How To Lead A Team – Nicole Wipp
SUMMARY
Nicole Wipp, an expert in maximizing your team’s productivity, shares tips on how you can manage a team effectively. It’s not easy to build a team, but having process and systems helps keep everything in place.
In every team, tensions are also inevitable because of the differences in the way members approach a problem. But, what you can do is honor those indifferences because that is where we achieve success.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Managing a team isn’t intuitive, and approaching it as it is, is the reason why people fail at it.Value the differences on your team.
If you have ideas in your head, let it out and be clear with your teammate what to do with it.
Honor and value the other person in the team because that is where we create most success.
Figure out what type of person you are and find someone who has a different skillset of you.
When trying to build the team around you as an entrepreneur, fill the gaps of all the things that sucked the life out of you.
One of the mistakes when it comes to building teams is just hiring people based on a resume and interview.
During the hiring process, it’s essential to have an understanding of a person’s energy, where the energy is coming from, and what their natural instincts are.
Building the right team around you is going to be a scenario where you’re going to kiss the frogs, and that is just part of the deal.
People problems are one of the top issues for all companies no matter what size.
Recognize that the people you’re hiring might not be the problem and that it might be you that’s the problem.
Understand that having a team is necessary to have a great business.
Having a team is the only way you can grow and scale a business without working harder and charging a lot of money.
Having a team is worth it and is an investment in your future.
TRANSCRIPTION: HOW TO LEAD A TEAM – NICOLE WIPP
Luis Congdon
Hey, Thriving Launchers, how about learning how to lead a team that’s powerful, so you work less, maximize your efforts, and you can outsource, and increase business growth? That is what we’re going to talk about today on Thriving Launch.
Kamala Chambers
Today, we’re here with the expert in maximizing your team’s productivity and knows how to lead a team effectively. We are here with Nicole Wipp. She is an attorney and a best-selling author.
Luis Congdon
All right, Thriving Launchers, let’s get launched.
Let’s talk about how to lead a team. We’ve got two experts here, Kamala and Nicole Wipp. So without further ado, let’s welcome Nicole into the show.
Nicole, are you ready to launch?
Nicole Wipp
Absolutely!
Luis Congdon
Let’s talk about how to lead a team.
Thriving Launchers, something impressive, and that I love about Nicole is she is running a high-level business. It’s online and offline, and it’s dealing with lawyers. She also has this other business that she started.
She is an amazing woman that has done some incredible stuff. When it comes to learning how to lead a team, she is one of the people I admire and go to for this kind of information.
Nicole, what’s one of the first things we should know about managing a team? You’ve figured this out, so what’s the first thing we should be aware of how to lead a team?
First Thing To Know On How To Lead A Team
Nicole Wipp
I think the first thing everybody should think about is that managing a team isn’t intuitive.
There’s one problem I always see with entrepreneurs and even with people in corporate when trying to learn how to lead a team successfully. It doesn’t matter where you’re at, but it’s that how to be a great manager of a great team or a great leader of a great team isn’t necessarily intuitive.
Reason Why People Fail On How To Lead A Team
Nicole Wipp
But the problem is, most of us are approaching it as if it is, and then that’s why we end up failing a lot of times and have a hard time building a great team.
Kamala Chambers
It’s true, and what I find when I’m managing the team is that the more I have processes and systems, and clarity, the better it is for my team, and the more I set them up for success.
I’d love to hear some of your tips and tricks on how to get some of that in place which is an important aspect on how to lead a team.
Nicole Wipp
Well, if you’re the kind of entrepreneur that’s like me, for example, I am not a system-oriented person, and what I mean by that is I value them greatly.
Apparently, if you don’t have excellent systems and processes in place, you are not running a great business. It’s all there is to it. However, I am not the person that has a natural knack for creating them, and in fact, if anything, I’m going to be the first person that will blow them up.
How To Lead A Team – Have Your Team Create The Systems And Processes
Nicole Wipp
To have a great system and process in place, I have to enable my team to create them for me, and I think that’s true for a lot of entrepreneurs who have learned how to lead a team without authority.
Luis Congdon
And I’m wired the way that you are Nicole. I’m not the best with systems and always learning from Kamala. I’m learning as I go to do this.
What are some of the ways you empower your team to create the systems? What are some of the ways that people who are a more right brained, more in the creative, big dreams, big visions, launching things into existence can create systems?
What are some of the ways we can utilize this intelligence that you’re talking about so we can succeed on how to lead a team?
How To Lead A Team – Identify Who On The Team Can Do A Particular Task
Nicole Wipp
First, you have to recognize the right teammates to be able to do this.
Because certainly, just as we aren’t that great at it, we are more partial sometimes to people that are more like us. People that are not systems-oriented can get frustrated with people that are because they feel they’re trying to inhibit us sometimes. But the ideal situation is you’re valuing that in somebody else, and then you’re enabling them to create the system.
How To Lead A Team – Enable Them To See What The End Goal Is
Nicole Wipp
The way I do it with my team, and what I do a lot with our clients is we’re bringing in a person that that’s their natural knack, and then we’re enabling them to see what the end goal is.
A lot of times, my team will come in, and they’ll ask me “Okay, what’s the first thing that you do?” and then, “What’s the next thing?” and the next thing and the next thing. Once we start filling in those gaps, then they’re doing their own thing.
This is the way the process needs to be. Put it out into an actual online system that everybody has to follow. I’m enabling them to start a question like, “What the first thing that needs to happen?” and the next thing and the next thing.
Learn How To Lead A Team Because They Can Get Down Into Small Details
Nicole Wipp
What I found all the time is they pick up on things I wouldn’t naturally say. Like “Yeah, that’s the next thing,” because I’m jumping to the next big nugget instead of getting down into the details, and that’s where I’m bringing in my team members and empowering them to create that for me. That’s how you manage a team effectively.
Luis Congdon
I liked how you pointed out something, and it’s a big thing where when you bring two opposing forces or powers and gifts together, there is a possibility of great synergy and incredible momentum that can occur.
How To Lead A Team With Different Types Of Way Of Being
Luis Congdon
But by the same token, there’s also a possibility of two powers that feel inhibited or feel like they’re working against each other.
As Kamala, as a process and systems-oriented type person, me, being into visions, ideas, dreams, and people, sometimes, we can kind of butt heads. Or sometimes, she’ll want to create a system and empower the work to get done better, but I will see that as her maybe inhibiting me or her slowing down the engine I’m on.
I’m curious from you.
What are some shifts we can have so we can value these two different types of way of being?
For me, it’s something I constantly have to work on and have to slow down and go, “Wait. Kamala is trying to help so that this locomotive can operate better and I need to stop being frustrated.” or, me to slow down and listen to her and answer this questions.
Nicole Wipp
Yeah.
Learn How To Lead A Team To Avoid Tension
Nicole Wipp
That’s a struggle for all teams.
When you’re in a small team like you guys are and most entrepreneurs are, even as magnified, there are these tensions that happen.
And so, we always have to start from a place of valuing the differences, and being clear that the real value this person brings to the table is the fact that the way they problem solve, and the way I’m going to approach a problem is different.
How To Lead A Team At Work
Nicole Wipp
Often in the work place and this applies in particular in corporate. You work with people, and you’re like, “What is wrong with you?” Like, “Why would you do it that way?” and they’re thinking the same thing about you.
It’s because the way that you approach problem-solving is different, and because you’re so hard wired, Luis and Kamala, to the way that each one of you does it, that it’s very difficult if not even impossible for you to see why somebody would approach it the way they do it. So we tend to look at it as a negative.
How To Lead A Team – Look At The Differences Positively
Nicole Wipp
We have to start from this idea that it’s a complete positive.
The next step is to say, “Okay. What are the rules for conversations when these things happen?”
For me, for example, I have a teammate that’s very process-oriented that I rely on very heavily, but when I have ideas that need to come out of my head and out of my mouth, I need to speak them out a lot of times, and Luis, you may be similar. It’s like you need to talk about it. Would that be true?
Luis Congdon
That’s definitely. I love talking about ideas.
Kamala Chambers
I hate talking about it.
Nicole Wipp
Okay, exactly!
Here’s an example that you two might want to utilize and this is what I also do with my team.
How To Lead A Team – Let Your Ideas Out Of Your Head
Nicole Wipp
So Julie will come in, and I’ll say, “Okay Julie, I have to get this out of my head. I have to speak about it. I don’t expect you to do anything about everything I’m going to talk about. No action needs to be had. I need to get it out of me.”
And so, she’ll come in, take notes, and she might question some of the things I’m saying and provide some feedback to me, but the idea isn’t necessarily that we’re going to act on this idea. It’s just that I have to satisfy my need to get the idea out of my head and maybe onto a piece of paper at the very least.
At the same time, I have to respect the energy that she has, which is that this isn’t what she wants to do. And that if I don’t make it clear that we have to act on it, then she might feel that we have to act on it and that only adds to her stress and her workload.
How To Lead A Team – Respect Other Teammates
Nicole Wipp
So I need to recognize that my coming at her in this way is going to cause that feeling in her unless I make it clear that’s not necessarily what’s going to happen. At the same time, she needs to respect that I have the need to do this, and realize there might not be anything that comes of it or maybe somewhere later on in the process or later on in the world. It could be five years from now that we do anything about it, but I have to get it out right now.
Kamala Chambers
That’s powerful and not to turn it into a couple’s coaching session.
Luis Congdon
Nicole’s turned to a couple’s therapist, next on Thriving Launch.
Kamala Chambers
What you’ve said about honoring and valuing the other person, I find that just from my own experience, those where we create the most success.
How To Lead A Team With Members Having Opposite Skillsets
Kamala Chambers
I want to turn this back to you Thriving Launchers, which if you don’t have someone who has a different skill set of you, what Nicole has said here about finding that person that has an opposite skill set of you. Just figure out what type of person are you.
Are you a Luis like a dreamer like the big picture? Are you more of a Kamala, a process-oriented systems type of person? And decide what you need to fill. What is that missing piece for you?
Nicole, what else do we need to know for success here in this process on how to lead a team?
Nicole Wipp
Well also, just as that sort of missing piece thing, if you think about it Luis and Kamala, the thing that Kamala brings to the table is also the thing that for you Luis drains your energy the most, right?
Luis Congdon
Yes.
Nicole Wipp
And vice versa.
Kamala Chambers
And vice versa. Yeah.
Nicole Wipp
Right.
How To Lead A Team – Have People With Opposite Energies
Nicole Wipp
And so, that is part of the reason why we as entrepreneurs or anybody in a team, that’s why we need that different energy because that also tends to be the thing we want to do the least. But then, also being clear and it’s also the thing we want to do the least and also drains our energy.
What you’re looking for when you’re trying to build the team around you as an entrepreneur is you’re seeking to fill the gaps of all the things that sucked the life out of you.
First Priority On How To Lead A Team
Nicole Wipp
That’s your first and foremost priority.
You two work together because you’re able to do these opposite things, and then on some level, to work together on multiple levels.
For those of us that don’t have that scenario, you have to remember that you still have to honor that person who is different from you. Honor your spouse because you need to be able to walk in tandem with, and in hand.
Luis Congdon
I think you’ve made some excellent points.
What are some big mistakes that people make you’ve seen on how to lead a team without authority? What are those errors you wish you could go, “Hey, this mistake is common, here’s the solution.”
What are some of those mistakes you’ve seen when it comes to building teams that people tend to make?
Mistakes On How To Lead A Team
Nicole Wipp
Probably first and foremost, is just hiring people based on a resume and an interview. That is not enough to determine a great team member.
One of the things you also have to put into that hiring process is a fundamental understanding of that person’s energy and where their energy is coming from, and what their natural instincts are. There are ways to determine that.
Quiz That Can Help You On How To Lead A Team
Nicole Wipp
I have a quiz that you guys are going to provide a link to that something that can assist you on how to lead a team. It’s something that’s over and above personality, and over and above great resume.
This is the thing.
If I’m interviewing somebody and I say to them, “Hey, are you the type of person that finishes what you start?” In what planet is somebody going to say to me, “No, I’m not.”
Luis Congdon
Nicole, I’d like to tell you that’s the truth. But I’m more of a starter, and my partner here is the finisher.
Nicole Wipp
Well, right, exactly, Luis. And I’m the same way as you in that.
How To Lead A Team – Know Who Is The Starter And The Finisher
Nicole Wipp
Yeah, I’m the first 20 percenter maybe, and then the rest of the ball has to be carried by somebody else down fill.
Luis Congdon
But that sounds so bad during an interview that we tend to want to put on a show during the interview.
Nicole Wipp
Well, right.
And so, you may not be honest out there even if you’re aware of it, or on some level Luis, if you’re a high performing person or high achieving person, you may not even be mindful of the fact that that’s how you are. Because you will be the kind of guy that’s used to getting done what needs to be done.
How To Lead A Team – Be Aware Of What Type Of Person You Are
Nicole Wipp
Previous parts of my career, I would have felt like I was being honest in saying “Yes,” but that’s because I didn’t have the self-awareness to say “No.” Because I’m a high achieving person, I’ll do what needs to be done, and if it means that I have to finish it, then that’s what I have to do.
Kamala Chambers
We go through this process when hiring.
I kind of make people jump through a series of hoops, and even putting them through a trial project to see how they work and perform, and even after all that, sometimes, people don’t show up.
Nicole Wipp
I don’t have a particular tip on that. That’s part of that whole process that I would lead people through about determining that.
But I would also take a step back and tell you that on some level, you have to understand that building the right team around you is going to be a scenario where you’re going to kiss the frogs, and that is just part of the deal.
How To Lead A Team Considering People Problems
Nicole Wipp
People problems are one of the top issues in all companies no matter what size. As entrepreneurs, it’s a much harder problem because we don’t have the bandwidth of multiple people to be able to spread work around. So when one hire doesn’t work out, the exponential impact of that is so much higher than it would be in a Fortune 500 company for example.
Recognize that that’s just part of it, but you just need to let people that are not right fit employees go as soon as possible and not let them hang around for a year or two.
How To Lead A Team – Let Go Of Members Who Isn’t Fit
Nicole Wipp
It’s because that’s what a lot of people do. You’re trying to be the nice guy, and that isn’t serving you or your company either.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah.
Nicole Wipp
But, there’s another “but” though with that. Also, you recognize at some point though that the problem might not be the people you’re hiring, that it might be you that’s the problem in how you lead a team and manage people.
How To Lead A Team – Recognize That The Problem Might Be You
Nicole Wipp
There comes the point at which you need to say maybe, “It’s not them, it’s me.”
That’s one of the things I had to go through. It was just realizing that it wasn’t necessarily the people’s problem that I was hiring. I had to figure out how to be a better leader, and that’s a whole different issue.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah, and I find that different people on our team need to be led in various ways. And I found the sweet spot for the kind of team members that can manage themselves more. Those are the team members that work well for us.
How To Lead A Team – Find Teammate That Match Your Managing Style
Kamala Chambers
I think one of the ways on how to lead a team successfully is finding the kind of teammates that match your managing style.
Before we go, anything else you would like to share with the Thriving Launchers?
Nicole Wipp
Yeah.
Understand that having a team is necessary to having a great business.
Learn How To Lead A Team To Have A Successful Business
Nicole Wipp
It’s not something that you should be like, “Oh, ten years down the road, I’ll figure that out.”
No matter where you are in your business process, whether you’re a start-up or you’re in your first couple of years, you want always to be thinking about, “How can I bring a team together?”
Building a team is the only way that you can grow and scale a business without yourself working harder and/or charging a lot more money, which you may or may not be able to do in your market.
Scaling and not being the person that does all the things is about having a team.
Knowing How To Lead A Team As An Investment In Your Future
Nicole Wipp
The investment in figuring out how to have a great team and how to be a great leader of a great team is not just an investment in your business, but it’s also an investment in your future.
Because for me, I went from working a hundred and more hours a week to where I only work five days a month now in my law firm, and then I have whole another company that I started, and I’m doing the same with that because I have this team. And I make more money now than I did back when I was working a hundred hours a week.
It’s worth it. It’s an investment in your future so start learning how to lead a team.
Luis Congdon
There you have it, Thriving Launchers.
The strength that you put forward, your ability to create, manifest, and make your dreams happen is in correlation to your ability to build a team and have people around you that support you.
Learning How To Lead A Team Lets You Work In Your Zone Of Genius
Luis Congdon
One of my favorite books by Dr. Gay Hendricks, The Big Leap, talks about working in your zone of genius.
One thing changed in my life when Kamala and I came together. I started to be able to focus a lot more on my zone of genius.
I began to be able to meet with clients more often, spend more time doing the chatting and the conversation, relationship building, podcast interviews, and less of building funnels, websites, and all the things that are very left brain where I don’t completely rock.
I’m sure Kamala can speak to having a similar experience where she got to hand off all the socializing you have to do in business, and I do more of that now.
Takeaway On How To Lead A Team
