Low Friction Leadership - Reducing High Friction Behaviors in the Organization Leads to Increased Career Prospects and Higher Rewards

News provided by

Feb 14, 2023, 10:10 ET

"Here's what people miss: When you have a high friction, highly annoying relationship, nobody actually cares about what you say…The only thing they talk about is the annoyance that you create," says Stephen Miles, Founder and CEO of The Miles Group/TMG.

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- "To actually get something done inside an organization means working across it effectively with low friction," says Taylor Griffin, Chief Operating Officer of The Miles Group/TMG in a new episode of C-Suite Intelligence released today.

In the new episode – "Low Friction Leadership" – Griffin joins Stephen Miles, Founder and CEO of TMG, to explain how reducing "behavioral friction" and being a more effective follower can dramatically improve your career.

"Most people work in some form of complex organizational network, or matrix. There are intersections between you and others you have to work with to get stuff done. And if you can figure out how to align with the preferences of several different stakeholders, your role will be exponentially easier to execute," explains Miles.

"People are usually better about this when they're managing upwards," says Griffin. "Where we see a lot more friction is probably in the horizontal landscape," where lateral friction between colleagues and peers accumulates.

"Avoid making the mistake of thinking that your upward stakeholder is the only stakeholder that matters," says Griffin. "Horizontal stakeholders and peers talk about whether or not you're easy to work with, and that becomes your brand as a leader."

This isn't about compromising your values or changing your personality; it's about your ability to adapt to the person in front of you. Griffin explains that early pain points in the onboarding process "become a potential point of derailment, if employees don't quickly pivot and figure out where they have to reduce friction in the system."

Miles adds: "What's fascinating about onboarding is you derail in the first 14 days, and you just find out about it nine months later."

"Part of joining a company is just going through layers and layers of matching," Miles explains, so that you weave seamlessly into the culture and establish a persona that builds trust. When there's less friction in your interactions, you're afforded more "degrees of freedom to get so much more stuff done better, faster, smarter."

"Low Friction Leadership" is out now on Apple, Google, and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For more information, please contact Davia Temin or Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212.588.8788 or [email protected].

About the C-Suite Intelligence podcast
CEOs running the world's top companies don't start out that way – they pull ahead of their peers with behaviors and practices that make them the "best of the best." Stephen Miles and the team at TMG coach some of the world's most successful executives, helping them continuously up their game even as business conditions grow more complex every day. Learn the secrets of the highest performers and use this intelligence to power your career. New episodes are released bi-weekly on Apple, Google, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

About The Miles Group/TMG
TMG develops talent strategies for organizations, teams, and individuals – focusing on high-performance, world-class leadership. Through assessments and development, coaching, leadership transition planning, and organizational design, TMG helps clients cultivate exceptional talent from the C-suite to the next generation of leaders throughout the organization. Clients include many of the Fortune 100 as well as VC portfolio companies, firms in transition, and organizations around the globe and across industries. TMG has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, C-Suite, Entrepreneur, and Chief Executive. The firm is headquartered in New York City and operates globally. For more information, visit https://miles-group.com. Follow TMG on Twitter and LinkedIn.