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 Fellavaledo.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast. It's episode four sixty two. Let's start with a simple truth. Your team is not a collection of random names on a schedule. They are a reflection of their leader. And if that stings a little bit good, that means you're taking leadership seriously. In this episode, we're going to talk about what your team says about you, especially when you're not in the room. Because they are talking. The question
is what are they saying? So first up is the mirror test. Think of your team like a mirror. The way they commut, unicate, handle conflict, solve problems, take initiative or avoid it is often a direct reflection of your leadership habits. If you lead with clarity, you'll likely hear clarity echoed back. If you lead with chaos, guess what you'll get if your team is disengaged, distracted, or dysfunctional. It didn't just happen. That culture has roots, and often
those roots grow from the leader. Now here's the part that separates amateurs from professionals owning it. Great leaders understand it. If the team's energy is off, if morale is low, or if standards are slipping. The solution doesn't start with fixing the team. It starts with asking where did I go wrong in setting the tone? Next is what they say when you're not around. This is where things get real when you're not in the room. What do they say about the meetings you run, about the way you
handle pressure, about how you treat people. You don't have to eavesdrop to know the truth. Look at their performance, look at their engagement, look at how they talk to each other. That's the real scoreboard. A toxic team doesn't appear overnight. It forms drip by drip, moment by moment, based on what the leader allows, ignores, or models. So if they're gossiping, backstabbing, showing up late, or phoning it in, it might be time to take a leadership audit of
your own behavior. Next is you train them even if you didn't mean to. And here's something that no one tells you early in your leadership journey. You're always training your team even when you're not trying to If you consistently let things slope, they learn what doesn't matter. If you celebrate wins loudly and holding mistakes accountable with grace, they learn that results matter, but people matter more. And if you lose your temper every time something breaks, they
learn to hide problems. Your culture is a reflection of your default behavior. You train them on purpose or by accident, which brings us to the power of intentional modeling. So how do you shift this? Start leading like someone is watching, because they are. Your attitude at seven am sets the tone for someone else's entire shift. Your reaction to bad news teaches someone how to handle pressure. Your follow through or lack of it, teaches them what accountability really means.
If you want a team that communicates better or you better be modeling top tier communication. If you want a team that solves problems instead of pointing fingers, start by taking ownership when things go wrong. Leaders don't just set goals, They set examples. And now let's talk about the reset button. Because here's the good news. Culture is not concrete. You can shift it. Step one is awareness. Ask yourself, what's
the vibe of my team when I'm not around? What have I accidentally allowed what am I modeling without meaning to? And then you have to take action, Realign your words and your walk, reconnect with the team. Don't be a leader. They only hear from when something's broken. Reinforce the non negotiables like respect, reliability, and real communication. So you don't need a full reorganization. You just need to show up consistently, intentionally and with the humility to own the room before
trying to run it. You don't lead a random group of people. You lead a team that reflects your standards, your energy, and your leadership. They are a mirror and if you don't like what you're seeing, it's not about smashing the mirror, It's about adjusting the reflection. This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast and I thank you for listening.
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