The Talent Magnet Institute Podcast
Episode #167: How Leaders Can Utilize a Three Word Strategy with Lisa Thal
What is the ‘three word concept’ and how can it impact your leadership? Mike Sipple Jr.’s guest on the Talent Magnet Leadership Podcast, Lisa Thal, dives deep into this topic. Lisa is a sales and marketing speaker and the General Sales Manager of Hubbard Cincinnati. She is also the author of Three Word Meetings and the Host of The Three Word Podcast. This is a must listen conversation where Lisa shares how the ‘three word concept’ has transformed her leadership, and how it can change your life as well.
- About 50% of sales meetings are a waste of time, mainly because leaders aren’t taught how to do them well. If your meeting doesn’t have a clear message, with clear meaning, it ends up costing your team productivity and ultimately, money. [1:53]
- Lisa recounts how the Three Word Meetings concept was created. Simply using three words to summarize your team’s needs is very effective. Her own team has reaped the benefits. “If I decided to cancel a meeting, they’re like ‘What's the three words Lisa? We might not need all your other stuff, but we need to know what your three words are,’” she says. [3:45]
- The first step in implementing the Three Word strategy is identifying the team’s needs. This helps you to structure your meetings: now you know what direction you need to take, and how to drive action within your team. Come up with the three words for your meetings based on the team’s needs. Begin and end your meeting with these three words so that your team members can leave with the most actionable thing you need them to do. [6:32]
- The pandemic shifted Lisa’s sales meetings from presentation to conversation. It’s a philosophy more leaders should adopt, she advises. People want to talk about what’s going on in the business. [13:52]
- When we have diversity in our teams, we uncover different ideas and that creates a much stronger company. [17:34]
- Leaders can listen and ask questions, but they can’t fix everything for their employees. Allow employees to ask the right questions so they can discover solutions to their issues themselves. [18:18]
- When you’re doing a presentation, aim to understand the type of personalities you’re presenting to and their learning styles. [20:33]
- Your job as a leader is to develop talent. If you can say down the line that your team is better than it was in the beginning, you’ve done your job. [22:22]
- Leadership is not a destination; it’s a journey. [24:30]
- Lisa shares her three-step formula to leading more effectively. [26:46]
- We need to structure our meetings around needs and communication, as shared in the three-step process. This will help us as leaders to simplify our meetings. [32:00]
Resources
Mike Sipple Jr. | LinkedIn | Twitter
Lisa Thal | LinkedIn | Twitter
