Reality-Based Leadership
The Podcast

One of the core philosophies of living Reality-Based Leadership at work is to stop judging, start helping. People love this as a way to get started and dive right in, but sometimes their helping becomes doing everyone else's work, or jumping in to fix a lot of things. This creates the risk of becoming an over-functioner or an enabler in your workplace. So many people that just start reality-based leadership say that I started to say how can I help and next thing you know I was busier than ever and couldn't get my work done. This is another step in the evolution of being a reality-based leader is how to jump in to help without taking on everyone else's work.

In this episode, Cy and Alex talk about this pattern and how to watch for it and how to see when you're helping is actually hurting and how to begin saying yes and separating out how the work gets done to be able to keep momentum going and agree to goals but also keep your boundaries. With these boundaries, you're able to then take on the short term issues that need to be taken care of where you do jump in and fix, but then you can leave some space to have others help you with midterm issues and then long-term issues in the workplace.

Truly a powerful episode to make sure that one of the best tools of reality-based leadership doesn't get weaponized and used for evil. Enjoy, share with your colleagues and make sure you subscribe to the podcast and have discussions on this topic. We can't wait to hear from you.

Join Cy and Alex on this episode as they're diving into the latest trends for 2024, inspired by the fun ideas they've seen on TikTok and social media. Listen along as they explore leadership and work trends that are in and out for the year. With minimal preparation, they're taking a fresh look at what's shaping the future of work.

First, they're talking about the importance of clarity in leadership. Forget the fancy tools and strategies—what's in is getting back to basics. They're discussing re-clarifying goals, roles, and procedures with your team. It may not sound glamorous, but it's essential for ensuring everyone is aligned and working towards the right objectives.

On the flip side, what's out is leaders over-managing people and imposing their opinions. Instead, it's all about shared accountability. Leaders and teams alike need to take ownership of their actions and decisions, especially as we navigate new ways of working, whether in the office or remotely.

Join them as they discuss these trends and more, sharing insights and practical tips for thriving in the ever-evolving workplace in 2024. 

To get the top 5 practical tools to lead your teams in the 2024 workplace grab Cy's Reality-Based Cheat Sheet PDF at the link below: https://info.realitybasedleadership.com/cheatsheet

Join Cy and Alex in this thought-provoking episode where they answer the challenging question of what to do with a 'toxic genius' or a high-perfomer that happens to be high-drama? 

Inspired by an episode that Alex heard in which Brene Brown, Simon Sinek and Adam Grant brought up the concept and the challenge in handling these scenarios, Cy and Alex discuss the impact of this type of employee on the workplace and how leaders can navigate the situation. Cy and Alex dive deep into research from Reality-Based Leadership's 2nd book (Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace) and the Employee Value Equation that was able to get scientific and specific of the cost of drama. This equation gives you a self-assessment that can be used to start the conversation on reducing drama and doing better math on the value a high-performer that is costing a lot in emotional expensiveness to a team and organization.

This is one of the hardest leadership situations to approach and the tips and tools in this episode give you tons of direction in doing better math around the value each person on your team is adding to the work at hand.

Cy and Alex also touch on how this equation changes the conversation around quietly quitting and discuss the importance of not simply measuring performance, but also change readiness and emotional expensiveness of each person on a team.

Truly a fascinating conversation. We can't wait to hear your biggest takeaways!

Ready to take the Employee Value Equation self-assessment and calculate your drama-level? Don't be scared! This is the starting point to bringing your most evolved self to work.

info.realitybasedleadership.com/equation

Join Cy and Alex on this episode as they chat through the times someones shares, "But, we don't really have drama here." This is often where the loud drama (venting, complaining, gossip around the water cooler) isn't a big issue, but silent drama is out to play. Curious about the difference? You're not going to want to miss this episode.

Just a hint, silent drama often shows up as subtle lack of alignment to the strategies your organization is laying out or chronic resistance to change. These tougher to recognize workplace drama culprits really slow a team down and cause work to be more challenging than ever.

Download the Thinking Inside-The-Box tool: https://info.realitybasedleadership.com/box

To learn more or to book Cy or Alex to speak at your next event or training be sure to visit Reality-Based Leadership or fill out this form to connect with the team!

Join Cy and Alex as they have a fascinating conversation with Stephen Shedletzky (Shed) on how to Create a Speak Up Culture. Listen along as they dive into this topic and what it looks like when leaders in the workplace manage and nurture a safe space to empower others to speak up. You can find more on Shed by visiting his website here

Back by popular demand, Cy and Alex sit down to talk about the latest topics in leadership as they are out speaking on the circuit with the top leaders across the globe. The hottest topic that is coming up is all around trust and how it fits with leading in a Reality-Based way. How does trust fit in? Can you use the tools and principles you are talking about if trust isn't there?

Trust is absolutely important on a team and in a leadership moment when you are calling teams to greatness. However, trust can be layered with so many other things as a way for someone to avoid a call to greatness that could help them evolve.

Cy and Alex do a deep dive into trust in the workplace, some misconceptions with the topic, how it affects the team, and how trust isn't solely the responsibility of the leader to create.

So if you are looking for tips and ideas to:

• Create more trust on your team
• Build more trust in your culture
• Understand how to truly create sustainable trust at work
• Clarify why trust is such a hard thing to build with others
• Become more trustworthy in your life in a variety of work situations

Then this is the podcast for you.

Be sure to share this episode with all of your team members and discuss your biggest insight or takeaway.

Download the Edit Your Story Tool. 

Cy Wakeman is the President and Founder of Reality-Based Leadership. Alex Dorr is VP of People Evolution at Reality-Based Leadership and has been standing side-by-side with Cy for almost a decade. Together, they have been helping leaders modernize their approach to leadership and to ditch the drama in the workplace.

To learn more or to book Cy or Alex to speak at your next event or training be sure to visit Reality-Based Leadership or fill out this form to connect with the team!

I'm so excited to be launching Season 3 of the No Ego Podcast! This season is dedicated to your in-depth letters as you work to practice RBL at work and home. Our first letter is from Kimberly. She works in an org where most have adopted RBL philosophy. However, she tells of how some people have written off the philosophy, even when she can see this philosophy is the answer to their problems. Bottom line, her question is: How can I handle the resistors.