The Leadership Growth Cycle - A regenerative and systematic approach to building leadership capacity

By Conrad Hayter and Shannon Salentine

Over the past year, we’ve worked with teachers, healthcare, and public health workers as they face great challenges. As coaches, our job is to partner with our clients, help them access their own resourcefulness, and support them as they overcome difficulties and amplify their leadership. We know that leaders have the opportunity to grow exponentially when faced with present and emerging world challenges. These include: pandemics, privilege and power, and stress on education, health care, communities and relationships with those we love.  As we worked with leaders under pressure, we expanded our own understanding of what is needed to build capacity and grow leaders facing challenges. The result of this learning is the Leadership Growth Cycle- five steps for leadership growth during challenging times.   

The Leadership Growth Cycle

The Leadership Growth Cycle can be used on your own, with others, or in a team dynamic. It can also be used by coaches looking for structure and clarity as they support their clients in navigating change or conflict. It is based on our core belief that as humans, we are capable of learning and growing and that this growth mindset serves us in our leadership and, in turn, the world benefits. It consists of five steps that offer guidance and practices to support us as we encounter challenges. These steps are essential for mindfully incorporating a growth mindset when facing a challenge. The five steps are:  awareness, acknowledge, shift, align, and integrate. 

The Five Steps

The LGC begins when we are presented with a situation that activates us in any way. This challenge may make us feel disconnected from ourselves, others, or our world. 

Step 1:  Build Awareness

When faced with a challenge, we can react, resist, avoid, or choose to develop awareness. Developing this awareness requires us to identify thoughts or sensations that hold us back or lead us to behave in a way that is out of alignment with our own system of beliefs. Awareness is the most important step. To engage with our own opportunity for growth, we must be aware that we are facing a difficult situation so we can consciously determine how we will move forward. When we are aware of an opportunity to change, we start the practice of leading ourselves. Three key practices that develop awareness include: 

• Reflection:  Inquire and journal on the question “What is challenging”? 

• Mindfulness practice: This encourages you to notice thoughts or sensations as they arise which provide the data that you are facing something challenging, this involves being curious about your thoughts, feelings, and actions. 

• Partnership:  Find a mirror (a coach, friend, colleague) who can help reflect back to you the experience you are sharing. This support offers deeper understanding and clarity of the challenge you are facing.

Step 2:  Acknowledge 

Once we become aware of the challenge, we need to acknowledge our part or role in the challenge. This involves surrendering to the challenge and observing it with some objectivity and neutrality. Two key practices to support this step include:  

• Reflect:  Leave judgement behind. Reflect with curiosity and self compassion on the following questions:  What is my role in this? How might I be creating or perpetuating this situation? What beliefs or assumptions am I making?

• Write down your reflections: To help clear your experience and distill what you are learning, write down your thoughts. Writing things down helps us gain clarity and objectivity. 

Step 3:  Shift 

 This is when you make a choice to change mindset or actions.  The most useful practice in making a shift involves using your intuition. 

• Intuition:  Using your intuition ask yourself: 

  • What do I need to let go of or step into?

  • What support or resources do I need?

  • What help will I ask for?

Step 4:  Align

Through alignment, we can make a conscious choice based on what we value while at the same time paying attention to what is needed given a specific circumstance in a given setting. When we do this we are choosing to deepen our learning and move forward into the next level of growth. To do this:  

• Prepare your mind, body and spirit for action by committing to create a forward path.

• Identify and gather what you need to help you move forward. This includes both the resources and the help you need. 

• State an intention, a blend of why and what that allows you to move with purpose, ease and authority. An intention includes at least two parts that can be articulated by answering the questions below for a specific event or issue. 

  • I will be….

  • So that….

Step 5:  Integrate

Integration allows us to combine the essential parts of each step and take meaningful action. This is a continual process and takes shape by moving through stages of Act, Reflect, and Celebrate (ARC).  These practices include: 

• Identify and take actions that are aligned with your intention and mindset.

• Reflect on the process for coming to these actions and the impact these actions have on you and those around you. 

• Celebrate what you have learned and the choice you made to grow through this experience. 

The Leadership Growth Cycle is a straightforward and visual approach that can be adapted for quick decision-making, longer-term strategic thinking, or problem solving.  When practiced, this approach expands our ability and capacity to respond, recover, and move through challenges. It expands our ability to be resilient and level up our leadership. Most importantly, application of the LGC,  creates leaders who are grounded, connected, clear-minded, and confident as they amplify their impact. 

To learn more about the Leadership Growth Cycle, contact: 

Conrad Hayter, CPCC, PCC www.thewindsockgroup.com

Shannon Salentine, CPCC, PCC  www.leadforgood.co

Copyright 2021 

Conrad Hayter and Shannon Salentine