Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving. This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul fella Aledo. Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast. It's episode two sixty and today we're tackling one of the biggest obstacles to progress in any organization. That's how we've always done it mindset. This mindset, barrier
and phrase is a leadership killer. It stifles innovation, keeps teams stuck in outdated processes, and prevents organizations from evolving with the times. And honestly, it's one of my biggest pet peeves. I actually worked somewhere once and they had this saying painted on the walls as if it was their mission statement. It was absolutely ridiculous. As a leader, your job is to challenge the status quo when necessary.
It doesn't mean changing things just for the sake of change, but it does mean evaluating whether the way you've always done things is still the best way. So why do people cling to the old way? This mindset exists for a few reasons. Comfort and familiarity is first. People resist change because the current way feels safe and predictable, and
then there's fear of failure. Trying something new means there's a risk it won't work, and then lack of awareness because many employees don't realize that there's a better way to do things, and then cultural inertia. If leadership doesn't encourage change, people won't push for it. So how do you, as a leader break this cycle? Ask why? Often? When you hear that's how we've always done it, follow up with why. If the only answer is tradition, it's time
to rethink the process and encourage experimentation. Empower your team to test new approaches. Create a culture where calculated risks are encouraged and failure is seen as part of growth. And recognize and reward innovation. When someone suggests a better way, acknowledge it. Whether it's a small efficiency improvement or a major overhaul. Leaders should celebrate fresh thinking and lead by example. Show your team that you're open to change. If leaders
resist new ideas, the team will follow suit. Be the first to embrace innovation and ask for outside perspectives. Sometimes we're too close to a problem to see the solution. Seek input from team members, industry peers, or even a mentor out there side of your organization. And now, just so we're clear, I'm not talking about changing recipes. If your successful burger joint was built from a family recipe in the forties, then keep it. But the systems in
the restaurant will evolve. Marketing will evolve, record keeping will evolve, and so will the company culture based off of new generations in the workforce. You can't keep everything the way it was because that's how you always did it. That's why the pizza hut of the eighties don't exist anymore. The same with Blockbuster, and that's why McDonald's and Taco Bell and other fast food restaurants have new computerized ordering stations in the front of the house. Systems change, and
that's a good thing. Breaking the mindset barrier of that's how we've always done It doesn't happen overnight. But great leaders don't settle for outdated processes just because they're familiar. Challenge the norm, push for better, and lead with a mindset focused on progress and innovation. Companies that embrace the that's how we've always done at mindset will get passed by, lose market share and become outdated. Failure to push for
better weekends, even the best business models out there. This has been the seven minute leadership podcast, and I thank you for listening. For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com