To effectively shape the future we need to understand the past, accept the present reality and explore what is possible for the future.
In doing so we must determine the key decisions needed to create the desired future. This includes identifying the core purpose and the guiding principles that will drive the organisation and the way that people behave.
This program area utilises advanced techniques in Future Studies that have been developed in conjunction with futurist Dr. Sohail Inayatullah.
Strategic Agility is designed to create a more flexible organisation that can respond quickly to opportunities, change direction with ease and avoid potential obstacles.
At a strategic level, it develops the ability of leaders to communicate credible pictures and visions of possibilities to engage and motivate people.
At an operational level, it focuses on understanding and evaluating how to improve or change organisational processes to achieve desired results.
The purpose of this program area is to foster participants' natural entrepreneurial qualities so that they may actively seek out and develop strategic and mutually beneficial relationships with potential clients and partners.
Participants experience and practice what it feels like to be a Rainmaker: adventurous, creative, flexible and genuine. Through a generative process of identifying and clarifying the relationships and networks that their organisation are part of and the opportunities that lie within them, they emerge understanding the art of building and sustaining strategic relationships.
When an organisation undertakes any type of change management process, whether it be strategic or operational, it always includes a cultural aspect. The movement of change is expressed through the culture itself. A cultural transitioning program is a valuable resource to help define, manage and support organisational change processes.
Our cultural transitioning program is designed to guide and support an organisation as it moves through the planning and implementing stage of a change process, to managing the change and finally, to consolidating and supporting the change.
A cultural transition explores, defines and develops a preferred culture and a new model for action that aligns individual, corporate and community needs to ensure sustainable growth for all stakeholders. It is a flexible process that is responsive to the needs of the organisation through an ongoing cycle of feedback and discussion at each stage and of the program.
Effective leadership calls for the successful implementation of appropriate leadership styles, agility in translating and communicating organisational strategy, as well as the communication of empathy and inspiration towards employees and colleagues.
Effective leaders must self-motivate, adopting a mindset which simultaneously embraces and drives change while seeking creative solutions to challenging situations.
You cannot separate the act of leadership from who the leader is. Therefore, deep self awareness is the key to a leader's success. Without it, they are unable to recognise, understand and foster true leadership in others.
As leaders we each bring a uniqueness to our work. We need to know what works best for ourselves and our organisation, and how to use this to coach and support others as they explore the relationships they have with one another and with the organisation.
Our own level of development determines how well we can lead, work with unpredictable change, and find fulfilment in our work and personal life.
Leader as coach assists the alignment of goals and supports the collaborative direction of the individual, the team and the organisation.
Authenticity is an integral element of effective leadership. To be authentic means to be real and that means being able to distinguish between choices and behaviours that originate from deep within ourselves and those that come from a more superficial place. It means catching yourself presenting something in a more favourable light in order to protect somebody from a difficult message, or recognising something about yourself such as your need to be right sometimes outweighs your need to be real.
The authentic leader is recognised by their self awareness and ability to listen and express themselves authentically in a way that creates real value and synergy. Their actions and intentions are transparent and their authenticity invokes others to be equally authentic. The integrity behind their conviction can be felt and they are able to be seen for who they are as well as what they do.
This program area explores the key aspects of accessing authenticity as individuals and as leaders.
To lead change effectively a leader must understand the stages of change and the range of responses that typically accompany the change process.
Successful leaders of change display qualities of empathy, direction setting and effective communication. They are inspirational and focus on people as well as task.
Leading for results requires leaders to communicate clear expectations and to provide the support that enables the achievement of agreed goals.
A leader understands that people own what they create and as such it is essential that others are engaged in the process of setting goals, enabling actions and striving for results that align with a shared vision.
Strategic leaders are naturally curious, constantly seeking information about the state of play of their organisation and the broader context in which that organisation operates.
They foster relationships that are mutually engaging. They observe current situations, plan for potential opportunities and predict possible futures.
They set direction and build structures, processes and relationships that optimise the effectiveness and adaptability of the organisation they serve.
A leader who develops a culture of mentoring contributes to building intellectual capital by opening up paths of dialogue between employees across all areas of the organisation.
Mentor development is based on the philosophy ofservant leadership, which defines mentoring as a generative act; inspiring mentors to hold the development needs of their mentees above their own.
Leaders that possess high levels of self awareness and authenticity enhance their capacity as mentors by promoting a more stimulating, supportive and cohesive working environment. This facilitates the transfer of knowledge and values between employees that support the vision and goals of the organisation they serve.
A multi-stakeholder process is critical to building trust, collaboration and cooperation amongst all groups. Project success is greatly enhanced through the establishment of processes that support dialogue, mutual respect and the setting and sharing of goals.
Achieving equity and sustainability requires that the decisions made regard the rights of all. Expectations need to be articulated, mapped and well understood. Diverse ways of working and operating in the world need to be defined and incorporated into agreements and plans for achieving stated outcomes.
No one sector, regulatory approach or agenda can be allowed to dominate the process - collaboration is essential for the enjoyed success of all.
When people talk well together they think well together. Effective community engagement creates opportunites for community members to do just this - talk and think together. It facilitates pathways for members of the community to contribute ideas, voice concerns and learn first hand about what is being proposed that may have an effect on their lives.
Organisations utilising community engagement programs and services range from Planning Authorities to Local Councils, Property Developers to NGOs. Engaging the community is achieved in a variety of ways, be it through a research based approach or an information dissemination approach. Whatever approach is used, it is well recognised that effective engagement occurs when members of a community are given a real opportunity to exercise their voice. They are encouraged to contribute and listen equally to all aspects of the project or procedures being proposed.
Alliance Coaching assists the process of building and managing relationships in project teams. It is both a framework and a process. In its expression within project teams it has often been focused on problem analysis. As we know that human systems such as project teams grow in the direction of what they persistently ask questions about, our approach to Alliance Coaching is appreciative.
The framework enables a cooperative search for the best in people, their organisations and the project team itself. It involves systematic discovery of what gives 'life' to the project when it is most effective and most capable in economic, ecological and human terms.
By enquiring into the positive core, a team enhances its collective wisdom, builds energy and resiliency for change, and extends its capacity to achieve extraordinary results. Accounts of conflict, problems or stress are not dismissed. They are simply not used as the basis of analysis or action. The leaders and team members listen to them when they arise, validate them as lived experience and then seek to reframe them.
To forge successful relationships with our clients we must not only step into their shoes, we must also educate and inform them about our own professional aims, needs and intentions.
Through ethical behaviour, service excellence, rapport generation and trust building, we guide them skillfully through each phase of the engagement and relationship.
We must be effective and purposeful as we build mutually engaging relationships as we develop our skills at influencing, conflict management and negotiation. The perfect client experience is mutually rewarding and beneficial for all.
To deal succesfully with difficult clients we move from being problem centred to solution centred. In order to make this move we need to build awareness of our own internal reactions to conflict in such a way that we are able to choose effective and appropriate responses.
We may also need to examine our own assumptions, expectations and behavioural patterns in order to empower ourselves and others in challenging situations.
This program area focuses on developing skills and techniques to ensure that our interventions when dealing with difficult situations emanate from a state of balance and presence, much like martial arts and other somatic disciplines who refer to this as a place of centredness.
To create high levels of client advocacy we develop the discipline of non biased inquiry. We use curiosity and empathy to establish a clear understanding of the needs and objectives of our clients and their businesses at large.
We have a fundamental goal in mind: to know our client's situation, inside and out. Our service to our clients is driven by the motto - 'we are for you'.
We take care not to impose assumptions, predetermined ideas or our own value sets. Our questions are open-ended and driven by the intention to ascertain how to apply our knowledge and resources to provide the best possible value to the client.
Turning encounters into opportunities in casual meeting places such as foyers requires a sense of presence; of being proactive, transparent, empathetic and attuned to the whole needs of those we come in contact with. This is achieved by focusing on three key areas: communication, emotional intelligence and networlding (a new philosophy that moves beyond the concept of networking).
We explore ways to integrate our personal selves with our professional selves and pave the way to form the foundations for new and lasting relationships that are personally and professionally fulfilling.
We develop a greater awareness of our personal communication and how it impacts others, an understanding of the need to unfold relationships with emotional intelligence and become more aware of how to communicate effectively with people from different generations.
Setting up successful project teams requires high levels of negotiation and collaboration. Project teams can be made up of people from one organisation working on an internal project, or a mix of individuals managing a project that is external to their own organisations. No matter what type of project team it is, in order to work effectively and generate the best outcomes they need to develop team synergy. In the case of the latter type of project team this can be a more complex process.
The first step toward creating synergy is for the team to generate a set of agreed upon benchmarks and ways of engaging. Team members work together to define how they will communicate, handle conflict, make key decisions and celebrate their successes. This process is about defining productivity and success, embracing diversity and sharing values while creating a clear understanding in the team's mind of their purpose.
This lays the foundation for something that we call 'project team synergy'; a principle based upon agreed and cooperatively created systems and processes that uphold the central desire to work well together. To the extent that a team engages this principle can define the project team's success.
This program area focuses on developing the elements of project team synergy within existing or future project teams. Concepts such as operational agreements, shared values, clarity of purpose, respect for diversity, role definition and solution focused open-mind are explored.
Performance Management is a critical leadership competency and is central to driving results through the organisation.
Leaders and managers develop their abilites to identify the dimensions of performance and to communicate expectations. This enables them to set goals and targets that are clearly understood and to monitor subsequent employee progress and results.
The art and science of performance management is supported by the fundamental skill of 'giving feedback'. The capacity to give feedback is duly enhanced when it is received well, becoming motivational and often inspiring to recipients.
Cross functional teams work with high levels of agility, are collaborative by nature and possess a shared global vision of the impact of their work in the broadest context.
Effective members of cross functional teams are highly adaptive, flexible and ready to collaborate and support one another as needs arise. They have a propensity to seek information from large areas of the organisation and in doing so create a culture of rigour based on a shared knowledge base. They also possess developed capacities of empathy and sensitivity when dealing with pressure and challenging situations.
Whole teams are whole by name and whole by nature. They are cohesive and unified in purpose and function. Team members develop their capacity to sense and support the needs of the individual while at the same time enjoying the functionality and satisfaction derived from shared effort and direction.
Whole teams are empowered through clear forms of communication, clarity of role definition and demonstrated behaviours of respect and cooperation. They are transparent and authentic when it comes to resolving conflict. The inevitable tensions of working in groups is seen as a proving ground for personal, professional and team development.
Accurate feedback is critical for the developing organisation. Knowledge is built and retained, skills improved and productive behaviours refined. Feedback intelligence incorporates technical ability and knowledge with skills of communication that inform the quality of feedback.
When the quality of feedback is high it is well received and effective. Constructive and effective feedback is achieved through the development of four pillars of emotional intelligence, namely, Self Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management.
It is also applied in the context of resonating communication and situational leadership. Organisations with developed feedback intelligence increase their capacity for knowledge retention, team cohesion and professional advancement.
Motivated teams have high esprit de core (morale, camaraderie, and purpose). Their communication is clear, their goals are focused and they possess high levels of creativity.
Developing the capacity to create highly motivated teams requires an understanding of the science behind motivation and the key drivers of individual behaviour. It also requires a clear framework for creating the environment that instills a culture of motivation and the collective desire to contribute to the whole.
A great workshop is built on the quality of the relationship betwen the facililitator and the participants. That relationship needs to be an authentic encounter between two or more people; one that is capable of empowering others to remove habitual assumptions that may limit their capacity to see future possibilities with fresh eyes.
Learning environments must resonate with meaning. Effective facilitation enables people to undergo rapid transformation in the way they think, feel and act through processes that embody high levels of enquiry, creativity, spontaneity and agility.
Fostering a culture of play and playfulness in teams inherently creates a state of well being and optimism. It is not only a way of creating a cheeful place to work, it is also a vital ingredient to innovative thinking and the generation of ideas.
Albert Einstein is often cited as saying that no problem was ever solved within the same thinking that created it. In other words, it's important to find ways to break out of our existing patterns of thinking and open up to the possibilities that exist outside of it.
Play and playfulness can be used purposefully and consciously as a means of shifting paradigms, dissolving limited thinking patterns, and fostering an environment of innovation.
Defined as an act, idea or product that changes an existing process, or transforms into a new one, creativity isn't just a process that happens inside the heads of a select few. It is open for all to engage with and be engaged by as contributing members of teams and organisations.
Through the implementation of creative strategies in the workplace, organisations can exceed the boundaries of out-dated or ineffective modes of thinking and working.
This program area introduces the concept of creativity in the modern work environment with tools designed to nurture and stimulate growth. The synergy of sources, minds and ideas that is unleashed through the creative process allows organisations to reach and sustain true collaborative states of creativity, ensuring that they operate as effective generative and innovative cultures.
The world is changing very fast - you can feel it. A year in the internet business seems as long as a year in a dog's life, the equivalent of seven human years. Any business related to the internet is evolving faster and faster and there are very few businesses today that don't utilise the internet in some way. We know from Darwinian evolutionary theory that it is not the strongest species that will survive but the species which is most responsive to change - and the quickest to do so.
We have found that applying creative forms to our work produces a rapid release of the human imagination - the flame which ignites a creative and innovative culture - two key elements needed to respond and adapt to our current swiftly changing environment. Using creative forms helps participants become agile - quickly adapting to new directions and readily responding with purposeful action.
This program area draws heavily from the fields of theatre, performance, educational drama, art and music. People work intensively with impulsiveness and spontaneity to free the imagination and create a fresh perspective. The importance of fostering creativity in the workplace becomes obvious as entrepreneurial ideas are generated and measured risk taking is encouraged.
Serious play and performance-building techniques converge and open pathways for individuals and organisations to ignite and channel their capacity for innovation in a sustainable way.
One of the first principles discussed in this program area is that the real communication is the communication received, not the communication intended. To be truly great communicators then, it is vital that we fine tune our ability to appreciate, plan and predict how our communications will be received and work with this part of the equation as much as on our own communication.
In a rapidly changing global environment our skills in communication are being increasingly called upon. With clarity, self and social awareness, and high levels of empathy comes the capacity for truly effective communication. An effective communicator is productive, influential, and builds networks and relationships based on mutual understanding and shared knowledge.
Clear and consistent communication is informed and enhanced by the skills of curiosity and descriptiveness. Highly developed communicators are constantly demonstrating and applying these skills. They know that to understand others and to be understood by others at the deepest level enables them to create highly effective and mutually beneficial relationships.
The generation into which we are born has as much impact on us as our education or income. For the first time in the history of the industrialised world we can find up to 4 generations existing in the workplace at the same time. In today's workplace the variances between the generations results in major differences in communication, motivation, work ethic and management styles.
These differences alone can dramatically reduce the effectiveness and profitabilty of a business as a whole. Alternatively, there is an enormous opportunity to tap into the length and breadth of experience that an inter-generational workplace environment offers. By acquiring an understanding of the influences, characteristics and motivations of the individual generations, the differences between each can be leveraged for better results in all areas of the organisation.
An effective Trouble Shooter works to transform the experience of workplace conflict by fostering a deep and clear understanding of all parties involved within a conflict. They display skills for negotiating and resolving confict through the use of interactive performance techniques, exploring issues and investigating solutions to improve communications and relationships to open the way for greater creativity and productivity.
Handled well and with all parties needs and views held in a place of respect, conflict can be effective and very stimulating as a means of provoking productive change.
Presenting in formal and informal settings is a key form of communication. It is a necessary and critical part of doing business, and it is reasonable to say that decisions are always influenced on some level by the quality and nature of the presentation and the presenter. For that reason it is necessary in both human and commercial terms to pay attention to the development, improvement and practise of the presentation.
Master Presenter creates a separate focus on presenter, presentation and audience. Participants work with techniques that assist them to articulate their message with clarity as they harness their emotions to enhance and support content, and stay agile and open for audience interaction.
The Master Presenter program is flexible and responsive to participants' needs in that it offers them ways to articulate their message while assisting them to develop a personal style. Participants work on and review actual presentations throughout the workshop in terms of both content and effective presentation style. They receive accurate and constructive feedback which is supported by the use of video-recording. Through a thorough and supportive approach participants gain confidence toward making resonating and impacting presentations with authenticity and authority.
The program provides participants with skills to:
Participants will expand and enrich their ability to give effective and successful
presentations. They will be able to:
Influencing is about understanding yourself and the effect or impact you have on others. All relationships are two-way and influencing is how we can consciously change how others perceive us. Perception is reality. It doesn't matter what's going on internally for you - if it isn't perceived by the other person then it doesn't exist, other than in your mind.
Being able to exert influence involves many attributes including the ability to stand your ground and be flexible at the same time. It is about developing confidence, clarity and empathy as communicators. Others are not forced into seeing your view of the world when being influenced. They are invited, persuaded, and directed to understand your ideas and intentions.
To be truly influential we must be detached from outcome in such a way that it can never be perceived that we are being forceful, commanding or demanding. This ceases to be influencing and becomes something else entirely. To influence others we ask them to consider the possibilities being presented and imagine themselves taking up the proposition.
Negotiation is something we all do from time to time and not only for business purposes. For example, we use the skill in our social lives for deciding a time to meet or where to go on a rainy day. Negotiation is often thought to be a compromise in order to settle an argument or issue to benefit ourselves as much as possible. But it is much more than this.
It is also possible to think of negotiation as the art of creating mutual success. We call this win-more win-more; when all parties emerge from a negotiation with mutual benefit. Our attitudes, approaches and styles of communication all come into consideration when we look at developing the art of negotiation.
If your reason for negotiation is seen as 'beating' the opposition, it is known as 'Distributive Negotiation'. In this manner of negotiating you must be prepared to use persuasive tactics and may not end up with the maximum benefit. This is because your intention is not focused on creating mutual benefit and both parties are looking for a different outcome. If your negotiation is of a more 'friendly' nature with both parties aiming to reach agreement, it is known as 'Integrative Negotiation'. This manner usually brings an outcome where you will both benefit highly and requires some advanced communication skills from at least one party.
