672 | More Tactics Won’t Fix It—Here’s What Actually Will

What if the breakthrough you're looking for isn't another strategy? What if it's something simpler and more powerful? That is coming up next.

Welcome to The Chris LoCurto Show, where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are.

Welcome to the show, folks. I hope you're having a fabulous day wherever you are.

Today, we are talking through how we don't need more tactics necessarily to fix the things that we have going on.

In fact, if you're wrapping up Q1 and you're feeling a little stretched, maybe even wondering why things still seem to be flowing through you, you're not alone.

Most leaders hit this point and think, you know, maybe we just need a better system, maybe we need a new strategy. Maybe we haven't found the right tool yet.

And listen, that's not a wrong way of thinking. That's a good way of thinking, but it's also not the full picture.

So in this episode, we're going to walk through a few simple shifts that can completely change how your business feels to run and how your team shows up inside it.

Now, I will tell you as I go through this, it is something that I have helped many leaders over the years who struggle with the I need a new tactic, I need a new thing, I need a new system, I need a new process.

They see that there are struggles, they see that there are things that could be going better, but what ends up happening is they end up putting in a new process almost yearly and sometimes even a couple of different processes every year.

Folks, I am my team. We are process people. We have fantastic processes to solve stuff, to run businesses incredibly successfully.

But I can tell you, putting in new stuff over and over again and different stuff and different, you know, authorities' way of thinking and different companies' ways of doing stuff isn't the solution that you're looking for.

What that does over and over and over again when you continue to do the new next thing right, is you tank your company's morale, you tank your culture.

Because just as they are starting to do something that appears like maybe it's going to be a good new process or it's what you're telling us we should do, and then we shift gears. Well, now we have to start learning a whole new another process.

And I know it doesn't. I know it doesn't seem like it's a lot to the leader at the time when they're putting it in place, but what it does to your team is eventually they go, well, whatever.

I'm just going to keep doing what I do every day. And, you know, maybe this new process will solve everything. It's not. It's not going to. Now, I'm not saying you don't have the need for a new process.

Like I say, we are huge process people, but we are also huge on consistency. We are also huge on not changing direction 14 times in three years. Right. You need a leadership reset.

There's no doubt about that. And we're going to talk about, you know, four shifts that change everything. But I want you to realize we need to find what works. It needs to be stuff that actually works.

It needs to be stuff that is proven. And then we need to drive it forward and we need to find out, you know, if something's not working, what's wrong with how we're implementing. Right?

Is it this new process that is supposedly the next great thing, or do we just need some fixes to some things that we aren't doing well at the time?

Shift 1 – Stop Solving It with Tactics (00:04:10)

So the first shift I want you to do is I want you to stop looking for the next fix.

You've been trying things, new tools, new strategies, new ideas, and it's not helping. Obviously, if it was, we wouldn't be looking for the next new fix. Right?

So here's the truth. That's not a problem. That's what good leaders do. Try to figure out, right, what do I need to do? But sometimes the issue isn't what you're doing, it's the weight you are carrying. Yes. You while you're doing it.

So instead of asking, what should we try next? Start asking, why? Why is this still dependent on me? What is still dependent on me?

What are the things that keep coming back on me as a leader that I'm still heavily focused on or I'm still heavily involved in, and should I be? Here's how it impacts your team when you do this. Your team stops waiting for the next change because they're probably.

They're probably expecting something's coming at some point and they start engaging with what's already in motion. Let me say that again.

They start engaging with what's already in motion. And it's not just a team impact.

The cultural impact that you experience, things begin to feel steadier, less reactive, more intentional, less like everything's going to change at any.

You know, that when the next shoe drops, everything changes. Right?

So this is what I call the leadership crazy cycle. So for you to get out of all of this junk and confusion and intensity, this is what I call the Leadership Crazy Cycle.

When you're working hard, but it still feels like, you know, you're not getting ahead to do this. Let's go after more consistency. Let's--

Let's solve the things that are keeping everything dependent on you, and then you'll be blown away how you're able to actually get more stuff off of your plate and lead your team and your culture even better.

Shift 2 – Eliminate Strategic Overload (00:06:28)

Second shift. Simplify what matters. So what's happening right now is you care deeply about your business. It's so natural. You have a lot of ideas, you have a lot of priorities.

You probably have a decent amount of direction that you're looking at going in, or you actually are going in. But it creates this tension.

And the tension is that everything matters and that everything is a good idea, and everything needs focus and everything needs attention.

And it's hard for your team to actually know what matters most when. And I know you've probably been there at some point working for somebody else or in a different role where you've experienced that same thing, where everything seems to be important. Right?

You have a leader that is like, gosh, I can't. I don't know what to focus on. I don't know what's most important today because everything is important.

I've been in those situations in my younger years where I've asked that question, can you just help me to prioritize? What is it that you want? What is the thing that's the priority?

And I've literally heard leaders say, when I was, you know, pretty young, I've literally heard them say, well, everything's important. Okay, but can you help me to prioritize? Well, everything needs to be prioritized. That doesn't make sense.

That literally goes against the concept of prioritization. What's the most important thing I work on? Well, everything's important for you to work on. Okay.

Now I just feel like you're just. You're just trying very hard to get me to do 47,000 things and you don't actually care. Right? Because what I need to know is if I'm a team member on your team, I need to know what's most important.

What is the key result you're looking for in what you're paying me for? Right. When I look at my role, when I look at my job, what are the most important things that I accomplish?

What are the highest priorities that I, that I go after today? What should I prioritize on my to do list?

Because if you don't let me know if what I feel like is that everything carries the same exact amount of priority, then I can tell you my energy is going to be split like, you know, what we call a shotgun approach.

I'm going to be going in 17 different directions. I'm going to give a little attention to this. Little attention to this little tension over here, a little attention on this thing over here that just popped up on my radar.

And it's not going to be intentional. It's not going to be. It's not going to be productive, I can tell you that. It's going to be insanely reactive and not very proactive.

So what changes here? You don't lose momentum by making sure that we understand what is most important. You instead create focus. When a team member can have intentional focus, that increases momentum, that helps them to accomplish.

We are huge on. Especially when we. We have our lesson called Killing the Leadership Crazy Cycle.

We help people to understand how to prioritize their day, especially through batching and blocks of time, so that they can give the attention to one thing so that it gets done.

It gets done well, and it gets done quickly because it's the right amount of focus.

So how does that impact your team? Well, instead of asking, what are we doing right now?

They begin to look and execute the things that they know that are on their list with confidence. They know these are my biggest priorities. These are the things that are most important. This is the order in which I need to accomplish stuff.

They get in there and they knock it out. What does it do for your culture? Well, the cultural impact is clarity starts to replace the low level of confusion, or it might even be a--

It might even be a decent level of confusion, but it starts to replace that confusion that's draining energy. And you know that it is. Right. The thing that we want is we want people to be energized to.

To not be, you know, comatose by the end of the day because of, you know, their energy is going in so many different directions and there's so much confusion.

We want them feeling good about what they're doing. We want them energized. We want them focused. Focus doesn't limit your business. It literally unlocks it.

Shift 3 – Create Radical Clarity (00:11:18)

So third shift, you have to create real clarity. So what does this look like?

You have to step back and ask yourself, what are the one to two things that actually move us forward right now? Now, I can tell you, so many people don't take this step.

They believe that everything their team is doing is necessary. They believe that everything their team is doing is good. It's right. And they very rarely stop and evaluate what are the things that are actually moving us forward right now?

What gets us moving? What makes us, you know, successful? What gets more clients on board, what makes clients happy? What are the things that create more revenue or create better net profit?

What are the things that are moving us forward?

Second thing you need to ask is, does our team know that? Clearly, and I think you probably already know the answer to that.

I think you probably already know that there is a level of confusion in team members on whether or not what they're doing is the thing that moves the ball forward.

Do they know that they are winning for sure? Do they know, like, if I went to, you know, if I grabbed a handful of team members on your team and said, hey, what you're doing today, is it causing this company to win?

Are you winning by causing this company to win today with what you're doing? How many of those folks would go, I hope so, but I don't know.

I think so. I mean, this is what they had me doing. Or would they be like, yeah, absolutely. This is the top priority. We've gone over this. I know what to do. I know what to be focused on. Right.

What would their answer be now? By asking these questions, here's why it works. Because clarity gives people confidence. And confident teams don't need constant direction. When they know what to focus on.

When they know what they do, not just what the company is doing, but what they do that drives the company forward, that drives the company to success.

Success, their confidence increases. You get it. You know it. You've experienced it.

You know that when you're doing something that's the right thing to do, you know how much it feels really good that you came in today, you did something successful, and, you know, you got to do that all day long and then go home.

You know you're going to get a paycheck for doing the right stuff. Well, that's exactly what your team members need to understand. They need to know that what they're doing is right.

They need to know that what they're doing is the thing that's impacting the business in a positive way, not just doing stuff because somebody's paying me to do it.

And by the way, when you ask these questions, something that you may discover is things that your company is doing that they should not be doing, things that your team is doing or individuals are doing that well, we've been doing this forever, and we shouldn't.

It's not even something we should be focused on.

When you dig in and see what everything, you know that people are doing, all the tasks, all the different aspects of jobs and roles, and you compare that to what actually makes us successful, you may discover there's things you need to get rid of.

And I will tell you, in my years of leading businesses, that's always been a happy thing.

When I can find that we have wasted. It's not happy to find that we've wasted resource. But if something is being wasted and we discover it and we can refocus it and, you know, make things more successful, that's always a happy day.

So what is the team impact you're experiencing here while they start making decisions without needing to check with you on everything? Right.

If they know priorities, if they know what, what they do that's making the company successful, if they know these aspects, then they don't have to keep coming back to you going, am I doing the right thing?

Is this what should I should be working on? Is there something else, you know, that you want me to do? They don't have to keep coming to you.

What's the cultural impact? Ownership grows, man. Let me just tell you the way that people think when they know they're doing the right stuff, when they know what winning looks like, when they know that they--

they are literally focused on the most important stuff and they understand that, you know, how they are making the company successful.

Ownership grows. Those are the roles that they want to own. Those are the aspects of their job that they want to just grab by the reins, right?

So it's super powerful vision. Vision for team members isn't just inspiration. It's literally direction that your team can act on.

Shift 4 – Reset Your Role as a Leader (00:16:21)

Now shift number four has to be how you lead. What do I mean by that? So what's happening right now is you've likely been stepping in because you care.

You're probably stepping into some situations, you're probably solving some problems.

Some stuff is probably continuously coming back to you because you care, because you're capable, because you want things done well, because you want to solve problems, because you're just a good person in these areas.

However, and while that is a strength that you can do those things, at some point the leadership needs to shift from doing for the team, listen to me.

To developing the team. You need to shift from doing for your people to developing your people. So what changes here? You begin to release decisions to your team and help them to get ready so that they can solve on their own.

You start asking more questions than giving answers. You've probably heard me talk about this recently? Well, I talk about it all the time. But helping people by not solving and instead asking them questions, and ask more questions.

What would you do here? What do you think we should do? How should we go about this? What's your next steps to doing this? All the things that help them to learn, grow, solve for themselves and take action.

Why does this work? Well, it's not just you getting things done and it's not just the team getting things done. It's you building people to get things done without you.

Oh my gosh, Chris, what would I do if people didn't need me to solve problems? Trust me when I say you're needed at a higher level. You're needed at a more strategic level than you're at right now.

And if you can get your team to solve and if you can get your team to think for themselves and if you can get your team focused on the highest priorities, then you can set even higher ones that help them to be successful at a different level.

So you end up growing your leadership. The team impact is you help them grow into a level of leadership as well. And hopefully you've got some leaders that you're raising up in these ways.

But the cultural impact is that the business becomes less dependent on you folks. You know you want that.

You know you want to be able to leave your business and go on that dream two week vacation, three week vacation and not have any problems when you get back.

And there not to be a ton of fires when you get back. Right. You know you want to be able to have that time. That's what we're talking about.

But to do it, you have to have a more driven team. You've got to get to a place where your team knows exactly what they should be focused on and what they're doing. This is where for you and for your team freedom starts.

So here's the deal. You don't need to do more to change your year. You just don't. You might need a small reset on how you're leading, but it doesn't mean add, add, add more tactical, more tactical, more tactical. Right.

The leaders who are gaining momentum, they're doing it because they're not carrying everything, not everything is relying on them.

They've built teams that can carry it with them and that is powerful and that is freeing.

A Challenge For You (00:20:10)

So I'm, I'm going to challenge you this week. Pause one initiative that's not clearly tied to your top priority. Get crystal clear on your top one to two focuses for this following quarter.

The quarter that you know you're in. Maybe whenever you're listening to this as Q2 is starting for us, get focused on that.

What are the top one to two things that you must focus on for success of the business and let your team own one decision that you've been holding?

Just one. We don't have to go ballistic right now. What we need is practice. The more you practice it, the more you. The more your team will be able to do it.

The more your team will be able to anticipate you, the more they will know what to go after, the more they will know how to think, how to solve everything. When you do this, it is a fantastic thing to watch as your team grows.

So if you're starting to realize I don't want to be in the middle of everything anymore, which hopefully, hopefully you're getting there, then that's exactly what we help leaders work through.

We've got a LIVE event coming up in May where we walk through how to build a business that doesn't depend on you for everything. If that's something you're ready for, then you can learn more at chrislocurto.com/liveevents.

That's chrislocurto.com/liveevents all one word.

So, folks, lead with clarity, lead with intention. As always, take all of this information. Change your leadership, change your business, change your life. And join us on the next episode.