Reverse engineering growth 🚀

​Last week we talked about creating environments that drive growth and results—many of you said it sparked team discussions on how to improve, and I’m so glad! Just to reiterate why this type of environment is important: your company will only grow as fast as your leaders. So, your job isn’t to manage metrics but to create conditions where growth is inevitable—a flywheel of success.

There’s a technical term used for this kind of space — one where people feel safe enough to speak their deepest truths, fail, ask for support, say something crazy, innovate, grow… it’s called psychological safety and research says, it’s the basis of high performing teams.

This week, I want to share mistakes I see companies make when planning leadership programming, essentially what happens when they’re not constantly prioritizing psychological safety. But first, a story of when I personally learned the importance of this kind of environment and how I reverse engineered a way to build it. You excited? Good! 🙃

Confidence comes from combat… and community

I am currently writing to you from Nebraska. Little Monty (my 4.5 month old daughter) and I are here to run an offsite for a long time client. I was initially hired by UNL six years ago, when the women of their entrepreneurship program weren’t launching businesses (literally zero women had launched) and only 25% of leadership positions were held by women — they weren’t even raising their hand to go out for them! Something needed to shift.

From the outside, they needed confidence. But there was something deeper. They needed what I see so many leaders need in order to step into their most innovative, high performing selves - community. Why community? Because community breeds resilience. As leaders, entrepreneurs, parents and just generally high achieving humans who don’t do mediocre, we need reminders that it’s not just ok to mess up, it’s necessary for growth, for moving forward, for progress. Getting back up, the essence of resilience, is key to success in, well, anything. And turns out, resilience breeds confidence.

The research says…

If you’ve taken any of the classes I teach with Simon Sinek’s Optimism Company, I always find a way to include this research: The best thing we can do for others is witness them navigating a challenge, and empower them to rise in resilience. This is because of how our brain works: it sees the self as more capable when witnessed by someone we trust. So if you want your people to feel more confident and rise to the challenge, be that person they trust who is present with them as they rise. This is where our framework begins — B - Be present. So, no matter how much you believe you can “help”, at all costs, refrain from diving in to fix things or give advice and first be present.

I digress. The women of UNL needed community. This I knew…

At first the program director asked when I could come give a talk. Standard. Of course I could amp up and inspire a room, but I knew that but a one-off talk wasn’t going to create the conditions necessary for the shift they wanted — and needed.

One-off trainings are great for disseminating technical information, but don’t create world class leaders. To elevate leaders, they need an experiential place to imperfectly practice and workshop what they learn. I shared with the program director that I couldn't, in good faith, agree to come “be the solution” when I knew a keynote wouldn’t move the needle.

A week later he called back. “I tripled the budget to build a full program for our women, when can you be here?” Well, ok then… I wish all executives were this dedicated to their people.

The results?

After two years of BRAVE programming — 51% of women had launched businesses (from zero), 75% of leadership roles were held by women (from 25%) and the program director joked that he no longer lost sleep at night worried about the women and instead needed to set up a men’s program because they were falling behind, fast!

[🤩 Update: I heard last night that the number of women launching businesses is now around 75%+!! ]

McKinsey confirms my theory Why am I sharing all of this? Two reasons, first because my gut instinct of how we needed to build community was spot on. Then again, I know all the research and its my job to know what is needed when I hear a scenario like this. But in case you’re curious, here are three very common mistakes well-intentioned companies make when designing leadership or development programs:

1. One-off talks and trainings The fancy keynote speaker or offsite activity sound like a great idea, but either only offer a temporary infusion of inspiration. Without ongoing practice and development, leaders quickly revert to old habits (we’re only human!) and any improvement created is soon forgotten. Only with consistency will learnings become part of the fabric of an organizational culture.

2. Overemphasis on theory Programs that are heavy on content but light on engagement and emotion leave participants unchanged. Aha moments from self reflection and facilitated discussion are the imperative sparks that anchor in the mindset shifts needed to elevate leaders to their next level, so they can turn around and pour into their teams without burning out.

3. Disconnected from daily work If new skills aren’t integrated into daily routines, they seem irrelevant. If they aren’t (imperfectly) role modeled by leadership, they don’t become part of the culture. If leaders can’t see that imperfect practice is a necessary part of development they will hesitate to apply what they’ve learned. This will foster insecurity instead of confidence and collective growth.

None of these prioritize psychological safety. ​
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The second reason I wanted to share this is because I originally thought that better outcomes come from better questions. While it isn’t entirely untrue, what I learned, especially through my work with UNL, is that anyone can ask deep, self exploratory questions, but they’re not a guarantee of getting the kinds of answers that spark growth. The magic was never actually in the questions after all, it was in the space I held for the answers. That space was created by a very specific structure that we followed like clockwork. That structure evolved into The BRAVE Framework.

Reverse engineering community, confidence and results

The BRAVE Framework was the “how” behind building a sustainable community at UNL. Through BRAVE, we reverse engineered confidence. We built a model for psychological safety. We built a structure for culture. A culture where anyone can express their ideas, challenge the status quo, and take risks. A culture where high performance is the natural by-product. The flywheel

BRAVE wasn’t built around the pitfalls laid out above, it existed long before McKinsey even wrote that article. But it embodies everything they suggest in building out a successful leadership program that prioritizes psychological safety and as a result, amplifies everything that comes after. BRAVE is the flywheel, the framework that gives us the tiny actions to take daily that compound and shift everything in our favor.

Something to think about

Take a look at your plans for the balance of this year and next year. How are you planning your leadership development programs? Are you prioritizing psychological safety? What could you do better?
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Your people, and culture, and results will thank you for taking a moment to answer these questions at this time next year...

I hope you’ll share what this sparks for you…

P.S If you think this note could help someone in a role of leadership, forward it along! :) or invite them to subscribe here.

P.P.S. If this resonates and you want to dive deeper, the doors of our online course and live community are open to you (not the public yet). Join us here!