178: 4 Stages of High Achieving Leaders

I think it's something that you can use either to benchmark yourself or if you have a team member that you feel like is amazing and you can't get them to the next stage, you now know what you're moving towards.

Hi, I'm Emmett Scott and just like you, I've had my ups and downs in the dental industry, but times are changing. The DEO has built a map of how to succeed in one of the most challenging industries to navigate. On this show, we talk to dental industry leaders, solve problems and get you the answers you need to face these challenging times thrive. Welcome to DEO's Growth Secrets podcast for dental organizations. Now let's get started. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of DEO Growth Secrets.

I'm your fearless host, Emmett Scott and today I want to talk about the four stages of high achieving leaders. As I've been talking with different executives, entrepreneurs, as I talk to CEOs who are trying to develop people out, I've

created this framework that's really helped me

to see my own personal journey and growth in this.

I think it's something that you can

use either to benchmark yourself or if you have a team member that you feel like is amazing and you can't get them to the next stage, you now know what your moving towards. So let's get right into it. Stage one. All right, I'm calling this the. What did I call this? Something star. Yeah, the reactive star. All right, this is the reactive star because this is a person who can like see a problem, fix a problem. And it's so valuable because how many times do we have team members who are like, there's a problem and it's like they're completely blind to it. So in stage one, and for most of us, we probably felt ourselves distinguishing ourselves against other people just by the fact people are like, oh wow, you took care of that. Oh wow, you saw that and fixed it. So that by itself is huge value. Now next one like superstar, Superstar goes from just reactive, which is level one, to being also proactive. Right? Those individuals where you're like, hey, do you mind making sure this happens? And they go, I already did it. Or they said, hey boss, I was thinking through this and I went ahead and got these things done. Or here's what I'm thinking, and you're like, wow, you can actually see around the corner. So it's not like, see a problem right now, fix a problem. It's like critical thinking skills. See a potential problem, go fix that beforehand, maybe even put a Little bit of systems and process in place, maybe a little bit. So that's level two. That's superstar. And let me just say that the majority of people, if we can get them there, if we can get our team there, if we personally can get there, like we're set. We've just outrun, let's say, 95% of the marketplace of the human race when it comes to work and so forth. If all of your people just thought a little bit ahead, or frankly, they were in level one group and they just saw problems and they fixed it. Like our life as leaders would. Would be simple. Okay, so what is level three? Level three, and I'm speaking mostly to those of you who are at the executive and CEO level, because you've got to lead by example is level three. You get away from being a superstar, and you start to be, let's call it a universe or a galaxy. What I mean by that is you actually zoom out, and you're not the individual anymore, but you're actually seeing the priority. And that's really what distinguishes level two from level three is, yeah, they can see problems, they can see opportunities, but they actually start to prioritize them. They're not running around. The problem with level two and Level one, frankly, is that they oftentimes are just frantic. They're not really transformational leaders as much as they think they are, because they don't have time for anyone or anything because they're constantly overwhelmed. Let me just also say that level one and level two, our identities, are strongly tied to the amount of activity that we do, especially those in level two who are actually proactive. They're also very much tied to, if I don't get this done, then I'm worthless. If my business doesn't grow this much, then that means that I'm not a good person. Now, they might not articulate it as clearly that way, but we all know what that feels like. Oh, man, my financials. I mean, I'm such a freaking loser, you know? So that's where your identity is tied to it. And let me also be honest that when we first start a business, we really like these Level one, level two, codependent people who see their identity tied to how well they perform at work because they'll work long hours, they work nonstop, et cetera. And in fact, sometimes I'll see CEOs who've moved up. They want their team members to move up. They're frustrated that they're not, but they forget that there was a time where they actually just Wanted them to like work really hard on everything. So at level three, we start to prioritize. I think little cliches like work smarter, not harder comes from people at level three. But it's more than that. It's working on like the right things and knowing how you're going to prioritize those. Now within DEO we have the I dope system where we take ideas, we document them, we organize them, prioritize them and then execute. In level one, you have ideas and you go execute ideas, execute, which again, lower stage, it works, you get more sophisticated, it's not working anymore. And in fact your payroll costs are going up, your time is shrinking, you don't have enough time for everything when you get to level three and you start to prioritize. And I just want to emphasize, like this is a big chasm to cross. You're also having to detach your identity from the activities. You're starting to see the, you're starting to see the business as a part of what you do, but it's not who you are anymore. Right? You're starting to see your job as a part of what you do and you want to achieve well. But it's not so tied to your identity that if someone's giving you feedback or, or telling you places that need to improve that it feels as personal because it's just, it's one of those things. It's a project that you're working on. It's a, it's just that detached component.

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back to the episode.

So level three with that detachment, which I think many of us are nervous that if we do get detached or if our team members get detached, that that means that their activity will go down. That's probably true. Their activity goes down, their results and effectiveness go up. And ultimately that's what drives profits, is results in effectiveness. So we need to think through where are we pushing people down to level one, level two, where we may be disorganized, where we may be, where are we at on this? Where are we at on this? Where are we at on this? And we really aren't organized in an ideal process and so we're keeping people at level one. Level Two, and then we're frustrated that they're not effective, that they're only doing things halfway, et cetera. It's amazing how much as leaders we're causing the problem. All right, level four. So once I get myself organized and prioritized, level four, you really move all the way out and you're like the creator, okay? And at this stage, your success now is really about your team. It's really not about you. Like you've mastered prioritization and you're understanding what's, what works, what doesn't, what's effective, what's not. I mean, always a process, but you have the prioritization down. Now what you're really interested in with this new, let's call it freedom of identity is how do I help and develop other people? Like, how do I help them get successful and in fact, how do I move them from level one to level two to level three? And I think you get really interested in getting everyone more effective and less just like activity based and more results based. But those results come through clear prioritization. Now here's why I think this is a total win win. And the timing for these discussions is critical because we're talking a ton about mental health now in the workplace and personally. And I think if we bring that down to just business strategy, we could say that level one and level two drives low mental health. It's so activity based, it's so codependent. It's so like if I don't get everything done and in today's world, with so much technology, so many abilities to see different problems, so many opportunities out there, it's completely overwhelming. Like we are the constraint, mentally, emotionally, we're constrained. If we don't have this tool to prioritize things, then we're going to end up with a lot of regrets. Not just an ineffective business, but ineffective in our personal lives and the things that are most important to us, we're going to realize we never time blocked for, never organized for. And when I dig down on where that was for me and what I had to go through to get out of that, yes, it was prioritization. Yes, I had to get better at my calendaring and my wife giving me feedback like, hey, we need you at these things. But it really came down to I needed to detach my identity from that work and gain confidence of who I was individually as a person. And once I got that, then I was really excited to help others get there. And, and here's what's crazy is when you do that the business flourishes and your personal life flourishes. So anyway, curious your all's thoughts on these four areas. That reactive star, you know that superstar level two and then you get into maybe this galaxy and then ultimately a creator mindset. And where are you at right now? Where's your team at? I think if you look at individuals that you want to get to the next level, are they level one where they're really good at just reacting to problems like, oh man, if you tell her what to do, she is on it, right? And you're like, but I want to not have to tell her what to do. Are you trying to move them up to that proactive or is it like, man, they are awesome, but they're always overwhelmed. I don't even know if they're working on the right things. I think we have a lot of individuals like that that we need to help IDO and help them get prioritized and maybe we're one of those. And then ultimately how do we help others and develop them and have room for them. I had a leader recently that she was just so overwhelmed by the fact that her team made so many mistakes. And my perspective was the business needs to be strong enough to handle the humanity. And then we need to be empathetic enough and strong enough to teach and to coach and to mentor them to their next level. So anyway, look forward to talking more about this. For those who are going to be in Atlanta for our immersion event, I'm excited to see you there. And for those who are going to be in New York for elite event, excited to see there. Maybe we talk a little bit about this. Until next time, keep smiling. And if you have anything else that you want to talk about this, come over to our DE Growth Secrets page on Facebook. Take care.

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