Quality Grind Podcast Episode 10 | Meeting Leaders Half Way – Part 1: Initiative and Ownership

Jessica Taylor: [00:00:00] This is the Quality Grind Podcast presented by Medvacon. Conversations that go beyond compliance. Sharing insights geared toward helping you navigate the everyday grind of regulated life science industries. Here are your hosts, Joe Toscano and Mike Kent.

Mike Kent: Welcome to The Grind, everyone. Mike and Joe back with you to continue our discussion of leadership, this time from a slightly different angle and different perspective. Many of us think that leadership is a top down activity, but leaders are typically only half of the equation. The other half is the group of individuals that collaborate with and are accountable to that leader. And what we thought we would do today is discuss how and why those individuals and team members can and should proactively meet their leaders halfway. [00:01:00] This way everybody wins, everyone’s moving towards the same direction and things go a lot better and smoother.

We’ve got a very special guest with us today. Lisa Bourquin is with us, kind enough to join us on the show today. Lisa, it’s great to have you here on the Quality Grind Podcast.

Lisa Bourquin: So excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Mike Kent: Lisa Bourquin is an experienced leader in Organizational Development, Leader Development, Human Resources, Talent Management and Performance Consulting in the Human Capital Management, Industrial and Healthcare sectors, including companies such as Abbott and Johnson & Johnson. Lisa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Central Florida, and is a board member and volunteer coordinator for the Team Fernandina Beach Stingrays Swim Team.

And Joe Toscano, my co-host and President of Medvacon. Joe, as always, really looking [00:02:00] forward to this discussion around leadership and what the three of us can bring to our audience.

Joe Toscano: Well, you know, first of all, Mike, thanks for the intro and Lisa, more importantly, thank you for being here. Really kind and gracious of you to spend this time with Mike and I, and, you know, not that you could ever say this when you work with people, but Lisa was probably one of the most, the greatest person I’ve worked with.

I had the pleasure of working with her at Abbott many, many years ago. Just an incredible individual. Can’t say enough nice things about her. It was always a pleasure in the interaction that we always had. I’m excited to have this conversation because since that time, she’s gone on to do some really great and incredible things and has gained a lot of experience and insight along the way, and has helped so many people with the things that she’s learned and brought to the table.

Lisa, thanks for being here. We’re just excited to have the conversation and I’m thrilled to have the interaction again. It’s so good to see you. And [00:03:00] again, just always enjoyed working with you in the past. I’m really glad that we have this chance now to have a conversation together.

Mike Kent: One of the things that we always like to do for our audience is get a little bit more in tune with and get to know our guests a little bit more. And leadership and training and human performance improvement are really big topics. Can you take us back to, not too far long ago, obviously, but can you take us back to how you got started and why these areas were of interest to you?

Lisa Bourquin: Sure, Mike, it’s a great question and it brings me back to, even before Joe and I worked together, my early career was in sales, and I loved selling. And I loved selling because I loved the people part of sales, getting to know clients [00:04:00] and helping meet their needs with whatever products or services I was selling. And I got involved in training back then because I wanted to help other people learn how to sell and learn how to meet those clients’ needs.

So the first third or half of my career was in sales and sales leadership, and that’s how I met Joe. I ended up working with Joe as a sales leader in his organization. Truly what I loved most about being a leader in business was coaching, developing, recruiting, promoting my people. And I remember on Joe’s team one year having the most sales associates win that President’s Club award than any other manager. It was the highlight of my career, because it was about them.

Shortly after that, I [00:05:00] changed my career path from sales and business leadership to organizational development, learning leadership and leadership development. I just fell in love with that part of the business, the people part of the business. And I’ve been in different roles in L&D, OD and even HR for the past, oh goodness, second half of my career, we’ll call it.

Mike Kent: Fair enough. Now our listeners know we don’t do math on this show at all for very good reasons. So any of

Joe Toscano: Absolutely.

Mike Kent: with us. We won’t talk about years, but, uh, fascinating that you got started in sales, high interest in people, and now it becomes more about the individuals that you’re working with and working for and leading.

And a phrase comes to mind [00:06:00] that really, I think I’d like your perspective on as it relates to our topic today of meeting leaders halfway. There’s a phrase I’ve heard that leaders responsibility is primarily to block and tackle for the individuals that are on their team. It occurs to me that all of the blocking and tackling and creating those opportunities and creating the landscape for people to succeed only goes so far.

 We had discussed five different attributes of individuals that we wanted to cover during our discussion today. And these are on the table, but certainly in no particular order, we can go anywhere that we want to with them. But the first one, I think, is a very common attribute, and that’s initiative.

Can you tell us a little bit about what your perspective is on how individuals can and should take [00:07:00] initiative and what can enable that to be easier and what are some things that may get in people’s way as they look to do that.

Lisa Bourquin: Some of the research I have been exposed to can indicate that that leadership umbrella, if you will, can attribute up to 30, 35 percent of the overall performance of a team. So if that’s the case, what about the other 70, 75 percent? That is individuals on the team. And so what can those individuals do to contribute to overall team performance?

Initiative absolutely is one of them. And in my experience, it’s people understanding their strengths, and really looking to play to those strengths to maximize their potential and the team’s potential. And in stepping [00:08:00] up, being willing to take calculated risks at times. I mean, there was that old adage better to ask forgiveness than ask permission. So you see a need, fill it.

But, you also have to understand those risks and being calculated with the boundaries. And so when I find people playing to their strengths, when it comes to taking initiative, that’s where I’ve seen teams really grow, and meet the leader halfway. Because they see a need, they step up, they take that initiative, especially if it’s something… And when I say strength, what I mean by strength are those things that are needed for the team to perform that somebody is good at and they like to do. It gives them energy.

Joe Toscano: I think it’s really important, and you bring it up well, Lisa, people have to have [00:09:00] some want to get things done. And I’m going to back up a little bit, because I think people that demonstrate that early, those are skills that are just developed as they continue through their career.

So you, as an example, one of the things I always admired when we worked together is that you were very supportive of your group. You initiated an environment where people weren’t afraid to come forward and ask questions or do things. And there was a genuine care of the team in order to provide an environment where they felt that anything could really happen or any conversation could take place.

And I think part of the challenge with initiative is if a leader doesn’t create somewhat of an environment like that, people are more afraid to kind of come forward with something because they’re not sure if they can. But they also have to want to. If an environment could be created where, you know, people feel comfortable, I think there’s a greater opportunity then for those individuals to step up [00:10:00] and really have the impact that you want them to have and bring forward the performance. The idea is the impact that you’re hoping they will.

Mike Kent: You know, we’ve talked a little bit about initiative in some of our other Podcast episodes and really the point of the leader creating that safe environment is absolutely key and critical. And it sounds like you’ve had a tremendous amount of success in doing that.

Then it becomes, okay, what are the other barriers that get in the way of people stepping up? Is it fear? Is it a lack of knowledge? Is it a lack of trust? Is it, you know, all of these sorts of things. How can individuals gauge what that tolerance is for risk taking on the part of the leader? And what responsibility do they have to actively seek that out? How can they do that?

Lisa Bourquin: You know, it’s a good question and it [00:11:00] comes down to, first of all, observing their leader and getting to know their leader and how they respond to certain situations. Often the simple answer to that question though is just ask. Take the initiative to ask the leader, “What is your tolerance for risk here? What are my boundaries? How far can I take this?” And so, simply by inviting the leader into that conversation, not waiting for the leader to tell you, but asking your leader how far can you take it, what their risk tolerance is. You would be surprised with how open and transparent leaders will be. Often they are more supportive than an employee will realize just by having that conversation.

Joe Toscano: You know, you made me laugh before, Lisa, [00:12:00] because you probably said a statement that applied to me a lot when we worked together, and that is ask for forgiveness versus permission. And I think our group was always known for doing things a little bit outside the box or a little bit of a different approach, but it produced great results. And I think that gave everybody some confidence to try something new, try something different, have an impact, or have a different way to go about it.

And all I’m saying with this is a conversation with your leadership is so important. You want to understand what’s going on. You want to understand what you can and you can’t do. You want to understand the best way to communicate. Simply ask, and you’ll get all the answers you need. And what’s so wonderful about that is if you have that three minute conversation, it’ll give you the landscape on how to approach that with your leadership in terms of getting something done, right?

If they’re like, oh my God, you can call me anytime you want. And we could talk about this. And if you have ideas, I want to hear them all day long. Well, hey, that’s great. Now you could be an open book. If they’re [00:13:00] like, well, you know, I like following the rules and I’m less risk tolerant, then, you know, you’re going to have to present things in a very different way, a different tone and have a little bit of a different approach.

It doesn’t mean you can’t. It just means you need to figure out how to do it differently. And all of those skill sets are still great because they help enhance those skills better later on. It helps you implement it, how to work with different people, understand personalities, what’s working, what’s not working.

There’s so many benefits to it, but, you know, it’s a great point. Have a conversation, right? Don’t send a text. Don’t send an email. Just talk. Actually talk to somebody.

Mike Kent: Talk about boiling down so much leadership strategy into “just ask”. Doesn’t that create that connection that we’re all looking for amongst people and how many people at the end of the day would say, well, I didn’t know that I could really talk to them or it was so difficult to approach [00:14:00] them and that breaks down those barriers, doesn’t it? And just opens the floodgates for everything else that we need to be successful.

Lisa Bourquin: So true.

Joe Toscano: So, you know, Lisa, one of the things I think is really kind of important, and again, you’ve done it and I’ve witnessed that back in the day when we worked together and your career has kind of taken this pathway, right? How do you create that environment? If there’s a leader out there who didn’t grow up that way, but they were skilled and they ended up in positions of responsibility and now they have all these people that are reporting to them. They have, you know, a team of two or 20, whatever it may be.

How would you break it down? What would you say are good suggestions for leaders that aren’t quite sure how to set that environment to do it?

Lisa Bourquin: So this is, uh, going from the employee perspective to the leader perspective and creating this environment. And it’s not as complicated as people might think.

Really the 2 main things to create that environment as a [00:15:00] leader. Number 1 – make the time. You’ve got to take your time to meet with your people both one on one and collectively as a team. If you don’t have time to meet with your people one on one and then have team meetings, you should not be a leader. That’s simple.

The second thing is to demonstrate empathy. So when you are in that meeting one on one or you are with the team, you are demonstrating that you care, genuinely care about them as human beings and as people. And that helps create some psychological safety so people are willing to approach you to share their thoughts, their ideas, ask if they can take risks, they will come to you.

And so it’s two very simple things. Spend the time and show that you care, but it’s often not common practice in business because leaders get so overwhelmed and they have so much on their plate, that [00:16:00] the common sense stuff doesn’t necessarily become common practice.

Joe Toscano: And, you know, the point of that, and it’s such good advice, right? What leaders sometimes fail to recognize is that team will help you get those things done that you need to and help you get there. It’s not just on your shoulders, right? You have a good group of people, you give them some freedom, you give them initiative, you give them confidence to work with you. And now you have a team to accomplish everything.

And you said it really well. A lot of leaders carry that burden just on their shoulders, thinking they’re the only ones. Oh, and I have to take care of all these people too. Instead of I have all these great people who are a resource that with what I bring to the table and what I can help them bring to the table. And there’s all these different ideas and perspectives. Wow, what can we actually accomplish? It’s okay to share that workload. [00:17:00] It’s okay to share with people what you’re working through. It doesn’t have to be a sole burden. And then, you know, you have to make time for other people as well. Include them and they can help you find great solutions and get you the outcomes that you need.

Mike Kent: Okay so now you have that team and everybody’s engaged and everybody’s moving forward. We’ve met in the middle and off we go to try and conquer the world right. Then what happens when you have three or four people who have similar strengths, or you have individuals who have similar interests.

How do we create an environment where people understand, and I hesitate to use this phrase, but I’ll use it to tee it up the attribute that division of labor in terms of individual ownership.

Lisa Bourquin: Uh huh.

Mike Kent: And “ownership” gets thrown around an awful lot just like “leadership” does. We’re tackling all the [00:18:00] buzzwords as we go along here, right?

Joe Toscano: Well, we’ll hit them all today.

Mike Kent: That’s some math we’ll do. We’ll check all of those boxes.

Lisa Bourquin: Uh huh.

Mike Kent: But, when we talk about ownership, what’s yours, what’s mine, what’s shared, what are my roles and responsibilities? How do we know to eliminate the potential for “I got it, you take it,” and things get missed, or overlap that can get in the way of getting things done?

So tell us a little bit about ownership, how to clarify those things and what team members can do to help that process and understand where those boundaries are, what is theirs, what should be shared, and what isn’t.

Lisa Bourquin: Such a good question. I am actually working currently with a leader on this particular issue. She’s an [00:19:00] internal client of mine and a VP who runs a team, and they struggle with this. So for her in this particular group, it is going back to the basics and getting the team on board to align to a process.

Many organizations use a RACI to identify who’s responsible, who’s accountable, the different players in any type of project so there’s clarity. Whatever process you choose, whether it’s RACI or whether it’s something else, the point is to have people align on that process and then have the conversation so there’s clarity around that. And the team members don’t need to necessarily wait for the leader to lead that discussion. The team members can take [00:20:00] initiative, the first attribute, to get the team together and the stakeholders together to talk about ownership and who is owning what, who’s responsible for what, who needs to be consulted on what, or informed, and have that process mapped out. Because when that doesn’t happen, it gets chaotic, and then the clients of the team get frustrated because there’s either repetitive work or work that’s not getting done because there isn’t that ownership. And so the initiative and ownership goes hand in hand, in my opinion, you take the initiative to determine who, what, where the ownership lies.

Mike Kent: And just a little side note to further explain the RACI tool that Lisa mentioned. This is a common strategy that leaders will use to [00:21:00] clarify who’s responsible, accountable for different tasks. And “Responsible” is typically doing the task, and “Accountable” is accountable for the outcome of what happens. So performing the work and then there’s who has the accountability for the outcome. And then the communication styles, who’s “Consulted”? From whom do we need information that we need to draw in for perspective or reality checks? And then who do we “Inform”, whether that’s the recipients of the work, whether it’s the internal clients, whether that’s other people in the organization. So that’s something that we can provide a little bit more clarity. And we’ll put an example of a RACI diagram, a brief one into the show notes for people to use and take a look at a little bit further. But I wanted to clarify that for folks who may not have heard about that particular tool.

It [00:22:00] does tend to be more formal, doesn’t it, Lisa, in terms of a process with a chart and names and a grid and X’s in different boxes. So is there a way to do that in an informal manner that, or is it just about having that conversation and aligning to it?

Lisa Bourquin: I love giving the ownership back to the team to decide that. I’ve worked with teams of engineers who want it super formal and that’s what works for them. That’s what they need as engineers. And then I’ve worked with teams in HR that didn’t want the fancy Excel spreadsheet and the milestones and all the details. They wanted it to be more of a calendar and a conversation.

And so, for the ownership to take place, having the team decide what they need would be what I would advise a group to do because they [00:23:00] are more likely to buy in when they participate and get to help make the decision on what their process looks like.

Joe Toscano: Yeah, I mean, it goes back to that full collaboration, right? The more people that are involved in the process, the more they’re going to want to own it and be a part of it. If you’re just thrown decisions all the time, you’re going to be less accepting of it and you’re not going to want to participate at that level.

And from a leadership perspective, it goes back to the earlier part of our conversation. How do you get people involved? How do you get them comfortable? Give some of that ownership back, let them help with decisions. It doesn’t just have to be the leader who makes them right? The best leader gets that buy in early and gets them to be, you know, their team as part of that process, because then everybody’s going to embrace it.

 But what about the team? Everybody is going to be very different. Not everybody on the team is the same personality. Not everybody on the team has the same initiative. Not everybody on the team really wants to work that hard or they want to work [00:24:00] too hard. There’s a lot of different individuals.

So, you know, from their perspective, if you’re somebody who wants to do more, but you have a team that’s pulling you back and they don’t want you to do more because they don’t want to do more themselves, and they’re seeing you be too aggressive. Or the opposite we’ve also seen. You have a couple of team members that maybe don’t want to participate. And, you know, there’s just a few people on the team carrying the load.

How does a team amongst themselves without involving leadership get together as a group and really help and coach and work with one another in order to go back to the premise of the show, right, meeting that leader halfway? How is the best approach there taken?

Lisa Bourquin: Man, do we have a few hours at least, I… you know…

Joe Toscano: I told Mike today, it’s going to be like a nine part series. So we’re good.

Lisa Bourquin: [00:25:00] And this touches on some of the other attributes. I know we want to get into engaging others and coachability. When you’re on a team and you are, um… Let me share a story. This might help. I have a story.

When I was on a team, I was a leader on a team and this was after you, Joe,

Joe Toscano: Okay, there’s… to clarify that at least. But thank you.

Lisa Bourquin: um,

Mike Kent: Got that on tape. Don’t worry.

Joe Toscano: All right. Good. Good. I was like, do I need to sign off for a few minutes? Because, you know,

Mike Kent: Joe’s going to step out for a minute while Lisa tells this story.

Lisa Bourquin: Yeah. No, it’s a good story.

So I ended up on a team with a leader who had a very different leadership style and philosophy. The team was struggling and we were not aligned. We felt [00:26:00] like no one was taking ownership. No one had initiative. No one understood expectations. I mean, it was, everybody was struggling and starting to become disengaged. And I remember having a conversation with one of my peers about being frustrated, and then he sharing the same thing like, “Oh, I thought I was the only one that noticed this. I’m really frustrated, too. It just seems like we’re in this pit.” And together we collaborated and decided to take initiative on brainstorming ideas on how we can get the team out of this pit, and take ownership by scheduling a team meeting to bring everybody else in to use that peer influence and engage other teammates. “Hey guys, let’s [00:27:00] take charge of this because this, we can’t keep going down this path. No one is going to be successful. No one’s going to win. Ultimately we want our leader to be successful, as well, because we want to be part of a winning team.”

And so at that point we huddled up and came up with strategies that would drive our organization to higher performance. And then we leaned into people’s interests and strengths. Who wants to be in charge of this committee, and this committee, and this committee?

Then we scheduled a meeting with the leader and presented our proposal and said, “Hey, we got together. We’re disappointed in our own performance.” Taking ownership. Did not blame her. It was a her, did not blame her. Instead, said this is what we’d like to do as a team.

She was incredibly thrilled, super impressed that we did take that [00:28:00] initiative and ownership, and gave us the runway to move forward with that plan. And then we kept building and adding on it. We ended up becoming a very high performing, successful team.

So yeah, that’s a story about this, the whole ownership and then what can team members do, especially if there are some that aren’t engaged. Someone has to step up. Someone needs to realize this is not acceptable, and “I don’t want this to be my brand.” And so, you know, someone on the team steps up and starts influencing and engaging to get 1 person to be an ally. Get one person to join you, become an ally, become a co-conspirator, and then talk about how do you get everyone else on the train with you.

Joe Toscano: You know, and what I love about that story is, and I think you guys will both agree with [00:29:00] this, is people sometimes when they work for others feel powerless, right? Like, I don’t have power. I can’t do anything. I don’t have the title. I don’t have this and I don’t have that. And then it’s the “I don’t have” excuse train that, you know, people use forever in terms of why they don’t want to take a step forward.

But you’re not powerless. Just because you work for somebody doesn’t mean you can’t do great things. It doesn’t mean that you can’t come up with a solution like Lisa, you and the team did and present it to your manager, because I would think that did two major things. One, it brought the team together. So now you’re all working together. Everybody’s on the same page. Even those you might’ve had to pull along, they were still part of it and they contributed to some level because they wanted to still be part of that success. Maybe they didn’t do as much as others, but everybody participated.

But now you just created a whole new dynamic with that leader and created a relationship that the day before didn’t exist, right? The fact that they were accepting of it, which kudos to [00:30:00] them, you know, they weren’t threatened by it. They saw it as a value add, which is a great thing, and gave you the ability and the runway and so forth, and that’s wonderful. I’m sure the relationship with that leader changed dramatically just because of that initiative. And, you know, we like to call it courage here, have a little courage. It’s okay, because that courage can take you a really long way.

You know, what about that scenario if you had presented it to that leader and they didn’t accept it? They kind of reject it, they maybe, you know, were threatened by it. They were afraid that they would be exposed or,

Lisa Bourquin: Yeah.

Joe Toscano: a little overboard here, but my point being, there’s different personalities that exist in business today. What would you guys have done differently if you ran up against that type of roadblock?

Lisa Bourquin: Oh, goodness. So that’s great question. And that’s tough, because from being an HR business partner, I would [00:31:00] have team members come to me when their manager wasn’t supportive and wasn’t approachable, and then that becomes, that does become a leadership issue.

But I would encourage them to manage what is within your control. So maybe the leader did not buy into this big idea. They felt threatened or whatever the case might be. They weren’t bought in. Go back and ask what do you want, what do you really want? And if it’s to win and succeed in this team, this organization, you got to manage what is within your control, and then start brainstorming from there. Because there are many things that people can do if they put their mindset toward that and not what they can’t do. And their mindset is on, well, I was told no, I can’t do this. You [00:32:00] know, and not get over that.

So, you know, the other thing is to use a little psychology. So what are the leader’s motivations? If I’m on a team, I want to really understand my leader’s motivations and what techniques might be helpful in building trust so that leader may listen to me the second time around. And that’s what makes, you know, people are complicated, and really getting to know someone and what are their motivators, what are their fears, can also be helpful in it. But again, that’s managing what’s within your control.

Joe Toscano: I couldn’t agree more and I think it’s great advice. The only thing I would add to it, and it goes back to maybe asking for a little bit of forgiveness versus permission, is if you don’t have an engaged leader, but [00:33:00] you strongly believe in what you think can make a difference. Again, you’re not looking to be insubordinate, you don’t want to go against the grain, you don’t want to create a bad situation for yourself. But implement some of that change personally, right? See where it gets you because performance and great outcomes, provides a lot of forgiveness, right? It’s when you go against the grain and you fail miserably that you’re probably on the other end of the spectrum.

But if you have a strong belief, again, it doesn’t mean you’re not doing what you’re supposed to, but take a different approach. If you’re in sales to how you might be able to do it or how you target your accounts or how you want to approach a problem or how you think you could follow up or interact with somebody that means a lot to your business and maybe see what that outcome does.

And then there’s nothing more powerful, having been a leader and being in that role, than somebody coming to you and saying, “Hey, look, I know you didn’t want to [00:34:00] implement this maybe, but I took these steps and this is where I started, and this is where I got to. And I just wanted to share that with you.” Because that’ll change your perspective.

Or you know what the best scenario is – when a leader comes to you and says, what are you doing? Like, “Oh my God, your numbers, like in the last two months have gone through the frigging roof! What are you doing that I’m unaware of?” That’s always kind of nice, too. It creates a new relationship, a new insight. Proof sometimes goes a really long way as much as you hope you don’t need that.

Um, but demonstrating that success, especially in business opens a lot of eyes. That’s how a lot of good and best practices come about. You hope it’s embraced. Sometimes it’s not, but it doesn’t mean it stops you from having that initiative, having those conversations, trying something new.

And again, you know, having a little bit of courage. Again, not saying being insubordinate or [00:35:00] going against management. Do what’s right, do it within the parameters that are set, but wow, what a difference it can have.

Mike Kent: Yeah, and along those lines, a few things that come up for me. Here’s my regulated environment influence coming in, right? And I hear everything that you’re saying and it’s spot on. And understanding what that landscape looks like and the tolerance for risk in your specific environment, where you have more flexibility, where you have more leeway, where you have more runway to take those chances to prove the concept and then come back and say, “Hey, I tried this and it worked.” Or as Joe said, your leader comes back to you and says, what the heck are you doing? ‘Cause things are a whole heck of a lot better now.

Knowing your environment is going to be key. So in a regulated environment

Joe Toscano: Uh, [00:36:00] It’s vital.

Mike Kent: And so to that end, there are, I don’t want to give the sense to people that if you’re in a regulated environment, you’re caught within a box. We sometimes think that that’s the case. So trying some things out on the side or working through it a little bit more, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re full blown implementation and now you’ve got a regulatory or a compliance issue that you have to deal with, but taking those steps to explore it after that first “no”.

There was one other thing that Lisa, you mentioned as well, that Joe you touched on also, that I want to come back to. We’ve mentioned it a couple of times in other podcast episodes, this mindset of “what’s in it for me?”. What are the motivations of the leader? What are they motivated by? What are they trying to do? What are their issues? What are the things that they’re struggling with? Does this help them alleviate some of [00:37:00] those struggles? Can you align what you want to do, what the team wants to do, with that premise? This is intended to help or has been shown to help or will help this particular challenge that you’re having or all of us are having. If you can align it that way, you may get better traction along those lines.

So I think understanding that environment and where that tolerance is for risk. And again, having those conversations, is really, really important.

Joe Toscano: You know, in terms of motivation, what are the two things that really motivate an employee, right? You know, and I’m going to boil this down to its simplest terms. It’s either they want success in the current role that they are. Not everybody is looking to go beyond certain positions. People get to certain levels within companies. They’re very good at what they do. They contribute at a very high level and they’re very happy in the level that they’re at.

So it’s success, right? Because nobody wants to be in a job where they’re failing every day. If you do, [00:38:00] we’ll have a whole different episode with a very different guest on that.

And then the other side of it is growth, right? You know, it’s not just success. You want to do more than what you’re doing. You want to grow into different levels. You want to get into different positions. You want different experiences. Those are two very strong motivators, and it doesn’t matter what environment you are.

But if you have a want in those two areas, then by taking simple steps, they really line you up for both. And you can have both, or just success if that’s all you’d like. But it’s so important for that initiative to take place.

And we’re a consulting company. A lot of times when we’re brought in, it’s because people are having issues, challenges, problems, that they’re having some difficulties with. And a lot of times it boils down to communication, how things are done, are leaders listening, are people having initiative? We’re in a regulated environment, like Mike said before, so there’s a very specific [00:39:00] process to initiate change. It’s not like a salesperson calling on a doctor in a different way, again, compliant with the information that they could share. But you know, if I’m messing around on a manufacturing line, it’s a very different world and there is a way to go about that.

But, at the end of the day, it still starts with a conversation or an initiative or an idea or a way to get there. And if somebody’s motivated, those are the two reasons why they are right, success and growth.

Mike Kent: So to this point, we’ve covered initiative and ownership. Two of the five attributes exhibited by people who successfully meet their leaders halfway. In part two of our visit with Lisa, we’ll talk about the remaining three attributes, those being coachability, managing up, and engaging others, while sprinkling in some additional thoughts on how to best cultivate and sustain all five of them in your current environment.

We hope you’ll join us for Part Two of “Meeting Leaders Halfway” [00:40:00] with Lisa Bourquin next time, here on The Grind.

Joe Toscano: If Medvacon can help you and your organization, we’re happy to do so. We specialize in the following areas: Quality and Compliance, Validation and Qualification Services, Project Management, Tech Transfers, General and Specialized Training Programs, Engineering Services, and Talent Acquisition.

If you have general questions as well, feel free to give us a call at any time. We can easily be reached at 833 633 8226 or via our website at www. medvacon. com. Thanks so much, and we look forward to speaking with you.

Jessica Taylor: Thank you for listening to The Quality Grind Podcast presented by Medvacon. To learn more or to hear additional episodes, visit us at www. medvacon. com.