The Producer Versus The Leader

01 Jun The Producer Versus The Leader

Let’s talk about talent.

Christopher Hart with Transforming Lives Coaching and Consulting right back at you from sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. So we’re continuing our Lead Strong series on how to build strong leaders in our businesses, our organizations, various different environments, our lives, our relationships, et cetera. And so we’ve been focusing a little bit on kind of like the business aspect just from some questions that I’ve been asked and some common topics that tend to come up in my coaching calls.
So what we’re talking about lately, we’ve been talking about talent, we’ve been talking about the achiever versus leader that transition, and so today’s topic is the producer versus the leader. And the producer versus the leader has something along the lines of the same conceptual understanding as the achiever versus the leader but there’s a little bit different perspective, and today’s perspective is more about have you ever felt like you’re getting sucked back into having to be the producer. At some level I think we transition from starting a small …or we start a small business we’re the main producer, maybe it’s in your real estate business, your mortgage business, your insurance business, whatever business that you’re in where you’re the actual producer, you’re the one, the name is on the door, people know you and we start to build a team, we start to build a business and then we have this desire and/or need to elevate into leadership where we’re not the day-to-day producers, we have people that are doing that for us, which is conceptually the way we grow businesses.
But then they’re just comes this time where there’s this pull, there’s this magnetization that pulls us back into being that producer, and it’s really difficult for many leaders to be able to be that leader and that producer. And so we’re going to explore that today, and I believe that some of it has to do with psychology, some of it has to do with planning and preparation, and some of it has to do with just low-level leadership abilities. So we’re going to navigate and explore each one of those.
So what tends to happen that drives this magnetic pull back into being that producer when in reality we have that desire to be that leader? Well for starters I believe that sometimes we have these desires in our business, you tend to see it very commonly this time of year where we’re starting to round out the year, we’re looking at our goals, maybe we fell short, maybe we didn’t, maybe 2017 is a year in which we really want to exponentially increase our production and we look at how are we going to make that happen and the how has us baffled, like “My people… you know my people they’re just chugging along doing this, whatever that is that’s their space of production and I don’t see how I can get my people to produce any more than that.” And so what starts to happen in our heads is “Oh I need to get back into production. If I just go back into production, then we can go do this.”

You see I think that’s a psychology issue.

It’s a psychology issue that many of us achievers…this goes back to the achiever leader video we did not too long ago… many of us achievers believe that we’re the only ones that can do it, nobody can do it better than us. Why? Because we’ve been the producer the whole time, we’ve been the one that has been responsible for production so anytime we need an increase of production we just jump back in. Why? Because we’ve labeled ourselves as the producer. You see labels play a big part in who we become, who we are, what we do, what we accomplish. And so if you believe yourself to be the producer that tends to lend to the psychology that nobody can do it as good as you, or maybe you do believe people can do it better than you, you just don’t believe you can attract those people into your business or why would they come work for you? And so the easy answer is “I just jump back in, make stuff happen. Boom! We hit our goal and I can go back to being the leader again.” It’s not that simple. It’s not that simple.
So what’s another component of how we get sucked back into being the producer versus the leader is planning and preparation, we’ve never planned and prepared our business to reach this point to where we can actually go out and attract that talent that really is better than you, that producer that we can attract that is in that phase of their life where they want to be that producer. There are people out there that don’t desire to be the leader like their maximum effective range is the producer. And if we could just recognize that we have a lot of value to bring to that individual, our business, our leadership has a lot of value to bring to that individual, we can attract to that person.
Now your leadership… this is where the leadership end tends to come in… your leadership is going to dictate whether you can attract to that person, you can keep that person and that person becomes the vehicle by which you elevate from missing your goals to hitting your goals or having hit your goals this year and incrementally increasing your business or significantly increasing your business in this next year coming about. So how do we make this happen? I think we make this happen: One, in psychology we’ve talked in previous videos that all success is 80% psychology, 20% mechanics, what needs to go on in our head. I think that it’s subjective so I’m not going to cover what is a one-size-fits-all, it’s really about evaluating who you are, what’s going on in your business, what type of industry you’re in and what type of people do you need to attract in order to make that transition, or I’m sorry, stay in that transition of leader, being that leader.

Another thing I believe it’s how do we condition our businesses.

I’ve talked in the past that all behavior is conditioned, it’s conditioned to action; time on task over time. So what do you need to condition within yourself as the leader to remain as that leader so you’re not getting sucked back into production? How do you need to condition your people for them to believe that you’re the leader in this business and “Hey boss stay the hell out of production; we actually do better without you than with you.” How do you condition that in your environment?
You know I think prime example I saw on a forum today where there is a leader that is really trying to elevate into being the leader of the business and the people are questioning, “Hey we’re doing all the work, what are you doing?” See that’s a conditioning process. If your leadership has not been conditioning people for them to see you as the leader, to be more valuable as their leader as compared to being the producer, that’s how you get sucked back in; that’s when you question “How do I condition my people? What’s the script?” Like this is the best part about that forum, “What’s the script that I tell my people?
First of all we don’t tell people anything, we don’t sell and tell, it’s 1980s. That’s yesteryear’s ways of influencing and leading and quote/unquote “sales businesses,” it’s the sell and tell. It’s not a script, it’s a series of actions, it’s conditioning. Why? Because leadership is being the vehicles to people success, being that leader. When you become that leader for people they’re not going to question about “What are you doing boss? Why aren’t you producing? Why are we the ones doing all the work?”
See if you’re the one that’s the vehicle to their success they look at you and say, “I need you to continue to be that person. Get the hell out of production, we’ve got this. Just lead us.” And when you’re failing to lead your people they’re going to question what are you doing?
If you’re that leader that just elevates into “I’m a leader now,” or “I’m the quote/unquote CEO, I don’t have to quote/unquote do,” then the doers are going to question what you’re doing because if they believe they’re showing up every day to be the doers for you to live a life that has greater significance and achievement and growth and contribution, all the six human needs, and they’re getting very little out of it other than what the fruits of their production, that’s when they’re going to question you. That’s when they’re going to leave you. That’s when we start asking, “How do we keep our people? If I train them up and they become better than me then they’re going to leave me.” Yes they will if you don’t become their leader.

So how do we stay in that realm of leader is we actually show up as a leader.

It’s not a damn script people! Stop thinking the answer to all your problems in leadership is a script. It’s action, it’s activity day in, day out, time on task over time, that’s how you become the leader for people. And when you’re not that leader you will become the producer because either your producers will leave you, they’ll start questioning you or they’re just going to hit their ceiling of their comfort zone and they’re not going to extend past that because there’s no reason for them to because there’s something going on in their brain called homeostasis that causes all matter to stay at a constant in the norm, and in neural psychology what that looks like is the constant and the norm is your comfort zone. As soon as they hit that comfort zone and there’s no reason for them to move past that they don’t move past it, so that’s why you the leader has to go back into production.

So here’s what we need to understand about leadership and how it applies to our businesses, when we actually make that transition when we say “You know I’m no longer the producer I want to be the leader.” Be the leader. Go back and review some of my other videos that actually teach you the foundational, the five foundations of being a leader. Be a great follower of something or someone else, lead thyself, lead another in a one on one environment, lead others having a mission vision values beliefs perspective where the organization drives people to become better; and then how to lead leaders. Those are the five foundations that we coach to, train to and educate to.
If you want to be that person that can run a business without you having to be the producer you have to be the leader, you have to plan and prepare yourself and condition yourself first, that’s lead by self; then condition your business, leading another and leading others in order to elevate into that. If you’re not doing that conditioning process and you just wake up one day and say “Hey 2017 is the year that I become a six level real estate team. I’m CEO now, good luck guys!” They’re going to go, “What are you going to do? What are you going to do like if we’re coming to work every day being the doers, what are you going to do? Because if you’re not going to do anything, I don’t see you do anything and you’re not the vehicle to my success I’m bye byeing or I’m pulling you back into production because I will be the most annoying individual in your day-to-day life that you feel that you’ll need to go back into production. And then you’ll go on Facebook groups looking for a script and everybody will give you some wazu, lazy man’s, lazy leader script of what to say, and that crap doesn’t work.
See the reason why we tell you to be a great follower is because you can’t ask someone to be a great follower when you yourself are not. We tell you to be a great leader of yourself because if you can’t lead yourself you can’t lead those other people. Those are the foundational elements. So how do we transition into that? We become a great follower, we create models and systems of leadership within our organization, and then we be that great leader. You can be the great producer but if you’re not leading yourself people aren’t going to follow you. If you’re not leading each one of those people that you’re directly responsible for, I’m not saying everyone on your team, leading the people that you’re responsible for and showing them how to lead the people that they’re responsible for, I promise you one thing leaders, they will never question what are you doing. Why? Because they know it, they see it, they feel it and they experience it. And when you can do that at a high level they don’t want you in production, they want you leading them because you’re making a difference in their lives and their production is making a difference in their lives and in your business and there’s no need.
So there’s one last thing I want to cover on this. When you feel yourself getting pulled in and you say “Well you know I just have to do this amount of production and that will only take me 15 hours a week. And just 15 hours a week I can still be the leader of my people and do that production and next this…and gross that…” Well what would it look like if you actually invested that same 15 hours into leading your people every week? What would it look like if you invested into 15 hours a week of being a leader with a very detailed plan that encompass consistently recruiting talent to your organization, training them, putting them through a training process or investing time each week planning and preparing that training process that they can plug into that doesn’t need you in a day-to-day capacity? So you can spend that time with the people that you’ve already committed to and they’ve committed to your organization, you can train them two to three hours a week to be a better skill set, better psychologically prepared for the role that they’re in; and maybe even adding in four or five hours a week for the total of 15 hours into how do you lead those people one on one through accountability, through conversations? See guys the answer is not always about being that producer.
Now if you organization goes to crap because…sorry guys, you’re a crappy leader and everyone leads you then guess what? You’re now the producer, and I think that’s just an indicator that you need to be a better leader. So I believe leadership solves all problems. Better leadership solves all problems, raising your leadership lid, raising your leadership psychology, raising your leadership skill sets and digging into that and committing to mastering that E to P thing that is talked about in certain companies and circles and educational rooms, going from entrepreneurial, the way you think you can do it naturally to being very purposeful. Go be a purposeful leader. Maybe it’s showing up every day and watching these videos and listening to me rant for 15 or 20 minutes; maybe it’s going back and listening to them; maybe it’s going back and finding someone or something to model leadership off of; maybe it’s calling me and say “How do I become a better leader?” Maybe you’ve already…”How do I become a better leader of thy self and how do I model that into the people that have already committed to my organization, my business, my life, et cetera?”
I don’t know, you’ve got to figure that out for yourself. I can help you out in any way please feel free to hit me up on Facebook Messenger. You can email me at chris@transforminglifecoaching.com I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts regarding this in the comments section. Feel free to add your thoughts, I’m not saying I’m the subject matter expert, I’m just saying I’m someone that I think I know a little bit to be able to help people out. And if you know more than me or just as much as me or you have something to contribute please feel free to do so, this is a journey that we all get to learn and love and live together. So remember one thing before we go, you’re a child of God; God loves you, so do I. Lead strong. Have a blessed rest of your day. Just go be a great leader, solves all problems. Take care.

About the author:
Over the course of 8 years, Christopher Hart went from an enlisted Private First Class to a Commissioned Officer-Captain. In 2005, Christopher chose to move on from his military career to focus on starting a family and embarking in the world of entrepreneurship. Christopher’s passion is now working to help others be the BEST version of themselves and helping them Lead others to the same!

To learn more about Christopher Hart or to get in touch with him regarding a coaching program you can email him at Chris@TransformingLivesCoaching.com