The Communicative Leader

Mastering the Art of Problem Solving in Business with Chris Davenport

• Dr. Leah OH • Season 7 • Episode 3

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What happens when you strip emotion from complex business challenges? For Chris Davenport, it became the foundation of a reputation so powerful that competitors nicknamed him "The Wolf" and "The Cleaner" before eventually becoming his friends and clients.

Chris takes us on his remarkable journey from college entrepreneur to the visionary leader who drove 3i International to a staggering 1000% revenue growth. The transformation began with a simple laptop gift that sparked his passion for technology during the dot-com boom, leading him to trade college parties for 80-hour work weeks solving technical problems that left others stumped.

His problem-solving methodology is refreshingly straightforward yet profound: break issues down to their most basic elements and remove emotion from the equation. "Most of us are led by our emotions," Chris explains, "and emotional responses elicit emotional responses." This insight became central to his leadership approach as he implemented the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) at 3i, shifting from "Chris's way" to "3i's way" and enabling sustainable growth through structure, accountability, and clear communication.

The conversation doesn't shy away from failures and challenges—from discovering embezzlement to navigating the complexities of finding culturally aligned talent during rapid expansion. Chris's vulnerability extends to his personal growth, sharing his decade-long relationship with a coach/therapist who helps him maintain emotional intelligence and self-awareness as a leader.

Whether you're managing a startup or leading an established organization, Chris's parting wisdom resonates powerfully: "You're not managing a product line or service—you're managing people." His emphasis on quarterly strategic planning, transparent communication, and meeting people where they are emotionally offers a blueprint for leadership that drives both business results and human connection. Ready to transform your approach to problem-solving and leadership? This episode is your master class.

And if you're in the market for some quick takeaways: 

  • Chris learned problem-solving by working with various businesses.
  • Emotional intelligence is crucial for effective leadership.
  • Accountability should be approached positively, not negatively.
  • Regular communication is key to team success.
  • Every problem has a similar structure that can be dissected.
  • Sustaining success requires regular strategic meetings.
  • Leaders must provide clear direction to their teams.
  • Finding the right people for the right roles is essential.
  • Open and honest communication benefits both leaders and employees.



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Hey leader! Thanks for listening. For more leadership communication tips, check out https://www.thecommunicativeleader.com/

Dr. Leah OH:

Welcome to another insightful episode of the Communicative Leader. I'm your host, dr Leah oh, and today we are delighted to welcome Chris Davenport to the show. Chris is a seasoned entrepreneur and a distinguished figure in the technology industry, renowned for his strategic vision and transformative leadership. Chris has dedicated his career to building industry-leading technology companies that empower both employees and clients to reach their fullest potential. With roots in entrepreneurship dating back to his college days, chris has developed a reputation as a problem solver extraordinaire. It has earned him titles like the wolf and the cleaner. His extraordinary journey includes remarkable growth and eventual sale of 3i International, a comprehensive technology solutions provider where he listen to this, my friends where he led the company to a staggering 1000% revenue increase. I mean, just try and wrap your mind around that.

Dr. Leah OH:

In today's episode, we'll delve into Chris's unique approach to leveraging technology coaching and strategic management for sustainable business success. He'll share his expertise on the key elements that drive growth, the role of emotional intelligence and leadership, and how structure and accountability can really help reduce stress in business operations. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned business leader, chris's insights will offer valuable guidance for navigating the complexities of today's business landscape. So if you are eager to learn how to enhance your leadership abilities and achieve that lasting success. This episode is brimming with practical advice and inspiration.

Dr. Leah OH:

What else? You're going to have to ignore my voice in this episode because I was just getting over pneumonia when Chris and I had the pleasure of chatting. All right, let's dive in and have some fun. Hello and welcome to the Communicative Leader, hosted by me, Dr . Leah Omilion-Hodges. My friends call me Dr OH. I'm a professor of communication and a leadership communication expert. I'm the communicative leader. We're working to make your work life what you want it to be. So, Chris, welcome to the communicative leader. We're so excited to have you on the show and to kick things off. I was hoping you could share with our listeners a little bit of your entrepreneurial journey, so how you transitioned from founding your first company in college to becoming a prominent business expert in the technology sector.

Chris Davenport:

Hi, leah, it's great to be here with you today. That's such an interesting question. It brings back a ton of memories and emotions. I would have to say it started out while I was in college, like you said, and it was really at the boon of dot-com and the internet was taking off late 90s and I was going in as to be a pre-med major Big change, right, yeah, totally changed course and so I had a kind of inflection point moment where I got a laptop for graduation for my parents and I just fell in love with technology and that really got my interest peaked in that area and I started working just odd jobs for businesses that didn't know what to do when they would get viruses or need computer setup, and I just started that way by word of mouth.

Chris Davenport:

So while I felt like at times I was missing out with my college friends, they were out partying. I traded the temporary rewards for long-term gain and so I was, you know, between school and work. I was doing about 80 hours a week and it just I got so obsessed with it and it became very fun solving problems and helping others through whatever they were facing. You know that was causing them pain in their business, and I did that for many years, you know, continued college. But after college I continued to do this and, still through word of mouth, just got a.

Chris Davenport:

You know a large amount of businesses that I would work for Even started working for competitors in the space that did what I did but needed expertise that they did not have, and so it just turned into a company. It became more than I could do on my own and along the way I started learning from these individuals that I was working for, these CEOs, these business owners, these executives, that I would watch them as I was working, run their business and do their planning and talk about their numbers. And I just learned. I listened to every second of that and that's really what turned me into an entrepreneur.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, there's so much from that story. I love that you leaned into the shift when you realized this is where my passion is, because my day job I'm a professor, so I see so many you're like, well, I'm just going to finish and maybe I'll like it at some point. It's like, probably not, it's not piquing your interest now. And then, two, when you said that even your competitors were seeking you out, that's when you know you're doing something like beyond right, right, when they're like, oh gosh, I've got to swallow my pride, but I need your help, I need your expertise. So that's a really, really great story and thank you for sharing that journey with us.

Chris Davenport:

Sure.

Dr. Leah OH:

And I think that sets us up nicely for your problem solving expertise, and I know that you've been referred to as the wolf and the cleaner because you have this adaptability to resolve complex business issues. So how did you develop this reputation, chris, and what are some core principles that guide your approach to problem solving?

Chris Davenport:

But I love this question because problem solving and helping people is really my passion. That's what I love to do and I actually, you know, talking about working for competitors. I got those nicknames from some of my competitors and they turned into being great friends along the way, so you know. So I would get called in and there was a IT company in San Antonio, texas, where I grew up, so sometimes I'd take work there as well. Nicholas, he's from Sweden, so he's got an accent and he's a funny guy, so he's the one that coined the name the Wolf or the Cleaner. He had a team. He was a few years ahead of me in building out his company.

Chris Davenport:

I still was a one-man show at this point and they called me in to get them out of a jam. They had a server that was down. You know, a hundred employees couldn't work and it had been that way for a few days. And if you know anything about statistics, if a typical company, if they're down for seven days, their chance of bankruptcy is very high, and so it was dire. And so I got in there and I probably worked about 30 minutes to an hour and had them back up and did that repeated results like that for them, and so he gave me that nickname and he'd asked me the same question you did how do you, what do you do? And I try and share my knowledge, and it's really not even the knowledge I go into this stuff, sometimes never touching the technology before, and so it's not necessarily about knowing the systems, and I think that's a hang up that a lot of people have, and this is some advice that don't let that scare you If you've never seen it.

Chris Davenport:

Every problem has the same makeup or the same architecture, and so what I do is I start by dissecting it down to the most basic parts that you can, and I think a lot of times people are glazed over by what they're seeing, but what they're seeing is just a symptom or a set of symptoms from the real problem. It's much like your car oh, it doesn't start. Well, it's not the car that you see that's not starting, it's something inside, you know the starter or the battery or something else is causing that. So that's the first thing I do, and then the next thing I do is when I come into these problems, even today with leadership teams, and whether it's tech or not, people are so focused on the emotion that they're feeling at that moment in time and that's what's driving them. Their fear of something is what's driving them versus seeing what the problem is, to solve it. They're afraid in the moment and their fear is they're overcome with that fear and that's preventing them from seeing what the problem is. Because that's what we're humans we act on fear sometimes, and so I.

Chris Davenport:

The second thing I do, in addition to simplifying it as much as possible, the second thing I do is to take the emotion out of it as much as possible.

Chris Davenport:

The second thing I do is to take the emotion out of it, and so, typically, I have an advantage, and this is what I used to tell these people hey, I have an advantage fresh set of eyes, I just walked in here. I have no, I have no stakes in the game here, you know. And so when they would feel bad when I'd solve it in 30 minutes, I'm like, hey, you've been at this for days. They would feel bad when I'd solve it in 30 minutes, I'm like, hey, you've been at this for days, you know, and you're probably tired, you're probably worried, you're going to lose your job or get fired or you know whatever. The worst thing, the catastrophe is in their head. That's what they're worried about. So dissect it down to the most basic elements, even if you think you already have done that, go deeper and then tell the emotion to pause while you're using your brain cycles to solve the problem.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yes, that is so helpful. I was even thinking that's like the principles I'm using to help a fourth grader learn some more advanced math than they have done in the past? What do we know? Let's strip this down.

Chris Davenport:

I have a fourth grader and I can relate to that.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yes, exactly yeah. But you're right. Especially in organizations, when our livelihood is tied to this and our reputation and all of those motions, we can see how we can let them easily take the driver's seat if we're not telling them nope, you're not needed here, You're not helping right now.

Chris Davenport:

That's right, that's right.

Dr. Leah OH:

So let's look at your transformation, or your transformative leadership approach. So we know, with you at the helm, 3i International experienced a significant revenue boost, so I was hoping you could discuss some of these key strategies that you implemented to drive this massive growth and what are some other lessons that other entrepreneurs could take away from your experience is.

Chris Davenport:

We built an incredible team, but it didn't really start out that way. I think you can grow a company to a certain point on your own drive and your own sweat equity, but at some point it gets too big to where you cannot hold on to every element of everything that's going on. So I think when I started out some growing areas for me, some growth that happened when we started 3i. I had a handle on every customer, every problem, and I would catch the guys and girls. If they fell, if something happened, I would be there to help them, boost them back up, and I didn't always have to help them. They were great, very smart, capable people, but sometimes they would get stuck and that ended up not working as we scaled. We scaled beyond that and we started to see problems because I wasn't letting go properly. So one thing I did was I started to document how we did things and how the three-eye way was done, how we did things and how the how the three eye way was done, and then started letting go and and giving these things to people to own themselves. Yeah, and it did it fix everything? No, uh, but I.

Chris Davenport:

But we went further and implemented something called EOS, which stands for excuse me real quick, sorry. So we went further and implemented something called EOS that stands for Entrepreneurial Operating System, and that's what I do today. So I'm an implementer now. I fell in love with it so much that I started doing it for others, to help them. Because it was so transformative for 3i, and what it did was it took the focus off of the company being me and me being the company. The company started having its own structure, its own set of rules, its own vision on where it was going and how it was going to get there. And once people saw, oh, this isn't Chris, this is 3i International.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

Then we started hiring additional people as we grew. Yeah, and instead of here's the Chris way.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, here's the 3 way it was.

Chris Davenport:

Here's the three-eye way.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

And within that we had accountability and structure and really just communicated on a regular basis with our people. The management all had the same answer, Whether or not there was dissension in the planning room we left and it was the way, and that's what we really used to transform the company there.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, and what a recipe for success. These like guiding principles where we're all, like you said, even if there's dissension when we're discussing it, we're a united front and that empowering people.

Chris Davenport:

Yes.

Dr. Leah OH:

You know, you hire smart people for a reason so that we can give them those guiding principles and let them shine.

Chris Davenport:

And Leah. There's so much fun in seeing someone even seeing some of the people that came through 3i and grew and there's one guy, his name's Jay. He ended up starting his own recruiting company and he's killing it and it's just awesome to see. If you let go and you let people do what they need to do, magic can happen, not only for the company but for themselves.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, yeah, what a gift.

Chris Davenport:

Yeah.

Dr. Leah OH:

Right, because a lot of times when we think about work, we are not thinking about it as a gift, right?

Dr. Leah OH:

A lot of employees, so that really is incredible. So my follow-up question to that you kind of already hinted at some of these challenges, but I know that when you have this impressive scale up of 3i International, what were some of the challenges? But I know that when you have this impressive scale up of 3i International, what were some of the most challenging aspects of the growth process? And then how did you look at those obstacles and turn them into opportunities?

Chris Davenport:

That's another question that spawns a bunch of different feelings. A bunch of different feelings and I think you know, if there weren't problems, we wouldn't seek solutions, right, so we would have never found EOS, we wouldn't have let go. These people wouldn't have been made more, you know, through that. So some of this stuff is going to sound horrible that we went through, but it was good in the end. Yeah, one thing as we were implementing EOS, we were wondering for a while why we were making money. We were bringing money in, but we just didn't know where it was going. And I feel like I had a partner and him and I we were looking at the bank accounts, we were watching and through that process, it uncovered something. We found out our CFO was embezzling money from us.

Dr. Leah OH:

Oh, wow.

Chris Davenport:

And a large sum of money, and had we not gone through pain and implemented a system, we would have never found out, potentially, maybe another way. God works in strange ways, so maybe he would have brought us something.

Chris Davenport:

But within six months of just starting the process, we found that out and that was one thing that was very challenging and it was a growth challenge because we were growing. Yeah, outside, looking in, you should have had checks and balances, you should have had this, but we grew so rapidly, we didn't really know what we didn't have, that we needed yet. So the cart before the horse.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, yeah.

Chris Davenport:

I would say another thing was it was just difficult sometimes to find the right people, and I think in startup culture you hire people. When you start, you hire people that are evangelical about you as a person, and so I found those people and I was, in turn, evangelical about them. I found those people and and I was, in turn, evangelical about them. And at some point it gets too big to do that with everyone. And then you start to find people and you think they're the right people, but they don't fit their the core values. They don't mesh well with the rest of the team because they're not there for the same reasons those initial people were there for.

Chris Davenport:

And so finding the right people is tough, and how we worked through that was using EOS. You implement, you define your core values and your core purpose and you communicate that with the people and you use that when you're attracting talent and you also use it to repel talent that may not fit, that may have a better home somewhere, and so while we were going through that, we outsourced certain things until we could augment. We augmented it with outsourcing until we could figure out how to. We augmented it without sourcing until we could figure out how to build it internally with the right people, and that really was the kind of the final straw to break us through to rapid growth there.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, yeah. I really love when you started off by saying without these problems, we wouldn't have found these solutions, right, and so it's a nice way. You know, no one is like what obstacle do I get to face today? But being able to look and say we could get creative here and we're going to have to get creative here, so I think that's a really great way of of looking at it. And two, I appreciate how, instead of trying to shove that square peg into the round hole, how do we outsource these roles, these needs, until we have the right fit?

Chris Davenport:

That's right, that's right.

Dr. Leah OH:

Because you can do so much damage to a culture where we're forcing people who don't want to be there and aren't great fits to be there.

Chris Davenport:

Yes, just not worth it. It's not and we went through pain with that. We had one individual. He would show up to the office drunk after lunch and killed the culture for a while lunch and killed the culture for a while.

Dr. Leah OH:

And we eradicated that and and found someone that fit and uh it's, it was night and day, yeah, so so you've talked a lot about um, eos and now you're helping others, and so I know that you have a great track record of successfully coaching CEOs, other business leaders, and what do you think are the most crucial elements of an effective coaching or mentoring relationship?

Chris Davenport:

I think that every relationship, especially in coaching and mentoring, every relationship, even outside of that, really you have to start with honesty and openness, because if you're holding back something or if you're trying to be something or someone you're not. And I'm not talking about aspiring to be someone, that's okay, but just having a facade, that's not real, it slows down the process or it just makes the process just not even start. So you have to be open and honest with each other, open and honest with each other. And so a lot of people don't really, you know. A lot of people say, oh great, you're a coach, you know. And they kind of laugh about that, thinking, well, you know, how do you do that? And I tell them well, 25 years of building businesses and you know, working with thousands of people, you can't just go get a take a class of people. You can't just go take a class, get a certificate. You can get the knowledge, but the expertise comes from living it and figuring out, seeing in someone if they're not being open or not being honest. And sometimes they're not doing it to lie, they're having problems being honest with themselves. And so a good coaching relationship is someone a coach that will tell you just as mine does. I have a coach as well.

Chris Davenport:

If I'm not being honest with myself or if I'm not being open, just calling it out and not being afraid of doing that, and we call it entering the danger. Just getting it out there and say hey, leah, I'm noticing that you're quiet today, you know, is everything okay. It could just be giving you space, giving you space to say something when you maybe you're in the room and you feel like you don't have the space to be open or honest, giving you that doorway to go through and being a good facilitator, so pausing everyone else. So if John let's say John's over here, to my right, he's trying to talk over you, and hey, john, hold on a second. Lee is trying to say something. Yeah, and hey, John, hold on a second.

Dr. Leah OH:

Leah's trying to say something and so doing those things is crucial to having a good coaching relationship. Yeah, and actually I'm going to skip ahead to a question about emotional intelligence, because you're already right in there.

Chris Davenport:

Okay.

Dr. Leah OH:

So you know that it is central to your mentoring style, obviously, so why do you think you know in all of your experience, chris? So how do you see emotional intelligence as being vital for business leaders and how do you see a transforming leadership so people are actually really effective and conveying what they want, and not just kind of the old command and control style?

Chris Davenport:

This was one of my favorite questions so far. I think that this is something that's overlooked, because I think in our society we want to think we have it all figured out, like everyone else does online, but but we don't, and that's okay. And then the second thing is that's okay that we don't, yeah. And so with regards to emotional intelligence, like I said in the problem solving, most of us are led by our emotions, and so it makes it tough to manage, because emotional responses elicit emotional responses, and so then you end up with these scenarios where people are at each other emotionally and sometimes they just even they forget the problem.

Chris Davenport:

that's going on yeah, and so and this happens in the session room sometimes too, and it happened in my past businesses where people, would you know, get upset with each other and uh, and I think it's crucial, when you boil down every company, every company you're managing, you're not managing a product line, you're not managing a service, you're managing people. Yeah, when you're managing people, you have to have, as a leader, have to work, do some internal work on yourself to have that emotional intelligence, to not react to the emotion and then also give people grace. You know, like I said before, none of us have it figured out. You know, we're all on different scales and different places and we have to meet each other. Where, as a leader, you have to meet the people where they are at at that moment in time. And I've done a lot of work on I've probably had a coach slash therapist for 10 years- yeah.

Chris Davenport:

And I see her every other week and sometimes there's nothing to talk about.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

But that helps me with my blind side. Issues with emotional intelligence issues, yeah, and I hate to even call them issues because it's just, you know, yeah, just being a person.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, it's just, you know. Yeah, just being a person.

Chris Davenport:

Yeah, it's part of our makeup and so I think it can transform our effectiveness as leaders. Because if people see us, and even if it's the individual that's coming at us with emotion, and we are steadfast at maintaining our emotion and respond to them with kindness not necessarily niceness, but being kind to them and not snapping back at them, but providing them a solution, Maybe that solution is hey, let's take a 10-minute break and come back to this. Or it could be hey, I think I'm sensing that you're upset right now. Do you want to go deeper? Just give him again, give him the door to go through, and then that typically helps a ton when you approach people like that.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, and it makes me think. A lot of times people are like what is the one communication tip? I'm like tone, not what you say, but how you say it.

Dr. Leah OH:

And it made me think of your emotional responses. Illicit emotional responses, Same message, but if we can remove that emotion, a lot of people are going to be all ears to it. Might not like it, but they're not going to push back so much. But when you come with an emotion that tone high, it's usually met with an equal or larger response yes.

Chris Davenport:

Yes, that's right.

Dr. Leah OH:

Equal or larger, for sure, yes yes, are larger for sure, yes, yes. So my next question and I think this is a really important one with everything that's going on these days in organizations, but the core of it I'm looking to see how you bring in accountability and structure to help reduce, in a way, stress and enhance productivity. So when we integrate accountability and structure in organizations, how have you seen this in turn, with time, help to streamline operations and to really make the workplace one that we are producing more, but also we're feeling better about it because of the structured accountability. What does that look like?

Chris Davenport:

What we did and what I help my teams do as well. So we did the same thing at 3i and we didn't do this from the start, but we did this as we learned and because in the beginning we used to manage by hey, you got this, you know what you're doing and the people were evangelical about us as the leaders. They did it, but that doesn't work. Scaling a structure, a business structure, to where each team had a defined leader or manager that led the team and managed them and held them accountable, and you know how? I think in the old days of business, a lot of business owners were and I think there's still business owners that are afraid to share numbers. You know, and um, and they did a survey actually on this that showed that the employees always think you're making more than you're actually making. So just share the numbers.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

And and something that drives accountability is just being open about the numbers and numbers from a standpoint of what the person, the team member, is supposed to be doing in order to make the company see success in their role. Order to make the company see success in their role, and being good about being clear with those numbers and what they mean and how they can attain them and how they can get there. All of us need different, varying amounts of data. I don't need a lot to get started, but some of my team members have needed a lot. So you have to show them, you have to paint them a picture of what it looks like. What does success look like?

Chris Davenport:

And then, on a weekly basis, reviewing these numbers in a meeting to show them hey, you're on track, awesome. Hey, I see you're off track. Let's talk about that. What happened? Do you need support? Making sure you're giving them, as the leader, you're giving them the capacity, time, the necessary tools whether it be technology or instruction or training to be successful. And then, lastly, sometimes the people are just not a fit for the seat. So not putting someone in a seat, that's really not. You know, like, say, you put someone in a sales role and they don't like to talk to people that's never going to work.

Chris Davenport:

And you're stressing them out. They're not gonna produce. It's slowing the company down and so that's really what reduces stress is making sure you have the right person in the right seat. Yeah, then you, you're holding them accountable, not, you know, with a stick, but more with a carrot. So to speak yes yep, and then when they're off communicating, don't let it fester to the point to where everybody's upset and they have no idea what's happened. They're shocked that their numbers are off because you didn't talk to them for three months. Yeah, you know.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, I really like that, that idea, that you're right. I think employees just tend to think organizations are just raking in so much money and when we're transparent about that too, I think there's an element of empowerment, where an employee can see how they are needed and what they're doing is helping that bottom line and there might be ways they can help increase it.

Chris Davenport:

Yes.

Dr. Leah OH:

So, yeah that's really powerful.

Chris Davenport:

They love that. They love all of us. We all love having a purpose and feeling needed and important. Accountability can be an ugly word to some people, but it's really about having your place and making a difference in whatever you're doing.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yes, yeah, yeah. And it's funny you say I love accountability, like a blanket comfort word for me.

Chris Davenport:

Yes, I'm the same way. I need something to do to help Exactly so, chris.

Dr. Leah OH:

Let's think about sustainable success, and you know that you're mentoring these business leaders and how do you set them up, so you're not only helping them achieve growth now, but how do you sustain it long-term? And have you found, are there key ingredients for maintaining that momentum, especially when business environments are so dynamic?

Chris Davenport:

I think sustainable success, in my experience, comes from something. It's going to sound simple, but I'll get deeper, deeper into it. It's it really comes down to your meeting cadence as an organization, and what I mean by that. It's similar to if you decide you're going to get healthy and you know you go get groceries and you get all the health food and then you do it for a day or two and then you stop doing it. So you planned once and then you expected it to have a result forever.

Chris Davenport:

And sometimes business owners and leaders do the same thing. They say, okay, we've got it, it's good, now let's just keep going. But things change, people change, the marketplace changes. So what I find that creates a sustainable success is, yes, continuing to do what you're doing and holding people accountable and communicating, but leaving the business behind every 90 days to go have a meeting together with the leadership team to work on the business instead of in the business, and the viewpoint is so different from it's much like when you're in an airplane you're looking down, yes, and I always think it's cool. When you fly're in an airplane, you're looking down, and I always think it's cool when you fly over your own neighborhood and you're like hey, that's my house, you know, and it's just a cool feeling because it's something you don't see very often. I think it's completely different Maybe three times that's happened to me.

Chris Davenport:

And so, as a business leader and the leadership team, you know you're handling problems, you're problem solvers. That's what you do all day. Yeah, and it's fun. But when you're in the thicket solving problems, you know somebody's got to go up above the forest to look and see which direction that we need to go to get to town. And so meeting every 90 days has been a cadence that works very well. And getting out of the business, getting everyone's mind out of those problems oh, you know how are we going to make payroll. And you know what about this customer that's mad at us? Just leave that behind and think big for a day and really plan and then execute on that plan and then do it again in 90 days and keep doing it, and that's what sustains success and continues growth.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, I really love that. I was thinking about it for like a personal check-ins too.

Chris Davenport:

Yes.

Dr. Leah OH:

Like where you are as a leader, as a human, as a parent, whatever role you want to focus on. So 90 days, like if something you know you've dipped a toe off your path, 90 days you can still correct course correct. But yeah, what a powerful idea, chris.

Chris Davenport:

Yeah, and that's gold, what you said right there. Taking it to the personal level, I have had a few leaders say, hey, can I use this personally? And we actually have built a plan for that that they can take home and it's called the Family VTO and it's a way to organize your family. The goals and maybe a goal is to take one of ours this year is to take a ski trip in December.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

So we're saving points for that.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, exactly.

Chris Davenport:

Yep.

Dr. Leah OH:

So, chris, I have two final questions for you, and these are. They work well together. This is the way we end all of our episodes of the Communicative Leader. So you know we're looking for a leadership or communication tip, advice, a challenge. So the first part is for our title leaders out there folks who are managers, directors, supervisors and then the second part is that kind of tip, challenge or advice for employees of all ranks, across all levels.

Chris Davenport:

Okay, so what? I would say? My tip for leaders make sure you're giving your team the things they need to be successful, and typically those things are direction. A lot, a lot of times we as leaders, we know it, and sometimes we are going so fast and we're sometimes one, three, six months ahead that we don't, we don't know, slash.

Chris Davenport:

Remember that a lot of times people they're, they're in the now and really that's that's a great place to be, so they're in the right now and they can't read your mind.

Chris Davenport:

So you have to communicate with them on a regular basis, because they go home and they have their kids to take care of and homework and meals to cook, and you know, then they go to sleep and they wake up and it's a new day. So any regular direction and leadership from you uh, so, so in that is communicating with them where the company is going, what role they serve and what the desired results are, what good looks like, so they know what to do. And I think a lot of times you see, like I was on a call this week and a gentleman told me he said, hey, I'm having problems with my sales manager. She's great, but she only takes action when I tell her something's off and I said, okay, so have you given her the permission to take action without you telling her yeah? And he said, wow, I don't think I have. And so it comes down to communication.

Chris Davenport:

Yeah, she didn't want to overstep her boundary and he never told her it was okay.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah.

Chris Davenport:

So I think that's for the leaders and then for employees. You know, I would say it would be great, you'd be a great employee if you were. Just just as leaders need to be open and honest with the employees. Just be open and honest with the leaders and open meaning, if you see that someone is not working out very well and I don't mean just bashing people for the sake of bashing them out very well, and and I don't mean just bashing people for the sake of bashing them you know, you know, have some, some sort of data to say, hey, I think, uh, john is not a great fit and here's why you know he comes in an hour late, he never makes his numbers. Um, yeah, because those types of things will bring the team down and then, before you know it, you'll have a team full of Johns. No offense to any John out there, yeah, because I don't know a John right now personally.

Chris Davenport:

So I'm not picking on anybody, but really just being open and honest and communicating with your leaders what you need. Like, for example, another client I work with. I overheard a salesperson come in and say, hey, uh, these new leads that we're getting from this new lead provider aren't working Bunch of bad numbers, you know they're. They're not working and I thought it was great that he shared that with the owner, because the owner's spending, you know, $10,000 a month on these leads and it's great. That's a great example of communicating and I thought that was just amazing that he did that. So I would say communicate really both directions.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yeah, yes, I love that as a communication scholar, right, I think so many things would be if we just spent a few more minutes thinking about our communication, about what we know but what our other you know, our conversation partner should know, or what we could share with them, and vice versa. So many fewer like issues and misunderstandings and missteps. So thank you for raising that up.

Chris Davenport:

Yes, it would make life much easier for everybody and throw the assumptions away. Communicate.

Dr. Leah OH:

Yes, I think you're right. Exactly Well, chris. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us, all of your stories, this advice. I really enjoyed our conversation and I know our listeners will as well.

Chris Davenport:

Thank you, leah, I appreciate it.

Dr. Leah OH:

All right, my friends. That wraps up our conversation today. Until next time, communicate with intention and lead with purpose. I'm looking forward to chatting with you again soon on the Communicative Leader.

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