What does commitment look like in Leadership? Ep58

Summary

In this episode of the No Limits Leadership podcast, host Sean Patton delves into the fundamental pillar of effective leadership: commitment. He emphasizes that commitment is not merely a checkbox but a vital trait that defines how leaders inspire trust, motivate teams, and drive success. The discussion is structured around three key aspects of commitment: 'Mission First, People Always,' the importance of developing team members, and the necessity of preparedness. Patton illustrates how balancing mission and people leads to a resilient and high-performing team, the significance of investing in team members' growth, and how being prepared demonstrates respect and commitment to the team and the mission.

Takeaways

Commitment is essential for effective leadership.
Leaders must balance mission and people.
Investing in team development fosters loyalty.
Preparedness shows respect for the team's time.
A committed leader inspires trust and engagement.
Mission clarity is crucial for team alignment.
Developmental coaching is more effective than evaluations.
Leaders should create structured development programs.
Being prepared enhances accountability and performance.
Commitment is demonstrated through actions, not just words.

Chapters

00:00 The Pillars of Effective Leadership
05:15 Mission First, People Always
12:26 Developing Team Members
15:36 The Importance of Preparedness

Transcript

Let's jump right in. are several, let's jump right in. There are several key traits that leaders need to demonstrate in order to inspire and motivate their teams. Right. Leadership is about influence and I call them the four C's commitment, confidence, competence, and Character

But what we're really going to talk about today and we're going to focus on is commitment. How do we demonstrate and show the trait of commitment to our organization? Because what we know is that leaders who demonstrate those four C's commitment, confidence, competence, and character inspire and influence their team members to excellence.

As you think about what commitment really looks like, I like to break it down into sort of three key aspects, right? The first is what I call mission first, people always. The second is developing team members. And the third is preparedness. So let's start with mission first, people always. Now this is a common phrase that I learned as a young officer in the military. I would say that all the time.

And at first, honestly, it was a little confusing to me. It's like, what do you mission first people always, it's almost like, well, people are always and how was mission first. And if missions first powers, how is it people always? And, know, it took me some experience and some application to really understand what this meant that it was describing a fundamental balance between achieving organized organizational goals and taking care of the people who make those goals possible.

leaders commitment doesn't just mean pushing for results at all costs. It's about knowing that people are your most valuable asset. Right. If you think about a leader who is so laser focused on achieving the mission that they neglect the wellbeing of their team, they may accomplish some sort of short-term gain, right? They may hit that first checkpoint, that first milestone, but it's going to be at the expense of long-term success. On the other side.

Leaders who, you you probably met this, you were just, they love their people. They're just that people person. They're walking around there on the floor. They're talking. they just care so much. get emotional at time. It's, it's just, they're passionate and people love them. But that whole time, maybe they lose sight of the fact that there's a mission to be done. And so they ended up kind of running around aimlessly, right? The balance is crucial.

To be an effective leader, you must prioritize both without compromise. This is a both and approach. The mission must be clear and excellence should be the standard. But at the same time, the wellbeing, morale and development of your team must be a top priority. A leader's commitment here, it creates a resilient, a motivated and a high performing team. Right? That one that's

A team that's aligned with mission and it's driven by purpose. What you'll find is that when you have a clear mission and everyone knows their role and. But when they know that the leader is looking out for their best interests, right? They know they have that trust that the leader is taking care of them. It's looking out for them, making sure they're not.

you know, burning themselves out, not overburdening themselves that, they're not doing something that's going to get the cause like personal issues for them. It's empowering that it allows your team to go full steam ahead. When they know the leaders looking out for them and has their best interest at heart, they can put full effort into accomplishing the mission. I'm sure you can think of, examples in your own life of.

leaders and bosses and managers that have swung too far the people and the mission, right? They've swung too far to one side of this pendulum. know I have, and I've been guilty at this at times too, because...

People also want to be a part of a winning team. And I've had times I've had employees where, you know, I let them get away with things or behaving in a certain way or substandard performance too long to the hindrance of mission, to the hindrance of the other people on the team. And when you do that, it starts to kill morale, starts to, starts to beat people question.

the competence, one of the other four C's of, of the leader, the decision making. And so it's clear to lay this out or it's, important to lay this out for your team. Very clearly. The mission has to come first. If not, what are we doing here? Right. It's in a bit. it's, if you run a business, sometimes you'll hear, you know, people in the streets, right there, you know, people before profits.

Great idea, not a winning business strategy, right? But if it's profits above people, if that, then you have this, you know, evil empire business that's just stomping through people. That's not trying to do good in the world. And no one's going to work for no one to work for you. and I don't think it's a long-term recipe for success either. So as part of leaders,

showing.

far as far as leaders showing commitment to demonstrate commitment as a leader. It's mission first. People always make that your mantra.

Now let's look at the second key aspect of commitment. Developing team members.

Leadership isn't just about overseeing tasks and chasing short-term gains. It's about guiding people toward their long-term potential. A committed leader is one who sees their team members not as cogs in a machine, but it's individuals with untapped potential.

Right? If you just, this is really a management versus leadership concept.

You know, ultimately I say we, judge leaders on the leaders they create. Right in, in, in sports, there's a thing called a coaching tree, right? For those of you who maybe aren't familiar with the coaching tree, it's a very simple concept. just means it's a tracker of how many of a specific head coaches, former assistant coaches eventually get hired as head coaches themselves. And it's a mark of coaching excellence.

The same in seem applies in business, right? If you look at, you know, great leaders, just like great coaches, you'll see that the people who worked for them go on to achieve greatness themselves, achieve important, important, impactful things, maybe inside that company or outside that company. Right. know, you know, as a business owner myself, when I see people that work for me or people that were on my teams,

move on to do other bigger, greater things. This is like, there's nothing, that is more rewarding, right? To see them develop. And as a leader, have to show the commitment to invest in their people. Right. It's so important that people feel valued when leaders invest in their team's growth, they earn trust and loyalty. Committed leaders are dedicated to

personal and professional growth. When you're in it for the long haul with your team, they'll go the extra mile for you. Managers focus on achieving immediate outcomes. Right. I like to say that management is about the efficiency of a system, but leaders focus on unlocking long-term performance in individuals. When you show your team that you care about their development, they become more engaged.

loyal and resilient. That's why I'm a huge proponent of developmental coaching sessions instead of just performance evaluations, right? Performance evaluations by their very nature are past focused, right? They're strictly looking at, wanted these outcomes, here's the outcomes you got, here's the ones you didn't. How do we fix that for outcomes, right? It's talking strictly about performance.

but a developmental coaching session is more holistic. Right. When you go to develop your people with a coaching session, you are reflecting on the past performance, but just as a way to tell the story about their current state, right? It's looking at what they do well, what they don't do well, what they're struggling with, where they want to go, what are their goals? And more importantly, a good coach and a good leader is

creating an agreement inside that development plan. Right. They're saying you do these things and I'm going to do these things to support you. I'm going to provide accountability. I'm going to provide training. you know, I'm going to provide more resources, right? I hear the things I'm going to do for you. So you can be successful for us. Right. It's a partnership.

I'll tell you that, you know, we did, we called it counseling in the military and we would do, you know, monthly and quarterly counseling sessions and annual, annual were counseling and evaluations. And I'll tell you of, know, my 14 years in the military, I can tell you maybe a handful, five or six instances, specific instances of things that

One of my commanders told me in a counseling session that really stuck with me, that really landed an impact. I still remember to this day, not that many considering how many counseling sessions I had, you know, if I was having them almost monthly, we're supposed to have them monthly, but just like the, you know, business civilian nonprofit, whatever, you know, organization you're in just because they're supposed to do monthly counseling doesn't mean they actually.

do it all the time, right? And what I can tell you is while I may not remember the specifics of very many of those counseling sessions, I can tell you exactly the commanders who actually took the time to do written counseling with me and the ones who said, you know what you need to do. Yeah, we talked about it in the hallway. Just kind of brush it off.

because you may be thinking, I don't want to waste their time or it's not that big of a deal, but it's a huge deal. Because what it shows is that you care about them, that just the fact that my leader, that my boss, that my commander.

took time when I wasn't around and sat down and thought about me, thought about what I was doing well, thought about what I could do better, thought about how he could support me in that.

That created a bond because it showed commitment, not just to outcome, to me as an individual.

And I will tell you that the quality of that counseling or that coaching program, regular evaluations is the difference I see the biggest difference I probably see between high performing organizations and just okay ones is that the leaders, the managers have a structured program and they actually take the time to think through the development of their team.

I would argue that for an organization to be truly great.

that they need to see.

the growth of their team members, right? They, they look at personally and professionally developing human beings as a core competency, core competency of their business. So if you're a leader inside of a business, would strongly encourage you to look at your core competencies, right? We sell X, we provide this level of customer service.

And somewhere in that, that main, you know, mission statement values, whatever, whoever you organize, you know, your company, your company's direction.

Add in there, we develop our people. you see long lasting successful big companies, have formal programs to develop people from the individual contributor level all the way up through senior executive. They invest in their human capital. So anyway, that's the second, you know, pillar. That's the second pillar of demonstrating commitment as a leader is.

developing your team members. That's how you demonstrate the commitment, that's how you demonstrate the leadership trait of commitment.

Now the final pillar, preparedness.

One of the quickest ways to lose your team's respect is to show up unprepared. When you arrive late, when you miss deadlines or you come to meetings without doing your homework, you send a clear message that you don't value your team's time. On the other hand, leaders who are consistently prepared demonstrate commitment to the mission and to their team. They do the work ahead of time and they show up ready to perform.

This kind of community creates a culture of accountability and excellence. Right? One of the most impactful lessons I've learned in leadership is that being prepared is a sign of respect to your team. So consequently, on the other hand,

If you show up to meetings unprepared, not doing the pre-work, if you show up and say, what are we talking about today? Or you show up to a meeting and you're just reading data that you should have read beforehand or having people report numbers that could just, again, that whole, could this meeting be an email? Could this have just been an Excel spreadsheet instead of showing up and saying, I reviewed the numbers that we send out about

your sales team's performance. Here are three things I notice. Let's talk about those, or here's my thoughts about that. Here's what we can do from there. And I want your feedback, making those needs a productive showing up ready for your day.

It shows your team that you care enough to put in the work, even when no one's watching.

Because let's be honest, nothing derails a meeting faster than a leader who's scrambling to catch up in real time.

Right? We've got to do the pre-work. Take the time before meetings to prepare your thoughts, review materials, anticipate questions. You to be punctual. Respect your team's time by starting and ending meetings on time. This shows that you value their contributions. You have to model accountability. You have to hold yourself to this same high standard and admit it. Now we're all...

None of us are perfect and your team doesn't expect you to be perfect, but they do expect you to be honest and to be willing to admit when you've fallen short. Accountability starts at the top.

As leaders, we can't show up consistently, you know, five, 10 minutes late to, you know, one-on-ones with our team.

We have to.

show and demonstrate that we're ready, that we've done the pre-work.

that we care about our people's time. The worst, one of the worst things you can do as a leader is waste your people's time. None of us have enough of it. You're probably putting way more on their plates than they can handle. And then when you show up late to a meeting, when you show up unprepared, when you have to ask for things, when they're waiting for you to catch up, to catch up to reading,

What you're demonstrating to them is I'm not committed to you. I'm not committed to this role. I'm not committed to doing my job. I'm not committed to being a professional. Professionals demonstrate commitment.

by being prepared.

So there you have it. The three components of commitment that make leaders truly effective. Mission first, people always. Developing team members and preparedness. By focusing on these principles, you not only earn the trust and respect of your team, but also create a culture of excellence and resilience.

We have to remember that commitment isn't just about words. It's about actions. It's about showing up, being present and leading with purpose. A committed leader inspires others to give their best because they know their work is valued and their leader is fully invested in the mission and the team.

Thank you for joining me on this episode of no limits leadership. I hope you found this solo episode and discussion on commitment valuable and you're inspired to lead with greater commitment. If you enjoyed this episode, please just share it with somebody. That's all I'm asking you to share with one person, right? Let them know the work we're doing here at no limits leadership. And as always keep pushing past your limits and lead with intention until the next time.

Let's stay committed.

Thank you for joining me on this episode of no limits leadership. hope you found this discussion and thank you for joining me on this episode of no limits leadership. hope you found this solo episode and discussion around commitment to be impactful. I hope it resonated with you. Remember this is one of four key traits. Confidence, competence, commitment and character that leaders must demonstrate.

in order to have effective.

Thank you for joining me on this episode of no limits leadership. hope you found this episode and discussion around commitment. Inspiring. hope you've, you found it impactful. I hope you found that it helps inspire you to lead with greater commitment yourself. If you invent, if you enjoyed this episode, you know,

Thank you for joining me on this episode of no limits leadership. hope you found this discussion on this solo episode, impactful. hope it inspired you to lead with more commitment. hope it gave you a structure right to. Thank you for joining me on this episode of no limits leadership. hope you found this discussion valuable and you're inspired to lead with greater commitment. If you enjoyed this episode, all I'm asking.

Just share with somebody, right? Just tell a friend, just text them, email them, send them the link, and let's spread the message of no limits leadership. Remember when we unleash leadership, we unlock true potential.