Coaching practices for In Group Out Group Leadership
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For In Group Out Group Leadership, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I lead a team and I’ve realized the people I lean on most are the ones who remind me of myself or are just easy to be around
- One-on-one keeps falling apart the second the other person gets busy
- Everything still flows through me
- There are people on my team I’ve quietly written off
- Our brainstorms always get hijacked by the same two loud, senior voices while the quieter people
Practices that may help
- Manage LMX differentiation fairly as a leader
Acknowledge that you develop different relationships with different people — and ensure the differences are earned, not arbitrary.
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Made Practical - Join a small accountability group
Report to a small group rather than one person to add redundancy and social proof.
Accountability Partners - Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Made Practical
Leader-member exchange theory, developed by George Graen and Mary Uhl-Bien, holds that leaders do not treat all followers the same — they develop distinct dyadic relationships ranging from high-LMX (trust, respect, mutual obligation) to low-LMX (formal, exchange-based). High-LMX relationships are consistently associated with better performance, satisfaction, and career outcomes in observational research. - Distribute leadership rather than centralizing it
Develop leadership capacity throughout the team, not just in the designated leader.
Transformational Leadership, Made Practical - Deliberately expand your inner circle
Move team members from low-LMX to high-LMX through intentional relationship investment.
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Made Practical - Use round-robin turns to equalize contribution
Give everyone a timed, equal turn — it prevents a few voices from dominating and pulls quieter members into the space.
Osborn’s Brainstorming Rules, Made Practical - There are no bad teams, only bad leaders
The same people perform differently under different leadership — so start with the leadership.
Extreme Ownership, Made Practical - Run a weekly leadership team meeting focused on strategic issues
Hold a structured weekly meeting that separates strategic issues from operational updates.
The Rockefeller Habits: Scaling Up with Rhythm and Focus - Build a culture of discipline, not a disciplinarian culture
Hire self-disciplined people, then give them freedom within a clear framework.
Level 5 Leadership: Humility and Will in Great Leaders - Appoint an explicit devil’s advocate role
Give one person the formal job of arguing against the plan — making dissent structural, not personal.
Red Teaming: Stress-Testing Plans Before They Fail
Related concerns
- In Group Out Group Leader
Acknowledge that you develop different relationships with different people — and ensure the differences are earned, not arbitrary.
Manage LMX differentiation fairly as a leader
- Dyadic Leadership Relationship
Acknowledge that you develop different relationships with different people — and ensure the differences are earned, not arbitrary.
- Authority Levels Leadership
Delegation levels frameworks (most commonly a 5- or 7-level scale) give managers and their reports a shared vocabulary for how much authority is being handed over on any task — from "wait for my instructions" to "decide and act without telling me." The model is practitioner wisdom rather than formally studied, but the underlying principle — that ambiguity about authority is the root of both micromanagement and abdication — has solid organizational support.
- Developing Leaders In Teams
Assign Q3 tasks to team members who are ready to stretch — and treat the learning curve as the point.
Use delegation as a development tool
- Leader Development Culture
Move team members from low-LMX to high-LMX through intentional relationship investment.
Deliberately expand your inner circle
- Leader Member Exchange Development
Leader-member exchange theory, developed by George Graen and Mary Uhl-Bien, holds that leaders do not treat all followers the same — they develop distinct dyadic relationships ranging from high-LMX (trust, respect, mutual obligation) to low-LMX (formal, exchange-based). High-LMX relationships are consistently associated with better performance, satisfaction, and career outcomes in observational research.
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