Role Growth Is the Key - Part 3

The 4 Stages of Growth in Every Role

 Before we explore the 4 stages of growth in every role, I need to emphasis the centrality of “role growth” in The Evolution of Leadership. Growth is not about giving people more responsibilities beyond their role. That is still the pattern we see in most organizations. People are high performers, so we pile more on their plate. While giving people added responsibilities beyond what they are doing in their role can be a great way to prepare them for upward mobility, not everyone is interested in upward mobility. Everyone, though, does want to grow in their role. And, you need everyone to keep growing in their role. When people are growing in their role, they become more emotionally invested in what they do every day. The more invested they are in their work the more they begin to master their craft, collaborate with others, and look for ways to improve. Role growth is the catalyst for this growth process.

Every role has four stages of growth. These stages of growth represent the natural evolution of people in their role when you help them master the behaviors of growth.

• Stage 1 - Task Equipped
• Stage 2 – Emotionally Invested
• Stage 3 – Craft Mastery
• Stage 4 – Power Confidence

Stage 1 – Task Equipped

Task Equipped is where everyone begins in their role. The focus is on “Me & Mine.” Their thinking and behavior revolve around understanding and successfully completing the tasks and achieving the goals defined for their role. Success in Stage 1 revolves around three questions:

Did I complete my tasks?

Did I hit my goals?

Did I do these things in a timely manner?”

These individuals function best in a predictable environment. They tend to be more proactive in their tasks and goals but more reactive when it comes to anything else. From a belief standpoint, people in Task Equipped usually define themselves by what they do. As a result, people in Stage 1 often see failure as an indictment on them as a person rather than a part of the growth process. The more that someone becomes confident in their tasks and goals, though, most people begin moving into Stage 2.

The challenge leaders face is when someone resists moving beyond Stage 1. People stuck in Stage 1 usually exhibit the following patterns. When they complete their tasks and hit their goals, they slow down, waiting on others to tell them what to do. These individuals focus on what is in front them – their tasks and their goals. They define success by what they do, not what the team achieves. Someone stuck in Stage 1 will usually “figure things out on their own” rather than collaborating with others to improve overall performance of the team. They are not high-risk takers. They create a rhythm of action that meets expectations and then want to coast at that level. Over time, they become complacent. They are slow to adapt in a changing environment. This might have been acceptable in previous eras, but not in the era of Given Leadership.  

Stage 2 - Emotionally Invested

Moving from Stage 1 – Task Equipped to Stage 2 – Emotionally Invested is the most important transition in the entire role growth process. It involves a mental, physical and emotional shift. The core of the shift is from “me & mine” to “us & our process.” The person starts thinking about the larger processes that they are a part of and how the pieces fit together. This transition usually begins to happen the more confident someone becomes in their role. Stage 1 is usually about being independent. Stage 2 is about learning to be interdependent.

To move into Stage 2, the person has learned the basics of their role and has demonstrated the ability to complete their tasks and hit the goals that are assigned to them. They understand the core processes connected to their role and have the confidence to replicate them successfully. Now they realize the importance of working as a team with others to achieve team goals.

When someone is in Stage 2, team success is just as important as individual success. They expand their thinking to understand how their role impacts others on the team and how others’ actions impact them. They become more curious about how things work and why they are effective. Their thinking shift from “expending time” every day to do tasks to “investing time” to get better at what they do and helping the team. They build strong relationships that create mutual accountability and camaraderie within the team. Success is about the team’s success: “did we meet or exceed our expectations, not just my part of the expectations, and can we do it on a consistent basis?” They invest time to learn the process and how their actions impact other members of the team. Investing emotionally in the success of the team makes people in Stage 2 more willing to adapt and change to create team success. They become a more proactive communicator, problem solver, and decision maker for the good of the team. While they don’t like to fail, they recognize that failure can help them learn and grow if they reflect, adjust, and then keep moving. People in Stage 2 are much more receptive to coaching from their leader and team members.

In the early days of transitioning from Stage 1 to Stage 2, people will often hold onto beliefs and behaviors that worked in the past but will not create success in State 2. They may also be hesitant to push themselves beyond expectations to discover what is possible. The more they are in Stage 2, though, these beliefs and behaviors go away, and they begin to focus more on team success. The more confident and successful people become in Stage 2, the more curious they become about how to get better and better at their individual craft to increase team success. When this happens, people begin to transition into Stage 3 – Craft Mastery.

Stage 3 – Craft Mastery

Stage 3 – Craft Mastery is where you, as the leader, begin building a completely different workforce. When people begin moving into Stage 3 they are already successful in their role. They move into Stage 3 because they are now curious about how good they can be. Moving into stage three is the definition of proactive. When someone is in Craft Mastery, they shift back to “me and my role” to master their craft and take it to a different level so that they can contribute even more to the success of the team. Their focus is on excelling. They don’t want to just be “good” or “successful.” They want to be among the best in the organization. They want to discover how good they can be. When someone moves into Stage 3 they truly become autonomous, self-driven, and very proactive. They want to be the best at what they do, and they find resources inside and outside of your organization to become the best. Teamwork is fully engrained in their thinking, and they want to expand it. They are extremely curious, flexible, and adaptable.

One of the work patterns of people in Stage 3 is their focus on micro-details that can help them get better at their craft. These are the small, subtle things that others overlook.

These micro-details give them and the team a competitive advantage. Adapting becomes a normal part of their behavior. They embrace things that accelerate their growth and performance. This also means they are willing to let go of what worked in the past, but will not help them keep growing, and embrace beliefs and behaviors that support thrive in the future. They become a strategic risk-taker, becoming very self-driven and excited about change. They know that in a rapidly changing world you either adapt and change or you become irrelevant. They initiate action with others within their team and outside their team to continue to advance their skills and performance. Success is about excelling - being in the top tier of performers at their craft.

When someone is in Stage 3, they embrace failure productively. They recognize that failure is a normal part of the growth process. They know that stepping out of your current comfort zone will at some point create failure for everyone. Learning from that failure and applying what you learned to create new growth is the mindset of the person in Stage 3. 

Confidence runs high in Stage 3 team members. While it can at times create over-confidence which may lead to mistakes, even in these situations Stage 3 team members look objectively at what happened, learn from their mistakes, and adapt to create even better results.

Stage 4 – Power Confidence

The final stage of growth in any role is Power Confidence. When someone transitions from Craft Mastery to Power Confidence their thinking shifts from “me and being the best that I can be” to “us and adapting as an organization for the future.” The person in Stage 4 is future focused, regardless of their role. This person focuses on helping the whole organization adapt for the future. Stage 4 team members have mastered collaborating with others and their individual craft. They now focus their energy on the future success of the organization. Success is about initiating action that creates individual and organizational excellence that adapts quickly as the future changes.

They are true future oriented expert at this point. When they see process improvement opportunities, they coordinate with others to ensure that improvements will positively impact the future of the organization. They are independent and inter-dependent, highly adaptable, very confident, and extremely proactive. They are energized by the future not afraid of it. They reach out to others to solve problems, make improvements, and drive growth. They are decisive, curious, energized, and open.

The Target – Everyone At Stage 4

I am frequently asked two questions.

“Is it OK if someone doesn’t want to be at Stage 4?”

“Aren’t there some positions where you just want people to do their tasks and hit their goals?”

The answer to these questions depends on the type of workforce you want. Do you want everyone to be the best they can be in their role, or do you only want the people in “impact” positions to excel? This mindset believes that there are “producers” and “doers.” The producers are the ones that really matter. Everyone else in the organization is a second-class citizen. This is classic Performance Culture thinking. 

If, however, you believe that every role exists in your organization to help the organization excel, then everyone should be growing in their role, regardless of the position. Will some people have greater impact on the bottom line of the organization? Sure. But if everyone focuses on growing in their role you have an entire organization driving organizational success.

Role Growth Is the Key to Performance Growth

Continually trying to motivate people for higher performance is exhausting and not very productive. Building the behaviors of growth in your team and helping them grow in their role is a more effective and productive model. When you invest emotionally and physically to help people grow in their role, they become emotionally and physically invested in helping you and the whole organization success.