Leadership Mastery Roadmap

The Leadership Mastery Roadmap represents the 9 stages every Leader will need to master on the road to success in leadership, business & life. 

I created this framework after coaching hundreds of clients in various leadership roles, career transitions and business scenarios (like you) in my coaching programs.

When you understand the levels of the Leadership Mastery Roadmap, you can put your time and energy into what you know will create the momentum you need to grow and scale to the next level.

IN ORDER TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING AND WHAT TO FOCUS ON TO GET THERE, YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.

What are the steps/stages to lifestyle/leadership mastery?

This roadmap is broken down into 9 steps each building on the previous step. This is to demonstrate the importance of a strong foundation to the next layers on the mastery journey.

There are three stages of the journey:

• Stage 1: Lifestyle Mastery
• Stage 2: Leadership Mastery
• Stage 3: Business Mastery

A leader can be well into their career but be missing a key skill at the lifestyle, leadership or business steps which can then be disastrous to their team, organization and overall life! 

So the idea here is to check in with where you are at on each step along the roadmap to identify any gaps or areas that could use attention so that all areas are THRIVING. Because, this is when the magic happens! 

When you are THRIVING, your teams excel, your organization is inspired, your clients and customers rave about your product or service and everything you do comes with ease, joy and passion! 

When things are off, you end up working harder than needed, pulling more than your own weight, health and emotional issues pile up, your personal life can suffer and the organization is stuck in SURVIVE MODE!

STAGE 1: LIFESTYLE MASTERY

The first stage is focused on Lifestyle Mastery because this the the inner work that must be done for truly positive results.

We have all known leaders who did not have their own personal self at the mastery level which ended up hurting their teams and hindering their progress as a leader as well as their overall results.

In comparison, those leaders who have gone through their own leadership journey to turn into a Level 5 leader (as described by Jim Collins in his book From Good to Great), those are the leaders who have truly mastered themselves. And this can really clearly be seen in their leadership impacts and incredible business results!

Here’s a short description about the difference of a Level 5 Leader:

Level 5 leaders display a powerful mixture of personal humility and indomitable will. They're incredibly ambitious, but their ambition is first and foremost for the cause, for the organization and its purpose, not themselves.

While Level 5 leaders can come in many personality packages, they are often self-effacing, quiet, reserved, and even shy. Every good-to-great transition in our research began with a Level 5 leader who motivated the enterprise more with inspired standards than inspiring personality.

Read more here: https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/level-five-leadership.html

Embed video: https://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/media.html#*Level5Leadership

So the question I want to answer here today is how does one get to Leadership Mastery???

That's where the Leadership Mastery Roadmap comes in! I’ve developed a model based on a step pyramid that stacks competencies and areas of focus on each other.

To get to the mastery level, one needs each step of the pyramid to be strong.

When one area is lacking, the ones above struggle.

Take confidence for example. You can have all the skills, training and experience possible in the entire world.

But if your confidence isn’t there, the rest doesn’t really matter. Because it just doesn’t get past the gap.

I know SO many leaders that are amazing people, have great visions, so much heart and amazing knowledge but are struggling with the confidence piece. Which leaves their work and impact on the world as a luke-warm, tepid bath-water like experience.

But when they are confident, strong and powerful in themselves, THAT is when their amazing-ness can shine through.

• This is when the magic happens!
• Where they bring their best selves to the world!
• When they truly and massively inspire others!
• When humanity is at it’s best!

So this article will help you do a quick self-assessment of where you’re at in each stage so you can decide whether you are overlooking a certain stage (like confidence, or self-care or communication… ) so you can get support there to truly THRIVE!

• STEP 1: So in this first step of Lifestyle Mastery is all focused on creating the space for self-awareness and setting up the foundation in safety, health, money and overall environment to stabilize the self.

• STEP 2: The second step in this first stage is focusing on the self-care to bring energy levels up, build on self-awareness and to create an abundance of energy that naturally turns into inspiration and creativity.

• STEP 3: The third step in this Lifestyle Mastery stage focuses on mindset which includes confidence and taking ownership for the results and outcomes that have been created so far. We look at mindset, beliefs and shift the inner self to one of empowered and inspired.

STAGE 2: LEADERSHIP MASTERY

The second stage is around Leadership Mastery. This builds naturally off of the first stage of self and starts to turn the focus onto the team and the external results of the internal mindset and beliefs.

• STEP 4: The first step in this stage is focused on relationships, connections with your team/staff and mentors.

• STEP 5: The next step focuses on communication, culture and how internal systems “communicate” with each other. Does it flow, are they strong and clear?

• STEP 6: The final step in Leadership mastery focuses on having a strong vision of where you want to take your team/business. This step builds your connection to your intuition, imagination and openness to options.

STAGE 3: BUSINESS MASTERY

At this stage, we are focusing more on the external impacts of your team on your customers and the impact of your organization on the world.

• STEP 7: The first step of this stage is all about strategy. Where you want to go and how you’ll get there. Then we’ll make a plan to make it happen. Immediate 90 plans and longer 5-10-20 years.

• STEP 8: The second step of this stage is all about the customer. How are they responding to your strategy. Is it working? Do you need to adapt, adjust or overcome challenges?

• STEP 9: Step three of this stage is all about the bigger social impact your organization is having on the world. Do you have a positive “corporate social responsibility” plan? What about cradle-to-grave on your products? What is your legacy you’re leaving for future generations?

How to know where YOU ARE at in the journey?

The point of this Roadmap is to help you see what areas you are at. You may be focused on relationships or strategy but your base level of self-care could be suffering. This will negatively impact every other stage of the journey.

Or perhaps you’ve been putting a lot of attention into process improvement, systems and team connections but your lack of confidence might be weighing you down.

Or you're ready to focus your team on strategic planning but team work and communications aren't strong enough to allow this to be a productive session. 

To understand where you and your organization are at for each step of the journey, you can mentally give yourself (or your business or organization) a score out of 10 on each step of the roadmap. This is purely subjective so just go with whatever comes up for you as a number.

1. Step 1: Self-care
2. Step 2: Self-awareness, time & energy
3. Step 3: Mindset, confidence & clarity
4. Step 4: Relationships & connections
5. Step 5: Communication: verbal & systems
6. Step 6: Vision & inspiration
7. Step 7: Strategic thinking & planning
8. Step 8: Customer satisfaction, impact, community
9. Step 9: Global impact & legacy

Then this can help you narrow in on an area that could use some extra support, attention, coaching or education to help you master each level.

And it also depends on where you’ve been focusing on recently that may have created a gap in another area temporarily.

This is just a model to help communicate and assess where we’re at in any given moment. So take what works for you as a tool to help you uplevel your mastery!

What to focus on at each stage?

So for each stage of your Leadership Mastery journey, there are many different areas to focus on.

Once you’ve done your self-assessment, I highly recommend you brainstorm what you want to focus on, learn and grow

• What are your top 3 areas of strength? Why?
• What are your top 3 areas for growth? Why?
• What are you going to do to get support? (maybe this looks like getting a coach, taking a course, finding a mentor, or reading a few books on the topic? all of the above?)

For those of you who are looking for support with various stages of your Leadership Mastery Journey, some of my programs will help you master each level.

Lifestyle Mastery Support

If you're looking to develop stronger Lifestyle Mastery and Leadership skills, the Lifestyle Mastery for Leaders group coaching program is the one for you!

The 4 month program mainly focuses on Lifestyle Mastery. While it touches a bit on leadership, the main take-aways are to boost your self-care, self-awareness, maximize your energy & confidence through developing personal & lifestyle schedules & systems both at work and at home to help you THRIVE!

You can sign up for the LML program here and get started today!

Leadership & Business Mastery Support

If you are looking for more support around Leadership & Business Mastery, I offer private 1:1 coaching as these are much more unique areas depending on what kind of leadership role or business you are in.

You can apply for a discovery call to discuss your goals and how I can support you here.

May this Leadership Mastery Model help you identify specific areas to focus your energy and attention as a new leader, manager, senior leader, executive, CEO or director!

All the best,

Sarah Francescutti, MBA, CEC

Leadership, Mindset & Business Strategy Coach