EP364: Conscious Leadership and the Future of Work with Sarah Hawley
As a creative visionaries, we’re not wired to be managers. We’re wired to be leaders.
Because we’re so passionate about what we do, we end to be more emotional in the way we run our business.
So when the topic of leadership comes up, especially when you’re trying to build a team for your small business, you might feel like a failure because you struggle to manage people.
If that sounds anything like you (I know it sounds like me), then you’re going to love this episode about conscious leadership and the future of work with my friend Sarah Hawley.
Sarah is the author of Conscious Leadership and the founder of Growmotely, an end-to-end HR service that connects culture-first companies with remote professionals all around the world.
Entrepreneurship runs in her family. Before starting Growmotely, she found success building, scaling, and selling multiple productized service businesses.
After a lot of soul searching, she made the decision to convert all of her businesses to remote work and embraced deep inner work to connect with her unique way of leading.
“That journey of turning my companies remote is really what unlocked the door for me to much more conscious leadership,” she shared with me, “…I decided that redefining work for humanity is what I wanted to dedicate my life to.”
If you’re a creative visionary and growth-seeking human being, you’re going to love Sarah’s perspective on how to build authentic, awesome teams who buy into your vision and want to follow you no matter what is going on inside your business.
The Future of Work is Changing
With the rise in remote work, people’s relationships to their job is changing. They aren’t just after a paycheck anymore.
“During the pandemic, the world stood still, and we all stopped and thought about our mortality,” Sarah explains, “…and what we’re seeing as the outcome of that is people are desiring more meaningful, impactful lives in general.”
She describes this shift as “an evolution of work-life balance,” which encourages boundaries and empowers people to mold their work around the life they want to live.
Sarah experienced it for herself in 2014, when she made the shift to 100% remote work in all of her companies.
“I watched myself take back my power, and take back my freedom. And then I watched my team do the same thing. And what a gift it was to give that to them,” she says, “To get out of the way as a leader… and watch them step into their fullest potential.”
It’s been her mission ever since to embrace the changing future of work and support small businesses in building loyal, empowered teams.
Fostering Company Culture In Your Small Business
Because people are changing the way they think about work, the draw to culture-first companies has never been stronger.
“When I think about culture…it's essentially the values of the organization,” Sarah describes, “And when I think about values, it's like how we show up for each other, for our customers, how we desire our customers to show up.”
It might feel strange to think about company culture as a small business owner, but it’s such an important part of growing your business, especially when you’re hiring and leading a team.
Sarah warns business owners against trying to force company culture that just doesn’t fit your business. Instead, think through the lens of who you actually are and how you show up to the world.
“There is no right way to have cultural or wrong way to have culture,” she explains, “The most effective culture is when you know who you are, and you know how to communicate that.”
When you get this right, you naturally attract team members who align with your values and fit right into your workplace environment.
Looking Inward to Become a Conscious Leader
Sarah’s entrepreneurial journey completely transformed when she started thinking differently about what it really takes to be the conscious leader of your business.
“It's about understanding and looking inward,” she explains, “When there is an issue in the culture and in the team, at some level, we created that as the leader… It’s hard. It’s a hard truth.”
Conscious leadership requires self-ownership. This will be really hard at times, I won’t life to you, but the payoff is incredible.
“It’s bringing all this inner work into the organization,” says Sarah, “And I believe that when we do that…we start to create organizations that are vehicles for regenerative change, regenerative healing, where [your employees] are going out into the world and becoming beacons of light for other people.”
This was such an inspiring interview. Listen to the full episode above to learn more about Sarah’s journey and how she inspires her employees to live their full potential.
And if you’re ready to start bringing people onto your team, Growmotely is a great resource for finding value-driven individuals who will be just as passionate about your business as you are.
xo, Tracy
Links:
Growmotely: Matching conscious companies with professionals all around the world
Conscious Leadership: A Journey from Ego to Heart
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