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You are here: Home / Raw Leadership™ Process

Raw Leadership™ Process

The Raw Leadership™ Process is elemental … simple. Each step in our process is foundational and logical, and necessary for growth.

 

raw leadership process

The Leadership Macro-Mindset™

The starting point in any engagement is to look at the whole. What is the business environment? What is the health of the organization? Who are the players and how do they interact? How do these interactions (and players) impact the business? What are the layers? Is the corporate culture development oriented? Do they embrace change?

Understanding the business with a macro-mindset, from a macro level – the systems, the culture, and the layout, while evaluating the starting point (i.e. goals, expectations, SWOT, structure, mores, etc.) is a critical first step. Once we have a Leadership Macro View, we can break it down and begin the real development work.

The Raw Leadership™ Process:

Leadership Detox

Most leaders, do not have awareness of their impact on the environment, their people, their business. Please believe me when I tell you this. In working with hundreds of business leaders, I’ve seen that very few understand the depth or breadth of their impact. It is usually “somebody else’s fault”, as if they operate alone, in a vacuum. Having had the luxury of seeing both sides of the story, I can tell you, it is usually a “team effort” that leads to disengagement, confusion, frustration, misunderstanding, and loss of trust and confidence.

Leaders often get in their own way. Leadership Detox™ focuses on truth. Blind-spots. Awareness and feedback regarding impact. Whether at the individual level or the organization level. Many clients have heard (or said!)  this phrase at some point in their careers: “The leader is excellent at getting things done but often leaves dead bodies in their wake”. Whether a single individual, a team, or the corporate culture, this is the wake-up call stage.

Peel Back the Layers

Who are you? Without your titles and accomplishments, who are you??!

A high-ranking executive stopped dead in her tracks when asked this question …this was when her perspective shifted regarding her development work. Everyone has layers. And an outer shell. The same could be said for an organization.

Who are you? What do you represent? Sometimes we get so comfortable with the layers, we forget what’s inside. It’s important to peel back these layers to discover what goodness is on the inside. These layers act as barriers to the Core Self (at a organizational level, it is often referred to as the heart & soul of the business!) and prevent people from seeing us (which is usually the intent). In the process we often lose sight of ourselves, our compass, our true North, our authentic self, our real self. This stage allows us to rediscover it.

Get to the Core

When taking an assessment, clients will often ask, “should I take this as if I’m at home or at work?” They instinctively know they bring different aspects of themselves into each environment.

Their paradigm of “who I should be” dictates who they reveal to the world, and even their perception of themselves and their capability. Often, there is a disconnect between what the world sees and “who I am” at the core. The bigger the (unrealized) gap, the more unhappiness, disengagement, and loss of productivity, in life and in the workplace.

We would recommend you bring your “whole self” to each engagement. The same holds true for the organization. The bigger the gap, the bigger the loss in productivity, the more “business continuance” meetings, the more employee disengagement. Through development work – coaching, assessments, feedback, and observations – getting to the core proves to be pivotal. What do you stand for? What are you good at? What are your core principles?

Getting to a leader’s core, the organization’s core, taps into their authenticity, a key ingredient in, and the foundation of, great leadership. It’s the good stuff. And the foundation on which to build.

Key Ingredients

Think of your tastiest, most delicious, favorite food. Now eliminate the top 3 key ingredients. Still the same tasty, delicious dish? No, probably not.

The same holds true for great leadership. The key ingredients, or basic leadership principles, are essential in making a leader worth following. When asked “what are the ingredients to being a great leader”, answers like “charisma”, “experience”, “an MBA”, and “management background” are common answers. Although excellent qualities, studies show that authenticity, credibility, honesty, and belief-in-making-a-difference are some of the true keys to being a successful leader.

The Raw Leadership™ process promotes these key ingredients as well as other developmental essentials, including educational learning techniques, models, theories, best practices, and experiential-hands-on-relevant exercises. We use and model these principles in our development interactions, and encourage and challenge clients to adopt and integrate them into their workplaces and lives.

A leader’s character is reflected in how he/she practices and integrates leadership-essential key ingredients, and is a predictor of a leader who is followed, as well as an organization which attracts top talent.

Selecting, Growing, and Leveraging Top Talent

This stage is about the people. Once you’ve honed the leadership skills within yourself, your team, and/or the organization, and refined your sense-of-self (although it is a never-ending process!), you are able to, with intention and deliberateness, more successfully lead others.

The Raw Leadership process encourages growth in clients’ skill set, so leaders can:

  • Select the best people – they understand the layers of top talent, and are able to assess an individual’s core
  • Grow and develop the best people – yes, nurturing…not hand-holding – nurturing, “feeding”, encouraging, providing feedback, giving direction, setting expectations, and other key emotionally-intelligent aspects
  • Leverage the best individuals and teams – know what “key elements” work best together, how to get the most out of people by building them up instead of motivating through fear and intimidation.

This process eliminates blind spots and builds capability related to best practices in leading individual contributors and teams, and allows for the selecting, growing, and leveraging the top talent.

In our experience, most leaders scoff at the insinuation that they use fear and intimidation to accomplish their goals (yes, scoff!)…although it might not be their intention, it is their impact.

Just talk to their people… I do.

Maintenance: 70/30

70/30 is my ratio. It doesn’t matter what the number is, or even what it represents. Every leader must find their own, and be diligent about adhering to it (that’s the really difficult part!). Be mindful. Be deliberate. Be intentional. Your ratio might represent your plan for being strategic vs. tactical. Or maybe spending time on people vs. tasks? Your ratio could be about being hands-on vs. sitting-behind-the-desk?

Being intentional in your leadership is critical. Understanding your leadership goals, having a plan, and knowing where you want to spend your time is crucial in the maintenance process.   Unfortunately, some leaders treat development like an event, as in “Woohoo, I’ve graduated!”. But great leadership requires ongoing, mindful attention and deliberate action, regardless of the development support system.

In this stage, clients develop their moving-forward plan, get support during implementation, ideas to improve it, and install the accountability to carry it out.

The Macro Leader

Macro Leader Qualities:

  • Authentic
  • Intentional
  • Self-aware
  • Emotionally intelligent
  • Healthy
  • Inspiring and influential
  • Mindful
  • Deliberate
  • Self-evaluative
  • Accountable
  • Strategists
  • Engaged
  • Confident
  • Growth-oriented
  • Courageous (self development requires it!)
  • Transparent
  • Well-rounded
  • Open
  • Decisive
  • “Other” aware
  • Critical thinkers
  • Real

Macro Leader Behaviors:

  • Lead by example
  • Know who they are at the core
  • Understand their triggers
  • Sense who others are at their core
  • Have done the hard work of self-development
  • Hire, grow, and develop top talent
  • Are able to lead the organization/their department at the macro level
  • Continue to self-develop
  • Can step outside of their own view and understand the perceptions of others
  • Lead their teams and/or the organization with a macro-mindset

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Testimonials

Julie L. Novak

“I started working with Heidi about 18 months into my tenure as CEO, and …I soon realized it was essential to my growth as a leader. In the early days, she put a variety of concepts and tools in my… Read more “Julie L. Novak”

Julie L. Novak
Chief Executive Officer, Michigan State Medical Society
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Juli B.

“Working with Heidi was one of the most rewarding experiences in my career.  I am a better leader, co-worker and person…She has been one of the most influential people in my life.  I would recommend her expertise to anyone inspired to invest in advancing their career… Read more “Juli B.”

Juli B.
C.F.O.
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David Purpura

“I wanted to share this and tell you how much you have helped me in my career in so many ways.  Your knowledge of the industry and mentoring is among the best and I hope that we remain professional contacts!!!!!! … Read more “David Purpura”

David Purpura
Director of U.S. Business Development
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Matt Schad

“…Nucraft has worked with Heidi to create internal peer groups to improve our internal communications and teamwork skills…Heidi facilitates these groups and the feedback has been uniformly positive from the participants…Heidi and UPwords Inc. have become a trusted Nucraft advisor.”

Matt Schad
CEO, Nucraft Furniture
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Lori Stokes

“I have reached out to Heidi during the many phases of my management career for leadership coaching.  Her advice and wisdom has helped me identify ways to grow professionally as a individual and leader.  She is  honest, professional, and highly… Read more “Lori Stokes”

Lori Stokes
Materials Manager
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Stephan W. Waltman

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for the service that you have provided Stiles Machinery for the last 15 years. Your contributions…have been immeasurable…Personally, I feel privileged to have had access to your advice and counsel. We… Read more “Stephan W. Waltman”

Stephan W. Waltman
Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Stiles Machinery, Inc.
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Suzette Jaskie

“What a great asset Heidi has been to our team…Heidi in essence became part of our team and was able to assist key leaders in advancing their leadership approach and in turn – able to produce better results for the… Read more “Suzette Jaskie”

Suzette Jaskie
President and CEO of MedAxiom Consulting (Former CEO at West Michigan Heart)
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Linda M. Peasley, Ph.D. & Sally A. Camper

“The Department of Human Genetics would like to thank you for presenting the ‘Dealing with Conflicts’ workshop last weekend at our annual retreat…Our graduate students certainly appreciated the various exercises and, most of all, the role playing…The interactions with faculty,… Read more “Linda M. Peasley, Ph.D. & Sally A. Camper”

Linda M. Peasley, Ph.D. & Sally A. Camper
Department Administrator Prof. and Chair,The University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Human Genetics
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Melvin Gottschalk, Jr.

“Pat Riley said ‘Great effort springs naturally from great attitude.’ Heidi Frye’s executive coaching enlightened me to the truth behind these words…I would not be where I am today without Heidi and highly recommend her leadership coaching to anyone focused on… Read more “Melvin Gottschalk, Jr.”

Melvin Gottschalk, Jr.
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Spectrum Health Physician

“I have to admit I was a little skeptical when I first learned that we were to have this type of team meeting [Open 360 Feedback Process], but it definitely exceeded my expectations…You did a fabulous job with us and… Read more “Spectrum Health Physician”

Physician
Spectrum Health
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J.C.

“In one sentence:  Heidi made me a better leader, employee, spouse and friend…Heidi is an outstanding coach that helped me achieve more than I thought I could, in a short period of time.”

J.C.
Director of Marketing, Meijer
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Larry Gibbons

“I have worked with many executive search firms across the USA and Canada. Upwords Inc. has proven to be among the best, coming through where others have failed to meet our needs…Heidi Frye has demonstrated her ability to understand our… Read more “Larry Gibbons”

Larry Gibbons
VP HR, Kinectrics Inc.
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