Latest / Travel Agency in a Year / Day 241: Find Your Natural Leadership Style as a Travel Advisors
Transcript
- Rachel: Welcome back to the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. I'm your host, Rachel K, travel agency owner, with this free 365 day episodes podcast for travel agents to learn how to actually build your business. Okay. Okay. Sidebar, I joined I joined. I joined up since I've been mentoring travel agents like officially, officially. I had to, much to my chagrin, sign up for social media accounts. If you care. And I we if you know, you know. I was like, I'm done with social media. And it was a lovely, lovely break. But I'm back. If you want to follow me on TikTok, it's at RealElevate with Rachel K. If you want to follow me on Instagram, I didn't know how to type my username. So it is at Elevat. No E on the end with Rachel K. If you're on Reddit, which is my social media form of choice because it's not constant videos and pictures, it's just like, I can read forums kind of thing. I do have a sub called Elevate with Rachel K. Join me, join me, or you know, comment on these videos. I don't care. Share it. today is day 241. Stepping into the desired leadership style. So I've done episodes on leadership styles. And organizational communication development and leadership development was my degree in college. So this is what I studied for four years and what I've implemented over and over again in business. So we've c talked about shifting from doer to leader in day 239 and the importance of leading yourself, being your own butler in day 240. We're gonna get specific. What does your actual leadership style look like? And this ties into the success circle because whatever week day 241 is, I have a quiz to like see what your current leadership style is and then what Your ideal leadership style is, and then what's the gap? What's the gap you need to fill if you want really want that style of leadership? So there's really no single correct way to lead a business or team. That's why leadership studies is an entire degree. You don't have to do it what someone else did. You can do something very similar in your business, but you don't have to do exactly what they did. Some leaders lead through direct and hands-on involvement. Others lead by setting a very clear vision and trusting people to execute within it. Some lead with warmth and relationship first. Others have clear standards and structure first. I actually just heard from I was talking to a teacher, and I was talking another friend of mine is a new teacher, and I was like, How do you deal with classroom management? Da-da-da-da-da. And The season teacher was like, when I first started at teaching, it was no smiling until Christmas for middle school and high school. You do not smile at your classroom until Christmas. You do not waver at all. And that was the leadership style to manage middle school kids and high school kids, okay? And none of these ways of leading in your business is objectively superior. They're different tools suited to different personalities and different businesses. So questions you to help you find yours. Think back to a time in this business that you're building, or any other time in your career, in your education, just in life in general. Maybe you played sports in middle school, high school, college, I don't know, your life. But when think back to that time when you felt the most energized leading something, even if it was informal, like organizing a group trip. I know a lot of TAs get into the travel industry. Because they were planning all their family trips or running some kind of project. It could even be something for like PTA. Mentoring someone. What did that look like for you? Were you deeply hands on, or did you set the direction and let others run with it? Did you lead through detailed structure or through relationship and trust? Then you gotta think of the reverse. Think of a leadership style that you experienced from someone else. Maybe a coach of yours if you played sports. Maybe an instructor if you were just like, I'm in band or I play an instrument. Maybe it was a babysitter. Maybe it was a specific teacher in elementary, high school, college, whatever. And that person completely drained you. And it felt totally wrong for you. That is super in useful information too. Knowing what doesn't fit narrows down what does fit for you. So let's talk about my experience, because I don't know who's listening to this episode, so I can't psychically be like, this is your exact leadership style. I can't. I can't do that. so for me I like to have more freedom and creativity and autonomy. gee, wonder why I'm self-employed. So leadership for me is more like motivation, but also like a kind of like a stern leader. like you can do whatever you want, and if you don't do this, you will fail. So this is your bare minimum. Go run with it. That's kind of what how I like to be led. and when I I've since I was like seventeen, like I've just randomly gotten into like training positions and like mentoring type positions. So I've got clocking in on 30 years of training people. Like, yeah, my first real job, they promoted me to management even though I wasn't eighteen. And surpassed someone who had been there longer than me and was over 18 because they're like, you're really good at teaching people how to do stuff. I was like, okay, and like motivating them. I don't know what I do. And I'm not trying to brag here, please. Don't be like, shut up, you dumbe. When I was in elementary school, I was weirdly super popular. Like I wasn't in any click. And I didn't understand clicks. I also didn't understand boyfriends. And so it really confused me when my friends in like second grade were like, I have a boyfriend. I'd be like, why? You can't do anything with this information. Like, what is the point of this? But I remember I had to schedule the recesses. We had three recesses a day. And there was like one 30-minute after lunch and two 15-minute recesses. But I would have to schedule which little groups of people, because they didn't like each other, who I would hang out with. people wouldn't come to birthday parties that other people were hosting unless I was there. I don't understand that, but when we We moved from the Kansas City area down to Springfield when I was it was the end of fourth grade. The entire school planned a surprise going away party with me, like for me. I found out about it. Somebody s told something like two days before and I had suspicions. But they shut down like the last hour or so of school for like four through sixth graders to come give me going away gifts. And the principal allowed it. Like, that's insane to me. So I was often stuck leading even as a child. And I was like the one the teacher would be like, so-and-so doesn't know how to do it. Rachel show them how to do it, right? If the teacher couldn't teach them, I remember this kid named Aaron couldn't draw a star. He could not figure it out. And the teacher was like, literally do this. If you're watching, I'm like, but he's like, I can't figure it out. And so she's like, Rachel, teach him how to draw a star. And I was like, okay, well, this is what you do. And then when I was in middle school, teachers would be like, I do math weird. I don't follow the normal formulas. I just goodwill hunting it, I guess. But some kids would be like, I don't understand, I do not understand how this formula works. And so they'd be like, Rachel, teach him how you do it. And I'd be like, okay, you just can do it this way and you can see the numbers. Like five and three is always 15. So you s like it was just like weird. I'm probably autistic. It's fine. I don't need to get tested. I'm somewhere neurospicy for sure. But anyway, with my leadership style, when I'm like feeling good, is I definitely am totally happy delegating things and letting people run with it just like how I like to be led. I've had a lot of weird, crazy situations personally and professionally. And I know I'm going down a slippery slippery slope if I start going into full on mother mode. So any of you listening that I'm mentoring, if I start getting like mothery, like mother goosey with you, and I'm like, just do this, just do this, just do it, do, do, do, do it. Like, we need to take a break. Cause I'm like, something is off in our relationship. Please do not be afraid to tell me that. I don't think I've done it with anyone, but I know that's the dark side of Rachel. Anyway, I hope that helps you when you're thinking about this. Like think about your past. Think about any time you've ever had to lead, even if it was like when you were a little kid or when you had to train somebody, you are leading them because you are showing them this is how you do things, right? And then think about like the worst boss you ever had, or the worst like trainer you've ever had, or the worst coach or teacher. Like, what do they do? Terrible things. Don't be that person. Okay. All right, sorry. Common leadership orientations for you to consider based on these questions. I hope you had fun listening to that random rambling. So there is the hands-on mentor who is closely involved. Teaches through direct example and builds people up on an individual basis. Let's differentiate between a coach and a mentor, okay? Because I know that's a thing. A coach is someone who has a basic foundational understanding, think about with sports, and can say, here's how you swing a bat, here's how you run to first base, here's how you slide into first base, here's how you catch. Here's how you pitch the different types of pitches. I'm using baseball as a reference, clearly. You could do softball, I don't care. But the coach is like, and here's when you get three strikes, you're out. Here's the rules of the game. A mentor, and the coach is just blanket statementing all of this and just hopes that if they drill it into your head enough, you're gonna get it, right? And some people aren't gonna get it. A mentor will look at How tall are you? What weight of bat do you need? Do you need to bat righty or lefty? Because like sidebar, I'm left handed, but I play all sports right handed. And I sucked at all sports as a child because the coach was like, you're left handed, you have to bat and kick and dribble left handed. And I was just as bad as any right handed person trying to do it all left handed. And then they're like, Well, you must suck at sports. Nope. I'm just a righty with sports and a lefty with writing. That's what a coach does. this is you, blanket statement. Not even taking the time to be like, why don't you try it the other way? Why don't you try something different? A mentor is going to be like, why don't you try something different? Maybe you need a heavier bat. Maybe you need a lighter bat. When you are going into your slide, focus on putting more weight. I don't know how to slide into a base, so I'm just faking. I'm making stuff up. When you are sliding into a base, focus on putting more weight on your outer foot on the ball of the foot so that when you fall, it's not so I don't know how to slide. Something. When you're running, don't heel strike. Use the balls of your feet. You will go faster. When you're pitching, adjust the knuckles and maybe what the curveball is your best pitch. Like the mentor is gonna go deep on you as an individual. Are you a hands-on mentor? I'm not sure that that is necessary for a travel agency unless you're going to have agents on your team. And honestly, that should be the expectation if anyone says, I'm gonna mentor you. because mentoring's thrown around a lot with like host agencies and stuff, and they're like, we do mentoring. No, you don't. You You have a library of pre-recorded classes of basic stuff. That's not mentoring. You might get one or two phone calls and then they're like, good luck. Anyway, there's my rant about mentoring versus coaching. I don't think a travel advisor building a business needs to be a hands-on mentor unless you are going to be having employees and/or agents. If you are doing VA stuff only or like 1099 everything. And you're not bringing agents on, you don't need to be so hands-on because they are contracted out. They are not a part of the overall miss mission long-term, most likely, right? If you think that they're going to be long-term, or after a few years, maybe add in some mentoring for like a random VA, but I don't know. Then there's the visionary. This type of leader sets a clear direction and a standard, then trusts the team to execute everything. Staying more focused on the big picture than the daily details. This is probably I used to tell my VA when I first hired her on. I was like, welcome to it. I'm Doc Brown. You're Marty McFly. Are you ready for the adventure? We have no idea what's gonna happen. Like, I had all the drainings and stuff, but I was like. We have I'm I'm like a mad scientist. If you actually saw how my office is organized, like I know where everything is, but there's not a pretty file cabinet. There's not pretty little tabs for everything. I don't have time for that. I know what I need is over in that pile somewhere. And it's probably four pieces of paper down. You know? Like that's how I operate. Anyone else coming into my office, I'm like, you know, that one thing, they're not gonna be able to find it. I'm more focused on big picture for sure than the tiny details, and I've had to develop that skill of understanding the tiny details. I'm just like I feel like a Tasmanian devil sometimes. anyway, then there's the relationship first leader. They build loyalty and good performance through like genuinely connecting and developing trust with their team and they prioritize how people feel working with them. This can get very dangerous And you don't want to get too friendly with your team. Because if it comes down to it, I'm not saying that your team's gonna manipulate you or anything, but if it comes down to it, you had to let them go, but they become a really good friend, that's gonna be hard to be like, I have to let you go. So you need to if you do lean this way and you like building that trust and like not the toxic, we're like a family mentality, but like you do just develop really close connections and friendships. You need to be able to switch from friend hat to boss hat. So you can be like, that's really nice to hear this about your family. That's such an amazing thing. I'm here to support you. But then you need to be like, all right, so you are struggling with this area. What can we do to improve this? Here's my recommendation. What are your thoughts on this? Then there's the system's first leader. They build the super clear structure, the standards, the processes, and they trust that the system itself is the thing that will be the gosh, it they trust the system itself is going to be what produces consistency, even if the team changes. This is a a good way to be too. Like this is a very good option for a travel advisor because you might flip from like a B2B. VA service or just a ten ninety-nine VA service, or you might want to bring on employees, but if you have all your systems in place. Anyone can step in and do it. And that is definitely what you need to consider if you really, really, really, really, really want to scale to the point where you are not even involved in the day to day of your travel agency because it doesn't matter who's doing the job, it's getting done for your clients. So most leaders have some sort of blend of these. You do not have to be like stay in one lane, and you will shift. As your life changes, and you'll know, like you need to kind of like pay attention a little bit and be like, I'm the crazy Tasmanian devil with just a big vision, and be like, figure out the details, and then you just run away. or you might be like, All right, let's get super detail oriented and set up all the systems. You will f ebb and flow through different leadership styles because you are gonna grow and evolve as a person, and your personality is not stuck in one. Type, okay? Like you're allowed to change. Whoever said you're not allowed to change, and you will change. So it's gonna be a blend of these. Some are gonna be stronger at some times in your career, some are gonna be stronger at other times in your career. But there's gonna be one or two that are like your genuine anchor, and the goal isn't just picking one and then discarding everything else. It's understanding which one is the most natural to you right now so that you can lean into it intentionally rather than leading by accident. Okay? Back in day 220, we had an episode about coaching and sports, and I was like, I can't even pronounce these names. But a strong leader builds a culture and a system that outlasts any single person, including themselves. If you really want your travel agency to be like a legacy that you could pass on to children or grandchildren, this is what you need to develop strong. Leadership and you need to be able to develop a culture. There is a book, gosh, I don't remember the author, and I'm not gonna get up from my seat. It's called The Culture Code. It's one of my leadership books that I've got on my bookshelf. I think that's Simon Sinek. I know he does Finding Your Why, but he does another and Leaders Eat Last is another one that he wrote. But the Culture Code. Well, it's been a few years since I've read it. Maybe check that one out. Your specific leadership style is the flavor of that system, that legacy. Okay? And it can grow and evolve and change. It's fine. Two advisors could both build excellent teams with very, very different leadership styles. As long as each style is applied consistently and genuinely. And when you see your leadership style changing, you need to be able to communicate that to your team. Tomorrow we're gonna talk about famous entrepreneurs and leaders and rulers who just kick butt with leadership. If you're like, well, I still don't know. there's so many. There's so many. But anyway. But you can see their approaches like in action throughout time. And notice which ones you genuinely genuinely connect with. Thank you so much for listening today and my crazy rants. And I hope you have a wonderful day. I will see you tomorrow.