From Federal Warden to Leadership Coach: Stevie Knight

Speaker A: Live from the Business Radiox studio, inside Renaissance bank, the bank that specializes in understanding you. It's time for North Fulton Business Radio.

Speaker B: Hello again, everyone. Welcome to another edition of North Fulton Business Radio. I'm John Ray, and folks, we are broadcasting as usual from inside our studios in Renaissance bank in beautiful downtown Alpharetta. We've got a great guest for you today. Stevie Knight is with us. And Stevie is a leadership consultant speaker. Joined, went out on his own after a very successful career in corrections. So he's got some interesting stories and background to bring to to his work with clients on improving their leadership skills. And I think you'll want to hear from Stevie. But before we get to him, I just want to remind you that Renaissance bank is the antidote. If you and your business are tired of the automated and impersonal Mega bank experience, the folks I refer to Renasant, they come back and tell me that Renaissance is big enough to handle pretty much any need and you can throw at them, uh, in your business, but they're small enough to deliver their services in a personal way. And that's a magic combination that you don't find too many places. The best place to start is to go to RenaissanceBank.com to learn more and be in touch. Renaissance bank, understanding you. Member fdic and now I want to welcome Stevie Knight.

Speaker A: Steven.

Speaker B: Stevie is the Chief Executive Officer of Knight Leadership and Professional Development. Stevie, welcome.

Speaker A: Thank you. Welcome. Thank you, John. Happy to be here with you.

Speaker B: Yeah, I'm delighted to have you. Let's talk a little bit about you and your work. How are you serving folks out there?

Speaker A: So right now, our goal is to equip leaders and organizations with the tools and strategies around minds and the mindset they need to unlock their leadership potential through leadership development, through workshops, through executive coaching, through disc consultancy. So we're just trying to close the gap and set the foundation for what leadership looks like for companies.

Speaker B: That's terrific. Now, I, uh, gave a little bit of our folks that are listening a little bit of a peek into what your background is in corrections. But fill that out a little bit and talk about how that career and how that informs your work today.

Speaker A: Uh, 29 years in the field. Started with the Florida Department of corrections back in 1996 before transitioning over to the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a correctional officer, was on tactical teams, special operations and response team, affirmative employment recruiting. Did some public safety and tactical training things. As we rose, as I rose through the ranks, was a case manager, a unit manager, an executive assistant. I rose to the ranks of associate warden and then two tours as, uh, a warden and before I retired last year, was the senior executive services member, senior Deputy regional director, where I had oversight over 18 federal correctional facilities, 6,800 staff and about a $900 million budget.

Speaker B: Yeah, I'm tired of just listening to all that. Steve, you. I think what I. Yeah, I mean, wow. I think what I heard is that you've done just about everything in corrections except maybe run the kitchen. Uh, that's unbelievable. Wow, what a fantastic career.

Speaker A: Been a blessing. Uh, it was coming from my background as a kid who could have made some different choices. It was. It's amazing how things work when you're on the opposite side of the choices that you could make. And it turns into a career where you can give back to the community, but also understand the population when you're trying to create programs and do things along reentry and public service and safety.

Speaker B: Okay, now I have to ask because I know some of our folks that are listening. A lot of them are business owners. Business of very. Businesses of various sizes. I'm sure the first thing they're going to think of when they hear corrections is a lot of what they've seen on television. That's what we're heavily influenced by, uh, for many people that have never even been in a prison. So talk about why there are so many lessons that you can pull from corrections and apply to an everyday business world.

Speaker A: So it's. I, uh, tell people all the time it's not us. Let's just clear that out the deck and don't believe what's on television. It's a city within a city. And a lot of times what we're doing is managing all of the things inside those confines that you would manage outside 18 different departments between health services, correctional services, food services, education, the whole host of things that you would have. But it's in a very controlled environment. It's a different structure. But the one thing that you have to recognize is that several seven moves throughout my career is that in that environment, no matter what the culture is, people are people. People want to be connected with. People want to be, want to trust you. People want to be invested in. So those things transition as you also look to business in the connection piece and building relationship.

Speaker B: You, at one point in your career, you served as the warden of the largest standalone federal facility in the United States. Give us a sense of scale there. What are we talking about in terms of number of employees and number of clients?

Speaker A: You might say so upwards of 4,000 offenders in that institution, uh, more than 560 staff. It is a significantly huge operation related to a low security facility. Like I said, it is the largest standalone federal facility in the country.

Speaker B: One, one of the things that I would think is certainly a part of your background that is so valuable, I would think, is that you bring your on call as a warden 24 7. Anything can happen at any time, basically. And I think increasingly that's what we're seeing in business is that when you're running a business, you're on call all the time. And because the world's moving fast, just talk about that mentality and how you coach your clients around that kind of mentality.

Speaker A: Uh, like I said when I started that I have an emergency preparedness background, right. And I use that for life. And in business, how are one of the things I would tell my captains all the time, if you are not preparing your people for the worst day that they can have, you're failing at your job. So in business, when you're putting together strategies and you're looking at your vision and you're building the capacity to grow, how are you preparing your people, connecting them to what you're trying to do in your business? Are they prepared to take those roles in leadership? Are they prepared to do the things that you would be able to do if you're not there and available? But it also comes back to relationships. Like I said, if you respect people, you treat them fair, they can connect with you and they're confident in you, they're going to run your business like you see your business. I was looking at some data the other day that the US loses $450 billion a year through employee disengagement. That's amazing. So if I can convince you that building relationships and connecting to people will help you expand the business that you're in and we can get a couple of those dollars back through relationship centered. What would you pay to get to that point where you make those transitions of connection and trust and communication and leadership development.

Speaker B: I'm making an assumption here and I want to couch my question in that, so correct my assumption. But I'm assuming that when you are managing employees in the corrections system, that you're managing employees where there's a higher average turnover than typical organization, simply because if for nothing else, stress and the demands of the job. You, uh, had it when you were Senior executive over 18 federal facilities. 6,800 employees in those 18 facilities. How did you talk to your, the wardens that reported to you about employee Engagement, keeping your. Keeping those employees looking upward in terms of what their aspirations were, career aspirations were, and keeping, uh, turnover confined.

Speaker A: And your assumption absolutely is not wrong because that is a significant issue even today in the agency is keeping and maintaining quality people to do that work. It is a high stress job and the people who do do that work take on a lot. It will take. It weighs a toll because of the responsibilities and the obligation of public safety and security of the institution, safety and security of your peers. But public safety, right. You're part of the communities that you live in. And the reality of it is you want everyone to come as they left. Right? One of the first things a warden told me when I was getting the opportunity to lead as a warden, he said, go to that front door, grab the handle, look out into the parking lot. I want you to recognize that you are responsible for every car in that parking lot to ensure that it leaves the same way in which it came. And if that doesn't humble you in your obligation and responsibility to do this work, then you're probably doing the wrong work. So from a leadership perspective and having that type of span where you're now no longer the person responsible for the work, as Simon Sinek said, great leaders understand that you're no longer responsible for the work. You're responsible for the people who do the work. The RD and I had to vision cast right. We had to set clear expectations. We had to communicate more effectively. We had to build connections of trust about our expectations of professionalism and decency and integrity and character. All of those things matter in the larger scope. But I don't think take that out of the business realm. If I got to have to turn those keys over to someone, my baby that I'm building and that I love, I need to do that. But I need to do that through building relationships of trust and connection and people who have a vested interest in also seeing that thing go and grow.

Speaker B: What do you think are the biggest, maybe misconceptions that I'm, uh, not talking about the correction system in general or what happens inside of prison. I'm talking about the misconceptions that people that clients that would potentially work with you have about your experience as a leader in that environment. What are the biggest misconceptions that you think they would have?

Speaker A: I think they think that how could this person talk to me about the m business perspective of doing this work when all they've known is watching people inside the confines of an institution? And a lot of times the concept around leadership does not come down to dollars and cents and numbers. Right. I could give you that big old number of oversight over, over a $900 million budget, but if that budget doesn't get allocated appropriately or I'm not as a leader, humble enough to surround myself with smarter, quicker, faster people who can come in and where I'm weak, build me up and support me where we can grow this thing to a certain level. My experience transitions great to understanding that the of growth starts with people and building around that concept of how do we grow and expand if we don't connect with the people in a qualitative way.

Speaker B: Stevie Knight is with us, folks. Stevie is the founder of his own firm, Knight Leadership and Professional Development. So Stevie, let's talk about. We talked about turnover. And part of turnover involves showing those who you want to develop that there are opportunities up the line. Talk a little bit about those folks that are making the jump from more of a, um, I guess you might say, taking directions versus being in care of the people that report to them.

Speaker A: Uh, absolutely. And a lot of times that's where some of the hangups get caught. Right. We talk leadership, but we don't teach leadership. We want, we see this great person with this great potential. We want to give them this next opportunity, but we haven't prepared to help them deal with complicated people. We haven't helped to prepare to deal with the silos and the miscommunications across departments. It's about giving them on the front end the tools, the resources and the training to help them then easily transition into those opportunities. Right. With any. And I do executive coaching, it's. I asked the people, how do you close the distance? What are you talking about, the distance? I'm not talking about the physical distance. I'm talking about the relational distance. How do you, as you're moving up the ranks, not get so high up that you lose connection to the people who have to do this work in a way where they feel valued and connected even when you're expanding and growing,

Speaker B: folks. Stevie is the author of a book called the Invisible Skill. And Stevie, in that book you talk about relationship centered leadership. That sounds something that defines itself, but something tells me there's more to it than just that. In fact, I know there is.

Speaker A: Yeah, it is. It's the hidden. The skill of leadership is hidden. And I make this argument in the book that it's hidden when you don't see it. It's hidden when things are broken, when things are going well, nobody's looking at the top of the Food chain talking about how great leadership is. It's when communication is broken, it's when teams are conflicting. It's when you don't get cross sectional or cross departmental products run well. That's when you look for the invisible skill of leadership. But I also argue that leadership is a hard skill. Uh, I heard someone say it the other day and I loved it. That leadership is architecture. It's not art. It's a skill that you have to work with, work at, build. It's measurable, it's trainable, and it's teachable. But you got to put yourself in the mindset to learn and grow it.

Speaker B: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense because you're. You get graded on your leadership skills by, uh, measures that are tangible. Right. Whether that's turnover, engagement, those things can be measured and. But the quality of your leadership going into any situation is up in the air, not definable, until you see those metrics, right?

Speaker A: Uh, absolutely. And the great part about it is you don't get to define what those metrics are. It's the people you serve who determine what those metrics look like. Right. So your mindset as a leader has to be, how do I build and with the end in mind, and what am I leaving behind? Because the people that you leave behind will be the legs to your legacy. But you got to be in a position to start creating a vision where you're qualitatively looking at how do I set expectations, what tools and resources do they need to be successful, and then disconnect yourself from the process and be more engaged about how successful they will be when you leave and those processes continue.

Speaker B: So, Stevie, uh, are you managing to the metrics or are you just simply implementing great leadership skills and the metrics take care of themselves? Is that a, uh. Am I clear on that question?

Speaker A: I think you're very clear. And I would answer it by saying it can be both. And because when I talk relationship centered leadership, I'm not talking soft, right? What I'm talking is that you have to look at the metrics, you have to look at customer satisfaction, you have to look at improving quality. But I'm saying to you, if you lose the connection of the relationship with the people who are the direct reciprocators of those results, then how do you then increase that expansion? So it has to be a situation where you're looking at both and then building around that. Right. I talk a lot of times about cornerstone and foundational. Right. In engineering, the cornerstone, if the cornerstone isn't set right, you can never put the foundation right in that building. No different than leadership. If you don't set the cornerstone for what leadership looks like when you're building around it, you don't have any stability to then move and grow and expand those things.

Speaker B: So we've got folks listening that I'm sure at some point, maybe not right now, they feel like they've hit a ceiling. They, they've lost the tenor of the team that reports to them. What's the culprit behind that disconnect?

Speaker A: Uh, uh, I kind of led to this earlier. It's that distance, right? It's closing that distance. When you're expanding and you start seeing the business become successful, it's just like the conversation, the both and conversation. As you're expanding and the business is becoming more successful, you're in more meetings, you're looking at greater strategy, you're looking at how do we put this thing into other geographical areas? If you move away from the people who are building alongside of you and they become secondary in the process of that expansion, how do you do that successfully? Are they, have you built trust? Do they feel connected? Do they feel like they're a part of that growth? Do they trust you as someone who they feel has their best interest at hand, as opposed to just the numbers and the metrics? Because once you close that distance on trust and communication and collaboration, I promise you, you will see exponential growth in the areas that you focus on with the numbers and the metrics

Speaker B: you use. Disc, behavioral or behavioral, I should say consultation disc. You might want to define that for what those that don't know what disc is all about and talk about how you use that as what you call a decoder ring for organizations.

Speaker A: Uh, what I love about DISC and DISC is an assessment, and it just speaks to the four different personality or behavioral types, but it, uh, allows you to look at the patterns of how people communicate and like to be communicated with. A lot of times when you're talking about leadership problems, you're mostly talking about communication problems, right? How are we handling situations and how is the flow of communication being passed down through the processes? So if I'm here as, uh, the CEO and the senior deputy and I'm putting out a message and people don't clearly understand what that message is. But I think just because I'm giving you great big old words that sound beautiful and eloquent, that you're going to go out and be able to run through the walls. I've already lost the game. Because if I assume that everyone communicates and receives information in the same way. I've already failed you and I've already failed the ability for the mission to get to where it goes. So if I have an employee who is results oriented and they want to just get to the results they want the bottom line, they're different from that person who asked 20 million questions 5,000 times. That doesn't mean that they're giving you pushback. That should be negative. That means as the leader, you now have to sit back, understand the patterns of communication. Instead of asking what's wrong with them asking, ask, how can I better communicate effectively with them to help them ultimately be successful? So DISC allows you to look at those different personality types and then make decisions around how to effectively move people to come together, understanding that the behaviors that you may see as something wrong is usual and fits their pattern of communication.

Speaker B: Now what I hear you saying though is you can use disc, you can use any number of other behavioral assessments, but if you haven't put the work into the relationship, it really doesn't matter if you, how you, if you communicate right on. It really doesn't matter because you, the uh, people have to know that you are invested in them.

Speaker A: And uh, that's the bottom line. And I like to point to, and I take this Moravian THEORY Right, where 58% of your communication is in your body language, 35% of it is in your tone. Only 7% of what you say is what people actually connect with. So your words are essentially not worth the sentence that you put out of your mouth. But it starts with when you touch your feet to the floor. How do you approach your day when people see you across the room? Can they feel connected to you and feel like you genuinely care whether you have these grandiose conversations with them or not, they connect with you before you ever have that first word. This gives you an opportunity to go through those processes and understand communication is only as effective as the connection that you have in the relationships of trust that you've built. See that isn't just leadership stuff, that's business stuff. If your profits are customer service related and customer based, how does the customer receive communication? How do they move when they're trying to make decisions about the big buy? It's all of those things are coming interconnected.

Speaker B: So Stevie, uh, what are the symptoms? And you mentioned a few, but I want to be clear on this. What are the symptoms that I'm having in my business that make me think I need to call Stevie?

Speaker A: My mid managers don't know how to lead. I have this great young team of new supervisors who come in, they're giving directions, they're giving instructions, but it's contentious. They don't understand. I got two departments that are critical to work together, but they're sitting in their silos. They don't want to communicate because they don't understand the impact of coming together and that we're all on one team. Even though you have your specialty and I have mine, together they grow us in a qualitative way. But now there's a power structure because department A wants to be the boss's favorite, and department B could care less one way or the other, because they just want to take care of their people. It's about looking at the symptoms of the problem, trying to diagnose what those look, and then getting to the heart of it through qualitative ongoing development and training. What I try to tell people is I hope to come along and partner beside you. We don't fix things. In a great workshop, people will feel good. They'll walk out with a great feeling. But after that feeling is gone, what's next? So it's dealing with some of those issues that are symptomatic. And we have five generations working in the workforce right now. How are you managing the different levels of how those people think about the work that they do? So it's battling what you know and what you don't know. And then how do you want to invest to get to the results of the problem?

Speaker B: I'm glad you brought that up about making lasting change, because this is a place I wanted to go with you. If I'm having these problems in my business, I would imagine that this is not new to me. Uh, some revelation and talk to those people out there that have tried a lot of things. They've tried a lot of leadership ideas, books, consultants, workshop leaders, and the medicine hadn't taken. And, uh, they've tried things that have had an effect of about a day and a half. And then once the first problem hits, it all goes out the window. Right? So talk about how you work with me. If that's been my experience in my

Speaker A: organization, the first thing I hope to do is, and I tell people that you have to look at the mirror. It starts with you. True leadership starts with when you put those 10 toes on the floor. Do I care about people? What am I hoping to get accomplished? Do I value the value of valuing people and then what that looks like? And once we can get that under control and get some answers, to that, then the next question is, what am I willing to invest to ensure over the course of time that we can get those things done? Because I love how you said, when those symptoms show up and we want to take the real quick, good cough medicine to get rid of those things for 24 hours and it works, we want to put that down and move on. When you have those leadership problems and those ongoing, it comes down to, do you have someone who's willing to come alongside you and put together a strategy long term that helps you and your team grow while you're all looking at and invested in the process of what growth looks like? It won't happen overnight, but it's a. I looked at some data the other day where it says 70% of companies, 80% of companies know that they need it, but Only less than 30% invest in leadership development. That's going to be a problem long term. That's not going to be a symptom you're going to get rid of. But if you want to bring me in for a workshop and we do a hallelujah, how's everybody doing? Type of thing to make people feel good, great. But those symptoms and problems will continue until you get a strategy together long term to get to the heart and talk to the people, not just your executive team, but the people who are actually doing the work because they feel the impact of those misalignments.

Speaker B: So, Stevie, you've had a lot of different experiences, a long career. Uh, you've got your own business now. I think our audience would love it if you could maybe share a success story that you've had along the way that helps illustrate the great work you do.

Speaker A: So I'm working with a team now, and one of the things that they wanted to do was quickly implement a, uh, mentorship program because they're looking long term and they want to invest in their people. And what they were going to do was, hey. And they called me up and said, stevie, we want to put this thing together and we're going to do it here in 30 days. Now, our goal is. Plan is to build a plane on the way up. Oh, we don't really have anything connected to it. I said, hold on, no pressure, right?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Take a step back. Let's slow down on, first of all, your implementation timeline. Because if you throw this together and you introduce this to your people, they're going to accept it in the same manner in which you put it together, number one. And your head is in the right place because what you're thinking is I have high quality people that I want to keep and engage and invest in. And having a program will help them see that we're willing to do that. So what we did was we stepped back. I, uh, create a proposal for them to work with them over the course of 12 months. And we put together a pocket of start here. We're going to do orientation. We'll put together the qualitative data to track and kind of build this program up and lift it up. We'll get some early support and talking about what mentorship and mentees look like in building those programs. We'll transition into some leadership development, but we'll do this in paces. We'll introduce it to the company. We'll then do an orientation to them for what the expectations are. Then we'll come in and give them an opportunity to select mentors and mentees. So it's about building and what the process looks like over time. And we, a couple months ago we had that first orientation and the company is buzzing about it. They are excited about what the possibilities could be. And what I told them is, listen, we're giving you this box, but we want you to think outside of the box. We want you to take ownership for what this program will look like because it's going to grow with you as you grow. But we need your feedback, your participation, your engagement. And they feel the buzz of what that looks like for their teams because people are now communicating a little bit more and they're looking at the prospects of where this could go, which gives them some semblance that my organization cares enough to make this investment. And not only are they making this investment, they're engaging me in the conversations of how to make it better. So doing that type of work of implementing leadership in a qualitative way where it sticks around, where it grows with your company, where you have feedback loops and communication that allows people to be engaged and feel invested in.

Speaker B: So, Stevie, you've given us a lot of things to think about. Let's give maybe a little nugget, I guess you might say, for people short of just picking up the phone and hiring you. What one of the things you talk about is shifting from being the boss to being a connection catalyst. So maybe with that kind of dynamic in mind, what's the one practical relationship centered step that leaders out there can take right now to build, uh, trust with their team?

Speaker A: Oh, that, that connection catalyst mindset came to me as the result of a significant failure I had very early in my leadership journey where I told one of my staff. After a, uh, performance evaluation, they asked me why. And I told them because I'm the boss. And like any ineffective leader, it fell as flat as it should have. But it also made me reset and reconnect, that I had to go back and set a vision for what relationship looked like for my people's success without me being in the equation. What do I want them to take away? How do I want them to feel about my leadership when I'm gone? What aspects of leadership do I want them to own when it comes to successes and failures? But it's really a lot of these things don't come out of the successes I've had. They've come out of the failures I've had and had to learn from them. And in order to make me better, to help me understand that leadership at its best isn't about you, it's about the people whom you serve. And we don't hear a lot anymore about servant leadership. But the concept is interchangeable with relationship centered leadership. And that connection, building trust and building bridge will exponentially grow any product that you have. Because if people come through with a sense that not only am I selling or connected to a great product, but I'm connected to a business that it's invested in my growth and my development also while I'm pushing that product. So it's really about connection. It's really about building trust. It's really about giving them more than they expected in order for them to invest more than they care to give on the front end. But on the back end, they're now inured to that relationship, that connection. They want to show up in a way that they didn't want to show up because of that investment you've made in that relationship with them.

Speaker B: Stevie Knight, folks. Knight leadership and professional development is his firm. Stevie, this has been fantastic. And I can't imagine there aren't some folks that listening to this interview makes them want to call you. I would imagine there's a few. So let's give them directions on how they can find you and learn more about you and your work.

Speaker A: Absolutely. On the socials at LinkedIn and Facebook, they can reach me at Stevie Knight. My website is at John C. Maxwellgroup.com forward/Stevie Knight. You can just give me a call at 407-314-2557. Available for you anytime. Been such a pleasure to be with you, John.

Speaker B: Oh, it's my great pleasure to have you, Stevie. And I know our audience has enjoyed this and I'm grateful to you for coming on and that we could share a, uh, light on the great work you're doing. So thank you.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker B: Stevie Knight, folks. We'll have the links to where you can find Stevie in the show notes as well, so you can check everything out there. Hey, before we let you go for today, I just want to give, uh, you a couple things to think about. If you're a law firm, medical practice, or a manufacturer, there's one headline you never want to see. Local business pays thousands in ransom after cyber attack. Beyond Computer Solutions exists to make sure that headline never has your name on it. They provide managed IT and cybersecurity services built for industries where compliance and reputation are essential. These services aren't optional, folks. Lots of bad guys out there. The best place to start is with a complimentary security assessment. And the place to go to learn about that is beyond CS.com. and they do superb work. I know this myself because they keep us cyber safe here at North Fulton Business Radio. Also, if you are a consultant, coach, or fractional executive and you are tired of the mindsets that hold you back in business development and pricing, I've written a book for you. It's called the Generosity Mindset, and it will change the way you think about the value that you bring to clients, the relationships you build, and what you charge for your work. You can find the book on Amazon or at the Generosity mindset dot com. Um, and if you are in the North Fulton region, you'll find signed copies of the book on the shelf over at Barnes and Noble on North Point Parkway. Finally, I just want to thank you. I want to thank you for listening to this show, but moreover, I really want to thank you for all your support over what is now 10 years of North Fulton Business Radio. We just blew the candles off that cake, folks, and we couldn't have gotten anywhere near that without your kind support. You have enabled us to live into our mission, to be the voice of business in the North Fulton region and beyond. And I'm grateful for you. Thank you. If you'd like to reach out and touch me directly, offer feedback, I'd love to hear from you. John. Uh, Ray Co is the place to send me a note for my guest, Stevie Knight. I'm John Ray. Join us next time on North Fulton Business Radio.

Speaker A: Hmm. Sam.