A core belief of Alchemist’s leadership framework is that identity sits at the heart of any leadership development. Growing a deep sense of self awareness is the key to unlocking future potential, so it makes sense that every journey starts there.  

With awareness-raising activities that encourage people to look introspectively, leaders can uncover their natural strengths. They also unpick their own biases and blind spots, enabling them to be more effective in their role. 

This phase of development is entirely necessary so that leaders are able to understand themselves. By uncovering what they bring to the table, they can implement strategies that leverage their strengths.  

Self-Awareness

Self awareness is a powerful tool for everyone, not just a leader. Developing a strong understanding of self allows people to navigate human interactions at any level and nurture their soft skills.  

This knowledge allows learners to fully comprehend their own strengths and development gaps, and how these might impact their team. Discovering how self regulation and a better awareness of the people around them can improve their ability to lead¹ is a key step in understanding leadership identity.

Once this revelation has embedded, it becomes much easier to build skills to support individuals as they pursue their professional development. By employing skills like emotional intelligence and active listening, they can enhance their innate competencies to flourish as a people leader.  

Career Goals

Leaders are encouraged to consider their career aspirations as part of this self knowledge work. By analysing their personal and professional motivations and examining their career trajectory to date, we can begin to mould the way they think about their future.  

Specific, long-term career goals help individuals stay motivated. Having a clear objective guiding their everyday work keeps momentum. Without an end-goal, it’s much easier to stray from the path and miss opportunities for success. Focusing on a set objective helps leaders think strategically about how to achieve it, finding more creative and effective solutions to obstacles that might arise. This thinking is crucial to a leader’s efficacy, their own personal success and that of the team. 

Leadership Style

Further to this, individuals need to recognise their natural leadership style as part of their identity work. There are a number of styles that people tend to lean in to, some more effective than others. Traditionally, teams were managed in a very top-down, command and control manner. Nowadays, modern management that centres around empathy and motivating others has been shown to be more effective. 

People have various natural competencies that make them more successful in specific types of leadership. Some people have a natural flair for innovation, some are born as change-makers while others might be effortless nurturers. All of these traits are reflected in our framework, and it’s crucial to develop self-understanding that fuels relevant and engaging learning. 

Applying The Framework: Leadership Identity

Our Framework is a diagnostic tool for leadership development, designed to give us an insight into what drives your leaders. Applying the findings from this toolkit, we can get a crystal clear picture of who makes up your team, what their individual superpowers are and how to target their development gaps with customised learning that unlocks their full potential.  

We apply this framework to get a deeper understanding of your organisational DNA. This, combined with comprehensive discovery work helps us determine the starting position of your business. It also helps to establish the end goal for your leadership development journey.  

The work in between is where our experience, innovation and blended approach to learning really come to life. We craft custom-built modules that address the specific needs of your business. With the help of expert actor facilitators, advanced learning management systems and future focused tech like AI, we are able to deliver engaging experiences that will captivate your learners. 

¹ Gaddis & Foster, 2015