To confidently advocate for a brand, individuals must first develop a deep understanding of themselves as leaders. This journey of self-discovery is pivotal, regardless of whether one manages people or leads themselves.
As R. Michael Anderson MBA MA, author of Leadership Mindset 2.0, emphasises, “Your leadership style is a reflection of the relationship you have with yourself.”
In a recent LinkedIn Live, our CEO, Sarah Goodall, was excited to interview Michael, whose insights are relevant not only for people managers but also for anyone seeking to enhance their personal growth through self-leadership.
Keep reading for the summary, or listen to the full discussion on our podast.
Growth leadership
Growth leadership is about how you grow into leadership as you grow as a person. You can then grow the people around you and unlock their potential to get the best from them.
Michael believes growing revenue and profit should be done by providing a great service and culture first and foremost, not from a negative place.
Ego can try to convince us to be someone we’re not to be liked and accepted. Doing the work helps us understand who we are.
Authenticity and vulnerability are crucial to leadership, but they’re the results of doing the work and knowing your values. The more you know who you are, the more authentic you automatically become and the more healthily vulnerable you are.
The ARC framework
Michael created a three-piece framework called the ARC framework. It’s divided into three parts:
- Awareness
Awareness is when leaders get to the symptom of the problem.
For instance, if the company just lost a customer or there’s a problem with a customer, addressing the symptoms is important. But you also have to address the actual problem. Why is that customer leaving?
It’s easy to get caught up on only fixing symptoms, but that’s not a strategic solution. - Response
When something happens, we react emotionally. That’s normal. However, if something happens and it leads to anger or frustration, it doesn’t solve anything.
A response is what you choose. It’s when you know there’s a problem, then take a moment to consider the best thing you can do as a leader.
Before responding, try taking a deep breath. This will prevent emotions from getting the better of you, which can put you in the wrong head space to make decisions. - Compassion
Leaders need compassion for themselves and other people.
Often, leaders are harder on themselves than anyone else. Almost all leaders are perfectionists and have huge expectations.
Being a leader requires dealing with change and risk. Nothing will ever be perfect. It’s important to give yourself a break if that’s the case. Chances are, you’re working hard enough already.
Common traits in long-term, high-performing leaders
According to Gallup research, 50% of people have left a role to get away from their manager.
Michael has worked with lots of big companies including Microsoft, Uber, and Siemens. In that time, he’s noticed some patterns that successful leaders share.
They likely have a loyal team who might even follow them from one organization to another. They also have confidence.
Shyness and arrogance are born out of insecurity. Shy people want to hide. Arrogant people go on the offensive because they don’t trust themselves.
Confidence sits in the middle. People are drawn to that.
It’s not about knowing it all. It’s knowing that whatever you and your team take on, you can figure it out. People always want to buy into hope.
Sometimes confidence can come from the quietest person in the meeting who says something powerful that everyone agrees with.
It also comes from having confidence in other people. Leaders can sometimes see more in their team members than they see in themselves. Michael challenges these employees because he believes in them. They then go on to achieve more than they thought possible. That’s where loyalty comes from.
How to pitch the journey to blue-collar workers
Michael explained that whenever you need to pitch something to anybody, it’s better to focus on their experiences or their pain points. Don’t get caught up in the tools or explaining the method. Get them bought in on the outcome they want.
He compared it to when you go to the doctor and they prescribe pills. The doctor doesn’t explain what’s in the pills. Instead, they focus on what the problem is and what its solution is.
The roles of resilience and agility in leadership
When you’ve truly done the work, you’re more agile and resilient because you have a better relationship with yourself. Knowing, liking, and trusting yourself are important for resilience.
As humans, we’re programmed to resist change and keep ourselves safe. If you know that a part of you and your team are likely to resist change, you start to see it differently.
Michael and The University of Glasgow did a meta-analysis during the pandemic. They found that the companies that made it through the pandemic – or any similarly chaotic event – were the ones that were more agile.
When you have to manage unnatural or comfortable change, you need to take extra care and consider things like company culture, mental health, and employee engagement.
Leadership and AI
More and more of Michael’s clients are asking him about how AI affects leaders. So he conducted a study of around 300 people.
Some things AI can do, some things it can’t. It can help with tasks, for example, but it can’t help with the human side of leadership.
If you take the human element away, it affects:
- Company culture
- Recruitment
- Retention
Leaders have to address this. It’ll bring out the best in them because a lot of people can do the work, but not all of them are great leaders. Leadership is one of the few things that won’t be dramatically affected by AI.
Leaders vs people managers
Leaders and people managers aren’t always the same thing, Sarah explained at the end of the interview.
Strong leaders have good people skills and are self-aware enough to pull themselves emotionally out of a situation when they feel themselves reacting instead of responding. It’s not about the tasks that they do but the people they inspire.
If you’d like to check out Michael’s book, it’s available now from all good book retailers.
If you’d like help enabling your leaders on social media, get in touch to discover how Tribal Impact can help.
