Trust, Transparency, and Fluency in your Creative Team with Ali McLeod

Summary

Ali McLeod of Saks Fifth Avenue joins Daniel to talk about trust, transparency, and professional fluency and their roles in your relationship with your creative teams.  We discuss earning the trust of your team, building a culture of trusting each other, and how curiosity can help earn trust and drive professional growth. 

Key Takeaways

• A key part of earning trust is to understand your team and its roles. Shadow your teams and learn about their roles if you don't have experience with their role.
• Spend the time learning the process inside and out. Not just what is being done, but how and why it's being done.
• Keep up with your process, but be careful not to get lost in the weeds.
• Listening to your team and helping remove even minor barriers, can help build trust and encourage growth.
• Leaders should keep open office hours, discussion is always on the table.
• Jumping levels should not be scary, the studio environment should be collaborative. Any person of any level should feel able to collaborate with anyone else.
• Read the book Radical Candor by Kim Scott, and then practice it in your studio.

Links & Resources

Ali McLeod on LinkedIn

Saks Fifth Avenue on LinkedIn

Creative Jobs at Saks

Reading List

Radical Candor - Kim Scott - Build confidence in having difficult conversations

Trust Rules - Bob Lee - Basic guidance how to build and gain trust with a team or colleague

One Minute Manager - Ken Blanchard - Advice on feedback and coaching

Leaders Eat Last - Simon Sinek - Trust building and leadership through real life examples

Culture Code - Daniel Coyle - Guidance on how to build culture at your company

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com