Accelerating leadership growth isn’t just about working harder—it’s about working smarter. After coaching 120+ founders, VPs, and directors across the UK and US, I’ve learned exactly what it takes to fast-track leadership success. Here are 10 lessons I wish someone had shared with me earlier to help accelerate leadership growth.
Master the Art of Tension
There is a rare ability in people who can stand their ground and force outcomes.
The most artful leaders can do this without impacting relationships. Sometimes, to get the best out of people, you have to get them to do things they either don’t want to do or will find challenging.
Learning to manage this tension is crucial for anyone aiming to grow as a leader.
Data Beats Opinions
In my career in product management, a big part of the work was stakeholder management. Delivering one thing that one stakeholder set is interested in often means not delivering something that someone else wants. Everyone will want to tell you that they think their thing is the most important.
To overcome that and equip yourself with decision-making criteria, approach each decision with enough data to make subjective discussions more objective. This doesn’t mean slowing down the decision-making process, but it means that decisions are made with quantifiable input rather than seniority or who shouts the loudest.
Using data-driven decisions is a hallmark of leaders who progress quickly.
Always Ask ‘Why?’
Too many times, newer leaders will do something because they’ve been told to.
Seek first to understand why you are doing something and the desired outcome from doing that thing. There may well be a better way of doing something.
In the product and tech space, developments are often based on outcomes, which then have features that support them. Working from the outcome and keeping that front of mind allows you to develop superior products that deliver results. Adopting this mindset can significantly boost your leadership capabilities.
Adapt Your Message
Communication is both an art and a science.
Effectively what you are trying to do is convey relevant timely information to the right people at the right time.
Given that, you must learn to adapt your communication to the level of detail that your audience needs.
The information that a VP needs on the progress of a project or deliverable will be very different than that of an operational executive who is in the detail.
To hone this, I’ve had clients and staff I’ve managed perform two tasks.
- Practice presentations to a mirror and record them. You can watch them back and share them with a coach or colleague and get feedback on whether key points landed
- Write an operational email update for your team and then reduce it down to a fraction of that for a leadership update. AI tools can now be used here to help you with this.
Refining this skill will position you as a leader who communicates with impact.
Kill Conflict Fast
As you step up into leadership, you need to be the ‘air cover’ for your team. That means stepping in to support them when there are issues of conflict with other team(s)/(members).
Many more junior leaders will shy away from conflict, hoping it will pass. Deal with conflict quickly, compassionately and effectively.
You can do this by having honest conversations and listening to both parties. Handling conflict head-on strengthens your leadership presence and fosters team trust.
Inspire Relentlessly
One thing you have to accept in business is that not everyone has the same level of motivation. It’s the same in sports. To get people to do more, you need to capture their imaginations.
When I worked at O2, during an iPhone launch, the IT director, actually stepped in to code himself so that parts of the website could be delivered quicker. This recognition that despite his seniority, he could still roll up his sleeves and support his team was seen as an inspirational act.
I’ve also used physical challenges I’m training for to inspire others, drawing parallels between personal growth and professional performance.
The ability to inspire is what separates good leaders from great ones.
Influence Like a Pro
Moving from individual contributor to team leader is less about what you deliver and more about how you influence others.
To help with this:
- Seed ideas in meetings and let others think they came up with them.
- If you need something done quickly, get multiple people to request it (use sparingly).
- Have the “meeting before the meeting” to align key decision-makers and avoid last-minute surprises.
Mastering influence can rapidly elevate your leadership trajectory.
Build a Team Brand
As you start to lead teams, the team brand becomes at least as important as your own personal brand.
Face out into the wider organisation and fly the flag with/for your team to drive awareness and affinity.
This may involve matrix networking and attending meetings with colleagues at similar or more senior levels across the organisation, attending meetings to present on a topic linked with your team and looking for broader ways your team can support the organisation and its objectives.
A strong team brand not only highlights your leadership but also drives overall organizational success.
Coach, Don’t Just Manage
Unless you are fortunate enough to work in an organisation that affords your team specific coaches, odds are this is a role you may need to fulfil for your team.
In my experience, you may have team members who are more readily open and want to develop and those who are happy with the level they are at.
If and where time allows, start to move from management and directive to consultative and reflective. Hold up a mirror so that your team can find the answers to their own problems and maintain a strong level of accountability.
Adopting a coaching mindset accelerates leadership growth by empowering your team to excel.
Create Urgency
Don’t be rushed, but do approach things with a level of urgency that permeates as an expectation for the whole team.
Urgency is a rare trait associated with high performance and starting to push things along faster than they would naturally occur otherwise is a leadership quality that will get you and your team recognised.
Creating this culture of urgency can be a catalyst for faster leadership development.
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