Written by: Marisa Murray, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Imagine for a moment you’re waiting at the airport, minding your own business at the gate waiting area, when a mother and her toddler sit down across from you. At first, you might not think anything of this, but then something strange happens which derails your train of thought.
The mother yanks the diaper bag away from the toddler, holds it up over her head with a yell, and then slams it down to the ground, sending debris flying everywhere. As the mother descends into wailing and tears, you watch as the toddler calmly picks up the mess, sets the diaper bag upright and then offers a snack to her upset mother. The toddler then begins patting the parent and saying, “There, there, Mommy, it’s okay.”
This would catch anyone’s attention, of course, because of how upside-down the whole scenario is. The parent is having an apparent breakdown while the toddler is doing the parenting. Their actions are totally mismatched with their roles.
As strange as it may sound, this scenario is not so different from a blind spot plaguing workplaces every day: Mismatched Mindsets. I define Mismatched Mindsets as actions people take or ways they behave which no longer match the role they are in.
While we all go through various roles and elevated levels of responsibilities in our professional lives, I see the need for leadership competencies in three specific areas in the course of career evolution: Leading Self, Leading Others, and Leading Change. Each of these levels are determined by a collective of competencies which centre us and direct how we focus our energy into our work. In turn, these levels activate different values which should shape our mindset and approach.
So let’s take a closer look at these. What do these mindset levels look like within one’s career?
Level up
At the beginning of our careers, we all find ourselves in the lowest-level mindset of Leading Self, or self-mastery, if you prefer. That’s to be expected!
Think back to your earliest working days, and you were probably directing about 80 percent of your energy toward leading yourself. This included learning the rules of the workplace, acquiring new skills, and sharpening your talents. As you gained confidence in your skills, you discovered new ways to achieve your goals. Along the way, you let go of those “newbie” feelings and became a contributing member of the company.
The problem arises when we don’t let go of this Leading Self mindset. Instead of allowing the newfound confidence to catapult us to the next level, this self-orientation mindset stays in place.
The second career phase and mindset level is Leading Others. Once you’ve mastered leading yourself, you’re offered the privilege of leading a team. Your perspective must shift from leading yourself to effectively leading others. While you may still be growing and learning yourself, the difference here is how your energy is more focused on where your development can add value to your entire team. As you continue to rise up the ranks, so does the percentage of time you devote to others compared to yourself.
When you’re working from a Leading Others mindset, you’re putting energy and time into collaboration and teamwork. As you move beyond self-awareness to others-awareness, you can create strong connections with the people you rely on for success. The better the working environment you create, the more productivity and happiness you and your team can experience together.
The third and final career phase and mindset level is one of Leading Change, where the focus shifts to creating an impact beyond your time. To go back to our analogy from the opening, this would be like the grandparent in the family.
At this highest mindset level, you still continue to work on yourself and leading others, but your career focus and values shift to making a difference in the world. These are the executives who know how to take care of themselves, are connected to the team in a healthy way, and are now focused on scaling their positive impact to leave behind a beautiful legacy.
At the point in your career where you are focused on Leading Change, you ask yourself and your peers: “How can I be of greatest influence and impact to the company and the world?”
Mismatched mindsets happen when leaders continue to live with a mindset that may have helped them get to their current role instead of evolving their values to match the mindset they need to have. For example, consider a VP-level executive who continues to act from a mindset of Leading Self. They may become demanding by prioritizing their career agenda over everything else, which can quickly turn toxic for their team.
Or vice-versa, consider the new employee fresh out of college who comes into the workplace and tries to lead change. Instead of focusing on learning and skills acquisition, they charge ahead with their own processes, disregarding systems and protocols. How long do you think they will last?
As you can imagine, when the mindset is mismatched, it tends to show up in a myriad of other blind spots—in particular, unhealthy detachment to the emotions of others, differing views of success, and unconscious habits. But if leaders can realign their mindset to match their level of influence, then they can experience greater levels of success with their teams.
But where do you start to identify a potential misalignment in mindset?
Getting in sync mindset
A few years ago, I developed a reflection exercise to help my coaching clients uncover their Mismatched Mindsets and discover ways they can level up. By considering their actions and mapping these against the levels of leadership, the data points to where their mindset may be mismatched. The assessment pulls the blindfold off and allows them to see how they can evolve their mindset, and therefore, their leadership.
Since this is a blind spot, the results are always very revealing. Leaders will feel confident they picked the “right” answers—only to see how their mindset may be misaligned with where they should be. It can be unsettling for some! But pulling the blindfold off is the first step to up-leveling their mindset.
Have you ever watched a pair of dancers when it was difficult to see who was leading and who was following? If a leader has a mindset that doesn’t match the phase of their career, it’s like the dancers getting out of step with one another. There might be many stops and starts, missed cues, and injured toes, which can leave both dance partners frustrated, confused, and ready to throw in the towel.
But when a leader has the right mindset reflecting the values their role should have, then they can successfully “lead” the dance. When they’re in alignment, the dance is beautiful and no one is stepping on anyone’s toes. When practiced long enough, muscle memory takes control, making it look effortless.
When the misalignment is addressed, it has the positive compounding effect of resolving the other negative blind spots which may be present. As values, actions, and mindset fall in step together, the gap between a leader's intentions and impact closes.
If you’re curious about where your own mindset might be focused and the values affecting the way you operate, then great! I’d encourage you to take my mindset assessment which you can access for free with the QR code below.
Once you’ve identified where you are mismatched, you can shift your mindset and values to the appropriate place for your career level. Consider the following:
Self-reflection questions: |
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Team-reflection questions:
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In my book Blind Spots: How Great Leaders Uncover Problems and Unleash Performance, I delve deeper into this issue and how it played out for three specific leaders. Through their stories, you can begin to see whether your mindset and corresponding values should be focused on Leading Self, Leading Others, or Leading Change. All have their proper place and time—but discovering the proper place and time is key to accelerating your team.
P.S. Want to gain invaluable insights into your blind spots right now, that’s why we built www.feedbackfriend.ai. Get the feedback you need for free today.
Marisa Murray, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Marisa Murray is a leadership expert and executive coach with three Amazon best-sellers: Work Smart, Iterate!, and Blind Spots. She is CEO of Leaderley International and a TEDx speaker, dedicated to helping individuals and teams achieve superior performance. Her epiphany that "Blind Spots are the Key to Breakthroughs" inspired the creation of FeedbackFriend.ai, an AI-powered tool democratizing feedback access. Recognized by Manage HR magazine in the Top 10 Emerging Executive Coaching Companies for 2023, Leaderley serves clientele from the upper echelons of Fortune 500 companies. Through Marisa's writing, coaching, speaking, or 360s—her mission is to cultivate leaders that accelerate positive change.
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