We are counter-consultants so we work with leaders who are as impatient as we are with the old, failed ways of running organisations. We support you to define for yourself the right way forward. But we also challenge you to think how business could be a bigger part of the solution to society’s problems.
Why you need this approach
We enable individuals to bring more of themselves to leadership than conventional views of management would expect. And we encourage organisations to foster greater emphasis on aligning organisational values with personal ones. Doing this not only makes workplaces less alienating but strenghtens the ability of businesses to serve customers with sensitivity.
In our experience, younger members of the workforce want to work like this but get stifled outdated approaches to management. They crave autonomy and personal responsibility for the big issues confronting business. Many are holding themselves outside the system to work in smaller organisations with more innovative approaches and more aligned values. Those that join large organisations can quickly become alienated and may rapidly depart.
Smaller organisations trying to do things differently need support to tread the path. Large organisations need to be thinking differently in order to attract and retain ambitious young professionals. In an era when hierarchies are being supplanted by networks, leaders in organisations large and small need to learn to exercise their influence in more nimble and flexible ways.
How we’re different
Our approach meets the challenges of leadership for our times: it helps people develop themselves and lead more fulfilled lives while serving their companies and wider society more effectively.
Addressing the big issues
Business is distrusted as never before. We challenge leaders’ assumptions about the role their organisations exist to serve. We encourage them to think creatively about how they operate and in whose interest they make decisions. We believe leaders need to be more adept at reading and responding to the political, economic and social currents that play upon business. We bring the psychological awareness that helps you to explore where you stand as a leader. But, with years of top level news and current affairs experience, we also assist with the contextual thinking that brings out the realities of power in which you operate.
Helping leaders to manage elegantly
Many leaders struggle because the complexity of issues that are thrown at them these days outpaces the level of development most people are at. We find this can be turned around by helping people to take hold of their own learning. Conventional approaches to leadership rely excessively on rational planning and problem solving. This prioritises logical analysis but downplays emotions and the realm of values by which people give meaning to their lives. You can’t plan your way out of complexity. You need a more flexible, emergent approach: one that draws on awareness of feelings, intuition and physical sensations as well as the intellect; one that draws on your web of relationships, not simply your formal authority. The space we create to reflect in the round on your leadership experience provides a springboard for wise decisions and impact through integrity.
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Coaching testimonials for Martin Vogel
Coaching testimonials for Mark Wakefield