Effective Leadership Strategies for Entrepreneurs with Amanda HarNess

Are you struggling to lead your growing business effectively? In this eye-opening episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing, I sit down with Amanda HarNess, a coach and consultant specializing in the leadership first approach. We explore the crucial role of leadership in scaling your business and creating a thriving work environment.

Discover how to:

• Foster a sense of purpose in your employees

• Adapt your leadership style for remote and hybrid work environments

• Avoid common leadership pitfalls that hinder business growth

• Implement quick, impactful strategies to improve team dynamics

Visit Amanda HarNess's social media pages:

Website: https://businessexcelerated.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-harness-business-excelerated

Email: [email protected]

[00:00:00] But essentially what drives any person the most is a sense of purpose. And so it's not that you need them to care about your business is that you need them to feel purposeful in what they're doing.

Welcome to Rocky Mountain Marketing. I'm your host, Katie Brinkley. Join us as we dive deep with the world's leading digital marketing experts every single Tuesday. It's all about giving you the strategies that are working right now, directly from those who are making an impact. With my 20 years of experience, I'm here to help you navigate the world of digital marketing.

Whether you're looking to sharpen your skills or transform your business, you're in the right place. Let's get started on today's journey to success.

Katie Brinkley: Welcome back to this week's episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. We have a repeat guest this week, and I wanted to bring this guest back because it's been a minute since we've talked, but the things that They have to share, [00:01:00] man, it's evergreen. And if you are a entrepreneur that is looking to scale your team, or if you already have a team, the tips that our guest has, she's really going to change the way that you think about being a leader within your business. A lot of us got into being a business owner because we were passionate about something. And then we had more people, we needed more help. We had more clients. And then the leadership part, it kind of is, Oh, I'd have to do this. I have to do that. Amanda Harness is today's guest, and she was actually a speaker at Social Profit Lab back in 2022.

She's been a guest on Rocky Mountain Marketing before, but Amanda is a coach and a consultant that is using the leadership first approach. She's here in Denver. It's so great whenever I have people here from the Denver area because we ran into each other at a local networking event. So fun. I was like, wait a second.

I know you and, it was great to have [00:02:00] run into you IRL here, Amanda. And at the event, I said, man, I got to get you back on the podcast because you're on the podcast first. And then you spoke at Social Profit Lab and that session that you spoke that you did was so good. And I think that was one of the most. Responded to sessions from the event because I think a lot of people haven't really. Then thinking about how they're showing up as a leader for their own business. Because again, you specialize in the human behavior and the psychology that within the leadership realm. So I feel like I've been talking a lot here, Amanda, thank you again for joining us on Rocky mountain marketing.

Amanda Harness: Yeah, thanks for having me. It was really fun to just bump into you.

Especially, since we realized we hadn't actually met in person, which drives me. You know, it's crazy. Yeah. I don't know how that happened, how we went so long, but it was really fun to meet you. To bump into and wait, and like you said, it was like, wait a second. I know you, I know. And I was like, Oh my gosh, you're [00:03:00] taller than I thought. I said, you were a little petite than I thought. I know I'm a shorty, shorty, patootie.

Katie Brinkley: Um, like I said, I asked you to come back on the show and you're like, yeah, done. And like, I think you booked it that night, this recording here.

And I'm so thankful that you are willing to come back because the stuff that you have to share is it's so important as a business owner to, and I think that a lot of times it kind of. We forget about how we're showing up as leaders and how important that is as we're building our business, especially if we're trying to scale.

Amanda Harness: Yeah. I went like, you kind of started to hit the nail on the head there where a person starts a business. Because of a passion, or, honestly, just something that they feel like they're good at, you know, that's fine. And then suddenly people get involved and people are really cool and awesome.

We see people do things with, and for each other every day that are very inspiring, but people are also really hard. And weird and unpredictable, right? So you [00:04:00] started this business, but now this business is no longer just this entity in this cool idea, now it has the complexity of humans involved in it.

And so the story completely changes and for, you know, it's not like people. Often go to like leadership school, right? I mean, that's essentially what I'm doing is I'm just helping them do it later. So you started a business, but now it's not just running a business. Now you have to lead people. And depending on the size of the company, you might be doing a little bit of leading and managing, which are very different things, the skills that you need for them.

And so it is just something that people aren't familiar with. They didn't get direct training on. But they suddenly have to do it and it's important that they do it well. Otherwise there are, you know, pretty, pretty bad repercussions or just repercussions that last really long time that are terrible and annoying and they tolerate things that don't have to.

And so that's kind of why I exist as I work with larger companies and I also work with some smaller companies and really the idea is just helping [00:05:00] leadership teams better understand. How to be more effective so that they're just happier and more fulfilled at work. But then they also lead people, the teams in the company who can then.

Be higher performers. The business does better, but then you also, they're happier too. And we spend most of our time at work. So why not make everyone a little happier where we spend most of our day?

Yeah. Then, like you said, it's not really like people go to leadership. You know, you can't like major. You can get like a BS in leadership.

So having a coach or working with a consultant on this, I think is. Is really eyeopening. Again, I kind of want to talk a little bit about what you, some of the tips you shared. I know this was a couple of years ago now at Social Profit Lab, but a lot of the tips that you shared for me were aha moments.

It comes from the human element, not necessarily the numbers element. Does that make sense?

Amanda Harness: Yeah. So that's why I use the human behavior and psychology education. I have all the time. Because it's when you say [00:06:00] aha moments, I think usually what it is is it feels like common sense, but it's not commonly practiced.

And I think some of the best, that's what I learned is

Katie Brinkley: common sense is not all that common, but

Amanda Harness: right, right. Yeah, it's, yeah, you're right. It feels like common sense, but it's not. It feels like it should be. And then I find that some of the best things are, Simple but profound. So it doesn't always have to be complicated.

We often make it more complicated than it needs to be. But it's getting down to the fact that a business, a company, an organization is ran by humans. So we have to understand that human element because they're not robots. It's not just about the numbers. Like you said, if you want it to feel better, you know, while you're there at work and you want people to feel better, which then turns into retention.

It turns into happier customers, turns into more revenue. You know, it all starts with leadership. And so that's, that's why I work with leadership teams specifically. So we have the positive trickle down effects, better understanding that human side or the people side of an organization.

And I know that a lot of people do the, man, [00:07:00] I'm going to mess up the name of the Myers Briggs tests.

And then a big Enneagram was really big during COVID. I feel like everyone was like Enneagram 7, Enneagram 8, like everyone was all about Enneagram during COVID. I'm a four. Yeah. I'm a, I'm a, wait, but no, I was, I think I am a seven. Is that, is that one of the things? That's one of them. Yeah. There's nine.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I'm an Enneagram seven. It's been a while since I talked about it, but with all of these different tests, how much do those really help you be a better leader? Like having someone take a test on the computer?

Amanda Harness: Yeah. I always say that if I'm working with a leadership team, I do recommend them first off.

I do think there's something to them, but I always tell them ahead of time that we are just information gathering. It's just to to get some understanding in certain aspects. Right? So each of them have something they're looking for. The disk is looking at how you kind of react at work. There's the Colby, which [00:08:00] looks at what motivates you at work. Maybe I'm swapping those two. Regardless, they're closer to work. The Enneagram and the Myers Briggs are more personality tests, specifically around like, the Enneagram kind of looks at what motivates you and what you're afraid of. So if you're afraid of people being mad at you, then you're often motivated to do anything that's needed to keep them from being mad at you. Right. So if a boss understands, or if you are a leader and you understand that that's what your driver is, then, you're going to be one of those people that really strives to have like everyone like them as a leader. And that is, there's good and bad to that, but just understanding that in and of itself is what we're after is what drives you.

You know, the Myers-Briggs also is a more of a personality test. It looks a lot at your like, introversion, extroversion, things like that. But I don't think there's any one that's the one to take. I often talk to leadership teams around what the differences are and what the tests are looking for so that it's all outcomes driven.

So I was kind of touching base on like. Making people happier at work [00:09:00] means, you know, that you're better understanding humans. Well, it's just about the outcome. Like if you want to. bigger business. If you want to close the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, you have to solve your people problems.

So it's not just about like everyone feeling happy at work. It's about everyone feeling happy at work so that you can have a better business. And that's what these tests are. It's better understanding how you are so that You can have other outcomes so that you can just maybe interact with people differently, because you understand how you show up or understand other people on your leadership team so that when they say something and you're triggered by it, you can maybe take a moment to pause and be like, Oh, well, that's just because Sally is blah, blah, blah.

Right? So I find them very valuable in creating a bit of better understanding, collaboration, and communication among teams, just to kind of dive into a little bit of who they are and why they are the way they are.

Katie Brinkley: And you talked about this and I think it's so important to, if you have people at your business that are happy, [00:10:00] better for your business.

Yes. And a lot of time it starts at the top. It starts with being a good leader. No, one's going to care about our business as much as we care about our business. How do you make sure that your employees care enough about your business so that you are able to go to that next level.

Amanda Harness: Yeah. To your point. So when I'm working directly with a business where I'm working with owners and the leadership team, that's right at the top there. Um, I do. I reiterate that to them just to make sure that we are all very clear that no one else will care about it as much as they do. But that's also fine. Like, that just has to be okay, right? That's not a bad thing. That's not a good thing. It's just a fact. So first we start off by looking at as an objective fact and a reminder.

But essentially what drives any person the most is a sense of purpose. And so it's not that you need them to care about your business is that you need them to feel purposeful in what they're doing.

That happens to be a part [00:11:00] of the business. So it's a little bit separated. Like they don't necessarily need to feel like, Oh, well, I really want, you know, Katie's business to be, to, to reach this revenue this year, or to have this many audience members, like they're going to be detached from that. Yeah. But if they feel a sense of purpose in the actions they take behind the scenes that eventually turn into you having a certain audience or making a certain revenue.

That's what you need them to have. So it's not about loving the business. It's about feeling like they have, they serve a purpose in what they're showing up to do for you every day.

Katie Brinkley: Oh man, the purpose. How do you, how do you get your employees to love their purpose or to really feel what their purpose is within the business?

Amanda Harness: Well, some of that is on the front end, right? There's onboarding. It's that whole right person, seat kind of a thing where you aren't just tying for skill, but you're hiring for culture. So I think it does come down to some of the culture, right? If you understand. Your company's values and mission and the culture and [00:12:00] culture is kind of a complex word.

It became a buzzword and we've kind of forgotten what it means and I don't want to get a soapbox about it. But like, if we really understand what culture means and you have a good culture that people kind of live and breathe in, in the company, then hire other people that match that culture that fit in well to it.

And you've already got a good start. because anything on any of the skills and tasks that happen in that company are Occur in a certain way, like a certain vibe, right? That like that person will also match. And so that's a good place to start is making sure you've got people that match the company in how the company.

Right. And what the company embodies, but we can't make someone feel purposeful in something that they don't value. So that's another thing is you have to match the person again. So if you're a really large company, you can do employee surveys, departmentally, you can do some of these personality tests.

I have something that I often do with leadership teams. And sometimes when I'm working with a business directly with their ownership and the higher level teams, I'll [00:13:00] do it with them to where we're looking at what are you spending your time doing? What is it that you're good at? And you like, what is it you're good at that you don't like?

What is it you like, but you're not good at? And what is it that you don't like and are not good at? And we just look at how they're spending their time and try and shift. Things around because I hate things in Excel. Like that is not my personality. And so, but maybe like my VA really loves to go into Excel and build a bunch of stuff.

So I can't fathom a world in which I like Excel, but she does. So, so I have heard of the Excel stuff. I took it off my plate. And so you can move things around. You can, figure out what people like by doing any survey or just having conversations, right? You've got a small business. I think we can figure it out by talking to people.

You've got a really large company. We can figure it out departmentally. And so I'm trying not to stray too far from your question, but to bring it back, you can't make people like a purpose just if they don't value it. So you have to understand. Yeah. What they like [00:14:00] to, and then somehow help them feel the value in the purpose. So there's, there's a matching, right? That's again, that's the human part. It's not just about the function of the job title and you know, it's, and the skills needed for the job title. It's who's sitting in that seat too.

Katie Brinkley: I love it. I love that. We just, It's not always just filling for the job title.

And a lot of times when you're looking online or if you're writing out a job position, to try and find that next employee, man, I mean, when I think back to when I first hired my very first assistant, racy, she's, you know, She's been with me for five years now. And when, what she started doing is so different than what she does for the company now, it's, it's exactly like what you said.

Like she's learned a lot of different skills. She's gotten better at things. There's things where she's like, gosh, I would love it if I just never had to, you know, do this. Do another hashtag, you know, research campaign again in my life, but [00:15:00] she loves editing the podcast now. So we've moved things around, hired more people.

Now she's really good at this. And it's great because she has this really well rounded understanding of the business and the company. It has just been by checking in, talking, seeing what she likes, what she doesn't like, and looking at to see like, okay, well, you know, Raci, who's listening to this podcast, cause she does all the editing, she's just not good at Asana.

Man, I want her to get better at it. I really do, but it's just something that we're always working on with her. Is, and this is where I again, brought my ops manager in. Hey, let's see what we can do to maybe just help move her along through Asana because this is just a sticking point for her. I know that you have your leadership first approach and it's really unique for the way that, and again, it's based off a lot of, your background in psychology and human behavior.

Let's talk about what it is that your leadership first approach does. That's that makes it [00:16:00] different and how listeners can begin. Using just some of the tips that you have within their business to help them scale.

And now for just a quick break, you've heard me talk about some of my favorite social media tools on the show. And one of them is a tool called MetraCool. MetraCool allows you to plan, analyze, and grow your digital presence all in one place from websites to LinkedIn, to YouTube. You can track everything that you're doing online and see Just what's working and what isn't check out metrical today at Katie Brinkley dot live slash cool.

Just a note. If you use the links I provide, I may receive compensation. All right, let's get back to the show.

Amanda Harness: Yeah. So the leadership first approach is my, essentially it's a proprietary approach to helping businesses get bigger and better.

So I work with companies that, they have gotten bigger. They've seen high growth and they might be successful, right? They've done that part well, but it's the [00:17:00] better part. They want bigger and better. And when we talk about better, it's that internal stuff, right? People are showing up and maybe starting to be disengaged.

Leadership teams are potentially less cohesive, less aligned. They're sort of just enacting in silos instead of coming together and having a collaborative meeting. And then they, you know, they are Act as like an advantage for the company being a team that kind of just showing up and reporting like, Oh, well, this is what's happening with marketing.

And this is what's happening with HR. And here's what's happening with strategy. And okay, cool. Bye. You know, so it's, there's this like leadership team, cohesion and alignment that we're missing. And then, on the employee side, maybe there's some retention problems. I talked about being a little disengaged.

Maybe we're seeing some slips in performance. So we're getting feedback from clients or customers or product or things like that. And so essentially what got these companies to where they are. Isn't going to get them to where they want to go. And so we're trying to close the gap between what's now and what's next by solving those people problems by enhancing [00:18:00] leadership.

And then by enhancing leadership, we're then creating more effective, you know, the ability to shape high performing teams, these high performing teams, then do better customer service or client relations that then turns into greater revenue. Now we get bigger and better. So that leadership first approach is the whole idea that.

Of course, you need employee development. Of course, you need training and that part that employee side of the company needs support. That's not what I do, though. That's what someone else does. What I do is start at the top. So, of course, you need that part, but you have to have effective leadership first.

So you can do all the employee training and development you want. But if you still have really crappy leadership, then that's only going to go so far, right? You can keep doing your ax throwing outings and team building and in services and stuff. But if they, it's that adage of like people leave bad bosses, not bad companies, right?

So if you still have bad leadership, then. That employee development is only going to go so far. So the leadership first [00:19:00] approach is the idea that everything trickles downhill. So let's have effective support at the top. That way we have benefits trickle down rather than dysfunction. And as a company's, adjusting their culture or growing their culture Or, you know, starting new initiatives, shifting priorities, creating the growth and revenue they want that we have these leaders that can then help continue to, shape the people underneath them.

You know, you talked about what your assistant does now and what she was first hard for completely different, and that has to be more. Okay. Right. We oftentimes people just get hired and then they just sit in this position and promotions or even lateral shifts. Like people just want promotions, not lateral shifts, I guess is like the thing and that has to be more okay that we have to just better understand that we're not going to always know what we love at first and that sometimes it takes experience and sometimes what we love will just change.

And so helping people better understand that they as leaders might shift and move around and same thing with employees and that, you know, people come in and they go and people come in and move around [00:20:00] and there just needs to be a little bit more fluidity. So. The idea of this leadership first approach is kind of a teach Amanda fish system where let's make the top better.

And then teach the top how to make everything below them better.

Katie Brinkley: Yeah. Well, in, in Amanda, in a world where there's so much, I think it's shifting back. I mean, it's been the time of this recording has been four years since COVID. And I do feel that, vowel note work is still very much a thing.

You know, people can work from anywhere. My husband, you know, he was 100 percent in the office and now he has to go into the office like once a quarter. You know, I do feel that a lot of people are going. Back into the office now, but in a world where people can work from anywhere and there are more remote positions available, how do you maintain that sort of leadership and positive culture?

Amanda Harness: Yeah. It really comes down to communication. So there's tactical communication and relational communication, right? The tactical communication is, how are you [00:21:00] communicating within your team while you're all remote,? Do you use email? Do you use slack? Do you use teams? You know, messenger, whatever it is.

Some of the other tactical things can be like, responses need to happen within 24 hours or here's when this can be an email, but here's when it should be a phone call instead. You know, it's that kind of, what you're communicating where and when, but then it's the relational side That's what I think creates, not what I think, I know, creates more of that, like engagement and retention because essentially relational communication is taking the opportunity to speak like human to human, which it is a little harder via zoom, right?

We've there has been enough research to show us that there is a sense of detachment when we aren't in person. And there are psychological components, even neurological components to that. So, yes, we do have to work a little harder to maintain that relational connection. But that's the thing is that we have to just accept the fact that we have to work a little harder for it.

And so putting forth [00:22:00] the effort to recognize that you're having a relational conversation, not a tactical conversation, right? You don't just show up on zoom. Here's what I have to say. Here's what you have to say. Okay. Break by some meetings are for that. That's fine. But there has to be some kind of communication.

Whether it's, you know, face to face verbal written, that maintains that relationship.

here's a great example. My husband's direct manager, I think does a pretty good job where she just, Shows recognition and acknowledgement. And so that's not necessarily communication in like a straightforward sense, but by acknowledging or recognizing she's communicating value.

I value you. So my husband went through this, really tough, like audit that was happening in the company. And his manager recognized her team for doing such a good job by offering them, you know, a type of reward. And rewards are all kinds of things. Sometimes rewards are a day off.

Sometimes it's a gift card to a store that they really like. And because she knows that, they're outdoorsy. So they want to, go to [00:23:00] REI, whatever. So she communicated, I value you and your time by acknowledging.

Amanda Harness: So there are just this tactical side and this relational side. And we often emphasize the tactical more than the relational.

And I think that if we just spend a little more time on that relational part, the recognition, the acknowledgement, that's how we can kind of bridge that gap of the disconnect that does happen with a remote or virtual team.

Katie Brinkley: Over communication, valuing your employees. And then recognizing not just your own strengths as a leader, but your employees strengths, whether it's. You know, with them moving through promotions, moving laterally, the job description probably can always be changed and has a little bit of flexibility to it. I want to know, Amanda, as we kind of wrap up today's episode, what is one of the biggest mistakes that you see business leaders making, no matter if they are a business leader of a, you know, private company?

[00:24:00] Fortune 500 company, or if they are, a leader of, maybe they have five employees and they're really starting to grow and make that move to the seven figure mark. What's one of the most common mistakes that you see leaders making?

That's a great question. I have two in mind and I have to pick one. You can say both. I do work. Okay. I'll keep them both short. So I do work with some larger companies. I often work, with companies that are somewhere between like five and 200 million, but I've worked with billion dollar companies and less than a million companies.

So it just really depends on what we're doing, but no matter the size, There are two things. One is thinking that all the stuff I'm talking about takes a lot of extra time. It does not have to, it can be 30 seconds, right? So you can just like the amount of time that my husband's manager took to, acknowledge and like, say like, you know what, why don't you take the day off?

That was 10 seconds, right? Like it's not that big of a deal. Taking time to understand your employees or have them take those personality tests, [00:25:00] like the time. Is really them taking the time to do the personality test and then spend one meeting, like having a conversation about it and then let it pop up.

Everyone's tomorrow for two minutes in a meeting, you know, it's like it just doesn't take a lot of time to do the stuff. So that's one thing is let's shift the story around how much time all of the stuff takes because it really doesn't have to. If you pause and think about it, that is not an ultimate truth and the other one is assumption that people are moving really fast and they often make assumptions that aren't founded.

So I really talk a lot about the value of curiosity as a leadership attribute. Oftentimes it's the most underrated attribute, and it's also one that doesn't have to take a lot of time. But let's say, for example, we often make an assumption about someone's intention. Like, Bob, we changed Technology systems. And Bob is still struggling to adopt this new system. And he's, you know, not listening to me on purpose, right? He's trying to make my day harder, like whatever it is. Actually, if we just go ask Bob, like, Hey, you know, I'm noticing that you're [00:26:00] still struggling with this thing, we've done some training.

I've offered you like a peer, you know, here's the things that we've tried. And it seems like it's still an issue. Can you help me understand what's happening? And let's just see what Bob has to say about it. Instead of making these assumptions around people's intentions or best interest, or oftentimes if we don't ask enough questions, we try something that wouldn't have worked in the first place blamed art where it doesn't belong.

That if we just don't assume and just ask quick questions and get a better understanding, if we seek to understand, then we just move through things a lot faster. Don't create a problem in the first place. So I could go on and on about curiosity and assumption for a very long time. But on a short cliff note, that would be, a place to start at least,

Katie Brinkley: Amanda, thank you so much for joining me on Rocky mountain marketing today.

I love seeing what you're doing on LinkedIn. You're really active over on LinkedIn. You have that great LinkedIn newsletter. If people want to connect with you, learn more about what you do, ask you, you know, to come in and [00:27:00] help work with them. What's the best way for people to get in touch with you?

Amanda Harness: Yeah. So I am, like you said, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn. Um, please come follow me. Uh, I have a newsletter that comes out of here and there. Um, if you're, excuse me, if you're interested in understanding more about how I work and what it looks like to have me come help you. And there's different ways that I can come in and do that.

The best would just be to email me. That's my first name, Amanda, and the company is Business Accelerated. It's spelled a little different. So business and then E X C E L E R A. T E D. And, maybe we can put that in the show notes, but just email me. Yeah. Just email me and say like, Hey, I heard you on Katie's podcast.

I'm interested to better understand more. And then we just have a short intro call and we can see if what you're struggling with is something I help with. If we're good fit to work together, I'm equally invested in making sure it's a good fit. And so if I think you need something else, I'll tell you, but I would be happy to help you better understand what I do.

You can also get on my email list, as well. So if you go to a business accelerated. Slash subscribe, um, you can hop on there and I [00:28:00] send out things into your inbox every once in a while.

Katie Brinkley: I love it. Yeah. And like I said, I'm on your elephant in the boardroom. Yeah, it's called, I actually changed.

Amanda Harness: Yeah, I changed it recently. It's called a, because it starts with leaders now.

Katie Brinkley: Oh, okay. Cool. Very cool. Yes. It's a great LinkedIn newsletter. So make sure you subscribe to that. Always a ton of great information. On your social media on LinkedIn. So Amanda, thank you again so much for joining me on Rocky mountain marketing today.

And I can't wait to see you at another in person event here in the near future. Yes, we'll definitely make it happen. Thanks for inviting me back.

Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. I hope you're leaving with valuable insights and the inspiration to lead your market. If you've enjoyed our time together and found today's podcast episode useful, I have a small favor to ask of you. Please hit that subscribe button to stay updated with the latest episodes.

And if you know someone who could benefit from these episodes, maybe a fellow business leader or an aspiring entrepreneur, go ahead and share this episode with them. Let's spread the knowledge and grow [00:29:00] together. Also, I'd love to hear from you and continue the conversation beyond the podcast. Visit me at katiebrinkley.

com to connect, to find more resources, or just to share your journey. And be sure to pick up your copy of my new book, the social shift at katiebrinkley. com slash book. Thanks again for tuning in. I'm Katie Brinkley, and I can't wait to dive into more strategies and stories with you on the next episode of Rocky mountain marketing.

Let's keep on taking your marketing to new heights.