Navigating Leadership Transitions

Whether you are new to leadership or not, transitioning into a new leadership role offers the opportunity to grow exponentially. In my experience, the key to successfully navigating transitions is to stand firmly in your authentic self. An authentic self which is the expression of your values and purpose. How you will experience your leadership transition is entirely dependent on how clear you are on your leadership values.

Developing Leaders

Leaders grow and develop each other through regular feedback. Feedback is about hearing what others appreciate about you and what advice your boss, peers and subordinates can offer you to grow your leadership. In addition, understanding how you contribute to the successes and challenges of the organisation equally drives performance. The answers to all these questions are provided by my flagship coaching tool, the Leadership Values Assessment.

Organisational transformation begins with the personal transformation of the leaders. If the leaders don’t change, the culture won’t change.

The Leadership Transitions Path

Any and all transitions follow – more or less – a specific path. There is an ending phase where there is both an excitement of moving into a different situation and the reality of needing to close things off. The necessity of letting go of what we know and is familiar to make space for what is new and unfamiliar.

However much we are ready to step into our new role, reality will hit us in the face. We will be forced to go through what humans – and most likely all mammals – experience as the “trough of transition”. We will have to learn to accept that things and people (as well as their reactions) are different, we will have some set backs because our old ways just don’t work anymore and we will be thinking about whether it was “all worth its while”.

Until we start to look around and see that the sun still rises, the people around us are still going about and we dare to experiment, to try out new things. The positive outcomes will reinforce our new being and build towards the final phase: the pay-off.

Making it real

This model is well known. Navigating the process remains blurry. Oftentimes, it is hindsight that enables us to see how it went and what stages we have been through. Leadership coaching is there to support you in growing through this curve in the most optimal way.

With my research background, I love to work with real solid data. I love working with models that function without compromising on insight. This is why I choose to work together with the Barrett’s Value Center. They offer a unique tool that starts with you, as a person and a leader, and enables you to carve your path. The tool I use is their Leadership Values Assessment.

Leadership Values Assessment (LVA)

The LVA is a powerful coaching tool for promoting self-awareness, personal transformation, and an understanding of the actions you, as a leader, need to take to realize your full potential. The LVA compares your perception of your operating style with the perception of your superiors, peers and subordinates. Emphasis is placed on your strengths, areas for improvement, and opportunities for growth.

The Assessment reveals the extent to which a leader’s behaviors help or hinder the performance of the organisation, and to what extent fear influences decision-making. This approach also measures your personal entropy and authenticity as a leader.

The LVA Process

We start with the customisation of the leadership values template. Next, you go to a password-protected website to select ten values that most represent your operating style. After which you list what you believe are your strengths, and areas of improvement you are currently working on. Also, the fifteen to twenty assessors you chose, go to the website to select ten values that represent your operating style; the behaviours they believe you as a leader need to stop or improve; and any other comments they wish to give you as feedback. Your assessors can choose whether to leave their name with feedback or take the survey anonymously. The frame of reference to plot the values is the Seven Levels of Leadership Consciousness.

We round this process with a two-to-three hour feedback session to discuss the findings. Together we develop a detailed action plan to improve your performance and design your transition in leadership

Benefits of the Leadership Values Assessment

• The LVA deepens your understanding of what you need to do to become an authentic leader.
• The LVA measures personal entropy, which is the amount of fear-driven energy a person expresses. Your personal entropy is one of the pitfalls in completing a successful leadership transition
• Finally, the survey is available in multiple languages in order to support your assessors in completing their feedback.

LVA Full

The full and extended version allows your assessors to give direct feedback using open text. This makes the results more nuanced. Also, the report is written by myself, rather than part of an automated system.

LVA Light (LDR)

The LDR, short for Leadership Development Report, is the short form of a LVA. The key difference is the absence of open text for feedback. Behavioural feedback is collected through a list of 26 core leadership behaviours which are rated. Also, the reporting is fully automated.

Coaching Budget for Leadership Transitions

A full Leadership Values Assessment comprising the intake session, the preparation and handling of the questionnaire, the analysis and report writing, as well as the coaching session is priced at 700 euro for the survey and 550 euro for the intake and coaching. The total being 1250 euro, exclusive of VAT.

The Leadership Development Report also comprises an intake session, some questionnaire handling as well as an analysis. However since everything is more automated, the budget to be taken into account is as following: 450 for the survey and 400 for the intake and coaching, bringing the total at 800 euro, exclusive of VAT.

In both cases, it is advisable to foresee additional coaching follow up after this. The sessions are short, from 15 minutes onward and are charged by the minute. My rate being: 4 euro per minute.

To ensure a we leverage the insights and learning from the assessment, we work with blocks of 6 coaching sessions over a period of 3 months. A single coaching session typically lasting between 30 and 45 minutes.

Discounts are available when signing up for a full cycle comprising of an assessment with 240 minutes of coaching spread over 3-4 months.