Coaching for Leaders - Talent Management | Leaders
Building Your Visibility, with Randelle Lenoir
(upbeat music) - Hi, Dave Stihoviak here, host of Coaching for Leaders. Ever get to that place in your career where you feel a bit stagnant? You're not sure what's quite next, but you know probably the key is building even stronger relationships and visibility, both across the organization and with senior leadership. That's why I'm sharing a chat today with Randell Lenore. Randell is both a graduate of our Academy and has since returned to the Academy for support in this next phase of her career. Here's her story. I am here today with Randell Lenore. Randell is an alum of the Academy and also a current Academy member has returned to us. Hello, Randell, good to see you today. - Good to see you, thank you. - Eagle-eared listeners will recognize your voice because you were so gracious to come on the podcast earlier this year on episode 665. We talked about how you're using LinkedIn. So while you've inspired a bunch of us, including me in our community to do more with LinkedIn. So thank you for that. I'm really, really honored you took the time to chat with us on LinkedIn. - It's just a pleasure that one, the learn that you're good at, something that kind of came as an experiment. And I have been able to talk to so many people in this community about social media. So what a great experience. Thank you for that. - For those who didn't hear that episode we did a bit ago, perhaps we could just start by having you share a little bit about your role and what keeps you busy professionally. - Yeah, so I am a vice president and leader of a center for wealth services, financial services. I lead a team of a lot of different types of people, like planners and relationship managers and advisors. And I run the facility. I'm responsible for all of the client relationships that walk in and out of the door. And I'm responsible to make sure that they're successful once they meet with the team. They put a lot of trust in us with helping them with tricky things like retirement, market volatility, income, all sorts of things. So that's my role. And I've been doing this for about 16 years. So it's definitely something I'm very passionate about. - You and I have known each other for a few years. And I'm curious like, how did you come across the podcast originally? Do you recall? - Yeah, I remember the place that I found it. I was driving down the street. I just moved to the Chicago area and taken on this new role. I changed companies. And there was a bigger emphasis in this organization on coaching. So I felt like I had really nailed like management stuff, like how to manage things. And in my prior role, I was also an advisor. I feel like I really understood that. But in this new role, I was going to be required to develop people's skillset. So I was looking for any type of information that I could get about being a really good coach. And my routine just involved podcasts. And I just remember sitting in the parking lot after I had picked up some flowers for my new apartment and just searching for coaching leadership. And your podcast popped up and listened to it immediately. And it was such a breadth of fresh air, just a different approach to what leadership truly is. Every single episode that I listened to just expanded my perspective of how leadership shows up in the workplace and just made me better at my job and a better person. - I'm so glad. Yay. Yay for both of us. Cool. I mentioned that you had, you'd been, we're joined the Academy a couple of years ago and went through the Academy. And then came back this year to the Academy and decided to work with us again. And so I've been asking everyone like what, what did you decide when you applied? What did you hope to get from the Academy? I'm curious for you like coming back the second time, what made you decide to want to return and what did you hope to get the second time through? - Yeah, I got so much for the first time. Like I had gotten this massive assignment to open a new office. And I wanted all of the support that I could have and kind of like just listening to the podcast. I heard your mention of the Academy. It's like, this is for me right now. So I applied and got in and I got so much from that. And it wasn't what I expected in that most leadership development that I've done during my organization, it's like class is very specific topics that you go through. And then you graduate. And then you move on to something else. But this cohort that I went through was meeting me where I was at and supporting me with skill sets and ideas and thought processes that I needed in the moment. But it was the same for everybody else that was in the cohort that was coming from different perspectives and different things that they were doing. And it just exponentially improved my leadership perspective and abilities. So there was no question at this time, like my office is built, we've been successful and I'm starting to look at the horizon and say, how do I present myself as a viable candidate for a promotion? Like I wanna continue to grow in my career, but things weren't quite tracking the way that I wanted to and I had some disappointments. So I remembered that this was the most transformative experience for me in that big moment. And I knew that this would be very transformative for me now, trying to seek a promotion. - You hit on something that's like, I think really different about this than a lot of leadership development programs. You and I have both been through a lot and that it tends to be, you do a program for a couple of days or week or a month or whatever. And there's a very set curriculum. We're gonna talk about this topic on this day. And we're really big on structure over curriculum. And the structure is we all get really clear at the beginning exactly where we're heading. What does two to three or time mine look like for each of us? And then we zero down to three focus areas. And those focus areas are similar for a lot of folks, but they are unique to each person. We're all supporting each other on moving on those focus areas. This time, what did you decide? What's one of the focus areas you decided to zero in on that was key for you, one of those three? - Yeah, so my identity that I adopted for my first focus area was, I'm a conscious leader. I'm a conscious leader. And it was because, like I said, I was looking for a promotion and I had a few setbacks. And I was coming to Academy with a little bit of a bruised ego. (laughs) Like a lack of confidence in knowing whether or not I would make it to where I'm trying to go. Just not knowing what to do. Kind of filling that glass ceiling like right here. Am I at the glass ceiling, you know? And all of that, really my biggest priority was to get back to enjoying my job. Just want to enjoy my job and feel like I'm good at my job and feel like I'm growing where I'm at. So that's why I decided conscious leader. And I remember my commitment was around the evenings when I finished work to reflect on the ways that I was a good leader that day. And then to reflect on one thing I learned. And that simple habit carried out through time now. It wasn't a straight line. I went through a lot of learning with trying to keep committed to that. I learned a lot about myself, but it improved my confidence, improved my self-awareness. It helps me understand my biggest contributions and leadership. And it helped me understand things that I really want to focus on getting better at. And it's just made, it's given me a more tangible path to enjoying my job and feeling like I'm growing. And it's really done a lot. Like that simple thing really has led to so many, I could tell stories about it for hours. Like how that's transformed me. - It's really, I think it's interesting. A lot of times when people come into the academy, they're surprised at how I'm really asking everyone to do less. 'Cause a lot of times people come in and they say, all right, I'm ready to spend a couple hours a day or whatever working on something. And I'm the one, as you know, usually saying like, no, no, no, five minutes, five minutes a day, consistency over intensity. Let's start on something that gets you moving in the direction you want to go. You did that, that nightly reflection, five minutes just rained down. And it opened up a lot 'cause you were doing it so consistently. - Yeah, and it changed my mind a lot about like how I make commitments to myself, how I make commitments to others in the organization. It's also changed my mind about how I help my team with development in a sales world. It's so easy to just think about things as these big moments and intensity. You gotta, gotta hustle, which is part of it. But the foundations that keep you there are these little moments that keep you grounded. No one teaches you. You have to find what works for you, right? You have to find what works for you. - You were dedicated 60 days focusing on being a conscious leader. What's happened since you really took that on and were consistent with that practice? - No, that is a major difference. So I went through the time where I was just struggling to do it. Some days I forget or some days I was just down on myself. Like I can't find what ways I was a good leader. And I think that everyone goes through that. But over time, that practice of illuminating what I did well actually allowed me to communicate my worth more successfully. So like I said, I was able to identify strengths that I had and focus on opportunities for growth. And long story short, I was given the opportunity more recently to demonstrate those strengths. And it started in small areas. Like I'd mentioned something that I learned about myself and something I'm doing in just an off-handed conversation with my manager. He wants to know more. And then next thing I know I'm talking to my peers about it and they want to know more. Next thing I know, I'm presenting at a regional conversation to their leaders about it. And it's just gone in contagions and it's helped me really recognize what contributions I can make that are appreciated really, really. - Huge, yay. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I can't believe it took that for me to figure it out because before that I would have thought, well, I gotta stay here, right? Like I don't know what to do to make myself to build my brand as the leader that people want to work for as leaders to build my brand as a thought partner, somebody you can go to for best practices just didn't know how to translate that. - It's interesting to me how the things that we know to do as good practices, virtually all of us, like we've read books, we've listened to podcasts, we've been to classes and training programs. When we're then in the emotion, the organizational politics, all the stuff that comes up, we just don't think to do it. And it often takes like going through a structure like we were doing and also working with others who are not involved in the daily stuff to look at it more objectively. And I know that's one of the things you've shared with me as your partner, Haley, going through this process too, is help to just look at things more objectively. And that's one of the things we do for each other is like, we're not in each other's organizations and industries so we can help a little bit more with that objectivity. Sounds like that was helpful for you too. - Yeah, you know, that's one of the unique things about the academy is the people that you're in the academy with those successful people in different types of roles and different industries. In different parts of the world too. And you can't help it when you're engaging with them to think about things differently. So I was talking with my partner, we're checking in on our commitments and supporting each other. We like to do it in the morning on Zoom. And I just heard so much about her commitment to when she was talking to senior leaders to say, what's on your plate? What's on your mind? And through my growing friends with my commitment, I had senior leaders on my calendar now. Like every quarter I was talking to this person, every couple of months I was talking to that person. But I didn't know what to do with that to increase my brand even more. So I remember trying it with my manager's manager. She's on my calendar. And that led to her losing track of time. We talked for an hour. And she presented something to me that I had really good information on and really good ideas on. And I said, you know, I just had the biggest experience of my career where she invited me to present those ideas to the entire region, like hundreds of people. Like that little thing learning from my fear. Again, serving me in my own goal. And there are so many other habits that I learned from my fears that I've picked up along the way that I can, in my back pocket, had to build these different things for myself or for people that I'm leading. So it's just really, really a cool thing that again, it relates to the people that you're going through the experience with, which you do a great job of selecting really great people for it. - Now, thank you, I've learned over the years that I think the most important thing I do, there are a number of things, of course, but the most important is getting the right people together, which is why I talked to everyone personally and go through the application process. Because if we get the right people, then magic happens and it's really fun to see. And everyone's there because they want to be there. They want to support each other. And we just all are motivated to show up and get moving. - Yeah, and that is priceless. Like you gain career advisors and supporters through this. There's somebody in the first time that I went through that I still talk to who, when I'm stuck or I need support, I can go to him and he's always ready to help. And I'm there for other people as well. So it's just something additional that you gain that like was an intangible, like you can't really explain enough from this experience, how helpful it is. And I'll say that when I talk to other leaders here in the organization that I work for, they talk about my creativity and how that adds to my ability to be a strategic partner. And I can say that the majority that just comes from spending time with people outside of the industry in these type of discussions that we have. - You know that I love to ask people what they've changed their minds on. Going through the academy since you began this journey, what's one thing you've changed your mind on? - Well, when I first joined the cohort this time, I really believe that I just had to figure out how to make the best of the situation that I was in. 'Cause I felt like I had hit a glass ceiling. And that's real, you know, for all the identities that I hold like, you know, just kind of saying is the stuff for this that I can go. And I'm glad to report that I found ways to promote my value, to feel seen and heard with the community of people that are supporting me, to keep moving forward to that, that emotional tenacity to keep pushing and additional ideas to use. And I see the road forward. I see the way that my career can continue to grow. And I let that's priceless, that's priceless. - Randell, it is such a pleasure to work with you and support you. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with all of us, I so appreciate it. - Thank you for what you do with the academy. - We're really big in the academy on consistency over intensity. Often we feel like we have to make these massive moves and changes in order to get different results. There is a time and a place for drastic action. But when it comes to skill building, it's actually consistency and accountability that most often makes the difference. You heard that question, Randell and her academy partner, Hayley, started asking senior leaders, what's on your mind? It's a question a lot of us learn from Michael Bungay-Stannier to help us hear more. And you heard what happened just by starting to ask that question consistently. A lot of us know what we need to do in order to improve, but we struggle with the consistency. If you're at that point right now, I hope you'll take a moment to visit our academy page and consider applying so that we can support you in making that shift. Just visit coachingforleaders.com/academy for a lot more of the details. The application is up there too. It's open until Friday, September 13th. So be sure to visit before the end of that day. Thank you for your time and I'm wishing you success in whatever is next in your day. [BLANK_AUDIO]