The stories and beliefs we have about ourselves are sneaky. Really really sneaky.
For years I didn't believe I was creative. When I traced it back it came from an offhand comment my grandmother had said to me when I was around 5 years old. I asked her once what kinds of jobs artists have and if I could be one when I grew up. She said, "Well, you can’t draw well so you couldn’t be an artist. You will need to do something else." (Grandma was a no-nonsense woman from a family of German farmers and never one to provide an ounce of false hope if she could help it.)
That comment was buried so far into my subconscious that I saw any creative attempt I succeeded in and any piece of positive feedback I received about my creative approach to problems as a one-off. Surely, anything I did well creatively was merely an unintended consequence - a mistake! For years, anytime someone said I was creative I tried to talk them out of it.
This summer I worked with three coaching colleagues to develop an in-person networking event called The Art of Scaling Yourself. As the moderator of the panel, I sat down to write questions that would uncover stories, perspectives, and career advice that would illuminate the different experiences of those on stage with me.
I wanted to play with the concept of scaling being an art. Three out of four of us were prior Amazonians and that culture is heavy with mechanisms, data, science, and process for scaling. But where is the artistry?
Over the years I’ve been working with leaders as an executive coach and HR executive, every person has both an art and a science to how they scale themselves. You do too!
Every time you grow as a leader (both as a people leader/manager and leader in your own career journey) it starts with building your awareness:
What are you great at naturally?
What challenges do you gravitate towards?
What feedback have you received about how you are tackling business and people issues?
There are the internal systems and narratives (i.e. ‘stories we tell ourselves’) we have in place for ourselves. These are things like:
- How you think about increasing complexity,
- Your value systems,
- Your intrinsic behavioral/personality style,
- How you like to communicate and be communicated to, and
- Your own self-worth or how much feeling like an imposter affects you
A lot of my work as a coach touches on these two areas - both our internal systems and the narration that happens in our unconscious mind and where our awareness is for our strengths inventory.
When a leader wants to change something - whether that is growth, work/life balance, increased happiness, or taking on more responsibility - it all starts with an internal assessment.
Then, and only then, can you begin the work to evaluate where you can be an artist and where you can be a scientist in how you grow. This was the reason ‘What part of scaling yourself is a science and what part do you consider art?’ was my first question to the panel of my coach peers.
If you’d like to talk more about how you can be both an Artist and a Scientist in your leadership, reach out!
(Turns out I am an artist after all! :) )
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