TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
For the individual, team or organization
The Blueprint
We have found that among great companies, the common denominator is always excellent leadership. As we analyze in more detail, we find that the best companies and greatest leaders share five essential defining skills:
- Visioning — defining a compelling future that stimulates the passion and commitment of associates, management, customers and shareholders
- Aligning — maintaining the harmony of essential ‘eco-systems’ and processes. These include aligning: missions, goals and strategies; the best interests of the customers, associates and the company; and growth and development on a personal, interpersonal and organizational basis, to name a few.
- Influencing — leveraging yourself through others so they are producing impact in achieving the most important results
- Being Your Best — harnessing your greatest assets and talents to make your best decisions, lead your people, as well as be an example to your organization (The fact is that leaders are always an example to their people of what is acceptable)
- Bringing Out the Best in Your People — leveraging the skills, capabilities and best efforts of your personnel to maximize their contributions and results.
The Process
Our approach is simple and it demands commitment and discipline in order to be the leader you want to be. We challenge our clients to:
- Practice self-examination, thereby becoming more self-aware.
- Require multiple sources of feedback to understand the three perspectives of leadership: how I see myself, how others see me and how I want to be seen.
- Practice foundational principles of Vision to Reality for transformational leadership; putting them into practice daily.
- Make the personal changes necessary to step into a whole new level of leadership impact.
Initial Assessment: We start every coaching session with these questions:
- How are you and your organization doing relative to your goals and objectives?
- What are you attempting to accomplish now? How important is this to you and your organization?
- What are the one or two most important issues to focus on now?
- What decision would serve your vision, mission and goals best right now?
- Are you being an example of what you would want from your people right now?
- What else is important to know to support you in being successful in accomplishing your results?
The answer to these questions will form a leadership development plan and leverage leadership decisions that will bring clarity and focus.
Duration of Leadership Development Coaching: The leader is guided through a process of assessments, strategy, decision-making and best practices. Each plan is custom-made for the leader but will typically include:
- a half-day, face-to-face meeting between the leader and coach to create a challenging plan, set expectations and assess what the leader will need to do to achieve these results; a six-month commitment is required.
- a series of assessments including a 360 leadership feedback interviews with key stakeholders and an Individual Talent Analysis (a combination of personality assessment + optimizing talents and capabilities). This analysis uncovers the client’s distinctive talents so he/she can make better use of their talents day-to-day to achieve personal and professional goals.
- a shadow coaching of the leader at meetings, presentations and engagements to understand the forces that influence the leader – ie. change, ambiguity, uncertainty, doubt and marketplace factors.
- an understanding of the leaders mindset, how that affects their actions and results as well as understanding their purpose and vision for life.
- a clear knowledge of how well they operate as a leader and lead their organization
- at least two–90-minute leadership coaching sessions per month that addresses progress, best practices and new actions needed for continued growth
- and, practical action plans established month-to-month for accountability and achievement of results.
Personal Accountability: The hallmark for success. In leadership development, the task and personal behavior are dimensions of accountability. Steve Reinemund, former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo defines accountability as “being responsible to some other person or organization for the activities and actions that we take. It is critical to an individual’s performance and an organization’s integrity and credibility.” How do we make accountability work? Define what is expected, hold the leader to their word and ask for continual feedback from their peers and direct reports. A leaders biggest test of integrity.
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From, “Impact” by Tim Irwin, Phd. (BenBella Books 2014) pg. 157
For more information on Kathryn’s Transformational Leadership process, contact her.
