S3, Ep. 12: Q&A- Why The Lift Works For All Stages of Leadership!

Mary Skop (00:01.102)
Hello listeners and welcome back to Confessions of a Terrible Leader. I am your friendly neighborhood podcast producer, Mary Schaap, producer of Confessions of a Terrible Leader. And I am here today with our fearless leader and host, Lacey Nelson. Lacey, welcome back to your own show.

Layci (00:21.282)
when I get to sit on this side of the table. So thank you. Thank you for doing this, Mary.

Mary Skop (00:25.0)
absolutely. I am delighted that you love to play along. So this is fantastic. We're just going to talk briefly today about one of our very exciting upcoming offerings called the Lyft. Now, if you follow us, it's very possible that you may have already heard us talking about the Lyft on a previous podcast, or you may have seen posts on any of our social media platforms, or if you're a genius and you subscribe to our email newsletter.

Layci (00:30.752)
You

Mary Skop (00:53.864)
you would have read about it in one of our beautifully crafted posts. But because we exist in a space and time where it's post today, forget tomorrow. We're going to talk just a little bit, just a brief little spotlight on the Lift and why you might want to consider it. So Lacey, can you give me, let's say, give me an elevator pitch of what is the Lift?

Layci (01:03.733)
Yep.

Layci (01:17.826)
Awesome. Yes, I can. The Lyft is a custom expertly crafted leadership intensive for emerging leaders. It is built for that leader that has either no leadership experience yet, but you have your sights on them like yes, or on yourself for your own career. Yes, I want that seat and I want more education around how to do this well. Or for the leader that's

Mary Skop (01:20.291)
You

Layci (01:47.34)
been leading about five or so years, enough to really get their feet wet, enough to have had some hard experiences and some context, but definitely not seasoned enough yet to feel like, I've got this for the most part. It really is that extra fast up the mountain, hence the Lift. To take the Lift, it's faster than hiking yourself up there.

Mary Skop (02:13.132)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (02:15.94)
It's cutting out a lot of literally a lot of years of learning into a two and a half month long intensive to really get your feet under you as a leader, learn some new skills and be ready to take your career and your team to the next level.

Mary Skop (02:37.122)
That's fantastic. If I was on a literal elevator with you and like we were at some kind of like, you know, business expo of some sort and you explained it to me, I would be very intrigued. I'd be like, Hmm, I would like to learn more, especially. So if, if I came to you as a seasoned business owner and you touched upon that in your elevator pitch and that was great, but let's go a little deeper into two opposite ends of the spectrum.

Layci (02:52.407)
Yes.

Layci (03:02.091)
Yeah.

Mary Skop (03:05.038)
I'm a seasoned business owner. I've got a growing team. it's not, let's say it's a team of like, you know, five to 10 team members and I've got some young up and coming leaders. see a lot of potential in a bit rough around the edges. but I've, let's say I've been in this long enough to know that there's a lot of potential here. I want to make an investment in these young leaders. Why is the Lift a good fit for me as a seasoned business owner?

Layci (03:06.68)
Mm

Layci (03:12.417)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Layci (03:28.066)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (03:32.376)
I'm so glad you asked. Why is it a good fit? It is a good fit because first of all, mentoring is critical when you are in a position of leadership. You should be looking to replace yourself all the time. Who's going to fill the seat when I'm gone? Or should I, God forbid, get hit by a bus? Like you're always looking for who is going to replace me and developing them.

Mary Skop (03:42.306)
Hmm.

Mary Skop (03:48.394)
Hmm. Yeah.

Mary Skop (03:56.663)
you

Layci (04:01.718)
with that intention in mind. And so oftentimes in the day to day with our best intentions, we get very distracted from the goal of sitting down with people, doing the one -to -ones, or we do it now and then, but we don't do it with consistency. This is a way for a seasoned leader to

kickstart and reinvest their time and resources as well into that mentorship process. Because you're not just doing a cold handoff to us. What we actually do is provide the leadership that is sending their people through. You get a discussion guide that then leads you through the one -to -ones to follow up every single week during this intensive.

Mary Skop (04:54.008)
you

Layci (05:01.708)
to really get insight into what they're learning, how they're going to apply it, kickstart some great conversations so that you don't have those dead -end one -to -ones who like, why are we going to meet? What are we really going to think about or talk about? And I know as a leader, your attention is pulled in so many directions. The gloriousness of having the prep done for you.

Mary Skop (05:13.836)
Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (05:27.98)
Mm.

Layci (05:28.064)
of like you just pull out the discussion guide or pull it up. It's a PDF, print it if you want. Pull up that discussion guide and you know what you're gonna talk about. And honestly, there is enough material in that. You could have deep one -to -one discussions if you do them on a consistent basis for, I'm not exaggerating, a year, easy, with the content that's in that guide, with what they're learning. So it really is...

Mary Skop (05:47.734)
Wow, that's amazing.

Layci (05:54.94)
you and a really great connection point for both of you. And they're learning how to build teams. You're going to learn so much about them. They're learning about themselves. You're going to probably learn about yourself too, honestly, in the discussions that you're going to have with them around the material. And then the other piece is when we constructed this, when we built out this curriculum, we thought about it as a bullseye, a three layered bullseye, three circles.

Mary Skop (06:07.672)
Sure. Yeah.

Mary Skop (06:20.064)
Hmm. Okay.

Layci (06:22.804)
And at the center circle is the individual because leadership, you understand extreme ownership, leadership starts with you, it ends with you. You're ultimately accountable. You got to know who you are in order to make all of this work. And no matter where you work, no matter what setting you're in, you need to understand the core principles about yourself. What are your own core values? What is your own sense of purpose? And then how does whatever work environment you're in

become that vehicle with which you get to live out that higher calling that you feel on your life or that higher sense of purpose that you are committed to making a difference. And we help uncover that and unpack that. from there, then we say, okay, the next, and then we also, sorry, we also look at your own tendencies, right? Like, what are your tendencies? are the things, what are your,

Mary Skop (07:13.499)
Mmm.

Layci (07:17.462)
This is a word that's overused, but it is appropriately used in this sense. What are your triggers for high stress? How do you act when you are under pressure? Are you conflict avoidant? Or do you see conflict as a tool for connection? I we really get into some deep reflection. And then from there, the next circle out, okay, you got to handle on who you are. Now let's start talking about team development.

Mary Skop (07:22.242)
Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (07:43.608)
Hmm.

Layci (07:43.811)
How do you help your team members have the connection to the work that we just went through with you? And then how do you also become a superstar communicator? mean, a world -class top -shelf communication isn't just about how the words come out of your mouth. It's about understanding how to shift those words to the audience or to the individual that you're speaking to so that you are connecting with their value system and they're going to hear you faster.

So we help people figure out how do you do that in a team? And then how do you just really practical things? How do you ensure that there's clarity? How do you ensure people understand what the top priorities are for the role that they're in? How do you do effective check -ins with your team and one -to -one? What makes them worth the time? How do you run a meeting that's not a waste of time? So very practical skills that are immediately actionable.

Mary Skop (08:13.773)
Hmm.

Layci (08:43.448)
as they're learning them. And the fun part about this intensive is like, it's go practice it, come back, go practice it, come back. And so they're taking these bite -sized pieces of knowledge during this intensive, going out and using it and coming back. And there's like no busy work. I'll get into that later. And then the big ring, the outside. So we go self, team, and then we help them understand the beginnings of how to think strategically.

Mary Skop (09:00.048)
Sure.

Layci (09:11.8)
and how to understand how to navigate organizationally and how to understand and think like essentially you do boss, you do leader, helping them to learn how to step into the shoes of that you're in and see the business from 30 ,000 feet, see the organization from 30 ,000 feet, help them understand what alignment is and how to even ask you might get some hard questions because they may come back going, actually,

We had this discussion and I couldn't answer this question. What is the alignment around? Where are we with this? What are the most important things we're focusing on this year? And so it's really equipping them with tools to sharpen your own leadership as well as to help them understand like, how do you think not at just the frontline level, it's giving them that elasticity and that expanded capacity.

Mary Skop (10:09.653)
Hmm. Yeah.

Layci (10:11.348)
in the way that they understand the business and their role in the business, but being able to step in and see it from every level. So in a very large nutshell, that is what happens and why Bosses, you should do this. Because the other thing is it's going to, yes, they're going to feel invested in. It's going to increase likelihood of retention, good leadership training, which we have top shelf leadership training. We're updating it all the time. It's always cutting edge. You're not getting recycled stuff from even

Even a year ago, we've revamped it since the first time we ran it. So it's something that is cutting edge, it's always up to date. And with the current research, the current studies, the current best practices in the context of the time we're in, if you're using leadership strategies and practices that were considered best practices five years ago,

Mary Skop (11:08.29)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (11:09.664)
you're probably missing out on some of the, the whole world has changed drastically in five years. So what held water and was true five years ago and was truly a best practice is not working today. In many instances, how it used to work. It's not getting the same results. And so we're staying on top of what is getting the results. What is working for people, especially Gen Z coming in plus, you know,

Mary Skop (11:16.098)
Yeah. yeah. Right.

Layci (11:39.512)
worldwide pandemic, yeah, just a few things. So how all of those changes, socio -political, everything, you know, like we are looking at it in context, which is part of what sets us apart is our approach is always in context. But yeah, so there you go. Like leadership, you're gonna get, for good leadership training, you're gonna get $7 back for every dollar you invest. That's what you're gonna see on the bottom line.

Mary Skop (11:41.676)
Yeah, just a few things. Yeah.

Mary Skop (11:50.317)
Yeah.

Mary Skop (11:55.254)
Yeah, for sure.

Mary Skop (12:06.296)
Yeah, and that's incredible.

Layci (12:09.346)
Like you're gonna see increased engagement, you're gonna see increased productivity, you're gonna see increased retention, you're going to see higher levels of collaboration and problem solving, you're gonna see more innovation. Those are all things that happen when top shelf leadership development is invested in. So yeah, you're gonna get your money back pretty fast.

Mary Skop (12:30.606)
Mm

Yeah. Awesome. And it's really incredible because this is this, the Lyft cohort is for, did you say is two months, two and a half months? Okay. So like six weeks ish, eight ish. Okay. wait, of course. Hang on. Leaf cut that out. I can math. My gosh. We'll just cut that out. I can math.

Layci (12:45.464)
Two and a half months, yep.

Eight -ish weeks. Yep.

Layci (12:55.128)
It's almost three months. It's just short of 90 days. It's just short of a 90 day intensive.

Mary Skop (13:02.318)
Okay. So the Lift is just short of a 90 day intensive. That's amazing. And then as you mentioned, you get enough material where you could work with that material in one -to -ones and that type of coaching for like a year. You could work with that. That's incredible.

Layci (13:16.263)
Yes, yes. And your employee that goes through it, we have a membership portal and they have some self -study modules in there. And inside that portal, and we can link to actually a webinar that we just did, we can throw the link and they can see behind the scenes. But when they're in there, they have access to everything in there for 12 months. So, yeah.

Mary Skop (13:24.45)
Mm

Mary Skop (13:31.407)
yes, we'll do that.

Mary Skop (13:39.884)
Wow. Okay. That's, that's fantastic. And so it's not like we leave you high and dry. It's like, here's an info dump and now you're on your own. So there's a lot of support there. All right. Flipping the script. I am a scrappy entrepreneur with a very short attention span. Tell me why, tell me why I should sign up for The lift.

Layci (13:47.776)
No. Yep.

Layci (13:57.474)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Layci (14:04.92)
because we don't give you busy work. you are going to anything that you're going to be doing, we're going to be asking you conceptually bring in real stuff. We're not going to, we know the concepts we want to teach you, but we're going to teach you through application of solving your real problems. So you're going to bring, I have this challenge to the table during the live cohort coaching sessions, and we're going to work through them with you. And

Mary Skop (14:27.874)
Mm

Layci (14:31.612)
It is that in and of itself is intensely valuable. You're also, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Or I've got, I have this employee that I, they're super high performer, but man, they are really bringing some toxic vibes into the workplace. I don't know what the next step is here. I don't want to blow it up, but I don't know what to do.

Mary Skop (14:35.176)
yeah, bring your real problems. Like in real time, like I got this horrible email and I have no idea what to do with it. Help me. That's fantastic. Yeah. Not the horrible email, but.

Mary Skop (14:56.15)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Layci (15:00.248)
We solve that in real time. Everybody in the group understands it's confidential. It's a place where people are bringing their issues forward that they want solved. And strategy -wise too, you may be like, I got three opportunities. I don't know which one. I can't do them all. I don't know which one. And so the group looks from that 30 ,000 foot level and helps figure out what is the most aligned, right? So we're taking in...

Mary Skop (15:22.093)
Yeah.

Layci (15:28.946)
all the, you're bringing in these real problems. We're not wasting time. You're going to walk away with immediate value that's going to be moving your business forward. It's not like, this is taking away from the time I have to work on the business. No, this is working on the business when you're in this. And also if you're growing and building a team, this is going to, as your business grows and expands, you're going to

Mary Skop (15:43.254)
Right. That's, yeah.

Layci (15:56.962)
I mean, gosh, chance ends in the middle of it right now. Like we have had no consistency for three years. Like consistency in the good things, in the things like the meetings and that, but we're, because we are in like such a massive growth phase, everything's always shifting, right? It's not like, we got it in place and who now we're, now we're good to go. It's like, no, you got to learn how to move through that and communicate through that and have norms.

Mary Skop (16:02.734)
True. Right.

Mary Skop (16:11.479)
right.

Mary Skop (16:15.159)
Right.

Layci (16:25.484)
that are gonna stand the test of time, even if there's some things in your business that are gonna flex and should flex and change as you grow. There's other things that shouldn't. And getting a really firm handle on what are the things that should stay static, like norms, expectations for the way that we treat each other, the way that we communicate to get things done, the way that we communicate when one of us drops the ball, because we drop balls here just like any other place it happens.

Mary Skop (16:33.198)
sure.

Mary Skop (16:41.569)
Mm

Mary Skop (16:52.708)
yeah, yep we do.

Layci (16:55.5)
How do we go, what do we do when that happens? Do we immediately look at blaming each other or do we go, the issue was the ball got dropped. There's like a crack in our system or a process somewhere. And so if you are entrepreneurial, you're always gonna be, I'll say it I'm entrepreneurial, you're always gonna be wreaking havoc on your people. You are, you are going to be a...

Mary Skop (17:08.012)
Yeah, right.

Mary Skop (17:18.393)
It's true.

Layci (17:22.988)
A squirrel, a squirrel shiny object syndrome is just part of your genetic makeup. Like it's just who you are, which was part of what makes you absolutely fantastic at being entrepreneurial. Right. Is you got to be, you got to be a little bit nuts to volunteer to ride that roller coaster over and over and over and over again. And some days you're puking off the side like five times, but you're not going to get off. So yeah, it you.

Mary Skop (17:42.424)
So true.

Right.

Layci (17:50.496)
This is as much as learning about how to build a team so they can go execute and kill things, but it's also learning about how to manage yourself while managing your team so that you set them up for success. Because you're a lot. You're a lot. If you are entrepreneurial, you're a lot. And you need to know how to set your team up to be able to succeed and hold you accountable where you need it.

Mary Skop (18:00.93)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

Layci (18:19.136)
as well as to understand how to effectively communicate and give them permission to be as direct with you as you need them to be. I mean, there's so many lessons in there. Like basically this is how do you build a team and have them not resent you.

Mary Skop (18:34.286)
sure.

Mary Skop (18:40.428)
Yeah. Yep. No.

Layci (18:42.412)
because you're always changing, you're going after something new, they have lack of clarity, don't, but what feels like freedom to you probably feels like chaos to them.

Mary Skop (18:50.562)
Mm -hmm. Right, and could potentially be driving them crazy. They're like, I never feel like I know what's coming. Once I get one thing down, then something shifts and we gotta like start all over again. And besides the inevitable aspect of needing to flex in a growing company, that's just, I think, like we were talking about, it's part and parcel of the entrepreneurial journey.

Layci (18:58.274)
Mm -hmm.

Mary Skop (19:18.95)
but systems in place, like speaking from my, just my experience, like with transcend is our quarterly and annual meetings are huge. And those are non -negotiables in setting our course. And I can't imagine. Like functioning in a business without quarterly and annual meetings and.

Layci (19:35.288)
Mm

Layci (19:46.806)
Yet you did. You, yes, not here.

Mary Skop (19:48.074)
I did. Well, I did have experience from that. And it was like, not here. No, it was not a transcend. I will not reveal where it was from, but, it was, every week it was like, wait, what are we doing? Who's that? And turnover was massive. so it was, you never really knew who you were going to work with or what was getting done. And people were like, well, I don't know who that is. And I don't know who you are. I'm like, well, of course you don't know who I am. You just got here. Right.

Layci (20:04.235)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (20:12.748)
Right, right. And what's your job? What do you do? Yeah.

Mary Skop (20:16.99)
And man, nobody knew what the other person was doing. so I have seen it, on both ends of the spectrum. Yeah.

Layci (20:23.021)
Mm -hmm.

We don't do this on purpose. We're not like trying to make chaos for everyone. It's just if you don't know better and you don't know a different way, you do the best you can with what you have, And so this is just, if you're thinking about, if you're entrepreneurial, if you're thinking about it, if you're building a team, if you've started a business and you know you're gonna need to build your team, this is, especially if you don't have a great...

Mary Skop (20:35.132)
yeah, yeah.

Layci (20:54.474)
model to follow. If you have had limited exposure to what it looks like to have a great boss who's really good at leadership and who's really an excellent crystal clear communicator and helps you understand all those three bullseye levels, this is your chance to get that learning in a very accelerated package.

Mary Skop (20:56.024)
Yeah.

Mary Skop (21:16.108)
Right. You won't be devoting years and insane amounts of money. You know, this is not business school and certainly business school has its place, but it absolutely has its place and it's important. But this is not that. And you also might, if you're considering the Lift, you also might be wondering, well,

Layci (21:29.143)
It does.

Mary Skop (21:42.05)
Does anyone have any actual feedback? People who have experienced the Lift. So this is not our first cohort. We actually first started talking about this, before our first launch in April. So we actually now have some real life reviews from real life people. and I'm going to link to that in the show notes to a video, a lovely video review left for us by one of our first attendees of the Lift. we're really grateful for that review, because it's real. but.

Layci (21:52.247)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (21:56.973)
Yes.

Layci (22:08.762)
Yes.

Mary Skop (22:11.488)
it will give you some perspective of how the Lyft benefited this particular individual and her business and basically help her path moving forward. So really valuable. urge you to check it out. Well, Lacey, that was a fantastic exposition of what the Lyft can offer to you as a seasoned business leader or a new entrepreneur.

Layci (22:18.166)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Mary Skop (22:36.694)
Is there anything else you'd like to say in conclusion of this exposition of the Lift?

Layci (22:42.712)
Just check it out. And if you're on the fence, you're like, this is an investment. It is an investment. And you're going to get that one to seven ROI on it. As well as if you're like listening to this and you're interested because you want some things to change and to be a little bit different. You got to take action. It doesn't happen by hoping.

Mary Skop (23:12.524)
Yes. Yep. so true. We can hope all we want, but then that is one of the biggest things in the entrepreneurial journey is you got to take the jump. You got to take the risk. Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. So true. Well, we're going to link to the webinar. We'll link to, the video review and also just want to remind you listeners, we are real people.

Layci (23:16.983)
Mm -hmm.

Layci (23:21.388)
Yeah. Goals are just wishes. Goals without a plan are just wishes. So, yep.

Mary Skop (23:40.738)
We would love to talk to you. If you have any questions about the Lyft at all or Transcend, reach out to us and we will absolutely have a conversation with you. No strings attached, just a conversation for sure. We would love to talk to you for sure. So Lacey, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it as always. And listeners, you know what to do. Go manage like a leader.

Layci (23:42.466)
Yes!

Layci (23:52.45)
Yep. Yep.