Super talented and multi-Grammy Award Winner Lizzo is a force. Most of us will be able to sing along to a lyric or two from her song Truth Hurts (which is Billboard’s longest-leading solo song by a female rapper) and if you didn’t know, she’s now host and executive producer of a new show on Amazon Prime.
The show “Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” (Prime) is, among many other things, a master class in leadership, team building and how to give feedback.
Summarised by The Hollywood Reporter as “THE BOTTOM LINE: Magnetic as it is therapeutic”, the show itself is fun, bright, warm and engaging. I’m not usually a TV watcher, let alone a reality competition-style show watcher, but I’ve loved Lizzo and all she stands for so wanted to see what she created.
I was impressed and as the grey clouds sat low over Ōtautahi, it was a good way to brighten the weekend. The basic premise is that dancers audition to join her on stage at Bonnaroo (a multi-day festival in the US with over 80,000 attendees), and ideally, become professional dancers and go on tour with her as one of her 'Big Grrrls'.
Most of those types of shows enjoy tearing people down, showing their worst sides, being divisive, and watching people destroy others’ (and their own) reputations. This was the exact opposite. There’s dedication and a keen sense of competition, but the way each of the women supports each other is inspiring. Not in a cheerleader way (well, there is a bit of that), but in the way the choreographers give direct feedback, the women address their issues with each other head-on and respectfully, and they help each other with more training, moral support, pep talks and technical advice as and when it’s needed too.
If you watch the show, there are some incredible women featured, I won't name all my favourites (it's easy to get overinvested!), but you’ll definitely notice Ashley – she is also a stand-out in her consistency with commitment, focus, talent, joy and discipline but more so, in how she calmly addresses conflict with another participant, honouring the other party’s views, while staying calm in communicating her own.
Here’s are what we can take from how Lizzo leads (like she’ll be interested in my two cents worth!) ...
- Recruit the team based on competency, which includes technical competence and their motivation for joining the ‘mission’
- Set clear expectations
- Check for understanding
- Teach, motivate, coach people as appropriate for their level and the context
- Allow time for work, recovery, fun and fuel
- Address any concerns around behaviour along the way
- Call out good behaviour and be specific about what was done well and why it matters
- Make the hard decisions
- Act on the hard decisions
- Let go of anyone that isn’t meeting the standards for performance, or for their behaviours
- Be present, communicate
- Work alongside the team, show (not tell) them your competency too, and let them get to know you
- Surround yourself with diverse, talented people and create the space for them to direct their areas – defer to them as often as you need to and heed their expertise and advise
- Create a culture where people say what they truly think, there’s no pandering to those in ‘power’
- Laugh at yourself, have fun!
- Be yourself. Share of yourself, and be vulnerable too
- Set and honour your own boundaries
- Put in the effort
- Be damn proud of yourself
- Encourage everyone else to be authentic, hard-working and proud too
I didn’t write this with the intent of it being a listicle – but somehow this is now a ’20 Things You Need to Do To be a Great Leader’ so watch the show if you’re into dance, music, smashing stereotypes or just want some feel-good vibes – you’ll find yourself grinning like an idiot more than once. And if not, that’s okay too, the list is still a good one to reflect on for how you’re showing up and leading in all the different roles you might play. We're all learning!
"I work on myself daily to be a better person. When I react in a negative way to somebody, I sit back and think about why I did it, so I’m always working on myself, and my music is the same." - Lizzo
