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- [00:03]
Lindsay Anderson
Are you ready for next level growth in your business? Welcome to the Lindsay Anderson show where we pull back the curtain on the exact strategies, tools and mindsets that build million dollar empires. If you're hungry for more time, more freedom and a whole lot more impact, you've come to the right place. Buckle up because we're about to ignite your business journey. Now here's Lindsay.
- [00:33]
Hey everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Lindsay Anderson Show. I'm so excited to introduce you to today's guest, Mr. Chris Roebuck. Now, Chris is a globally recognized leadership expert with over 30 years of expertise helping organizations like HSubs and the UK NHS develop top performing leaders. Named one of HR's most influential thinker 10 times, he blends neuroscience, business insights and real world experience to empower leaders to maximize their potential and achieve measurable success. Chris, welcome to the show. So glad to have you on today.
- [01:15]
Chris Roebuck
To be with you, Lindsay. Great to be with your audience.
- [01:18]
Lindsay Anderson
So today we're talking about one of the biggest problems that small business owners face. And they may or may not know it, Chris, but that is they have too much work and not enough time. Would you say that you've experienced this in your career?
- [01:33]
Chris Roebuck
I think I've more than experienced it personally. Everybody around me in every organization I have been in has not so experienced it. And to be honest, it's not just a small organization problem, it is a systemic problem in every organization I can think of.
- [01:51]
Lindsay Anderson
And when we were talking a little bit about this and you said to me, you said, lindsay, many of them don't even realize they have this problem. Tell me what you meant by that.
- [01:59]
Chris Roebuck
If we look at what leaders have to do, they're effectively one, we're supposed to do business as usual and we have to make that work. Well, secondly, obviously we have dramas and we have to deal with the dramas. And then of course we have to do change sometimes, so that's even more of a problem. And then of course we have all of the trends hitting us like AI, sustainability and all the rest of it. So we become overworked. The problem that exists is that the vast majority of leaders, and I'm talking probably 80% in any organization, have never been given the core foundational management and leadership skills they need to the depth they need to be able to do their job properly and realize their own potential.
- [02:48]
Lindsay Anderson
So what is, what are they supposed to do if they don't have this? They're already in that job. How do we empower leaders to have those core skills if they're not ready to go get like their MBA because.
- [02:57]
Chris Roebuck
It'S actually we get disrupted by all of this technical stuff. The strategy, the talent development, the AI and all the rest of it. The problem is what we're talking about are the basic skills to get stuff done, get the best from people and focus that best onto what needs to be done. Because unless they can do that, all of the strategy doesn't matter because it just won't work properly. The customer service won't work properly, the risk management won't work properly. The problem is that these skills are not being given to leaders.
- [03:32]
Lindsay Anderson
I love that. So if you are in charge of a bunch of leaders, what are some common obstacles that they're facing in order to empower their leaders with all of these skills?
- [03:41]
Chris Roebuck
The problem is you have to make sure the basics are in place. There are three steps that all leaders need to take day to day to be successful. One, you need to deliver tasks effectively. That's about prioritization. Am I doing stuff that contributes to the organization? Time management, am I getting it done on time? Delegation. Am I doing stuff that I need to do and other people doing stuff they need to do. Am I communicating effectively and am I giving feedback? Once you're doing that effectively, that then allows you bandwidth to spend time focusing on your people, doing simple day to day actions like showing you care, supporting them, developing their career. Every single one of those costs no money, can be done more of tomorrow and has a massive benefit. Then when your people are giving you their best, you just make sure that what they do supports the organization. That will give you time, bandwidth and the time bandwidth then gives you an opportunity to look outside as well as inside to become more entrepreneurial, to seize opportunity. And then that's when you accelerate your success.
- [04:54]
Lindsay Anderson
I love that. So Chris, you have a simple four step system called accelerate your success that will help leaders do that. Can you walk us through this system, Chris?
- [05:02]
Chris Roebuck
Yeah. The reason it works so well is it's just so absolutely simple. And leaders know about this already. I'm not teaching them anything new because this is in their experience. They've seen it themselves, they've done it themselves, but they don't realize how powerful it is. So step number one is to optimize task delivery, get stuff done that effectively means they have to have the right skills to prioritize. I do stuff the organization needs, time manage, get stuff done on time. They need to be able to delegate. So they do stuff they have to do. But other stuff other people do, they need to be able to Communicate and inspire people about the big picture. And they also need to be able to give feedback so people know how they're doing when they are good at that. And that's really simple. You can teach that in the morning. What then happens is that gives them bandwidth to stop focusing just on the task and focus on their people. So they can inspire their people by simple day to day actions. Showing you care, asking, listening to what people want, supporting them, understanding they make genuine mistakes and all of those things. Then people will give you their best. When they're doing that, you need to focus that on what the organization needs to achieve. And that's one of the problems in organizations, that alignment isn't there. And finally, when that is working properly, business as usual excellence, then it gives you more bandwidth to start looking outwards, to look for opportunities, to seize those opportunities and be an entrepreneurial leader. And that's when you're truly accelerating your success.
- [06:42]
Lindsay Anderson
I like that Chris. So let's just break this down, Just give it to me real simple here. So step one is learn how to delegate tasks effectively. When you talk about missing groundwork like skills, delegation is certainly one of them that they're missing. Is that correct?
- [06:56]
Chris Roebuck
Well, absolutely. And I've got stats that prove that. I tell you what, every time I speak to a group of leaders, I ask the question, how many of you have at any point in time ever been taught how to delegate effectively? Without any doubt at all, over the last 10 years, other than military audiences, no audience has had more than 30% that has been taught to delegate. That means, and the stats confirm this from other studies, 70 to 80% of leaders out there have never been taught how to delegate effectively. What I then do is I then say, I tell you what, I will find you about half a working day a week in four minutes, do you think I can do it? And they all say no. And then I do because I run a four minute exercise. And what happens is ballpark figures. About 50% of the audience will find somewhere in the region of one to four hours, probably another 10 to 15% of the audience will find probably four to six hours. And I even find about 10 to 15% find more than eight hours just by delegating more effectively from a four minute exercise. And it poses a question, if you've been a leader for 20 years and you haven't been taught this, how many half days a week have you wasted that you could have used to inspire your people?
- [08:29]
Lindsay Anderson
It's a good question. I want to stick here in delegation land for Here for a second. Will you tell me a little bit more about that four minute exercise? What is that, Lindsey?
- [08:37]
Chris Roebuck
You're asking for my secret? Of course I'll tell you. Of course I'll tell you. Okay, so I would say to everybody who's listening to this, be you an entrepreneur or be you a CEO. This is the exercise. Write down on a piece of paper 1, 2, 3 or 4 tasks you do regularly. Look at those tasks and say to yourself, could I delegate any of those to a member of my team? If the answer is yes, put the name of the person or people you could delegate it to. And next to that task, write down the amount of time that you would save per week if you did it. When you've done all the tasks that you can think of, total up the time saving and see what you have just saved, and then think about how you can use that saved time to spend more time focusing on people to get the best from them.
- [09:41]
Lindsay Anderson
I like that. Chris, what do you say to people who say, I don't have time for your four minute exercise, Chris?
- [09:48]
Chris Roebuck
Say they can't spare four minutes to save half a working day a week, because that's just madness.
- [09:55]
Lindsay Anderson
That would be madness. Now, what are some common obstacles that you usually run into as you teach people these delegation skills? What are the common obstacles that you're seeing here?
- [10:04]
Chris Roebuck
I think the common obstacles in Real basics are that people have never been given the formula to make it work. Once they have been given the formula, they start to realize the benefits, like the extra day. Then the next thing is to make sure that they go and do it. But they need to do it step by step. We all know that it's like New Year's resolutions. If we have six New Year's resolutions, no way are we all done. If we have one New Year's resolution, that's hard enough. So what I say to people is, look, focus on. Okay, you have four things to do. One on prioritization, one on delegation, one on remembering to communicate effectively, one on giving people day to day feedback.
- [10:49]
Lindsay Anderson
Mm, mm.
- [10:51]
Chris Roebuck
Okay.
- [10:51]
Lindsay Anderson
Okay, I like that. So I wanna go back to your accelerate your success system. So step number one is effectively delegate tasks. What is step number two?
- [10:59]
Chris Roebuck
Step number one is optimize task delivery.
- [11:02]
Lindsay Anderson
Optimize task delivery. Step number one. Okay, what is step number two?
- [11:05]
Chris Roebuck
Optas delivery is prioritization, time management, delegation, communication, giving regular feedback. Step two is get the best from people.
- [11:13]
Lindsay Anderson
Okay? And give us some tips around that you did before, but paint it out.
- [11:16]
Chris Roebuck
For me so it's really interesting. I say, how do you get the best from people? Everyone goes, oh, it's really complicated. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So what I say is, whoa, take a step back. So say to my audience, right, look back over your career. Think of the best boss you ever had. The person you gave 110% effort for, the person when you woke up you wanted to go and work for. What did that person do every day that made them your best boss? Write down just simple day to day actions that they did. Okay, I have been doing that for 10 years around the world. I tell you what happens is you get a list of 12 to 14 things that every leader, every person wants their boss to do. And no matter where in the world you do it, it's the same list. It's always the same list. It's because it, it's not the job we do, it's not who we work for. It's because we are human. And it's the really, I think on that list there, Chris, it's really powerful. Listen to me, ask for my ideas. Showed they cared, acted with integrity, developed my career, understood I made genuine mistakes. Just those really simple day to day actions, told me what was going on, supported me when I needed it, and knew when I needed it. All of those simple day to day things that need to be done, but they cost no money. But the power of extra effort you get if you do them. For example, if a leader explains to somebody how what they do fits into the big picture, their contribution to the purpose of the organization, that can get them 36% more effort than if they don't bother. Lindsay, Just showing you care to people can get you 25% more effort. And none of this costs any money. And it can be done more of tomorrow. And people already know about it because they're doing some of it as a leader. They just need to do more.
- [13:22]
Lindsay Anderson
I like that. Okay, what's step number three?
- [13:25]
Chris Roebuck
Number three is focus all of that extra super effort onto the big picture. And it's about thinking what the big picture is as a leader. What does the organization need to have done. But it's also about explaining that big picture to the people on your team so they can see that beautiful, inspiring big picture. They can see how it all fits together. They can see what their contribution is. And too often leaders don't explain that big picture to the team. It's just, this is what you need to do. No, it should be this is what you need to do. Because this is how it makes our organization successful. Because if they see the big picture, one, it motivates them in terms of what I've just said. But also if things go wrong, they don't have to ask people what to do because they know what the end destination should be. So they can find another route. If they see the big picture, they can understand how the organization works, they can collaborate more effectively. And the bottom line is that if everybody collaborates more effectively and creates one organization, not just lots of little organizations that don't talk to each other, you can improve your profit by up to 50%.
- [14:39]
Lindsay Anderson
I like that. And how do you. What's one tip on recommending how you do that? Communicating the big picture. Give us some tips.
- [14:45]
Chris Roebuck
It's literally saying having a team meeting. And if you're not having team meetings, you should be having team meetings. It's literally to say, okay, what we're doing next week is this, that and the other. And how that fits into what the organization is doing is this what we deliver goes to this department that then gets coordinated with this and this and that then links into our organizational objectives for this year. Oh, and by the way, as the organization's vision is this, when I go around organizations, the number of people who have a middle management level and below, and actually sometimes a couple of levels below the board who don't even know what the vision is. Gallup came out with some interesting results that said less than 50% of people in American organizations really understand how what they do fits in to the organization's big picture because they don't know it. How can you give your best if you don't know why you're giving your best?
- [15:50]
Lindsay Anderson
Interesting. I'm hearing the word communication loud and clear on this one.
- [15:55]
Chris Roebuck
Communicate, communicate, communicate.
- [15:57]
Lindsay Anderson
I love it.
- [15:58]
Chris Roebuck
Psychology actually says that you have to say a message at least five times for it really to be retained by our brain. It's a critical message not just for day to day, but also for organization.
- [16:11]
Lindsay Anderson
Yeah, that makes sense. Follow up. What's step four in the acceleration for.
- [16:17]
Chris Roebuck
Everyone who is listening to this? Who is an entrepreneur? You already understand this. But if you're not an entrepreneur, if you spend 5, 10, 20 years in a corporate organization, many of them aren't terribly entrepreneurial. It's more about minimizing risk, not optimizing risk. So becoming more entrepreneurial is about thinking in the sort of patterns that entrepreneurs do that small organizations do, but doing it in a large corporate. And that's what we did at UBS when the bank was created. And that's why it's A Harvard case study. So what we're talking about is, we're talking about everybody focuses on delivering success for the organization, not just their own job. Everybody understands and leverages the organization through the big picture. Everybody is trying to keep it simple and efficient. We're out to optimize risk, not minimize risk. We're in a situation where we're trying to constantly innovate and find new and better ways of doing things and challenge the status quo. A proactive brand ambassador. And that brand ambassadorship is underpinned by that second step of getting the best from people. Because people will only be true brand ambassadors if they are inspired by that big picture. Those are the sort of things that entrepreneurs and small organizations have to do to survive. Because unlike big organizations, they haven't got a load of money in the bank for stupidity. But the evidence is from everything I've done over my career and UBS and the Harvard case study, that you can and actually make a large organization entrepreneurial.
- [18:01]
Lindsay Anderson
What do you see as the future of business and implementing these strategies into business? And if it's required or not, in this day and age of AI and all of the change that's happening, what do you see as the future?
- [18:11]
Chris Roebuck
Okay, so you quote AI, and that's really interesting. I was asked to speak at a conference of Chief Digital Officers because they know all about AI, but they didn't know about how you make AI work with people. Interestingly, what they said to me was, we're worried because AI is being overhyped. And everybody's saying AI is a silver bullet to everything, but it's not. You have to have a clear use case. And what I said to them was their challenge for AI is the people. It doesn't matter how good the tech is, if the people do not want to use it and cannot use it, it's not going to work. So it's about creating a compelling vision for people to use AI so that they feel safe with it and they have the capability. So we go back to those underpinning things. Because if people aren't giving their best, if people aren't inspired, they're not going to want to do AI, they're not going to want to do the strategy, they're not going to want to do change. And that's why that simple, powerful foundation is the engine that makes everything else work. And that's why also another trend is the importance of leaders focusing on purpose and people. Because since COVID it's really interesting, since COVID people have become significantly less tolerant of poor leadership. That's actually why employee engagement scores dropped immediately after Covid because and we have the great resignation. So customers expect more and your people expect more.
- [19:50]
Lindsay Anderson
Yep. Chris, you've done so much. You've helped so many people. Tell me, what is one thing you wish you would have known before you got started?
- [19:58]
Chris Roebuck
Wish I'd have known how simple it is to do these things correctly and not be distracted and understand that you can't do the strategic stuff until you've got the basics in place. The other thing is that the neuroscience course taught me above all, the answer to success is remembering that we are all human beings. Somebody said pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. And I quote that and I say, who do you think said it? And everyone goes, oh, Richard Branson? Steve Jobs? And I say no. And I flip the slide and it says Aristotle 500 BC Cosmos. The human condition is it doesn't matter whether it's now or 2,500 years ago. We're all human. We want a job that gives us pleasure, that we can give our best in. And it doesn't matter what you do or where you are. And that I wish I had learned so much earlier that it is about us as humans above all else.
- [21:03]
Lindsay Anderson
I love it. Chris, what a beautiful way to end this discussion. Before I let you go. Thank you so much for sharing your insight and time on the podcast. Today I'm going to turn the time over to you. Let everyone know how to find you and anything else you want the audience to know.
- [21:17]
Chris Roebuck
Chris, My website is www.chrisroebuck.live. i'm on LinkedIn. Please connect on LinkedIn and I just to be honest, I hope that what I have said has made a difference to you. You have got ideas, but ideas are useless unless you go and make them happen. So please go and take action and it would be great to hear if you've got success stories and if there's anything I can do to help your organization to go through those steps, please just let me know. I love helping organizations be successful.
- [21:55]
Lindsay Anderson
Thank you so much Chris. Appreciate you. There you have it folks. Another awesome episode of the Lindsay Anderson Show. If you are ready to create high quality social media content that actually attracts your ideal client without it taking all of the time in your day and you're actually generating sales from social media, make sure you get signed up for my upcoming workshop by going to Lindsay a.com workshop. I'll be sharing with you my simple four step system for generating more high quality sales for your business online. Make sure you get signed up for that workshop. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the Lindsay Anderson Show. Cheers to you and your success.
- [22:42]
That's a wrap for today's episode of the Lindsay Anderson Show. If you love this episode episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share how you're leveling up your business. Want more? Connect with Lindsay Anderson and get the tools you need to crush your goals@lindsay a.com until next time, keep pushing, keep growing and turn those business dreams into reality.