quality. You know, I have seen over the years how many organizations, as leaders, many times we treat mindset as an individual responsibility rather than a leadership and cultural responsibility because of exactly what you were talking about. But I have seen in my own um organization where that mindset influences my team morale, it influences decision stability, it influences organizational confidence. And you know, there's a big buzzword now or buzz phrase psychological um safety in the workplace. Yeah, right? Mindset, it it influences that, it leans on that that or it connects with that psychological safety. If your mindset is off, that psychological safety is off, then the trust diminishes amongst the team, you know, and uh it's so important here. So to every leader that's listening and watching, again, we want to talk to you as leaders. Mindset is important. Yes, your metrics are important, but what is the foundation for the metrics? It's the mindset, and mindset is contagious, correct.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

So Adrian, if you may allow, can I give a practical tool for people to evaluate their mindset because it comes so often in our conversation, and uh people think that okay, it is good, but you know, how do I know the mindset of my own self and my people? And one practical tool I tell my uh you know coaches is look at your activity of last week and think of the activities that you have done, your daily task. Now, if you have been doing those tasks with uh with no um no pressure, if it is happening with your full confidence, that is one way of looking at mindset. That means you are on a positive mindset. But on the other hand, if you're doing those those tasks and you are thinking that why me, why I have to do this, why can't this be done by someone else? If you are procrastinating your actions, that means you are on a negative mindset. So it's very easy to evaluate. If if you are doing your task the way it needs to be done, one, two, three, you are on a progressive mindset, growth mindset, positive mindset. But if you are procrastinating that, okay, not today, I will do it tomorrow, day after tomorrow, that means you are having a very pessimistic and negative mindset. So it changes from time to time. It's not that if you have a pessimistic or not so great mindset, it will remain forever. It can change, and one way can change is talk to people whom you trust the most. They are the ones who will bring that clarity in you and bring that most out of you. So just thought to add that, Adrian.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yes, please add value. This is great. This is like a masterclass right now. I'm loving this. So let me ask you this question because we're we're we're keeping on the train of mindset, right? What's one mindset shift that you believe every leader must make to go from managing people to truly leading them?

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Uh, that's that's a good question. Um, what I have seen is most of the leaders they have this notion of I know it all. I I am the best uh, I have all the best answers. So I would recommend that our leaders and managers they need to move from that mindset of my job is to solve problems kind of a mindset, to my job is to grow problem solvers. And the one of the ways I recommend all my leaders to evaluate their own leaders and themselves is how many leaders they have grown within. It's not only about how much revenue you are making, uh, how much uh Employees that you are hiring, because sometimes what happens is hiring people is fairly easy, then to retaining people because um you you don't not everyone really track the metrics of uh the cost of rehiring. Yes, a great organization, they do have those kind of metrics, but not everyone. So you don't tend to uh see that numbers on the balance sheet that what is the cost of rehiring someone. Um, so if you focus on retention and retention, why people quit? As we all know, people don't quit organization, they quit managers, they quit leaders. That's a very uh known truth. So sometimes, if let's say if if my chemistry is not matching with the employee, but if that employee is a great resource for the chemistry or great asset, we should proactively go and talk to our own leadership that there is something not working out, but why don't we move the leader's change of command of this person to someone else? Probably this person will be more productive, rather than letting go that resource. So that's one uh you know practical advice I would give if there is a chemistry mismatch. So the moment our leader stops thinking that they are the smartest person in the room, yes, that's where the leadership begins. That's where that thought process is beginning. That yes, you are the smartest person. You are you act as a facilitator, but not yourself as a person who is the smartest. So that would be the mindset shift. I would say is uh you are not the problem solver, you are the ones who is growing the problem solver. That would be the biggest mindset shift, in my opinion, Adrian.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Yeah, I love that. To every leader, you know, we're being invited today to remind ourselves that we should be growing those who we are leading. So ask yourself right now the real question: who are you growing? How are you growing and developing those who are on your team? I love the fact that you said that it's not our job to be the problem solver, it's the job to grow problem solvers. I love that one thousand, one thousand percent. So listen, Raul, you've identified a four-stage growth model for leaders. Can you break down what it means to go from invisible to influencer?

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Sure, sure. So thank you for bringing that up. That's the the part of the climate framework, the conference leadership framework. And what I have noticed is every leader they go from this stage of invisible uh to achiever to um influencer. Sorry, it's from uh invisible to potential, potential to achiever and achiever to influencer. And what I mean is invisible, you you have the potential to be the next person, but no one is uh valuing your ideas, no one is uh recognizing you as a as an individual, you are just hiding behind the bush. You are the one, if you are not in office, no one even cares whether you're in office or not. So what happens in this stage? Why you're invisible? Because of your lack of confidence. My opinion or my uh feedback always is you know, cultivate that mindset of the value that you will bring on your team and to your organization. Now, when you pass that stage from invisible to a potential, in this potential stage, you are performing, you are getting the numbers, but still your leadership is not recognizing you as the person who can get work from others. Because as leaders, our job is we pay we are paid higher compensation to do the difficult job. And that difficult job, as Adrian, is to get the work done from others. You know, it's fairly easy for you to do your own job, but getting work done from others is challenging.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

It's difficult, yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

In the potential stage, uh, you are uh you're recognized as an individual contributor, but yes, you are not seen as someone who is who can take the team to the next level. So at this stage, I recommend people to identify their own strength and play on your strength. What happens here is most of us we confuse ourselves that okay, Mr. A or Miss A is getting success because of ABC. Let me try to do that so that I can also get a success. And I always tell people that focus on your own strength, play on your own strength, and when you know your own strength, when you know who you are as an individual, that would really take you to the next level. And the next level is achiever. So achiever is who is achiever? Achiever is someone who is always on the stage, always receiving awards, uh, having that corner office, uh, reaching all the milestones. But they lack the purpose, they don't know where they are running, where they are going. And if they are not able to navigate that path, well, Adrian, it can lead to burnout. And if they're able to navigate that path, that's where they become an influencer. So if you are in an achiever state, the focus should be on finding your purpose, finding that vision of yourself, finding that mission for yourself, and then navigate yourself to become an influencer. And as an influencer, you are the ones who are uh where people who are not part of your team also coming to you for advice, for guidance. And when you become an influencer, your job as a leader is to magnify your impact and make sure that you are building the legacy. And and this is not a linear thing, it's it is a cycle that will go on and on, uh Adrian, because the moment there is a change in leadership, no matter if you are at influencer stage, you might come back to invisible stage. If you change an organization, if you change the department, it will it you can move back to that invisible stage. So uh focus on is to know which stage you are at and take appropriate stage to move to the next level. That's how I know I categorize this uh confidence leadership framework, and the client is cultivate your mindset, leverage your strength, identify your purpose, magnify your impact, and be uh is build your legacy. That's what leaders do, build their legacy.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

I love this. I love this. So, to everybody that's watching right now, I'm going to invite you to go back on the replay and slow down the video and really listen in and catch this for uh this framework from Rahul, he'll also tell you at the end how you can, you know, find out more about his books and other resources. But this is gold right here. So as we turn the corner on this masterclass that we're having right here, I wanted to ask you this question because I know that we have leaders that are listening and watching, right? If an organization wanted to strengthen its leadership pipeline immediately, like right now, what is one best practice, or even give us two, but what's the best practice that they should implement this quarter or that they can feel comfortable implementing right away?

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Hmm. Uh, if you're one thing, uh I would I would uh nail down that one thing, Adrian, would be the uh decision ownership. It is not just performance. We need we as leaders, we should start measuring the decision ownership. Uh the space of the decision, the speed of the decision, how impactful those decisions were. If you can start measuring that, not just the performance, that will really make a difference. And in your uh weekly one-on-one, I would recommend managers to check on what decision did you intentionally took, what decision that you missed intentionally. What did they learn? Who made the decision? What was the critical factor for you to make that decision that you made? And this is not about penalizing or you know, uh reprimanding someone for taking the wrong decision because at the right time, at that point in time, they thought it was the right decision. So it's okay, it's always learning uh is happening. Learning is uh, you know, I I always talk about is uh when you are a failure, failure is a first attempt to learn. So you always learn from those, even if you have taken a wrong decision, it's always good to know that those decisions will not work. So I would uh recommend our leaders who want to build that leadership pipeline is to measure the decision uh uh you know, ownership or how they are taking the decision and definitely inculcate that leadership uh mindset early on uh when the people join your organization rather than waiting for the time to uh for them to become a leader.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

So I love this.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

That is what I would recommend.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Yeah, absolutely. What an amazing conversation that we have had today. And I know beyond Shed of Badal that there are leaders that want to know more from you, Raul. They want to find out about the books, they want to talk more about this this uh leadership pipeline and how to really implement it. So tell us, what's the what what what are you what do you what resources do you have and what's the best way that we can engage with you?

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Sure. So um the best way for people to engage with me is to go on my website, which is my full name, rahoikaransharma.com, and I'm sure it will be on the show notes. Um one uh another way is go on my website in the framework, you can uh do your own assessment where you fall into those four stages. As I mentioned earlier, there are resources for you. Um, without getting involved, without paying a single penny from your pocket, you will get to know what you need to do. Because as a leadership strategist, my job is not to do things for you, it is all about you who will be taking that next step. So um if if you are really serious about your next level, if you're really serious about your leadership uh acumen, go and get yourself done this leadership audit on my website. You will get those resources. And if you want that to happen for your people, that's probably we can have a conversation. Um, but uh I would first of all, I would want you to do your own leadership audit. And another thing I would recommend is AI is a big piece right now. So I do a workshop on AI for leaders, uh not teaching about the tools, but teaching them how to use AI to build their own leadership uh credibility in place. So that's a workshop I do uh every month.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Yeah, no, that's fantastic. All right, Transformation Station community. Hey, um, Raul is a uh gym right here, and so you see his link on the screen. It's also going to be in the description box below. So make sure you click on it. He has an assessment there, the framework. Go ahead, tap and do it for yourself. He says, Hey, after you've done it, I know you're gonna enjoy it. So definitely reach out to him about taking this to your team. Also, I really want to invite you to reach out to him and let him know that you saw that you heard this particular episode. Let Raul know what resonated with you and be feel free to ask him questions because we know the community that learns together grows together. Raul, it has been wonderful having you with us here today. Thank you so very much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Thank you for having me. Wishing you all the best for your summit in April, and then people, what Adrian is doing is something phenomenal. Uh, join her uh leadership program, join her cohort on uh April 13th. Uh, and I'm sure you will be amazed the uh amount of uh lessons you will learn, amounts of guidance you will get. Thank you, Adrian, for the community.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

My honor, thank you. Well, today's episode was amazing. And guess what? I learned a lot today, right? Today's episode reminds us that leadership legacy is not defined by what we accomplish alone, but by the leaders, as Raul said, the leaders that we develop along the way. And if this conversation challenged you to think differently about developing people and strengthening your pipeline, take one intentional step this week to invest in someone's growth. Be sure to subscribe to the Transformation Station Leadership Podcast. Share this episode with a leader committed to building others and continue leading with intention, with clarity and purpose. So until next time, remember strong organizations are not built by chance. They're built by leaders who invest in the pipeline before they need it.