“In sport, the athletes strive as much as the coach and management to improve. But business tends not to be like that. It’s usually the managers or owners wanting their people to do better, so they end up trying to extract more out of their people rather than helping them excel in their role” he says.
“What we do is institute a process that changes the relationship - where people feel their manager’s aspiration is to enable them to be their best in their role - which is different because suddenly they realise they’re no longer standing over them or scrutinising their performance; instead, they’re supporting their efforts to succeed. When people feel backed by their leader, they push themselves as they know they can be better and that’s what excites them.”
Reaching that stage, Steel argues, requires a fundamental shift in the role of leadership, which is why their product, the SPS, is ‘leader led’. So, how is this different from leadership as we typically see it?
“It’s about repurposing the role of leadership in the business which allows the executive to be very deliberate about saying to their managers that they’re there first and foremost to improve the performance of their workgroup; a key part of which is to help their people realise their potential.
“We would argue that if a business has 100 leaders, it will essentially have 100 different modes of leadership. Some people are naturally outgoing, others are more reserved, so everyone who reports to them has a different experience, simply because of the personality of their leader.