Leadership Huddle with Geoff Welch

Geoff Welch

Leadership Huddle is a resource for developmental leaders who value communicating clearly, helping others smash limiting beliefs, and drawing the best work from themselves and those they lead.  Covering topics related to personal and developmental leadership, self-management,  delegation, and healthy mindsets, Geoff Welch uses each episode to help leaders like you enrich their people and build winning teams.

  1. 5D AGO

    The two words that instantly deliver outsized results

    My wife and I genuinely like each other.So, obviously, our relationship is perfect and there are never any tense or complicated moments between us.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHALike any couple, we overreact and underreact and misunderstand and miss-speak and forget we are on the same team.But we figured something out that makes being consistently copacetic more likely: everything just works better between us when we thank each other for the small things.Thank you for taking the trash out…Thank you for making the bed…Thank you for making dinner…Thank you for picking up popcorn from the movie theater on your way home…Thank you is disproportionately powerful. It costs nearly nothing to deploy, but earns miles of goodwill.The thing about “thank you” is that the subject of the gratitude doesn’t need to be grandiose for it to matter, your expression just has to be genuine.That’s it.Sharing genuine gratitude for any number of silly things with the people you lead is the single easiest way to deepen connection, build trust, and help them feel valued.TRY THIS: Say THANK YOU to as many people as you can this week. Don’t pander or flatter, just share as much genuine gratitude as you possibly can and see what happens.My free PDF, “The 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams,” will show you the simple leadership moves that help teams unlock their full potential and deliver outsized results, without burning out. Grab your copy now at geoffwelch.com/secrets

    12 min
  2. FEB 18

    What 75 Years on the River Teaches You About Leadership with Wade Binkley

    It’s rare for a 43-year old to have had only one employer. And rarer still for that employer be the same employer his father and grandfather had.In this episode, I sit down with Wade Binkley, President of Riverboat Discovery, to explore what it really means to lead a legacy business in Alaska. We talk about growing up inside a family operation, carrying 75 years of reputation on every departure from the dock, and running a company that reinvents itself every summer.Wade shares how he thinks about responsibility, to family, employees, guests, and community, and what it’s like to lead hundreds of mostly young, first-time employees in an environment where safety and hospitality have to coexist. We dig into empowering people at the front lines, setting standards without micromanaging, and why “bias toward action” has been one of his biggest leadership growth edges.This is a conversation about stewardship, trust, and doing the right thing consistently, especially when the river, the weather, and the calendar don’t care how prepared you feel.Connect with Wade:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadebinkley/Web Site: http://riverboatdiscovery.comMy free PDF, “The 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams,” will show you the simple leadership moves that help teams unlock their full potential and deliver outsized results, without burning out. Grab your copy now at geoffwelch.com/secrets

    51 min
  3. FEB 15

    This will change every difficult conversation for the better

    Have you ever had to have a difficult conversation with someone on your team?Maybe they screwed something up, or were behaving poorly. Maybe you had to deliver some news they weren’t likely to enjoy.I know a few people who genuinely relish diving into a challenging conversation, but most of the people I know would wish them all away if they could.Here’s the thing: I can’t make difficult conversations go away, but I do know the secret to making them more manageable. Also, you aren’t going to like it.The secret is not a conversational tactic in a book. Those can be helpful, but that’s not the real game changer.What fundamentally changes these conversations is developing the trust-rich relationships that are necessary to be heard.This isn’t an elixir. This isn’t a foolproof way to make sure the other person doesn’t get defensive or even angry. This is a way of establishing – in the days, weeks, and months prior to the conversation – that you care about their success and are going to give them the encouragement and correction necessary to help them win.You can’t control how someone will react in a tension-filled moment, but you can cement in their mind that you are FOR them through your actions TOWARD them on all the days when a difficult conversation isn’t necessary.Take an interest in the things that are important to them. Be honest with them about their performance over and over again. Offer routine encouragement and correction (Batting Practice Feedback) to help them grow. Ask for their input and feedback. Be willing to admit your own mistakes. Be honest with yourself about their capabilities and your tolerances. Resenting them for not being able to live up to your expectations is unfair. If they can’t win where they are, help them find a new path.Generally, treat them like someone you care about.If you can’t do that, they might not be the problem after all.TRY THIS: Offer someone on your team encouragement this week about something they are doing well. Offer someone on your team correction this week about how they could improve something that isn’t really working. One is not good and the other bad, both are just levers to help your people WIN.My free PDF, “The 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams,” will show you the simple leadership moves that help teams unlock their full potential and deliver outsized results, without burning out. Grab your copy now at geoffwelch.com/secrets

    17 min
  4. FEB 8

    You can’t offer clarity you don’t have

    In my 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams workshops we do an exercise in which participant leaders write a “movie synopsis” for the projects their team is involved in.The goal is to accurately describe the project in the shortest, simplest language so it can be easily understood by anyone on the team.Team members will still need Puzzle Box Clarity about the detail and minutiae, but this synopsis is a way of encapsulating what DONE looks like in a way that is intentionally shareable. And a funny thing happens as these leaders are crafting these short, punchy summaries: they realize they don’t have the clarity they need to do it well.The exercise is designed to get them to break the project down to its essence, but that process often reveals that they need more clarity from their own leaders.Your people will never have more clarity about what DONE looks like than you do.That makes it incumbent upon you to ask the smart (and “dumb”) questions of those above you to ensure you are crystal clear about what you are asking of your team.TRY THIS: Ask your people, “Can you describe what DONE looks like for project X in one sentence?” Don’t expect eloquent answers, it’s your job to give them an eloquent synopsis, but pay attention to what they seem sure of and where they seem hesitant. You’ll know exactly where you need to increase clarity pretty quickly.My free PDF, “The 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams,” will show you the simple leadership moves that help teams unlock their full potential and deliver outsized results, without burning out. Grab your copy now at geoffwelch.com/secrets

    13 min

About

Leadership Huddle is a resource for developmental leaders who value communicating clearly, helping others smash limiting beliefs, and drawing the best work from themselves and those they lead.  Covering topics related to personal and developmental leadership, self-management,  delegation, and healthy mindsets, Geoff Welch uses each episode to help leaders like you enrich their people and build winning teams.