THE LEAD FRAMEWORK™
When you’re facing a difficult decision, a challenging relationship, or a change you want to make, the LEAD Framework helps you examine how you’re approaching it and see more choices.
Look In. Express. Amplify. Drive.
Four steps to
lead by choice.
THE BELIEF BEHIND THE WORK
What you believe about yourself, other people, and a situation influences the choices you see. Those choices shape how you show up and what happens around you.
The LEAD Framework gives you a way to examine those influences alongside the challenge you’re facing. You can use it to prepare for a conversation, revisit a decision, or work through a change with your team.
It’s the structure behind LEAD By Choice™ coaching, advisory, workshops, and programs.
Leadership is
an inside job.
the four steps
Start with a real situation. Work through what’s influencing you, how you want to respond, and what you’ll do next.
From operating by default to leading deliberately.
D
Drive
how you lead
Confidence · Commitment · Choice
Put your choice into practice.
Choose where to focus your effort and follow through on the commitments that move you forward.
Decide on a next step you can take. Be clear about what you’re committing to and when. Then look at what happens and adjust as you learn.
What will I do next, and when will I do it?
A
Amplify
how you relate
Communication · Connection · Community
Make room for other people.
Build relationships where people can speak honestly, contribute, and take responsibility for the work.
Ask what you may be missing. Listen to what others see and need. Consider whose perspective or involvement could help you move forward together.
Who needs to be part of this conversation?
how you show up
E
Express
Clarity · Courage · Creativity
Choose how you want to show up.
Get clear on what matters and communicate it with the courage and care the situation needs.
Consider what you want people to understand and how your words and actions will convey it. That may mean making a clear request, naming a concern, or trying a different approach.
What needs to be said, and how do I want to say it?
Consciousness · Curiosity · Compassion
Understand what’s driving you.
Understand what’s driving your decisions, reactions, and patterns before they drive you.
Notice what you’re thinking and feeling. Examine what you’re assuming about yourself, the other person, or the situation. Give yourself room to see it from another perspective.
What am I treating as a fact that might be an assumption?
L
Look In
who you are
D
Drive
how you lead
Choose where to focus your effort and follow through on the commitments that move you forward.
Decide on a next step you can take. Be clear about what you’re committing to and when. Then look at what happens and adjust as you learn.
Confidence · Commitment · Choice
Put your choice into practice.
What will I do next, and when will I do it?
L
Look In
who you are
Understand what’s driving your decisions, reactions, and patterns before they drive you.
Notice what you’re thinking and feeling. Examine what you’re assuming about yourself, the other person, or the situation. Give yourself room to see it from another perspective.
Consciousness · Curiosity · Compassion
Understand what’s driving you.
What am I treating as a fact that might be an assumption?
Get clear on what matters and communicate it with the courage and care the situation needs.
Consider what you want people to understand and how your words and actions will convey it. That may mean making a clear request, naming a concern, or trying a different approach.
Clarity · Courage · Creativity
Choose how you want to show up.
What needs to be said, and how do I want to say it?
E
Express
how you show up
A
Amplify
how you relate
Build relationships where people can speak honestly, contribute, and take responsibility for the work.
Ask what you may be missing. Listen to what others see and need. Consider whose perspective or involvement could help you move forward together.
Communication · Connection · Community
Make room for other people.
Who needs to be part of this conversation?
TWELVE PRINCIPLES WITHIN LEAD
The 12 principles are woven into the four steps of LEAD. Together, they form the C12 Power System™, the foundation supporting the framework.
Each set of three gives you another way to explore a situation. In Look In, for example, consciousness helps you notice your response, curiosity helps you question your assumptions, and compassion helps you examine what’s happening with care for yourself and others.
You work with these principles through the decisions and relationships already part of your life.
Principles you
put into practice.
PUT LEAD TO WORK
Bring the situation
you’re facing now.
A change to
lead
Consider the people affected and what will help them take part in moving the work forward.
A
conversation
Clarify what matters and prepare to say it in a way the other person can understand.
A difficult
decision
Examine what’s influencing you and consider options you may have overlooked.
Your next
move
Explore what you want and choose a step you can stand behind.
a moment to try it
Think of a conversation you’ve been putting off.
Use these four questions to consider a different approach.
Find a place
to start.
THE FREE LEAD ASSESSMENT
Reflect on how you’re leading now and identify an area you’d like to explore. Your responses give you a starting point for the work ahead.
ways to work together
One framework.
Your real goals.
Coaching & Advisory
Work through your decisions, leadership challenges, or next chapter in a private engagement.
Speaking
Bring a new perspective on leadership, culture, or change to your audience.
Workshops & Programs
Apply LEAD with a group or team, with time to reflect and practice a different approach.
Let’s talk about what you’re facing and whether working together would be useful.
