Ep. 178 - Thrive's Leadership Values (Replay)

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Show Notes:

We are not trying to manage people. We are trying to lead humans. In this episode of Learning to Thrive, we share the leadership values we use at Thrive to keep our culture steady, personal, and strong even when things get busy. These are not slogans for a handbook. They are standards we try to live in real relationships with staff, coaches, and the teams we serve.

We unpack four leadership values that shape how we make decisions and how we show up day to day: humility, accountability, engagement, and investment. You will hear what humble leadership looks like in practice, why accountability has to go both ways, and how leaders can invite honest feedback without getting defensive. We also talk about the danger of blind spots when people do not feel safe telling you the truth, and why owning mistakes quickly builds more trust than pretending you are perfect.

We get practical about engagement through consistent one-on-one check-ins, including our flexible “10-10” meeting style that creates space for real conversation about work and life. Finally, we dig into investing in people with time, education, opportunity, and support so they leave better than they came. If you lead a team, coach athletes, run a small business, or parent kids who watch everything you do, these leadership values can become your foundation.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to Learning to Thrive. I'm Courtney. And I'm Michaela. And today we are talking about leadership. And more specifically, the values that govern our leadership as a company, which is different but also intertwined with our company values. So we have core values, we have nine of those that govern all the decision-making stuff for the company. However, when we got into leadership, there are some certain ways of doing leadership that I think work. And there are certain ways of doing things of leadership that I think really, really work. And so narrowing ourselves down to being very clear on when we are leading our people, what do we need to be mindful of, aware of, and acting in accordance with was kind of where these leadership values came from. And they build on what is our core values, but they kind of go beyond that in the sense of every leadership relationship is a personal, like one-to-one, as well as like you can have, you know, a group that you're leading, but you do have relationships within that. And so holding ourselves accountable as leaders to values and standards to make sure that we are leading in the best way possible is one of our big goals here at Thrive. We don't always get it right, it's not a perfection, but we definitely with these leadership values are trying to do the best that we can and also to push ourselves to excel and be essentially above average to great leaders. Yeah. That's always the goal. Yeah. And I think that when you're leading the the mental shift from of what leadership means, like really understanding that the people that you're leading are looking to you and being steady and consistent in your in these in these values and also in the way that you show up for them, I think is the difference between having a culture that really can thrive or you know having having bumps and and bruises and that kind of stuff along the way. So this is the these are the four that we have come up with. This these are the four that we could claim. And I think if you asked the people we lead, I think they would come up again and again and again. So like I don't even it's not even something that we put on the wall or we put in a handbook or something like that. It's really the ones that we try to live.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Right. And I think going off of what you were saying about, you know, kind of being that next level or that higher version of like leadership, this is where it, you know, it always comes to mind when I am talking to like friends who work outside of the industry or something like that. And you know, a lot of times it's like, oh, you're in a management position. And it's like, well, yeah, yeah. Technically, if you were to like just look at the org chart, yeah, that, yeah, that's what it is. Good old middle management, you know. But here we approach it, I think, so differently and from such a human component or human, you know, side of things that we really don't we don't use the word manager or use the word manager. Or management or anything like that. No, I it truly is leader, like a leader, yeah. And a a leadership structure as opposed to a management structure. So, and I think like you said, it comes down to these core values and actually living them and practicing them, not just, you know, putting them up on a wall and calling it a day.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Yeah. So yeah. Yeah, the management versus leadership thing, that's a big that's like nails on the chalkboard for me when people are like, go get your manager. No, I don't wanna I don't wanna manage people. Like managing people, I don't even know if that works. Yeah, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

I would manage tasks. I would love for the day that someone is like, I want to talk to a manager. And I can be like, well, actually, we don't have managers.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

We don't have managers, we have leaders.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

We have leaders.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Bring me, bring me one of them. And we've got like 25. Yeah, we bring up the whole crew, 15 of us. We believe everybody can lead. So yeah. Okay, so leadership values, what are we shooting for here? This these are specific to us. And that this is this is meant to encourage you to think about what are your own leadership values. Feel free to borrow some of ours, but what is it that as you're leading your people, you are, and that could be your kids too. Like it doesn't have to necessarily mean you're in a leadership role. You have a title, you know. It is when you're leading, how do you show up? And so our first leadership value

Humility

SPEAKER_00 4:35

is humility. Because I don't believe you can be a great leader without also being humble. And that doesn't mean you don't take credit for the energy and effort that you put out, but it does mean that you recognize at all times that without the team that is around you, none of this is possible. Because it takes more than just a single person to make all of this work. So the humid the humility factor, the going in and saying, I I I know that there's things that I don't know. I know I'm gonna mess some stuff up. I know that, you know, there's air, there's a room for improvement. I know that perfection is not gonna happen. Like just the humility of that and then going to people and being, we like vulnerability in our company, you know, being honest when you're like, yeah, you know, today's not a great day for me. You know, I'm I'm struggling with some stuff in my personal life, but I'm gonna push through or like just being humble enough to be in the trenches with people, but also being vulnerable and honest with people as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Yeah. Humility is a big one. I think also, again, coming from that standpoint of like, okay, yes, I might be your leader, but like we're both in here teaching classes. Yeah. Or we're both in here coaching team, like we're both in here with the same mission. You know, so on that level, we are very much equals. Yeah. Maybe I've been around for a little bit longer, or I worked more hours, or for whatever reasons, I am your leader in that I'm here to help you should you need it, and you know, as your responsibility for what goes wrong, but that means leadership. Taking taking responsibility. But at the end of the day, on our day-to-day, we're both coming in here, we're both teaching, we're both working with kids, we're both serving our community. So there's a there's an equality piece, you know, there as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah, I think the day that people start thinking, oh, I'm better than you because I have this title or whatever is the day that your company starts to crumble. Like it just your leaders need to be aware that nothing, none of their not they cannot do their job if there's not people to lead, right? So it's an interdependent system. And it requires humility to be able to understand that and to kind of ground yourself and be like, yeah, yeah, I'm in charge of stuff. And that really just means that I put out the fires. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

So that's that's our first leadership value is humility. Yes. Our second is accountability.

Accountability

SPEAKER_01 7:02

And this is one that very much goes both ways, right? So we like to be able to hold our people accountable, the people that we lead. But at the same time, there's a self-accountability and an a level of accountability within our leadership team that's like if we decide as a group that we are going to do something, then we're we're gonna all uphold that, even if it means for each other. And how, you know, what that accountability looks like is check-ins, it's honest conversations, it's the vulnerability that you were talking about earlier, to, you know, be able to go for me to be able to go up to someone and be like, you know, hey, I did not handle this the way I should have. I, you know, I'm I'm fully holding myself accountable on that, and I'm sorry, and you know, let's do X, Y, and Z to move forward or or whatever the case may be. But at the same time, it's a two-way street, doors open on both ends. So I can also need to have that humility that we talked about to be able to have someone come and say that to me and hold me accountable if I don't recognize it myself right away.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Yes. Amen to that. Yeah. The ability to allow the people that you lead to hold you accountable and to accept that without defensiveness, I think is a huge, and and that could be peer-to-peer too. Another leader coming to you and saying, hey, the way that you handled that situation, it may have there may have been a better way to be able to look at that and then be like, you know what? Yeah, I own here's what here was my perspective of it, but I I own this piece and this piece and this piece, or yeah, you're right, I need to circle back, or yeah, you know, I think that accountability piece is huge because without that, how is how is anything supposed to improve? Right? Because you've got to be accountable to something and you've also got to be able to know that you can go tell your lead what, you know, like you don't want to be a leader that leads blind. Right. You know, you want to know the truth. But if you don't accept the truth or or nobody's allowed to say it to you, or you deny it or blame somebody else every time, they're gonna stop telling you. And then you're just gonna live in this bubble where you're like, Oh, everything's going great. And it's not going great, but because you don't have the humility or accountability.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Right. Yeah. Your blind spots get bigger and bigger.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Yeah, and everybody has blind spots. So if you think if you're sitting here thinking I don't have any blind spots, you might want to start there. That that in and of itself can be your blind spot. So, yeah, self-accountability. And then also, I mean, holding other people accountable, not easy. I mean, hold having a tough conversation with somebody being like, hey, you're coming to work every day, and as far as I know, this job is really important to you, and you're also not meeting the expectations, that is not a fun or easy conversation to have.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

No.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

And I think that a good leader is willing to look at their role and say, my job is to hold people accountable as well as I hold myself accountable because it helps us all be better and it will eventually help that person to be better as well. So it's that accountability is multi-level.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Right. Yeah. All right. Leadership value number three, and this is another big one for us that we put a lot of attention and energy into, and that is engagement. And for us at Thrive, that looks like engaging with your staff, right? So not just leading

Engagement

SPEAKER_01 10:30

via like text message or something like that. It is like actually getting to know your people. Yeah. And getting to have those conversations and engage in a two-way conversation too, right? Like we're not just sitting here and I'm talking at you for 10 minutes and then, all right, you got all that? Sounds good. All right, we'll check in in another like two weeks. Like it is, it's a back and forth. So we do our 10-10 meetings, which the idea is 10 things in 10 minutes. Um, I call them, I usually say like check-ins more than I say 10-10s. It's the same idea. Bi-weekly with our staff, so every other week, and it's one-on-one time with that person. And sometimes they are five to ten minutes, and sometimes they're 30 minutes, 40 minutes. It kind of depends on what they need and what you need in that moment, if there's a lot going on in the gym or in their lives that they need to talk about. But it is that one-on-one personal engagement. Yeah. And uninterrupted too, as best as possible. Sometimes when you're in a gym with hundreds of kids running around, things get interrupted. But trying to separate that out as much as possible is uh is huge. And I think through that engagement, through those meetings, that's where you develop the relationship where you can have the accountability and and the other things that we talked about.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Yeah, and I and the engagement piece of it is bringing like we always say, bring your whole self to work, right? So when we're doing goals and when we're doing these meetings, we're not just saying how is work going. We're saying how is your life going plus work, right? So like that that level of engagement means that we we not only care about you as somebody who can contribute to this team, but also as a human that is just existing in this world. And when you do that for people and they truly see that you care, the level of trust that that allows and the level of just belonging and community that it allows really helps the whole job of leadership, right? Because when somebody knows that you're invested in them, you're engaged with them, you know what's going on in their personal life, you know what's going on in their professional life, you know that they have a test coming up, you know that they had a scholarship they applied for. Like the the level of I matter, which goes back to our regular core values, right? So these are built on that, the level of that really means a lot to people. And it becomes not just a job, but a place where where they belong and a place that they're a part of. And when you have a leader or two leaders that meet with you on a regular basis and know what's going on in your personal life and are encouraging you, but also holding you accountable, like you're creating relationships there that have incredible value. And you're and these are the people who are building up other people, right? So you're pouring into the coaches. Well, the coaches are pouring into the kids, right? So not only does your leadership in engagement for the team member matter, but it also that also spreads down to the people that they're leading as well. And they will then engage at a higher level with our families. So it's like a nice trickle-down effect that makes everything else easier because they know you care, then they're able to care, and then the people feel that, and then the loop just goes around. So yeah. So not just we're not just punching a clock here, we're not just come do your job and leave, check these boxes. It's it's way more of a relationship. Which also some people don't like.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah, it's not for everyone. No, you know, and and even then, like, I'm you have people on, you know, your team who you you just like click really well with, you mesh really well with them. You might have the a stronger quote unquote relationship with that person that you lead. There might be people who it does feel a little bit more formal, but at the end of the day, they know that if they needed to or wanted to come to you with any sort of an issue, work or personal, they could. Like the door is is very much open. Even if they're like, you know, no, I'm good. Like I come in one day a week, I teach my classes, they're great, you know, all the kids are good, we're moving up. No, I'm good. Yeah. Sometimes that's how those meetings go, and that's fine. But you still have the opportunity, you still do the check-in. Oh, how how are things going in school? Oh, they're good. And that's if that's all they want to share, that's all they want to share, and that's fine. You know, force people, you can't force people, but but just knowing that like the effort has been made and the the door like for those conversations is always open, like is it's great.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Yeah, agreed. All right, and then uh bringing it home, our last one is investment. This looks like a lot of different things.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah. This is time, this is emotional investment, this is monetary investment, this is educational investment, this is

Investment

SPEAKER_01 15:37

I think I think it's any sort of investment you can uh try is what we try and do here at Thrive as well.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, I think the word invest also being we're gonna put something in for a bigger return, right? So that might mean we know you're we're only gonna have you for two years and you want to be a doctor. And in the two years that you're here, we want to invest in you so that when you leave here, you're better than when you got here, right? That compounded interest of we care enough that we want to invest in you and make sure that you're getting what you need. I don't ever really want somebody to leave here the same as when they came. Right. Right? Because then we didn't do our job in teaching them something. Life lessons through work, you know, like it's like, you know, let me let let's teach you some leadership skills, let's teach you some administrative skills, let's teach you how to talk to, you know, communicate better, let's teach you how to like investing in it, like you said, that's time, energy, money. Like it it varies by person, but the key is we don't want you leaving here ever worse than we got you.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Never worse than we got.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Never worse, but more, yeah, but not even not even net zero the same, you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

And and that investment, like you were just saying, it goes beyond just teaching you how to teach gymnastics, right? Like our tagline, our you know, is life lessons through sports one of our core values as well. That's for the kids. That's what everyone thinks about immediately, is like, oh, the kids who are doing the sport, but it's also the coaching and even the families and the adults. It's it is it that is all-encompassing, that is for everyone. So, what can we do on our end to help improve you as a gymnastics coach or ninja coach or lacrosse coach, and also improve you as just a person? Yeah. So we we do, I mean, we want to add value. We want yeah, and we add value, I think, in a lot of different ways. Even just the opportunity, like every once in a while we'll have a position open up where it's like an internal hire, and multiple people will like apply and they'll go through the interviewing process. I mean, I did that, I don't even remember how long it how long ago it was. And I was like, you know what, this is great because I've actually never interviewed before because I've only ever worked at Thrive. And when I started working here, I handed you my work permit when I was 14.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

I've been volunteering for two years, and at that point we had no systems. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

And I was like, here's my work permit. I can actually like legally work now. I'll be here on Monday. We were like, great. Yeah. So that's right. So even things like that, you know, opportunities that are presented or higher education opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah, or what yeah, what do you want to learn about? You can do it while you're here. So to kind of wrap this up as far as leadership values here, we have humility, accountability, engagement, and investment. And yours don't have to be the same, but knowing what is important to you and knowing what you want to be hammering home essentially, right? What do you want to be your foundation for the team that you're leading, the people that you're leading, but also the when you look in the mirror and you're like, what type of leader am I? It's really nice to be proud of the type of leader you are, right? And and without intention any intentionality behind, well, how do I want to show up? What do I value? It's real hard to know, are you hitting the mark? And with these kind of things, you know if you're hitting the mark. You can you can give yourself a square out of, you know, one to ten on each of these categories. And how humble have I been in the last month? How accountable have I been? How engaged have I been? How invested, you know, well, who have I invested in? What have I invested in? Um, and just knowing that, yes, uh as I grow in my leadership and I lead these people who I care deeply about, what are we teaching them? What are how are we doing that? And then when you have a group of leaders, right? Because it may be just you right now, but if you develop a group or you already have a group, how do I keep the group together and no and nobody goes rogue? Well, if we have values, that gives us something to come back to, right? Something solid to stand on and something solid to make our our decisions from. So we're able to all sit in a room together and be like, is this what we believe? And it is, right? Yeah. Okay, good. Then let's let our decision making come from these values.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Okay, then nobody has to second guess or decision if it aligns with the values. And if you have to hold somebody accountable because it doesn't align, that's really easy too, because it's like, hey, that was way off of our values. Like you should not be out there, you know blaming so-and-so because you didn't do your cleaning job. That is not accountability, and you know that leadership takes accountability. Like, let's let's figure out what's going on here. So values is key. Core values, leadership values, and being clear, super clear. Clear is kind for Nay Brown. Yeah.

unknown 20:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

All right, everybody. Well, we hope you found that helpful in some way, and we hope that you do whatever your own version of this is, whether it's leadership values for yourself, leadership values for your team, or for your company, or for you know, your coaching. Figure out what's important to you so that you can narrow that down and and have yourself a solid foundation to make decisions from. Everybody keep on thriving.