Episode 886 Develop Your Influence - Interview with Caterine Cantey– Part 3
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us on episode 886 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:08] Catherine Cantey: [00:00:08] I'm Catherine Kanzi. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to lead yourself and others is key.
[00:00:25] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader.
[00:00:34]listen to what they're struggling with and take that into consideration. Next time. We're going to take out a new project and include them on the front end of everything. Even if they don't want to be there, give them the option to opt out and it's going to make your life a lot easier down the road. But yeah, building influence.
[00:00:52] It takes time. You need to lead with value. Don't lead with what you want out of the deal, but just lead with how you can help other people.
[00:01:00] [00:00:59] Scott Maderer: [00:00:59] Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling.
[00:01:14] In the inspired stewardship podcast, we'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:25]And today's interview with leadership coach Catherine Canty. I asked Catherine about her definition of leadership and why she believes that leadership coaching is needed. Even if you aren't in a formal leadership position. I also asked Katherine to share her top tips on building your influence and Katherine answers for me, what small business owners need to do first, if they're trying to grow their team.
[00:01:50] One reason I like to bring you great interviews. Like the one you're going to hear today is because of the power in learning from others. Another great way to [00:02:00] learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible.
[00:02:11] Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from. And instead of reading, you can listen your way to learn from some of the greatest minds out there. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast.
[00:02:39] Catherine Canty is a tenacious connector and a recovering banker. She is a leadership coach helping high potential managers turn into senior leaders. And our sales program for business to business selling is creating exceeding results. Catherine is a wife and a mom and cares about closing the broadband gaps in rural [00:03:00] communities.
[00:03:00] Welcome to the show, Katherine,
[00:03:03] Catherine Cantey: [00:03:03] thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate you having me as a guest. Thanks Scott.
[00:03:08] Scott Maderer: [00:03:08] So Catherine, last week, one of the things that I asked you about was this word stewardship, and we've been talking a lot over the last couple of weeks about leadership. You're a leadership coach and that's one of those words that I think people often think of when they're thinking about influence, when they're thinking about growth, they think about leadership yet.
[00:03:26] Again, that's one of those words that I've discovered over the years. Not everybody has the same definition for it. So how would you actually define the word leadership?
[00:03:37] Catherine Cantey: [00:03:37] Leadership is going to come in lots of different ways and forms. It's going to show up in Mary Small groups, it could show up in a social setting.
[00:03:46] You can see the same people planning, your weekend outings. And you've got your same people who are going to follow, but then certain topics come up and they want to lead the conversations. So it can be a social. Environment that you're in, where [00:04:00] you see your natural leaders there. You're going to have leadership opportunities throughout your organization, whether direct or indirect a direct contributor.
[00:04:08]It's going to have a different way to, to lead within the organization. They'll lead with. With that narrative that they're sharing with others and creating influence within the organization. I've had an opportunity to be a direct contributor and then also a manager. And I think most people are familiar with the manager and they think a manager would naturally be a leader.
[00:04:27] And as I learn more and live more, I'm learning that leadership is pretty much everywhere if you choose to take it on. And just because you're a manager doesn't mean that you're going to be. A leader. And I also like to joke as a recovering banker, sometimes that longer the title, the less the leader.
[00:04:45]You get covered up in this big, long title, but you're just, you're creating reports and you're not really leading people to create change. Leadership is everywhere and it can be. You know right here in your backyard, real close to home, or it could be in, [00:05:00] in the corporate America environments, nonprofits it's everywhere.
[00:05:03] And people have different opportunities to step up on a daily basis to, to be a leader, to help other people and to help them navigate their path.
[00:05:13] Scott Maderer: [00:05:13] So I think the obvious question to ask after that is a lot of folks will tell you, okay, so you're telling me leadership is everywhere, but I'm not in leadership.
[00:05:23] I'm not in a leadership position. I'm not a leader in my organization or my group or whatever. And therefore I don't need to learn anything about leadership. What would you say to someone who that's their answer?
[00:05:34] Catherine Cantey: [00:05:34] Yeah. Beg to differ. Yeah, leadership is truly everywhere. I was traveling with my CEO at just, I think people are watching you at all times.
[00:05:42] And. That is also leadership. People are looking to see how you treat other people. And if, what you say you're going to do, you're going to do. And if your word is as good as what you say it is. And an example I have is when I was traveling with my CEO on an airplane [00:06:00] and. It's business travel and everybody's in suits, the plane lands where I'll pop up, ready to get the heck off that thing.
[00:06:06] We got meetings to go to, we're trying to get home, whatever it is. And there's some lady with a young baby who's crying and a stroller and a suitcase. And it's just, it's not where she wants to be. It's not where we want to be. Just this. I don't know what it was, but it just came over and I thought, ju can I grab your suitcase and push the stroller up to the gate while you hold the baby?
[00:06:27] Because obviously there's a lot going on and I didn't think anything of it, but my CEO email me. Probably a week or two after the fact after the trip and just said, you don't realize it, but I saw you in the plane and you're helping this lady with the baby and the stroller and the suitcase, and you have all your own bags.
[00:06:48] And we had to go get the rental car and we were trying to run to a meeting, but you stopped and you help somebody out and you don't even know that I saw it, but I just want to say thank you. And I appreciate you being on the team. I [00:07:00] appreciate you working at the bank. It speaks about the character of who you are.
[00:07:03]That you would take time to be able to help somebody in need. And I guess it just, what shocks me is. I just thought that's what everybody would want to do and be able to just help. And I guess that's just an indirect way of helping show some leadership just to help somebody get off the airplane, as simple as that is it truly is everywhere.
[00:07:23] And it's not something that exists only nine to five at a bank or an high rise it's everywhere. And you choose whether or not you want to. Help somebody or not help
[00:07:33] Scott Maderer: [00:07:33] somebody. And that's part of it too, is again, if you're defining leadership as that influence in that character picture.
[00:07:42]Then, are you in alignment when w in private as well as public? I, again, I being in senior leadership, so I used to be the guy that had to approve expense reports after travel. And it's really interesting what you learn about people by looking at their expense report. I have to travel, and you can see [00:08:00] patterns and you're like okay.
[00:08:01]Maybe we need to have a conversation about this. It's, again you don't think about it that way, but. When people travel, sometimes they behave differently than they would in their home environment because they're out of their home environment and it creates travel. Yeah.
[00:08:19] Catherine Cantey: [00:08:19] They get some free vacation.
[00:08:21] I'm like, this is opera. This is work. This is. This is an extension of your work. This is really reflecting on who you are. So I try to take it in and, not totally
[00:08:33] Scott Maderer: [00:08:33] not lose it. Like you're on spring break. That would be, let's start
[00:08:38] Catherine Cantey: [00:08:38] there so obvious, people do, they watch your behavior and you get out of that environment and they want to know what kind of character you have and how are you treating others?
[00:08:47] Because if you're going to lead somebody. They want to make sure you're taking care of people and not disrespecting people along the way. And how do you treat people when you need them and how do you treat people when you don't need them? And I think travel, like what you're talking about.
[00:09:00] [00:09:00] You, you learn a lot about people.
[00:09:02] Scott Maderer: [00:09:02] Great. It brings out things just because I think sometimes you're out of your you're out of your home environment and therefore. You sometimes behave in a way that maybe you wouldn't and back in the home office, so to speak. Yeah. So Katherine speaking, I have influence, I know that one of the, one of the things that you work on is helping people create and develop influence.
[00:09:22] So what are some of the top tips that you'd share that actually helps people develop their influence?
[00:09:29]Catherine Cantey: [00:09:29] I can share an example of how I learned about influence my own personal way is when I'm trying to close what the customer needs, and maybe we don't necessarily provide that service, but we have some sort of solution that could work.
[00:09:44] You've got to bridge these gaps between the customer and operations and make sure that it's a win for everybody. And when you do that the decision-making groups are getting larger and larger is what the research is showing. And really when you think about it, if you're [00:10:00] trying to create a solution to solve a struggle of a customer or a client you're going to have a lot of people around the table who can make you, or break you with that.
[00:10:09]Help that you need. And personally, I have, done the research is that high day just here's the solution that should work, et cetera. And I forgot to include procurement and I forgot to include legal. And you forget to include all these people that need to come to the table to help make the decision.
[00:10:27] And what happens is, if you do not bring people to the table to help. Educate about the process and the need and what we're doing. They tend to stop projects and everything goes on hold until everybody is caught up to speed. And it may not be just legal and procurement, but there's a number of gatekeepers within every organization that can either get you on people's calendars or keep you away from people's calendars.
[00:10:52] And the average buying group or decision-making group used to be 5.7 people. I think it's heading up towards eight people and [00:11:00] eight sounds like a lot of people to get a decision from. But when you include the gatekeepers and legal and procurement and you and your manager and all these different people, it quickly adds up.
[00:11:10] Two, we've got a lot of people that we need to say yes. In order for this to happen. And so to build influence, you need to look out just beyond your immediate, surrounding your immediate team. Figure out who else, this is going to impact and make sure that you bring them along for the journey. And you're not going to want to hit these people when you need them.
[00:11:31] You need to talk to these people before you meet them. And when you come into an organization new or you're in there today, and you know that you're going to need help down the road. I strongly encourage reaching out first and leading with something of value or something helpful for those. Those folks.
[00:11:50] And with procurement, I learned real quick that not a lot of people invited procurement to any meeting or legal. And so I just made a point or party.
[00:11:59]
[00:11:59] They're going to tell me I [00:12:00] don't have any money. Yeah. Legal's going to tell me that we just can't do it. Yeah. So if I've learned, Go to lunch with these folks, listen to what they're struggling with and take that into consideration.
[00:12:10] Next time we're going to take on a new project and include them on the front end of everything. Even if they don't want to be there, give them the option to opt out and it's going to make your life a lot easier down the road. But yeah, building influence. It takes time. You need to lead with value. Don't lead with what you want out of the deal, but just lead with how you can help other people.
[00:12:29]Scott Maderer: [00:12:29] So we've been talking a lot about kind of in a corporate role of leadership. Let's shift gears a little bit and focus on maybe a small business owner. That's out there. Somebody that's running a smaller team. What are some of the things that you think they should first focus on? If. Maybe they're a solopreneur now, but they want to start adding team members.
[00:12:50] They want to start growing beyond that or scaling beyond that. What are some of the first things they might need to focus on?
[00:12:57] Catherine Cantey: [00:12:57] I love the term minimal viable [00:13:00] product MVP test small and and just test a minimum product before you put it out there. And so if you're looking to grow your team, Don't go out there.
[00:13:09] This is just my gut reaction is don't go out there and hire, 10 new team members, but test what is easily taken off your plate and hire a virtual assistant and just test it and see if it works. I was listening to a leadership call with business owner businesses growing it's going great and wants to hire a high salaried.
[00:13:32] Team member and somebody raised on the call. Could you just take your $25 an hour jobs that you're doing today? Take those, put them on a list and see if you can't outsource that to a VA and just test it. And as you test that stuff with the VA or test it. Test it, make sure you put your ending in place as well.
[00:13:52] I've learned that the best time to go ahead and put closure on something is when we're all in the same good starting mood. And we're just going [00:14:00] to do this for 90 days and we'll see how it goes from there. And we'll reevaluate after that. That sounds like a lot of lack of commitment, but if you're just starting out, the last thing you want to do is commit to some high salary employees.
[00:14:12] When really you just need to get some low hanging fruit, repetitive tasks off your desk and allow that time to reflect, use that new time to be able to reflect and dream and process of where do you want to take this from here? Because there are a lot of tasks that we could fill up a day.
[00:14:29] That could just be easily outsourced for 25 bucks an hour.
[00:14:32]Scott Maderer: [00:14:32] Find out more about Catherine and get information about what she's doing over on her website. Catherine canty.com. Of course have a link to that over into the show notes as well. Catherine, is there anything else you'd like to share with the
[00:14:47] Catherine Cantey: [00:14:47] listener? Scott. I just want to say thank you for having me on your show.
[00:14:50] I really do appreciate the opportunity and if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know.
[00:14:57] Scott Maderer: [00:14:57] Awesome. Thanks so much for being here.
[00:14:58]thanks so much [00:15:00] for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes rate.
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