Three steps forward, two steps back. Does that describe your experience in your business?

Do you feel like you’re busting your tail to grow, but growth always slips away?

There’s a reason for that.

Success is the natural result of consistent behavior over time.

So is mediocrity.

For that matter, this applies to failure as well. But mediocrity is the greater risk.

People respond to what they see or experience from the leaders.

So, if you are struggling to build a team or organization that can sustain growth, look in the mirror. There is something that you are doing (or not doing) – a consistent behavior – that is producing your current set of results.

If you don’t like your results, change something you are doing.

People mimic what they see (or react to it)

Most leaders genuinely don’t appreciate how influential they are. This is more common than you might imagine.

Mimicry: Through a potent combination of social conditioning, incentives, and neurology, people are inclined to mimic leaders. It’s literally how we are programmed, motivated, and wired.

Reaction: Others will react in ways to protect the leader, themselves, or take advantage of the leader’s tendencies.

When I work with leadership teams who are stuck – meaning they are trying but can’t seem to get (or sustain) better results – it’s usually a behavioral issue.

More specifically, there are one or two behaviors they do (or don’t) that disproportionately impact overall results.

For example, imagine a leader who often:

• Over commits / can’t say “no.”
  • (Mimicry) Your team also believes that they can’t say “no” and will not protect healthy boundaries or recognize limits.
  • (Reaction) Some may feel a need to compensate and work extra (to the point of detriment) to help the leader appear successful.
• Avoids conflict (real or perceived)
  • (Mimicry) Others tend to avoid difficult conversations and won’t address poor behavior or performance.
  • (Reaction) Toxic personalities and chronic underperformers are often able to take advantage of environments where they won’t be held accountable.
• Feels everything is urgent and important
  • (Mimicry) Others poorly manage their time and are drawn to ‘firefighting’ problems rather than building systems that prevent problems.
  • (Reaction) A tendency to abuse others’ poor boundaries, knowing that by making anything feel urgent, they can also make it appear important.

These behavioral patterns will undermine growth. Whatever their origins, these behaviors create a cultural sandbox for your team. They will mimic you or react to you (or both).

They are likely to mimic you when they feel empowered. Mimicking the above list will show their tendency to put things off until the last moment, not addressing issues, difficulty prioritizing, or knowing where ‘enough’ is, etc.

Or they’ll be reactive: Trying to manage you or protect themselves from you. Working additional hours so that you don’t feel the effects of your procrastination, absorbing toxic co-workers that you don’t address, overthinking and overjustifying decisions, etc.

Here’s the point: Don’t plant what you don’t want to grow.

If the behavioral & cultural ‘seeds’ you are planting now aren’t in line with what you are trying to build, you’ll grow what you actually plant. Not what you envison.

Four questions to ask yourself

What feedback have I heard more than once from different people – even if I don’t fully agree with it?

Don’t pay much attention to one-off comments. Those are like flies. But repetition across stakeholders is a signal to explore.

If I improved just one behavior, what would make it easier for people to work with me?
This shifts the focus from self-image to impact. Leaders are often understandably concerned with how they are perceived. But it is more valuable to be clear-eyed about our actual impact.

What behavior do I tend to defend, justify, or explain when it comes up?
Defensiveness often marks the boundary between current success and future growth. Again, don’t spend much energy on one-off comments. But curiosity is more valuable than defensiveness if you hear something more than once.

The final big question

Are “they” actually telling me what they think?

Believe it or not, it’s a good sign if you have enough information to answer the questions above.

If you never hear suggestions for improvement, that is the warning sign. It’s not a sign that you are an actual, real-life saint.

It means people aren’t talking to you for some reason. Either you’ve surrounded yourself with sycophants, or they are afraid, don’t know how to approach you, or feel it won’t matter if they tried.

If you want to grow, make sure your foundation is strong

Most discussions or conversations around scaling focus on sales and the platform for delivering products or services. And those matter.

Growth is pressure in the system. Make sure your system is reinforced by the right behaviors.

Take good care,

Christian