Episode 8: Boost Your Leadership Effectiveness Tenfold with Maggie Frye

Maggie Frye of Core Consulting has a mission. She wants to teach the concept of ‘heads-up leadership’ to businesses across the world. It’s far deeper than the name suggests because as a leader, you can’t just be aware of what’s going on around you. You must also be aware of what’s going on in your own mind. Today, Maggie and Mike talk about how setting aside dedicated time for self-reflection and practicing heads up leadership can increase your effectiveness as a leader tenfold.

• Maggie and Mike talk about what exactly ‘heads-up’ leadership is. It begins with setting aside time for you to self-reflect. But this self-reflection time isn’t just about you. It’s about your interactions with others is coming across and how it affects them. It’s about seeing your company culture around you and how your actions affect it.
• As a leader, you know that people are watching you, but do you know to what degree? Maggie explains just how much your employees learn from you, and if you aren’t careful, it won’t be the lessons you’d like them to learn. It can be something as simple as replying to emails during the weekend or on vacation sending the wrong message despite the fact that you mean well.
• Maggie uses Wiley DiSC assessments and Strength Finders in her own organization and encourages her clients to use it as well. This goes back to her dedicated time for self-reflection. Not only do you get a chance to reflect, but you also have a framework to put it in perspective. You don’t have to go the assessment route, though. Sometimes the best observations and perspectives you can get are from those you trust.
• Everyone’s talking about work-life balance. But there is a slew of new concepts and ways of looking at that age-old question. In fact, in Maggie’s work with leaders, she’s noticed a trend of them no longer wondering how well they lead at work. Instead, they’re focused more on the whole self, which includes wellness, social life, home life, and more.
• Developing great leaders is what Maggie does, and she shares some personal habits Core Consulting encourages its clients to embrace. But, she warns, when you want to make a big change, don’t try to ‘eat the elephant.’ Take it one piece at a time, like adding 10 minutes of journaling in the morning, or giving 3 compliments a day.
• There aren’t enough hours in the day… or so many people believe. So how do you find time to add in these habits that will increase your leadership effectiveness? It begins with a simple vocabulary change. Instead of saying you don’t have time for something, say that you haven’t prioritized that thing. How does that change your mentality around it?
• Maggie asks that if you remember nothing else, remember the concept of heads-up leadership. Be aware of what’s around you, what you’re bringing to the table, whether you’re really listening and paying attention to the interactions around you. Get a sense of the bigger picture before you dive into the details. In doing this, you will naturally become a better leader.

Questions to ask others in your life:

What do you see as my greatest strength? What do you see as my greatest limitations? When I say this, what do you hear? How am I coming across? How would you describe my personal brand?

Links from this episode:

Maggie Frye LinkedIn Twitter Core Consulting Group

Robert Greenleaf quote - "When you look at anything or consider anything, look at it as 'a whole' as much as you can before you swing on it."

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