Elevating Talent, Teams, & Leaders from Status Quo to Status Pro

Spring has finally sprung in New York and for those of us who thought seasonal depression wasn’t a thing, the first sustained spike of temperature and sunshine reminds us that this city too can be our happy place, even if just seasonally!

Now that we are nearly finished with the first month of Q2 it’s a good time to reflect on how we started the year and plant the seeds for the remaining months. The overlay of the second quarter and spring is typically a prime time to plan and set into motion talent and development initiatives. At Status Pro Group that’s exactly what we did and kicked off April with a Director Leadership Development Program for our client.

Read more about it here - Linkedin - Director Development Program 

In this Insider edition and in alignment with the spring months and blooming flowers, the theme is self-development, introspection and growth. Know thyself before you know and influence others - a focus in many of our talent programs. Each edition will bring a mix of leadership and development tools with a spin on self, others, and system-wide teams and organizations.

The Insider is structured into three commitments we make to the clients we serve: Elevate, Empower, and Results. We hope this edition leaves you expanded in all three.

ELEVATE

Elevate above the noise. The stories we tell ourselves and the belief systems we hold contribute to the noise and limitations we bump up against. And 99% of the time we are not present to how we are reacting or what script might be playing that does not serve us.

A few months ago, I was sitting next to a woman at dinner after I wrapped day one of a Women in Finance Talent Development program. She was sharing with the table that after almost one year as a senior investor in an investment management firm she was asked if she wanted to pivot into sales because of her deep expertise and talent with building relationships. She went on to say how upset she was at the suggestion, and how she is highly technical and has made a successful career from investing and leading investment teams. So I asked her, “What belief are you holding onto that may no longer be serving you?” Her entire energy shifted. She realized that she minimized the sales role in relation to investing, and had a long-standing belief that one was better, more prestigious, and more aligned to whatever value she was magnifying than the other. In that moment her long held belief shifted as she realized it limited what was possible in her next growth phase.

A quick way to drop into this question is to choose one area that you aren’t quite ready to shift but reading this sparks some light. And then ask, “What would be possible if?” Such as, what would be possible if I did not identify as the expert in the room and took a chance to ask questions I otherwise wouldn’t have asked? Perhaps I would expand and elevate, challenge myself to learn something new, or be a voice for someone else. Or what would be possible if I believed struggling is optional and not everything that is new or challenging must be difficult? The purpose is to elevate out of a fixed belief into expanding and creating something bigger.

EMPOWER

Empower brings confidence. Different from being in power which designates a static and at times hierarchical role, empower is about action. One tool I use and love is the Confidence-Competence loop. When we are new at something we have low confidence and low competence in that skill/activity/experience. As we continue to do it our competence grows in line with our confidence. The more competence we have the more confidence comes, and up they loop together. It’s the getting started that’s often the hardest part because we are at the baseline. The expression fake it till you make it might live here, but I prefer using see it until you believe it. Visualizing doing the thing and doing it well so many times until you believe you’ve already done it and mastered it. It’s a way to reset your nervous system to believe that you can do it. Because ultimately, if you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.

I was in a coaching session with an executive client, and I noticed the negative narrative he had about what he was able to do in his new role. One of the magical things about coaching is that we get to hear mindsets out loud. And shocker...words matter. Especially the words we use with only ourselves. They’re usually much harsher than the ones we’d say to others. This is where my favorite word Abracadabra comes into play. In Hebrew, Abracadabra means I will create as I speak. We create our own reality by the words we say out loud and inside our minds. Like magic! Which brings us to “I can’t.” How many times have you said that phrase. In reality you most likely can. Physically you can. You choose not to. When we say I can’t we unintentionally shift to an outside force influencing and limiting us. Switch the words to I won’t. I will not. This moves us to choice.

When I introduced this to my client he then said, I won’t have the conversation about the resources and support I need because I am concerned about the impression I might make. Huge difference from I can’t. When he realized he was choosing not to because of the possible consequences, he was able to shift into a different plan. None of that is available when stuck inside a limiting belief.

What are you choosing not to do and passing it off as if you can’t? Replace the language to open the opportunities you weren’t present to. And witness the magic!

RESULTS

The last piece of the puzzle! This is where people head to first because it’s the measurable and seen. So if you skipped the first two sections and came straight here, I invite you to go scroll back up and read! Yes, I see you and your results-oriented glory and limited time!

With our clients we talk about sustainable results. When working with self and with individual executive coaching engagements we demonstrate the tool of how to measure your results for yourself. The first way to is the Response test. After practicing elevating and empowering self with different tools, mindsets, and strategies we test the results when in a challenging situation. I say challenging because if we are gravy, we don’t generally need to call upon our tools. It’s when the rubber meets the road, and we forget that we have tools that we need them the most. The Response test is being present to a challenging situation, which means knowing we are in one first, and choosing a Response that is different from the one we would have gone with before. It's the realization that we would have responded differently with one of our limiting patterns and now we are choosing a better aligned response. That realization of the shift is Results.

I am currently engaged with a team where the Team Leader hasn’t felt empowered by his Leader. This frustration simmered to his team and led to disengagement with other teams, and strong silos that impacted productivity. During our work together the Team Leader started to take accountability for his role in the team’s challenges as well as his own, and this sparked him setting up several conversations with his Leader and relevant stakeholders to make the necessary changes needed for the team and ultimately the organization’s success. When we debriefed on his actions and the results that followed, he told me he realized nothing was going to change unless he started to change what was happening around him. He went from a passive and annoyed leader to someone who created change and drove results.

One way to drop into results action is to say and accept that no one is writing your permission slip. You write your own and give yourself the permission to move forward. I might go so far as to say, no one is coming to save you. Either you stay out on the island or build your own raft. Either way you are at choice.

And with all of that, this is progress over perfection. Every shift, choice and adjustment we make in the direction of where we want to go is ultimately what matters and brings us closer to where we choose to be. After all, no one rushes the blooming flowers even when they’re taking their sweet time.

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FOR YOU

If you are focusing on your 2025 and beyond talent development strategy, we are your one-stop solution. Status Pro Group offers a full suite of services in elevating all areas of leaders, talent, and teams.

Our team is growing! If you are an ICF-certified coach, seasoned facilitator or passionate about elevating talent, we’d love to hear from you.

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