In this episode of the L3 Leadership Podcast, as part of a two-part teaching, Doug Smith shares his top lessons in learned in 2020.
Key Take-Aways From Episode 270.
1. Life is Hard, Don’t Quit
Doug shares 5 Truths: You are going to die, Life is hard, You are not that important, You are not in control, Your life is not about you - You must experience your own powerlessness before a true spiritual journey can begin.
2. Learn to Rest and Recover...or you’ll be forced to.
"Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." -Dallas Willard
"If you don’t have plenty of time to do what I called you to do, you’re wasting time." -Keith Moore
"The world aches for the generosity of a well-rested people." -Wayne Muller
"Rest is an act of faith." -Dallas Willard
3. Doug shares what God taught him most in 2020.
“Doug, what if you’d knew it’d all happen. You know it will. Think back to all the stress you put on yourself trying to make it happen. You can’t make anything happen. Let me surprise and delight you Let me make it happen. Rest.” -God
4. Doug shares his Top Leadership Lessons in 2020:
a. Leadership does suck!
b. Always Ask Who not How!
c. Leading Teams:
d. Managing/Firing:
You may not understand, when you move into leadership, you will. It’s the most painful part of leadership. Leaders are willing to do what others are not.
Quotes
“When things go wrong, when obstacles seem too great, when the difficulties get to be too much, when your dream seems to be impossibly far away, your job is to simply keep going.” -John Maxwell
I’ve never had a senior leader that has fired someone regret it. Their only regret is they should have done it sooner. - Sam Chand
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. -Henry Thoreau
If you have no joy, there’s a lack in your Christianity somewhere. -Billy Sunday
Links:
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan
In this episode of the L3 Leadership Podcast, as part of a two-part teaching, Doug Smith shares his top lessons in learned in 2020.
Key Take-Aways From Episode 270.
1. Life is Hard, Don’t Quit
Doug shares 5 Truths: You are going to die, Life is hard, You are not that important, You are not in control, Your life is not about you - You must experience your own powerlessness before a true spiritual journey can begin.
2. Learn to Rest and Recover...or you’ll be forced to.
"Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." -Dallas Willard
"If you don’t have plenty of time to do what I called you to do, you’re wasting time." -Keith Moore
"The world aches for the generosity of a well-rested people." -Wayne Muller
"Rest is an act of faith." -Dallas Willard
3. Doug shares what God taught him most in 2020.
“Doug, what if you’d knew it’d all happen. You know it will. Think back to all the stress you put on yourself trying to make it happen. You can’t make anything happen. Let me surprise and delight you Let me make it happen. Rest.” -God
4. Doug shares his Top Leadership Lessons in 2020:
a. Leadership does suck!
b. Always Ask Who not How!
c. Leading Teams:
d. Managing/Firing:
You may not understand, when you move into leadership, you will. It’s the most painful part of leadership. Leaders are willing to do what others are not.
Quotes
“When things go wrong, when obstacles seem too great, when the difficulties get to be too much, when your dream seems to be impossibly far away, your job is to simply keep going.” -John Maxwell
I’ve never had a senior leader that has fired someone regret it. Their only regret is they should have done it sooner. - Sam Chand
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. -Henry Thoreau
If you have no joy, there’s a lack in your Christianity somewhere. -Billy Sunday
Links:
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan
[inaudible]
Speaker 2:Hey, podcast, family, and welcome to episode number 270 of the L three leadership podcast, where we are obsessed with helping you grow to your maximum potential and to maximize the impact of your leadership. My name is Doug Smith and I am your host. And this episode is brought to you by my friends at bear tongue advisors. If you're new to the podcast, welcome, I hope you enjoy our content. And I hope that you'll subscribe. And if you've been with us for awhile, um, it would mean the world to me. If you would subscribe and leave a rating and review on whatever app you listen to podcasts with, and thank you in advance for that on today's episode, you're going to hear part one of a two-part lesson that I'm doing called the top lessons that I've learned in 2020. This is always my favorite episode to record each year because I extract my top lessons learned from my year end review from the year prior and share them all with you. So you're in for a treat today. And again, that's going to be a two-part series. So make sure you listen to part one and part two. But before we dive into part one, just a few announcements. This episode of the L three leadership podcast is sponsored by bear tongue advisors, the financial advisors at bear tongue advisors, help educate and empower clients to make informed financial decisions. Find out how bear tongue advisors can help you develop a customized financial plan for your financial future. Please visit their website at bear tongue advisors. That's B E R a T U N G advisors.com securities and investment products and services offered through Waddell and Reed, Inc member FINRA and SIPC bear tongue advisers, Waddell and Reed, and L three leadership are separate entities leader. One of the most important things we do here at L three leadership is we run mastermind groups, mastermind groups, or groups of six to 12 leaders that meet on a consistent basis to challenge each other, encourage each other, and to do life together. W our mission is to have every leader in the world in a mastermind group. We think it's that important. I've been in my mastermind group for six years, and it's been the single greatest source of growth in my life, both personally and professionally. So if you're interested in joining a mastermind group, L three leadership does run mastermind groups. And so, um, you can either join one or you can lead one and you can actually launch your own mastermind group through L-3 leadership. And we'll pay you if you want to learn more about L three masterminds, go to L three leadership.org forward slash masterminds. And with all that being said, let's dive right into the lesson. Here's the top lessons that I learned in 2020 part one, Hey, everyone. Today, I'd like to talk to you on the subject, the top lessons that I learned in 2020, I'm actually going to be breaking this lesson down into two episodes because there's just way too much content for one. And so make sure you listen to part one and part two, and this is always one of my favorite episodes to record each year. I do do this every year, and it's always because I'm fresh off doing my year end review. And for those of you who don't know at the end of every year, I spend two or three days just doing a year end review and typing up a 40 page report, uh, lessons and reflections and highlights from the year that I had just lived in order to learn from that year. And so, uh, after that, I extract the top lessons from those 40 pages. And I share them with you in hopes that you'll just get everything that I learned and, uh, in bite sized chunks in this lesson. And so, uh, with that being said, let's dive right into the top lessons that I learned. And the first one is, and I think this would be true of everyone in 2020, but the first lesson is that life is hard, but don't quit. Life is hard, but don't quit now for those of you who have been along for the journey or have been listening to the podcast, life was very difficult for me in 2020, specifically the last five months of the year, I had a significant battle with burnout, anxiety, panic, and unprocessed grief. And because I've done a couple lessons on those subjects and what I was going through and what I was learning, I'm not going to spend a lot of time sharing things I learned about that a season. Um, so if you want to go back, I did record two lessons on how to deal with those things and what I've learned from them. And if you deal with burnout, anxiety, depression, panic, et cetera, I really encourage you to go back and listen to those as well. So let's dive more into this lesson. That life is hard, but don't quit. And, um, a significant experience I had last year was I went away on a mastermind retreat with my mastermind group. And we did this exercise where we all went into the woods and we all split up and we all got very far away from any trail. So, you know, we wouldn't hear any people. And one of the members of our group handed out these envelopes that each person in the group and in the envelope, there was five, five little slips of paper. And on each slip, there was a truth about life that he wanted us to reflect on. And this was a very powerful exercise. So at some point in our two hours of solitude, I opened up this envelope and here were the five truths that were on a piece of paper. The five choose where you were going to die. Life is hard. You are not that important. You are not in control and your life is not about you. I'll read those again. The five truths where you were going to die, life is hard. You are not that important. You are not in control and your life is not about you. Now. Those aren't very pleasant truths, but they are truth and their choose to reflect on it. And I think if 2020 taught me anything, it's that life is not always peachy. Life is not always up into the right. And, and that's my personality, right? Like I want things to always be good. I'm always on fire. Life is always awesome. But in 2020 life, wasn't always awesome. I wasn't always in control. I had to learn my life. Wasn't about me. I'm not that important. Life is hard. And one day I'm going to die. I had to deal with all of those realities and reflect on them and come to grips with them. And there are seasons of life that are going to be hard and we have to be okay with that. But there's also a way that we can navigate difficult seasons and the difficulties of life. And so here's just a few quotes and a few thoughts that have helped me, uh, to deal with the fact that life is hard. Here's some quotes that helped me throughout the year. Um, you must experience your own powerlessness before a true spiritual journey can begin. I think that's true. You must experience your own powerlessness before a true spiritual journey can begin. How about this? Our greatest lessons never come from our best days. Isn't that true? Our greatest lessons never come from our best days. You know, um, I shared about how I went through a dark season with panic burnout, et cetera. I w I don't want to relive that season ever again, but, but, but, but, but what God taught me through that and what God did in me in that season and through that season, I wouldn't train those lessons for anything in the world. It helped shape who I am today. And so I'm very grateful for the lessons that came out of a hard season. Rick Warren said this, your greatest ministry will come out of your deepest pain. Do you know that one reason we go through hard things is so we can help others when they go through hard things. Do you know that's true? That's what it says in scripture. We're comforted in our time of need so that we can go out and comfort those. And I truly believe when we go through hard things it's so we can help other people get victory in the hard things that we went through. Here's a quote that really helped me during hard times. John Maxwell said this, he actually wrote this to a leader to encourage him. He said, always end your sentences. When you're in a crisis or a hard season with the words for now, things are not going well for now. It reminds us, the difficulties are not permanent. And yes, life is hard. And the way you don't quit, as you realize the difficulties are not permanent, always end your sentences with, for now. I think that's such a great exercise when it comes to overcoming the fact that life is hard. John Maxwell also said, this greatly encouraged me last year. He said, when things go wrong, when obstacles seem too great, when the difficulties get to be too much, when your dream seems to be impossibly far away, your job is to simply keep going. Isn't that good? As hard as it is your job some days is to just wake up and say, I'm going to keep going. I had a friend when I was going through my dark season. He said, Doug, you just got to take life 10 minutes at a time, 10 minutes at a time. You know, a lot of people say a day at a time. Um, for him, he's like, I'm at a point in my life where I take two hours at a time. And I had a point in my art season where I had to take life 10 minutes at a time. But what's our job no matter where we are it's to simply keep going. And when it comes to not quitting, I really want to urge you. If you're on the verge of quitting in a hard season, don't quit. Keep going. It's temporary. Because think about this. Have there been other seasons in your life where you wanted to quit? I don't know about you, but I've had plenty of those, but, but something I always think about is what am I experiencing now in my life that I would have missed out on? Had I quit at an earlier season? I'll ask that question again, because it's powerful. What am I experiencing now in my life that I would have missed out on had I quit in an earlier season and I can pretty much look at everything in my life right now and say, I would not be experiencing any of this. If I quit the Mo the, the dozens of times that I've wanted to quit throughout my journey. So I just want to encourage you leader. Life is hard, but don't quit as hard as it gets, keep going. It's worth it. And God will see you through life is hard, but don't quit. That's the first lesson I learned in 2020. The second lesson that I learned in 2020, that I would share with you is that you have to learn to rest and recover, or you'll be forced to, I'll say that again. You need to learn to rest and recover, or you'll be forced to. And I'm the kind of guy that, that man, I burned candles at both ends. And I go hard all the time and I give everything, everything I got. And until I couldn't write until August, when I started getting anxiety attacks and panic attacks, and I started burning out and I couldn't function at all, and I was forced to rest for a season. And it was incredibly difficult for me. And I'm here to tell you that leaders, we have to learn to rest. You have to learn to rest. You have to learn to recover. And I'll just share some thoughts that have been helpful for me because I've been studying the subject now for a year and really implementing some things in my life that I'll share with you. But here's some thoughts around rested. I hope shaped your life and change your life. Dallas weather. This is one of my favorite quotes ever. Dallas Willard said, you must ruthlessly eliminate. Hurry from your life. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. And there's a great book by John Mark comer that encourage you to read called the ruthless elimination of hurry. If you want to know how to do that, Keith Moore said this. He said, if you don't have plenty of time to do what God called you to do, you're wasting time. And the reality is he encourages us to go back and look at everything we're doing and say, when did God speak to me to do that? And if we can't name a specific time, we shouldn't even focus on it. We need to lay it aside because God never told us to do it. We're wasting time. Wayne Mueller said this. I love this. The world aches for the generosity of a well rested people. Leaders, people need us. People are depending on us. And if we're not well rested, we're never going to be able to give them what they need. The world aches for the generosity of a well rested people. Dallas Willard said this. He said, rest is an act of faith. When Mueller said with all the money in the world, and no time, we have nothing,
Speaker 3:Oh,
Speaker 2:Named Henry said this. He said, Oh, man is rich in the proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. And I've certainly found that the truth to be true this year, I want to leave a ton of stuff alone right now. Um, someone said this to me throughout the year, there was encouraging Doug. Almost nothing is worth losing sleep over. And I had some sleepless nights over things. I don't have sleepless nights anymore because there's pretty much nothing worth losing sleep over. And so you need to learn how to sleep and rest. And Billy Sunday said this. He said, if you have no joy, there's a lack in your Christianity somewhere. And what I found is leaders that don't have joy. They have a leak in their Christianity often in the area of rest and Sabbath because we just don't do it. We just keep going. And so here's some things that, that I've implemented over the last year to rest and recover so that I don't, I don't get forced to, uh, in another season coming up in the future. So one is, I started taking a weekly Sabbath and, uh, I started practice in February of 2020. It's been a game changer, not just for me, but my whole family. We take an entire day where we do no work. We just focus on family memories. God, it's just incredible. And, uh, there's tons of, uh, of content out there on Sabbath. Just look it up. I can recommend some resources later too, is, uh, taking a two week vacation or a 10 to two week vacation, a 10 day to two week vacation for me. Uh, I've just learned that if I just unplugged for a week, it's not enough. It takes me a week to a hundred plug-in. So, uh, implementing a two-week vacation, if you're able to do that is huge. Exercise is huge. I don't have to tell you guys this, but exercise every day, um, just take walks. Um, I never really walked before. Cause I would run. I would say, why would you walk when you can run? Um, but walks have been huge, especially for my mental health. So when's the last time you just took a walk. I encourage you to do that. Get off social media. I got off social media, I think for a month and a half in 2020. It was awesome. I didn't miss it at all. And it really did impact my mental health, physical health, et cetera. Um, putting your phone down again, have times every day where you just put your phone in a drawer and just focus on your family. And then lastly, just learn how to cast your care, learn how to cast your care. The Bible says that we can cast our care on God because he cares for us. And um, I know we know that in theory sometimes, but the reality is we can trust God with a lot and we can cast a lot on God because he really does care for us and love us. And um, for me as a believer, you know, one thing, one of the areas and or things that I journal about is when God speaks to me and God doesn't speak to me in an audible voice. But often when I'm quiet with him daily, I'll just feel him prompt me and speak to me in my heart. And here's something that the God shared with me and my devotions that I just thought it would be helpful to share with you. He said, Doug, you're carrying so much that you don't need to the weight of light of life, the weight of L three leadership, the weight of your family and the weight of living up to the image you've created of yourself, of who you think you need to be in the eyes of others. You simply have to be who you are. That's it, that's it. That's it be who I made you and created you to be. I made you fun. I made you an encourager. I made you a world changer. I made you with the heart that you have for people. I pulled you from the place you were in and brought you into the place you're in right now. Light of life is my ministry, not yours. L three leadership is my ministry, not yours. And I've positioned you where you are in this season of your life for a reason. Rest in me, stop carrying the weight, strip off every weight that's holding you back. I love you. And there's freedom coming. Hold tight. Rest in me. Keep your eyes focused on me. You've got this. And then at another time he shared this, that goes along with that. He said, Doug, what if you knew that knew it would all happen? What if you knew it would all happen? Everything that you put so much pressure on yourself to a tree. What if you just laid that on me and trusted me to make it happen? Cause you know, it will. And think back to all the stress that you put on yourself, trying to make things happen. Doug, you can't make anything happen. Let me surprise and delight. You. Let me make it happen. And just rest in me, God leaders we need to learn to rest cover. And if we don't, we'll be forced to the third subject I want to talk to you about is leadership. And I have multiple lessons under leadership, and that's how I'm going to wrap part one of this two-part lesson. And so here's what I learned about leadership. This year. Number one, leadership does suck. Leadership does suck. And uh, I heard this John Maxwell quote years ago and it really ministered to me. And I would just share it with you. He said, as a leader, there will never be such thing as too easy consecutive days in your life. As a leader, there will never be such thing as too easy consecutive days in your life. Have you found that to be true leaders? And just when you think you're going to get two days in a row that are good, something else blows up that you have to deal with and that's just leadership. That's what we signed up for. And uh, you know, if you're a young leader aspiring to leadership, I think a lot of times we aspire to leadership because of the impact that we can make as leaders. And that's absolutely true, but just realize that if you're going to be a leader, there's a huge price to pay. Um, and a lot of that is just, you have to deal with a lot of things every single day. I love what Henry Kissinger Kessinger said. He said, each access in your life only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem. Oh my gosh, is that true? Each access you have in your life, every promotion you have only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem. The higher up you go, the more pain is going to come your way, the bigger, the problems that are going to come your way now, again, hopefully you've grown into that and you're prepared for that, but just realize if you're going to be a leader, a lot of times leadership is going to suck and the higher you go, the more you're going to have to deal with. Uh, I love what Sam Chan said. We, we interacted with Sam Shannon a lot on the podcast and without three on, on webinars. And he said, anytime you see a leader leading at a high level, know that they have stab wounds and the front and back of them. And, uh, and realize that as a leader, when pain comes your way, God is simply taking you higher. And he said, for me, I define leadership as bleeder ship. Now, do they actually have stab wounds in from the front back of him? No. What he's saying is they have scars everywhere from leading because leadership is a contact sport and you are going to take hits. It's just part of the package and the sooner you can become okay, with the fact that leadership does suck the, the S the better leader you'll be, and the more equipped you'll be to handle, um, the issues that come your way. So lesson number one to your leadership leadership does suck. Number two, here's an extremely practical one. That seems so simple, but it was a game changer for me. Um, I listened to, uh, entrepreneurial coach named Dan Sullivan, um, who has a company called strategic coach. He's phenomenal. I encourage you to, to, um, look him up, but he wrote a book this year around this concept. That's a game changer and the book title, and the concept is this. I always ask who not how always ask who not how. And he said, oftentimes we're leaders and entrepreneurs get stuck as they're always trying to figure out how to do something, but oftentimes the question isn't, how are we going to get this done? The question is, who do we need to get it done? Who has the gifting, who has the skillset, and, and to look for the who's now a couple of things here that, that really why that impacted me so much as one, I was, I was talking to a leader about, um, the difference between leadership and management. And so I think it put so much pressure on myself to be a good manager, and I'm not sure if I am and I was going back and forth. And, um, this coach basically looked at me. He said, Doug, at some point, if, if there are things before you, that aren't getting done, you may have to consider that it may be someone else's assignment. That was so good. If there are things before you, that aren't getting done, you may have to consider that it may be someone else's assignment. And I think as leaders, we put pressure on ourselves to have to be able to, for ourselves to be able to do it all. And we can get things done when the reality is, there's a bunch of who's around us that are way better at things than we are that can get things done. We have to learn to delegate to them and give and give things to them. And so, um, the area of delegation, I've just learned to say, I'm going to stop asking how, and I'm going to start asking who, why this also impacted me so much, and this is more on the insecure side of me. Um, you know, the insecurity question I always have is, am I enough? Or do I have what it takes? And I think everyone asks themselves that. But what I realized this was, um, I think when he, when he said that for the first time, I don't know why this was like a revelation. I realized that I'm a, who to someone, I am a who, uh, not like a who like Dr. Seuss, but like, I, I am a who and what I mean by that is, as I had to look at my gifting and skill set and said, you know, what is the, how that, that I am the who for, and for me, I realized that I'm a visionary and I bring vision to people. And do you know that that not everyone has vision. It has the ability to come up with a vision. I love what John Maxwell said. He said, the gift of a leader to the people was the vision. And the gift of the people to the leader is the fulfillment of that vision. And so I realized I'm gonna encourage her. I'm a connector, right? And so I may not have different skill sets that I think I need as a leader when I look at other leaders leading, but those are the skillsets I bring to the table. And so for everyone I interact with I'm a who, when it comes to, I can connect them with pretty much anyone that they want connected to. I'm a connector. I love connecting people. I'm gonna encourage her. I promise you, if you interact with me, I'm going to encourage you and fire you up to go after your dreams. And, uh, and I'm a visionary. I can provide vision for people. I can communicate. I'm a who for that. And so these are all things that not everyone can do. And so for me, realizing the fact that I am a, who was so encouraging to me, it's the third subject I want to talk to you under the category of leadership is leading teams. And if you're a leader, you're always going to be leading teams. So this is an area that we're always going to have to be growing. In. In fact, I read this quote by Carrie new Hoff and, uh, I just absolutely hated it to be honest with you, but I only hated it because it was so true. So thanks a lot. Carrie knew Hoff, but he said this. He said, if you find yourself angry at your team, it's likely not them that you were mad at. It's you being mad at your inability to lead them? Ouch. I'll read that again. If you find yourself angry at your team, anyone ever been there, it's likely not them that you're mad at. It's you being mad at your inability to lead them. And from the day I read that quote, I've spent a lot of time angry at myself with my inability to lead my team. And so I've made it a challenge in my life to just always be growing in this, uh, this area of leading teams. And so here's some things that were helpful to me in leading teams this year. Um, I had the privilege of having lunch with John Madden 12, uh, in, in February of last year. And probably my biggest leadership hurdle in my life is that I'm a people pleaser. And I care more about what people think of me than probably making the decisions I need to lead well. And I said, John, how did you deal with this? Because he shared how he had to go through the same thing. And he made a statement that changed my life. And he said, Doug, I had to make the decision very, very, very early on in my leadership journey that I would always love people, but I would never depend on them. I love that. He said, Doug, I had to make the decision that I would always love people, but I'd never depend on their love. And he said, listen, your relational gifting as good as it is, will never get you through all the time. And for those of you who are relationally good, uh, I think we do believe that a lot of times that, Hey, you know, we're good relationships we can influence so we can get through anything, but that's not true. And so after that conversation, one of the things I was encouraged to do is to make a list of what the old Doug looks like. The Doug that would please people instead of lead people and then make another list. The new Doug who leads people instead of pleases people. And here's what that list looks like for me, the old Doug, the old Doug was passive aggressive. The old Doug was indecisive. He was unclear in his communication. He would miss and skip one-on-ones. He was impulsive. He could be a control freak. He would occasionally add value. He would try to do everything. He thought about himself too much. He was impatient and he ran a looser ship than he should, because he was trying to please people. What does the new Doug look like? The new Doug who leads people instead of pleases people is honest and consistent. He's decisive. I clearly communicate. I meet consistently and show up for my meetings. I'm intentional in everything that I do. I let go and trust people to do their jobs. I consistently add value to the team. I delegate everything. I invest in a few. I think about others. I'm patient. I run a tighter ship and I focus on a little, little, a few things instead of a lot of things. And that list really, really helped me. And I revisit that list often to say, am I growing more into the new Doug, uh, than, than growing in the ways of the old Doug. And so maybe you want to do that exercise. What's the old you, and what's the new you, it's very, very helpful. And just one more thought on this subject of pleasing people versus leading people, because if you're going to be a, a great team leader, you have to lead and not please. And my friend, Jason Howard told me this in a meeting and it was so helpful. He said, Doug always remember that the vision is more important than people's happiness. And, uh, and that's just so good, whatever mission you're on, it's always more important in people's happiness. So I hope that that helps you become a better team leader, especially if you're wired like me and care more about pleasing people than leading them. The last thing I want to talk about under this category of leadership is dealing with personnel issues and letting people go. And if you're a young leader or aspiring leader, and you are not in management yet, or you don't lead at a high level, um, I just really want to challenge you and I'm going to you because I've been in your shoes. And when I was in your shoes and I would see leaders let go of someone or deal with their performance, and maybe they didn't handle it perfectly. I used to judge them and say like, I won't do that when I'm in leadership, but can I just tell you this until you sit in that seat until you have to be the one to have those conversations until you have to be the person letting someone go, you have no idea how difficult that is. And you have no idea what it's like. You don't have all the context. And, um, I just want to challenge you not to judge because here here's the thing. When you do get in that seat, people are going to judge you for the way you do it because you won't do it perfectly. And if you're a leader listening to me and you feel condemned or guilty because you haven't handled things perfectly in the past, please just give yourself grace. And just realize that every time you have to do this, just try to learn from your past mistakes and get better the next time. And so I just want to share some things that I've learned in my journey that I hope will encourage you. And when it comes to dealing with underperforming people, here's just a few thoughts. Jim Collins said this so profound. He said, the moment you feel like you have to manage someone, you've made a hiring mistake. So powerful, the moment you feel like you have to manage them on, you've made a hiring mistake. And so how do you deal with underperforming people? And again, these are lessons I've had to learn big time, um, be honest, all the time, be honest all the time and one-on-one and reviews be as clear as possible. Again, clear is kind unclear is unkind. And when you're not clear, you are not loving the person well and leaders. I just want to challenge you because this is my biggest hurdle. I just talked to you about how I'm a people pleaser. I will, I am usually muddying communication because I want to make people happy. Whereas I would just be honest on the front end and just be real black and white. I could have saved so much pain for myself and for other people. And so are you being clear? Are you being kind cause clear is kind unclear, is unkind and just realize that over-communication is huge. You can't communicate enough when you're dealing with underperforming people. And so more than anything, just be honest over communicate, be clear on the process and move forward, whatever the process is, work with your organization and move the process forward. Um, and then when it comes to letting people go, here's some thoughts that have helped me throughout the year. When you know, in your heart, just recognize that you're usually right. And when you know you need to move quickly and why do you need to move quickly? I had a leader tell me this this year. It was so challenging. You said, Doug, you have to realize that time is finite. Time is finite. You don't have unlimited time. And so you can't let someone steal a year of your time because they want to. And so the choice you're always have to face when you're dealing with personnel issues is one can do I just want to keep people employed or do I want to do what we're called to do as an organization? I'll say that again. Cause that really challenged me is my job. And is my desire just to keep people employed or is it to accomplish the mission that God called us to do as an organization? That's the choice you have to make. Um, when it comes to letting people go or dealing with, under-performers realize that your all stars are watching to see what you'll do. The leaders in your organization are watching to see what you do cause why leaders usually recognize under-performance and people who aren't supposed to be in the culture, talks with the culture. And if you're not willing to deal with that, you're going to lose respect as a leader. So recognize that people are watching you and they want to see you do what they think is the right thing for the organization. And, and here's the, the comforting thing that I would really encourage you with. It's helped me just realize that letting someone go is often and I would say always releasing them to do what God has for them next, letting someone go and releasing them to do what God has for them next. And every single person I've ever had to deal with or let go, or have seen leave an organization, whether they were let go or whether they chose to leave. Um, I am excited for them because I know in my life I've had seasons of transition in my life too. And every time I've been released from one season, God always had something for me. And do you know what? When he had something for me, it was almost always better than what I was currently in. And so rest in the fact that when you let someone go, it may be difficult in the moment, but I can tell you multiple times. And I'm thinking of people right now that have come back six months a year later saying, man, I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm right where God wants me. And if that hadn't have happened, I would never be here. You know, Romans eight, 28 says, God works all things together for the good of those who, who, who pursue him and love him. And uh, and I just wanna encourage you if you're a child of God, want to, if you get, let go, just rest in the fact that God has something better for you. And if you're a leader that has to let someone go realize that he has something better for them. And uh, and they may never call you and thank you for it, but just realize and trust that God will do a work in their life. And then lastly, Sam Chan said this, he said, I've never had a senior leader that has fired someone regretted. Their only regret is that they should have done it sooner. And, uh, you know, this, isn't a fun subject to talk about, but it's one of those realities of leadership being hard and life being hard. And, uh, it's the hardest thing we do as leaders. But again, leaders are willing to do what others are not. And so I hope that some of these lessons helped you today and I'm really excited about part two. We have some more great lessons coming up. So look for that. Thanks for joining me on this journey today. And Hey, I would love to hear what lessons you learned in 2020. So feel free to shoot me an email and I'll talk to you next episode.
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Speaker 2:Hey leader, thank you so much for listening to part one of the top lessons that I learned in 2020. I hope it added value to your life. And if it did, please share your key takeaways on social media or send this to a leader that you think would add value to that helps us accomplish our mission of impacting more leaders. So thank you in advance for that. And if you missed a quote or want to go back and hear anything that I said, uh, you can find all of those quotes in the show notes@lteleadership.org forward slash two 70. And as always, I like to end with a quote and I'll quote, Bob Goff today. Bob Goff said embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won't have a title until much later. I love that. Hey, thanks for listening. Hope you have a great week and we will be with you next episode.