Tonya D. Harrison: 0:11

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Operations Toolbox podcast for business leaders. This is the podcast where we empower business leaders like you to build high-performing teams through leadership and operational excellence. I'm your host, Tonya D Harrison, and today I really want to just pull back the curtains and share some information and a framework that I have been using for a while now, and this is the 5P framework, and this is the framework that I use within my lead ops program, which you will definitely be hearing more about this year, and basically, this is the framework that is the heart of building and leading exceptional teams. So, you know, like I mentioned before, it's the foundation of my Lead Ops program, which is a unique blend of leadership development and operational excellence strategies that help leaders like you create thriving teams.

Tonya D. Harrison: 1:26

During this episode, I'm going to share with you, of course, a little bit of the history of the five Ps, but I want to break down each of these essential ingredients that are required when you are, when you would like to build a team, but not just one that meets expectations, but one that exceeds them. So let's dive in and talk a little bit about the history. Where did it come from? It definitely wasn't something that I created overnight, but it emerged from years and years of working with leaders who were great in one aspect of leadership but struggled with another. And some of them had incredible systems, but they lacked the human touch, while others had exceptional human experience or motivators, but they struggled to create scalable processes. And one of the things, like I said earlier, that I have come to realize and this is through my own journey is that you need both. So you need to have the strong systems and you need to have the strong leadership, and this is where the five P's come in. The P's that I'm going to talk to you about today are principles, people, performance, processes and platforms and planning, and these are the ingredients that basically bridge both of those sides together. So it's like a, it's like a recipe you can't miss one ingredient, because if you miss one ingredient, it doesn't work. The same, you're not going to get the same outcome. And if you stick around to the end, I'm going to share with you a little bit more about how you can access this framework and the details behind it, because there's a lot more involved to help you transform your leadership approach. So let's go ahead and get started. The first P I'm going to start with is principles.

Tonya D. Harrison: 3:37

I did an entire episode on principles. You can go. This is the foundation of everything we do as leaders and in this time and in this climate, we really want to know or understand what our principles are, so that we are not easily shaken. And there was a quote that I was told many times as a child If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything, and I heard this over and over again and, truthfully, I often tell my kids when they were growing up, and even as adults, I share it with them. But you really want to be clear on what your principles are, what you stand for. So, if that is integrity, fairness, transparency, inclusiveness, innovation, whatever it is, you want to be extremely clear on that, because these personal principles is what's going to guide your leadership style, right, and it is what is going to help you make decisions, from who you bring on your team, how you lead your team, the people that you do business with, organizations that you work with. All of this is included. So you want to make sure that you are crystal clear on what your principles are as a person and as a leader. So that's the first part of the principles.

Tonya D. Harrison: 5:11

The principles is three parts, right? So the first one is your principles. The second one is understanding the business's principles. So you want to understand the principles of your business or the organization that you work with. What is the mission, what's the vision, what are the core values? Again, this is what guides decisions and it shows up in how you manage your team. But also it shows up in how other people respond and act, because anytime I start working with a new organization, I'm always looking to see are those values on display, right? So you need to know what they are in order to even know if they're on display. So that's the second part of the principles. The third one is the team, right? So remember, I told you there were three parts of the principle you, the organization and then your team.

Tonya D. Harrison: 6:13

You want to engage your team in defining what shared principles look like and how they shape how you work together. This is going to be extremely important because they will shape how you collaborate. The accountability Are you customer centric, like? All of these things need to be talked about. So this is definitely an exercise as a leader that you want to do with your team making sure that you have shared principles, making sure that each of you understand how they are displayed, right? So what is an example of integrity? How would I display that? How would I? You know what I mean. How would I walk that out? If one of them is inclusiveness, what does that look like, you know? So you want to get clear on this, because principles, when principles are clear, they serve as a compass that keeps your team grounded even in challenging times. Right, and not only that, it makes conversations a lot more easier for you to have when somebody is either displaying them or not displaying them, because you could always go back to them and have that discussion around them.

Tonya D. Harrison: 7:30

So principles is number one. It's the first P. Again, in order for this to work, you got to have all P's, but this one right here is extremely important, and if I had to prioritize any of these P's, this one would be the first one. The second P is people, right? So the heart of any high performing team, the heart of a team, is people. You got to have people, and I really believe that Maya Angelou said it best. She's just a great source of wisdom. You know just her amazing life and career, but one of her famous quotes is. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel, and these words should be a guiding principle for all of us in leadership. Should be a guiding principle for all of us in leadership.

Tonya D. Harrison: 8:27

And when you really put people first, not only is it the right thing to do, but it drives productivity. So, you know, putting people first isn't just something nice to say or just a good idea, right. It is definitely something that you want to make sure that you include. Right, and there has been research done around this. A Gallup study found that companies with highly engaged employees see 21% higher profitability. It contributes directly to your bottom line. So you want to make sure that you are putting people first. This is going to help them feel seen and heard and valued. All of this goes into making sure that you are actually seeing them, listening to them, valuing what it is that they bring to the table. So making sure that people are at the heart, at the central of everything that you do, is going to be extremely important.

Tonya D. Harrison: 9:29

P number three okay, because we are a business performance. So the third P is performance, because you can't improve what you don't measure. So you have to be tracking performance and understanding performance, and not just your teams. Again, you got to understand this is another one that is made up of three parts right, you got to understand your performance as a leader because, remember, we lead by example. So you have to understand your performance. You have to understand your team's performance, right, like each individual team member, and then collectively, as a department. What does your performance look like? And this is your GPS for success. You're measuring these. These are like milestones, the you know on the road to, or on the journey to, where it is that you want to go.

Tonya D. Harrison: 10:27

So, again, the first thing you want to do is understand your performance. Are you modeling the behaviors that you want to see in your team? And when we're talking about performance, a part of this and I know, I already know some of you leaders you're going to be like but are you getting rest? Are you taking time away from the office? Are you disconnecting? Right, because one thing you don't want to happen is you don't want to be overwhelmed and burned out, because your team sees that and a lot of them will mimic that, and this is something that you know happened to me, you know being I called it dedicated, you know, but a workaholic and, just you know, working extreme hours, not disconnecting somebody. Email me. I'm responding on the weekend, I'm responding on vacation, and one of the things I realized is is that my team was mimicking, that they weren't taking PTO time. They were overworking themselves because they saw me doing it, and once I altered my behavior, they started to alter their behavior, and the crazy thing about it is is that we were able to increase our performance.

Tonya D. Harrison: 11:45

So you want to make sure, when we're talking about performance, not only are you getting the right things done and being productive, but also a part of getting the right things done is making sure you rest, making sure you take time off, making sure you disconnect and have some of those boundaries. And then you know the same thing with your team, right? You're going to be evaluating them on some of these things. When you are evaluating your team's performance, you want to make sure that you have conveyed clear goals and objectives and they understand what your expectations are, and then you can evaluate if they're meeting them or not and are there any gaps that require attention, and you can have these conversations with them the third part of it right. So I'm going to be looking at my performance as a leader. I'm going to be looking at my individual team members performance and then I'm going to be looking at collectively as a team. Are we accomplishing the things that we've set out to do Right? So we're going to have, you know, shared goals that that you know lead up into higher level goals, organizational goals. So you definitely want to make sure that you are looking at all of this Right. So teams that set and review goals regularly they are 42 percent more likely to achieve them percent more likely to achieve them. So you want to be having conversations around what those expectations are and again measuring what they are. So this could look like performance reviews, regular feedback, definitely making sure that you have clear metrics and tools to measure and identify what's working, what's not working. So get really in tune with the performance in all three of those areas. That is going to be extremely important in building this high-performing team.

Tonya D. Harrison: 13:39

The fourth P is processes and platforms. So these are your workflows and your systems. This is the operational backbone of your team. So, even if you hire the best people, it's gonna be really hard for them to be successful if they don't have the right tools in place. So your platforms and your processes this is going to be something that you really want to make sure that your team has access for. You wanna make sure that you are evaluating on a regular basis. Do they have what they need in order to be successful? It can be extremely frustrating if you have great team members that really want to do a good job but they are held back because they don't have what they need. So make sure your processes are in place. This is your workflows. You know what I mean Written guidelines, so if one team member isn't there, somebody else could pick up the ball and run with it. You don't want people to have to rely on just remembering or sharing information verbally, right. Also, your platforms and your systems and your tools Does your team are the tools that they need in order to achieve the things that you have tasked them with achieving. Make sure you evaluate your current processes and your platforms and simplify where you can. Invest in tools that align with your goal and tools that align with your goal. Invest in tools. That's going to remove roadblocks from your team getting done what needs to get done.

Tonya D. Harrison: 15:36

The fifth P and the final P is planning, because without a plan, your team is basically flying blind, and so are you. You really want to get crystal clear on the direction. You want to have clarity about where it is that you are going, making sure that you plan it out. So if you have a high level plan for your business, your team needs to see how they fit within that. They need to understand what success looks like, and a part of planning is making sure that they are a part of that right. So here's the goal. Here's where we're going as a business or organization. Here's what it is that we want to accomplish.

Tonya D. Harrison: 16:21

Having those conversations with them because they're the ones that's doing the work so I'm pretty sure that they could come up with some really good ideas of how you can accomplish, what it is that you need to accomplish, and laying that out in a plan, making sure that it is communicated throughout your entire team, making sure not only do they understand what success looks like as a team, but they understand what success looks like as an individual. How do I contribute to the overall goal, what is the plan for me? And being successful and as a part of this big overarching plan. So you know when you plan with your team. You're not just giving them a roadmap, but you're fostering buy-in and ownership. Right, they were a part of it. Now they own it. This is theirs. This isn't just you giving them something or dictating. This is them being a part of it.

Tonya D. Harrison: 17:22

So those are the five Ps and when you bring it all together, you got your principles, people, performance, processes and platforms and planning. These are the key ingredients that transform your ordinary team into high-performing powerhouses. Hp builds on each other, so what it does is it creates a holistic framework for leadership excellence. So are you ready to implement the 5P framework in your leadership? If the answer is yes, you can send me a text message, an email, or you can get on my email list, where I'm going to be sharing more information. Right, because this is a part of building high performing teams, right?

Tonya D. Harrison: 18:09

So think about it. Start implementing what you can where you are. You may have some elements already implemented. You may be using some of these. You may just need to tighten up some things or add some things in, but make sure you have all five of these P's. These are the key ingredients, and I'm telling you from more than 25 years of experience you need to have leadership and operations combined when we're talking about high performing teams. All right. So thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Operations Toolbox podcast for business leaders. Don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review, share this episode with other leaders looking to elevate their teams, looking to add to their toolbox and, until next time, keep leading with intention and operational excellence. Have a great day.