Revitalizing Team Dynamics and the Three C's of Exemplary Leadership with Reggie Jeffries

Speaker 1: Welcome to the Future of Teamwork podcast, where we explore cutting edge strategies to keep teams human- centered, drive innovation, and empower you with the tools and insights needed to help your team excel and thrive in today's rapidly changing world. Your host is Dane Groeneveld, a seasoned expert with over 20 years of experience in enhancing team dynamics and innovation. Despite our best efforts, it's common to find ourselves in a rut, feeling like our professional growth and team dynamics have plateaued. Recognizing this, we're excited to have Reggie Jeffries on today's episode. As the CEO and founder of Management Masters Academy, Reggie brings a fresh, impactful coaching approach to revitalizing professional growth and team dynamics. Today we'll delve into three concepts that are reshaping the way we think about leadership and teamwork. First, the art of coaching. Discover how coaching can unlock your potential by creating a space for you to reflect, challenge your boundaries and set meaningful goals. Learn from Reggie's expertise on how tailored coaching can evolve your behavioral habits and thought patterns. Second, the dynamics of team coaching. Explore the transformative power of team coaching, often called the magic behind successful teams. Understand the various forms it can take and its benefits to collective performance and synergy. Finally, learn the three Cs of exemplary leadership, culture, coaching and communication. These pillars are not just for the appointed leaders, but for anyone within the team who aspires to lead and inspire. Realize that leadership is not a title, but a set of actions and mindset that anyone can adopt. So teamwork makes the dream work and we are here to inspire your next collaborative breakthrough. Gather your team or put on your headphones and let's dive in together.

Dane Groeneveld: Welcome to the Future of Teamwork podcast. My name's Dane Groeneveld, CEO of the HUDDL3 Group, and today I'm joined by Reggie Jeffries. Reggie is the CEO and founder of the Management Masters Academy. So I'm excited to talk to Reggie about coaching, growth, development and all that he gets to do every day with great professionals. Welcome, Reggie.

Reggie Jeffries: Thanks. I really appreciate it. Excited to be here.

Dane Groeneveld: It's cool. Before the show, you and I were talking about the joy that coaching brings to both coachee and coach. And I'm seeing that more and more and I'm seeing such a huge call out from teams and all levels of society around access to coaching. So I'm excited to share your story with our listeners and dig into some of the key themes. As far as a good place to start, maybe you could share how you got into coaching and how you came to be bringing Management Masters Academy to life.

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah, thanks Dane. So my story I guess starts way back when I was a youth playing sports and I've had a lot of great coaches, sports coaches influence my life. And I was actually in contact with one about a week ago who is a mentor of mine still to this day. And so I value that profession from a sports context. So as I got into corporate America and I started to look at other avenues to explore where I wanted to take my career, I was lucky. I kind of stumbled upon coaching really. It wasn't something that I set out to do, was really diligent about I'm going to make this happen. I had an opportunity, I was in learning development for a while and had an opportunity through a peer to get into a coaching role, which was a little bit of a difference than maybe a training role, corporate training role. And I took it and I got certified in the practice and I absolutely fell in love with it from day one. And I think it goes back to that sports coaching that I really appreciated when I was a youth was I was able to help people maybe accomplish things that they maybe wouldn't be able to do on their own. And not that they didn't have the capability to do it, it was more about helping them realize that they had it in themselves and they just had to maybe refocus in a different area or a different way to accomplish their goals. So it's something that I've leaned into for the past, oh geez, now seven years in this coaching world and I've gotten a couple certifications. I'm about to become ICFPCC certified in the next week or so. I already have my certification for coaching, certification. So it's something that I just can't wait and look forward to growing myself and helping others grow with the coaching that I provide to them.

Dane Groeneveld: I love it and the growth is huge. I love the way that you frame it as helping someone to do something that's within them, but they couldn't do it on their own because that's where I see coaching as powerful. It's not a consultant that comes and says, do it this way and it'll work better. You actually take them on that journey of discovery and therein like we experienced as kids in sports teams comes this muscle memory sense of belief, it's powerful.

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah, absolutely. And there's similarities and differences from youth coaching. When I was playing football or baseball, I didn't know how to hit a ball. I didn't know how to tackle in football. They had to teach me to show me the techniques and the skills. But now as a coach and I worked in corporate America with leaders, they're very seasoned leaders, they know how to do these things, but for one reason or another, they let the fast- paced nature of the workplace these days and all the other distractions that may be take them away from their core tenets that they believe to be true and really want to work on to have a productive teams. It's not easy to keep that at the focus all the time. And so what I think coaching does, it allows you to step back, slow down to speed up and gives you a moment to just really refocus on what's truly important to you because it's so easy. There's so many things vying for our attention and things that we have to do these days. You can get off track and not even realize it for a week, a month, a quarter, maybe even a whole year before you realize that I am not back to what I should be doing every day. And that's where I think coaching comes in. It helps people refocus their efforts.

Dane Groeneveld: That's a great way to frame it for anyone who's not had a coaching experience in a professional setting. I love your use of the words. We're in a fast paced world, we get distracted, we get off track, we need to just step back and refocus. I don't know many leaders or professionals or team members for that matter who aren't feeling a little bit of that right now.

Reggie Jeffries: Oh, yeah. I mean it's a magnanic pace where everybody's moving at these days. I haven't yet to meet somebody who works in a job that's like, " Oh yeah, I have plenty of time to do X, Y and Z." Everybody's moving at a million miles an hour, especially post pandemic, it seemed. I don't know why, but everything got accelerated. And all the conversations, I'm almost to a person when I have a coaching conversation go, I don't want to toot my own horn, but they'll thank me and not so much for the skill that I bring to the conversation, more for the space that I give them in the coaching environment. And so just that space to be able to step back and think again about, yeah, I know this, I know how to do this. And hey, I'll be honest, I get coaching too. I'm not one to not get coaching. And so I feel that same way when I have coaching sessions and I'm the coachee or the client that, oh wow, yeah, I knew all these things. I guess I haven't really stopped and thought about it and been intentional about what I want to accomplish. And I think that's really the beauty of coaching.

Dane Groeneveld: It is. It's awesome. So tell me more, coming through corporate America before you started your business, what level of organization are you actually out there coaching on a regular basis?

Reggie Jeffries: So I coach a lot of different people. So I coach people in Fortune 50, Fortune 100 companies, middle management, mostly senior leaders, director level. And I coach them and then I coach people in higher education, which is a whole different realm. I coach people in smaller mom and pop type companies that are the owners of those companies. It runs the game and that's the beautiful thing about coaching and the education that I got around coaching is that you can coach anybody. It's the principles that stay the same. I could coach the CEO of a Fortune 10 company or I could coach somebody who just started their business. It's the same process because it's all about them. It's not about me. I'm just there to help guide them to where they want to go. They are the ones that are going to chart the path to get there. I'm just going to help them figure that out. And so that's what I love about it. It's not like you said consulting or training where you have to be the know all, be all in everything. You just have to be able to allow them the space to be able to figure it out and to chart their own path.

Dane Groeneveld: And I love you keep bringing this word up of space and it is what it sounds like. It's something that people don't have and they find it hard to create for themselves. So whether you're a CEO of a Fortune 10 or you're leading a school, to actually have a conversation with someone who's genuinely listening to you, generally helping you steer through this discovery, that's a gift, right?

Reggie Jeffries: And I would add Dane to that, I don't have any motives. I'm not trying to get something out of this conversation. I say that because a lot of times when I get into a coaching environment, people will look at me and say, " Well, you tell me what to do, what do I need to do? You know what I have to do, tell me." And I'm like, " That's not what this is all about. You know what to do. I'm just here to help you with that." And I know a lot of times people will get forced into situations or corporate America, you might not have to do something, but you're strongly advised to do something and that's not what coaching is. And I think that's unique to be in that situation where you truly can set your own goals and your own path to how you want to accomplish something which maybe people aren't used to these days. And when they do, it's a great experience for people to have that ability to figure it out all on their own.

Dane Groeneveld: Oh yeah. And that is actually what's different from the youth coaching that you touched on earlier because let's be honest, there are some brilliant youth coaches that are all about player development, but there's a lot of youth coaches that have a motive, which is to win, to please parents, to beat the opposite number. And you're actually removed from that, which is powerful.

Reggie Jeffries: And it's something that I think is hard to do because I'll be honest, I'll be in a coaching situation. I know at least I think I know what this person probably could do to help them get over the hump, but that's my role. That's not what I do as a coach. I have to again, let them figure it out, give them that space, give them the time to think through. And again, I'm dealing with people that have a lived experience. These aren't people that don't know, they're not brand new leaders necessarily. They're more seasoned professionals and they understand. They know how to get there. They've done it probably three or four times previously than this. Now they're in a different scenario where they have to now replicate what they've done previously. And just to be able to have that time to think about it and think through it again, slow down the speed up is the term I like to use is super helpful for folks.

Dane Groeneveld: I like it. I like it a lot. Measurement. So it's all about them, but do you help a coachee set some measure of what they're hoping to achieve through the coaching exercise?

Reggie Jeffries: Oh, absolutely. I think that's the one thing that maybe gets lost in coaching sometimes is that this is all, in my opinion, goal oriented. And so we don't come into these conversations, you just talk about the weather and there could be some time for that and building a bond. But the reality of coaching is we're looking forward, okay, where are you now and where do you want to get to and how can we lose that gap from where you are today to where you want to get to? And every time we get there, we want to make sure we're working towards that, if that's still important to them. That's the only thing. It's their goal. They have to be the one that is investing. If it's important to them, we'll talk it out and we'll set a goal and I'll be what I like to call your accountability partner to help you get there. But at the end of the day, that person has to do the work. We can do it together, but I can't do it alone. It's more I'm going to walk side by side with you there in front of you with this. And I think that's something that people, again, really value is, okay, I had this goal, I know what I want to attain, but I don't know how to get there. And so we have a time now to figure that out and to help plot that course to help them get to that best. It's never really a destination, it's just one stop in the process. I think that's the other thing, it's always that game of trying to get better progress over perfection kind of mentality. But again, people really, especially at a leadership level, that's not the time you have. You don't have the time to step back and talk to somebody who's impartial to the situation. You have your boss who has their goals and you have peers that maybe have their metric that they want to attain, but as a coach, we are totally removed from that and can solely be there for that person and in service of that person.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, no, that's neat. And so being goal oriented, there's a conflict out there around wellness and performance, right? Hey, my boss or my company need me to achieve this sales quota or roll out a new product or whatever it might be. But also me personally, I need to have relationships and time with my family and give back to my community. Do you look at both goals or are you very focused on the work performance goals?

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah, I do both. And I think they're two distinct categories, but they are at the same time kind of the same because I like to look at it. We are all human beings. We are not robots. And so if your wellbeing, if your work- life balance isn't right, if your wellbeing isn't right, if your head space and your emotional intelligence isn't where it should be, that's going to impacting your performance, that's going to impacting your team's ability to perform. So you can't separate those two. I think they're combined and you can't remove those two from each other. And so what we like to focus on is let's make sure that both sides of the equation are doing well. And we work on both sides of that part of it. We don't just focus in on one because I think that was something that we've seen through the history of the workplace is that we focus on performance. It's all about putting out widgets and we're getting to a number and making sure that we have a positive quarter or a year or whatever the case may be, and not forgetting or forgetting about the fact that we're talking about people and the people are the ones that are actually getting these numbers and doing these things. So I think to me, when you value both, that's when you take your performance to the next level. If you just focus on one or the other, then I think there's some learning to be had to grow some more with this. So we take an approach at Management Masters Academy of looking at both sides of it. There's no doubt that you are a paid employee and you have to have performance, but how do you do that? What's the best way to do that? And I think that's something that's really important. We're seeing more of that I think in the worst place, that realization that there's two sides of this poem.

Dane Groeneveld: And I actually had a speaker talk about goal line and soul line. He was just like, " If you're only on the goal line and your soul is depleted, your human connection, everything, it's not going to sustain. So you need to be somewhere up there balanced."

Reggie Jeffries: I love that.

Dane Groeneveld: It's cool that you guys are tackling it that way. So as far as an approach, as you get into it with Management Masters Academy and your team, how do you vet out the coachee? It's a lot of work. I've personally been through a few coaching relationships and they've all been great, but I haven't necessarily seen them all through, normally it's my fault. So how do you kind of vet out that coachee and know that they're going to sign up and do the work and come through it with you?

Reggie Jeffries: That's a great question because I think a lot of people sometimes get into coaching expecting the coach to do all the work. And it's a shock when they realize that they're going to be the ones doing the work and we're going to help with that, but it's on them. And we make that hopefully easy to do the work, but the work sits with them. And so what we do, we go through an intake process. And so we make sure that they know ahead of time, if you want to get into the coaching, that is great. We are here for it, but just so we know upfront, these are the things that you're going to be doing. This is the expectation that we have and the commitment that we have. Because if you're going to invest in this, you're going to put the time into this, we want to make sure you have a positive outcome and we want to be upfront without it with everybody. And coaching isn't for everybody. It's just like anything in life. There's some people that might not want to invest that time, it just might not be the right time for them for a whole host of reason, that's fine. But we don't want them to get into it and not truly understand what we're expecting and what they should expect out of the program as well. Because it is, I wouldn't say it's intense, but it does take a lot of energy to be in a productive coaching relationship.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah, I believe it. And if I reflect on some of the coaching relationships I've been in as a coachee, the couple that I walked away from were probably the ones that were making me do the most work, if I'm honest. I was busy and I enjoyed the space, but when they were asking me to really tackle questions that I was uncomfortable about tackling, I kind of hit a wall. So I think there is something there in terms of that intake process and preparing people's expectation that there's going to be a bit of turbulence along the way.

Reggie Jeffries: Oh yeah. Right. It's like I look at the stock market. If you look at the stock market over time, they have that upward trajectory, but the rocky trajectory, I think that's what coaching looks like. You're going to have your moments when you're going to be stretched and you're going to get out of your comfort zone, but that's how growth happens. You don't grow when you're in your comfort zone. You don't grow without getting stretched. So I think at the end of the day, people will be better off going through the process, but there's going to be some times when you're probably going to feel a little uncomfortable or going to be in a situation that you might not have been through before. And to me, that's okay. That's what this is all about. Is to be able to get in there because you got to get my opinion, get uncomfortable being comfortable to be a good leader. And I think that's something we've got to help people understand and work through.

Dane Groeneveld: Absolutely. And I think that's a great call to action if you're going to be the leader, you can't just stay in a place of comfort. You are always growing. One of my good friends has this philosophy that if you're a leader and you don't have those two or three things that you're working on more from an emotional intelligence standpoint, hey, these are my blind spots, these are my weaknesses. If you're not working on those things, then how can you expect your team members to work on theirs? You've all got to do the work.

Reggie Jeffries: Oh, absolutely. That's why I love about what we do. We use assessments to have people try to see their full self because I think a lot of times people, and no fault of the room, like you said, have blind spots. And some of those blind spots could be holding back their performance and they're wondering, why is my team not getting to X or Y, whatever they want to do as a team. And they don't know that there's something in their leadership style that's maybe an anchor slowing them down. So when you have that assessment, we you have that independent view as a coach to see what's going on. I think it allows you to maybe get illuminated to some of the things that you may not be aware of on your own. And you're right, I think it's critical for leaders to be able to have that self- realization and that emotional intelligence say, " Okay, I am not perfect. Where can I grow? Where are my opportunities?" That's just human nature. Everybody has the best space to grow, and I think leaders are no different. In my opinion, the ones that do that are the ones that excel. The ones that think everything's okay or kind of become stagnant and over time probably slip and fall to the competition. So it's that never ending game of improvement I think is really what's important.

Dane Groeneveld: No, I think that's a good way to put it. So you say assessment, Reggie, is there an assessment tool you like to go to or have you got sort of a stable of tools that you'll go to?

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah, we have other stable, we use a platform called Cloverleaf. They're a partner of ours that provides assessments and they have a multitude about 12 different assessments that we can give to our clients in our program, in our co work program, we use this as our main one right now. And we use that in relationship to how to understand yourself to be able to have difficult conversations with people because I think it's so crucial first to know yourself before you can try to help others and get others through difficult conversations. So that's one of the assessments we use. And then we use others as we see fit. Some folks might come into the coaching program wanting to do certain things and wanting to have certain goals be accomplished. And we'll pick and choose what assessments make the most sense for them based on that. And the cool thing is that that platform Cloverleaf, it's not just a one and done. A lot of assessments you take, you get the printout and you look at it, that's cool, and then you put it away and never look at it again. Where as Cloverleaf, there's a constant reminders, don't forget about this. You're meeting with this person today. Don't forget that they like to be talked to in this manner, and you like to talk in that manner and be mindful of that. So it's a constant reminder hooked up to your calendar that if he knows who you're meeting with, if they've taken an assessment too, it'll tell you how you should probably interact with them in real time opposed to that assessment sitting in a file cabinet somewhere in a drawer in your hard drive. It brings it to life and that's what we want to do. Everything we do at Management Masters Academy is practical. We don't want it to be theoretical. That's important, but we don't stop there. We take it and give you something tangible you can take back to your workplace right away. And Cloverleaf is one example of that.

Dane Groeneveld: Oh, you're hitting it out of the park on that Reggie. I'm excited. I've always hated assessments because you go through all the work, you walk through it and you're like, yeah, I've got a blind spot there. I've got a weakness here. This triggers me. And then it's in the draw, like you say. So actually turning that into a daily practice and having it match who's on your calendar, that's fantastic. What a great reminder, what a good framework.

Reggie Jeffries: And it's something that again, we're trying to do this leadership development game a little differently than maybe others are doing it. And so we use Cloverleaf, we use another platform called Gold Star, which is-

Dane Groeneveld: I love Gold Star.

Reggie Jeffries: Oh, okay, all right.

Dane Groeneveld: I know that one. I know Darren over there.

Reggie Jeffries: You know Darren. So Gold Star is another platform we use and it's a game changer. It's a game changer. It's going to allow our participants in the program to not only get the content that we have when we're in the sessions, but to carry it forward between sessions and even after they're done the program, they're going to have access to it. So they're going to be able, okay, I learned all this great stuff in the program. Now I can have access to it even after, because as a former trainer back in the day, I know about 90% of what you learn in the classroom, you forget the second you walk out of that classroom. And now with Gold Star, it gives you the opportunity to not forget it. It's going to be there in your palm of your hand, helping you accomplish the goals that you set out in these sessions to go out and accomplish. So I think between those two platforms and the way we're doing it, I think we're looking to really have an impact on leaders and helping them get to where they want to be.

Dane Groeneveld: That's really cool. I'm saying this jab, jab, hook. It keeps you going, gets you in combinations. That's really going to the next level. That's fun.

Reggie Jeffries: Absolutely. That's the intent.

Dane Groeneveld: That's cool. It's interesting. I was just on another conversation this morning where we were talking about the role of technology as a team member. And it's a cool idea and it allows people to access so much more than maybe has traditionally been provisioned to them as early career, mid- career professionals. And the way that you are doing that by using the coaching as the space and the method and then allowing technology to be that kind of on your shoulder reminder and kind of guardrail, that's a perfect example of how technology should be a team member.

Reggie Jeffries: Dane, I'm glad you brought that up because to me that's something that working for technology companies I wanted to bring to this platform is coaching is a very interpersonal relationship that you have between a coach and a client and that's great, but I don't want to forget about the world we live in today. In 2024, it's hard to do anything without technology being a part of your life. But I wanted it to make sense. I didn't want to force the round peg in the square hole and just put technology in there just for the sake of putting it in there. So I think we found a happy medium where we're going to have that interpersonal connection. We're going to have that time to share best practices and to have camaraderie with groups and with people and interact with each other in a way that you might not have a chance to do normally, but then use technology to actually bring that to the next level through Gold Star and through Cloverleaf to have you take what we talk about in these sessions and then bring it to life and not just let it sit in the classroom. I see far too many times when I was doing this, even when I coach still, people will say they want to do X, Y and Z and A, B and C, and then I'll go out in the field and I'll observe them and watch them and sit with them. And I like, " That's not what you talked about. I think it's going right off the cliff there." And so I think with this technology, it'll allow you to maybe keep on track in addition to coaching. I think that's something that we offer one- on- one coaching as well. So I think the combination is really powerful when you put two together and you really see people taking the next step with both in hand.

Dane Groeneveld: That's cool. And I'm fascinated with your background in L& D training and now your coaching approach and the use of technology. How much do you see a shift towards team coaching, either as a group or coaching multiple individuals on a team versus the more traditional executive coaching one- to- one and kind of fragmented?

Reggie Jeffries: So I think coaching in general is something that's really just we're on the frontier of it exploding in corporate America. I think team coaching is far behind that. I think that's exciting because team coaching to me has so much value that it's something that we are doing with the Management Masters Academy. We have team cohorts that we take people through. Because you can learn from one person and I think there's value in either as a trainer learning from one person, but there's even more value from learning from your peers. And I think that that's when you get into a team coaching situation, you have the opportunity to hear from people that are going through it just like you, there's a couple of things. One, it's cathartic where you're not alone in this. You think, " Okay, I have the same problems, I have the same struggles, I'm going through the same situation, that's somebody else. So it's not me. It's something that it's because of the role maybe that I'm in." And that's one. And then you get to hear, okay, I know how I would do it, but I just heard somebody else talk about how they did it. I never thought of that. And so you have a chance to hear from others in that environment. If you have a skilled facilitator, a group coach there, they'll guide you through that process as well and making sure you stay on track. So I think team coaching or group coaching is going to be something we're going to see more and more because you get more bang for the buck, you get to do more people at one time, and as a client, you get to have the advantage of hearing from not just one person but from several other people including your peers. So I think we're really going to be on the forefront of that. I think that's something we're trying to really lean into with Management Masters Academy, the value that brings to our leaders that we work with.

Dane Groeneveld: I think that's powerful. I mean particularly with the meeting overload that people are in right now, if you bring team coaching or group coaching in the right context, it's not the leader's job to drive organizational effectiveness all of the time. You can lean into a partner like your business to help drive that capacity within the team and across functions. It makes a lot of sense

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah. And I see a lot of people, a lot of leaders bringing this back to their organizations as well, that same mentality of team coaching. And I think they see the value, they see the impact, they see how it works so well when done correctly and they bring that to their team meetings or they bring that to their organization and they allow people to flourish and have that comradery and that chance to speak instead of it being a one- way dialogue all the time, which it traditionally is. And so we'll see how it pans out, but I'm excited. I'm excited to help people understand the value in it and to help them bring it back to their organizations and help them get to their goals at the same time.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah. Have you got a way that you differentiate between a team coaching and a group coaching?

Reggie Jeffries: Well, so there's a couple of different ways I differentiate. It's not so much in the terms, it's about them really. So what they want to accomplish. Sometimes there's group coaching that is focused on a particular group task that they want to accomplish as a collective. And then there's other times when it's about getting people of different backgrounds together that don't have a shared common goal outside of just getting better and then they bring their own situations to the conversation and then it's a more of a group conversation in that sense.

Dane Groeneveld: Interesting.

Reggie Jeffries: I don't necessarily differentiate between team and group, it's more about the intent of the group and what they're looking to accomplish. Is it one group for the same goal or individuals coming in and looking to have a shared experience with somebody else in that group as well?

Dane Groeneveld: The concept of different backgrounds, I really like that because leaning into difference is a big way of growing. And if you're just sat there with the same team and you all come in with this firm belief system around how you already work together and the problems you're solving, you may get a bit stuck. But if you're working with people that are in other businesses and other functions come from different communities in life, then you've got to think that that creates a bit more pop too.

Reggie Jeffries: Oh, absolutely. It's amazing when you see people from different segments and different industries come together and a couple of things. One, they're not that different when they start interacting with each other. They might be in different industries, but they share the same challenges no matter what industry they're coming from. But at the same time, they're unique challenges as well. And what it does when I'm a leader in one industry and I'm speaking to a leader in a different industry, they might do something different that I never thought about because that's exactly the way we did things. It's been not been done that way in our industry. And I hear somebody else speak about how they do it and I'm like, " Wow, I could absolutely try that for where I am." So there's power. You just said it's pop in that when you get to hear other people. Because normally you just talk to people that are like, you deal with people that are in your same experience as you are. Not too often do you have an opportunity to get outside of that world and to speak to others and to understand, oh, maybe this is different than maybe we were doing it traditionally. And I think there's value in that, and I think a lot of people see the value in that. And that's some of the feedback we get too, is that it's a chance to get to see how others are doing it and then take some of those lessons or bring it back to their world and modify it to make it make sense for them. And that's the beautiful thing about when you have this intermixed group of individuals and leaders that it's magic. It really is really awesome to see come to life in the session and people really learn from each other.

Dane Groeneveld: I like it. And so tell me, we've talked a lot bit about the what, and we're moving more into the how in terms of approach and philosophy, but where do you sit right now on in- person versus virtual? How does that play out in your philosophy of what's best? When is it right? When do you need to shift it, change it?

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah, that's the million dollar question, is the virtual versus in person. So I'll say this, I love in person. I think there's no replicating the value you get where you can sit down in front of somebody and have that eye to eye contact and see all the communication that they're giving that's not just coming out of their mouth. I think you can't replicate that through a screen no matter what you do and how hard you try. I think it's impossible to get that understanding. I think though, through COVID, one of the things that came out of it is this acceptance of virtual. And now that we're in a situation where my reach is so much greater because of that now, whereas before, if I was to do things in person, I live in Philadelphia, not a small market, but I'd be doing things only with people in Philadelphia. That would probably be the extent of my reach. Where now that we have a virtual program, we had people from all over the country that are able to partake in these cohorts and learn from what we're trying to do. And some of me really yearned for the get back in person, but a part of me says, " Well, I wouldn't be able to have the reach that I do and be able to impact the leaders that I am now because of that." And so we're probably going to get back to that eventually. And getting back to doing things in person, I think that's something that everybody on the team really values and wants to do. But at the same time, it just makes a lot of sense right now to do it virtually with the dynamics of where people are. And I think a lot of people want it virtually too. I know. And otherwise, I've tried to do things virtually or in person post COVID and nobody wants to do it. They just want to do it virtually. And so we try to meet people where they are instead of forcing them to come to us. They want to do it virtually, we can cater to that and do it effectively that way too.

Dane Groeneveld: That's neat. No, I'm seeing a lot of impact in virtual environments. I do also like the in- person environments, but you're right, if you're time poor, if you can't travel to be at a venue together. And then for some people, particularly if you're doing groups of different people, different companies, for some people it's a little bit of a safer entry to not have to go in and shake everyone's hands and do lots of networking. That can be quite confronting to certain professionals and individuals. But to be able to jump quickly into this virtual session and be able to do real work with lots of different people and jump out, there's an acceleration there.

Reggie Jeffries: There's not as many barriers to getting impact when you do it virtually for sure. And I think the real key is making sure that you understand how to be compelling virtually at the same time. I think that's something that's really key. It's been a part of a lot of virtual trainings over the past four years or so, and there's a difference there, how people conduct it. And so that's something we really lean into as well, is, okay, we're going to do a virtually, but we're not going to be a bunch of talking heads up there for an hour in this session. We have to make it interactive and engaging and compelling for folks to want to be there and want partake in and want to interact with folks instead of just being a one- way dialogue. I'm not sure a lot of people have a lot of interest in sitting here just listening to somebody talk for hours on end. So that's the only thing.

Dane Groeneveld: Or everyone go and answer the same question in a circle. People start to switch off, right?

Reggie Jeffries: Oh, yeah. I mean the fear of multitasking is real when it comes to virtual, and I think that's something that's not as prevalent in person because you have that eye to eye contact, it's harder to multitask, whereas if you're virtual, it's a little bit easier. And so to combat that, you have to be engaging, you have to be impactful, otherwise you're going to lose people within moments. And I think that's something that's critical when you're doing things in the virtual world.

Dane Groeneveld: Yeah. You gave some great examples with Cloverleaf and Gold Star of technology, but do you play with other technologies like visual planning boards or breakout rooms, or are there other ways that you create that interaction in your programs?

Reggie Jeffries: Oh yeah. We definitely do breakout rooms. We have times for them to bring their own case studies to the conversation and interact with their peers in breakout rooms. And so again, trying to make it real world, we're not using these fictitional case studies, we're going to actually ask you to bring case studies that you have dealt with, protect the incident, of course, and leave the maze behind. But we're going to have you get that real life experience in the session. So we use that. We use a lot of technology like word clouds and things of that nature. We love our brain breaks and having people just maybe take a quick second to just disengage. It's for most people are working all day and now they come into these sessions and we want to have a chance to just... Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So we are very mindful of that. We're all learners too. Everybody that's in this program. And we have been down roads where in a virtual world that it wasn't engaging, it wasn't a good experience. The content was great, but it's more than just that. You have to bring both to the conversation, the content, and the engagement as well. And so we try to do that as well. We make sure people are not going to be sitting there virtually the whole time. They're going to be engaged and interacting throughout the program.

Dane Groeneveld: I like it. So we talked earlier, Reggie, that it was a great example you used by using an assessment like disc, you can start coaching people on their communication style and other people's communication style. So communication and conversation sounds like it's a key area that you're coaching people through. Are there other emerging hotspots where you see, hey, most leaders we need to coach through these interactions or techniques or emotions? If you had to pick them, what would the top two or three be?

Reggie Jeffries: Something that we really focus on is communication. I think that's huge. And I'm a little biased. I got my undergrad and grad degree in communication. So I think that's something that really speaks to me. And I think really why we lean into it so much is in our experiences as a team, we see a differentiation between leaders. And that line is usually drawn sometimes by how well they communicate. And so a lot of leaders are smart, they have a lot of great history and experience, but a lot of times they're not able to convey that or be able to motivate people to get all on the same track to accomplish high performing teams. So a couple of things that I see as really big right now that leaders are going through is culture, making sure that they are developing a strong culture. Because to me that's the bedrock, that's the foundation of any team is the culture that you have on that team. And sometimes a lot of people will get into leadership or get advanced through the ranks and never stop to think about, okay, what kind of culture do I want my team to have? How do we define ourselves as a team? And again, I think it's because of the fast- paced nature of what we do. And so that's something that, again, at the academy and through our cohorts, we make sure leaders understand that first thing first you have to make sure that you understand and define the culture that you want to have. And that can be from creating a safe space for your folks to be able to mess up, to share what you're going through, to be able to feel comfortable to say, "Yeah, I don't agree with that. I actually disagree respectfully, this is why." Or to take a risk and not feel like there's going to be repercussions that are going to outweigh the chance of taking that risk. So we talk about that. We talk about the diversity. And we mean diversity in the true center of the term, diversity of thought, diversity of individuals. Like you mentioned before, we don't want to have everybody with the same mindset on the same team. There's a lot of power when you get people thinking differently on the team. So the culture is one thing that we really lean into with this. And then the other one that I think is really impactful is the ability to coach. We could be biased in that because we're all coaches-

Dane Groeneveld: I like that.

Reggie Jeffries: ... butit's amazing Dane how many times I see leaders asking me, how do you feel like you do coaching? And they say, " I do a great job coaching," and then we'll observe them coaching. And it's not coaching, it's them dictating or mandating. I get it. That's the way people were raised to lead. And I think we're at a point now in 2024 where a lot of people don't have time to be mandated to or dictated to. They want to be engaged with the conversation with their leader and how to accomplish a shared goal. And so we really lean into the coaching and how important it is because again, that differentiation line about good leaders versus great leaders. Great leaders inspire and coach and they exercise influence. Okay leaders just mandate things to be done. And I think that's something that it's another sticking point for me is as an individual contributor, you do really well and you get promoted in the leadership, not necessarily do you demonstrate the skills of leadership, it's just that you did your previous job really, really well and now here you are as a leader. And at the same time though, those companies don't always prepare you to be a leader. They'll teach you the business acumen, but do they truly teach you how to lead? And that's something that I think you're doing these folks a disservice by not teaching them these skills that come along with leading that you may not learn in school, you may not learn in your new hire training or your new leader training, but that are critical and that separate people from just getting people to be okay and being at work and then really wanting to be there and being a part of something bigger that that team represents. And so that's what we lean into is the culture and the coaching are two things that I think are really bedrocks of our program as well.

Dane Groeneveld: That's cool. So I've got three Cs, communications, culture and coaching,

Reggie Jeffries: Right. Three Cs, we'll change the name.

Dane Groeneveld: What I really like about that coaching one because that actually surprised me, but it makes so much sense, we've seen all of these other frameworks train the trainer. We've seen the language out there that, hey, if you really want a student to learn the material, have them teach it to their peers. So it sounds to me from what you've described, there's an opportunity here that if you coach your team members to be coaches, then that's a great way for them to embrace leadership. And what's so cool about that is that in today's busy world where there's a lot of technology, there's a lot of fragmentation of work, the whole workplace is being redesigned. People can lead from a position of an individual contributor now because it's a project or it's a problem. And that's really encouraging.

Reggie Jeffries: I think that term, leader, is being turned on its head these days. I think that a lot of people look at a leader as somebody in front of the room and everybody's eyes are on them and they're paying attention. And I don't look at it that way. I mean, that can be what a leader is, but that's not the only definition of leadership in my mind. A leader to me is somebody who is going to help others elevate whatever it is they're trying to do. And that could be an individual contributor. That can be somebody who is maybe not on the top of the hierarchical food chain, if you will, in corporate America. Leaders come in all different forms. I think that's the exciting thing about where we are today, is that you don't have to have the title. Titles don't mean anything anymore. You can have the title and not be a leader, and you can not have a title and be a phenomenal leader. And I think that's what I try to lean into folks with is understand that no matter what your title says, no matter what it says on your signature or your email, you are a leader no matter what it is. And then you have the opportunity to lead and to influence others to help them get to where they want to be. And so it's really something that I'm really passionate about and I think it's hopefully a shift in corporate America in the workplace that we see people owning that I'm a leader no matter what role I have, I have a chance to lead in my space. It could be just me, I can lead myself, I can lead a peer, I can lead a team, a whole organization. There's different levels to it, but you are still a leader. But you have to understand those skills that come along with that and the coaching being one of them.

Dane Groeneveld: I think that's fantastic. And I really love that soundbite. I am a leader. Isn't that a great invite? 2024 hierarchy and role title, yeah, they're there for organizational reasons, but everyone should have this opportunity to be a leader. That's really cool. That's a great outlook, vision and hope for the future of teams.

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah, that's my dream. That's what I would love to see is that everybody... And that's not always what I was raised to see and it goes back to my history that's maybe why I'm so passionate about it, because there was points in my life where that was where I was put. It didn't matter if I was the captain of the team or not, I was a leader. The other there other parts of my life where it was just be quiet, get in line and just do what you're told and not be a leader. And I felt small. I felt like my wings were clipped if I was a bird. I didn't like that feeling, but I accepted it and I get disappointed I guess, I don't say mad, but disappointed with myself, I wasn't more vocal about that's not the way I wanted to go about my work life. And so now that I'm on the other end of that, I've learned that I need now to help others spread their wings. And not to be too cliche and not walk small as somebody that I know says a lot, but walk big and be that leader no matter where you are and what you do, there's an opportunity to do that. And I think that's something again that we lean into a lot with our focus.

Dane Groeneveld: I love how tangible that small and big framework is that you just introduced there, Reggie, because feeling small isn't good, right? No one likes to feel small. If you can help your teams to all feel big, to bring their best selves to lean into what they're passionate about, what a great place to work that would be.

Reggie Jeffries: And that's what coaching is. And so I always have a catchphrase is that I ask people, what's the best idea anybody ever came up with? It's their own idea. It's their own idea. So when people are told what to do, they go, okay, whatever. If it didn't work, see I told you it didn't work. But when you empower somebody to come up with their own plan and help them along the way, you're not going to leave them out there, the founder, but you have them come up with their own plan and put their own thoughts in it, have their own skin in the game. It's amazing what comes out of that. It's amazing the transition that people go through when they believe in themselves and they are invested in and they think that they can do something and that's where that leader comes in. They can now go out and take the initiative. And that doesn't mean to go out and take over the world. It just means for that little piece of what they want to do now they're empowered to do it. It could be just getting to work on time every day. It could be more audacious, being the CEO or anything in between. It's about what they want, what they're trying to do. And I think the more I read and the more I get out there and talk to people, if that shift is happening, I think in 2024, I'm not living your dream. I'm going to live my dream and I'm going to make that happen for me and not for anybody else. And that's I think what coaching does for folks.

Dane Groeneveld: That's cool. And that's so human because everyone wants to flourish. Everyone's version of flourishing is different, but everyone wants to flourish. So for someone it might just be turning up to work on time and taking pride in their work output. They don't have to move up the ladder or sell the big deal for the year.

Reggie Jeffries: Absolutely.

Dane Groeneveld: That's very human. I love that. So Reggie, so many good points that we've covered here. I love the way that you have found coaching as a way to give back to help others, to bring others into their best selves and to be doing things that they're capable of but can't do on their own. It's such a great simple reason for being an intro to coaching for anyone who hasn't tried it. I thought your use of assessments and technology as a team member to keep those practical tips and guardrails is super cool. So I think it was Cloverleaf and Gold Star's key plays there, that's awesome. And then the whole teams and groups piece, not a lot of people think that way about coaching, but it's a great way to be driving the future. So that was another good call out. And then this whole concept of coaching as a practice. You talked about communication and culture, but bringing coaching as a practice into your organization allows people to feel big, flourish. It's all awesome work. It's high impact stuff.

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah. Dane, I appreciate it. I think we talked earlier about this is coming from a place, for me it's real personal because like I said before, I had a lot of failure in my life. If you look back at my trajectory, it wasn't a straight trajectory. I had a lot of dips and valleys through it and I had a lot of people help me get out of those valleys and to get to the other side. And a lot of it was coaching. Now, I didn't know it at the time, I didn't realize it in the moment, but looking back at them like wow, they were actually coaching me. They weren't telling me what they were to do. They were giving me space to figure it out and to actually chart my own path because I was going down somebody else's path that I didn't do well in. And it showed up in different ways. And now when I had a chance to figure out what I wanted to do and how I wanted to express myself and how I wanted to show every day at work, it really changed my life and allowed me to be able to love what I do every day. So now I feel like obligated to try help people do the same like somebody helped me do.

Dane Groeneveld: Let's go.

Reggie Jeffries: Cliche maybe, but it's so true. It's so true.

Dane Groeneveld: I love it.

Reggie Jeffries: Wake up every morning to excited to do what I do.

Dane Groeneveld: And I can see that. And I think our listeners are hearing it. So for people that want to have some of that help from you and from Management Masters Academy, how do they find you, Reggie?

Reggie Jeffries: Yeah, so I'm on LinkedIn. That's the primary way that I reach people. Reggie Jeffries at LinkedIn. And then there's a Management Masters Academy page on LinkedIn as well, and then we have our website. We have our Management Masters Academy website. com that's out there, and we're starting our next cohort, March 19th as well. Spring cohort kick off. We have a few spots left open for that, so hopefully some folks that are listening can partake in that and really work with the team and accomplish the goals that they have and just really just invest in themselves. I think that's something that the people that are a part of this really value investing in themselves, because sometimes the company that you work for may or may not do, but if you value getting better or if you value just taking one step forward and getting better at the craft of leadership, then I think that's something that Management Masters Academy can help you with and we're happy to do so.

Dane Groeneveld: Love it. Love it. Well, definitely March 19th is just around the corner, so anyone who's listening, we'll make sure we get this out in time and you guys should follow up with Reggie.

Reggie Jeffries: Nice, nice. Appreciate it.

Dane Groeneveld: Thanks for your time, Reggie. It's been great.

Reggie Jeffries: It's been awesome. Thank you.

Dane Groeneveld: Thanks.

Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Remember that by embracing vulnerability, trusting our intuition, and approaching challenges with compassion, we not only strengthen our teams, but also pave the way for a future where collaboration thrives. If you're hungry for more insights, strategies, and research on collaboration, head over to the futureofteamwork. com. There, you can join our mailing list to stay updated with the latest episodes and get access to exclusive content tailored to make your team thrive. Together we can build the future of teamwork. Until next time.