This episode talked about team building. She was overly qualified for her team building techniques. This architecture of building teams make Mrs. Rudnik strong and courageous for the taking. I would recommend her on anybody's podcast.
In this episode, Daria Rudnik showcases her expertise in team building and leadership:
- Proven team-building strategies — practical techniques for creating high-performing, self-sufficient teams.
- Expert guidance — Daria’s extensive experience makes her insights actionable and inspiring.
- Strong, courageous leadership — her approach empowers leaders to take bold steps in team development.
Kimberly
(0:28) I have a very, very special guest here for the show today. (0:33) Can you go ahead and announce to the world who you are and where you're calling from?
Daria Rudnik
(0:39) Well, thanks, Kimberly. It's a great pleasure to be here.
My name is Daria Rudnick. (0:43) I'm a team architect, executive coach and an author, and I work with leaders and teams and help them build strong, remote and hybrid teams. (0:53) And I'm calling to you from Israel, originally from Moscow, Russia.
(0:57) I've been living and working in America, so traveled around the world, lived in many countries and helped leaders across six continents.
Kimberly
(1:05) OK, OK. And I have a question.
What inspired you to transition your role as chief people officer of Della Latte? (1:16) Is it to become an independent team architect and executive coach?
Daria Rudnik
(1:23) Well, thanks. That's a really good question. (1:26) Well, the thing is, I've always wanted to do something and to focus on what I can do best and where I am the best.
(1:36) And that is developing people. I started my career in Deloitte, helping leaders grow, helping people learn. (1:43) And I've grown up to chief people officer again with a focus on growth and development.
(1:50) And through my career, I've discovered that organizations can have amazing results when they have strong teams. (2:00) No leader is strong enough or capable enough or fast enough to change the organization on their own. (2:07) So there is no such thing as heroic leader who can change something, make successful mergers, successful acquisitions, successful cultural transformation.
(2:18) You always need a team to do that. So I quit my corporate career and focused on helping leaders build amazing teams that can increase performance three or four times. (2:29) That can drive cultural transformation and they can enter new markets.
(2:34) Because in this ever-changing, very rapid environment, teams can survive. Solo leaders cannot.
Kimberly
(2:45) Have there ever been like a outlier where someone isn't doing the work? (2:58) And what does that mean for the company? And do they retain them or let them go based on your suggestions?
Daria Rudnik
(3:07) Well, that's a great question.
Again, how do you decide who's staying, who's going? (3:12) And I'll tell you a story and that's a story about the team that's the manufacturing team. (3:18) They had offices in multiple countries and the CEO and founder reached out to me and said, I feel there is a conflict. (3:28) People are arguing with each other.
They're fighting for resources. They're fighting for my attention. (3:35) I need them to be a stronger team.
(3:37) And the thing was that they were all very, very motivated and engaged in the company success. (3:43) They just saw it differently. So what we did, we got together.
(3:47) We had several team sessions and we finally came up with a single organizational purpose, as well as the norms and rules of communication. (3:57) What are the accepted behaviors that this team wants to see on the team and what behaviors are not accepted? (4:03) So to say they had this keep it up behaviors, behaviors that they want to support, like feedback, knowledge sharing and honest, open communication. (4:13) And cut it out behaviors, things that they did not support, like hiding information or not participating in conversation and meetings.
(4:23) And they lived with those rules for some time. And I stopped working with them because they had reached their goal. (4:30) But then six months later, CEO reached out to me and said, hey, we have an unexpected result from this work.
(4:39) The team has decided that the sales leader should not be a part of the team because she did not follow the rules and the norms that they agreed together. (4:52) And the team decided that this person is breaking the teamwork and they're not supporting organizational growth. (4:58) And they made this decision.
They reached out to the CEO. They said, we want this person out of the team. (5:05) That's our mutual decision because of the rules that we agreed on together.
(5:09) So that's the result of the teamwork where it's not CEO or the leader who decides who is staying, who is going. (5:17) But the team can agree on the norms, how they want to work together. (5:20) And then based on those norms, they agree on who's staying and who needs to go.
Kimberly
(5:26) Well said, well said. And where do a team in your data analytic lacks? (5:35) Like what do they lack? Like what happens to a team that sits up there and lacks? (5:44) Maybe they're lacking drive or something. You know, what do you see on a daily basis when you come in and build these teams?
Daria Rudnik
(5:55) Well, there are multiple things, but the most common one, I think, is clarity and communication.
(6:03) And by communication, I mean good leaders, well-intentional leaders. (6:09) They want to support their team. So what they do is they have a lot of one-to-one conversations.
(6:15) They want to support their team members. So they reach out. They schedule those one-to-ones.
(6:19) They ask how they're feeling about the goals. They have those developmental conversations, and that's amazing. (6:26) But the problem is that those team members, they are connected to the leader, but they're not connected with each other.
(6:32) And whenever any problem arises or they have a question, who is the first person to reach out to? (6:38) It's the leader. And the leader becomes overloaded, and people become kind of isolated because they have only this one connection with the leader. (6:46) So what leaders need to do instead is instead of having a lot of one-to-one communications (6:51) and kind of being the go-to person for every question and every challenge, (6:54) they need to connect people on the team and make sure they talk to each other.
(6:58) They can do it either through micro-projects on the team, micro-collaborations on the team. (7:05) They could do it by assigning roles or mentoring or various ways to do that. (7:09) But they need to make sure that team members are connected within the team between each other, (7:15) and they can talk to each other first.
And only then, after that, they reach out to manager for questions and support. (7:22) So that, what I see, is the main reason for leaders being overloaded and teams being isolated and disengaged.
Kimberly
(7:30) Now, we talked a little bit behind the scenes, and you were talking about Adria.
(7:35) Adria, I hope I pronounced her name right. Adria AI. Tell me about the AI systems that you're building right now.
Daria Rudnik
(7:46) Well, I mean, AI is a fascinating new future that's coming, that we're all living, and it'll be more and more. (7:53) So I do want to be exploring and seeing what it can do for coaching and team and leadership and team development. (8:00) So the goal behind Adria AI is to help leaders think through their complex problems and complex challenges.
(8:10) Because whenever you have a challenge, there are so many things influencing it. (8:15) Relationships on the team, market situation, stakeholder management, personal priorities, health, whatever. (8:23) I mean, there's so many things tied up into one single issue.
Even if it's like, should I fire this person? (8:30) Should I hire someone else? Is there a conflict on my team? There's so multiple things combined. (8:35) So what I want is, I want this Adria, my AI coach, to help leaders think through the challenge and kind of untangle it (8:44) and come up with one action that they can take to start solving the problem. (8:48) Because whenever you ask Chad, JPT, or Claude, or Jamie and I, they'll give you a huge, lots of information about what to do, (8:57) but none of that helps you actually move forward.
So what I'm trying to do is help leaders move forward with the actions that they can take.
Kimberly
(9:06) Well said. And as creator of Adria AI, what specific challenges in leadership coaching did you aim to solve with an AI-powered tool? (9:15) And how does it complement human coaching?
Daria Rudnik
(9:20) Well, the human-AI collaboration is something that really fascinates me.
(9:26) The main challenge I see while working with teams, and especially with teams that use AI, is that many teams, leaders, myself included, (9:35) we tend to fall into this cognitive offload mode when we communicate with AI. (9:41) Meaning that we ask a question, we get some response, and it kind of like the brain switches off. (9:47) We don't think, we don't evaluate the response.
And it's critical to make sure your brain is always on. (9:54) That's why I do not recommend using AI for brainstorming, for example, at least as an initial part, as a first part. (10:02) First, like turn on your brain, start thinking by yourself, get some ideas, and only then include AI to add some more, (10:10) like to add broader perspective, add some information, and then keep thinking.
(10:15) Always keep your brain active while interacting with AI. (10:19) So the idea behind Adria, my AI coach, is that it's not providing answers, but asks questions.
Kimberly
(10:27) Wow, that is amazing and very unique.
(10:32) You know, what is it, without signing a non-disclosure agreement, that you can tell us more about what you plan on doing with Adria? (10:45) Adria, or whatever, I'm sorry.
Daria Rudnik
(10:49) Well, the plan is to make a tool that will help leaders think through their challenges. (10:55) Again, it's still a working process, still in development.
(10:58) I'm thinking of partnering with other AI solutions that maybe provide some more robust approach to that. (11:05) Like, for example, there is a solution that I'm thinking of partnering with, (11:09) is when they actually analyze how teams communicate through their chats, through the documents that they upload on Confluence, (11:18) through what they put on Jira, anything where they communicate, or they can give some input to this tool as well. (11:26) And then by analyzing the work choice, this tool actually can provide what are the potential challenges or triggers this team has, (11:35) so that leaders are mindful about disengagement and motivation, potential conflicts on the team.
(11:42) So that is a very interesting tool that does that. (11:45) And my idea would provide some kind of thinking process and maybe some solutions for various kinds of challenges. (11:52) And again, I mean, AI is fascinating.
(11:54) There's so much we can do. (11:55) We need to focus on, okay, what is that we can try and do so that it works and provides value right now?
Kimberly
(12:02) And for the future, what do you see about this AI, this new AI technology that you're building? (12:09) Where do you want to see it in the next maybe 10, 15 years?
Daria Rudnik
(12:18) Wow. (12:19) With the world changing so fast, 10, 15 years from now is a very long way.
(12:27) I do want to see it as a – I mean, I do believe in AI as a technology. (12:33) I'm an AI optimist. (12:34) I'm a tech optimist.
(12:35) I know there are lots of challenges. (12:36) I know there are a lot of ethical questions. (12:38) I know there's this cognitive offloading risk that I've just mentioned.
(12:43) But I do believe that with the help of AI, we can build better workplaces. (12:48) Workplaces that focus on skills people have and skills people can acquire in order to do something that's really meaningful. (12:57) We could ditch all the org charts and boxes and stop trying to fit people in the box.
(13:03) Instead, we could provide them with the tasks and goals that they will enjoy and they are capable of doing them. (13:11) So, that's what I see as a main benefit of AI. (13:16) And I do hope that in five years from now, we'll have that.
Kimberly
(13:20) Tell me about your books or your book. (13:27) Well, I co-authored the book AI Revolution when I write about this cognitive offloading and skills teams need to have in AI era. (13:36) And I'm also an author of the book Clicking, which is about building self-sufficient teams.
(13:41) And again, in this AI era, this book is more important than ever because we tend to offload too much to AI. (13:48) Some teams will be replaced by AI. (13:50) Managers will be replaced by AI.
(13:52) Because the research says that AI can actually do the work that project managers are doing. (13:59) Delegation, control, task management, things like that. (14:03) So, if you're a manager who focuses on delegation, control, task management, and just regular project management stuff, you'll be replaced by AI.
(14:12) But if you are a manager who's building amazing teams, who's building teams that work together, collaborate, work towards the shared goal, then you will not be replaced. (14:23) So, the framework that I describe in my book is actually the one that will help leaders become the ones that will build amazing teams and will not be replaced by AI. (14:34) What is the vision of the book Click? (14:41) What is your vision?
Daria Rudnik
(14:44) Well, again, the idea behind the book is to help leaders build self-sufficient teams.
(14:48) Because in this world, leaders are overloaded. (14:51) Overloaded with lots of multiple demands from the market, from stakeholders, senior leaders, from the bottom. (14:58) They're expected to motivate their teams, engage their teams, lead their teams, deliver amazing results.
(15:04) They have families. (15:04) I mean, there's a lot. (15:06) It hasn't been like that 10, 15, 20 years ago.
(15:10) But now, the speed is just increasingly high. (15:16) And the idea of the book is the five pillars that will help leaders build teams that can operate. (15:24) They can be self-managed and self-sufficient.
(15:27) They can be more autonomous. (15:28) And take some load off leaders and let them focus on something that they can do, like strategy and their own work on setting the vision. (15:40) So, there are five pillars that are clear purpose, linking connections, integrated work, knowledge sharing, collaborative decisions, knowledge sharing, and feedback.
(15:52) Clear purpose, linking connections, integrated work, collaborative decisions, knowledge sharing, and feedback. (15:59) Like that, those five pillars, they will make your team click.
Kimberly
(16:03) Well said.
(16:04) In the AI revolution, you co-authored insights on thriving amid AI disruptions. (16:11) What's one prediction about AI's impact on team dynamics that leaders should prepare for right now?
Daria Rudnik
(16:20) Well, again, the one that I'm observing while working with leaders is how teams become disengaged while working with AI and over-rely on AI. (16:31) So, that's one of the risks, over-reliance on AI, where teams delegate too much.
(16:37) Whether you should not be delegating things like, you should never fire a person with the help of AI. (16:43) You should never have an apathetic conversations with the help of AI. (16:47) I mean, you're laughing, but there was a post on LinkedIn where some top manager said, hey, we're laying off people, here is AI support for you.
(16:55) I mean, that's ridiculous. (16:57) So, where to use AI and where not to use AI, that's a big question. (17:03) And leaders and teams need to collaboratively discuss and agree, hey, here is how we use AI, and here is where we would never use AI.
Kimberly
(17:13) Wow, yeah, over-reliance. (17:16) I think it's an addictive thing where, you know, people over-rely for the answer so much because we're addicted to having the answers and being correct and having the solutions. (17:28) And, you know, I can admit sometimes I over-rely on technology, but I try to balance it out as well.
(17:40) So, I get what you're saying. (17:42) That is true. (17:42) You can over-rely on something, but I try to balance it out.
(17:47) So, how did you, well, when did you build Rostec, and what does it mean for you to help with teams in that aspect? (17:58) Build what? (18:00) Rostec.
Daria Rudnik
(18:02) Ah, oh, I mean, I was a chief people officer there. (18:05) So, I mean, it was startup within this organization.
(18:08) I used to be chief people officer there, and we were setting up this new startup, B2G startup. (18:15) And it was an interesting experience of building multinational teams where we used, like, we didn't hire people, but we used them as agents and contractors. (18:27) And they were happy about it.
(18:28) It's not something that, like, we didn't want to pay salary. (18:31) We paid them really, really good money. (18:33) But they were free to do whatever they want.
(18:35) We were free to use them whatever they want. (18:37) And for a startup, that was a really great opportunity to build multinational organization without actually hiring people and having this, like, huge bureaucracy that comes with it.
Kimberly
(18:51) Okay.(18:52) And you've worked with clients across 11 countries. (18:57) What cultural nuances have you found most influential in building high-trust teams?
Daria Rudnik
19:03) I love that question. (19:05) Again, since my focus is working with, like, individual leaders and teams, I like saying that forget about cultural labels.
(19:18) I mean, we do know that there are, like, more reserved cultures, more open cultures, more direct, less direct. (19:25) But when you work with a team, and your team is about eight people, you can, like, you can learn and you can know them individually as humans. (19:33) Because, I mean, within any culture, there can be more open people and more reserved people.
(19:39) So without putting any labels on them, but within the team settings, I wouldn't focus on cultural differences, but I would focus on human and inter, like, human connections and difference between people. (19:55) Yeah.
Kimberly
(19:57) Well said.
(19:59) How do you differentiate between managing up traditional leadership advice based on your recent discussions and podcast appearances?
Daria Rudnik
(20:11) Managing up?
Kimberly
(20:12) Yes.
Daria Rudnik
(20:14) Well, I love managing up, and I love teaching people and coaching people and helping them managing up. (20:20) Because, like, in today's world, no one can, like, elevate your career.
(20:26) No one will promote you just because you're doing a good job. (20:30) No one will, like, help you grow unless you want to grow, unless you are proactive with growing. (20:36) So your career is your business.
(20:40) And every successful manager, every successful professional, if you want to grow in your career, treat it as a business. (20:47) And when you treat it as a business, you have clients. (20:50) And your manager is your most important client.
(20:53) So when managing up is actually helping and serving your client, providing the best value you can so that they can grow. (21:00) And when they grow, you grow with them. (21:02) That means you understand their goals.
(21:05) You understand their motivators. (21:06) You help them reach their goals. (21:08) And you make sure they know that it's you who is helping them reach their goals.
(21:12) So they will stick, like, they will keep you. (21:14) And when they grow higher, they'll take you with you.
Kimberly
(21:18) Okay.
(21:19) And for leaders feeling trapped in day-to-day operations, what's the first step you recommend in your team alignment program to foster self-sufficiency?
Daria Rudnik
(21:30) Get my book. (21:34) But honestly, I mean, have an open conversation. (21:37) Get the team together and have a conversation.
(21:39) Why are we here? (21:40) How do we want to work together? (21:42) Create a team charter. (21:44) What are the team norms? (21:45) Just have a conversation with your people so that they talk, not the leaders talking, but people are talking and tell you how they want to work together. (21:54) How do they want to communicate? (21:56) How many one-to-ones or team sessions they want to have? (22:00) And have those conversations on a quarterly basis, on a monthly basis, whatever you feel is needed.
(22:05) But start talking to people more and listening to what they say.
Kimberly
(22:10) Yeah, I think listening. (22:12) I try to listen as much as I can, you know.
(22:15) I get what you're saying. (22:18) As a Forbes Coaches Council member, what is the most common misconception about executive coaching that you've encountered in your 1,000-plus hours of sessions?
Daria Rudnik
(22:33) Well, sometimes people come to coaching expecting answers. (22:38) I don't have all the answers.
(22:40) But what coaching is and what coaching, the power of coaching is not giving you answers. (22:44) Information is free. (22:45) You can find information anywhere.
(22:49) But discovering what will be working for you personally, that's the power of coaching. (22:55) Finding what will work for you as a leader, as an individual within your context. (23:00) That is the power of coaching.
(23:02) So don't expect your coach to give you all the answers. (23:06) Be curious and explore together. (23:08) And that will help you find the best solution that fits you.
Kimberly
(23:13) And how do you integrate tools like GC Index Assessment into your coaching to help leaders identify strengths and blind spots in their teams?
Daria Rudnik
(23:24) Well, GC Index is a great tool. (23:27) I love it. (23:27) I love it because it's not a psychometric tool.
(23:31) It doesn't tell you that you are an introvert. (23:34) Okay, so what do I do with that? (23:36) It tells you how you create impact in the organization. (23:39) And it means that you can find ways, like you can create impact by different ways.
(23:44) You can create impact by talking, communicating with people. (23:48) You can create impact by generating new ideas or by strategizing. (23:52) When you know your strengths, when you know what you're good at, you can use it.
(23:57) You can be more conscious about doing that. (23:59) And same thing with teams. (24:01) Like you can see, okay, what kind of people we have on our team.
(24:04) And I'll tell you a story about a team that took this GC Index Assessment. (24:08) It was a product team. (24:09) And they found out there were a lot of people who are innovative and who could generate lots of great ideas.
(24:17) But they didn't have a lot of people who were actually able to implement things. (24:23) And when they saw this, okay, now we understand why we don't deliver on time. (24:29) Because they're always generating something new.
(24:31) Oh, here's a new feature we can implement. (24:33) Here is something we can try out. (24:35) But when they saw that profile, the team profile, they realized that they're focusing too much on generating new ideas.
(24:42) And they don't give enough space and they don't hear the voices of other people who are more implemented, who are more action-oriented. (24:52) And when they saw that, when they realized that, they made sure those implemented voices, those action-oriented voices are heard at every meeting. (24:59) So that they will not miss deadlines and they will deliver on time.
Kimberly
(25:04) Yeah, yeah. (25:06) And do you use predictive analytics to predict a team based on the employee's past job, etc., you know, category?
Daria Rudnik
(25:17) Personally, I don't. (25:18) But I think it's fascinating.
(25:19) Yeah, but I don't do that. (25:21)
Kimberly
Okay. (25:22) And how do you, or with the AI revolution hitting bestseller status in Germany, what feedback from readers has most validated your co-author perspectives on AI and leadership?
Daria Rudnik
(25:40) That, we need a lot of information about how AI works and how to deal with it.
(25:46) There is a lot of uncertainty. (25:47) People like looking for information. (25:50) Okay, here are all the tools that we can use.
(25:53) How do we best use them? (25:55) What are the risks? (25:56) How do we practically implement them in HR, in customer success, in software development? (26:04) So, information is really needed. (26:07) People needed information and look for it.
Kimberly
(26:11) And you've actually spoken at events like Miro's Canvas 25.
(26:18) What emerging trend in collaborative AI tools excites you most for future team building?
Daria Rudnik
(26:26) Well, I did spoke for some of the Miro events. (26:28) And I love Miro because it provides tools so that you can collaborate remotely with the help of AI. (26:35) And again, when I work with leaders and teams, I always do that remote because most of my clients are remote and hybrid teams.
(26:44) I use Miro to collaborate with them. (26:46) And there are a lot of people who are interested in how to make remote work for them. (26:53) And again, through communication, through one-to-one communications with the leader and through communications with team members between each other.
Kimberly
(27:02) Where do you see yourself, Ms. Ratnik, going for the future?
Daria Rudnik
(27:09) Well, again, I'm really fascinated with the development of AI and human-AI collaboration. (27:15) And I do want to explore more how humans and AI can work together, think together, and kind of how people can use AI to support their work and not be replaced by it.
Kimberly
(27:29) Okay.
And how can the people reach you?
Daria Rudnik
(27:32) Well, the best way is reach me on LinkedIn. (27:36) I'm very open to conversations. (27:38) Send me a connection request, a DM.
(27:40) You can also find me and more information about what I do on my website, DariaRudnik.com.
Kimberly
(27:47) Thank you so much. Stay on the line. (27:48) Thank you all for joining my show today.
(27:51) Y'all take care. Be safe. (27:52) And I'll see you guys another time.
Daria Rudnik
(27:55) Thank you.
(0:28) I have a very, very special guest here for the show today. (0:33) Can you go ahead and announce to the world who you are and where you're calling from?
Daria Rudnik
(0:39) Well, thanks, Kimberly. It's a great pleasure to be here.
My name is Daria Rudnick. (0:43) I'm a team architect, executive coach and an author, and I work with leaders and teams and help them build strong, remote and hybrid teams. (0:53) And I'm calling to you from Israel, originally from Moscow, Russia.
(0:57) I've been living and working in America, so traveled around the world, lived in many countries and helped leaders across six continents.
Kimberly
(1:05) OK, OK. And I have a question.
What inspired you to transition your role as chief people officer of Della Latte? (1:16) Is it to become an independent team architect and executive coach?
Daria Rudnik
(1:23) Well, thanks. That's a really good question. (1:26) Well, the thing is, I've always wanted to do something and to focus on what I can do best and where I am the best.
(1:36) And that is developing people. I started my career in Deloitte, helping leaders grow, helping people learn. (1:43) And I've grown up to chief people officer again with a focus on growth and development.
(1:50) And through my career, I've discovered that organizations can have amazing results when they have strong teams. (2:00) No leader is strong enough or capable enough or fast enough to change the organization on their own. (2:07) So there is no such thing as heroic leader who can change something, make successful mergers, successful acquisitions, successful cultural transformation.
(2:18) You always need a team to do that. So I quit my corporate career and focused on helping leaders build amazing teams that can increase performance three or four times. (2:29) That can drive cultural transformation and they can enter new markets.
(2:34) Because in this ever-changing, very rapid environment, teams can survive. Solo leaders cannot.
Kimberly
(2:45) Have there ever been like a outlier where someone isn't doing the work? (2:58) And what does that mean for the company? And do they retain them or let them go based on your suggestions?
Daria Rudnik
(3:07) Well, that's a great question.
Again, how do you decide who's staying, who's going? (3:12) And I'll tell you a story and that's a story about the team that's the manufacturing team. (3:18) They had offices in multiple countries and the CEO and founder reached out to me and said, I feel there is a conflict. (3:28) People are arguing with each other.
They're fighting for resources. They're fighting for my attention. (3:35) I need them to be a stronger team.
(3:37) And the thing was that they were all very, very motivated and engaged in the company success. (3:43) They just saw it differently. So what we did, we got together.
(3:47) We had several team sessions and we finally came up with a single organizational purpose, as well as the norms and rules of communication. (3:57) What are the accepted behaviors that this team wants to see on the team and what behaviors are not accepted? (4:03) So to say they had this keep it up behaviors, behaviors that they want to support, like feedback, knowledge sharing and honest, open communication. (4:13) And cut it out behaviors, things that they did not support, like hiding information or not participating in conversation and meetings.
(4:23) And they lived with those rules for some time. And I stopped working with them because they had reached their goal. (4:30) But then six months later, CEO reached out to me and said, hey, we have an unexpected result from this work.
(4:39) The team has decided that the sales leader should not be a part of the team because she did not follow the rules and the norms that they agreed together. (4:52) And the team decided that this person is breaking the teamwork and they're not supporting organizational growth. (4:58) And they made this decision.
They reached out to the CEO. They said, we want this person out of the team. (5:05) That's our mutual decision because of the rules that we agreed on together.
(5:09) So that's the result of the teamwork where it's not CEO or the leader who decides who is staying, who is going. (5:17) But the team can agree on the norms, how they want to work together. (5:20) And then based on those norms, they agree on who's staying and who needs to go.
Kimberly
(5:26) Well said, well said. And where do a team in your data analytic lacks? (5:35) Like what do they lack? Like what happens to a team that sits up there and lacks? (5:44) Maybe they're lacking drive or something. You know, what do you see on a daily basis when you come in and build these teams?
Daria Rudnik
(5:55) Well, there are multiple things, but the most common one, I think, is clarity and communication.
(6:03) And by communication, I mean good leaders, well-intentional leaders. (6:09) They want to support their team. So what they do is they have a lot of one-to-one conversations.
(6:15) They want to support their team members. So they reach out. They schedule those one-to-ones.
(6:19) They ask how they're feeling about the goals. They have those developmental conversations, and that's amazing. (6:26) But the problem is that those team members, they are connected to the leader, but they're not connected with each other.
(6:32) And whenever any problem arises or they have a question, who is the first person to reach out to? (6:38) It's the leader. And the leader becomes overloaded, and people become kind of isolated because they have only this one connection with the leader. (6:46) So what leaders need to do instead is instead of having a lot of one-to-one communications (6:51) and kind of being the go-to person for every question and every challenge, (6:54) they need to connect people on the team and make sure they talk to each other.
(6:58) They can do it either through micro-projects on the team, micro-collaborations on the team. (7:05) They could do it by assigning roles or mentoring or various ways to do that. (7:09) But they need to make sure that team members are connected within the team between each other, (7:15) and they can talk to each other first.
And only then, after that, they reach out to manager for questions and support. (7:22) So that, what I see, is the main reason for leaders being overloaded and teams being isolated and disengaged.
Kimberly
(7:30) Now, we talked a little bit behind the scenes, and you were talking about Adria.
(7:35) Adria, I hope I pronounced her name right. Adria AI. Tell me about the AI systems that you're building right now.
Daria Rudnik
(7:46) Well, I mean, AI is a fascinating new future that's coming, that we're all living, and it'll be more and more. (7:53) So I do want to be exploring and seeing what it can do for coaching and team and leadership and team development. (8:00) So the goal behind Adria AI is to help leaders think through their complex problems and complex challenges.
(8:10) Because whenever you have a challenge, there are so many things influencing it. (8:15) Relationships on the team, market situation, stakeholder management, personal priorities, health, whatever. (8:23) I mean, there's so many things tied up into one single issue.
Even if it's like, should I fire this person? (8:30) Should I hire someone else? Is there a conflict on my team? There's so multiple things combined. (8:35) So what I want is, I want this Adria, my AI coach, to help leaders think through the challenge and kind of untangle it (8:44) and come up with one action that they can take to start solving the problem. (8:48) Because whenever you ask Chad, JPT, or Claude, or Jamie and I, they'll give you a huge, lots of information about what to do, (8:57) but none of that helps you actually move forward.
So what I'm trying to do is help leaders move forward with the actions that they can take.
Kimberly
(9:06) Well said. And as creator of Adria AI, what specific challenges in leadership coaching did you aim to solve with an AI-powered tool? (9:15) And how does it complement human coaching?
Daria Rudnik
(9:20) Well, the human-AI collaboration is something that really fascinates me.
(9:26) The main challenge I see while working with teams, and especially with teams that use AI, is that many teams, leaders, myself included, (9:35) we tend to fall into this cognitive offload mode when we communicate with AI. (9:41) Meaning that we ask a question, we get some response, and it kind of like the brain switches off. (9:47) We don't think, we don't evaluate the response.
And it's critical to make sure your brain is always on. (9:54) That's why I do not recommend using AI for brainstorming, for example, at least as an initial part, as a first part. (10:02) First, like turn on your brain, start thinking by yourself, get some ideas, and only then include AI to add some more, (10:10) like to add broader perspective, add some information, and then keep thinking.
(10:15) Always keep your brain active while interacting with AI. (10:19) So the idea behind Adria, my AI coach, is that it's not providing answers, but asks questions.
Kimberly
(10:27) Wow, that is amazing and very unique.
(10:32) You know, what is it, without signing a non-disclosure agreement, that you can tell us more about what you plan on doing with Adria? (10:45) Adria, or whatever, I'm sorry.
Daria Rudnik
(10:49) Well, the plan is to make a tool that will help leaders think through their challenges. (10:55) Again, it's still a working process, still in development.
(10:58) I'm thinking of partnering with other AI solutions that maybe provide some more robust approach to that. (11:05) Like, for example, there is a solution that I'm thinking of partnering with, (11:09) is when they actually analyze how teams communicate through their chats, through the documents that they upload on Confluence, (11:18) through what they put on Jira, anything where they communicate, or they can give some input to this tool as well. (11:26) And then by analyzing the work choice, this tool actually can provide what are the potential challenges or triggers this team has, (11:35) so that leaders are mindful about disengagement and motivation, potential conflicts on the team.
(11:42) So that is a very interesting tool that does that. (11:45) And my idea would provide some kind of thinking process and maybe some solutions for various kinds of challenges. (11:52) And again, I mean, AI is fascinating.
(11:54) There's so much we can do. (11:55) We need to focus on, okay, what is that we can try and do so that it works and provides value right now?
Kimberly
(12:02) And for the future, what do you see about this AI, this new AI technology that you're building? (12:09) Where do you want to see it in the next maybe 10, 15 years?
Daria Rudnik
(12:18) Wow. (12:19) With the world changing so fast, 10, 15 years from now is a very long way.
(12:27) I do want to see it as a – I mean, I do believe in AI as a technology. (12:33) I'm an AI optimist. (12:34) I'm a tech optimist.
(12:35) I know there are lots of challenges. (12:36) I know there are a lot of ethical questions. (12:38) I know there's this cognitive offloading risk that I've just mentioned.
(12:43) But I do believe that with the help of AI, we can build better workplaces. (12:48) Workplaces that focus on skills people have and skills people can acquire in order to do something that's really meaningful. (12:57) We could ditch all the org charts and boxes and stop trying to fit people in the box.
(13:03) Instead, we could provide them with the tasks and goals that they will enjoy and they are capable of doing them. (13:11) So, that's what I see as a main benefit of AI. (13:16) And I do hope that in five years from now, we'll have that.
Kimberly
(13:20) Tell me about your books or your book. (13:27) Well, I co-authored the book AI Revolution when I write about this cognitive offloading and skills teams need to have in AI era. (13:36) And I'm also an author of the book Clicking, which is about building self-sufficient teams.
(13:41) And again, in this AI era, this book is more important than ever because we tend to offload too much to AI. (13:48) Some teams will be replaced by AI. (13:50) Managers will be replaced by AI.
(13:52) Because the research says that AI can actually do the work that project managers are doing. (13:59) Delegation, control, task management, things like that. (14:03) So, if you're a manager who focuses on delegation, control, task management, and just regular project management stuff, you'll be replaced by AI.
(14:12) But if you are a manager who's building amazing teams, who's building teams that work together, collaborate, work towards the shared goal, then you will not be replaced. (14:23) So, the framework that I describe in my book is actually the one that will help leaders become the ones that will build amazing teams and will not be replaced by AI. (14:34) What is the vision of the book Click? (14:41) What is your vision?
Daria Rudnik
(14:44) Well, again, the idea behind the book is to help leaders build self-sufficient teams.
(14:48) Because in this world, leaders are overloaded. (14:51) Overloaded with lots of multiple demands from the market, from stakeholders, senior leaders, from the bottom. (14:58) They're expected to motivate their teams, engage their teams, lead their teams, deliver amazing results.
(15:04) They have families. (15:04) I mean, there's a lot. (15:06) It hasn't been like that 10, 15, 20 years ago.
(15:10) But now, the speed is just increasingly high. (15:16) And the idea of the book is the five pillars that will help leaders build teams that can operate. (15:24) They can be self-managed and self-sufficient.
(15:27) They can be more autonomous. (15:28) And take some load off leaders and let them focus on something that they can do, like strategy and their own work on setting the vision. (15:40) So, there are five pillars that are clear purpose, linking connections, integrated work, knowledge sharing, collaborative decisions, knowledge sharing, and feedback.
(15:52) Clear purpose, linking connections, integrated work, collaborative decisions, knowledge sharing, and feedback. (15:59) Like that, those five pillars, they will make your team click.
Kimberly
(16:03) Well said.
(16:04) In the AI revolution, you co-authored insights on thriving amid AI disruptions. (16:11) What's one prediction about AI's impact on team dynamics that leaders should prepare for right now?
Daria Rudnik
(16:20) Well, again, the one that I'm observing while working with leaders is how teams become disengaged while working with AI and over-rely on AI. (16:31) So, that's one of the risks, over-reliance on AI, where teams delegate too much.
(16:37) Whether you should not be delegating things like, you should never fire a person with the help of AI. (16:43) You should never have an apathetic conversations with the help of AI. (16:47) I mean, you're laughing, but there was a post on LinkedIn where some top manager said, hey, we're laying off people, here is AI support for you.
(16:55) I mean, that's ridiculous. (16:57) So, where to use AI and where not to use AI, that's a big question. (17:03) And leaders and teams need to collaboratively discuss and agree, hey, here is how we use AI, and here is where we would never use AI.
Kimberly
(17:13) Wow, yeah, over-reliance. (17:16) I think it's an addictive thing where, you know, people over-rely for the answer so much because we're addicted to having the answers and being correct and having the solutions. (17:28) And, you know, I can admit sometimes I over-rely on technology, but I try to balance it out as well.
(17:40) So, I get what you're saying. (17:42) That is true. (17:42) You can over-rely on something, but I try to balance it out.
(17:47) So, how did you, well, when did you build Rostec, and what does it mean for you to help with teams in that aspect? (17:58) Build what? (18:00) Rostec.
Daria Rudnik
(18:02) Ah, oh, I mean, I was a chief people officer there. (18:05) So, I mean, it was startup within this organization.
(18:08) I used to be chief people officer there, and we were setting up this new startup, B2G startup. (18:15) And it was an interesting experience of building multinational teams where we used, like, we didn't hire people, but we used them as agents and contractors. (18:27) And they were happy about it.
(18:28) It's not something that, like, we didn't want to pay salary. (18:31) We paid them really, really good money. (18:33) But they were free to do whatever they want.
(18:35) We were free to use them whatever they want. (18:37) And for a startup, that was a really great opportunity to build multinational organization without actually hiring people and having this, like, huge bureaucracy that comes with it.
Kimberly
(18:51) Okay.(18:52) And you've worked with clients across 11 countries. (18:57) What cultural nuances have you found most influential in building high-trust teams?
Daria Rudnik
19:03) I love that question. (19:05) Again, since my focus is working with, like, individual leaders and teams, I like saying that forget about cultural labels.
(19:18) I mean, we do know that there are, like, more reserved cultures, more open cultures, more direct, less direct. (19:25) But when you work with a team, and your team is about eight people, you can, like, you can learn and you can know them individually as humans. (19:33) Because, I mean, within any culture, there can be more open people and more reserved people.
(19:39) So without putting any labels on them, but within the team settings, I wouldn't focus on cultural differences, but I would focus on human and inter, like, human connections and difference between people. (19:55) Yeah.
Kimberly
(19:57) Well said.
(19:59) How do you differentiate between managing up traditional leadership advice based on your recent discussions and podcast appearances?
Daria Rudnik
(20:11) Managing up?
Kimberly
(20:12) Yes.
Daria Rudnik
(20:14) Well, I love managing up, and I love teaching people and coaching people and helping them managing up. (20:20) Because, like, in today's world, no one can, like, elevate your career.
(20:26) No one will promote you just because you're doing a good job. (20:30) No one will, like, help you grow unless you want to grow, unless you are proactive with growing. (20:36) So your career is your business.
(20:40) And every successful manager, every successful professional, if you want to grow in your career, treat it as a business. (20:47) And when you treat it as a business, you have clients. (20:50) And your manager is your most important client.
(20:53) So when managing up is actually helping and serving your client, providing the best value you can so that they can grow. (21:00) And when they grow, you grow with them. (21:02) That means you understand their goals.
(21:05) You understand their motivators. (21:06) You help them reach their goals. (21:08) And you make sure they know that it's you who is helping them reach their goals.
(21:12) So they will stick, like, they will keep you. (21:14) And when they grow higher, they'll take you with you.
Kimberly
(21:18) Okay.
(21:19) And for leaders feeling trapped in day-to-day operations, what's the first step you recommend in your team alignment program to foster self-sufficiency?
Daria Rudnik
(21:30) Get my book. (21:34) But honestly, I mean, have an open conversation. (21:37) Get the team together and have a conversation.
(21:39) Why are we here? (21:40) How do we want to work together? (21:42) Create a team charter. (21:44) What are the team norms? (21:45) Just have a conversation with your people so that they talk, not the leaders talking, but people are talking and tell you how they want to work together. (21:54) How do they want to communicate? (21:56) How many one-to-ones or team sessions they want to have? (22:00) And have those conversations on a quarterly basis, on a monthly basis, whatever you feel is needed.
(22:05) But start talking to people more and listening to what they say.
Kimberly
(22:10) Yeah, I think listening. (22:12) I try to listen as much as I can, you know.
(22:15) I get what you're saying. (22:18) As a Forbes Coaches Council member, what is the most common misconception about executive coaching that you've encountered in your 1,000-plus hours of sessions?
Daria Rudnik
(22:33) Well, sometimes people come to coaching expecting answers. (22:38) I don't have all the answers.
(22:40) But what coaching is and what coaching, the power of coaching is not giving you answers. (22:44) Information is free. (22:45) You can find information anywhere.
(22:49) But discovering what will be working for you personally, that's the power of coaching. (22:55) Finding what will work for you as a leader, as an individual within your context. (23:00) That is the power of coaching.
(23:02) So don't expect your coach to give you all the answers. (23:06) Be curious and explore together. (23:08) And that will help you find the best solution that fits you.
Kimberly
(23:13) And how do you integrate tools like GC Index Assessment into your coaching to help leaders identify strengths and blind spots in their teams?
Daria Rudnik
(23:24) Well, GC Index is a great tool. (23:27) I love it. (23:27) I love it because it's not a psychometric tool.
(23:31) It doesn't tell you that you are an introvert. (23:34) Okay, so what do I do with that? (23:36) It tells you how you create impact in the organization. (23:39) And it means that you can find ways, like you can create impact by different ways.
(23:44) You can create impact by talking, communicating with people. (23:48) You can create impact by generating new ideas or by strategizing. (23:52) When you know your strengths, when you know what you're good at, you can use it.
(23:57) You can be more conscious about doing that. (23:59) And same thing with teams. (24:01) Like you can see, okay, what kind of people we have on our team.
(24:04) And I'll tell you a story about a team that took this GC Index Assessment. (24:08) It was a product team. (24:09) And they found out there were a lot of people who are innovative and who could generate lots of great ideas.
(24:17) But they didn't have a lot of people who were actually able to implement things. (24:23) And when they saw this, okay, now we understand why we don't deliver on time. (24:29) Because they're always generating something new.
(24:31) Oh, here's a new feature we can implement. (24:33) Here is something we can try out. (24:35) But when they saw that profile, the team profile, they realized that they're focusing too much on generating new ideas.
(24:42) And they don't give enough space and they don't hear the voices of other people who are more implemented, who are more action-oriented. (24:52) And when they saw that, when they realized that, they made sure those implemented voices, those action-oriented voices are heard at every meeting. (24:59) So that they will not miss deadlines and they will deliver on time.
Kimberly
(25:04) Yeah, yeah. (25:06) And do you use predictive analytics to predict a team based on the employee's past job, etc., you know, category?
Daria Rudnik
(25:17) Personally, I don't. (25:18) But I think it's fascinating.
(25:19) Yeah, but I don't do that. (25:21)
Kimberly
Okay. (25:22) And how do you, or with the AI revolution hitting bestseller status in Germany, what feedback from readers has most validated your co-author perspectives on AI and leadership?
Daria Rudnik
(25:40) That, we need a lot of information about how AI works and how to deal with it.
(25:46) There is a lot of uncertainty. (25:47) People like looking for information. (25:50) Okay, here are all the tools that we can use.
(25:53) How do we best use them? (25:55) What are the risks? (25:56) How do we practically implement them in HR, in customer success, in software development? (26:04) So, information is really needed. (26:07) People needed information and look for it.
Kimberly
(26:11) And you've actually spoken at events like Miro's Canvas 25.
(26:18) What emerging trend in collaborative AI tools excites you most for future team building?
Daria Rudnik
(26:26) Well, I did spoke for some of the Miro events. (26:28) And I love Miro because it provides tools so that you can collaborate remotely with the help of AI. (26:35) And again, when I work with leaders and teams, I always do that remote because most of my clients are remote and hybrid teams.
(26:44) I use Miro to collaborate with them. (26:46) And there are a lot of people who are interested in how to make remote work for them. (26:53) And again, through communication, through one-to-one communications with the leader and through communications with team members between each other.
Kimberly
(27:02) Where do you see yourself, Ms. Ratnik, going for the future?
Daria Rudnik
(27:09) Well, again, I'm really fascinated with the development of AI and human-AI collaboration. (27:15) And I do want to explore more how humans and AI can work together, think together, and kind of how people can use AI to support their work and not be replaced by it.
Kimberly
(27:29) Okay.
And how can the people reach you?
Daria Rudnik
(27:32) Well, the best way is reach me on LinkedIn. (27:36) I'm very open to conversations. (27:38) Send me a connection request, a DM.
(27:40) You can also find me and more information about what I do on my website, DariaRudnik.com.
Kimberly
(27:47) Thank you so much. Stay on the line. (27:48) Thank you all for joining my show today.
(27:51) Y'all take care. Be safe. (27:52) And I'll see you guys another time.
Daria Rudnik
(27:55) Thank you.