The Leader Factor

This podcast episode discusses the importance of challenger safety in driving innovation and change. The hosts explore the risks associated with challenging the status quo and provide actionable behaviors to implement challenger safety. They also highlight the negative effects of leaders weighing in first and the importance of constructive responses to dissent and bad news. Overall, the episode focuses on practical strategies for building challenger safety in organizations.

This podcast episode of Culture by Design focuses on contributor safety and the balance between autonomy and accountability. They discuss the human hunger for meaning, the power of saying no to good things, and the importance of effective communication and removing jargon. The episode highlights the significance of clarity, autonomy, and creating an environment that supports accountability and critical thinking.

Today's lesson:Beware the Tyranny of Your ExpertiseKey Points:Expertise is a double edged sword. On one side, it’s knowledge, it's useful, and it’s leverage. On the other side, you can become insulated and you can lose touch with context. "The danger of the expert is that he often becomes a prisoner of his own expertise." -Peter Drucker. There is no field of knowledge that is static or complete. Nothing is in a state of true equilibrium, so if you don’t move with the unfolding of knowledge in your field of expertise, you become increasingly obsolete and irrelevant. Today's key action:Next time you feel like you’re 100% confident in the answer, assume you’re missing something.

In this episode, Tim and Junior discuss learner safety in organizations and the importance of creating a safe environment for innovation. They explore the error-driven nature of learning and the two domains of learning: formal and informal. They also highlight the behavior of sharing what you're learning as a key action to foster learner safety. The podcast touches on the role of behavior in generating sustainable change, the impact of learner safety on learning and personal growth, the benefits of note-taking, and the concept of unlearning and wisdom. Overall, the episode provides practical insights and encourages listeners to embrace a learning mindset.

Today's lesson:The 21st century requires Mission-type or mission-command ordersKey Points:Mission-type orders include a clear statement of the superior commander's intent and state each unit's tasks in terms of operational effects to be achieved rather than specific commands. A mission-type order only works when your junior officers have the capability to do the job, including the critical and strategic thinking capability. If they don’t, the mission-type order is more dangerous than a static “command order.” The whole concept rests on the ability of the junior leaders to interpret and respond to changing conditions. Let’s understand that a mission-type order is a very different form of delegation. You are mandating the outcome and delegating the tactics. Today's key action:Next time you assign a task, consider “Mission-type Orders”. Describe the what, delegate the how.

The podcast explores the importance of behavioral change for fostering inclusion, building relationships through conversations, improving personal growth with metacognition, and the power of expressing gratitude. It introduces the concept of 'behave until you believe' and discusses the associated behaviors of sharing and learning stories, asking more than telling, and expressing gratitude.

Discover the importance of self-awareness and identifying talents. Emphasizes the significance of hard work. Discusses the importance of self-reflection, seeking feedback, and trying new things. Highlights the need for seeking others' perspectives to uncover hidden talents.

In this episode, Tim and Junior discuss the challenges of building a speak-up culture and the importance of psychological safety. They explore separating worth from worthiness, loyalty from agreement, status from opinion, and permission from adoption. They also highlight the benefits of speak-up cultures such as improved safety, compliance, decision-making, and innovation. The hosts emphasize the need for inclusivity, establishing an inclusive culture, harnessing collective intelligence, and learning the art of disagreement as a leader. Lastly, they discuss the importance of picking battles and investing in creating a culture of speaking up.

Today's lesson:Use Minimum Necessary Intervention to Liberate TalentKey Points:One of the hardest things for leaders to learn is when to be more or less directive, when to tighten down and when to loosen up. Too little intervention and you’re an absentee landlord. Too much, and you’re micromanaging. As humans we yearn for autonomy in our contribution. We want to create, we want to affect reality in a way that is uniquely ours and in order to do this, we need room.Today's key action:Next time you work with a high performer, spend time determining what minimum necessary intervention looks like, and then behave accordingly. Even better, write it down.

In this week's episode of Culture by Design, Tim and Junior discuss The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety in a way you might not expect. Using social exchange theory, they'll do a deeper dive to add some color to The 4 Stages model and give you additional tools and frames to use when you look at psychological safety.What is social exchange theory? (01:47) According to social exchange theory, people are motivated to engage in social exchanges that they perceive as beneficial. Tim and Junior discuss four key concepts related to social exchange theory: Costs, benefits, reciprocity, and power. What is psychological safety? (13:03) Psychological safety is a culture of rewarded vulnerability and lies at the heart of healthy social exchange. In order for a culture to be truly psychologically safe, the environment must provide something and then the participant must provide something. Tim and Junior explain that each stage within The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety has a social exchange. The social exchange for Stage One: Inclusion Safety (16:39) In stage one, we are given inclusion in exchange for lack of harm. Tim and Junior explain how this works and what the difference is between worth and worthiness.The social exchange for Stage Two: Learner Safety (23:30) In stage two, we are given encouragement to learn in exchange for engagement in the learning process. Tim and Junior explain how this works and who has the first-mover obligation.The social exchange for Stage Three: Contributor Safety (30:02) In stage three, we are given autonomy with guidance in exchange for results. Tim and Junior explain how this works and the ratio between autonomy and accountability.The social exchange for Stage Four: Challenger Safety (38:15) In stage four, we are given air cover in exchange for candor. Tim and Junior explain how this works and how to protect our people in their most vulnerable state.