Spiral Dynamics in Coaching

Spiral Dynamics Integral

An explanation of Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi) courtesy of Clare Graves, Don Beck, & Ken WIlber. A must read for those involved in human development work.



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Youth Self-Leadership Development

Unleashing Youth Self-Leadership - Waking up, Grown up

Recently, we were asked by one of our clients - Griffith City Council - to run an Unleashing Youth Leadership program for the 3 High Schools there in Griffith NSW (Griffith High School, Wade High School and Marian Catholic College).

With a group of some 30 students, we ran the 3-day course earlier this week (May 30, 2011).

The course was extraordinary - made so by the vibrancy of the participation by the students, who threw themselves into the program - in service of unleashing their best selves.

We had an absolute ball as trainers - we normally only get out to play with professional adults - working with these young adults was a real treat for us :)

Here's some of the feedback from the participants and their teachers:

Don Dixon, Deputy Principal, Wade High School - Griffith
"I spoke to most of the students who attended the 'Unleashing Self-Leadership for Youth' program (earlier this week) today, who could not speak more highly of it. I don't think I have come across a response which has been as consistently overwhelmingly positive as their response to this course. Additionally I have spoken to at least two of the students parents and they were as equally impressed with one parent commenting on the conversation it generated at the dinner table at night.

Thanks a lot for giving the students the opportunity to participate in something which has really had a huge impact......'life changing' was a comment I heard a lot. We certainly hope to be involved if it happens again."

Amelia Kennedy - Student Marian Catholic College
Thank you Jay and Joseph! My entire view of life prior to sitting down with you has been changed - positively (for the better). I am now accomplished, or believe I can be accomplished in everything I do, and the only real challenge will be putting what I have learned here into practise.

Before the course I was pretty emotionally unstable, having experienced many mood swings and all that kind of stuff - generally really down on myself. Now I can look past all that and not even stress at an exam! WOW! Achievement!

Tristan Agostini, Student Marian Catholic College
This has been one of the best experiences of my life. I don't usually do anything like this, but I am so glad that I didn't refuse. It has helped me understand myself and others much better - and it has helped me as a person.

Lauren Jenkins, Student Marian Catholic College
Over the past 3 days I have learned so many life skills - and I am extremely thankful to have. I am going to take everything away and use it in my everyday life - to make things better, not only for myself, but also for my family and friends.

I am going to strive to achieve my absolute best, because I know I can and I believe I can. I am not going to judge and evaluate people on first impressions - and I will take into consideration that we all have different personalities, and I will begin to look at situations from other people's perspective, rather than just my own. Thank you for this amazing experience.

Laura Panarello, Student Marian Catholic College
I really enjoyed the experience of working with Jay and Joseph - especially about learning about myself and how to find self-leadership. The indirect confidence I have gained from this program (along with everything I have learned), I know I will take and use for the rest of my life. I am so grateful to have this opportunity. Leadership is to use your power to make others powerful - and that's what I plan to do :)

Francesca Madaflari, Student Marian Catholic College
This course was well worthwhile. It gave me a great experience with different people and groups. It helped me open up, have belief in myself and encouraged me to see that I am already being my best. Useful tools that will help me achieve, lead and make life what I want it to be, because I have the POWER!

Fapiola OOifalelahi, Student Marian Catholic College
I was really moved and touched by what I learned in these 3 days. I'm really thankful for this opportunity. Everything that I learned, I will remember for the rest of my life. I am very happy and I will do all I can to be better - and live my life the way I want.

Jarrod Hill, Student Marian Catholic College
I would like to sincerely thank everyone that was involved in the program. It is something that has changed my outlook on life and will forever be with me. Thank you again.

Sabastian, Student Marian Catholic College
This experience was very beneficial and worthwhile for a number of reasons. Firstly, this has boosted my confidence so much and I am able to talk to a wide audience with no fear. Secondly, I have enjoyed meeting new people and thirdly - I have learned about self leadership, the matrix and the Enneagram. Thank you very much.

Stephen Savige, Griffith High School
What the program didn't do is release my inner leader. What it did do is show me the process and methods needed in order for me to go and find that for myself.

Nicole Jaffrey, Griffith High School
I feel empowered by what I have learned here and feel as if I would possibly not be able to succeed in life if I did not get to complete this program. I am generally pretty judgemental and this program has taught me not to be. It has also helped me understand why I am the way I am and how I can improve me. Thanks heaps!

Hilary Geddes, Griffith High School
I found this program thoroughly enjoyable and eye-opening. It's important to walk into this with an open mind to get the most out of it.

But thank you very very very much!

Kirstie, Griffith High School
It was good to see & understand more about myself & the way we are & why we are like this. I also enjoyed seeing that we are the ones that possess the power in our lives & our lives are merely aspects of what we perceive them to be.

I will remember this training for a long time & I will take the things I've learned & achieve my goals & help others achieve theirs & have confidence & believe in myself.

Fletcher Josling, Wade High School
Thank you for teaching me how to broaden my horizons and have a new perspective on life - I'll be able to deal with situations better in the future.

Elise Delpiaro, Wade High School
This course has, in a way, shaped my future - I am now aware of my way of being, how I interact with others and how I can achieve my full potential in life.

Thanks! :)

Ben Sekali, Griffith High School
This has given me an insight to a new perception. It has made me realise that what changes is our interior, our way of thinking, rather than our exterior. The power to change comes from the inside, and can affect people's views and future outcomes. That chair, is a chair … or is it? ;)

Elizabeth Chilvers, Wade High School
What an incredible 3 days! I have opened my eyes, finally. I feel like I understand myself so much better. I can understand why I am the way I am, and others are too. I feel like I can change the world. That you so so much for this experience!

Laura Andreazza, Wade High School
Thank you so much for this experience. I really feel as though I can do anything, I am confident and I really don't care what people think of me any more. I know that I can create and control my life, there is no reason to ever have to wish my life away because from now on, I am absolutely going to live life and love it!

Thank you for waking me up and giving me that!!

PS I will miss not seeing you two every day - you always made me smile!

Brianna DeValentin, Wade High School
After participating in this program, I know that I am now able to take and apply all this knowledge in the real world, at home and with my friends.

Elijah McKellar Qasi
This workshop was superb. Other workshops that I have been to get serious straight away and then you go off and play a game which is unrelated.
The workshop has really inspired me and I'm so glad that I was chosen. It is not just about leadership but LIFE!!! and I think that this program should be run every year to a wide range of students who can then pass on the knowledge to others.

Jordan Joyce, Wade High School
This was one of the most interesting and unique experiences I have ever been involved in. It was a pleasure to be involved and I will use all the concepts I have learned as I make my way through life.

Michael Fattore
I believe that this is a very beneficial program as it helps you realise and tap into these thoughts about us in general and helps us find the true meanings about our lives and techniques and the new technologies which help us develop our self-leadership skills. The three days were very enlightening and help bring new views on our lives.

Jake Aramini
Very fun- I learned lots!

Highly recommended to teenagers!

Tom Shannon
I believe that this coaching thing will be extremely beneficial to my life. I did not expect the things we learned were going to be taught to us and that made it good. The things they talked about at first confused me but then I started to realise what they meant and I though that it was brilliant. I will remember this for a very long time and it will impact my life.

Jessica Meredith
I liked doing the training, because it was unique and not like any other leadership training I have experienced. I believe that I have changed and learned more about myself and can't wait to use what I have learned in my future life in reality.

Ramandeep Kaur
I now have the belief that I can achieve anything in my life. It is no longer a thought and I truly believe in myself. I will achieve my dreams and no one will stop me. I will not only reach my potential but also help others achieve theirs by being a leader!

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Unleashing Leadership - Leadership Self Actualisation - Feedback from participants

Hi there.

Jay here.

At the heart of The Coaching Room's corporate offering is our "Unleashing Leadership - Leadership Self Actualisation" program.

Below is some participant feedback from our recent programs. If you would like to speak with any of our clients about their experience, we would like you respect their privacy and make contact through us.


Naomi Brugger, Griffith City Council

I just wanted to pass on my gratitude to you & Joseph for the session in Griffith. I am dreaming about the training every night & can't stop thinking about it during the day! I even went to the library today & got The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell & have promised myself that I will read 2 chapters at minimum per day.

It's been a long time since I have been this excited, enthusiastic & inspired when it comes to work - and the first time I have felt that I have the ability & confidence to inspire & positively influence my team - thank you both for giving that to me.

I hope to have the opportunity to work with you both again and until then, here's one last thank you!

Peter Craig, Griffith City Council

Excellent program! I owe Jay and Joseph for a life changing experience

Cristal Davies, Executive Officer, Newcastle Airport Limited

I thoroughly enjoyed the program, thanks so much for my new found self belief as a leader. Priceless!


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Cognitive Flexibility - The Stages of Ego Development and Leadership

Cognitive Flexibility - Stages of Ego Development - Adult Development

By Peter Holliday - Integral Executive Coach at The Coaching Room

“What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?
“No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to”
Neo and Morpheus, The Matrix

Introduction

As a coach I am consistently blessed with the opportunity to work with individuals from varying backgrounds, assisting deep transformation on both personal and professional levels. I firmly believe through this work that separation of these two domains is impossible; your Way of Being in the world is with you both at work and at home. Your Way of Being knows no context except to help you function as best you can inside the world of what can sometimes be your own limiting beliefs and structures. But this functioning can be expanded by developing your cognitive flexibility. In this paper I will be outlining the stages of flexibility, how they are measured and how they can be used in within certain settings and applications.

For the purposes of this article I will be looking at how cognitive flexibility affects the ability of leaders and executives to transform both themselves and their company, and maybe even the world around them. In order to do this I will be framing this concept within the stages and levels of ego development as proposed by Dr Susanne Cook-Greuter (Cook-Greuter, 1985). I have found that the Nine stages of Ego development as measured by her SCT-i (Sentence Completion Test – Integral ) nearly perfectly reflect ad embody the progressive stages of cognitive flexibility as they emerge in human beings. While some people have issues with their whole self being reduced to a certain set of distinctions, (which I can wholeheartedly agree with in some instances); it is remarkable how often the Ego Development framework and client are in complete agreement.

Flexibility by definition

Flexibility is the ability to expand and contract according to a certain set of arising conditions or circumstances, and then resume original shape or form. It is also thought of as being not locked in or rigid, but in some ways malleable, and so it is the same for cognition or functioning in the cognitive domain . In terms of thinking, it is the ability to do a large number of things at one time, and to act in a very situational manner. By this I mean the ability to respond appropriately to the conditions as they arise as opposed to reacting. In another words, other than trying to make the situation fit your map, it’s adjusting yourself to fit the conditional requirements arising around you.

Several studies (Cook-Greuter, 1985) (Torbert & Rooke , 2005) (Rooke, 2001) indicate that cognitive flexibility (also known as ego development) is a major, if not the major, determinate in developing successful leaders that can actually sustainably transform companies. Jim Collins now famous book Good to Great (Collins, 2001) is a fine example of just how much difference a leader with a high degree of mental flexibitly can really make to an organisation . It is of interest to note that ALL of the CEO’s that led their companies to greatness in this book over the length of the study reflected the capacities of the later and more developed stages of ego development, and extremely high levels of cognitive positioning.

Levels of flexibility

To a large degree, an individual’s ability to position themselves into situations in different ways or perspective is limited by their world-view. A person’s world-view is literally their map for navigating the outside world, and often incongruity between this internal navigation system and the outside world is the source of constant tension, as the map is not the territory, and an inability to understand or embody this understanding is what leads leaders and executives into constant trouble. The ability to adapt to situations and be flexible in your interaction with the outside world and the other humans inhabiting it is not a simple you either have it or you don’t affair, it progresses in stages.

Level of flexibility- increasing | Characteristics | Strengths | % of Research Sample

1. Opportunist
- Pre-Conventional
- Egocentric
- Wins any way possible. Self-oriented; manipulative; “might makes right.”
Good in emergencies and in sales opportunities.
- 5 %of research sample

2. Diplomat
- Conventional
- Ethnocentric
- Avoids overt conflict. Wants to belong; obeys group norms; rarely rocks the boat
- Good as supportive glue within an office; helps bring people together.
- 12% of research sample

3. Expert
- Conventional
- Ethno-Centric
- Rules by logic and expertise. Seeks rational efficiency.
Good as an individual contributor
- 38% of research sample

4. Achiever
- Conventional
- Ethno-Centric
- Meets strategic goals. Effectively achieves goals through teams; juggles managerial duties and market demands.Well suited to managerial roles; action and goal oriented.
- 30% of research sample

5. Individualist
- Post-Conventional
- World-Centric
- Interweaves competing personal and company action logics. Creates unique structures to resolve gaps between strategy and performance. Effective in venture and consulting roles.
- 10% of research sample

6. Strategist
- Post-Conventional
- World/Cosmo-Centric Generates organizational and personal transformations.
- Exercises the power of mutual inquiry, vigilance, and vulnerability for both the short and long term. Effective as a transformational leader.
- 4% of research sample

7. Alchemist
- Post-Post Conventional
- Cosmo-Centric
- Generates social transformations. Inte-grates material, spiritual, and societal transformation. Good at leading society-wide transformations.
1% of research sample

Expansion

Each of the stages above represents stages of development that correspond to increasing levels of mental cognition and flexibility. You can see from the chart above, levels of flexibility range greatly, but in general the greater depth, span and degree of flexibility, the better. The greater the altitude of your world-view, the larger your ability to navigate certain situations or problems. The ability to be flexible in various leadership or executive situations is something that does and can be developed over time with the right injunction and or practice.

Although there are seven rough stages listed above correlating to executive positions in which they are most readily found, there are four main or general levels or switch-points that mark a substantial increase in flexibility and world-view. These switch-points mark increases in being able to register or see both inter-connectivity and the ability to hold perspectives of other people as if they are your own, before making a choice or decision. You can see how profoundly this capacity would affect people in leadership positions. The four main switch-points relate directly to the amount of people that an individual’s perspective can hold or relate to in the following ways:

Stage 1 – Ego-Centric – it’s all about me and what I want – A 1st person perspective

Stage 2 – Ethno-Centric – It’s about me and my group and people that I can relate to - Family, Religion, Race – a 2nd person perspective

Stage 3 – World-Centric – What’s good for all of us as a global population - a 3rd person perspective

Stage 4 – Cosmo-Centric – What’s good for all people as a global family and the universe in general - a 4th to 9th person perspective

Each of the stages above builds on the one below it, and some sense provides the foundation for the new, higher reality to emerge, given the right challenges or conditions. Some people grow through all 5 stages during their life, others remain at one stage for their entire life. It seems that a certain amount of the reasons for growth and change are as much nature as they are nurture.

Applications – Theory to Practice

Now that we have explored the stages of flexibility in reference to worldview it seems only reasonable to now explore the application of this in the real world.

Functional Fit – an Integral approach to Human Resourcing

Functional Fit is simply placing a person in a role that fits that person’s level of flexibility or degree of cognitive development. For example I would not employ some one at the Expert level (Stage-3) of consciousness in a leadership role. As leadership is about going outside the boundaries and Experts (Stage-3) rely on the systems and liner thinking as their cognitive map boundaries and they need rules to function. So in this sense there is a certain amount of ethics implied in Functional Fit, as it takes into consideration two or three immediate allowances, such as:

• An Expert placed in this situation would suffer undue anxiety at constantly being in a position requiring work in a sphere outside their developmental capacities

• What they create in this sphere would be bounded by restraint of the conformity, and their deep desire to fit and hold the status quo in the pre-existing frameworks; as opposed to going beyond them

• Experts by nature operate from a craft or linear style logic, and tend not to respond to situations but rather to react. So you could see how having a CEO or leader in this position that reacts to a market without considering the outcome could have undesired results for many companies

Further matching examples for instance would be for a role in sales. Someone at the Achiever (Stage 4) level makes perfect sense, as they thrive on competition and the ability to obtain financial success, and so the job role equals the developmental match, brining about performance in that given role…it is a Functional Fit...

Again Leaders and CEO’s that change the game nearly always test at the higher levels of flexibility,(at least Stage-5 and above-usually Stage-6), and the ones that don’t, do not bring about sustainable transformation; just short term rearrangement for personal gain. Thinking about how their choices impact the world is just not on their radar.

So from these very basic examples we can see how much more efficient it is to employ people to roles that are developmentally specific to the employee’s level of cognitive flexibility . For an extended and far more detailed description of this matching process and the dilemma of incorrect matching please consult: Organisational Transformation requires the presence of leaders that are Strategists and Alchemists (Rooke, 2001).

Applying Levels of Flexibility to Type – Using personality profiling correctly

One of the most common things we hear from HR specialists and employment agencies is “but we do personality testing!”. Personality testing and developmental assessment however are not the same thing.

A useful way to think about this is Vertical vs Horizontal. Personality profiling tools like Myers Briggs or the Enneagram are a horizontal approach to profiling. Developmental stage level is vertical. As an example, you can have an entire room of INFJ’s (Myers Briggs) or any other Myers Briggs type for that matter but all a different stages of development. So even though they are all the same type, depending on their development, they will all behave very differently. A person at the lower stages of the spectrum will be behaving in a way that self serves them in to a position of getting what they want out of the situation. While another person of the same type but at the higher end of the spectrum will be focused on how he can create world peace. Both people are exactly the same type but behave extremely differently.

So with just one simple example you can see the relevance of developmental profiling as an addition to horizontal personality profiling. In my opinion they should always be used in conjunction.

In my work as an Executive Coach I have found the one profiling tool that successfully integrates both horizontal and vertical stages into a more comprehensive overall profile is The Enneagram - specifically the particular type of the Enneagram modelled by Riso and Hudson at the Enneagram Institute (Riso & Hudson , 2010). This specific profile integrates the levels of development into levels of health, which closely correspond or mirror the levels of cognitive flexibility.

This almost seamless integration of both the vertical and horizontal axis of personality typing is why we at The Coaching Room we use the Enneagram in all of our coaching sessions. We find it the easiest and most accurate integrated profile for allowing us access to a client’s world in the shortest amount of time. While the Enneagram doesn’t cover all the bases, it does give you a fantastic starting point without having to combine multiple profiles.

Conclusion

At The Coaching Room one of the most consistent things we are continually asked to facilitate in executives or leaders is a shift in their degree of cognitive flexibility or level of development, “I want to go to the next level”. For a shift in a way of being or level of development we often recommend Integral style Coaching.

Integral Coaching combines the use of a rigorous subject/object theory methodology with ongoing developmental practices; specifically designed and tailored to each client based on their unique AQAL constellation and way of being in the world. Through the ongoing adherence to these practices the client is nurtured and supported into first tasting, then embodying, their New Way of Being in the World, at the next level. Coaching Room Coaches are well-educated tour guides, helping guide clients through the cartography of their new mental landscape.

Bibliography

Wilber, K. (Performer). (2011). Integral Spirituality - A Deeper Cut. S. True.
Wilber, K. (2000). One Taste - daily relfections on integral spirituality . shambhala.
Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great. Harper Business.
Cook-Greuter, S. (1985). Ego Development - The nine levels of increasing embrace . paper , integral Institute , psychology .
Riso, D., & Hudson , R. (2010). The Enneagram Institute. Retrieved from The Enneagram Institute: www.TheEnneagramInstitute.com
Rooke, D. (2001, October ). Organisational Transformation requires the presence of leaders who are alchemists and strategists . Oraganisations and people , 4.3 .
Torbert, W., & Rooke , D. (2005, April ). The seven transformations of leadership. The harvard business review.

Footnotes:

1. The SCT-I is a 36 item unfinished sentence questionnaire, adapted from, what was the pioneering work of Jane Loevinger’s original Washington University Sentence Completion Test.

2. Cognitive is a term that is widely used and for the sake of all involved could use with a firm definition, as it seems to mean different things to different people. In integral theory it is used not in reference to thinking per see but in context to the ability to take perspective of both self and other. A clear distinction between this definition and that of linear deductive thinking could alleviate a lot of the confusion encountered when different people use this term.

3. It is worthy to note that Skills are important as well, and just having a highly flexible mind is not purely enough to make great leaders. I am simply suggesting that at the leadership level of large companies business skills are at about the same general capacity.

4. It is the belief of many of the theorist referenced in this paper that one stage of development or flexibility stage takes about 5 years to pass through. The only thing that has been quantifiably proved to accelerate this process has been mediation, or any form of Subject/Object injunction. Recently Integral Coaching and it’s continual use of metaphors as a way of employing the Subject/Object method during coaching sessions, while focusing on holistic development. This new technique offers a new and as yet un-qualified potential to shorten this developmental time frame.

5. It is worthy of mention that several theorist’s such as Ken Wilber include a possible 6th stage that is referred to as Kosmo-Centric. The K in Kosmo-Centric alludes to the fact that other realities may in fact exist, and takes these into account, the allowance of other energetic realms associated with altered states, such as – Subtle, Causal and Non Dual. A more in depth focus of these possible states of being can be found in (Wilber, 2000) (Wilber, Integral spirituality - A Deeper Cut, 2011)(Wilber, Intergal Spirituality - A Deeper Cut, 2011).

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Do you need a Leadership or Executive Coach?

Do you really need a coach?

By Joseph Scott of The Coaching Room

The 'why work with a coach?' question is most often (in my view) driven by the frame of reference of 'what can a coach do that I can’t do by myself?'.

Well, my view is this, if you can be and do the following 7 things with and by yourself, you don't need a coach.

However, if you cannot do all of the following, and you want to ‘be or do’ things differently, be better, move to a higher place or move faster etc. Then I suggest you get yourself a coach. Take a look!

The 7 things a coach can facilitate that you my not currently be able to do, be or see. Can you:

1. Hear and detect your own limiting beliefs? These are the beliefs that hold you back from achieving your potential. Can you hear and understand the distortions in your own self talk that leash you to your current reality?

2. See and understand your own (self-reflexive) consciousness as you create (positive and) toxic frames of mind from which you deal with reality? Can you master them so that you can self-author your own life story, over the one you’ve inherited from others?

3. Apply actual change to your life that is systemic and lasting?

4. Hold yourself fully accountable to empirical benchmarks of performance and development?

5. Engage yourself in actualising your own development, across recognised psychological aspects of self, to live and operate at better states and stages of being?

6. Perform your meanings and mean your performances, as you realise and release your innate propulsion (motivation) system toward achieving your fullest potentials?

7. Ask yourself a range of simple questions that allow you to live beyond scarcity & deficiency, into a place of giving and abundance?

If you can say yes to the above, YOU DON’T NEED A COACH.

If you cannot say yes to all the above, and self development, transformation and performance both personally and professionally are important to you and you intend this… Then my advice is to GET A COACH!.

If you already have a coach and with your coach, you are not experiencing the above, GET A DIFFERENT COACH.

For more information on how The Coaching Room can help you, your team or your organisation, call us on 1300 858 089 or use our handy contact form. We’ll call you back quickly, listen to your needs and together work through what we can do to help you get what you need or want.

Leadership, Corporate Culture and Paradox

Leadership, Corporate Culture, and Paradox
by Dr. Mike Armour

One of the most unheralded roles of leadership is paradox management. Odds are, you've never heard this term before. Few texts on leadership even mention it.

Nevertheless, paradox is at the heart of every dynamic organization. Not just a single paradox. But a set of them. And each paradox creates tension (and frequently conflict) in corporate culture.

The tension arises from the very nature of paradox. Paradoxes center on a quandary that defies solution. The quandary presents itself as though we must choose between path A and path B (or between truth A and truth B). However, reality dictates that we must choose both A and B simultaneously.
The Structure of Paradoxes
Viewed another way, all paradoxes have three qualities:

1. A paradox pairs two elements, expressed in the form or statements, principles, or values.

2. The two elements seem to exclude one another. They appear contradictory.

3. Yet, in spite of the apparent contradiction, neither element may be excluded. We must embrace both of them.

Paradoxes are commonplace in business. Here are some familiar examples:

Our customers demand products of high quality and detailed craftsmanship.
To remain competitive, we must minimize production costs.
Under our labor contract, we assure workers of exceptional benefits and job security.
Payroll expenses are squeezing our margins and leaving us unprofitable.
Our culture is built around collaborative decision-making.
Fast-changing markets demand swift, almost instantaneous responses.
Non-profit organizations face paradoxes of their own.
To make the wisest use of our funds, we need a quality management team.
High management salaries threaten the loss of donor support.
Our founder's passion is what drives this organization's growth.
Our organization's growth is limited by the founder's management skills.
New realities are forcing us to change our mission.
Our donor support was built around excitement for our mission.

Balance Points

Each of these paradoxes presents two forces that contend with each other. And both elements of the paradox raise concerns about near-term or long-term survival. As a result, leadership cannot afford to ignore or dismiss either element. To do so is to court calamity. Instead, leadership must maintain a balancing act between the two.

Whatever the balance point, someone is likely to second-guess it. Since both elements of the paradox represent legitimate concerns, each element is likely to attract ardent advocates who view their concerns as paramount. To these partisans the chosen balance point may not adequately accommodate their concerns. If not, they will press and politick to relocate the balance point and give their concerns more leverage.

To illustrate, let's look at a widespread paradox at the moment. Due to the prolonged economic downturn, businesses need to preserve capital. On the other hand, they need to invest strategically to position themselves for an eventual turnaround.

Which is the proper thing to do? Conserve resources? Or invest strategically? The answer, of course, is that leadership must do both. But to the degree that we spend money we cannot conserve it. So what is the proper balance point between maximizing reserves and investing strategically?

Those with a more cautious nature will press hard for conserving cash. Those of a more entrepreneurial bent will argue for the opposite priority. And both sides will stake out their position with conviction. Hence the prospect for conflict.

Harnessing Tension

This is why paradox management is vital to successful leadership. Not only does paradox management address survival issues, it also forestalls unhealthy conflict. Proper paradox management maintains creative tension between contending concerns, rather than allowing the tension to degenerate into destructive conflict.

About 15 years ago I came across a thought-provoking book by Charles M. Hampden-Turner entitled Creating Corporate Culture: From Discord to Harmony. He argued that the role of leadership is to identify the most critical paradoxes at work within their organization, then manage these paradoxes adroitly and artfully.

I think his counsel is spot on. And his counsel is just as valid for non-profits, churches, government agencies, educational institutions, and military organizations as it is for companies in the for-profit sector.

Nor is paradox management a challenge merely for managers at the top of an organization. Sub-units of the organization contend with their own set of paradoxes.

Here are some examples:
IT departments struggle with the balance between maximizing network security and optimizing employee access to needed data.
Sales departments struggle between stroking current customers to keep them happy and expanding into new markets.
HR departments struggle between standardizing personnel practices and giving managers latitude over personnel matters.

Priorities for Leadership
So let me conclude with a suggested exercise. Take some time to identify the paradoxes that run through your organization. You might do this by yourself, or as a team exercise with your colleagues, peers, or direct reports.

If you discover more than five paradoxes, highlight the five that you consider most critical. (You don't want to ignore any paradox, of course. But in terms of focused management, it's difficult to concentrate on more than a handful of corporate paradoxes at the same time.)

As a leader, no priority is more important than attending to the critical paradoxes you've identified. What are you doing on a consistent basis to manage the natural tension within the paradox? Is the balance point slipping (through inattention) so that it is no longer where it needs to be? If so, what can you do to nudge things back toward a more appropriate balance point? How do you keep your team's priorities aligned properly to sustain this balance point? These are all essential questions for paradox management.

And just a couple of thoughts in closing. We have centered this discussion on paradoxes which pose threats to survival. There can also be paradoxes of opportunity, i.e., two wonderful prospects which, at first glance, look mutually exclusive. But with creativity, imagination, and innovation, perhaps both are possibilities. As you look for paradoxes in your organization, don't overlook paradoxes of opportunity that may be there.

Second, great spiritual teachers and philosophers often use paradoxical statements to convey key concepts. The very tension within the paradox forces the listener to reflect deeply on the teacher's words. In the same way, simply spending time to reflect unhurriedly on the paradoxes within your corporate culture can yield invigorating perspectives and insights.

Identify corporate paradoxes. Reflect on them. Tackle them. That's your task as a leader.

Used with permission of Dr. Mike Armour
Copyright 2010
MCA Professional Services Group, LLC

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How New Leaders Build Trust

How New Leaders Build Trust - A Leadership Coaching article
by Dr. Mike Armour


In 2007 I was introduced to an informal initiative at Microsoft called 42Projects. Formed largely by word-of-mouth, 42Projects is a grassroots community with a singular purpose: to find practical ways to increase innovation by enhancing team trust.

The group is coordinated by Ross Smith, an imaginative leader and a master of collaboration. Since I first addressed the 42Projects team two years ago, they have launched Trust 2.0, an experiment in using wikis, blogs, and productivity games to expand trust within an organization.

Trust-Building Priorities
This month I was back in Redmond to speak to them again. We met at noon over pizza in a spacious multi-media center, with others around Microsoft joining through a video feed. The topic, as you might expect, was trust-building. In particular, we talked about building trust when you move into new management or leadership positions.

During the question-and-answer period, one person observed, "When you step into a new position like this, it's vital to become trusted by both your team and by those above you. Which of these should be your priority in the first months on a job?"

That's an intriguing question. No one had ever put it to me quite that way before. Yet the question is universally relevant to managers and leaders. How would you answer?

Some might argue that you should build trust first and foremost with those above you. After all, they control your funding. And need we mention their clout in making or breaking your career?

But I took the opposite stance. I argued that your first priority as a new manager or leader is to build your team's trust in you and to strengthen trust within the team itself.

Here's my rationale. Those above you already have a certain degree of trust in you. Otherwise they would have never placed you in this new role. The team you are leading, however, probably had little or no voice in your selection. They might not even know you, especially if you were hired from the outside.

Yet your success in the eyes of those above you will largely be measured by how well your team performs. And every study on the subject shows that teams perform at their best in settings of high, mutual trust. To the degree that you build productive, high-trust relationships with your team and within your team, you make their success all the more likely. And in the process, you gain greater trust from those to whom you report.

Engendering Trust
Someone then followed up with a second question: what should I do in the first months on a job to engender trust within the team? This was a more familiar question for me. It comes up frequently in Q&A sessions or radio interviews. And I've boiled my response down to a simple three-point approach.

First, you use your initial weeks in a new leadership or management role to establish your "likeability." I'm not talking about launching a charm offensive. Or setting out to win a popularity contest. But your new team is watching from day one to see if you are truly a likeable person.

Are you approachable?
Are you friendly?
Are you courteous and well-mannered?
Are you thoughtful and considerate of others?
If your team quickly decides that you are likeable, it becomes easier for them to trust you. Or to put it another way, we don't readily trust unlikeable people.

But it's vital to keep a key distinction in mind here. Being "likeable" and having people like all of your decisions are two entirely different matters. People want leaders whom they like. But they also want leaders who can make tough, timely decisions. If you become known for putting off critical decisions, hoping to find a solution to everyone's liking, you will soon lose your team's respect.

Which leads us to the second point. We tend to withhold trust from people whom we don't respect. Therefore, in the opening weeks of your new role, you must work daily to build respect for yourself. Here I'm not talking so much about respect for your authority. I'm talking about respect for you, personally.

This is not to downplay the importance of respect for authority. It's clearly important. And in military-type organizations it's paramount. For them success in the thick of battle depends on respect for authority, whether you happen to like the person in authority or not.

Outside of military-type organizations, however, effective leaders today rely far more on personal influence than on command and control. And personal influence depends directly on the level of respect that others have for you as a person.

How, then, do you gain people's respect? You begin by respecting them. When someone treats us with respect, we find it easy to reciprocate in kind.
Building Respect
In your opening weeks in a new leadership or management role, therefore, you must work daily to show your team – collectively and individually – that you respect them.

Do you seem genuinely interested in their ideas?
Are you responsive to their emails and inquiries?
Do you openly commend them for a job well done?
Do you share the credit for success with them?
Do you actively discourage jokes, sarcasm, or derisive statements that demean people or treat them dismissively?

Treating your team with respect, however, is merely the first step in gaining their respect. Equally important is acting in ways that merit respect.

Are you truthful?
Do you keep promises?
Do you meet deadlines?
Do you refrain from vulgarities and off-color jokes?
Do you avoid favoritism?
Do you hold yourself to the same standards that you expect of others?
If not, the team may appreciate you for respecting them, but they will not give you their full respect.

Consistency
The third key in transitioning to a new position of leadership or management is consistency. The team will be watching to see if you are consistently trustworthy. Absolute perfection is not necessary. Slip-ups now and then are to be expected. But overall the team is looking for consistent, trustworthy behavior over the long haul.

In the sequence of three priorities, I purposefully put respect ahead of consistency. Once the team genuinely respects you, they will be more willing to overlook an occasional lapse in consistency. Because of their respect for you, slip-ups now and then are not as likely to cost you their overall trust. But if they neither like you nor respect you, even the slightest inconsistency will serve to jeopardize trust.

Used with Permission of Dr. Mike Armour - Leader Perfect.

Leadership and Executive Coaching; The New Leadership Paradigm

The second of 2 videos on Leadership by Ben Zander, author of The Art of Possibility; an exceptional book on the new paradigm of Leadership. This video looks at Leadership from a completely new perspective. This is an example of the new Leadership paradigm in action.



Leadership and Executive Coaching in action

Leadership Coaching - The Art of Possibility

Below is a video showcasing a simple and yet very effective metaphor for Leadership. This video features Benjamin Zander and his new paradigm for Leadership Coaching - The Art of Possibility. It is well worth the watch and just may have a profound effect on your Leadership potential.

Leadership Development - Maintaining Balance Between Leading and Managing - A Leader's Article

Maintaining Balance Between Leading and Managing

by Dr. Mike Armour

It's increasingly common for companies to refer to everyone in management as a leader -- whether they genuinely function as leaders or not. In our last issue we looked at this trend and outlined a three-point litmus test to determine whether someone is truly a leader or merely a rechristened manager.

As we noted in that issue, we cannot fully separate leadership and management. Truly great leadership always includes a certain element of solid management. But from my experience and observation, it's a relatively easy matter for the management task to consume the leadership task. That is, we end up spending so much time on management that we no longer act as leaders.

The "Gotta Know" Test

So how do we avoid this pitfall? How do we keep from subverting the leadership task by spending too much time on the management task? And similarly, how do we keep from subverting the leadership task by spending too much time on the wrong management tasks?

The answer, obviously, is to maintain the proper balance between time given to management and time given to leadership. For me, finding that balance begins with this question: "How much do I feel compelled to be 'in the know' about everything that happens in my organization?"

The more intensely I feel a need to be 'in the know,' the more likely I am to devote too much of my energy to management functions. I will be spending too much time with my fingers in the pie. I will slowly gravitate from being a leader, because my focus is on management.

At lower levels of leadership it may be possible to lead well while also staying fully versed on what's happening below you. But the higher we climb on the leadership ladder, the less time we have to stay fully informed. This happens in part because our responsibility is so much broader that expanded duties simply take more time.

But there are also other contributing factors. Most of them relate to three decision-making realities that change as we move higher in leadership.

First, our decisions must focus on longer time horizons. Lower level managers rarely need to look more than a few weeks or a few months down the road. Upper management, however, must constantly anticipate what lies several years down the road.

Second, this longer time horizon means greater ambiguity in the data on which we base decisions. We must often rely as much on forecasts and estimates as on solid data, which adds to the difficulty of confident decision-making.

And third, our decisions have far greater collateral impact on people and corporate processes. We must develop a keen instinct for anticipating this impact and factoring it into our decisions.

The Leader's Management Priorities

All three of these changes greatly reduce the amount of time we have to be "fully up to date" on the details within the organization we head. Learning to feel comfortable without being fully "in the know" is the most difficult stretch for many leaders aspiring to senior executive positions. I work regularly with executives who are struggling with this very challenge. Here's what I tell them.

To begin with, your management energy should center almost entirely on three concerns:
Having the right processes in place.
Having the right controls on the processes.
Having the right people in charge of the controls.
Once you satisfy these three criteria, you can trust your organization to do the right thing and to do it consistently. Trust is the key. An obsessive need to be "in the know" usually points to deep-seated distrust. When we can trust the processes, the controls, and the people responsible for those controls, we can be at ease, even if we are not completely "in the know."

Which then leads to a corollary. When things go wrong, our management duty as leaders is not to fix the problem. If we have the right people in place, they have the know-how to fix the problem.

No, our task is to determine where the breakdown occurred. Was it a breakdown in one or more processes? Was it a breakdown in control? Or was there a miscue on the part of those who manage the controls? These should be our primary management concerns as leaders.

And again, once we have determined the nature of the breakdown, it's best if we let our people design and implement the fix. There are exceptions to this rule, to be sure, particularly where the fix entails personnel changes. But to the degree that we get drawn into fixing problems that others can handle, we are sacrificing precious time we need for the leadership task.

Reviewing the 'To-Do" List

Our first priority, then, is to put the proper processes, controls, and people in place. The second is to "stay out of the way." A massive list of "to do's" is often an indicator that we are becoming a bottle neck. When my to-do list starts mushrooming, I have to ask whether I'm injecting myself too deeply into the process. It's easy to do.

And it often happens insiduously, incrementally, over time. It may begin innocently enough with the identification of a problem and the guidance we give for overcoming it. The guidance should build around desired outcomes, not instruction on how to fix the problem. Too much "how-to" guidance is a step toward injecting ourselves into the process.

But another subtle trap is lurking at this point. Once we empower our people to find solutions to a problem, it's almost natural to say, "Just keep me informed." As leaders, of course, we need to be informed on the progress toward resolving problems in processes, controls, or interpersonal relationships.

But from "keep me informed" we typically move next to "run your solution by me before you put it in place," which easily turns into "be sure I sign off on the key steps before you implement them." Little by little, with the best of intentions, and always under the guise of having "empowered my people" to solve problems, we put ourselves in the middle of the process.

Sometimes, when the problem is considerably complex, when the solutions stretch our people to the outer limites of their experience or competence, or when the economic or political consequences are extremely high, we need to have "sign-off" as leaders. But when "my sign-off" becomes a routine part of a process, "my sign-off" is soon likely to be routine in multiple processes. I'm on the way to becoming a bottle neck.

So the key is to minimize the number of issues that need our sign-off, then ridding the process of my sign-off requirement as quickly as possible. Remember, one of our three critical tasks as a leader is to design good processes. And execessive dependence on "my sign-off" is carte blanche evidence that either our process is not good or that we do not have confidence in the controls and people we've put in place.

Copyright 2007 - Dr Mike Armour
Used with permission and respect.

Leadership Development and Executive Coaching

Leadership Coaching Article - In the Absence of Vision - A Leadership Article

In the Absence of Vision

by Dr. Mike Armour

Books on leadership inevitably place a priority on developing a compelling corporate vision. But articulating a compelling vision is a challenging task. Just ask anyone who has ever taken a stab at it.

So what do you do if you can't come up with a strong statement of vision for your organization? As a consultant and coach, I'm increasingly asked this question by clients. Oh, they have a general, well-conceived notion of where they want to take their people. But they are stymied when it comes to reducing these intuitions to crisp, compelling language, visionary enough to guide the organization for years to come.

It's not that these men and women lack the imagination, creativity, or insight to develop a well-formed vision. No, the villain is most commonly the relentless pace of change. These leaders find themselves in settings where vision statements are outmoded almost as soon as they are finished.

This is especially the case in industries where marketplace realities change color more quickly than a chameleon. In technology-related businesses, for example, product obsolescence is often measured in months, not years. It's not uncommon for market conditions to compel companies to rethink their entire business model in relatively short-term cycles.

A Heretical Notion.

In circumstances like this, how can you develop a long-range, sustaining vision? The truth is, it's often nigh unto impossible. You fundamentally have three choices.

First,you can forego a vision statement altogether. A second alternative is to develop a vision statement in precise, engaging language, simply accepting the fact that it is likely to be quickly outdated. Yet this goes against the principle that vision statements should provide consistent, long-term definitions of direction.

The third option is to offer a vision statement that is so generalized that it can weather periodic wholesale redefinitions of the core business. When they are this generalized, however, vision statements typically sacrifice the precision to be motivational and compelling.

Thinking about this problem recently, I've begun to toy with a bit of a heretical notion. Namely, vision may not always be as necessary for success as our management theories make it out to be. In particular, if you have a set of core values that are well-conceived, precisely-stated, and consistently-pursued, your organization may be able to do quite well based on these orienting values alone.

The power of vision is that it gives people a common focus and a common sense of direction, while also serving to inspire them to superior performance. Well-stated core values have the same potential. True, values do not give us as much focus as a compelling, well-articulated vision. But it seems to me that (in the absence of a clear sense of vision) corporate values which are carefully-enunciated, constantly promoted, and consistently followed can afford us much of the benefit of leadership vision.

A Values-Shaped Company

I had been toying with this concept for several months when I came across a book that seems to illustrate the power of values to shape a company's destiny. The book is Kirk Kizaniian's Exceeding Customer Expectations, a study of Enterprise Rent-A-Car and how it rose from obscurity to be the number one rental car company in the world.

Founded by Andrew Taylor, who fifty years later is still its Chairman and CEO, Enterprise began as a car leasing business. It started in two rooms (actually converted service bays) at a Cadillac dealership in St. Louis. Taylor had no vision of becoming a dominant player in the car rental business. In fact, he made a reasoned, purposeful decision to stay out of the car rental business. He felt the car rental industry was cluttered with too many players, which made margins too thin for sustained profitability.

From the outset, Taylor set out to build his automobile leasing company around a handful of orchestrating values. His first and foremost value was to exceed customer expectations and to do so consistently. Another value was to make it easy for customers to do business with his company. Still a third value was to provide a fun place for people to work and to give employees every opportunity to grow and advance both personally and professionally. Only satisfied workers, he believed, would rise to the performance standards to meet his customer satisfaction expectations.

Responding to Values

Without making this newsletter interminably long, let me quickly summarize how Enterprise went from ignoring the rental car business to being the industry's front-runner. Taylor's leasing customers kept asking him if he had a car that they could rent for a few days. Usually this was because they needed extra wheels for guests from out of town or because their own vehicle was out of commission for repairs. In the early years Taylor said, "No, we don't offer short-term car rentals."

But then he concluded that his failure to accommodate these request violated his value of exceeding customer expectations. So he added a few "loaner" cars that could be rented on a short-term basis by preferred customers. Slowly the rental car side of the business grew and expanded. Soon it was operating out of several locations.

But to honor another of his values -- making it easy for customers to do business with him -- he located his rental agencies in residential neighborhoods, not at some remote airport, as other companies did. This same core value led to another innovation which became his company's hallmark, the famous "We pick you up" policy.

Next, because customers needed a rental car so often in the wake of an accident, he pioneered arrangements with insurance companies to provide Enterprise vehicles to policy holders who had cars in a body shop. And to make things even more convenient for customers, Enterprise today offers rentals at body shops themselves.

At each step of the way, this progression of expanded services resulted from a commitment to exceed customer expections and to make it easy for customers to do business with Enterprise. None of these innovations occurred because Taylor had a vision of revolutionizing the car rental business. To the contrary, his innovations all came about because he kept his eye on his orchestrating values. Had he not given himself so thoroughly to exceeding the expectations of his leasing customers, he might well have never entered the rental car industry.

Values as Substitutes for Vision

If Taylor had a genuine vision early on, it was apparently to build a company that was true to his orchestrating values. Then, as unexpected opportunities came along, he opted to capitalize on them, not on the basis of a compelling vision, but on the basis of their alignment with his most critical values.

This, then, takes me back to the observation at the outset. A crisp, well-articulated vision may not always be essential if, in its stead, a proper values-structure is in place. Now, I'm not suggesting that just any set of values will suffice. From what I can tell, the values that best serve in lieu of a vision are those that embody the essence of the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."


Moreover, the primary, orchestrating values need to be few in number. Perhaps no more than three or four. Otherwise it's difficult to maintain consistent focus on the critical values over the long haul. And these values must be the determining factor in who gets raises, who gets promotions, and who gets celebrated as a hero within the corporate culture. Only then will employees take the values seriously enough for these orchestrating values to exercise their full potential to shape the organization.

So strive for vision. There is no substitute for a precise, inspiring, compelling vision statement. But absent a vision statement (or the ability to create one), capitalize on a central core of appropriate values. Talk about the constantly. Relate every element of your business plan to them. Embody them personally yourself as the leader. Let them serve as marker buoys to keep you moving in the direction of whatever success the future holds out to you and your people.

Copyright 2007 - Dr Mike Armour
Used with permission and respect.


Leadership Development
and Executive Coaching