Growing Great People

Effective people leaders grow great people one conversation at a time.

The Problem

Most leaders are promoted for their own performance or their technical knowhow, rather than their skills growing the performance of others.

So the conversations that actually develop people (coaching, feedback, expectation-setting, delegation) are often underdeveloped. This is true at all levels in organisations.

The Insight

Great people leaders grow their people one conversation at a time. They do two things deliberately and well: they Stretch their people to grow, and they Support them to succeed. We call this Growing Great People.

What is Growing Great People?

Over more than a decade working with hundreds of leaders and thousands of data points, Michelle Rushton and Shaun Kenny, founders of People of Influence, have learned what separates great people leaders from the rest.

Why is this important?

Around 70% of a person's engagement, and with it their productivity and discretionary effort, is determined by their immediate manager (Gallup). This is true on the front line. It is just as true in the boardroom.

A leader high in Support but low in Stretch keeps people comfortable but not growing. A leader high in Stretch but low in Support leaves people overwhelmed and set up to fail. The leaders who grow great people are high in both.

Key Outcomes

What your leaders walk away with

01
Know what great looks like
Leaders understand what a great people leader does: how to Stretch and Support their people, and what great looks like across the key conversations.
02
See where they stand today
Through the Growing Great People Diagnostic, an honest read on how well each leader currently Stretches and Supports their people.
03
Strategies they can use immediately
A simple, repeatable structure for each of the core conversations, ready for the very next one-to-one.
04
Practise the skill for real
Leaders practise each conversation on real situations, with feedback from colleagues and the facilitator, so they leave with a baseline and clarity on what to work on next.
05
A toolkit and an action plan
Each participant receives a Takeaway Toolkit, plus their action plan built in the session for themselves and their team.
06
Nudges that reinforce over time
Behavioural nudges that remind and reinforce the new habits long after the program.
The Diagnostic

The Growing Great People Diagnostic

The program is built around the Growing Great People Diagnostic, a holistic measurement and improvement tool for being a great people leader. Every leader sees how well they currently Stretch and Support their people, then tracks their progress over time.

Stretch
How well the leader challenges their people to grow, through high expectations, accountability and increasing responsibility.
Support
How well the leader provides the encouragement, coaching and mentoring their people need to succeed.
See the Diagnostic →
The Growing Great People Diagnostic report shown on a laptop
The Program

How the program unfolds

Growing Great People is a series of modules, not a single workshop. Run them together over a few days, or one a month across the year. Shaped around your people and the time available.

Every module follows the same rhythm: see what great looks like, make it real through skills practice on a live situation, then embed it with nudges and coaching before the next one.

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8
Design Phase*
Diagnostic
Measure
Re-measure
Moduleshalf day each
Coaching
Positive Feedback
Constructive Feedback
Expectation-Setting
Delegation
Skills Clinic**
Behavioural nudgesweekly email
Facilitated peer-to-peer group coachingone hour virtual
One-to-one coachingone hour virtual

* Design Phase: in the Design phase we work with the client to create tailored, client-specific scenarios for each of the skills that we work on in the program. ** Skills Clinic: skills practice focused on the conversations we identify as having the most room for improvement.

Support
Coaching Conversations
Help people solve their own problems and reach their own goals, building capability and ownership instead of dependence.
See the module in detail →
Support
Positive Feedback
Reinforce the behaviours a leader wants more of in a way that genuinely lands, rather than a throwaway 'good job'.
See the module in detail →
Stretch
Constructive Feedback
Change a behaviour without damaging the relationship, using a simple structure that lands the message and protects trust.
See the module in detail →
Stretch
Expectation Setting
Set clear, high expectations so people know exactly what great looks like and are stretched to reach it.
See the module in detail →
Stretch
Delegation
Hand over responsibility in a way that stretches people and sets them up to succeed, rather than dumping the task or hovering over it.
See the module in detail →
Format & Delivery

Shaped around your context

Duration
2 days, multiple days, or a series of half-day modules
Delivery
In person or virtual
Audience
People leaders at every level
Two ways to work with us

People of Influence is the consultancy through which Michelle Rushton and Shaun Kenny deliver leadership programs, team offsites and impactful conferences.

Contact People of Influence →

Leadership Engine is our proprietary platform for measuring and improving leadership effectiveness with diagnostics, dashboards and behavioural nudges.

Visit Leadership Engine →