Please come and visit us at our exhibition booth to find out more about our Leadership Development, Executive Coaching and Business Communication programs.

Mark Liew an Executive Coach and Leadership Trainer from our team will be speaking about ‘Creating Behavioural Lasting Change’ in the Corporate Learning Stream.

See you there?

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It is a bit like if you were in a boat and have set your course, but the boat springs a leak and you spend your whole time bailing water and have no time to steer.

William Bridges created a model of change and transition that is highly relevant in today’s financial readjustment. When the collapse of Lehman Brothers started the domino effect of the global crisis, many of us would have experienced first shock, then denial, anger and fear. If you lost money or a job you might then experience grief, frustration, confusion, stress and loss of control.

As an executive coach and leadership consultant I have often witnessed this spiraling down into paralysis that Bridges calls the ‘neutral zone’. Symptoms of the neutral zone include ambiguity, anxiety and the absence of motivation. The cure for this paralysis is a new vision of what is possible.

Einstein said that, “A problem cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that created the problem.” When in the neutral zone, we are in a dark place and our ability to think optimistically and see possibilities is severely limited. What is required is a little magic, the magic of imagination. All of human achievement started with imagination, from running a mile in under 4 minutes, to imagining what it would be like on the top of Mount Everest to imagining walking on the surface of the moon.

A vision will inspire, motivate and engender creativity and it starts with using imagination to travel to the future when things will be better. The Executive who asks him/herself, “What is possible?” “What will we be doing when things are better?” To do achieve this we must take time to stop bailing the water in the boat and look to the shore. Most executives find this extremely difficult as they leave themselves little or no time to stop, step back and think strategically.

With a new vision of where you are going, you and your people will become more optimistic, think creatively and start planning actions that will move you towards success.

It was no surprise that Barack Obama beat John McCain; Dr Martin Seligman in his book ‘Learned Optimism’ talks about his analysis of US elections based on the number of positive or optimistic comments made by the candidates. Obama clearly offered a more optimistic view of the future and thus captured the popular vote.

Obama is being called a transformational leader because he:

1. Created a vision that inspired the American voters (and the world) to believe that there were new possibilities.

2. Stimulates people to think, to re-examine their ideas and find creative alternatives. Such an environment breeds imagination and innovation.

3. Treats people as individuals making people feel valued and encouraging them to contribute. He recognizes that people have unique talents, strengths and weakness and allowing for these differences without judgment.

The transformational leader must have what I like to call ‘realistic optimism’ which is a practical and pragmatic approach that is ideally suited to the current climate. Realistic optimism is the mindset that we can make the best of any circumstance; it is the acceptance that bad things do happen but with a healthy self-esteem and the confidence in our abilities we can overcome adversity, learn from the situation and be even better for the experience.

Optimism without right actions and following sound principles will not be enough. Lehman Brothers failed because of over-optimism and the senior management not being in alignment with their own company’s vision and values.

In the current climate it is tempting to focus on immediate need and make tactical rather than strategic decisions; I urge you to step back for a moment, get in touch with your personal or company vision and ask yourself, “Is this decision the right one for the long term?”

Andrew Bryant is the Director of Self Leadership International and is based in Singapore but travels extensively as an executive coach and leadership consultant.

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Many training and change initiatives including coaching are a waste of time and money because they don’t deliver results. Organisations tend to measure people in terms of performance and potential and so any investment in people should show results in either or both of these.

In Singapore,  Self Leadership International transforms people’s performance and potential by impacting how they think and how they feel about what they do and by assisting the organisation to create a culture that will support the behaviours required for success.

There are many approaches to  ‘leadership development.’ but what makes the difference is the methodology.

Self Leadership International’s consulting, training and coaching utilises a Neuro Semantic approach.  Neuro Semantics is the science of how our behaviours (actions and communication) are driven by how we feel (Neurology) and what something means to us (Semantics).

People do what they do (Neurology) because they believe (Semantics) it is the right thing to do as judged by their personal values, corporate or ethnic culture.

For leadership development to be effective it is necessary to change or create new behaviours and develop potential; it is therefore essential  to consider what meanings the individual or team has about their behaviour/performance, how they feel when performing and what cultural influences support or inhibit performance and potential. Only when these issues are understood can we consider how to encourage mindsets and develop leadership skills.

An example might be that a business wants to encourage its managers to coach their staff to develop the potential. The skills of coaching such as; rapport, listening, asking questions, creating awareness  and co-creating outcomes and action plans can be taught; but will the managers apply these skills if they don’t believe that they have the time to coach, don’t feel confident to coach and don’t get acknowledged for coaching? What if the managers have a mindset that developing people is not as important as delivering business results or believe that if they develop their people their own job is in jeopardy?

With a Neuro Semantic approach Self Leadership International can survey the hidden forces of culture within an organisation, we can assess the meanings held by individuals or groups in terms of values, beliefs and identity and we can design programs that actualise performance and potential.

Measuring performance requires establishing behavioural benchmarks for each area that you wish to measure. A benchmark takes competency, such as ‘must communicate effectively’ or ‘builds appropriate trust’ and makes it tangible by creating a scale of observable (see, hear, feel) actions.

Self Leadership International has created a number of benchmarks for key leadership competencies; however there is massive value in each organisation going through the process of creating its own benchmarks as this creates buy-in for a new culture.

Whilst based in Singapore, Self Leadership International works throughoutt the Asia Pacific Region.

(Copyright Self Leadership International – no reproduction without permission, thanks)

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This blog is mostly written and edited by Self Leadership International’s director Andrew Bryant with contribution from subject matter experts.

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