Business Building Blocks Podcast · Kristina Schmitt

Get Your Teams To Do What They Were Hired To Do

·21 min·2 clips

Christina shares her mission: 'I help leaders get their teams to do what they were hired to do'—a line that initially felt too harsh.

Host Christina Schmidt, a leadership coach, explores the common frustration leaders face when their teams fail to execute as expected. This solo episode focuses on her core mission: helping leaders get their teams to do what they were hired to do. Christina draws from her personal experience as a former struggling leader to frame the discussion. She identifies poor communication and unclear expectations as primary obstacles, noting someone once told her the perfect team size is one to avoid misunderstandings. Christina advocates using frameworks like the "six critical questions for strategy" from Patrick Lencioni's book *The Advantage* to clarify an organization's purpose and values. She emphasizes the importance of leaders first understanding their own personal goals and strengths, mentioning tools like Working Genius, Myers-Briggs, and Motivation Code for self-assessment. A key concept is ensuring team members operate primarily within their "genius" areas to feel empowered and energized. Christina shares a parable about three cathedral builders to illustrate how understanding one's contribution to a larger vision increases motivation. She breaks down performance issues into two categories: a lack of skill or a lack of will. Skill gaps can involve missing training, unclear expectations, or a lack of natural aptitude, which she compares to her own inability to dunk a basketball due to her height. For will problems, she warns against the "fundamental attribution error," where leaders wrongly attribute failures to an employee's character rather than external circumstances. A surprising insight is that leaders often hire people to do work that makes them miserable, which can be addressed by reshuffling duties. Christina argues that investigating an employee's will should be a diagnostic process, not an accusation, starting with objective assessments like Working Genius. She states that cultural fit based on clear core values is more critical than skill during hiring, as skills can be trained. The episode concludes that effective leadership requires self-awareness, clear communication, and systematic problem-solving to align team performance with organizational vision. The tone is conversational and instructional, blending personal anecdotes with structured leadership frameworks. Christina speaks directly to the listener in a supportive, coach-like manner. This episode is ideal for business owners, new managers, or any leader feeling overwhelmed by team management and delegation challenges. Listeners seeking highly tactical, step-by-step operational advice or those averse to faith-based references may find it less aligned with their needs.

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