Want your team to step up as leaders? Start here.

In the past weeks, I have interviewed numerous ambitious leaders in all sorts of sectors to increase my understanding of their view on leadership and the biggest challenges they face. In one of the interviews, I spoke to an ambitious founder of an Ed-Tech startup.

I uncovered something very important in that conversation. Something crucial. It may very well be the number 1 thing you must embrace to empower your team so that they can step up as leaders. But that is for you to judge, and more importantly, to try out.

First, we need to understand the different types of leaders on the scale of reactivity

In my perspective, there are 3 categories of leaders on the scale of reactivity. On one end of the scale, we have reactive leaders. These leaders are led by their emotions and their stress response. They feel as if things are out of control and are regularly overwhelmed or stressed. They react to requests varying from emergencies to questions from their team and their whole calendar is built around what people need from them. These leaders can definitely be successful, but they usually do not feel this way nor do they have any time to spend on the things that truly matter. In essence, they follow more than they lead.

Then in the middle of the spectrum, we have responsive leaders. These are the leaders that benefit from understanding their own emotional and mental landscape; they are no longer a victim of it. They developed the ability to respond (hence response-able) to situations and people. As a result they are more in control of their own agenda, they have stated clearer boundaries as to what they can and can’t work on ánd they remain calm during challenges and emergencies.

Finally, at the other end of the spectrum, we have proactive leaders. These are leaders that are both grounded in confidence and conscious of all that happens internally and externally. They are masters of prioritization, initiative and decision making. They are in charge of their own agenda. They steer meetings, guide their team on what to focus on and empower them to be the best they can be. They truly connect with the people around them and they make time for creative deep-work. They feel in charge, leaving them plenty of time to enjoy life.

It is safe to say that proactive leaders are happier and more effective leaders

Don’t get me wrong. There is no better or worse category on this scale. The truth is though, that leaders themselves enjoy life a hell of a lot more on the proactive side of the scale. They feel more like leaders and as a result, they act as leaders.

Although I am not a big fan of ‘reality checks’ when it comes to ambitious goals, dreams or a visualized future, I am a big fan of being realistic about your starting point so that we can take radical responsibility. If you recognized yourself (partly) in the reactive or responsive leader: congrats on the awareness! Now you know what to look out for and what possibilities there are for growth.

Here comes the juice you have been waiting for. If you want your team to step up as leaders, you do not speak to their reactive leader side. You also do not address them as responsive leaders.

If you want your own team to step up as leaders, you speak to them as being proactive leaders.

Play with me here. Let’s say as a leader, I want you to lead a new product launch. Product launching is hard (to say the least) so I want you to feel like you are on top of your game. How do I make you feel like you are on top of your game?

Not by speaking to your reactive side. If I’d be speaking to your reactive leader, I would chew on every step of your project plan. I would instruct you to do X and Y. I would control all the steps you are taking. I wouldn’t actually leave much room for creativity from your side, because I speak to you from a place of fear. I am afraid you can’t do it. I am afraid the project will fail. Even if you do prove you can do it, I will praise your result, not your efforts. Ironically, by treating you like I do not trust you, YOU won’t trust you. As a result, you’ll feel opposite of ‘on-top-of-your-game’. You are overwhelmed. You are stressed. You feel you need to prove yourself. And the project? It may fail. It may succeed. But we both know you and I will be completely exhausted by the time it ends.

Instead, speak to your proactive side. In speaking to your proactive side, I trust you. I am 100% convinced that you can run this project successfully. You may not have done it before, but that just means you can learn. I don’t instruct, I coach. I ask you what you need help with and how I can best support you to grow. I allow you to take charge by offering you space. As a result, you feel responsible for the project and level-up your efforts. You use your creative side of your brain and come up with plans that I could never have dreamed of. You execute and manage the project proactively. And the best part? You seem to have fun while doing it. You are enjoying the learning process.

What’s the big difference in these two approaches? Mindset.

Dr. Carol S. Dweck coined the terms fixed and growth mindset in her theory of motivation that she laid out in her renowned book ‘Mindset’ (2007).

• A fixed mindset is based on the belief that your qualities are carved in stone. You are either smart or not smart. You are talented or not talented. This mindset creates the urgency to prove yourself (even if your initial label was ‘positive’), over and over. As some of you know, this can be extremely tiresome and stressful.

• A growth mindset, on the other hand, is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help from others. This mindset is focused on learning instead of proving oneself.

The book ‘Mindset’ is full of research and examples of how growth mindsets inspire to do increasingly (and mind blowingly) better than what was the norm.

One particular example stuck with me. That example is about Marva Collins, a Chicago school teacher that completely turned around education for children that were labeled as behind, dumb, helpless, difficult learners or worse. She taught them with her growth mindset. She believed 100% in that they could grow and learn. She started the first day of school with the following words:

“I know most of you can’t spell your name. You don’t know the alphabet, you don’t know how to read, you don’t know homonyms or how to syllabicate. I promise you that you will. None of you has ever failed. School may have failed you. Well, goodbye to failure, children. Welcome to success. You will read hard books in here and understand what you read. You will write every day….But you must help me to help you. If you don’t give anything, don’t expect anything. Success is not coming to you, you must come to it.” *

The result? Children advanced and kept growing. One of the children said in an interview “We do hard things here. They fill your brain.”

Your team is no different. You have the power to apply a growth mindset to your team so that they are bound to amaze you.

The moral of the story? Use your own (growth) mindset in growing your team as leaders.

It is really that simple. Changing the way you view your team is the number 1 strategy in growing your team’s leadership skills and qualities.

In theory, this is extremely simple.
In practice, it may be extremely challenging.

You will meet your own demons in the process of shifting your perspective from fixed to growth mindset. You may realize your mindset is currently quite fixed and that you value ‘talent’ and ‘intelligence’ more than everyone’s ability to learn and grow.

And that’s okay.
This just shows that you can also learn and grow.
Keep trying.
Keep growing.

I am curious what insights you’ve gains by reading this blog. More importantly, I am even more curious what actions you took as a result of it! Let me know in an email or a DM.

If you feel you can use help in developing your own growth mindset in your journey as an ambitious leader, then my 1:1 coaching program might be for you. The 10-week personal 1:1 Conscious Leadership program is a coaching program for leaders that want to level up to be confident, authentic and radiant leaders. Send me an email at hello@manonvermeulen.com or book your discovery call session right here to find out if we are a match!

* Excerpt From: ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Updated Edition) Carol S. Dweck (2007)