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Building Instant Trust with a New Team
Ever walk into a new role, look around, and immediately start thinking about everything you want to change?
It’s a natural impulse!
You want to prove your value, assert your authority, and make an impact.
But more often than not, charging in with a megaphone is the fastest way to lose your team's trust.
True leadership isn’t about having the loudest voice in the room. It’s about a simple, three-step cadence that most people skip: Listen. Learn. Lead.
Here is how it works in the real world.
Step1: Listen to Understand (Not to Respond)
We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. My mom has reminded me of this more times than I want to admit.
Yet, how many times have we sat in a meeting just waiting for the other person to stop talking so you could drop your brilliant insight?
When you start a new project or join a new team, your first 30 days should be a listening tour.
Spend time on the front lines. Ask questions. Shut up and observe. When people see that you genuinely care about their day-to-day realities before you try to change their workflows, you build instant equity.
Step 2: Learn the Unique "Fingerprints" of Your Team
Once you’ve listened, you have to synthesize what you’ve gathered. Here’s the hard truth about leadership: you cannot lead everyone the same way.
Every professional has a unique fingerprint. Even if two team members have the exact same Myers-Briggs score or Clifton Strengths, they will apply them differently.
If you treat everyone identically, some will feel micromanaged while others will feel completely ignored.
Speaking of Clifton Strengths, one of my top 5 strengths is individualization, which means I have a knack of understanding and knowing what individual people are good at on a team and leveraging their strengths as individuals to make the overall team better.
For others, it may take a little bit more effort, but Learning means figuring out what motivates each individual, where they want to grow, and what barriers are standing in their way.
Step 3: Lead by Removing Barriers
Only after you have listened and learned do you earn the right to lead effectively. Leadership is influence, not a title. Your job as a leader isn't to dictate every move; it’s to clear the path so your team can run fast.
When you align your leadership style with your team’s unique goals, incredible things happen. Careers fast-track, projects succeed, and culture thrives.
This framework isn't just theory: it’s built from real-world experience in the engineering and corporate trenches. In Episode 141 of the IncrediPaul Leadership Podcast, I break down exactly how I used this "Listen, Learn, Lead" framework to transition from a packaging engineer to a continuous improvement manager, and ultimately into R&D in my engineering career.
Want to accelerate your own career path and master this framework?
Leadership doesn't happen by accident, and you don't have to figure it out alone. Let's work together to unlock your full potential, overcome the hurdles holding you back, and build a career strategy tailored to your unique strengths.
TL;DR True leadership isn't about being the loudest voice in the room—it's about mastering a simple three-step cadence: Listen to understand your team's realities, Learn their unique strengths and motivations, and Lead by removing the barriers in their way.
STREAM A PREVIOUS EPISODE
Paul Faronbi discusses the essential framework of leadership, which revolves around listening, learning, and leading. He shares personal stories that illustrate the importance of these elements in effective leadership, emphasizing that true leadership is about influence rather than titles. Paul encourages listeners to focus on active listening and understanding their team members to foster a positive and productive environment. He also highlights the significance of adapting leadership styles to individual team members and the responsibility leaders have in shaping their team's culture.
LEADERSHIP QUOTE
“The heart of leadership is based on serving others, not ourselves"
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