Leaders need more than a coach, they need a community

4 pillars that make a strong peer support community

There is an old saying that iron sharpens iron. As you develop as a leader and work to become the best version of yourself, being surrounded by like minded people can make all the difference in your personal and professional growth. 

It can be challenging to find one or more leaders with similar guiding principles and intentions who can come together as a support community. This is why coaching tends to be a  first step you might take when you want to find a support system. Nothing wrong with that, and coaching is what makes up a big part of what we do at UnBoxed2lead. However, as a leader you need more than coaching, you need a community.   

One of the unfortunate side effects of leadership is how lonely it can be. As the leader, your team looks to you to rally them on, build them up, create the best working environment, and develop the vision for growth. So, it becomes critical to have a support community where everyone speaks the language of leadership, is sympathetic to the burdens of leadership, and thrives from supporting and being supported by those who understand you best. 

We have developed a peer support community for just this purpose and in our experience we believe a well crafted and thoughtful leaders’ peer support community has to accomplish four things for you. 

1. The ability to problem solve around what is universal to leadership: life beyond your position, anxiety and stress, managing relationship systems 

Your leadership challenges may differ from other leaders based on any number of factors. The leader of a global fortune 500 company will have a unique set of challenges compared to the unique challenges someone leading a community nonprofit will experience. Leading a retail chain will be very different from leading a hospital system. 

While your industry, market share, and presence may differ you have three things in common with your peers. 

1. You are more than your position; every leader has a dynamic personal life that is intertwined with their leadership. 
2. Anxiety and stress. How you manage anxiety and stress in your professional and personal life and whether you are increasing or decreasing anxiety and stress in others.
3. Understanding relationship systems both at work and outside of work. How do you show up in your professional and personal relationships? You have to lead personality types that range from high performers with high EQ to immature and dysfunctional types that can make the workplace miserable and everything in between. Your personal relationships will also have these ranges as well and while it may not seem like the two are connected, how you function and the role you play in those relationships is what you need to think about. 

While there are other commonalities, these three issues are what bind you to your peers. They are woven into every strand of your business. Your ability to be effective here can make all the difference in reaching your full potential both professionally and in life. This is why intentional conversations with other leaders in a guided environment will help you be your best self, not just at work but in every area of your life. 

2. Inspires you to start living your best life

The pressure of leadership can be all consuming and if you have family obligations there may be little time for you to focus on yourself. A well run peer support community, with a strong mastermind component,  is going to help you realize that the best thing you can do for those you lead, love, and serve is to be the best you that you can be. This means thinking about your personal life goals and being around those who support them. 

3. Helps you get to the root of where you come from and who you are: focuses on the whole leader

Who you are is primarily the result of how you were pre-programmed in your family of origin. This is something not generally explored in leadership development and is why we focus on leadership enrichment. It is important to gain an understanding of your family history and family dynamics which can provide insight into how you function in relationship systems, and help you chart a course to becoming the authentic leader you want to be. It is not therapy in a clinical sense, but a guided experience of discovery where you are supported and encouraged along the way. 

       4. Creates a customized / bespoke experience

I don’t know about you but I do not enjoy networking events. Even as an extrovert it tends to be an awkward and uncomfortable experience for me. There is a skill to it I simply do not have and it has always been difficult to find real value in it. 

A peer support community has the advantage of being led by coaches and facilitators who really get to know you and your fellow members. They become more than coaches and instructors but connectors who can make introductions and help bring leaders together to collaborate around professional goals and even personal interests. 

As I said earlier as a leader you need more than a coach, you need a community. The UnBoxed2Lead Leaders’ Peer Support Community is working hard to accomplish this for you. This is a community created by leaders for leaders  with a dynamic and thoughtful set of services committed to helping you be the best you can be, for yourself, your family, and your organization.