Intro (00:00):

Welcome to The Taylor Ten. A fast-paced, ten minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

‍

Jessie Mann (00:17):

Hello, I am Jessie Mann and welcome to the Taylor Ten. I am here with Dr. Tolanda Tolbert. Dr. T is the Founder & CEO of Culture Matters, and today I'm here to learn as much as I can about leading through change, and the role of inclusive leadership in times of crisis. So whether that be political crisis, industry disruptions, pandemics. So welcome Dr. T.

‍

Dr. T (00:45):

Thank you so much, Jessie.

‍

Jessie Mann (00:47):

For starters, do you want to give us a brief description and a little bit of your background?

‍

Dr. T (00:52):

I have been working in the space of leadership and culture and inclusion for the last 26 years. I am the CEO & Founder of Culture Matters. We do executive coaching, speaking engagements and consulting on making people better leaders and making leaders build better cultures in their organization.

‍

Jessie Mann (01:22):

What is some advice that you have on leading through ambiguity and external factors? I think we can all say there are quite a few external factors happening at this time in the world and in our country that may impact colleagues' mental health.

‍

Dr. T (01:40):

Well, ambiguity is a real natural part of our world now and it seems to be getting more and more ambiguous as we go, and change is coming faster and faster. So it is something that as leaders, we have to accept as part of business and part of innovation. So I think it's really crucial that as a leader, we shift our mindset to really see uncertainty as an opportunity rather than a threat – because within that opportunity, we can impact things, and this is part of having a growth mindset. When things are shifting as they say, we don't control the ocean, but you learn how to surf, and when a leader has that kind of growth mindset, where is the opportunity here that by default kind of creates psychological safety for the team?

‍

Jessie Mann (02:44):

There's an age old saying, “you never talk politics with family,” so I'm curious to know, should this also apply to colleagues?

‍

Dr. T (02:54):

Well, I don't come from that school of thought if there's things that shouldn't be talked about. One could argue that where we are now in our country's history is because people didn't talk about things with the divisions in our society and some of these things and people stop learning how to talk about things. I think for me, it's not that there are some taboo subjects, it's about what your intention is in talking about those subjects. If I were to, let's say, talk politics at work, what is the purpose of that? Right? If your purpose is to win a debate that is very different, then your purpose is going to begin to understand somebody better.

‍

Jessie Mann (03:59):

I know as a manager I very much shy away from or avoid getting into political debates with colleagues, but I also at the same time don't want to appear that I'm turning a blind eye or sweeping things under the rug and not acknowledging the fact that there are things that take place outside of these four walls (or whatever your office setup looks like), and the day-to-day in your professional life. How do we strike the right balance of not seeming like we're that ostrich with our head in the sand and create a safe space for our colleagues?

‍

Dr. T (04:37):

I feel that as a leader, you have to always be modeling calm confidence, and that means a certain level of self-awareness. I think people are uncomfortable having certain conversations because they are uncomfortable about where they sit in that conversation. If you are uncomfortable with something, guess what? Everybody can feel that, and so if things are happening outside your window and you as a leader are not talking about 'em, then that strikes an ostrich with their head down in the sand.

‍

Jessie Mann (05:18):

That's interesting because it's almost like, when is the time to take a more proactive approach and when is it more appropriate to be maybe a bit more reactive, in terms of what's happening outside and how that's impacting people around you and their mental health?

‍

Dr. T (05:36):

If it impacts our mission, if it's impacting the majority of your staff, staffing customers, if it is crossing lines with your values as an organization, all of those are reasons to say something, but what you say is difficult because we have diversity in our workplaces. You can't make an assumption that everybody is coming from things from the same perspective. So the proactivity to me is as a leader, really building your relationships with your direct reports to create that trusting and psychologically safe environment in the first place, and that means in this time and day, and with remote workplaces and so forth, that means intentionally creating the time and space to build that trust, which doesn't happen overnight. For leaders, that also means trust. Building practices such as self-disclosure, sharing what you are going through. Vulnerability is one of these things I should say, that kind of follows this norm of reciprocity, meaning the more you're vulnerable or the more you self-disclose, the more others self-disclose. And I stay in the space of just talking about emotions more than politics. 

‍

How are you responding to this moment? What are the emotions that you have around this moment? How are you managing those emotions? We have been for the last four years or so in the workplace, really trying to break that stigma of mental health issues, but mental health is a deeply human thing. Therefore we just need to always approach mental health from our humanity, and that means just giving people your time and attention. If you listen and ask questions and don't make assumptions, when people are challenged by things, they want to feel seen, they want to feel heard. That doesn't mean that you have to agree. Deeply listening to people and validating their experience is a low risk way to show up for your team members.

‍

Jessie Mann (08:19):

How do you keep team morale up? Not only navigating a busy work environment depending on what your profession is, but also in times of crisis?

‍

Dr. T (08:31):

You showing up, you asking how they're managing these things, asking with open questions – not a question that they can say yes or no to. How are these things affecting you right now? The “how” of the things affecting you, is not asking where you lie on this political spectrum? 

‍

And so I think that those things become critical, and that routine of you always being there and that being part of your agenda in some way, shape or form, whether it's once a week or once a month or whatever, that then becomes the foundation that is stable, is that somebody is authentically showing up and caring and wants to know if there's anything they can do to further support me.

‍

Jessie Mann (09:29):

It is so true that you set the tone as the leader, and if that tone is off and you're not taking care of yourself, how can you even begin to try to open yourself up to help others?

‍

Dr. T (09:40):

Absolutely. Don't forget, it is not about perfection, it is about connection.

‍

Jessie Mann (09:47):

Very much appreciate you. Thank you Dr. T. Jessie Mann, signing off.

‍