Are You Settling for Being Just Another Mediocre Leader? The Psychological Blueprint the Best Growth Leaders Rely On.

Summary: In this article, I delve into the distinctions between bad, good, and great leaders, emphasising the pivotal role of growth psychology in leadership quality and its direct impact on company growth. I introduce a framework based on three crucial variables: Communication & Connection, Vision & Values, and Empowerment & Execution. Bad leaders fall short in these areas, while good leaders utilise them to a basic extent, and great leaders excel exponentially. The journey to greatness involves self-awareness, exposure to leadership models, and mastering psychological techniques. Growth Psychology fosters a growth mindset, psychological safety, self-awareness, and self-improvement. I will share real-life examples that demonstrate the practical application of these techniques and will conclude with a handy table which summarises the key differences between leadership qualities and their impact on company growth based on research. Embracing growth psychology and life centricity is fundamental for transformative leadership and sustained organisational success.

The Psychological Blueprint the Best Growth Leaders Rely On.

The difference between a bad, good or great growth-oriented leader can be simplified imagining three variables:?

- C represents 'Communication & Connection'

- V stands for 'Vision & Values'

- E is 'Empowerment & Execution'.

The quality of each leadership type can be represented as the product of these variables raised to different powers:

Bad Leadership (B):?

Where anything raised to the power of 0 equals 1. This suggests that a bad leader doesn't effectively utilize Communication, Vision, or Empowerment, thus not multiplying their potential.

Good Leadership (G):

In this case, a good leader utilises each variable to its basic potential. They communicate, have a vision, and empower to some extent.

Great Leadership (Gr):

A great leader not only utilises each variable but amplifies it, thus maximising their leadership potential. The squared value emphasises the exponential impact of great leadership.

So, in essence:

- A bad leader doesn't effectively use communication, vision, or empowerment.

- A good leader uses them, but at a basic level.

- A great leader amplifies and excels in these areas, providing an exponential boost in leadership quality.

Why don’t we all become great leaders??

The short answer is simple but reveals a set of complexities: the journey to becoming a great leader is an intricate interplay of personal attributes, external circumstances, and consistent growth efforts. Not everyone evolves into a great leader because of a combination of factors, including lack of self-awareness, inadequate exposure to leadership models, situational constraints, and the inherent challenges in mastering diverse psychological techniques. In particular I realised over the years that very few leaders know what is the right psychological approach to use with the people in their teams and across the organisation.

As a growth advisor with extensive experience in managing teams and growing start-ups, I want to focus in this article on a professional leadership tool that can profoundly enrich our leadership journey and our company's success. I'll introduce you to the world of Growth Psychology and explain why it should not be overlooked by you as a leader for the sustainable growth of your organisation and your company.

Embracing Growth as a Human Operating System

In the fast-paced world of tech start-ups and scale-ups, growth-oriented leadership isn't just about quick fixes, growth or psychological hacks or marketing tactics. It's about understanding growth as a complex human operating system. Growth Psychology is the missing piece of the puzzle, and it can be a game-changer for long-term success.

The Power of Growth Psychology

At the heart of Growth Psychology lies the concept of the "growth mindset" pioneered by Carol Dweck. So it's about embracing challenges, learning from failures, and evolving as a leader. But well beyond that for CXOs, founders and emerging leaders, Growth Psychology is your trusty sidekick. It fosters psychological safety, self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-improvement, helping you lead your team to reach their full potential.

Culture Eats Strategy... But Who’s Cooking?

As Peter Drucker said in his famous quote, "culture eats strategy for breakfast." Similarly, Safi Bahcall noted that "structure eats culture for lunch." But who ensures that all these fellow diners have tasty and healthy food on the table not two, but ideally three times a day, every week, for the rest of their lives? That’s where Growth Psychology comes in - it helps us be the best possible leaders that know how to set the right structure that sustains the best culture that supports the most competitive strategy and its execution so as to achieve our long-term growth objectives.

The Power of Growth Psychology: Amplifying Leadership and Driving Sustainable Success

A transformative leadership style transcends the status quo. At the heart of exceptional leadership is Growth Psychology, an advanced interpretation of traditional leadership models. Here's how:

1. Evolved Growth Mindset: Beyond fostering a belief in potential, it encompasses Self-awareness, Self-acceptance, and Self-improvement, the trinity of personal evolution.

2. Revolutionised Communication: A great leader ensures efficient and effective communication, forging meaningful and deep connections within teams, cultivating trust, and laying the groundwork for collaboration.

3. Visionary Leadership: Crafting a compelling vision is essential. Equally vital is weaving innovative ideas with purposeful values, ensuring alignment with the larger organisational mission.

4. Empowerment Amplified: Truly transformative leaders create environments that foster autonomy, granting teams the latitude to execute, innovate, and grow.

Some real life examples.

I will share some practical examples of how using different growth psychology techniques led to positive change in team dynamics.

Jane, a senior manager I mentored, started to hold quarterly reflective sessions with her team. They now discuss personal strengths, areas of improvement, and co-create action plans for personal growth. The re-framing technique used here was taken from Cognitive Psychology - emphasising reflection and personal evaluation.

Sam, a data engineering lead I worked with, learnt to encourage his team members to explore and understand their past experiences and unconscious feelings that might affect their performance and interactions using Psychodynamic Psychology - exploring unconscious processes to enhance self-awareness.

At her tech start-up, Lisa implemented a "No Slides, Just Talk" policy during meetings, encouraging genuine dialogue over scripted presentations. In our mentorship sessions we learnt how to use Transactional Analysis - emphasising authentic ego-state communication over rehearsed dialogue.

Carlos, VP of growth for an online retailer I advised, started "Feedback Fridays", where team members share constructive feedback in a safe, supportive environment, leading to improved team cohesion and trust. Via Cognitive Psychology he created a structured environment for feedback and reflection.

Sophia, head of HR in a b2c scale-up, wanted to improve psychological safety and personal growth across her organisation, in a scalable and sustainable way. We created p2p mentor-mentee pairings, focusing on the security of their interactions, enabling members to seek guidance confidently. Here we took some principles from Attachment Theory - using secure base principles to foster safe communication.

In order to grow a sense of belonging and purpose amongst his team, at an annual strategy workshop for a travel metasearch, Ahmed and I involved his team in co-creating a roadmap, ensuring it was anchored in the company's values and aligned with the overarching mission. We drew inspiration from the Identity Economy theory trying to align better personal and company values for a stronger sense of shared mission.

Similarly, in a fast-growing digital design firm, Maria, head of design, allowed junior designers to take the lead on projects, encouraging them to experiment, learn, and take ownership of their growth. Doing this she allowed team members to shape and redefine their professional identities through experience.

Harnessing the well-intentioned application of various psychological theories is what distinguishes transformative leaders. Each discipline — be it behavioural and cognitive psychology, transactional analysis, identity economy theory, psychodynamic psychology, or attachment theory — provides unique insights. Their collective application fosters psychological safety, elevates performance, and creates a contented workplace. Of course not everyone uses growth psychology to become a better leader: this is because it requires an extra, continuous effort and lots of additional learning but it is worth it.

Why is it a Game-Changer?

Imbuing your leadership with Growth Psychology isn't just a theoretical exercise; it translates to quantifiable gains:

• Personal & Professional Growth: Growth mindset interventions have demonstrated improved outcomes, such as higher GPAs among students. [University of Pennsylvania]
• Fostering Innovation: Adaptability and innovation thrive where Growth Psychology principles reign, ensuring sustained market relevance and unique-product-market fit (U-PMF).
• Employee Engagement Surge: Regular growth-centric feedback boosts engagement significantly. Gallup noted a 3x uptick in engagement when feedback was frequent, with highly engaged employees being 87% less prone to job-hopping.
• Optimised Operations: A content workforce isn't just happier; it's more efficient. Happy employees, as per the University of Warwick, outperform by a whopping 12%.
• Revenue Rocket: Deloitte's research illustrates that purpose-driven companies don't just satisfy customers; they outgrow competitors threefold. BCG's studies echo this sentiment, with purpose-driven brands witnessing a staggering 175% value increase over 12 years, in contrast to a median growth rate of 86%.

Growth Psychology in leadership isn't a luxury; it's a necessity for those aspiring for transformative leadership and organisational excellence.

So how do we change team dynamics for greater growth?

A Real-Life Example: Transforming Team Dynamics

Let me share another real-life example of how Growth Psychology transformed a tech scale-up's performance. I was hired as a growth advisor to help a fast-growing B2C tech scale-up review their growth strategy and structure. I realised that pivotal projects were consistently lagging, with delays becoming frequent, particularly in the teams managed by Carol, the VP of Growth of an online marketplace. After ensuring that the right team structure and talent was in place and that a clear vision, goals and processes were set, we dug deeper into investigating the root causes for such continuous delays.

The traditional leadership approach would have been to impose tighter deadlines, increase resources, or even reshuffle team members. However, we took a Growth Psychology-enhanced leadership approach. During our mentorship sessions with Carol, we delved into the deeper psychological dynamics behind the team's issues. By employing cognitive and psychodynamic techniques, Carol was trained to lead open dialogues, fostering environments for active listening and reflection. We also explored concepts of psychological safety and attachment theory to unravel the subtle nuances of team member interactions, identifying patterns of anxiety, avoidance, and feelings of insecurity.

Through these sessions over roughly three months, Carol discovered a latent hierarchy and unconscious biases that blocked creativity and innovation. She also identified that quieter team members felt vulnerable and were hesitant to voice opinions. By recognizing attachment patterns, Carol initiated her own mentorship programs and clearer communication channels. She implemented structures that nurtured psychological safety, ensuring every member felt secure voicing ideas and concerns.

The impact was remarkable. The revamped environment led to substantial improvements in team dynamics. Members were more collaborative, innovative, ideas flowed more freely, and morale skyrocketed. With these enhanced team dynamics, project completion rates improved dramatically. The team was not only more efficient but also more innovative, proposing solutions that would have remained untapped in a less inclusive environment. This internal shift had a direct impact on the scale-up's growth trajectory, with accelerated project timelines, improved growth initiative quality, and a heightened understanding of customer needs, solidifying the company's position in the market.

Unlocking the Power of Life Centricity

Life centricity, a business approach that deeply understands and adapts to customers' multifaceted lives, is crucial in today's business landscape. Research shows that businesses focused on life centricity are three times more likely to surpass peers in speed-to-market and almost five times more likely in customer lifetime value (Source: “The Life Centricity Playbook: Proven Strategies for Growth Through Relevance ,). Companies leading in life centricity are predicted to outperform lagging peers by nine percentage points annually in growth rate, potentially gaining $4 billion in new revenues over five years for a $10 billion company.

However, understanding the multi-dimensional aspects of an individual's life should start within the organisation itself. To truly embed life centricity in your company, it's pivotal to first adopt this approach for your internal customers - namely your employees and direct reports. Before seeking to understand and cater to the complexities of external customers' lives, leaders must first deeply grasp the intricacies of their team members' lives. Utilising disciplines like growth psychology aids in this understanding, providing insight into the motivations, challenges, and aspirations of your internal teams. If leaders fail to comprehend and respond to the multifaceted nature of their employees' lives, it becomes increasingly challenging to authentically, systematically, and sustainably extend the same level of understanding and adaptation via a new business and operating model to external customers. In essence, a genuine life-centric approach begins at home – within the organisation – laying the foundation for its broader, market-facing applications.

Leadership Spectrum: how to go from Bad to Great with Growth Psychology Techniques

Below I created a practical table that summarises the differences between bad, good and great leaders and their relation with Growth Psychology.

Ready to Dive In?

I'm excited to share more insights into the world of Growth Psychology in upcoming articles. We'll explore how feedback fuels success, the impact of relationships on growth, aligning values for motivation, building trust through vulnerability, and much more. If you're interested in fostering innovation, driving sustainable growth, and embracing a culture of candid guidance, stay tuned, and feel free to share your thoughts or questions with me (via a direct message or in the comments).

Growth Psychology can be seen as your leadership superpower, and life centricity is the path to unprecedented growth opportunities. Embracing them, we can shape our leadership journey to make our talented people happier and our company's success bigger and more sustainable.