Introducing Leadership Transformation Groups
6/20/21 Update: The next group is now forming and will kick off in August 2021. Click here to apply.
"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
One of the biggest sticking points for clients I work with is interpersonal communication. Skills like building trust, resolving conflict, and making decisions with your team are all critical parts of effective leadership yet they can be brutally hard to address. Founders and executives have few peers to relate to, they don't feel safe taking risks in complex environments, and due to their position they rarely receive honest feedback. These factors make it easy to get stuck as a leader until they're faced with a crisis.
At the same time, I’m also noticing that most leaders I work with are very lonely, which is only getting worse as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on.
That's why I'm excited to introduce a new offering called Leadership Transformation Groups. In short, LTG is a facilitated peer group that serves as a space for leaders to experience a sense of community, work on their leadership growth edges, and experiment with new behaviors to advance their evolution. Being in a group means you get:
Increase in self-awareness via feedback that you wouldn't get anywhere else
Connection and belonging with others at a similar stage of the journey
Growth through practicing communication with people who might be very different from you
Space to experiment with new behaviors that expand leadership ability
Here's how the group works:
6-8 members who share similar startup journeys
Meet every 2 weeks for 1.5 hours
6 month commitment to give space to deep change
Professional facilitation by yours truly
Agenda based on the individual goals of each member
This might be a good fit for you if you are...
A leader at a startup of 8-50 people
Comfortable getting vulnerable and doing inner work
Looking for a community that has your back
In need of leveling up your interpersonal skills, such as influencing others, resolving conflict, and asserting yourself
Committed to growing as a leader and a human
Seeking to understand the impact you have on a group of people
Able to commit to ~3 hours a month for at least 6 months
Interested in being a part of this? Email me directly at brian@dashingleadership.com or fill out the form here.
FAQ
How much does this cost?
The cost is $600 a month and a minimum 6 month commitment.
Is this a mastermind group?
While sharing experience and advice is encouraged, it's not the central focus. The main goal is to allow each person to learn how they contribute to organic group formation, notice their own patterns in a group, and then make conscious choice in how they might want to shift their mindsets and behaviors.
How do we interact outside of the sessions?
In addition to the biweekly meetings, the group will also have a shared Slack, suggested readings, and the occasional pre-session assignment.
Who else will be in the group with me?
Founders at startups of a similar stage who have been personally vetted to ensure active participation and commitment.
Why should I join this when I can be a part of another peer group?
Simply put, most peer groups are not designed for your transformation. Most groups focus on the content of a conversation, meaning interactions center on helping members with challenges, goals, and suggestions (the "what"). Most of us are familiar with these types of conversations and find them valuable, but they rarely help individuals grow and change. Why? Because they don't help us see the "how" of our own behaviors.
In contrast, this group centers on coaching for transformation. That means the group continually invites members to notice their patterns in the moment. By noticing how we’re showing up - including the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions we engage in - we gain greater understanding about ourselves and others. That leads to more effective communication and ultimately, stronger leadership ability.
So we don't share advice in this group?
Advice is certainly welcome in the group. But advice is the equivalent of giving someone a fish as opposed to helping them become a better fisher. In this group, advice sharing takes a backseat to creating the conditions for personal transformation.
This sounds sort of touchy feely. Why should I care about this?
Whether you know it or not, you are operating with longstanding patterns that hinder your ability to lead. Not only that, but your team is already inheriting those unconscious patterns, which creates massive bottlenecks to your startup's success. Consider the costs of conflict avoidance, sloppy feedback, and poor emotional regulation. Or micromanagement, burnout culture, and late night Slack emergencies. Whatever is showing up in the company culture, you have a major hand in that. The good news is once you get really familiar with these blindspots, you can create new ways to lead. And that's exactly what this group is designed to help you do.
What's the ROI?
Simply put, you'll boost team performance, increase capital efficiency through quicker iteration, and increase your chances of successfully finding or scaling product-market fit.
So what actually happens in a group session?
Here is a sample of what might take place:
Check-in: a guided exercise to get everyone present in the space
Commitments: a review of the group norms that everyone has created and agreed to
Invitation: a guided exercise to help group members surface a challenge or question they'd like help on
Coaching: participants share their challenges and the group supports through curiosity, open-ended questions, and reflection
Debrief: members reflect on what they’ve learned
Check-out: closing exercise to create new commitments