Your Transformation Station - 94. Communication Skills Needed Today

Episode Date: February 15, 2022

Hybrid workplace model and communication skills of today are in flux, we record our meetings on Zoom, we have dropped calls in our interviews, we have the baby and the dog in the background. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

relevant and is it accurate? And the only way to have that accuracy is by meeting their needs, understanding their behaviors, and knowing their preferences. I feel like that's a really important thing. And the only way to do that, of course, is, well, communication. Oh, speaker request. Deborah, I do appreciate that. But now I'm kind of doing this one solo for today. But, know that means a lot that you wanted to chime in. How can you create a transformation in others if there's no transformation in yourself? Join your host, Greg Favaza, as your voice on the hard truths of leadership, your transformation station connecting clarity to the cutting edge of leadership.

As millennials, we can establish change, not only ourselves, but the, through organizational change, bringing transparency that goes beyond the organization and reflects back into ourselves. Extracting. Extracting. Actionable advice and alternative perspectives that will take you outside of yourself. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to your transformation station. I'm getting a call from a bill collector right now as we speak. I'm sorry, but I am recording this introduction.

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This is your transformation station. And now your host, Greg Favaza. Testing, testing, testing. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to your transformation station and with your host right here, Greg Favaza. First off, I'd like to holler at all of you. God, I want to say all of yaw, but it's too late. All of you, thank you for tuning in to today's episode.

I appreciate everyone that has been a frequent subscriber. No, we don't give out frequent flyer miles, but we do appreciate reviews. So scroll down, hit a review button right down below. and hit the star and say, Greg, you the best, or keep doing what you're doing, or don't matter, anything is good. Whatever you feel comfortable with,

I'm open to suggestions, I'm open to words of affirmation or appreciation. Whatever you desire, I accept. Thank you. I accept you, just as you accept me. Anywho, today we are going to go into what leaders should be asking themselves.

And as I record this, I'm going to record another session as we communicate. There we go. What leaders should be asking themselves today and an interesting thought here? So I was going through some of my previous work that I've been doing in school and looking into organizational culture like always and I came across something online when I was referencing something with hybrid work models now what are leaders direct leaders is what I'm referring to out of organizational leaders direct leaders individuals that have con that maintain contact over a small group that delegate task and yes how are they interacting with their employees so if we understand what the

hybrid model is i was only aware there's only one but there's actually three types of hybrid models and there's option a which is some employees work on site and others work remotely or option B, all employees work on site for part of the week and remotely for part of the other week. And option C would be a combo of the two. Now, how are leaders who are in charge of those people that are working remotely? How are they handling their employees? That just sounds like handling them. I mean, they should be handling them, but hang on here.

But how are leaders interacting and maintaining communication with these types of individuals that are working from home? I know with my previous experience, I've worked at UPS. I had, I was managing Missouri's incoming packages inside the hub out in Earth City, Missouri. and I had about 18 employees at a period of a time. Normally it would be about 10, but once shit gets heavy hits the fan, I need more people. I holler it out and they bring them up.

So understanding that the direct interaction when working at work, there's a lot of micromanaging, but also with the military. Now, the camaraderie is a lot deeper in my job as a time. as a sergeant, I was maintaining a team where my efforts didn't stop at the end of the workday. Like if they got shit-faced, they would end up calling me and I would pick their ass up.

Because if they got in trouble, then it was my fault, 24-7. I was their parent. I was their fucking their counselor, their therapist, their dietitian, their doctor, everything, everything you can possibly think of as a big brother slash boss, I was that dude. And I'm trying to weigh this out as far as how we are leadership, how they are actually interacting with their employees. I mean, when they're doing remote work and they see them on the screen through the virtual channel and they realize, oh, you have a dog.

I didn't know that. Oh, you're married. I didn't know that either. Like, is that a shock for today's leadership that they're coming across things that they didn't know about their employees? I feel like that's a huge issue. I'm not stressing that employee, that direct leadership go Sergeant Favaza on them and invade their privacy and their life and overwhelm them with, hey, I'm here for you any day. of the week, you just let me know because I know they're not getting paid for that kind of achievements. But where is the level, like, where's the line in the sand where there should be a standard of knowing your employee's personal lives? Because if we really understand that as a leader for me, knowing that, I know what, I, I, I understood what drove them, what made them come to work every day. Other than the fact that, I mean, you get punished under UCMJ.

I mean, if you don't show up to work, we'll fucking drag your ass to work. I mean, that's the military style. But no, in today's world right now, what is the standard in knowing what you should know from your employees? You should know if they have a fucking dog. I mean, if you have a dog and they have a dog, I mean, I think that's fantastic. You should relate that over because that could be just something that will brighten their day knowing, hey, this is something you can talk to that's not about work because that kind of conversation is surfaced. It's boring and it literally demotivates me when I had to come into my job when we would just talk about weapons and shit. No, actually, that was kind of fun.

We won't talk. I would say if it's that hi, hey, how are you doing? How's the weather? Oh, it's great. Okay, you're going to get started on your task? Yeah. All right, I'll see you later. And then it's the next thing every day.

Every day. That will just make me want to shoot myself. So what exactly are these, what is direct leadership doing to get to know their employees? I feel like that's a really important question. I feel like they should know if their family. Like their employees family. Hey, are they married? Do they have kids?

Do they have any medical issues that they're dealing with that you're not aware of? Now, yes, they're protected by HIPAA. If they don't want to share that shit with you, then you keep your mouth shut and leave it B. But if they do, I mean, that's great. I feel like that's something that you should know. I mean, for me, shit, I'm a little, I'm undiagnosed bipolar. So if you do shit that pisses me off. And I told you to leave me the fuck alone.

and you still do it, I might lose my shit. But there's other times when I feel like, hey, the shit happens. I get it. But these types of questions as far as knowing your employee, I feel like that would contribute to the psychological safety of a workplace. I've spoken about that in my previous episodes where we go into this. We hit it a little bit. But if we understand.

our employees, what drives them, what they're dealing with, what things that they're looking forward to, what things that demotivates them, that would ripple into a better communication between the channels. I feel like if they know that you're on that personal level, that would be much easier for them to be able to open up. and say, hey, hey, boss, hey, direct supervisor, you're being a dick right now. And I feel like I need at least 10 minutes to go smoke or do something to get away from you. If we had that open communication channel, that would be beneficial to everybody.

Now, some other questions that I was surfing the internet that I wanted to bring up is this is for the direct leadership. Am I fostering a healthy work environment? Now, that's a good question. Are you doing that? I know when I'm when I'm looking at Sergeant Favaza and I'm comparing him to UPS, UPS, Gregory Favaza, there's two different versions of me. Me, I was living the principles, knifeing and everybody, hey, this is what needs to get done. Hurry the fuck up versus the other one where I'm standing at a distance and I'm just observing and reporting and letting people know, hey, if you're not picking up your flow, I'm going to have to report you. And if we, if I do this little piece of paper and I write everything down and you fail this test and we do

this five times, then you're going to get docked on your pay. And if this continues, then you're going to lose your time off or we're just going to send you home and we don't need you. I mean, there's two different ways and I don't like either of those. I feel like there, is always another way to doing something. I mean, those aren't the only two ways that I know of. Those are just the ones that I'm throwing out as a quick reference to illustrate a picture. But am I fostering a healthy work environment? Our leadership, are you guys asking yourself then?

I would love to talk to you directly and understand how you're operating and the contextuals that are occurring. especially in changing, in organizational change. Yes, there are a lot of moving factors that you have to be consistent on. And the number one thing is commitment and consistency. I get it. I get it. And then at the very end, you have to do a self-assessment to say, is this where you made,

is this where you wanted to end up? I completely get it. But yes, there are. as policy that there is a vision and matching that vision to the actions and maintaining. I get that. But what are you doing? Because I feel like if your head is not on straight, then how are you able to lead others in the position that you are in?

And now did you slip through the cracks? Do you deserve to be in that position? That's another question that you have to deal with. Think about that. Now, the next question is, what do I need to work on? Interesting how that just came right up. What do you need to work on? First off, are you doing your basic human essentials?

Are you following a speaker request? What is this? No, I'm not going to let you in. Sorry. Are you doing the basic essentials in maintaining a healthy living style? Are you maintaining a consistent? Consistent chronology. Are you going to bed on time? Are you eating healthy? Yes, we all wear these great habits. Yeah, la, la, la, la. Fantastic stuff. Are you doing it, though? I know I'm not doing it. Half the time. I'm fucking up every day. And I hate it. I hate it. And I beat the shit out of myself at the gym just to make myself feel better that I only got two hours of sleep last night. But you know what? I'm a full-time student, full-time dad, along with course, significant other, yes. And among other things, maintaining a household, fixing the house,

doing all this shit to make it happen. Yes, we all have that going on. You know what? If you were my boss and you knew that, then you would have an understanding. Okay, Greg, he's stressed out. He didn't get much sleep. So I know I'm not going to put him face to face in front of the camera. I'm going to keep him at a distance today because he needs a little space. He's going to cool down. He's going to be great. He's going to get a good night sleep tonight. And then he's going to be fresh. He's going to be rolling tomorrow like he should be. Those are some factors that you need to take into account. Okay. Next question. How did I enable or hold back my team today? That's a good question. Now, how do you do that? How do you catch yourself in the moment right when there's a situation

occurring. Of course, that takes practice. Take self-reflection. Yes. Takes journaling. Takes whatever you want to do in your downtime. That it will help you. Meditation, stretching. Yes, I need to be consistent with that. I'm not, and I'm trying my best. And I will do what I can at the time I can do it. However, we have priorities. And if you hear shit on different podcasts where they're saying, oh, you just do these great things, you're going to feel a lot better. But do you know what? Half of them aren't even consistent with it. So don't feel guilty if you're not either because I always thought that they were the people that are getting on the mic oh my god they're they're doing that every day I want to be just like these people and I and I fail and I'm upset with myself and I will literally try again and try again and look at

these people and like how are they doing this they're just doing it every day what what is different from me and them there shouldn't be any difference when reality is they're just high hiding it. They're not opening up. They're not being 100% honest and authentic. They're reading from a fucking script. However, I'm not reading from a script. I'm looking back and reflecting on my past and I'm looking at questions I found on the internet. And yeah, I'll leave links into the fucking in this episode and on this live feed whenever I get a chance. I'm trying to multitask. So those that are listening, thank you. Hi, everyone. I appreciate that. It makes me feel good. So those are questions that I've always

came to my mind when I was trying to be consistent. But back to where originally what I was focusing on, with direct leadership and how you're interacting. Are you creating that effective workplace culture? What are you doing as an individual? And if you aren't doing what you should be doing, how are you sleeping at night? Because I know you're bringing that shit home. You're impacting your family.

It ain't doing you any good overall. So how far will you go until finally something. cracks and most likely it's going to be you. So now look at this. How can I nurture evolution back to the hybrid model? Yes, that is relevant today. What are you doing and maintaining communication with your employees? Are you developing the employee persona?

Now, if you think about that, the persona, now, you have to, you have to, you, you have, you, You have to really look into, I used to read a lot of fictional kind of things and a lot of nonfiction, but you want to have that second consciousness where it's almost like your people watching. You know, if you were to watch somebody from a distance and you see maybe like a couple of fighting, you might narrate what's actually going on over there when it might not be going on but from your own understanding from your previous past you're making an educated guess on what might be occurring so you might say i don't i fucking hate you you're yuck and your cheek on me and all that

this and this but but really they might just be arguing because you fucking left something in the oven too long and the shit caught on fire but that but you don't know so the persona that you have is actually relevant and is it accurate and the only way to have to have have that accuracy is by meeting their needs, understanding their behaviors, and knowing their preferences. I feel like that's a really important thing. And the only way to do that, of course, is, well, communication. Oh, speaker request. Deborah, I do appreciate that, but now I'm kind of doing this one solo for today. But no, that means a lot that you wanted to chime in. building that infrastructure.

Okay. Now that supports a flexible work style. Yes. This is all about technology right now. Virtual communication, baby. You got to love it. Whether you hate it or not, you're going to adapt one way or another.

You ain't got no job. That's how it's happening. Okay. Investing in company culture. That's what it's requiring today. And that's what I'm getting my degree in. not in company culture, but understanding organizational leadership. It's the best thing in the world.

To me, I love it. But a leader, you got to get continuous feedback. If you ain't seeking feedback, you're not learning and you ain't got curiosity, give a fuck. Now, are you that type of employee? Are you that type of leader? Obviously, regardless, you're an employee. That's a lot of questions that we have to be concerned. considerate about. I want to keep going, but it's just like, no, I have other shit I need to keep

doing that is required of me my other time. But I love getting on the mic. I love talking. I love to get people to smile, get people to laugh. I want to be funny in my own way, but still try to give something nurturing and enlighten somebody on today. These are just questions that need to be considered and need to be just reviewed even though if they're fundamentals to everyone great review them because that's that that's what the military does that's what bakes us fucking great at what we used to what i used to do but what they do is they review the fundamentals every day refine refine refine the same shit it's worth monotonous but it's automatic when you need it We don't rise to the occasion.

We fall back on preparation. I can't claim that. That's a beautiful thing that I'd love to hear, and you guys should aspire to use it. You've been listening to Your Transformation Station, your voice on the hard truths of leadership. We hope you've enjoyed the show. We hope you've gotten some useful and practical information. Make sure to like, rate, and review the show. Remember, your transformation station is on all major platforms, including Facebook, Instagram,

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