Empowering Leaders Through Holistic Development - A Creative Director's Journey
In early 2024, a creative director named Stephen began a leadership coaching journey with us at Relational Leadership. With almost two decades of professional experience, Stephen came to us with specific challenges around strategic thinking, time management, and execution. As someone who had served at multiple organizations and was approaching his fifth year at his current company, Stephen sensed he needed to develop new skills to scale his team and create a lasting legacy.
The Initial Challenge
When Stephen first engaged with us, he was facing several interconnected challenges:
Strategic Direction: Despite clear creative gifts and leadership abilities, Stephen struggled with long-term planning and creating sustainable systems.
Self-Awareness Gaps: Though naturally relational and creative, he had limited insight into how his personality and leadership style impacted others.
Identity and Achievement Tension: Stephen had an ongoing internal struggle between his value as a person and his professional accomplishments.
Work-Life Balance: The demands of his role had created challenges in maintaining healthy boundaries and self-care.
Team Development: While passionate about his creative work, Stephen needed to grow in his ability to develop other leaders effectively.
Our Approach
Working with Stephen, we implemented our holistic leadership development process that addresses both character and competence:
Phase 1: Self-Awareness
We began by focusing on helping Stephen understand himself better through:
Personality Assessments: Using the Enneagram (which identified him as highest in Types 3, 8, 1, and 7 – the Achiever with Challenger tendencies) and StrengthsFinder (revealing Input, Connectedness, Woo, Activator, and Belief as his top strengths).
360° Feedback: We had Stephen collect extensive feedback from supervisors, peers, subordinates, and family members to gain a clearer picture of his impact on others.
Personal Story Exploration: We examined how his upbringing, creative background, and various professional experiences shaped his leadership style and expectations.
Phase 2: Values and Purpose Clarification
Building on this foundation of self-awareness, we helped Stephen:
Identify Core Values: Through reflection exercises, Stephen articulated Love, Courage, Excellence, and Creativity as his foundational values.
Craft a Personal Purpose Statement: Stephen developed a purpose statement centered on "leveraging creativity to empower leaders to see beyond their current perspective and live out their talents to inspire the community around them."
Recognize Disconnects: We identified where his current leadership practices weren't aligned with his deeper values and purpose.
Phase 3: Vision and Goals
The final phase focused on translating Stephen's newfound self-awareness and purpose into actionable plans:
Vision Development: Stephen created a two-year vision focusing on professional development, leadership skills, creative projects, and community impact.
OKR Implementation: We introduced Objectives and Key Results methodology to help Stephen create measurable goals in each area of focus.
Feedback Systems: Stephen established regular check-in processes in each sphere of influence to measure progress and maintain accountability.
Key Breakthroughs
Over the course of our year-long engagement, Stephen experienced several significant shifts:
From Performance to Presence
A crucial realization came when Stephen identified his tendency to approach work like a scoreboard, constantly measuring himself against achievements and external validation. Through our work together, he began embracing what he called "sober-mindedness" – the ability to be present and content rather than constantly striving for the next accomplishment.
One particularly powerful exercise had Stephen reflect on his personal narrative using a story structure:
"Once upon a time, there was a creative leader. Everyday he was never satisfied with where life took him, even when he knew he was making the right choice, until he believed contentment was key. Because he took his values seriously, until finally, his notoriety didn't matter and his true work was clearly realized."
This reflection helped Stephen recognize how he had been seeking satisfaction in achievement rather than in alignment with his deeper values and calling.
Embracing Limitations
Early in our work, Stephen identified a key pattern: "forcing things through and taking on too much." He had developed a habit of pushing past natural boundaries and ignoring limitations, which often led to burnout and strained relationships.
Through our coaching, Stephen began to see limitations not as obstacles to overcome but as invitations to creativity and collaboration. This shift allowed him to:
Delegate more effectively to team members
Establish healthier work rhythms
Focus on fewer priorities with greater impact
Integration of Faith and Leadership
As a Christian leader in a demanding creative field, Stephen had always viewed his work through the lens of his faith, but our coaching helped him integrate his spiritual life and leadership practices more seamlessly.
He came to understand that leadership effectiveness flows from personal spiritual health, not the other way around. This realization led him to prioritize spiritual disciplines like reflection, prayer, and scripture study not just as personal practices but as the foundation of his leadership.
Developing a Strategic Mindset
Stephen moved from reactive leadership (responding to immediate needs) to proactive planning. His OKRs focused on four key areas:
Professional Development: Taking formal classes to deepen his knowledge base
Leadership Growth: Creating opportunities to lead both within his department and across the organization
Creative Projects: Establishing a collaborative process for new initiatives
Community Impact: Building meaningful relationships and exploring ways to serve his community
Outcomes
By the conclusion of our coaching together, Stephen had:
Developed Greater Self-Awareness: He could articulate his strengths, growth areas, and leadership impact with clarity.
Created Sustainable Systems: He implemented rhythms for personal development, team leadership, and project planning.
Improved Relational Skills: Stephen became more intentional about seeking feedback and investing in relationships with diverse team members.
Established Clear Direction: With a defined two-year vision and supporting OKRs, Stephen gained confidence in his path forward.
Integrated Work and Life: He found healthier ways to pursue excellence without sacrificing personal wellbeing or family connections.
In his final session, Stephen reflected: "My biggest takeaways were pivoting from acquiring competencies to focusing on relationships, seeing my barriers to leading effectively, and gaining new relational skills with those different from me. The goal-setting and OKRs were new and wonderful tools."
Conclusion
Stephen's journey illustrates the power of holistic leadership development that addresses both the internal dynamics of character and the external skills of competence. By starting with self-awareness, clarifying values and purpose, and then creating aligned goals, Stephen was able to transform not just what he did as a leader but who he was becoming.
His experience demonstrates the effectiveness of our Relational Leadership approach, which recognizes that the quality of your life and leadership depend on the quality of your relationships – with yourself, with others, and with your calling. By addressing these foundational elements, Stephen gained both the clarity and tools needed to lead with greater impact and sustainability.
At Relational Leadership, we believe competency is not enough – lasting leadership effectiveness comes from the integration of character, skill, and purpose. Our approach resonates with leaders who want to align their faith with their professional leadership. If you're interested in learning more about our coaching process for executives, entrepreneurs, or team leaders, contact us today.
