Reframing Leadership: Embracing a Culture of Connection and Collective Success
We are amid a migration from title-chasing Baby Boomers and praise-seeking Millennials to a workforce driven by connection, collaboration, and collective success. The traditions of hierarchy and competition do not align with the ethos of inclusivity and empathy that many young professionals seek in their work environment today.
Why? Beyond feelings of pandemic disconnectedness, the shift is also rooted in observations and learnings from preceding generations. The behaviors and norms that were previously established by leaders were focused on aggression and self-fulfilling successes. In order to elevate in your career, you were expected to speak up influentially, dominate others with your ideas, and outwardly boast your wins to differentiate yourself amongst peers. This is not the recipe for all budding leaders or visionaries — just a select few benefit from these ingredients and elevate the ranks. Many have admittingly shied from climbing as they refuse to exhibit ruthless, inauthentic, or individualistic behaviors, and potentially ostracizing themselves in a time of strained social connection.
As a growing Product leader working for several large Enterprise companies, I competed against peers constantly. I maneuvered political obstacles to prioritize my team’s roadmap initiatives and would celebrate the value/impact of features delivered to secure new, exciting projects or my next promotion. It felt like a race, one where — as a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie — I thrived and craved the challenge.
Eventually this wore me down when I realized that greater elevation felt lonely, and I prized the relationships I was cultivating more than the achievements. When my boss abruptly exited a company, the SVP asked me to create a revised org chart. I spent time with fellow leaders aligning on the proposed restructuring based on our roadmap strategy, product lines, and resource capabilities. I was then reprimanded for this approach, told that the exercise was for me to provide my vision on how teams should be organized.
It was a shock and deterrent: why couldn’t we collaborate and align on this collaboratively to build collective confidence and buy-in?
Traditional notions of leadership and managing are gradually shifting from authoritarian to creating space for empathetic and collaborative styles. To empower people in these changing environments, we need to reframe leadership:
- From Top-Down to Collaborative: Traditionally, leadership was a top-down affair. The leader created the vision, made the decisions, and everyone else followed. Today’s model emphasizes collaboration. Leaders act as facilitators, drawing on the strengths and perspectives of their teams to develop solutions and achieve goals.
- Command and Control vs. Empowerment: The old leadership style often relied on command and control tactics. Leaders dictated tasks and micromanaged processes. The modern approach focuses on empowerment. Leaders give their teams ownership of their work, trusting them to make decisions and take initiative. This fosters a sense of responsibility and engagement.
- Focus on Authority vs. Emotional Intelligence: The traditional leader projected an air of authority and distance, keeping resources at arm’s length to create a barrier. In the new paradigm, emotional intelligence (EQ) is crucial. Leaders need to understand their own emotions and those of others. This allows them to build trust, navigate conflict effectively, and inspire their teams.
- Individual Hero vs. Shared Success: The old leadership narrative often centered around the lone heroic leader who saved the day. The new model celebrates shared success. Leaders recognize and value the contributions of everyone on the team, fostering a sense of collective achievement.
To thrive in this new space, it’s important to start with the employee. The practice can parallel that of Product, Marketing, and Sales professionals in understanding their user or buyer persona, including their key traits, motivations, and challenges to tailor the journey with opportunities that align with successful outcomes. The same can be applied to team leadership by identifying an individual’s needs and creating an environment catered towards their working style. This promotes behaviors and actions that are in alignment with their nature and can ultimately motivate them to achieve organizational goals.
As Ekta Vyas shared in Forbes: “More valuable than ever is embracing the human factor in your organization’s success. Making herculean efforts to recraft business strategies to gain a competitive edge can bring the best results. But only if the reinvigorated voice of your collective mindset is listened to, renegotiated where needed and fueled with balance between the glaring contradictions of today’s workplace.”
The shift in employee-focused leadership aligns with qualities that are generally associated with female leaders. Women are often adept at collaboration, communication, and fostering relationships. By embracing this new definition of leadership, female leaders can become change agents for organizations and help cultivate effective workplace environments.
In one adrenaline-seeking venture, I worked at a start-up alongside a male counterpart whose style differs vastly from mine. At times, his expectations for the team exceeded their capacity in both understanding the craft as well as their bandwidth. This is by nature due to the fast-paced and results-driven environment. Fearing disappointment or another potential rift, the team members worked overtime to meet the demands and accelerated adopting new processes before they understood the value. While there were positive results, it set a pace and tone in the organization that could not scale successfully and began to produce burnout.
To balance this, I established a rapport with each team member to better understand their individual needs and create a collective success culture.
First, I created a general framework on role competencies and activities in order to work with each individual to hone in on their specific talents, identify gaps in their skill sets and experience, and collaborate on opportunities catered to their individual style for growth and development. Second, I established channels for them to collaborate on items as a team to learn from one another, such as collectively reviewing deliverables or scoring roadmap items for prioritization (that would ultimately become their scope of work). This was essential to reframe the employees’ mindset on how they can assume ownership and drive the narrative. As new ideas, processes, or projects came along, I guided them through asking clarifying questions to understand the value, setting boundaries on what’s feasible, identifying internal/external resources for support, establishing key performance metrics, and outlining a plan they feel confident executing in order to empower them as they implement and deliver.
Phrasing questions in the form of “what ideas do you have on how we can approach this to meet the objective?” or “what are the key takeaways you think are important for this audience?” allows employees to form their own thoughts and conclusions on the value they are producing. They begin to feel heard and supported. This helps them gain confidence and develop practices that turn into repeatable patterns. As they iterate, they have a safe space to ask for help, and as their leader, you provide nudges to ensure they continue to stay on course. Once employees feel empowered in this approach, it permeates and influences those around them. They become successful change agents and collectively shape the organization by establishing new operating norms from the ground-up.
As documented in the Power of Collective Ambition, “the point is to build engagement as a means to an end: to make the purpose personal. In other words, shaping your collective ambition is an opportunity to build or strengthen the organizational glue.”
Below are a few guiding principles that can help leaders with the shift from top-down to bottom-up:
- Be an Engaged Leader: Build strong working relationships with your team members. Understand their individual working styles and communication to find what approaches will resonate. Identify opportunities to expand and elevate their abilities throughout execution of their responsibilities.
- Facilitate Collaboration: Actively solicit ideas and perspectives from your team members. Facilitate group discussions, perform joint analysis, and encourage healthy debate. This will lead to more well-rounded decisions and a more engaged team.
- Empower the Team: Give your team members ownership of their work. Set clear goals and expectations, but provide them with the autonomy to achieve them. Offer support and guidance as they flesh out ideas and approaches, but trust them to make decisions and solve problems.
- Exude Emotional Intelligence: Practice self-awareness and understand how your emotions impact your leadership style. Be perceptive to the emotions of others and create a psychologically safe space for open communication. This will foster trust and build stronger relationships.
- Celebrate Team Achievements: Recognize and appreciate the contributions of each team member. Highlight individual accomplishments, but also emphasize the value of teamwork in achieving success. This will motivate your team and create a positive work environment.
- Find Your Unique Voice: Don’t feel pressured to conform to traditional leadership stereotypes. Embrace your authentic strengths and leadership style. Whether it’s being empathetic, detail-oriented, or a strong communicator, leverage your unique qualities to inspire your team and exemplify how they can leverage their uniqueness as a strength.
In following these principles, I’ve had a direct report share how he feels supported and motivated. “I appreciate how you ask for our perspectives and let us all work together before communicating or committing.” Similarly, in my 360 review, team members reported that I set them up for “mutual growth and development, always aiming to strengthen [the] team dynamic and overall success.” It’s these statements that reflect how modifications in our approach as leaders can truly set the tone for growth and development in a new era of budding leaders.
Personally, this approach continues to produce immense results in my teams’ culture and brings a welcomed feeling of connectedness as I continue to rise.
By applying these tactics, leaders can reframe leadership within their organizations and create a more collaborative, inclusive, and successful work environment for everyone. We have a passenger-side seat that sets the groundwork in influencing workforce generations to come — and this thrill-seeker is in for the ride!
This article is a part of the collaboration between HLWF ™ Alliance and Women’s Circle. Women’s Circle is a collective of executive leaders who believe that wellness is foundational to corporate success.
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