TRANSFORM
Professionals
& Leaders
For Professionals
Research has shown that emotional intelligence (EI) can positively shape our relationships and our outcomes – at work, and in life – yet developing the suite of EI competencies in a lasting and effective way on one’s own can be a challenge. The support and guidance of a qualified coach can provide much-needed perspective, accountability, and a structured approach for learning, self-discovery, and transformation.
By understanding the mind’s circuitry when it comes to emotional regulation, a coach can help a coachee notice habitual patterns of mindset, beliefs, emotional triggers, and behaviors that may be limiting personal growth or even learning. Once self-awareness and focus have been established, a coach can aid in implementing evidence-based practices and strategies for long-term emotional balance to benefit not only the coachee him/herself, but also the people around them in personal and professional settings.
To put it another way, organisational transformation begins with the personal transformation of the leaders. Organisations don’t transform; people do! The key factor to transforming a low‐performance culture into a high‐performance culture is leadership.
It is important to understand the differences between change, transformation and evolution, and how to measure the current and desired cultures of an organisation, thereby identifying the current and desired leadership styles.
Change is a new way of doing. Transformation is a new way of being. Evolution occurs only when individuals or organisations embrace a continual state of transformation and change.
Change: A different way of doing. Doing what we do now, but doing it in a more efficient, productive, or quality‐enhancing way.
Transformation: A different way of being. Transformation involves changes at the deepest levels of beliefs, values, and assumptions. Transformation results in fundamental shifts in personal and corporate behavior and organisational systems and structures. Transformation occurs when we are able to learn from our mistakes, are open to a new future, and can let go of the past.
Evolution: A state of continual transformation and change. Evolution involves constant adjustments in values, behaviors, and beliefs based on learning gained from internal and external feedback. Evolution most easily occurs in individuals and organisations that are adaptable, trusting, open, and transparent, and have a profound commitment to learning and self‐ development.
For Leaders
The culture that leaders create is highly dependent on the behaviors of the leaders and their relationships to other leaders in the organisation, and on their relationships with their employees. Leaders whose energies are wrapped up in status‐ seeking, empire‐building, and internal competition create toxic environments with little or no organisational cohesion. Leaders who share the same vision and values, who work for the common good, and focus on internal community building create internal cohesion and values alignment.
The fundamental change that occurs during cultural transformation is a shift in attitude from “What’s in it for us (me)?” to “What’s best for the common good? There is a shift in focus from “I” to “We”. This involves moving from an exclusive focus on the pursuit of profit to the broader pursuit of a group of objectives that are instrumental in meeting shareholder, employee, customer, supplier, community, and societal needs.
Leaders frequently find themselves espousing one thing as their beliefs drive a contradictory set of behaviours. And everybody sees that except for as it often goes, leaders themselves. The difference between their “walk” and their “talk” is that their unconscious self drives the former while their conscious mind drives the latter. If leaders remain unaware of their belief structure, then their beliefs will manage them. Only when leaders expose and examine these beliefs do they have a real opportunity to manage them. To help leaders transform we apply vertical development coaching.
Our vertical development coaching helps leaders who work in complex, fast-paced organizations to elevate their thinking and become more agile, strategic leaders.
Traditional leadership development tends to focus on skills and competencies. While these are important these are no longer sufficient for leaders facing a complex and overloaded world. Vertical development comes out of research at Harvard university which shows that adults develop through stages of development. At each new stage, they develop new capacities for thinking, acting and leading. Vertically developed leaders can think more systemically, see the long-term possibilities, embrace challenges from multiple perspectives, and lead as interdependent collaborators. The capacities are crucial for leaders who operate and make decisions in complex and fast changing environments.