Leadership Formula: Try A Little “TLC”

Hello, this is Doctor E, aka Mister C. Breezy. Inside joke. Happy Thursday to all of you. Today I am going to give a leadership formula. It's not too extravagant, it is not too complex. Actually, it's an acronym that you are probably already familiar with. TLC. The reason I think this is a great leadership formula, one, because it's simple, two, it also hits home, and three, it's something that you can constantly remind yourself to do on a daily basis. So the T trust and transparency how do you build trust?

How you build trust is so important and one of the ways to do that is being transparent as a leader. Say what you mean, mean what you say. Do what others need you to do and always follow through. Transparency leads to trust and trust leads to better team building, better organizations, better organizational culture. How you build trust is so important. How you model trust is so important and how you instill trust is super important. Particularly as a leader and particularly as folks kind of chime in and want to be a part of your teams, your organizations, as well as your culture.

So remember, trust and transparency. L lean in and listen. Why do I say lean in? Because I don't want you to avoid problems. I don't want you to run away from challenges and I don't want you to shy away from tension. Leaning in is a magnificent way to learn. Leaning in is a magnificent way to share and leaning in is a magnificent way to build culture. So lean in, don't shy away and listen. Listen, listen. What others have to say is so important and what others have to say to you as a leader is so important in terms of how you can and what you need to know in terms of leadership.

Give your folks the opportunity to share, to give you, to provide input and to give you an honest, honest portion of themselves when it turned, when it in terms of how they see themselves as a part of your teams and your organization. So lean in and listen. And then the C care and communication, how you show care says a lot about your leadership. One of the things that I constantly tell my folks is family first. And why do I say that and what does that mean? I don't care what's going on in the organization.

I don't care what's happening in terms of the daily responsibilities of work. If you have a family need, why are you here? Go handle that. Go take care of that. Go be supportive of your family. Family first. So that's kind of a culture pillar for me in terms of how I show and how I model care. Communication, communication, communication. Don't give any, any reason for your folks to think that for some reason you can't share or you can't communicate or that you're unwilling to share and that you're unwilling to communicate.

One of the things that leads to better trust, one of the things that leads to better leaning in, is how you communicate in good times and in bad times. And so when you want to share, when you want to lean in, one of the best ways that you can do that is think of different ways to communicate. Whether it's morning affirmations, whether it's team building in some of your meetings, whether it's just stepping away from work and saying, hey, let's not even talk about work. Let's just check in and see how we're all doing, or let's do something fun.

All of those communication habits build to better cultures and lead to better teams. So remember to communicate as a leader and not hold things in because you are a leader. The more personable you are, the more people will lean in and look to you as a leader. So remember this leadership formula, TLC. Trust and transparency, leaning in and listening, care and communication. And if you do those things, if you remember that acronym and that formula, I think you will be well on your way to becoming a great leader.

Take care and I'll see you next time.