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Stepping Into Leadership Even When It’s Uncomfortable With Brandon Talagtag · Speak In Flow

• 0:02
  Melinda Lee: Hi, Brandon, it's good to see you. Thanks for
• 0:05
  being here.
• 0:07
  Brandon Talagtag: I'm Melinda, good to see you as well.
• 0:09
  Melinda Lee: Hi, I'm so glad you're here. And I'm glad you're
• 0:12
  here to share your experiences with us in terms of leadership,
• 0:17
  team leadership, and well, as well as some presentations,
• 0:20
  we're going to talk about how to improve our presentation skills.
• 0:23
  As you know, being a team leader, any leader presenting is
• 0:27
  very important. So let's start off with your journey, your
• 0:31
  journey in the retail space. Go ahead and tell us about what
• 0:36
  that was like for you.
• 0:37
  Brandon Talagtag: Of course. So for me, I have about eight years
• 0:40
  of retail experience. I started at the age of 16 at Target. And
• 0:45
  target was a very, very different time in the retail
• 0:50
  fields. very customer centric, very team orientated. And that's
• 0:55
  something I really enjoyed. So at the age of 16, to 18, I was
• 0:58
  just a regular target employee. I learned a lot because I was
• 1:02
  young. And then from there on at age 18, I became a manager. I
• 1:07
  was probably one of the youngest managers at target at that time.
• 1:11
  And every year from then on going forward, I became a new
• 1:14
  manager at a different position. So I first started in
• 1:17
  electronics going over into market and consumables. From
• 1:22
  there on going to the presentation, IO creating team
• 1:26
  leader, and then from there on, became a key holder and then
• 1:30
  progressed over to h&m right afterwards, took about a year
• 1:35
  away from Target, move over to h&m. And then there from there
• 1:39
  on. I moved over to McKenna capital where I am the office
• 1:42
  coordinator for the building today.
• 1:44
  Melinda Lee: Wow. And so tell me what do you think was your skill
• 1:47
  set or your strengths that made you one of the youngest the
• 1:50
  youngest leader, Team Leader at Target? What do you think that
• 1:53
  was?
• 1:54
  Brandon Talagtag: Well, first, I really enjoyed working. That was
• 1:58
  one of the major things that pushed me my dad always worked
• 2:02
  when he was younger, he doesn't really have a college degree. He
• 2:05
  just went to high school. And he instilled a lot of work ethic
• 2:08
  with me, he worked two jobs helped push me to where I am
• 2:12
  today. And I carry that forward and to target I worked
• 2:16
  tremendously well with team in a team aspect. I always made sure
• 2:20
  that I had my team members back, had my managers back and had my
• 2:23
  team in the best interest. And when I became a manager, I
• 2:28
  pushed for that as well. Each year I had a different team to
• 2:33
  work with. And in terms of continuity, that that's
• 2:36
  horrible. But it really just shows how willing I was to work
• 2:41
  with a new team, and just work with the new fields of
• 2:47
  leadership and target. And I wanted to instil team values
• 2:53
  every time I worked as a team. And when I left each team to
• 2:57
  move to a new team, I was very, very, very happy to know that my
• 3:01
  team bond that I had with my team prior kept going moving
• 3:05
  forward. It was kind of like a plug in place effect where a new
• 3:08
  team leader was able to take over where I was. And the ball
• 3:12
  just kept rolling. The ball just kept awesome.
• 3:15
  Melinda Lee: Wow, they must have been so happy that you're able
• 3:17
  to do that. And do you think it's because of the values you
• 3:19
  said, for each team, we had those clearly defined? What
• 3:24
  created the glue.
• 3:26
  Brandon Talagtag: I think it's I think when it comes to managing
• 3:30
  a team, it comes to building interpersonal communication, and
• 3:35
  just building a bond with your team, I let them know that I
• 3:39
  have their back. And just to put their trust in me as well.
• 3:43
  There's going to be some changes the board, there's gonna be a
• 3:45
  lot of plans and just a lot of things going on. And I know when
• 3:50
  it comes to changes, it's very, very daunting. Not a lot of
• 3:52
  people really enjoy change. I don't like change, but it's
• 3:57
  something that we have to do going forward. It's just the way
• 4:00
  that life is. And going back just instilling instilling the
• 4:06
  team knowing that everyone is here. And we have a process that
• 4:09
  we want to take care of. Even if it's scary, the team is here to
• 4:13
  have your back. And we want to just make sure that everyone is
• 4:15
  on a nice, comfortable level.
• 4:18
  Melinda Lee: Yeah. And so you're when you're managing these
• 4:21
  teams, you had some change to go through and change that you had
• 4:25
  to help them through. And so what I'm hearing is that you're
• 4:28
  able to even though they were scared or worried that you were
• 4:32
  able to like make sure let them know that you have their back.
• 4:36
  Brandon Talagtag: Yeah, and it comes back to building
• 4:39
  relationships. I think that's one of the main fundamentals of
• 4:41
  having a team and then when you build that relationship,
• 4:45
  communication becomes a lot more streamlined and a lot easy, a
• 4:48
  lot more easier.
• 4:50
  Melinda Lee: Were there times where people did not they're
• 4:52
  just resistant. Oh, of course. And then what would you do?
• 4:57
  Brandon Talagtag: So I guess very A more recent conversation
• 5:03
  that I had with one of my team members when I was at Target,
• 5:05
  this is the one that always comes to me, whenever I have any
• 5:09
  issues with a team, my team were my teams were very different in
• 5:14
  age, there was a lot of people that were older, maybe in their
• 5:17
  40s 50s. And then I had a lot of team members that were in their
• 5:20
  20s, I was 20, I did not know anything that I was talking to
• 5:25
  you about. Me and the older generation didn't have a lot of
• 5:29
  things to connect about. It was just and is something they know.
• 5:34
  And they were very upset that a younger individual was coming
• 5:37
  into their fields. And just knowing that I understood where
• 5:40
  they were coming from, it's not that they were mad at me, it was
• 5:45
  just, there's a lot of changes that are coming about. And it's
• 5:50
  always good to put yourself into someone else's perspective, and
• 5:54
  try to get them insight on what's going on. So whenever it
• 5:58
  comes down to a process change, or anything that's changing in
• 6:02
  the business, I want them to understand that this is nothing
• 6:05
  personal, the business is just going forward, it's progressing.
• 6:09
  It's continuing, and we want to be here for the ride. But you
• 6:13
  need to understand that the newer way of doing things, it's
• 6:17
  not anything to you, it's just how we're going to progress
• 6:20
  going forward as a business. And we want you to join us on this
• 6:23
  journey.
• 6:25
  Melinda Lee: And so was it a matter of just saying, Hey, this
• 6:27
  is nothing personal? Did you do is just a word that was helpful?
• 6:32
  Are there other things that you did to let them know that this
• 6:37
  is not personal? Because I can imagine the people out there
• 6:39
  some of the audience members that are like you who are
• 6:42
  younger, or maybe less in their eyes, just in terms of age, does
• 6:46
  that mean that you're more or less experienced, but you
• 6:50
  probably are experienced, more experienced? That's why they
• 6:52
  promoted you. But it's just the age, right? And it's the
• 6:55
  perception of the disparity of the age. Now you're talking to
• 6:58
  someone older, and they're like, Okay, how's this younger person
• 7:02
  who's this younger manager teaching me what to do? That's
• 7:05
  going to be very hard. So that just the words just now and
• 7:08
  letting them know, Hey, isn't nothing personal? Was that all
• 7:12
  that, like you use is that what was helpful? What was your other
• 7:15
  thing?
• 7:17
  Brandon Talagtag: I think there was a first start having a
• 7:19
  conversation, the first way to go about it. In the after that I
• 7:23
  wanted to involve them in the business and show them that this
• 7:27
  is the process, why we're doing it and what the end result can
• 7:30
  be kind of like the hand holding process going forward. When I
• 7:33
  started as a younger employee, I did not know what's going on at
• 7:37
  Target. I was just told to stock aisles and greet guests. But I
• 7:42
  had a manager that was willing to teach me and that's what
• 7:46
  instilled in me to do the same thing with my team. They showed
• 7:49
  me why we're stocking and why we're customer facing, it builds
• 7:52
  profit, it helps progress the business and then it makes
• 7:55
  success for the overall team. And that's what I wanted to
• 7:58
  share with my team going forward as well, that you're just not a
• 8:02
  cog in the process, you actually have an important piece that you
• 8:06
  present to the team. And that's what I did. So going forward
• 8:09
  after that, after the first initial conversation, kind of
• 8:12
  held their hand, push them forward through the whole
• 8:15
  process and gave them insight on why it's important to do this,
• 8:18
  not just, I'm telling you and get with the page, it's more of
• 8:23
  a, I want you to know because you're valuable to the team.
• 8:28
  Melinda Lee: Right. So it's about involving them into the
• 8:32
  process and letting them know that they're just not a cog that
• 8:35
  they're actually very important. And part of the change and and I
• 8:40
  imagine that also builds some bond, some type of connection,
• 8:45
  more so between you and the employee or you and that person.
• 8:48
  Brandon Talagtag: Yeah. At the end of the day for me, as a
• 8:52
  leader, it comes back to understanding them as a person,
• 8:56
  I don't want to make them feel left out. And including them and
• 9:00
  making them feel valued. Yeah, helped me progress through
• 9:04
  Target. I had a lot of people that really helped me out
• 9:08
  throughout my years as a manager. And I wanted to do the
• 9:12
  same for my team because I do not know what they're doing at
• 9:14
  the end of the day. Or maybe they want to progress through
• 9:16
  target as I did. I just wanted to do the same thing as what I
• 9:21
  learned when I progressed in my career.
• 9:23
  Melinda Lee: Right, right. So remembering passing a bow or
• 9:26
  right paying it forward, hey, the people that have taught me
• 9:28
  and using that same type of energy to also pass it along to
• 9:34
  other people. Yes, what? So now you're at mechanic capital. And
• 9:39
  now you do a lot of presentations firm wide, and
• 9:44
  that's to higher ups and you know, just across the firm,
• 9:48
  delivering big presentations. What has that been like now?
• 9:53
  Brandon Talagtag: It's, it's daunting. In all honesty, I'm
• 9:57
  still nervous when I go do presentations to the firm. I'm
• 10:01
  not because I'm scared of presenting, it's more, so I'm
• 10:05
  just not comfortable. Because I've been in target and retail
• 10:11
  for my entire career. And now joining an office management
• 10:16
  kind of Spectre kind of the financial field, I don't have
• 10:19
  too much knowledge in those aspects, I do know, a fair
• 10:24
  amount of knowledge, I do have knowledge that could get me
• 10:26
  going through the job. But I can't compare it to a lot of
• 10:30
  financial analysts. Here to some accountants being in Target, I
• 10:36
  was able to nitpick certain aspects, you know, I know some
• 10:39
  HR, I know, some sales, I know some project management, etc,
• 10:44
  etc. But when it comes to being here, in this office, I'm just
• 10:48
  not too comfortable as I was before.
• 10:51
  Melinda Lee: Yeah. And you're in like a year in a year and a half
• 10:54
  at McKenna now. And so what do you do to prepare for the
• 10:58
  presentations? And tell me more about the presentations that
• 11:01
  you're delivering? Is it? Uh, is it about the office
• 11:04
  administrator? Like, what did what is the content that you're
• 11:07
  covering? And what do you do to prepare?
• 11:10
  Brandon Talagtag: It's, it's more. So my presentation is like
• 11:13
  information that can be beneficial to the firm, whether
• 11:17
  it be events, whether it be anything pertaining to the
• 11:20
  office, it's just making sure that the Office runs smoothly.
• 11:24
  And if we have anything that helps benefit the office, I'll
• 11:27
  help present that. I am probably the most intertwined when it
• 11:32
  comes to Office affairs. When it comes to presentations, I don't
• 11:36
  want to just make myself feel comfortable on what I know what
• 11:38
  to speak of. To be prepared for whatever may come from there on.
• 11:44
  It just comes with being comfortable in what you know
• 11:47
  what to speak about, I suppose for me, as the individual. But
• 11:51
  whenever it comes to presentation, I just try to take
• 11:54
  a stride and whatever I can do.
• 11:57
  Melinda Lee: How often do you have to do it?
• 11:59
  Brandon Talagtag: I'm presentations for McKenna have
• 12:02
  been kind of dropping as of recently. You go right. It's
• 12:08
  very quick. But I see no issue. It's kind of like a quarterly
• 12:12
  basis do I know when to expect it at least within a certain
• 12:16
  quarter, but it kind of just gets plopped right in.
• 12:19
  Melinda Lee: I love it. I love it. And that's why you're that's
• 12:22
  I see you this is why I see is the great leader. And I'm very
• 12:25
  articulate. And I think that that's a part what I would like
• 12:28
  the audience to take away is that a you never know when it's
• 12:32
  going to happen. It could just plop I mean, you're going to be
• 12:35
  asked to speak and you never know when, right and then to
• 12:39
  just you have to be prepared. And so Brandon here, he's taking
• 12:42
  the time to be on this podcast, and stretch himself and be here
• 12:48
  to speak about his experiences to to know even though I may not
• 12:53
  feel as comfortable with some things, but I'm just gonna go
• 12:55
  lean into it anyways. And so for audience members that are you
• 13:00
  just know that the opportunity is going to come. So it's not
• 13:04
  about if it's going to come when it's going to come, it's going
• 13:06
  to happen because you're a leader. And so how can we better
• 13:09
  best prepare ourselves, especially if you don't have
• 13:12
  much time. And, and you're, especially if you're also a new
• 13:16
  leader, you might be in a new firm, and you might not know
• 13:20
  everything? And who really does, right? So how do you best
• 13:24
  prepare for some of these moments like this. And so one
• 13:27
  thing that you do do is do the best you can to do all the
• 13:30
  research, give as much information about your knowledge
• 13:33
  area, and then to know that you're not going to know
• 13:36
  everything, and that's okay. They're not asking you to know
• 13:40
  everything, but you do know enough and that they have faith
• 13:43
  in you, Otherwise, they wouldn't have put you and asked you to do
• 13:45
  that to step up and do that. And so then the rest is just about
• 13:52
  owning your space. And, and if I could share a technique, just to
• 13:58
  be able to allow us to feel more confident. So a lot of times
• 14:02
  when people prepare for the presentation, they focus on the
• 14:05
  content, what am I going to say? Right, I do all the research.
• 14:11
  And then before their presentation, they're only
• 14:14
  focusing on rehearsing that research. But that's only a part
• 14:18
  of the presentation. The the other part is, how do you how do
• 14:23
  I feel right now. So just getting in tune if you're
• 14:26
  feeling nervous, acknowledging that nerves, acknowledging, hey,
• 14:30
  I feel nervous. And taking about 10 minutes to because if we hide
• 14:35
  it, if you try to bury it, it actually gets a little bit more
• 14:40
  triggered. It wants to be heard. It's like hey, I want to like
• 14:45
  you just all you have to do is say out loud, I am nervous. And
• 14:49
  then you can start to journal. What am I nervous about? Or just
• 14:52
  say it out loud, walk around, say it out loud and the more you
• 14:56
  say it actually it starts to unravel from your ear. VA
• 15:00
  system, you'll start to feel better. Hey, I am nervous. And
• 15:03
  that's okay. There's no judgement. When you're like, I'm
• 15:06
  nervous. So you've already this at this point, you've already
• 15:09
  done the research, you know, the content. But then sometimes even
• 15:12
  though we know the content, we've done the research, we're
• 15:13
  still nervous. And you wonder why, right? Right? As we want to
• 15:18
  acknowledge the nerves, and when you acknowledge it, I'm nervous.
• 15:22
  I'm nervous. And that's okay. And then journal about it, and
• 15:27
  then transition and then transition, this is what most
• 15:29
  people are really good at doing. I'm going to pretend the nerves
• 15:32
  are not there. I'm going to do it anyways. But allow for like
• 15:35
  510 minutes to just say I'm nervous. It's a very powerful.
• 15:42
  Have You Ever Have you ever heard of the the technique in
• 15:45
  negotiations where we label if someone's angry, say, Hey, I
• 15:49
  hear that you're upset? I hear that you're worried about
• 15:54
  something. And when you say that to the other person, the Ashley,
• 15:58
  you can see that the nerves go away that you can see that the
• 16:01
  upset, actually diffuses you might as well do that same thing
• 16:04
  for ourselves. Yeah. Does that sound? How does that sound?
• 16:10
  Brandon Talagtag: Yeah, I think it just comes back to try and
• 16:12
  find a level of understanding whenever someone and they
• 16:17
  understand that this is a very pressing matter, or this is
• 16:20
  something that's important, or, you know, any emotions that's
• 16:23
  involved. And we understand that this is the conversation that
• 16:27
  needs to happen. It just changes the whole level of playing
• 16:31
  field.
• 16:32
  Melinda Lee: Yeah, it needs to happen and the emotions around
• 16:36
  it are not bad, or we don't judge them. I think most people
• 16:42
  want to avoid it. Right? We don't want to lean into it. So
• 16:47
  it's okay to give it some time to lean into that emotion. That
• 16:53
  if we're if we're nervous, five or 10 minutes before your
• 16:56
  presentation, lean into it, going knowledge that emotion, if
• 17:00
  you're feeling concerned about something worried about
• 17:03
  something. Now, the key is we don't you know, most people may
• 17:06
  stay there for too long. So then if that's the case, then you
• 17:11
  might want to seek some help write it, but if you go into it
• 17:15
  for a bit and lean into it and find that get curious, what do
• 17:18
  you you know, nervous about and write it out, it actually starts
• 17:22
  to help, it starts to defuse some of the nerves versus
• 17:25
  ignoring it. Like what you did, right, Brandon, you're here,
• 17:29
  you're doing this and then we're leaning into it versus avoiding
• 17:33
  it. Right? Avoiding. avoiding
• 17:40
  Brandon Talagtag: you, knowing the importance of the
• 17:42
  conversation as well. So for me, for example, when Black Friday
• 17:48
  or any important, you know, days come and there needs to be a
• 17:52
  conversation to the team, to help them to better them helps
• 17:56
  you know, myself, that helps making sure everyone is on the
• 17:59
  same page. Comfortable. That that pushes me to, to make sure
• 18:05
  this conversation has to be done. I may be nervous, or maybe
• 18:08
  a little stressed out. But at the end of the day, this has to
• 18:11
  get done to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
• 18:15
  And everyone's secure, safe, comfortable.
• 18:18
  Melinda Lee: I love that. I love that. Yeah. So once you've
• 18:21
  addressed the nerves, then you when you go into what is my
• 18:25
  reason for being what is my reason for doing this, whether
• 18:29
  it's a conversation with your team, or whether it's a firm
• 18:32
  wide presentation, then you say your your what is my reason for
• 18:36
  doing this, and whether it's, I just have a drive to support the
• 18:41
  vision of the firm. But you know, transition into that
• 18:45
  feeling of I'm so passionate about, you know, my leadership
• 18:50
  and who I am and speaking from that place, and then and then so
• 18:55
  having some special time to recall that at least five
• 19:01
  minutes and actually feel it that will help people that will
• 19:06
  help people to feel more that will help you to feel what it is
• 19:12
  that you want to feel like you want to feel courage or
• 19:14
  confident you feel it and then it'll help you actually manifest
• 19:17
  that in your presentation. Versus um, what am I gonna say?
• 19:23
  And then have it memorised? Or you know, what is my script?
• 19:26
  That's a different energy. Oh my gosh, I better be sure I know
• 19:29
  all my stuff. And then that's a different announced the, you
• 19:33
  know, just having that awareness of where your energy that before
• 19:36
  the presentation. Yes, right. Yeah. And so with your point is,
• 19:40
  Hey, I am so passionate about helping my team. I'm so
• 19:44
  passionate about getting this information out. Right and then
• 19:47
  and then embodying that passion.
• 19:50
  Brandon Talagtag: Yes, definitely. Yeah.
• 19:53
  Melinda Lee: Awesome. Thank you, Brandon. And so what do you have
• 19:57
  any what like 10 pips or last, what is your tip that you want
• 20:02
  to share for managers out there right now who are starting to
• 20:07
  form their team.
• 20:09
  Brandon Talagtag: Um, for, for me, it's always good to build
• 20:16
  interpersonal skills. And that's what pushed me through my eight
• 20:21
  years of retail. I don't think I could have done it by myself. I
• 20:25
  know a lot of managers that like to work without involving their
• 20:29
  team kind of just using them as workers, not really knowing what
• 20:34
  their day to day affairs are not knowing what goes on throughout
• 20:38
  their life. Learn I more about my team helped build a bigger
• 20:45
  relationship with my team, obviously, of course, but it
• 20:47
  just made everything so much easier. And at the end of the
• 20:51
  day, we're where people, we enjoy having those
• 20:55
  relationships. And that's what pushes you through any
• 20:59
  workplace. Right? You can't do it by yourself. Love,
• 21:03
  relationships pushes you through and it makes everything so much
• 21:07
  better.
• 21:08
  Melinda Lee: Yeah, that's a sign of a true leader. I take the
• 21:12
  time to get to know every single person on your team. So that
• 21:15
  when you know the times are tough, and you know they're
• 21:18
  coming, then it makes it easier for you to move through all of
• 21:22
  the challenges, because you have that bond and a connection with
• 21:26
  the team members. Yes, definitely. Awesome. Thank you
• 21:31
  so much, Brandon. I appreciate your time. And I thank you for
• 21:34
  being on the show and and good luck in your endeavours and
• 21:39
  continuing to rise.
• 21:41
  Brandon Talagtag: Thank you, thank you for the conversation
• 21:44
  today. And thank you for reaching out.
• 21:46
  Melinda Lee: Yeah, it's no problem. Take care. See you all
• 21:49
  next time to the next on the next episode.