Transformational Leadership With Alex Draper

Effective leadership with integrity, clarity, consistency, and trust has been lacking in most organizations. There is not enough clarity (C) and vision; not enough autonomy and flexibility (A), human relationships and sense of belonging are missing (R); and equity (E) got lost in the mail somewhere. Many organizations truly don’t CARE for their employees. 

Additionally, leaders do not live up to the values that are written on the walls and websites of their corporations. They say one thing and do another. Delegating culture and people issues to HR has also been another significant problem. But are you looking for leadership training to create real change for your organization, leaders, and people? 

DX Learning Solutions is here! This company is a partner in progressive leadership that was founded in 2015 by Alex Draper. It was meant to tap into the powerful combination of behavioral psychology, and experiential learning to expose and eliminate bad leadership and prepare leaders to put people first. 

Alex wanted to align everyone to a people-focused mindset. His CARE model captures a modern attitude that encourages self-awareness, empathy, and improvement, helping managers promote psychological safety and higher performance for their teams by uncovering their leadership blind spots. This model also stimulates the growth mindset for inclusive leadership. 

The People First Culture

According to research done by the University of Warwick, happier employees were 12% more productive than those who were unhappy. Therefore, as an organization, to retain employees, you need to treat them the same way you treat your customers. 

Why is a people-first culture essential? It helps promote retention, engagement, productivity, and creativity at work. It benefits not only the employees but also the companies. Alex has learned to put people first. During the Covid pandemic, he didn’t fire any of his employees. The team he entered with, is the team he exited with. Even after losing every cent of revenue in March 2020 and having zero revenue for over 3 months, he found a way to keep them together.  He is proud that he put his employees first and how they achieved tremendous success. Period.

DX as a company possesses a strong culture that any organization can borrow and thrive. In their culture, they ask themselves specific questions taken from Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Advantage:

1. Why do we exist? 
2. How do we behave? 
3. What do we do? 
4. How do we succeed? 
5. What is important? 
6. Who does what?

Every Monday morning, Alex and his team start with those six questions, which is how they have managed to establish a strong culture. They give feedback and are also dedicated to creating psychological safety. 

Lead With Vision

Transformational leaders set an inspiring yet achievable and realistic vision for their organization. They have a long-term goal and mobilize their fellow workers to help attain it. They also bring the necessary change that will actualize a different outcome and are open to ideas from their teams.

These leaders need to cultivate a sense of purpose, trust, and human belonging to build a sense of psychological safety within their teams. They must also be able to communicate effectively and consistently. According to Alex, transformational leaders should guide the organization in a direction that will increase the company’s long-term viability. It’s about the long term, not the short. This means as they went through, sometimes that means short-term pain, but long-term gain. 

An Understanding Of What Needs To Change

Alex noticed how the leadership training industry was underperforming and wanted to disrupt it. He knew exactly what was needed to bring a transformation. Change and a willingness to stand by your message when few want to hear it.

A transformation leader can take people and significantly change their opinions of a particular topic.

Empathy

Did you know that empathy is all about walking in the shoes of others? It’s about understanding how others see the world from their experiences. And that there is power in leading with empathy. As a leader, you need to understand people and empathize with them. You need to understand that you have the data to treat them right and serve them selflessly if you take the time to get to know them. Therefore, transformational leaders need empathy to show their teams that they care for their experiences and needs. Empathy is also an ingredient of emotional intelligence that is critical for one to be an effective leader.

Empathy encourages leaders to know the cause behind their performance. It also allows leaders to help employees, especially those who are struggling to improve and excel. Empathy gives leaders the ability to build and develop relationships with those they lead. It’s the secret sauce to being an effective leader. But it takes time. DX’s leadership training programs are hard-wired with it. And their CARE model is all about it. And Alex’s leads with it front and center. 

Conclusion

Are you looking forward to becoming a transformational leader? Or do you want to become a coveted leader who leads by example? Consider a people-first culture, be visionary, understand what needs to be changed and have empathy. You will be able to lead from the front and with an example. For more information about transformational leadership, visit this website or connect to Alex Draper here.