Episode 204 - The Locked Office

Her motto no surprises. That's why it rattled her when her assistant Tom slipped the cryptic sticky note onto her desk one Thursday afternoon. It read, you need to check your office after hours alone. Ellen frowned. Tom wasn't the type for jokes. In his expression when he handed it to her, a mix of guilt and urgency was unsettling. At seven pm, after everyone had gone home, Ellen walked into her office. It was eerily quiet, except for the faint hum of the HVAC system. Her office looked just

as it always did, immaculate, organized and utterly ordinary. She sighed, maybe Tom was losing it. Then she noticed something odd. Her leadership binder, where she meticulously tracked every team member's progress, meetings, and goals, was slightly ajar. Ellen never left it like that. She opened it and there it was a note in handwriting that wasn't hers. It simply said, leadership isn't about control, It's about trust. Ask yourself who you're really leading. Ellen

felt her pulse quicken. She flipped through the pages. Whoever had written the note had left comments throughout the barn. On the page detailing her latest feedback to her team, someone had scrawled this isn't coaching, its criticism, and under her notes from a recent one on one with a struggling team member, did you really listen? And next to her plan for the upcoming merger, are you leading them or managing them? Her mind raised? Who could have done this? Tom?

Another employee? Worse were these anonymous criticisms true? The following morning, Ellen called Tom into her office. Before she could say a word, he blurted out, I didn't write the notes, but I left the binder open. He paused, then added, I thought you needed to see it. Ellen stared at him, unsure, whether to be angry or grateful. That's all I know, Tom said, But maybe it's worth thinking about. Ellen spent

the weekend reflecting. She realized that while she believed she was leading her team to success, she had focused so much on controlling outcomes that she had lost sight of the people the notes who ever wrote them, We're right, leadership wasn't about micromanaging. It was about building trust, empowering others, and creating space for them to grow. On Monday, Ellen called a team meeting. She didn't mention the notes, but

she addressed the elephant in the room. I've been holding the reins too tightly, she admitted, and that's not fair to you or me. Starting today, I want us to rebuild trust. If I've missed the mark and how I've led you, I want to hear about it. The team was stunned, but the change was real. Over time, Ellen's office no longer felt like a place where people whispered in avoided eye contact. It became a hub of ideas, collaboration,

and growth. In that mysterious note, Ellen never found out who wrote it, but in the end she realized it didn't matter. What mattered was it woke her up before it was too late. So, leaders, here's the question for you. Are you too focused on control to true lead? Are you too consumed that you criticize instead of Coach Ellen learned the hard way that leadership isn't about micromanaging, It's about trust, and in that she learned a very hard lesson from her team, one that gave her the wake

up call she so desperately needed. So let me ask you this, what would your team write in your leadership binder if they had the chance. This has been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast and I thank you for listening.