Making Leadership Happen

The field upon which we affect leadership is impacted by the realities of human behavior. Grounding leadership in these realities is the key to accomplishing great work and creating organizations where people can be and do their best.

Human behavior is formed long before the workplace and the arena where the leader can influence change is small relative to the larger landscape of the individual. This formation derives from several sources and has important consequences in today's world:

• Brain Evolution: Our brains have evolved in such a way that our primal survival processes often intrude on our daily living, usually outside of our awareness. Contemporary consequences of this are an emotional base that can turn any situation into a life struggle and have a dramatic impact to our ongoing life narrative.
  
  
• Early Development: Each of us has a genetic background and early childhood experiences that shaped our adaptive responses prior to our ability to label, think or understand. As adults in the work place, part of what we bring into our daily interactions is this history-without-understanding. Contemporary consequences of this are that we struggle to make sense of our own motives and inclinations, and others are left to contend with a confusing tapestry of behaviors and motives, even as they struggle with their own.
  
  
• Feeling Right: The breadth and depth of "normal" human experiences is often lost in our quest to feel safe. We work hard to make our own perspective "right." In doing so, we create a coherent personal narrative that feels true to us. Our investment in the "felt truth" of this narrative is substantial and very often in stark contrast to the reality of the certain fallibility of our story. This crusade on behalf of our story often plays to the detriment of others and the environment of the workplace.
  
  
• Sustaining High Levels of Performance: Expenditures of exceptional effort require recuperation, and expectations of continual peak performance lead to disaster. Engaging people in a pursuit that truly matters, with optimal goals and rewards, leads to the best sustainable performance over time.
  
  
• Sustaining High Levels of a Sense of Well Being: Using a compelling vision, the "mindful" leader is able to link all of the elements above. Leaders can establish an environment where people sustain effort and commitment, are creative and empowered, and where there is less conflict and tension. Most organizations overlook the value of well being as a key organizational goal and an important driver of overall business success.

The essence of our practice is translating all of this into practical actions in the workplace that have a real impact on the business and the people in it. So what does that look like?

As with all things complex, it depends. It depends on the organization and its culture, the people on the leadership team and their state of personal and team development, and on the state of the marketplace in which the business functions. Most important, it depends on the appetite of the leaders of the organization to learn. That, of course, means leaders who are open to hearing how they, personally, can do things differently to be more effective. Here are some of the things we might typically do.

Individual and organizational assessment. Using interviews and individual assessment tools such as cognitive and personality inventories we paint a picture of the leadership team, its context, and the individuals who make up the team. We never do assessment simply for the sake of “feedback.” The goal of the assessment process is to permit the development of the right focus and tactical approach to driving change in individual leaders, the leadership team and its processes, and at times in the structure of the organization itself.

Team interventions. For each team we work with, even if they are different teams within the same organization, we develop a specific plan of action that usually includes a mix of didactic and experiential exercises and activities to invite change in the participants and the way they deal with each other and others outside the team. The activities and discussions are dynamic in that we move continuously to stay in the learning window for the team members, always challenging just enough but not so much as to dampen learning. Also, we often move into action learning when the opportunity presents itself. For us this means tackling a specific organizational challenge in real time, be it preparation for a hurricane or implementation of a marketing plan. Where there is a struggle to make things happen there is an opportunity to learn. We find the critical leverage points in the process, identify the things that people can do, specifically and behaviorally, to move forward, and then take the necessary actions to make it real in the moment.

Individual Coaching. In many cases the challenges facing a leadership team are manifestations of developmental challenges for individual leaders on the team. In these cases intense individual coaching is the solution of choice. As each leader is different it is difficult to provide a clear map of how coaching proceeds in general. But here are a few common themes in our coaching. First, we orient toward the individual goals of the leader we are working with. That is, if isn’t important to them, significant progress is unlikely. Second, we understand that change is incremental, slow, and painful. So, while we are very behavioral and action-oriented, we structure homework assignments and action plans to be in the zone of learning opportunity for the particular leader. Part of our job as coaches is to provide a “reality check” for leaders and we don’t hesitate to have difficult conversations when that is appropriate. If the leader we are coaching isn’t making progress, we have appropriate conversations about accountability to help them see what choices they are making. We respect people’s right to choose a course and benefit form the consequences of those choices.