Let AI Make You a Better Leader

[00:00:03] Welcome to the Quick Take Podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Susie Tomenchok. And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today. Hey, welcome to Quick Take. I'm one of your hosts, Susie, along with James. How are you, James? I'm the eye candy today. You are? Yes. It's too bad this is unavailable on YouTube.

[00:00:37] But my OnlyFans, you know, don't enjoy it. That's right. So last time we talked about, if you missed our episode, we talked about the AI and how it's really shifting the way that leadership leads as a collective. The turf war that's happening, yeah. And it really occurred to me, as I normally do, I was working with a team last week of Director Plus and in a room and talking about the principles of leadership.

[00:01:03] And it struck me that somebody had said, how do you motivate people? And somebody suggested to put that in AI and see what AI says. And it was so interesting to me because there is this kind of new fun thing. Right. It's a toy. It's a toy. And like people that I know don't write very well, all of a sudden will answer me in email and it's like three pages long. Yeah.

[00:01:32] And I'm like, you did that on AI. I know. I know you did. Everyone knows. Yes. Yeah. And I think it is a really good tool for leaders. It's made me really think about, but I give it my prompts. I say, I'm going to use these prompts with leadership. Help me make sure they're really clear so I'm just not seeing it from my brain, basically.

[00:01:53] And that, you know, so I do think from a leadership perspective, there are some great opportunities for us to leverage this technology in a way that is complementary. No, I agree with you. I think we've talked about it on a previous episode where when somebody does an interview or writes a document that's really clearly AI-ridden, it's kind of obvious.

[00:02:15] And I think the challenge and what we're talking about is that ecosystem that you want to put in place at your company to both ensure the corporate safety but also maximize the opportunity. Right. And if nothing else, you as an individual leader, you, not your department, your team, how do you stay ahead of the curve on this? Because I got to tell you, I think this is fun. I enjoy this topic. I read about it for pleasure.

[00:02:44] I play with it on the weekends for pleasure. AI, that's what we're talking about now. And I lose track. And I can't keep up. Yeah. And so it's moving pretty fast. It is really changing. And I want to look at this from an individual leader perspective because, as you know, the higher you go up in an organization, the more power you have, your self-awareness goes down. And that's proven through research.

[00:03:11] And one of the reasons they think that to be true is it takes confidence and a little bit of ego to be able to step into a role that you feel uncomfortable about. Right. And then you also teach people about giving you feedback. So I think that there's a unique opportunity for executives to examine themselves, examine what it feels like to live outside of you. Sure. Using AI.

[00:03:35] And maybe it's putting in, you know, what you're going to say to the team and ask AI, how does this sound if you were working for me? Really understanding how it lands. Because there's two types of self-awareness. There's one that you can self-regulate. The other is how good are you at understanding how through your actions and your communication, how it landed with people around the table? Yeah. And I think this could be a way to uncover that.

[00:04:05] Let's talk about it in two parts here. One, there is AI as a professional coach. And then there's how do you as an individual begin to build your AI toolbox, right? Now, you can use AI to build your AI toolbox, obviously. I mean, that seems self-evident. But I do think that there are things that you can put in place as a leader to really accelerate the opportunity here for you to use that.

[00:04:33] And I think those are some of the things that we're seeing that are really interesting is what are the multiplier effects at companies? What are the real game changers that people are undertaking to make sure that they're really using this? So I think of three principles that I talk about with people. And so I want to put this to the test of AI. So one is good leaders when they're meeting with their team one-on-one should talk 30% of the time and listen 70% of the time.

[00:05:02] But I will tell you, people will tell me they're doing that. But then I talk to their people and they're like, they just go on a soapbox and they never stop. So you could use AI to look at and inspect how you're communicating, even from a metric perspective in how much of the microphone you're taking. No. Okay. So that's within that category of AI as a coach, as if you were sitting there, Susie was sitting in the room.

[00:05:28] And like Microsoft Teams, literally with Teams Premium Plus, Mega, whatever, I don't know what it is. Microsoft makes it hard. Love you, Microsoft. But the Premium Teams where you have the AI enabled, you can get an actual chart of showing how much time you spend speaking. Yep. Zoom's the same. Yep. Zoom has it as well. And you can visually see if you are doing as you think you are, which is 30% of the time is done talking. Yeah.

[00:05:57] And being able to say, why is that? Because I think it is hard. You don't really want to ask your people, but you do want to say, am I doing this? And what it does is it forces you, when we listen more, it forces you to get outside of your head to think about what you're going to say next. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Well, I think you listen, right? You actually have a thought. You digest what's being said. I think those things are huge.

[00:06:22] So, yeah, as a coach, I think you can use AI to do that. All right. So the second principle is ask open-ended questions. Oh, that's a good one. And open-ended questions are seven words or less. And by the way, they're one at a time, which I'm horrible at. I always ask people like question, question, question, because I don't want to forget.

[00:06:44] And so another opportunity to look at or even ask, I need to understand this from my direct report. What are five questions that are seven words or less that I could use? It's humbling. Seven words is not a lot of words. That's really great. That's a fun opportunity. Yeah. And forcing you, you know, like anything else, though, you don't need to write those down.

[00:07:09] But boy, if you can see those little questions in the back of your head for that conversation and you come up with two of them, that's a win. I think, you know, you get a high five for that. And I think it's, you know, like a lot of things, it's just priming the pump. And if you can do that work in advance, get those seven words or less questions in the back of your mind, then that's going to make you that much better levelist-er. Totally.

[00:07:32] And I think I just want to dwell on this just for a second as well, because there's some days, you know, I'm working one-on-one with somebody and I'm just not feeling like I have a lot of creativity or a lot to give to that person. And I will ask them a simple question because I'm just kind of like not there. And they will take it and really think about it and really take a journey with it. Right. And by the end of the session, they'll be like, oh, my gosh, you're amazing.

[00:07:59] Where in my head, I'm like, oh, my gosh, that was all you and not me. And so I also tell people those questions when it makes somebody else think, they think you're really smart. Oh, for sure. Leadership is about making other people think. And that's the significance of open-ended questions. Right. Is it forces you to stop so that you allow the other person to figure it out for themselves.

[00:08:26] No, I think that's a great reminder of, you know, a great leadership skill. And if you can find, you know, hone that skill. And I suspect once you get good at those seven, you ask those seven questions over and over. They don't have to be very specific. Right. They can just be, if you were me, what would you do? There is this open-ended question that could apply to anything. And so I think that's just a muscle like anything else. All right. So the third principle is, this one's an interesting one. First of all, there's two parts to it.

[00:08:56] Don't ask why questions. Ask what questions. And the reason is because why, that's a good question. That's a really, right there. Tell me more. There you go. That's a bonus right there. That one is, I use that so many times. So why, when you say why, why did you do that, James? Oh, it's accusational. You think about the past. Yeah. Oh, okay. You get defensive.

[00:09:20] When you reorient people to a what question instead, what would have happened if you would have? I love it. And so I told this to a coach that I really respect, told me that not only is that principle really good, but the second part of it is ask three what questions. And it's interesting. I told one of my clients and her team this. And so she's been using it, even though I told her team too, they don't even realize, which is hilarious.

[00:09:47] But if you ask three what questions in a row, that drills more into the depth of the conversation, makes that person think more. But what that also does is it orients you to not take the microphone back. Oh, sure. You're pushing that questioning. So it helps you with that 30%. Right. What kind of questions would you ask? What if you would have done it this way? And then you answer it. And then I can't tell you the what questions asked, but you have to then ask a follow-up what question.

[00:10:16] So if you were faced with this scenario again, what would you have done differently? And what, see, I was trying to do three what questions on you and I couldn't do it. So it's a good muscle that you need to work on. It is. And we've just identified that it's not because people will automatically ask me, can you tell me the three what questions? And it's like, no, it's contextual in the situation.

[00:10:43] So it forces you to stay in it. I get that. And I'm trying to bring it back to the AI topic. And I think that's a really great mental exercise. I mean, ultimately, that's a great skill as a leader. And I suspect, you know, at a minimum, you could certainly review your transcript of your meanings and say, how many questions did I ask? How many why questions did I ask? What questions can I ask? Yes.

[00:11:11] And if your goal is to say, answer those types of questions or ask those types of questions, and that's, you know, if you've set that kind of KPI for yourself, then take advantage of this tool to help you really focus on that. And I would also say, if you're going to have a difficult conversation where something didn't go well, put that scenario in and say, what are five what questions I could ask? Yeah, I like it. Moment.

[00:11:38] You have done a little bit of investigation. Sure. So to allow you to have some concepts that you can turn to. No, I like it. I like it. I like that way to use your three pillars and use AI to make them better. That's that's really good. Yeah. Let's use AI to be better at leadership. There you go. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take, where we talk about the questions that are on the minds of executives everywhere.

[00:12:07] Connect with us and share what's on your mind. You can find us on LinkedIn, YouTube, or whatever nerdy place on the Internet you find your podcasts. All the links you really need are in the show notes. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.