The Three Dynamic Facets of Successful Leadership

After more than 20 years working with leaders in different industries, at different levels, and in different types of organizations, I’ve organized the core components of modern-day leadership into one model, which we use at Energize Leadership to focus and guide all of our coaching and development efforts.

The model has three core elements and is quite simple: Connect. Engage. Perform.

Each of the three areas build upon each other. You can’t get to “perform” unless you have excelled in both Connect and Engage. They look simple enough, but each core element actually covers quite a bit of key content.

BUT FIRST… DOWNLOAD OUR LEADERSHIP FIRST EVALUATION!

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The Energize Leadership Model captures the needs and requirements of today’s leaders and organizes our robust array of development tools, strategies, courses, and events designed to meet the unique leaders we support on their journey to greatness. Your specific leadership challenges are covered in this model – I guarantee it! Let me take some time to walk you through.

Connect is all about relationships. Relationships are an important key to success in today’s world and they have actually become the central focus for leaders. But relationships are about a lot more than just a connection with another person – like the dynamic between an employee and a boss, or an interaction with a client. The truth is, Relationships start with YOU. The CORE of YOU.

There are so many things that get in the way of our ability to build a strong relationship with another individual. There is our own personal “story,” the assumptions we make about others, the busy work that we immerse ourselves in, the virtual reality of our office, the dynamic between others…I could go on and on. Interpersonal relationships are one of the REASONS why work is sometimes so difficult. So it is important to take inventory of the role WE play ourselves in the interpersonal equation.

In the CONNECT piece of the Energize Leadership Model, we take time to discover more about you and what your key drivers and talents are. We also look at your emotional intelligence and how we can leverage it to build strong relationships. And, we also obtain feedback from others, so you have a better idea of how you are perceived and where you can improve. This first step is really about understanding yourself, your core needs and your biggest contributions so that we can build a plan to get the best version of yourself out into the world at all times. It’s time to get out of your own way, and become the best YOU that you can be!

Next, we focus on your vision and your purpose, clarifying identifying it so that you have the clarity you need to move forward strategically and you are able to speak compellingly about your direction.

Then, we work together to create a plan for your self-care – what are the things you need to build in to your days, your work schedule, your life, in order to care for yourself in a way that allows you to start to live your best self. We want to let go of any self-sabotaging habits and reinforce the soul-filling, goal achieving behaviors that will lead to your dream life and your dream work scenario.

At this point we begin to look at your inner-circle relationships and what you can do to nurture, protect, and enrich them. Positive and fulfilling relationships with others not only provide the support you need to sustain yourself, they also provide a natural bridge to your biggest ambitions, and will be key to keeping your forward momentum moving on autopilot.

So CONNECT is really about putting on the oxygen mask first yourself. This is your foundation and it is only with a strong foundation that you can truly thrive and live the life you are meant to live.

Engage is about how you show up and how you inspire and engage others. It is critical to have clarity and confidence in the message you relay. Here, we work on your presence and your approach, to ensure a clear and compelling leadership essence that resonates with others. We also work on strategy and maintaining a strong, healthy and high performing team. This includes hiring well, developing the talent you hire, focusing on their strengths, communication, and managing transitions well. We focus on what you can do to keep your finger on the pulse and on keeping the team energized about the work they are doing. Establishing a purpose-focused culture ensures you have the right people on the bus, doing the right things, in the right order and for the right reasons!

Engage is also about your customers and clients. Keeping in tune to their needs, actively managing the relationship with them (and your brand), and connecting your entire organization with them is one of the frequently missing keys to lasting success and lifelong loyalty. It is one thing to have a compelling vision, it is quite another to keep everyone energized around it and rallying toward success, even more powerfully than you.

Finally, we talk about celebration. With the fast and frenetic pace being a norm for today’s leaders, we have sadly lost the art of celebration. We work on fine tuning the balance of work hard, play hard. Of achieve, rest, repeat.

Engage is about being deliberate. Being aware. And energizing others. Engage the people who matter the most – employees, customers, & family – so they can be their best too. People are the driving force and it is only through channeling positive, engaging energy that greatness happens.

Being able to set expectations and manage to results is an art that is difficult for many leaders. Perform is about building an organization that is performance-focused and also comfortable with challenging conversations about how to best achieve optimal levels of performance. Therefore, we tackle the tricky issues like managing time and priorities, delegating, creating work-life balance, facilitating productive meetings, and mastering the competencies that are necessary for being successful. Again, we lean heavily on your strengths and study your sticking points to strategically reconcile them.

Many leaders struggle with things like being organized, following-through, relying on others, taking on too much, making decisions, and managing change. We have tools, tips and tricks developed to support you in so many of these tough areas so the light can shine on your greatest attributes rather than your stumbling blocks.
Building a creative and innovative culture, open and ready to redesign processes, re-engage stakeholders, or introduce new products and services is imperative for being nimble and adaptable for the opportunities and situations that come your way. Actively maintaining an agile culture is an effort you’ll learn to be conscious of and deliberate in achieving.

As a leader, you are ultimately judged by your performance. And performance usually means the bottom line. What are revenues, what is the profit, are we hiring and keeping great talent? We help you set performance measures that matter, and together we work through a process for creating a performance-focused culture so everyone can gauge and speak to performance on a consistent and frequent basis. We do need to work hard in order to play hard. But focusing on the RIGHT things is the only way to be sure we can live the life of our dreams. If we take the time to set ourselves up for success, everything becomes easier.

Optimal performance is like a wheel in motion, a continuous cycle looping back around for more. Let’s make performance the easiest thing in your wheelhouse.