Over the years we have noticed that almost all of our clients – no matter what the initial brief – have actually directed us toward their main frustration which is something like:

“Why won’t my managers step up and lead?”

It is commonly recognised that most change programs fail. Our experience tells us that a key reason for that is that the leaders, at all levels, need to embrace and lead the change with real conviction. They need to inspire by example and  be there to coach their people through the stages of change and through the development of new capabilities. No change succeeds without strong, challenging and supportive leadership yet too many companies fail to put this into place.

So, we have developed a specialisation in designing and facilitating what we call ‘leadershift’ programs to support the organisation vision and strategy.

We recognise the need to create and facilitate programs based on people’s sense of themselves – who they have been, who they are being right now and who they might be becoming. We work to create self-driven shift at identity and beliefs level so that new capability has fertile ground in which to grow.

We often say “If this program goes well you may never get over it” And it’s true!

OUR BELIEFS

We believe that:

  • all companies basically compete for the same technical resources and that it is in their people that their greatest potential advantage rests.
  • positive leadership is the key to engaging and maintaining a capable and productive workforce
  • decision making (choices) are critical to your success – people add or destroy value in any moment through their choices
  • everyone wants to add value and to be be valued
  • senior leaders need thoughtfully to create the space for others to ‘step up’ to be the best they can be
  • good leaders have a sense of themselves – their identity – that drives them to serve and engage others…
  • effective behaviour change requires a ‘shift’ at belief level, so our programs are always designed that way
  • plus a few more things that we’ll be happy to discuss with you…

OUR APPROACH

There is much research that points to the fact that most change programs fail. There are many factors that contribute to the failure of major change programs including a lack of clarity of intention and failure to properly anticipate critical issues on the pathway. One of the keys is always a lack of leadership effectiveness in driving and sustaining the change.

As we have worked with a range of clients over several decades we have often heard Executives say “Why won’t my people step up and lead?” We like to think that we can help with that.

At creativeintension we believe that there are six primary levers that enable leaders to step up to the challenges of a difficult business environment.

We believe that senior managers need to work to:

 Provide simplicity and meaning in people’s work

 Encourage self-belief in their leaders at every level

 Create and maintain safe space for leaders, and others, to make value-adding decisions

 Set people up for success

 Align systems and structure to enable leaders

 Develop the skills of leadership

Note: The term “Safe Space” does not mean soft! It means that we create a space where people can challenge and be challenged – that robust, even crucial, conversations are OK.

To this end, our design process will encourage as far as is practicable, the consideration of these six factors and how we best get those conditions in place so that the participants can really ‘step up’ and lead.