Most of my time is spent coaching professionals to identify and live into their next level. Everyone has a next level and if they aren’t progressing toward it, they aren’t growing or living into their highest contributions to their clients, colleagues and staff.

Now, when some professionals hear “personal growth,” they imagine that they have to change into someone different from who they are. Big mistake. The word “change” isn’t really accurate because it would mean transforming from who they are to someone they aren’t.

Instead, I speak of expanding. Your next level of functioning should be based on who you are already. From there you move out the boundaries you have in place now in order to attain greater levels of achievement and personal satisfaction.

For instance, let’s say your natural decision-making style is to gain consensus rather than to dictate by force. And assume you are now responsible for leading a team of people in your firm. You can be just as successful (and maybe more so) as the forceful driver by being yourself and expanding your style. It will take additional skills to achieve it, but it’s very doable.

One of my clients was promoted to a position in his firm to grow an industry niche. A senior old-school partner took him aside and advised him that he should assert his position, show strength of purpose and demand his team to perform. If he didn’t, nothing would happen and he would fail in his new assignment, which might be detrimental to his career. My client’s heart sank. If he had to become like that, he’d rather not accept the opportunity.

Instead, we examined his style and his personal motivations and crafted a leadership approach that was much more in sync with his personality. In addition, we augmented his approach with some skills that expanded his style to be more well-rounded.

One skill had to do with accountability. He was uncomfortable to hold others accountable because he was concerned how it might adversely affect his relationships with them. Consequently, he developed a practice of letting underperformance slide rather than have a confrontation. Even though it was brought to his attention numerous times in his evaluation, he couldn’t bring himself to behave differently.

In order to be an effective leader, he needed to have some ability to hold people to account for follow through. Working together, he learned how to facilitate buy-in from his team in the beginning. Soon, they were following through because they were motivated to do so. On the rare occasion that something needed to be said, we worked out an approach where he was straightforward without being “in your face.” He found that his manner was well-received by those being held to account and people followed through with their agreements.

Our time together was spent helping him expand his style to accommodate a role that demanded more than he had in his leadership toolbox, but the tools we added were ones that he felt comfortable using. In the end, the industry niche grew significantly because his team was motivated and they enjoyed his leadership.

The real payoff was that my client found a level of accomplishment he didn’t expect and felt a greater sense of personal satisfaction in the process. It was a win-win for himself, his team and the firm.

So don’t change—expand your style. You have the foundation to be effective, successful and fulfilled.

As you read this article, if you thought of people who might benefit from it, please refer them to it. In that way you contribute to their effectiveness. Thank you.