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Set Up Your Team for Success in 2022 with Leadership Team Coach, Nikhil Paul

In this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, we talk with Nikhil Paul. For those that may not know him, Nikhil is a leadership coach who founded We R Human to help senior executives and their teams strengthen their focus culture and execution through engaging workshops and coaching programs today on the podcast. Nikhil and I will be talking about how you can set up your team for success in 2022.

Full Transcript Below:

Jenn DeWall:

Hi everyone. It’s Jen DeWall. And in this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, I’m sitting down with leadership host Nikhil Paul- whoa, host? I mean coach! That’s what we’re talking about. We’re here to talk about leadership. So Hey, you know, I, I always like leaving in a little bit of the flubs because that’s reality. Yeah. I could do everything perfectly all the time, but that is just not a realistic expectation, but I love that. Because I know that when we’re talking about mistakes when we’re talking about flubs, that also is the role of a leader in talking about team success, which is what we’re gonna be talking about today! So while we’re starting out, could you just go ahead and introduce yourself tell us your story. How did you come to be— how did you start or found We R Human? I wanna hear it all.

Meet Nikhil Paul, Team Leadership Coach

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah, no, that’s awesome. And as a leadership team host – I’m just kidding. <Laugh>  yeah, no, thank you so much, Jenn, for having me. You know my journey into becoming who I am today. It’s like everybody else, right? It’s like it’s meandering. It’s twists and turns; it’s ups and downs, highs and lows. And you know, I’m actually an immigrant. So one of the things I kind of take when I come into this, any situation or any kind of environment, I always I’m grateful for being where I am. It wouldn’t have been possible if I did, wasn’t able to come to this country and learn and see, and kind of get recognized for some of my skill sets and very early on in high school. That was one of my skill sets that people were like, oh, you’re so good at is public speaking.

And so that is the common vein in a lot of my career— that I kept pushing into talking in front of large groups, trying to MC events and like lead workshops. And so I started out as a startup founder, and I actually built an employee engagement software company a couple of years outta college. And with that startup, I learned a lot about the culture problems and the motivation challenges that big companies are having with their employees. And I also, you know, got to work and interact with them and see it from behind the scenes as well. After a bunch of years of doing that, I kinda, you know, had to shut that down. And I kept moving on. I, I was thinking about it. I was like, you know, I really did enjoy the culture. I really did love motivating people, especially with my team and with the employees who were using our software.

But I was like, OK, finding the next iteration of my entrepreneurship journey. How do I kind of do this again? What should I do? And that’s where I leaned into my skillset of being in front of a group of people being able to like host and see and narrate, and I love it. I love being in front of people. And so that’s the Genesis of, We R Human. When I came up with this idea for the second generation of my career and this entrepreneurial journey, I was like, I wanna, I don’t know exactly what I wanna do, but I know that I wanna do something that taps into something that’s deeply meaningful and that something we all share, and our shared humanity. And We R Human is kind of born from that, this idea of the kind of connecting with people on our most root, vulnerable level as we try to get better, learn, laugh, love more. And so, as part of this journey, I work with teams. I work with companies. I worked with communities. And what I found that I really loved the most was working with passionate people working on moonshot projects. I just realized I absolutely loved it. People are committed and trying to make something happen for the better of their company, their customers or their community. I really was attracted to it. And that’s how I fell into the world of leadership team coaching. And so that’s what brings me here today.

Setting Your Team Up for Success by Remembering We Are All Human

Jenn DeWall:

You know the name, We R Human. I love that because you talked about it. It hits the most. It hits our vulnerable level, the place of who we are as individuals, not just the title that we might show up and come and punch the clock with. <Laugh> I’m curious what your, because I don’t know if 10, 15 years ago, if the name We R Human, would’ve been as meaningful because I still think there was this old notion of, Hey, these are people they should be happy to have a job. What do you mean? Emotions don’t exist at work? I don’t care if they’re human beings. Yeah. I’m curious if you feel like there’s a change where people are, are starting to really engage in the notion of seeing the whole person, because I think that that’s, I love your business name because I just, we are all human. We are trying to do that. Yeah. But I’m curious, your thoughts are in whether or not you’ve seen a change through culture is starting to be more, you know, really inclusive in that regard of seeing that whole person?

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah. A hundred percent right. And it’s kind of like these tectonic shifts and generations and culture because when we, our grandparents, were in the workforce, it was all about just making sure you have a nine to five. It’s a lifetime commitment. That’s your identity. You know, don’t complain and work hard. Right. And then, by the time our parents’ generation came in, the focus was a lot more on making money and getting bonuses that like really kind of focusing on the wealth and the amalgamation of it. I think by the time the millennials and my generations come in, it’s about trying to find meaning in our work. Right. And I am trying to imbue it with a sense of purpose. And so I’m definitely seeing that, like, it’s kind of awesome to see kind of some of my classmates and people that are within my generation really think about, OK, how do I connect to this company?

Or what, what does this product mean to me? And I think that’s the step in the right direction because we spend literally one-third of our lives working. And of course, look, we are not always gonna be working at our dream jobs. And sometimes we have to do things just to pay the bills. But if you are not able to find the way to kind of transform your work into something a little bit more special, a little bit more magical, then you’re kind of missing out on the secret of work. You have to find a way to enjoy the dreary, the dull because there’s, there’s always beauty in the corners and the small things you don’t see. And I, and I love that idea of trying to kind of empower the work that we do, even if it’s not the most like, amazing, inspiring, exciting. Because not all of us get that lucky to work on our dream careers. You have to find a way to find the beauty in it. And so that that’s, I definitely agree.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah, I like that you bring that up because I think, you know, lately, I see a lot of people, Hey, let’s, let’s help you find your dream career. Let’s help you find this. And I used to really buy into the fact that you can have a fully dream career and you can’t. I love what I do. I love what I do, but here’s the truth about it. I still have things I don’t like to do within that dream career. There are still things that we don’t like. I don’t love 100% of the things that I do because, you know what? Some things are outside of my strengths, outside of my interest. And so I’m just gonna plant the seed that for whoever might be feeling like I’m not my dream job because I hate X. That’s OK! A dream job is learning how to find what you said, I forget exactly how you said at the beauty in the corner, you know, looking within and finding that it doesn’t have to be 100% perfect all the time because that’s not the reality of life ever. So how can we even have that expectation?

Nikhil Paul:

<Laugh> yeah. A hundred percent, it’s honestly, not everyone’s ever going to find a dream job. And I think people have the same thing with like titles and outcomes, like the money we make or the titles that we gain. It’s like, nothing is going to make us fully that happy. Right. Because the moment you achieve it, or you get something, or you’re in your dream career, then there’s just the work. After the high wears off, the dopamine goes away. That is just the doing of being, and actually being present in your life and whatever that is like you may be, you know, for me, I love being in front of, like I said, a team of people and those moments to me in like the happiest and the highest. But if all I had was that all the time, I would never really appreciate that. I would get used to it. I would just be like, OK, whatever. Right. But if you go through the boring and the darker times of life and you struggle through it well, then by the time you come back again to what you love or you that what you’re finding that you’re the most joy, then you’re going to really appreciate it. So you need both. You can’t just be in this like Lala land where every moment of your life or your work, even if it’s your dream career, it’s this blissful thing. It’s impossible. The brain doesn’t work like that. Yeah. So, yeah, I agree. <Laugh> yeah.

Jenn DeWall:

And no one is living 100% of the time loving all the things, despite what you see on social media. So remember that!

Nikhil Paul:

That’s exactly right. So

Jenn DeWall:

We’re gonna be talking about how to set up your team for success in 2022. It’s I think it’s probably a question that a lot of leaders have right now. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> what do we want to accomplish? What do we want this year to look like? I’m sure there’s still maybe a lot of leaders that are doing triage right now where people are out sick, or they have vacancies as a result of that big quit. So I’m, I know that a lot of people are gonna appreciate this situation or excuse me, this conversation, because we’re going to give you on what you can do, or I should say we’re, <laugh>, you’re gonna give them the difference. So let’s start out, like, where do you even begin when you think about how do you set up your team for success in 2022? If you were putting yourself into the shoes of that leader, where would you say to start?

Set Your Team Up for Success By Finding Purpose

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah, that’s a great question. So the short answer is it’s its purpose, right? So it goes back to that thing we were talking about with meaning, right. I think as you can see with the great resignation that’s happening, people have realized, look, I don’t have to work at this job if it’s gonna make me miserable like I can figure out other ways to live. And, and it’s this whole new thing. And so if you are an employer or you are a leader of a team, and you are trying to motivate and get people together, try to figure out the great purpose of your work. And I know that sounds a bit farfetched for people are doing kind of like, you know, basic software or like boring products that maybe people are not as excited by, but there’s always some beautiful purpose there.

And it’s your job as a leader to find it. And I’ll, I’ll give you a quick example. Bill George was the CEO of Medtronic, and Medtronic was a medical device company. And, you know, again, medical devices, maybe not the most like, oh my God, amazing. But he was really passionate about it. And he would constantly go about visiting people, the employees, factory workers, the doctors, and the patients. And one day, a doctor was literally so angry at him. And he threw a malfunctioning -he showed him a malfunctioning pacemaker that their company had made. And he threw it at him and said, look at what you’re doing. This is messing up. This is killing my patients, and you have to fix this. And so the bill was very like, he was just, he like, that was the fire under his butt. Like he was like, OK, I need to figure this out.

So he basically, from that day on, he would start bringing in patients into the factory floor of his company, of the pacemaker making shop. And he would bring them through, and he would have these patients talk about their experiences, how life-saving, literally life-saving these pacemakers were. And it would be these really meaningful stories. And by the end of it, the people on the factory floor were crying because of how meaningful and how touched they were by their stories. From that day onward. Do you think any worker would allow a pacemaker to leave that factory that is not functioning right? Because they feel a sense of deep purpose. They’re connected to a greater mission, and it’s a real mission. It’s not just some fluffy we’re doing this to gain market share, or we’re doing this because you know where we need to be innovative. It’s something real; they’re touching people’s lives. And so that’s the first thing I always think about any team that’s coming in, try to find a real human story that connects why you all wanna work on what you’re working on.

Jenn DeWall:

I think that’s so important. I think there are companies that sometimes think by having that mission statement, maybe having that overall organizational objective, that that’s enough. And to some extent, in the example of Medtronics, absolutely. You could probably clearly see how you’re helping the quality of life of others.

Nikhil Paul:

That’s right. That’s right.

Jenn DeWall:

But, and there’s something I noticed in some of the coaching conversations I’ve had this week. Which is how do you instill purpose when they don’t care? And this example is one where I know that it’s the start of the year. A lot of companies might be thinking about how can I make my workforce healthier? So I’m going to set up incentives. Because they know at the end of the day, it’ll save the company money. That’s not enough of a purpose for that person to want to do that. So weird. Do you think people get it wrong when they’re trying to bring out that purpose from people?

To Keep Teams Motivated – Focus on Your Mission and Follow Through

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah. That, that’s a great question. Because you see this all the time in companies, right? Like the company will have a mission, or you go through their offices, they’ll be like, these are the things we’re trying to do. And I think, again, it’s all great efforts. It’s all people trying to take steps in the right direction. What they kind of lose sight of is making a, making it real and connecting to why those people are there, to begin with. Right. If I’m working at a company and I’m a leader at that company, there’s a; there’s a value connection there. There’s a reason I wanna help people who are suffering medically. Maybe I have a father who has a medical condition. Right. So, so part of things is you ha as a leader, you have to figure out a way to connect it to something real.

Right. And, and so the way to kinda do it is, think about a superordinate goal. Imagine if there was like I love Marvel the, you know, the adventure series. And Thanos is kind of what I consider a superordinate Villa, right? He’s the villain that brings together all the years that they come together. So even though they’re all clashing personalities and they don’t necessarily work together in the beginning, by having this overwhelming, like, oh my God, this big kinda superordinate problem in front of them, they band together. So similarly, as a leader, you need to figure out what is the superordinate goal that’s gonna bring a group together. And that’s the first part of it. It has to. That’s how you deeply motivate people, first and foremost, by connecting to something that brings them together. Secondly, it also has to be a sense of focus.

The other thing, why people get demotivated, and they’re not as, you know, following through on their mission or whatever their purpose is, is because they’re not able to make real choices with their mission. Right? Sometimes it gets a little too hazy. It gets a little too up in the air. So part of a leader’s job is to be clear about what we’re focusing on with this mission, with this larger team purpose. And even more importantly, what are we not? What are things we’re saying? No, if you can give that clarity to your teammates, then you’re empowered. Now they know, oh, this is how I can act in my purpose. This is how we actually get to make this purpose come real. And so that’s the other part I always think about. So it’s not only the motivation, finding that big superordinate goal, that’s motivating them and rallying them, but it’s. Also, it’s like this decision-making kind of touchpoint that helps them individually or together make decisions on this is what we’re definitely gonna do this, definitely what we’re not going to do.

Jenn DeWall:

A decision-making touchpoint. It’s so important. I mean, maybe I’m speaking, you know, for someone else here, or maybe I’m speaking from my past experience <laugh> but maybe someone can really, one of my biggest struggles or I would call it my own personal, like pet peeves at work, is feeling like, you know, me as an individual, I want to do so well at my job. That’s very important to me. I take a lot of pride in my work. Yep. And what makes it challenging is when I do feel like there are competing priorities, mm-hmm <affirmative> and Hey, we want you to do this. This is our next initiative. And this one and this one, no, we’re not gonna prioritize them. They’re all of equal importance, which then, you know, triggers that, oh my gosh, how am I even there are not enough hours in the day.

Jenn DeWall:

Yep. And then also it creates an ambiguity of where do I even start and how do I measure myself or should I just make sure I’m doing enough just to, you know, move a little bit that’s. And so I appreciate that you talk about the focus because it really is a pain point for me. I struggle a lot when there are so many competing initiatives being pushed down at me because I just want to say, how are you actually going to measure this? If you just think we can do every single thing. And I love that you called it that decision touchpoint if you just focus. Yeah. You get people permission to also focus. But if you’re not focused, you’re just creating more chaos for the people that report to you or the people that are likely like me want to do a good job, want to do what you need them to do, want to help what’re organization succeed. But you’re doing them a disservice by having too much.

Nikhil Paul:

That’s exactly right. And as a result of that, you know, you’re demotivating them. So, you know, if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. Do you know what I mean? And that’s exactly what you just pointed out. Like, this is one of the biggest things I see teams do all the time. It’s like, well, we gotta do a little of this. And ultimately, they’re not really moving the ball forward. That much of what they should be doing to achieve their purpose. Right. Or, or their basically every idea that comes out, they’re like, this is the next big thing. Like it’s a shiny object syndrome where they’re like, oh my God, this is gonna change it. And so before, you know, it, every three to four weeks, you’re jumping from one idea to another. And so, these are biases. These are cognitive, kind of like you know, inclinations that we all have. So we have to be mindful of that. And that’s why the purpose is a really good point—this kind of use this. And as like, again, that decision touchstone say, OK, what are we definitely gonna say yes to? And what are things we’re definitely gonna say no to so that our people don’t feel demotivated after a while? They’ll just check out if we don’t get this right.

Jenn DeWall:

Which right now, again, there are a lot of options, and there are a lot of vacancies that they can go to. And this is one small thing. You’re just saying, by the way, this is more important than this. When I’m handing this down, that’s great, and it’s just so interesting that it is such a, it’s, you know, two sentences that you can say that I feel like go a long way.

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Set Up Your Team for Success with Psychological Safety

Jenn DeWall:

So we’re starting with, how do you set your team up for success in 2022? It starts with setting up that purpose you had said and then making sure that it’s a purpose that brings people together. And then, of course, that it’s focused that you’re not spreading your purpose or out on all these things that you’re not actually going to yield any final, or I guess anything that’s going to move the mark. Where do you go after you have that purpose?

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah. So once you have the purpose and people feel very motivated and they have a clear sense of what they need to do, the next thing is you need to work on your, what I like to call your culture covenant, right? Because when you have a group of people that are working in a high-performance team, they have to have trust. Because if you don’t have trust with each other, you can’t do much. And that’s, you know, it’s that the core basis of trust in how you, as a leader, know, if you have trust is you can create an environment of safety. And this is something Google has done studies on and found out the trait of the most powerful teams that they have in their company is this feeling of psychological safety. So as a leader, that’s what you have to focus on.

But trust sometimes is like a little hard to, you know, do I trust this person? OK. I dunno what that means. Maybe I do. I don’t, but safety is very clear. You either feel safe with a group of people, or you don’t feel safe. It’s binary. And so, as a leader, that’s the first thing you wanna work on. You wanna create that foundation of safety so that then you can; people start building trust with each other. And once they trust, then they start actually debating and arguing, having constructive conflict, which is the next step you wanna build on top of that. And so that’s the real crux here. You wanna get the team to get into a good place and have very strong, vigorous, real debates and have rules around how to have those debates and how to make those decisions, right? Those are the two cultural touchpoints. You wanna then bring into the team. How are we working together? And what are the culture covenants we should focus on?

Jenn DeWall:

I love that you bring up psychological safety! In some circles, in some conversations? I think there’s a lot of people that are in agreement that psychological safety, you know, we’ve seen those, those studies by Google, by Microsoft, by a lot of different people. And, but yet I’m still meeting people that I think are like, what the heck? What do you mean? Why? That doesn’t make sense! And so I think it’s interesting. I know what sets a lot with diversity, equity and inclusion. But if you would say what psychological safety is in the easiest way, because I, I feel it is just feeling like I am gonna be accepted at work. I feel that I’m not going to be retaliated against, that people are going to have transparent conversations. I’m not sure how you see that, but I guess my question that I’m getting to is why do you think that people still maybe are reluctant to take that and say psychological safety? <Laugh> like, why are we talking about this again? We’re going down that avenue of emotions, psychological safety, yes. Safety. I get it. But psychological safety. What, where do you think that’s people are still resistant to that?

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah. I think people are resistant to that. Maybe it’s because it feels like this should be something we’ve already done. It’s kind of like, Hey, we’re already working together. We’re professionals in a working environment. We don’t need to make this more complex than it needs to be. But the truth is, it’s like- this is like a relationship you’re in, right? If you have a partner, you can’t just go on stasis. Like it doesn’t like a relationship where you guys take each other for granted and just do the same old thing. That’s a relationship slowly wearing itself down. Right. You have to be mindful. You have to vest. That’s the same thing with trust and psychological safety. So like with trust, you have to make sure you’re being intentional about it. Because it’s left to our own devices, we start becoming very protective.

We become more siloed. We become more about ourselves. And so that’s why you need to bring that about. I think a lot of leaders are like, no, we got it. We already have safety. We already have trust. We, I don’t need to kinda get into the weeds again, but it’s not about getting into the weeds again. It’s about working on your fundamentals. No matter what, you still have to work on your fundamentals and check in with the team to make sure that this fabric on which trust is built is not frayed. And so psychological safety to me, the basic question that you can ask is, do you have my back, right? Do you have my back? When I offer an idea that might sound silly, do you have my back when I criticize you in front of others and say, Hey, maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do. Do you have my back when I mess up? Right? So that’s the point here. If you don’t have that, people don’t take chances. People are not real. People are not bold. And that’s when your team starts getting more sluggish, and they start becoming less high-performing. They start going backward.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah. And that’s very valuable. I think about, you know, all the examples that you just shared. And, you know, I think there’s a lot of people right now that might be feeling, I have these vacancies to fill, and everyone just wants money. And I would actually argue that I would rather have a place where I feel supported than make 20,000 or 10,000- whatever that number is- more per year because I want to make sure that I feel safe and supported because it alleviates stress for me. I feel confident. I feel like I can contribute in a greater way. So for those that maybe are still thinking that, oh my gosh, this is annoying. Why do I have to do this? You’re just, again, like slowing down to speed up. You can make people and create the right environment for them to thrive. And then maybe those other things aren’t that big of an issue. And I had this conversation recently, like once those scales tip that’s when, if I’m not feeling supported, well, then you better believe I’m gonna want more money. Because I’m gonna, you know, have less, I guess, tolerance for, if you’re not going to treat me like a person and make sure that safe at work- well then, OK, make sure that you pay me what I deserve. <Laugh> I feel like I’ll be able to make, make concessions for things just to feel supported, like right. It means something.

Nikhil Paul:

That’s so interesting. That’s exactly right. Yeah. That’s right. That’s exactly right.

Set Up Your Team for Success—With Conflict?

Jenn DeWall:

So where we go, we create, we focus on culture, and then we go into talked about conflict, which I love like, so getting into conflict because I think, again, that’s one of the things, or, you know, at Crestcom we teach leadership development. And I think when we’re talking about managing conflict, it does not just have the process. It’s also addressing the culture of your team. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> so where do you go when you’re thinking about we’re setting our team up for success, we’ve got, we’re being mindful of culture, then where are we going? As it relates to conflict?

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah. So, you know, conflict is, to me it’s kind of that final loop around culture, right? Huh. Because the, for me, conflict is where the rubber hits the road. Right. And you’re actually being able to kind of work out the kinks in the system, and you’re all bettering or creating or manifesting something more important. That’s when a team starts actually coming together and becoming more than the sum of their parts. Right. And so, for me, the problem with conflict for a lot of people is that no, we don’t like tension. <Laugh> I think, you know, I was just, I was actually writing a post about this. Martin Luther King, in his letter from Birmingham jail, said I am not afraid of the word tension. Right. And he was saying that because he was defending his need to agitate.

And, and I think back then, a lot of people were like, you know, why don’t you just negotiate rather than lead marches and sit-ins. And because he’s like, listen, you don’t get it. If you don’t have tension, you are not going to address the real problem. And that’s true for societal issues, as well as our professional and team issues. If we don’t have healthy conflict, we’re going to address the root emotional problem. And once you address it, only then do you understand the scale of the problem? Do you understand the subtleties? Do you understand the urgency? Right? And so it’s very important that there’s some level of healthy conflict like there’s tension in the team to help get the best ideas out there. You know, research has shown that the more cognitive diversity that you have, you’re going to have more conflict, but that’s a good thing because the best ideas come from great debates, right?

Ideas that are made in isolation by like this really like visionary leader, they don’t work that well. I mean, we might have stories about the single founder or one person being this amazing genius, this brilliant jerk. But the truth is ideas that are created in a team that’s really highly vetted and debated and reasoned and rationalized. Those are the ones that ultimately have the most success. So, that’s why conflict is so important. It really helps elevate the output, the creativity, the originality of the, and so that’s the second part. I always think about it with a high-performing team.

Jenn DeWall:

I love that for those that might be afraid of conflict. Maybe it’s just looking at it as tension. And you need the right amount of tension. Yeah. Think that, you know, there are so many negatives, many people are afraid of it. I don’t know why I’m less afraid. Probably I should be probably more afraid. <Laugh> But I think it’s personality, but I absolutely know people that it’s, it is really off-put or, and don’t get wrong. There are certain circumstances where of course, it’s really uncomfortable, but the tension is where growth is tension and that, you know, that’s where we’re helping each other challenge the status quo. And, but yet it is, I love that you do put it as part of culture because yeah. You can read a book on the appropriate way to resolve a conflict, have a conflict. But if you don’t have that as an established norm, it doesn’t matter how you apply that.

That’s exactly right. <Laugh> I mean, it’s, you know, so you have to be able to say, and I guess I always go back, and it was a podcast interview that I had done with someone that was in theater, and her name was Hilary Blair. And she talked about how, you know, in many other organizations, I would say industries, and her background was in theater feedback was a totally normal part of it. <Laugh> if you wanted to put on a great performance, you had to take it. And oftentimes it was public too, because, Hey, you didn’t get your line there. But she said people responded better to it because it was just a common part of being in theater. It wasn’t this scary thing. No, we needed it to put on a good performance, but yet here we go. And we have to recognize that we have to establish that commonplace, that prior to people mm-hmm, there’s not been appropriate, like yay conflict! No, we have this fear of conflict. And so it is re we need it. Now, there are ways that you can say it, don’t get me wrong.

Nikhil Paul:

That’s. Right. Yeah. And it’s, it’s like, it’s the way you say it. It’s, it’s balancing honesty with respect. Right. It’s, it’s, it’s balancing vulnerability with kindness, and that’s the key here. Though it’s not just you just having a fight for the sake of having a fight. You’re having, and you’re having those challenges so that you can get the best outta people. And so that’s the thing you’re right. There has to be balance. You can’t just come in guns blazing and just expect people to just accept it.

Jenn DeWall:

Well, I mean, there may, some people, people that do that but think about how many voices you miss in that conversation that might actually know, and they’re not doing it to be, I would say cynical or negative. They might just say like, Ooh, I have the awareness to this. And this could be a big challenge, but I don’t feel comfortable bringing it up.

Nikhil Paul:

That’s exactly right. So many people, you are exactly right. There are a lot of silent voices out there for sure.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah. Where do you go from the cultural standpoint? Where do you go from there? Yeah.

Set Up Your Team for Success with OMEs— One. Minimum. Easy.

Nikhil Paul:

So, once we have the purpose and we have a great sense of the kind of culture we’re establishing, the third part is execution. Right. And it’s about acting on the focus we talked about before, right? And so for me, this where a lot of teams sometimes drop the ball is they’re actually when the rubber hits the road, they’re not able to actually execute on what their plans are. And some of these teams have amazing strategic, very multi-level plans, but somehow they don’t really know how to actually do it when it comes down to it. And, and part of that me is again, using a focusing framework. So I call it this, this one framework, you know, people know about the OKRs- objectives and key results. It’s like a famous framework that comes out of Andy Grove of Intel.

And people use that in front of their strategic plans and all those things. I, I think there’s something a little bit deeper and a little bit more cohesive that’s needed. And I call it a “One Minimum Easy”. It’s just my way of trying to help my clients. Remember it, and it’s called one minimum easy. And so the one is basically the first question; it says what the one thing I can do that is will add the most value if I do this and make everything else easier slash unnecessary. And that first focusing question is very important because as leaders or entrepreneurs or people in charge of big businesses, we have so many priorities like you were saying, right? Like there are so many things to do when the day starts. And if you are not able to quickly silence the noise and focus on the signal, you’re going to be ineffective.

You’re gonna be doing a little bit of everything else. So part of what a team and a leader and a company need to do is be really good at quickly identifying every day, every week, every quarter, the one thing that will add the most value and focus on that one thing above everything else. Now, of course, we have multiple priorities. Of course, there are other things to do, but by orienting our focus on that one thing, and then we go into the second question, we then say, OK, now that we know what’s the one most important thing, the next thing is what is the minimum amount of work that we need to do to ensure its success? And so that’s the minimum part of it. And so for me, this is where another part that teams sometimes drop the ball is that you need to figure out what does success looks like for this one thing, right?

And so maybe if it’s like, you are trying to have a successful sales quarter, that’s the one thing that, what does success look like? Well, it’s actually having a million dollars in sales this year and having a hundred clients. OK, good. That’s the thing now, what is the minimum amount of work? Do I need to get those a hundred clients? To get that million dollars. Then you say, oh, I need to reach out to at least a thousand. And I’m making this up to a thousand people in my newsletter list. That’s the minimum. If I do that, I can guarantee I’ll get this much. Right. And what this does, Jenn, the reason I think this is important is that a lot of times when we’re working, we are not consistent. New things come up because sometimes we feel like, oh my God, I don’t know if this is working.

I don’t know if I have other things to do, but if you trust your own process, then good things come outta it. You know, that, look, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. There are a lot of things balls in the air, but if I just keep doing this every day until I get to this thousand people in my newsletter or whatever that goal is, then I know I’m guaranteed that outcome. Now, of course, you’re not always gonna guarantee an outcome, but it, allays your fears, you don’t feel, you’re not like, oh my God, am I ever gonna hit it? Am I doing too little? Am I doing too much? What is it? This is just a good way to help you create kind of this like weekly, daily, goal based on the minimum amount of work needed to establish success. And then the last part is easy.

One minimum easy, right? So what’s the easiest and the quickest way to do it. <Laugh> so that’s the last part. And sometimes people overcomplicate and make things very difficult and much more work that has to be. But you figured it out. What is the success you need to do with the minimum work you need to do? What of the most important thing you need to do? OK. Now, what’s the easiest way to do it. And so once you’re able to kinda internalize this process, you find you’re just much better at executing. You can attack and handle anything that the team has to deal with, or you as a leader have to deal. That’s, that’s my one tip on how to kind of work through your execution is do the one minimum easy.

Jenn DeWall:

I think that’s a really great tip on how to approach it. And I think it’s an accessible way to look at it because people do drop the ball with execution. I think there are so many, we all likely can think of our own organizations and experiences where there’s a big idea, and they made it the focus for 3, 1, 6 months, but they never measured it. They didn’t think about what they needed to do. They didn’t have check-in points to adapt. They didn’t definitely, weren’t thinking about what’s the minimum I could do. And what’s <laugh> but I think having those frameworks gives people permission to think it through. And maybe that’s the thing that the objective might feel too broad. So then it is probably harder to execute, but I love your framework because it does break it down into, you know, we can focus on this now. And then, you know, action quiets anxiety. That’s where you can build your traction. That’s right.

Nikhil Paul:

That’s right. And you can keep going slow, smaller, smaller. It’s like, you know, once you figure out like, OK, this, this year we’re focusing on sales. OK. Well, then what is success look like for the sales? OK. Well, then I have to hire somebody. Then what does that look like? Well, then I find people. You keep cascading it. And that’s how you are able to quiet your mind from, oh I have so many things to do! I have to do this. I have to do that. Just focus on the one thing and the ultimate action.

Set up Your Team for Success with Fun!

Jenn DeWall:

I love that. Any other final feedback that you would want to share as it relates to how a leader can set up their team for success?

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah. You know, the one last thing I’ll say is you, you wanna also as a leader, not only are we trying to motivate them and inspire them with the big purpose, you also wanna create these fun challenges. I think a lot of times leaders just are like, OK, and we’re going to launch this product, or we’re going to have a successful quarter. Try to make it fun. <Laugh> I know this sounds a little bit like loosey, but like you wanna imbue the work that your team is doing as a challenge. Right? And I call it kind of like a Goldilocks performance challenge. It has to be a tough enough goal that it really requires everyone to work together and work a little hard, but at the same time, it shouldn’t be too hard, but it shouldn’t be too easy either.

Right? And so it has to be a right balance of hard and easy, and it has to be achievable and something very concrete. And also has to be urgent too. That’s the last part, I would say, make it a little bit of like, Hey, we have to get this done in the next weeks. And this is something we can do together as a team. And by creating, because it’s perspective as a leader, you’re creating the story for your team, for the work they’re doing. But by making it a fun challenge, you’re helping them feel excited to be together. They feel like they’re on a journey. And I think that’s the last part. A lot of leaders sometimes lose. You need to motivate your team by creating this narrative with the work they’re doing, imbue it with fun, with purpose and with a challenge and make it fun. And that’s the last part of getting them to work together as a high-performing team.

Jenn DeWall:

Make it fun. Yeah. You said it earlier. We, we spend a third of our lives at work. It’s a long time, and it can be fun. We can enjoy it. We can connect with our team. And I like talking about it from a challenging perspective because that’s where your team bonding is. What can we do together? That’s right. And add in fun incentives. It’s been a great conversation. Where do people get in touch with you? How can they connect with you?

Nikhil Paul:

Yeah, for sure. So obviously you can go to my website. WeRHuman.co – W E R H U M A N dot CO. And sign up for my newsletter. I, I write a lot about this kind of topic and leadership and teams, and I try to find fun stories from history and pop culture and share them and use the kind of window of teams and high-performance theories. But then I also post on LinkedIn a lot too. So you can connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on LinkedIn, Nikhil Paul. And yeah, I’d love to hear from you and hear some of the stories and insights that work for all of you as well.

Jenn DeWall:

Thank you so much for sharing your time, your expertise, your passion, and to everyone listening— cheers to a great 22 or 2022! There you go. <Laugh> I might as well fumble my starting an ending. You know, why not? <Laugh> absolutely great conversation.

Nikhil Paul:

Thank you so much. Thanks, Jenn. Thank

Jenn DeWall:

You so much for listening to this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast. If you enjoy the conversation with Nikhil, and you want to connect with him, head on over to WeRHuman.co and there, you can sign up for the newsletter. And Nikhil also wants you to reach out to him on LinkedIn, grow your network, connect with Nikhil and see or ask how he can assist in your leadership needs. And of course, if you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to share it with a friend, help a fellow leader, figure out how they can create the best team in 2022.