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Forget your hybrid work schedule. On today’s episode, we interview Sam Palazzolo, Founder and Managing Director at Tip of the Spear Ventures and we learn how leaders need to be focusing more on what has worked and not worked in the past rather than their hybrid work schedule.
When leaders focus on the right things, it allows space for innovation on their hybrid team. Focusing on over communication, creating a collaborative vision, increasing clarity and continuing to seek new perspectives on your business, will help you continue to lead your hybrid teams from anywhere.
Over Communicating (Seriously, Keep Doing That!)
Over communicating is a habit many companies chose to pick up in the pandemic. Without having their employees in the office full time, companies felt a greater need to over-communicate with their staff. This is a habit that needs to continue. Ironically, there is a false assumption that extra communication worked with teams because the pandemic required an influx of communication. But the truth is that over communication is an underrated habit that companies and leaders need to demonstrate in all environments–pandemic or not.
In terms of communication, team members need to see what Sam calls the “face of the business.” Leaders at all levels are the face of the business and they need to continue to be aware of their leadership presence. Leaders with the right amount of presence will communicate crucial details to their teams as the communication flows through the organization.
Creating a Collaborative Vision Versus a Top-Down Vision
If your people are your most valuable asset, what are you actually doing to make them successful? It’s one thing to have an executive team attend a retreat and come back with a shared vision. But, it’s another thing to transform vision into reality. In order to make a vision actually work, leaders need to have conversations about their vision with employees at all levels of the organization to reality test that vision.
A huge source of frustration occurs when team members hear a leader share a big picture vision that seems impossible to actually achieve. Conversations around your vision should be collaborative, encouraging perspectives and details from those on the front line.
Building Clarity Around What is Working, and What Isn’t Working
The leaders most often needed in times of crisis are very clear on where the organization is supposed to go. For leaders, the challenge today lies in asking themselves the question, “Is what we did in the past, the right thing to do in the future?” The answer to this depends on a lot of variables. Having these conversations with your team and seeking their feedback is going to help you get the information that you need.
They Need Perspective from a Higher Altitude to Expand their vision
Leaders are going to be challenged to view the landscape of the business from a higher altitude to expand their vision. At this higher altitude, leaders should look to expand their vision both internally and externally within the company. An expanded vision gives greater clarity to the day to day business.
Leverage Masterminds
Every leader doesn’t have the answers all the time. As leaders, it can feel lonely at the top and it can feel like you have no one to turn to. Meeting on a regular basis with other business owners or leaders to share your challenges and opportunities can add a level of accountability.
During this time, leaders can gather input from their peers and formulate an action plan. During the next mastermind, leaders can share implemented ideas, results, and next steps. If you want to be really successful with a hybrid team, bring in outside perspectives on your company.
About Sam Palazzollo
Sam Palazzolo is the Founder/Managing Director at Tip of the Spear Ventures, a Private Equity firm that provides early-stage Entrepreneurs with venture capital, has a holding portfolio from Mergers & Acquisitions, and conducts Business Funding services.
During Sam’s time at Tip, he and his team built the organization into one of Venture Capital’s favorite firms, a sustainable leader, and an innovation early-adopter, dramatically increasing customer satisfaction and growing financial results for the companies they help grow. His greatest achievement, however, may have been to make himself a better leader: he decided to work on his leadership skills relentlessly, and grow the next generation of leaders. Sam’s purpose in life is to make a positive difference on people around him and use the platform he has to make a positive difference in the world.
In addition to serving on several board of directors, he spends time as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and supporting other leaders seeking to become the best versions of themselves and to lead with purpose and humanity at the Javelin Institute, a 501(c)(3) he founded. He is also actively invested in efforts to advance meaningful diversity and inclusion.
To learn more about why you should forget your hybrid work schedule and focus on this, download this episode now.
Online Courses for Leaders Leading a Team From Anywhere:
Check out these online courses for remote leaders from the Team Anywhere Team.
