Hey leaders! I’m so thrilled you tuned in for today’s strategy session!
Episode 61 is all about patterns and how they reveal the next area of growth for you as a savvy direct sales leader.
When I talk about patterns, I’m referring to the autopilot mode we can coast in. The areas of habit we can get stuck in and typically not even realize!
For many leaders this is either a blind spot they are not even aware of. And for other leaders, their patterns can be annoyingly obvious to themselves.
Some leaders that have a blind spot they may be on autopilot with and not even be aware of can really be taken by surprise when they discover it. I’ve often heard “I don’t do that, do I?” or “That’s not me and never my intention.”
Many times this shows up in situations where their actions don’t support their words. They say one thing but often don’t practice it themselves.
This so often comes down to the business basics that leaders did when they started out, but have gotten away from. So common! And easily comes with the territory of success and mentorship.
Some want to and need to get back to the basics. Others have reached a completely different level in their business and it’s just not in the scope of practice anymore. Either scenario can look and feel a certain way to your team.
It can look and feel unrelatable to them. And even though you did all of that work to get where you are, some team members can feel a real disconnect as though you can’t understand her challenges because you’re at such a different place with your business.
Yes, this is where the “That’s not me and never my intention” comes up. Or “I don’t do that, do I? That’s not me?”
The easy antidote to this is to do the same activities that your team is doing. Enroll someone new to your team or your products. Get rejected. Get accepted. Talk about both. Be relatable again. But the key is to make sure you talk openly about your experience. You’ll communicate with words and emotions that are timely, relevant, and raw to your team.
When was the last time you did this? You may be still very active with the activities that got you your success. But when was the last time you talked to your team about a real-life situation you’ve had regardless if you were accepted or rejected in that encounter?
But as you likely know, sharing a story of rejection gains significantly more respect and relatability. You can accomplish so much more as a leader and mentor when influencing your team.
If you can allow yourself to get vulnerable and be authentic, do it! It will be an incredible learning situation for all of you, for different reasons.
It goes right back to the Stephen Covey quote “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” It’s always true.
Ok, for you leaders that have patterns of habit or areas of autopilot that are painfully obvious to you, here’s your invitation to make a plan! Ha.
You know what’s getting in your way. Really own it and break it down into the smallest pieces. This way, you’ll have a specific area of opportunity and growth to work on. I’ll use the example of becoming more organized. I hear it all the time!
And yet, there are so many different levels of organization, and what you may feel “more organized” is for you. For example, when it comes to structure, I have leaders that truly run their business like a sales team, sharing numbers and goals, and inviting their team in on all of this.
Their daily schedule is planned out and broken down into their yearly, monthly, and weekly goals. They truly are the CEO of their business and run things very efficiently. They can still, with this type of structure, want to be more organized.
And I have other very successful leaders that don’t keep much of a schedule. They work. And there is a method to their madness, as they confess, but that’s about as structured as they get. They want to be organized but it looks and feels different for each of these leaders.
When you have a pattern of habit or autopilot area you are well aware of, you just know. Whether it’s becoming more organized with your structure, time, systems, team resources, you name it, you just know.
So let this be your invitation to pick one thing. Break it down into the smallest pieces. Pick one thing that will make a positive difference for you. One that will help you break a pattern that’s no longer serving you and get you started on your next area of growth as a savvy leader!
I hope this success strategy has you feeling uplifted and eager to implement. I can’t wait to hear how this impacts your success strategy and your confidence as a leader.
Click over to Instagram @yourcrazybigdreams and share what you’re eager to get started on.
The best is yet to come. Always.
