6 things I learned about leadership from running a 12 week group program
or "How I learned to stop worrying and surrender to the process."
In summer of 2023 I ran a successful group Coaching program. It’s a 3-month life and career-design program for artists focused on mindset shifts and deep inner work.
(You can join too, today is the last chance to get the early-bird deal on the next group!)
This was a big leap as it was my first course around a subject that I’ve prioritized for many years and means a lot to me. It felt vulnerable to invite others and lead this group. I had no idea how it would go.
And it was something I knew I had to try because I know that anything worth doing goes better when you do it with a community and Coaching mindset.
Below is some background on the course, and some key takeaways for leadership.
BACKGROUND
While the content of the course is broadly applicable, I invited only visual artist entrepreneurs. That said, some were doing livestreams, illustration, voice acting, event production, and at least one was running their own business unrelated to their visual art output.
The program really worked, better than I could have predicted. I know because participants shared some very kind words about the big shifts they’ve made, and how fulfilled they feel.
Some results participants said they got:
Increased productivity.
Clarity on goals.
Actions towards those goals.
Ability to take time off, for the first time ever.
Taking on multiple new opportunities that seemed out of their comfort zone previously.
Resolution and moving on/letting go of old stories and assumptions.
Feelings of freedom and flexibility in their lives, and work.
A tight-knit group of people who became friends and supporters in their journeys.
These were just SOME of the great results I saw.
LEADERSHIP
I’ve been in plenty of leadership positions in corporate, non-profit, and educational environments. I also work with leaders and entrepreneurs outside of the creative industry who want to design their lives. A presidential advisor. A health care exec. A tech millionaire.
And the thing is, they’re all creating. We all create, every day. We create experiences for our kids, dinner plans, how we live each day. This inner work applies to creating just about anything. A new project, a new company, a new relationship, a new sense of Purpose and motivation.
6 LESSONS ON LEADERSHIP
A few takeaways on leadership
First steps are key, and easier with trust.
When you have a trusted board of friends and coaches, you’re buoyed by people who want you to win. When you share with people you trust your vulnerable hopes and dreams for changing the world, when they believe in your vision, they’ll give you the truth in ways that only make your work better.
One thing I’m glad I do in my group program is meet with individual members. The goal is not to convert information or sell what I have to give. The goal is to find out what they want to create.
I learned this in the early 2000s when I was running creative events. Creating a space where ideas are welcome and making clear that your job is to create a cohesive vision behind the ideas and growth for your team, this will build trust and give you confidence to take forward steps.Show up, even when you don’t want to.
No matter how you approach the work, you get value if you are willing to show up and stay open to navigation changes.
Anyone who tells you that self-doubt goes away is trying to sell you a bridge. I’ve worked with people who on paper seem to have rock-solid confidence and clarity. These are high-performance players, you’d think that confidence was assumed. However, when we meet and bring our full selves there is always a degree of uncertainty, always questions, doubt, imposter syndrome.
What I saw for participants and myself is how that clarity and confidence DOES grow when we show up consistently.
One thing every participant said was that they felt lighter and more resourced after showing up consistently for 3 months. Showing up got less scary, and they showed up more fully in their lives in all areas.Growth for your team is almost guaranteed when you commit to a safe, supportive, and non-judgmental space.
I’ve seen many leaders who believe they need to have the answers. While some leaders do need to be experts, that’s not what leadership truly does.
Great leadership is about developing other leaders. Everyone is leading their life, even if it’s not about a title at work they do in their day to day.
You will find that people do their best risk-taking discomfort-leaning work because of that safe and non-judgmental environment. It’s about creating a space where people can be unsure, make mistakes, and learn from them.
One of the best examples was actually one of my team leaders in the Burning Man art department. I had a project that wasn’t going to hit all of it’s goals. Some, not all. When I told the head of the art department, it was too late to redirect and get it done. She told me, calmly and with compassion, that she wanted to know sooner next time and asked me what was possible now. That “next time” is key. She made clear that I wasn’t getting fired, wasn’t being punished, wasn’t to feel bad. She communicated in that one line that she trusted me to solve the problem and wanted my ideas. I felt empowered, and like I had more autonomy than I even did before the conversation.
In my own leadership in the Unleash Creativity Club, I’m proud to say that participants who were nervous about sharing their journey with the group had come around in the very first month to say that not only did they feel less nervous, this was THE place where they wanted to share their journey.If you don’t know what someone wants, ask them.
The smartest person in the room doesn’t know more than everyone. They know how to ask good questions and allow the answers to be what they are.
Leaders know how to assess where you are, and meet you there, discover where you want to go, and support you in taking steps to get there.
And if you aren’t sure of what to do, the best person to discover that with you is the person on your team or course who will benefit from that knowledge. Better to help them solve it than to assume your answer will work for them.Sleep on it.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Not everything goes as planned. Don’t jump to fix things immediately. Taking time to sit with obstacles often reveals either better solutions or the fact that no solution is needed.
This is difficult especially if you’re working with a team that is having uncomfortable emotions about their performance or the direction of the project. If you’re an empathetic leader, you’ll feel the urge to fix, and you also know that those fixes are often shortsighted. Band aids rather than more long term system tweaks.Have a Coaching mindset.
The creative tools I use to bring clarity, they work on the whole person not just the project. This was true 20 years ago when I was running creative events, in my work in corporate both on teams and in leadership, in my work running a non-profit, and certainly leading group programs and teaching.
I recently had a student email me to tell me that they’ve struggled year over year. to create the work they wish to create and that in my class they created more than they have in 3 months than they did in the many years leading up to the course, combined.
This wasn’t because I’m the best figure drawer, or have better information. It’s because great teachers are really great Coaches in disguise.
Listen, ask questions, encourage small measurable steps. You’ll be shocked at the dividends this pays off for your team and for you.
There’s a lot more to leadership. If you are ready to take the next step in leading your life, you can reach out to me here.
I’m opening up today to questions on creative tools and leadership
Hit reply with anything you want to ask.