We were lucky to catch up with Mitch Gray recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mitch, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

During my years of leading teams and businesses, I experienced the struggle and frustration of hiring great people for my team. I moved from employee to employee trying to find the right make up and personalities for the team I was building. It was all a crap shoot at best.

After years of struggling with hiring and recruiting, and losing amazing people along the way, I decided to try a different approach to hiring and building a team. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing at the time, and couldn’t put a name to it, but years later I was able to identify the steps I took to finally build all star teams and attract all star talent.

I was finally able to identify specifically where the people I needed existed and clarify exactly who I needed on my team. This philosophy became the saving grace for my career, sanity, and business.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began my coaching business because I know, firsthand, the frustration and stress that comes with leading a business and building teams. I wrote my book ‘How to Hire and Keep Great People’ as well as the ‘How to Hire and Keep Great People: Guidebook’ based on the experiences I lived as well as years of hearing leaders tell me they ‘just couldn’t find good people.’

My approach has become very holistic in that I believe everything is connected. It is impossible to separate life and business. It all impacts one another. In my life, when I’ve experienced the ups and down of life, I can attest that one valley impacts another valley and one mountain top impacts another. I take this approach when coaching leaders in their work. Employees can’t check their humanity at the door when they begin their workday. Life simply doesn’t work that way.

When leaders can create an environment of connection and design culture that truly empowers the humanity of the people they lead, it drastically changes the approach to work and to leading a team.

I am excited, passionate and proud to have designed a form of leadership and coaching that is what I call, at its best, human. Focusing on the human spirit and the empowerment of that spirit echoes throughout our work, regardless of industry. Humans desire, and are really good at, connecting with one another. When this connection is a pillar of leadership, it shows through results, relationships, and the growth of an organization.

Any advice for managing a team?

The advice I would give any leader managing a team is to lead through connection. When people feel empowered, they perform really well. So the best way to bring about high performance is to build connection with each person you lead. This is also true for developing connection within the team.

Developing this connection takes intention and strategic planning. Creating moments for connection takes effort and an approach to leadership that may be different than many may be used to. But creating these magical moments for connection will lead to teams feeling like they can trust what is taking place and this trust empowers performance and results.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative for me is using my creativity to invite others to consider life from a new perspective and give them permission to take a different approach to what they are facing.

When we can invite new thoughts in and take a wider view from our current perspective, it opens the mind to new ideas and the heart to new ways of healing.

We all struggle in life. Allowing new ways of healing and new perspective into our mindset gives way to opportunities for growth and greater understanding of what is taking place.

I believe in asking more questions than making statements. This art of question asking comes from a mindset of curiosity and growth. When we ask questions inspired by curiosity we all but guarantee we will learn something new and expand our perception of life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mitchgraymedia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mgraymedia/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/mitchgraymedia

Image Credits

Cristy Cross