Whether it’s a high-profile tech company like Yahoo!, or a more established conglomerate like GE or Home Depot, large companies have a hard time keeping their best and brightest in house. Recently, GigaOM discussed the troubles at Yahoo! with a flat stock price, vested options for some of their best people, and the apparent free flow of VC dollars luring away some of their best people to do the start-up thing again.

1. Big Company Bureaucracy. This is probably the #1 reason we hear after the fact from disenchanted employees. However, it’s usually a reason that masks the real reason. No one likes rules that make no sense. But, when top talent is complaining along these lines, it’s usually a sign that they didn’t feel as if they had a say in these rules. They were simply told to follow along and get with the program. No voice in the process and really talented people say “check please.”

Read the full article at Forbes.com to learn about #2-10.

Are you worried about losing your top talent?

We can help. We’ve developed a program exclusively for High Potential Leaders. Or maybe you’re not sure what the word at the water cooler is—consider utilizing focus groups to gain a better understanding of what your employees need to succeed.

We’d love to hear from you.

Give us a call at 847-698-6500 or email us at info@leadingvisionsinc.com. Initial consultations are always complimentary.

Want to enhance productivity and engagement in 2011?

Reconnect your leaders to their dreams. 

According to Matthew Kelly in The Dream Manager, “An organization can only become the best version of itself to the extent that the people who drive the organization are striving to become better versions of themselves.”

When leaders are connected to their vision, they are more motivated, committed and productive. When shared and aligned, a leadership team has a compelling reason to lead with inspiration and make the tough choices inherent in change initiatives.

Nothing animates people like chasing down a dream.

— Matthew Kelly

In this program, participants will use the book, The Dream Manager, as a discovery tool. Using this content and our expertise, participants will meet via phone with a Certified Coach in three, one-on-one sessions to:

• Create/Build on a Dream List
• Integrate feedback from 360° assessment into their Dream List
• Create an individual Plan of Action
• Explore and remove obstacles
• Get into action

Programs like this have improved our productivity by 20% and positivity by 25%

— CIO, Global Healthcare Organization

Leadership Coaching is a highly personal one-on-one developmental experience between the coach and the client. This allows the client to focus on issues of leadership and personal growth with a trained professional. The coaching environment is one where clients can safely explore possibilities. Books like The Dream Manager are great at stimulating employees to move in a directional path.  Where books can’t assist is when an employee runs into personal roadblocks that slow them down or derail accomplishing their dream.

Program includes:

• The Dream Manager book
• A workbook
• Three, custom one-on-one sessions with a Certified Coach (90 minutes each, in person or by phone)
• 360° Assessment
• 360° Debrief

Volume Discounts

This program may be purchased for one leader, or for an entire team. Please inquire for volume pricing.

Contact Us

To learn more about the Dream Work for Leaders, please call 847-698-6500 or fill out our contact form.

Is your company considering undergoing organizational changes with the intent of achieving greater business alignment and operational excellence?

Below we describe a typical work plan and estimates of corresponding time requirements for a typical reorganization.  Depending upon specific circumstances, more or less time may be required.  All components of the process are inter-related and a successful reorganization is dependent upon the components being properly integrated in a coordinated approach.

Recommendations

Leading Visions recommends that a culture and organizational effectiveness assessment be conducted through a series of interviews and focus groups for successful integration of new leadership, company values, and customer needs.

The proposed solution is based on change management models where company values are confirmed, customer needs are identified, and the organization gains focus to deliver results.

Benefits

The primary advantages of this approach are:

• Leverages experience of skilled coaches and consultants
• Provides a stream-lined approach which allows for efficient timing for data gathering and analysis efforts
• Enables additional levels of safe discussion with managers and employees to encourage sharing and innovation
• Centralizes the data gathering process for consistency and full understanding
• Supports current leadership to strengthen positive influence on their teams
• Appropriately integrates activities with existing leadership team to encourage buy-in and support for feedback as well as possible resultant process/organizational changes
• Dramatically reduces unintentional bias by providing a safe and comfortable channel to collect candid, unfiltered, anonymous, and well-intentioned feedback

Project Scope

• Provide a series of focus groups
• Provide written and summarized presentation of results
• Provide communication materials in draft for distribution

Assumptions

• Your company will provide copies of organizational charts and other related materials deemed appropriate for devising a work plan.
• Administrative charges will be added for materials.
• Upon completion of Phase I, Leading Visions, Inc. will deliver a document that clarifies roles, timetables, and accountability for all parties involved to determine need for further engagement.
• Changes to project scope will be evaluated and estimated as they arise and may increase the cost of the solution and estimated time for completion.
• Your company will provide adequate workspace and workstation for LV consultant(s) (if applicable).
• Your company will provide meeting facilities for LV to conduct in-person focus groups with employees.
• All inquiries and requests to your company’s staff will be answered in a timely fashion to ensure that project timelines are not impacted.

Contact Us

To learn more about how our Focus Groups can help your organization, please call 847-698-6500 or fill out our contact form.

All programs are custom-designed to meet the needs of the individual client. Below are the typical phases included in a re-organization program.

Phase 1: Visioning and Action Planning

We will meet with executive project sponsor(s) to assess the current organization and work with the client to create vision and strategic imperatives. We will also create action plans, define project deliverables and identify project role assignments.

Phase 2: Determining the Commitment to Change

We will assess the current organizational climate via employee focus groups and interviews. In addition, we will conduct Real-Time Feedback 360-type profiles of the Management team.

Phase 3: Defining Organizational Changes – Strategic Planning

In this phase, it is important to define new roles and responsibilities in organizational structure. We will work to determine new positions within the organizational structure and provide job content and scope to Human Resources for development of job descriptions.

First, we will design career paths and define competencies, then identify skill gaps. The steps in this process include:

• Determine core competencies for organization.
• Determine functional competencies for new positions (Assist in identifying position competencies, job descriptions, pay guidelines, career paths, candidate sources, interviewing, selecting, and job offers).
• Create tools for assessment of candidate sources, interviewing and selection, and performance.
• Build and/or renew HR strategies including diversity, succession planning, staffing, total reward and recognition (incentive programs, etc.) and related program elements.

The final piece of this phase is communication strategy. In conjunction with staffing, post new positions to ensure consistent and timely message to the employee base and other stakeholders.

Phase 4: Implementation and Integration

In conjunction with department leadership and Human Resources, meet with new incumbents to ensure acclimation to new structure, clarify role expectations, and review organizational climate assessment for area of accountability. Set up monitoring points and progress indicators. Create and/or integrate related training and development strategy to include leadership development, coaching, team building, succession planning, employee satisfaction, culture assessment, etc.

Phase 5: Development of New Organization

Create new leadership team (team-building). LV will assist with facilitation and creation of team dynamics.

We help create new leaders through one-on-one management coaching for the new management team.

Create culture change within new organization by:
• Creating and nurturing trust
• Clarifying and conveying the vision
• Reaching out to employees by providing core training program of “Culture Change through Personal Responsibility”
• Schedule employees for a series of communications (e.g. “Lunch and Learns”)
• Identify informal communication channels and ensure adherence to new structure.
• On-going communication strategy development.

Contact Us

Call us at 847-698-6500 to set up an initial consultation.

The Team Leader View Diagnostic illuminates a leader’s view of his/her own team and the impact of his/her team leadership. This unique online assessment tool is the foundation of our Team System Leadership Program designed to grow a leader’s capacity to create conditions for team success.

In trying to deliver results and achieve work/life balance most leaders amp up productivity. They strive to achieve goals but often get consequences like burnout, turnover, infighting and toxic work environments. In fact, the culture of the team has the power to block or unlock results. When engagement, collaboration and trust are high, sustainable results are not only possible but can improve productivity 30% or more.

This program enables leaders (at any level) to:

• Benchmark the 14 factors of team success
• Position for career advancement
• Realize greater work/life balance
• Expand leadership influence
• Understand and mitigate team toxins
• Target what is working, what is not and why
• Shift from traditional leader-centric approach to team system leadership

Program includes:

• Team LeaderView Diagnostic™ Report
• 1.5 hour model overview collaborative group conference call
• 2 hour individual coaching debrief of The Team LeaderView Diagnostic
• 1 hour individual action planning call

“I got 10 hours a week back because my team is solving its own problems and resolving conflict without my intervention.”

—Sr. Manager Kaiser Permanente

The Team Leader View Diagnostic measures 7 Productivity (results) and 7 Positivity (engagement) factors of team leadership impact.

The leader takes the online assessment of 80 questions with 3 open-ended in 20 minutes. The individual report is a portrait of their team system from their perspective. It’s available in 18 languages and provides multiple data views, research-based insight and a targeted map and path forward.

Contact Us

To learn more about the Team System Leadership Program, please call 847-698-6500 or fill out our contact form.

This program is designed for your team, if:

• Your organization is experiencing a transformational change, such as a merger, downsizing, reorganization or outsourcing initiative
• Tension or miscommunication amongst team members is holding your team back
• You want to inspire your team to conquer new challenges
• Self-directed attitudes and behaviors are critical success factors

We’ll help you take the guesswork out of leadership

Leaders are responsible for creating conditions that encourage a team to succeed and deliver results. Often, new strategic initiatives—created to improve the bottom line—are met with fear and resistance. The normal, unassisted perspective is a fear of the unknown. It is very difficult for leaders within an organization to step back, look at the situation impartially and see how to move team members out of fear and into action.

Leading Visions, Inc. helps the leadership team and employees learn to align themselves more closely with objective reality and see changes in strategy as an opportunity to grow, rather than as a problem to be coped with.

We utilize a strengths-based coaching approach and tools to replace guesswork with data. We will work with you to analyze the current climate and create a plan to help you reach your desired outcomes.

Overview

Leading Visions, Inc. helps corporate leaders accelerate and facilitate necessary changes in team member mindsets. Another way of saying this is that we are good at “preparing the soil” of the organizational culture so that the “seeds” of the business strategy can have a legitimate chance to take root in the hearts and minds of the people who actually do the work.  When this happens, the execution of the business strategy becomes a given—goals are met and often exceeded. We help create more positivity in the workplace, which leads to more productivity.

Our work with teams has resulted in 10‒30% improvement in team performance within 6‒9 months.

“I got 10 hours/week back because my team is solving its own problems and resolving conflict without my intervention. We are no longer just a ‘meeting’ but a collaborative leadership team.”

— Sr. Manager, Healthcare Organization

Approach

We deliberately focus on engagement first—focusing team energy on working relationships and developing self-directed behavior. We then inspire the team to rise to the challenges that are a natural part of transition. This allows team members the opportunity to reestablish relationships and trust before they get to work rebuilding the department. In our experience, most executives are quite competent at creating strategies and implementation plans; but may not have the skill set (or impartial view) to implement the culture transformation necessary to execute their strategies. Thus, we focus on transforming the culture within the team environment so the business leaders can focus on executing the strategy and creating results.

Successful transformations (be it a downsizing, reorganization, system change or outsourcing initiative) address performance strategically and include all perspectives (people, process, technology and infrastructure).

Using a strengths-based coaching approach, Leading Visions, Inc. brings expertise, tools, experiential learning and compassion to create a safe, open environment for strategic alignment work such as:

• Integration: How do we leverage people, process and technology to deliver high quality results with less stress?
• Culture Change: How do we intentionally create a creative, outcome-based culture (play to win) vs. defaulting to a reactive-problem (playing not to lose)? How do we shift the collective mindset about what is possible to accomplish?
• Team Chartering: What are is our mission, vision, values, goals and agreements? How do we increase individual accountability to create a high-performing team?
• Communication: How can we communicate more openly, completely, pro-actively and effectively in service to team goals?
• Emotional, Social and Team Intelligence: How can we leverage interpersonal, intrapersonal and team system awareness to accelerate results delivery?
• Constructive Interaction: How do we best communicate and provide feedback (internally and externally) especially when things get tough?
• Decision Making Practices: How do we cultivate effective decision making? What are key decision points and who has what level of accountability for each decision? What are decision making types, styles and preferences?
• Transition Management: What do we need to know about transition? How do we help each other deal effectively with all the changes that have happened and those that are sure to come?
• Vendor Collaboration: How do we optimize our relationship, agreements and work flow?
• Change Management/Workflow: What are the new workflows and procedures and change management practices?
• Role Clarity: Who does what and why?
• Customer Service: Who are our customers and how can we provide the best service in our new structure?
• Best Practices: What are they and how do we migrate?
• Quality Control/Improvement: How can we optimize or leverage our standardize improvement methods (Agile, Lean, Six Sigma, BPI, etc.)? How do we create a more courageous continuous improvement attitude?

Tools

We work with these assessment tools. All are based on the team’s perspective of what is going on (vs. a leader or consultant):

• Team Diagnostic Assessment: Measures 14 team competencies or success factors necessary for high-performance. Accelerates the work and conversations that need to and want to happen.
• Leadership Culture Survey: Measures the current team culture (how they are) and desired team culture (how they want to be). Increases understanding of the degree to which the team “Plays Not to Lose” (protects, complies or control) and “Plays to Win” (relating, self-awareness, authenticity, systems awareness, achieving)
• DISC Assessment: Measures behavioral preferences (strengths) in 4 categories- Direct/Dominant, Influence/Expressive, Steady/Amiable and Correct/Conscientious. Helps improve communication, decision making and feedback and understanding.
• Team Leader View^™ Assessment: Examines 14 research-verified qualities necessary for effective leadership and achieving team results. Creates a rich territory for exploration and sets the foundation for action step development.

Program Components

• 1:1 Interviews with Key Players
• Team Diagnostic Assessment (TDA) with 5 customized open-ended questions deployed to individuals assessing team
• DISC Assessment deployed to individuals assessing self
• 2-day Experiential Team Workshop (meets offsite in designated teams)
• 6-months follow-on coaching, consulting, process work and skill building with designated teams
• 6-months follow-on leadership coaching for key leaders
• Redeploy TDA with 1 day debrief, action planning session for designated teams

Contact Us

To learn more about the Strategic Team Alignment Program, please call 847-698-6500 or fill out our contact form.

Program Goals

• Re-calibrate leadership team system to accelerate and sustain successful transformation amidst constant change, ambiguity and uncertainty
• Assure the team is aligned and working together on strategies to support organizational effectiveness
• Clarify, reestablish and align strategic framework (vision, mission/purpose, values/agreements, goals/strategies)
• Establish shared leadership roles and accountabilities
• Leverage individual and team (Team Diagnostic) strengths and leadership styles to build trust, move beyond silos and lead the next phase of the transformation in a collaborative, unified manner.
• Prevent loss of top talent

“Teams exist to produce results. The team is a living system. Team members want to be on high-performing teams. The team has within it the means to excel.”

–Team Coaching International

Leadership Team Phases

Program Components

A Compelling Case for Shared Leadership: IT team case study

“We are ‘at the table’ for strategic initiatives, which has improved our customer service and reduced rework between departments.” 

—Vice President of IT, Retail

ROI

• Most teams show 10-30% improvement in productivity and engagement in 6-9 months
• Accelerate adoption of change, achieve agility
• Demonstrate a positive impact on the bottom line
• Establish a new foundation for ongoing success

“I didn’t think it was possible but 10 years of distrust, cynicism and anger shifted to a desire for change, community and trust in 4 hours.”  

—Director, IT Healthcare

“I had tried everything to create a solid team. We took away so many practical learnings that today the office was electric.” 

—VP Finance, Non-Profit

Contact Us

To learn more about the Shared Leadership Performance Program, please call 847-698-6500 or fill out our contact form.

Leadership effectiveness is directly correlated to business success!

The Leadership Circle Profile™ and The Play to Win Team Culture Survey help accelerate and expand leadership capacity, strategic alignment, engagement and team effectiveness. These online assessment tools measure the degree to which you (or your team) demonstrate creative-outcome based (playing to win) versus reactive-problem focused (playing not to lose) leadership.

Creative vs. Reactive Competencies

Creative (Play to Win) Competencies measure how a leader (or a team system) achieves results, brings out the best in others, leads with vision, enhances personal development, acts with integrity and courage and improves organizational systems.

Reactive (Play Not to Lose) Strategies are leadership styles emphasizing caution over creating results, self-protection over productive engagement and aggression over building alignment. The self-limiting strategies (while very common) over emphasize the focus on gaining approval of others, protecting oneself and getting results through high control tactics.

The Play to Win Team Culture Survey delivers a powerful litmus test of your team’s leadership environment. It measures five Play to Win competencies (20 specific dimensions) and three Play not to Lose strategies (11 specific tendencies), compares current and desired culture and taps into a norm base to illuminate how your team compares to others.

What You’ll Learn

Both tools reveal internal operating systems and illuminate the relationship between patterns of action and internal assumptions (beliefs) that drive behavior. This allows participants to see how the inner world of thought translates into productive or unproductive styles of leadership. These well-researched assessments quickly target what is working, what is not and why.

The assessment results, team/leadership coaching and skill building help teams learn how to create and sustain a Play to Win team culture where productivity (results-delivery) and positivity (engagement) thrive.

The Play to Win Team Culture Survey

The Play to Win Team Culture Survey illuminates the leadership environment of a team, department or organization in graphically. Team members answer 62 questions (online) two times-One for current state and one for desired state. The gap illuminates leverage points. Higher scores in creative-playing to win competencies and lower scores in reactive-playing not to lose strategies correlate directly with strong, sustainable business performance.

Leadership Philosophies

Playing to Win and Playing Not to Lose are two life philosophies or belief systems. If a team wants different results (be it achieving their goals, fulfilling their purpose or realizing their vision) each team member needs to explore and choose how they think, feel and behave to be more in alignment with desired outcomes.

This program makes it easy for leaders and teams to:

• Elevate their game
• Establish a compelling rationale for change
• Cultivate productivity and positivity
• Leverage strengths
• Work better together in collaboration
• Accelerate awareness of impact on others
• Deal with barriers to success
• Recognize gaps in awareness
• Reduce potential for derailment
• Delineate challenges associated with acquisitions, mergers and restructuring

Learn more

Contact us or call 847-698-6500.

The Career Advancement program provides participants ongoing support during the career development process. Participants will use the Campbell Skills and Interest Assessment as a baseline for charting their career path. Using the results of the survey, participants will meet one-on-one with a Certified Career Coach to design an individual action plan. This plan will focus on issues of career advancement and personal growth. When used as a follow-up resource to a large group program, the Career Navigator program provides the support and accountability necessary to ensure the organization’s objectives are met.

All programs are customizable to meet the client’s needs. Below is a sample of a typical six-month engagement:

The Certified Career Coach meets with the employee in person for a 2-hour initial consultation session to review the client intake profile and the Campbell Skills and Interest Assessment. The coach will then meet with the employee for a 90 minute telephone consultation each month for the next five months (a total of six months with the initial consultation). The coach and client will work together to identify obstacles that may be hindering career growth and develop strategies for overcoming them.

Individual coaching is a highly personal one-on-one developmental experience between coach and client. The coaching environment is one where clients can safely explore possibilities. All information disclosed is kept confidential between coach and client.

Call 847-698-6500 or contact us to set up an initial consultation.

Perfect for new leaders or leaders moving up the corporate ladder

Overview

This program is both comprehensive and intensive. A custom-built, one-on-one developmental experience with an executive leadership coach and team coach that allows hi-po leaders the opportunity to individually explore the leadership challenges they face. This program develops leaders by identifying individual barriers to effectiveness (communication style, interpersonal challenges, relationships, etc.) and the most productive ways to overcome those barriers. A structured one-on-one format is designed to meet both the individual’s and company’s specific goals.

Participants in this program develop more acute EQ (emotional intelligence), which allows them to manage others far more effectively and gain experience at considering alternative perspectives. This results in better decision making and more creative problem resolution. Coaching will be utilized in conjunction with a blend of assessment tools, a leadership workshop, individual feedback, and leadership visioning.

Many leadership challenges involve other people within the organization—it’s not just about the leader. By combining team systems work with executive coaching work, we can understand the full landscape of the organization and become a more effective, illuminating resource for the organization.

This program includes:

Intake survey

Identify your goals, leadership journey, life satisfaction and improvement areas, coaching needs and potential in this intake form. (Leading Visions will email you an interactive PDF.)

Discovery Intake Session

Explore your intake form, establish goals for leadership coaching and co-create your coaching relationship.

DISC Assessment

The DISC profile identifies our individual communication style (or strengths). Taken online.

Alignment Session

Identify and gain agreement on your development goals and establish support needs

Gaining Ground Leadership Retreat

• Solve 1–3 critical leadership challenges
• Learn 5 practices of exemplary leadership
• Cultivate leadership, communication, decision making and change management practices
• Explore DISC preferences and leadership styles
• Learn about sources, signs and relief of stress
• Re-energize leadership capacity
• Re-connect to your mission, vision and values

360° Assessment

Assess how you and others perceive your leadership capacity. This assessment looks at 22 Leadership Skills in two categories.

• Core leadership—what you bring to the job (strategy, action, results)
• Adaptive Leadership—who you are on the job (emotional intelligence, organizational justice, character, development)

Coaching Sessions

• Gain the self-awareness and confidence needed to take on new leadership responsibilities
• Develop your emotional intelligence skills
• Improve skills by identifying and managing strengths and development needs
• Learn more about leadership behaviors and the impact they have on others
• Stimulate personal, career and team growth
• Develop a plan of action, including a set of achievable goals through individual guidance in planning and goal setting
• Overcome obstacles to success
• Apply knowledge and skills to real-work situations
• Explore ways to lead and empower your team system
• Use information from assessment to grow your leadership capacity and well being

Leadership Culture Survey

Illuminate the degree to which your team is “Playing to Win” (creative outcome-based approach) or “Playing Not To Lose” (reactive problem-based). Highlights the current state of your team culture is and where they’d like to be.

Strategic Alignment Leadership Model™

Our Hi-Potential Leadership Program focuses on personal and other leadership and touches on Team System Leadership.

Expected Results

Leading Visions’ mission is to work with corporate clients in assisting their leaders to improve leadership skills and abilities. We believe that by connecting employees to their core values, creating a compelling and challenging vision, setting clear and achievable goals, and holding employees accountable—employees will become stronger, more confident, contributing managers and leaders. The focus of this coaching program will be on professional development/improvement (as described in the coaching process on the following pages), which leads to improved performance and measurable business results. In order for an employee to reach their developmental goals, they need to gain awareness about themselves and be willing to have vision, integrity and commitment to accomplishing results. In order for the employee to be motivated to change their behavior, they must envision what they want to achieve, have the desire to look at what may hinder them, be willing to discover their strengths and weaknesses, and become aware of what skills are needed to create excellent performance and wellbeing.

We do all of this in service to and in alignment with your organization’s mission, vision, values and goals.

Contact Us

To learn more about this program, please contact us.