Trust Guide

WHY LEADERS NEED A TRUSTED GUIDE?

A number of years ago I heard the leader of a large organisation articulate a vision to grow the organisation exponentially in the following five years. It had taken 50 years to get to where they were and he wanted it to grow two and a half times in one tenth of the time it took to get to where they were when he had the new vision. When I asked him what he planned to do differently and how he intended to make that happen he just looked at me with a blank look on his face and nothing came out of his mouth. In those next five years, nothing was done differently, no new strategies were implemented, nothing changed operationally and the vision did not come to pass. In actual fact, no real progress was made at all. Even though he had a picture of what the future looked like, he never turned his intent into the outcomes he wanted.

There is a myth that if you are good at something you don’t need help; you don’t need someone to guide you to where you are going – regardless of your vision or desired outcomes. All organisations go through seasons of growth, stagnation or decline. However, if there are prolonged periods of stagnation or decline and nothing is done to address the causes, nearly always a different approach is needed. 

WHAT IS THE NEED WE ADDRESS?

There are times when leaders of organisations do not have a clear vision of the future. There are also times when organisations don’t seem to be able to implement the right strategies to reach their desired outcomes. It has often been observed that many leaders are often so busy addressing the immediate and urgent needs of the organisation that they are merely treading water and not moving forward by doing the important things to build towards their future. They are maintaining but not building: and hence, not growing.

When this happens, one or both of 2 gulfs emerge that require bridges to be built to cross over them: 

  • The gulf between the present state and the desired future of the organisation, and 

  • The gulf between what leaders intend to do and what they actually do to produce the outcomes they want. 

And when leaders are busy working in the business they often can’t see clearly enough to be able to work on the business in order to bridge one or both of those gulfs.

HOW DO WE HELP?

So, when leaders of organisations are too busy to stop and take stock of how effectively they operate, we help them to pause, take a step back and, as a trusted guide, help them look at what they are doing with fresh eyes. First, we help provide a looking glass into their world. Together, we look at how clear their vision is and we analyse their operational effectiveness – how they are progressing strategically towards their vision. If the vision itself is not clear we help clarify it, paint a picture of what it looks like and determine what strategies need to be implemented to reach it. 

Second, we take an honest look at what the leader actually does (or does not do) on a day to day basis. How effective are they? Are they doing the right things to reach the organisation’s vision? Then we determine what changes need to be made in what the leader actually does to get traction and move from intended outcomes to actual outcomes.

In a professional but highly relational manner, we get alongside leaders to help them analyse their present and prepare them for their future.  It would be our pleasure to sit down with you to discuss your leadership and organisational needs as you move into your preferred future.