Carla Miller 00:00
Welcome to the influence and impact podcast for female leaders. My name is Carla Miller, and I'm a leadership coach who helps female leaders to tackle self doubt, become brilliant at influencing and make more impact at work. I've created this podcast to help you to become a more inspiring and impactful leader. We'll be talking about all the different topics that affect you, as a woman leading today. Think of it as personal development meets professional development. And I want to become the leadership BFF. You didn't know you were missing until now. Listen up. If any of these resonate with you, then I've got something that is going to really help you. So are you a leader or manager who worries about work, particularly things that are out of your control? Do you experience impostor syndrome and stress over whether or not you're doing a good enough job as a manager or a leader? Do you struggle to switch off from work? And that could be negatively impacting your sleep your time with friends and family or your happiness levels? Would you like to be able to stop worrying and focus all of that energy and attention on more positive and productive things? Or are you feeling overwhelmed and need more headspace? If any of those resonate with you, then you are not alone. I work with a lot of female leaders and many of them are describing these challenges to me, which is why I created my free online masterclass for female managers and leaders. It's called Stop worrying about work and get more done. And on it, I share the Five proven strategies to say goodbye to worry and sleepless nights and say hello to a better work life balance and increase productivity. To book a spot, simply visit my website, Carla Miller training.com. And you will see all the details there. I would love to see you on there. And let's get rid of that worry and those sleepless nights.

In this episode of the influence and impact podcast for female leaders, I am bringing back an old episode because it feels like a time that we need to hear its message again. So I want to talk a little bit about overworking. New studies have come out this week that show that workers around the world are putting in an average of 9.2 hours of unpaid overtime, every week. And that is up from 7.3 hours just a year ago. And perhaps you're listening thinking that shocking. Or perhaps you're listening and thinking when I count all of those emails that I've been scrolling through in my spare time and replying to, then actually, that's not that shocking, at all.

So I think there's a cult around productivity around ticking things off the to do list around our value, as leaders as individuals as employees in the world of work being based on how much we get done. That comes from the way work was designed many years ago. It comes from the way societies set up and the way capitalism is set up. But it's become really, really clear to me recently, through having lots of very interesting discussions on the podcast and off the podcast as well. That the way work is designed just doesn't really work for so many of us for so many different reasons. And I am seeing a huge amount of leadership burnout at the moment because I think it has reached a peak. And I'm going to do an episode specifically on leadership burnout next week, full of the usual practical tips. But right now I'm going to do two things I'm going to share with you an old episode called Hard work is not the answer. It was one of the first episodes I first created on this podcast. At the time the podcast was called inner driven leaders. And at the time, my main programme that I was offering was something called the leadership skills lab. So it's slightly dated, but there was so much relevance still to what I have to say. And there's a very funny couple of minutes where I call Warren Buffett Warren Buffet for a while. And so I'm that I'm going to share it share that at the end of this episode. And that's just 10 minutes.

But first of all, I just want to put some ideas out there about how I would love to see work reimagined. These are not fully formed ideas. These are just things floating around my head about how things So be so much better if work just worked differently. So the first one is, I'd love to see work genuinely focused on the why I see so much work being created for the sake of it created to make someone senior happy created, so that people feel useful created so that people can show that they're adding value created to make things absolutely perfect, when actually just good enough would have worked just fine. It feels like we are in the business of creating work for ourselves and each other. And then we busy ourselves all day long with this work that we have created. And then we take it home with us. And we worry about this work that we've created and taking everything off the to do list. And I wonder if we step back, and truly looked and said, What is adding the most value, how many things would still be on that list, there's a simple tour of the 8020 rule, which I just don't think we utilise often enough. And I know that I don't, I am now starting to do that. And the theory behind it is that 80% of the results we get come from 20% of the work that we do. And actually if we were able to identify that, and what was special about those things, we could be being a lot more productive, but with a lot less time, because we will be focused on the things that genuinely mattered.

So I would love to see us reimagining work, where leaders actually took a step back and said, Hang on, this has got a bit crazy. The To Do List has taken on a life of its own has taken on a culture of its own, and it is now running us rather than us running it. Let's take a step back. Think about what are we trying to achieve? Why are we trying to achieve it? And what is the most effective way to do that and stop doing lots of the other stuff? How freeing would that be? Another way I'd like to reimagine work is to let people bring their unique strengths into the workplace. And this was really inspired by the conversation that I had on the previous episode with Professor Amanda Kirby about neuro diversity at work.

I'm realising just how much we are expected to fit into a certain box of behaviours and ways of thinking and ways of being that are constraining people, but also just aren't allowing people to bring their true strengths to work. So I think it would be great to do that. Another way I'd like to reimagine work is to actually prepare people for their role. As leaders, I think we promote people, and we expect them to get it just get it straight away. Sometimes there's a management training course, which teaches you the basics. But so many of the women that I coach in my programmes, this is the first time that they have actually had leadership development training, and a lot of them are paying for it themselves. I mean, I've spoken to women in their 50s, who are really senior in their roles, fantastic at what they do. And their employers have never invested in them. Absolutely crazy. And so they are doing that themselves because they're realising that leadership doesn't need to be really hard if you have the tools and support to help you to do that.

So those are just some of the thoughts that are floating around my head at the moment, because I spend a lot of time teaching people how to thrive in the environment of work as it is now. But actually, what I like to spend a bit of time doing is questioning why it's like that, and whether it wouldn't be better if we made some changes. So overworking fits into that whole way of thinking. And to be totally honest, I have been overworking myself. And I wanted to bring you something energised to this podcast. And I don't feel like I have that to give today. But I did have it back in January 2019 When I recorded this hard work is not the answer episode. So we're going to play that episode for you. Now, as I said, just ignore the bits that talk about inner driven leaders or the leadership skills lab. But I hope that within that there are some practical tips that you can use to step back from working so incredibly hard.

The reason this is on my mind is When I look at my coaching clients and the teams that I meet, when I facilitate team building days, I notice how hard everybody works and how stressed they are. So I'm lucky that the people I work with are always highly motivated. And they've got a lot of energy and passion for the organisation that they work for. And they genuinely care about their teams. So that's fantastic. But I also noticed that there's quite a few of them that are at risk of burnout, because they are putting so much pressure on themselves and working so hard. And I remember when I used to be like that as well, when I used to get burnout, because I over invested in the job that I was doing, or when I just got so much satisfaction from crossing off tasks on a list that that's what I focused my time on. And in the short term, it works. But when you do that over a long period of time, you actually become less effective overall.

And the reason that we often do that is because we're basing it on a belief that being a manager and leader is about getting things done, and making sure that things get done. And I'd like to challenge that belief today and share with you a more powerful belief that's really helped me to be much more effective as a manager and a leader. And in the work that I do. I discovered this when I went from having permanent roles at director level, to moving to doing interim roles. So as an interim, I would go in often as an interim fundraising director occasionally as an interim Chief Exec. And because I was balancing it with my coaching business, I didn't work full time. So I would go in and do a job that someone else had been doing five days a week, I would do it in three days a week, or very occasionally in two days a week. And when you've got less time, you have to think much more smartly about what you're going to focus on.
And I soon realised that the way to do it was not to go in and think what needs to be done. Because to be honest, the same things needed to be done in pretty much every organisation that I was working in, they might have different names and titles, but it was always the same challenges and the same issues, and particularly in fundraising, you always needed to raise as much money as possible. So I didn't focus on what needs to be done, I focused on Who do I need to be. So because I wasn't going to be there all the time, a lot of the work was going to be done by the team, and they were already doing the work. So the question was, Who do I need to be for them? Who do I need to be to get the best out of them to support them as best I can, to help them to not get burnt out and overloaded. And that's what I focused on. And I realised, as I became a really effective interim, they were getting just as much done as they would have done if I was working there full time. They were learning to answer their own questions rather than coming to me for every question, learning to be more independent, they were starting to think a lot smarter, they still appreciated having someone there to support them. So it was all working. And I realised that being a great leader wasn't about what you're doing. It's about who you're being. Because who you're being impacts on the rest of your team that you as the manager or leader are at the centre of your team. And how you're doing affects everyone else.

So your energy levels affect everyone else. If you come in exhausted, if you're feeling really dispirited by a conversation with a line manager, for example, or by a pitch that you've done that hasn't been successful, that really rubs out on it rubs off and everyone else, if you're not focused, that really impacts everybody else, because they need you to be focused in order to help them focus and they need you to be able to make really clear, good decisions and not then change your mind two days later. Also at the centre of the team is all about your relationships, the quality of your relationships, not just with your team members, but with your colleagues and upwards that comes from who you're being really not so much what you're doing. And that really impacts the team. Your insights really impact the team. And it's hard to have insights when you are just head down in the middle of lots of tasks. And your attention impacts the team, what you focus on, but also who you focus on and making sure that you're giving the team your attention. And again, it's really hard to do that if your to do list is the most pressing thing on your mind all the time.

What I realised is that if you improve the way that you think, feel and act so if you start to think like a leader, feel like a leader act like a leader, that will have a ripple effect that will make your job much easier and make you much more effective, but also will have the same impact on the people in your team. If you think this might be relevant for you have a think about where does your development come on your to do list at the moment. So you have I'm sure like everybody else a great big long to do list of things that need to be done is your own development as a leader. You even on that list, and if it is, does it get prioritised? I suspect that it doesn't, because I work with a lot of people who are motivated and do want to develop themselves as a leader and still really struggle to find the time to do that. And a lot of the reason that people actually join the leadership skills lab, they tell me is because it will make them to create the time and space to develop themselves and to reflect and to think about where they're going, what they're doing, and also where they want to go in their career, there is always going to be an epic to do list. So there's no point in thinking, well, once I get this done this done, and this done, then I'll have time to think about myself as a leader, then I'll have time to develop myself. Because if you think like that, it's genuinely never going to happen. Whilst if you prioritise it, it will have a really positive ripple effect on everything else that you have to do and on the people around you.
So how do you do this practically?

First step, start by scheduling some time. I mean, it's fantastic that you're listening to this, you're probably doing it on your commute into work or on the way home, I hope you're not doing it on a weekend because I'd much rather you are having fun on the weekend than thinking about leadership. But start to schedule some time in your working day or in your working week for your development. Whether that is attending a webinar, whether that's reading an article, whether that's having a coffee with someone else in your field, whatever it is learning a new skill, whatever it is, start to schedule that time in and set yourself a challenge of scheduling in some time, every week that is immovable. It's in your diary, call it something else if you want to. But get it in your diary and make sure it happens.

Now one way that you can free up some time to do that is to change the way that you approach your emails. And I'm not really talking about productivity here. But what I notice is that we are trained, it's a bit like Pavlov's dogs, when we see an email come in, we feel the need to respond to it straightaway. And what happens is that at that point, our agenda, our priorities for the day, what we need to get done goes out the window, and someone else's agenda takes over for that period of time. And if that is the Chief Exec of your organisation, that's probably completely appropriate. But it's probably not the chief exec or your biggest client or supporter that's emailing you, it's probably one of your colleagues, it's probably one of your team, it's probably a random email. When you focus on that you're not only distracting yourself, but you're literally putting some random person's agenda and their needs, and their to do list ahead of yours. So what I want to encourage you to do is a check your emails less, some people can do it three times a day, and that works really effectively for them. For others. Depending on your role, maybe five is more appropriate. But even if you can't quite break that addiction to checking your emails all the time, and I'll be honest, I totally have that addiction, particularly running my own business. I'm like, well, it could be a new client. That's exciting.

But what I've trained myself to do is to not respond to everything straightaway, I do respond within 48 hours to everything, or sometimes I'll send a holding response, because I need more time to think about it. But what I don't do is drop everything I'm doing to just quickly respond to somebody else, or to go off on a goose chase to find the information that they need from me. And when I started using that technique, I became a lot more effective in my time. Okay, a couple of practical tips in there. But really what I'm trying to tell you is if you are stressed and overworked that's not making you a better leader, it's making you a worst leader is having a negative effect on the people around you. How many great leaders do you look up to and admire that are running around looking harried and stressed that when you ask them a question you can see across their face that they really don't have time to deal with this. That's not what great leadership looks like great leadership looks like making space. And in fact, it reminds me of a video I saw the other day where Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were both being interviewed by someone and Bill Gates looked at Warren Buffet's buffet or buffet. I don't know. I'm gonna have to look that up. Hang on.

Okay, I'm back. So There literally is a YouTube video on how to pronounce his name. And it's Warren Buffett. So I apologise to Warren, who I'm sure is not listening to my leadership podcast. Anyway, there was an interview between Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. And they looked at Warren Buffett's diary, and there was nothing in it. This is one of the most rich, wealthy, powerful people in the world. And he had nothing in his diary. And the reason why it's because he spends most of his time working on his own development. And what he or Bill Gates said is busy is the new stupid. Now, sounds pretty controversial. But what they're saying is if you don't make time for the important things, they just don't happen, and that's where you need to start. And so that's my message. to you my challenge to you this week, how could you be less busy. And instead of focusing on your tasks and your to do list, think about how you can think, feel and act like more of a leader. I have set myself a mission of empowering 10,000 women in their careers by 2030. So if you'd like to help me with that mission, there's a couple of things you could do.

If you haven't already subscribed and rated and reviewed this podcast, please do so that would be brilliant. It really helps bring it to other people's attention. And I'd also really love to know what you have taken away from this episode. Take a screenshot of yourself listening to this episode, and post it on social media and tag me I am this is Carla Miller on Instagram, on LinkedIn. I'm Carla Miller one I would love to know what the main takeaway you got from this episode is so take a screenshot tag me and tell me what your main takeaway is.