The Leadership Incubator©

The Leadership Incubator© is a challenging, action-learning program for high-potential leaders

to cultivate leadership and organizational capacity, and
to make improvements for customers and the bottom line

while implementing a real, cross-departmental strategy.

What is involved?

A client executive selects a business strategy that is to be implemented in the next year, and a group of people to be further developed as leaders. Outcomes for the strategy and the individual leaders become the focus of The Leadership Incubator through:

Individual learning plans focused on building leadership competencies.
Customized, experiential workshops focused on achieving individual and strategic outcomes.
Confidential 1:1 leadership coaching focused on learning goals.
Practice of leadership competencies with feedback.
Group coaching focused on group effectiveness and strategic outcomes.
Action in the organization to implement the strategy.

Client feedback

“The content is current and applicable. I am culling a plethora of new and insightful methodologies that are assisting me in dealing with my team-mates, business associates and customers.”
VP Sales Chemline Plastics

“I learned a lot about people, not excluding the chap who is sitting in front of this laptop right now. I found that this course got me thinking on so many levels that it is going to have staying power. The learning will stay with me a long time, and that is a good thing.”
Controller, Slocan Forest Products

“The program has simply been enlightening; when I interact with individuals I find I’m listening in a different way and delving more deeply in the conversation that I have ever previously done.”

“Very grounded and experienced in the practical application of the tools and transmitted that experience to help participants. Very patient and straight forward in addressing issues and changing dynamics.”

“Fantastic experience. So glad I decided to participate in the program, these are precisely the tools that my organization and I can benefit from.”

“I don’t think I ever learned so much in three weeks. This has been the greatest learning experience in my life.”
Program Manager, Standard Aero Ltd.

Competent, Professional Guides

Guides are experienced leaders and coaches, as well as developers and managers of people, organizations, businesses and change.

The competencies we select for and develop in Guides are:

PROCESS ~ Understands and leads other through change/transition emotionally, attitudinally and rationally; is calm and resilient when things are uncertain; can comfortably handle risk and ambiguity.
WORKS EFFECTIVELY WITH EXECUTIVES ~ Understands how senior managers think and work; talks their language and responds to their needs; designs and executes approaches that are thoughtful and appropriate.
BUSINESS ~ Knows how business and organizations work; knowledgeable in theory and practices to effect successful leadership, business and organization. Systems thinker. Anticipates implications.
COACH ~ Is easy to approach and talk to; puts others at ease; is sensitive, patient and a good listener; is calm under pressure and when other’s are emotional; can be provocative and direct, gives and solicits honest, appreciative and developmental feedback. Understands and assesses accurately emotional and psychological motivators, behaviours and barriers in relation to thinking and acting.
LEADERSHIP ~ Articulates and consistently lives values; recognizes agreed on values and discourages/deals with incongruence. Is credible; demonstrates a variety of leadership styles appropriate to the situation; makes unpopular decisions if necessary; acknowledges reality and takes on tough situations.
COMPASSION ~ Genuinely cares about people and what is important to them; is available and ready to work alongside people; accepts and develops the potential of each individual and works to minimize the impact of limitations.
CONFLICT ~ Engages in conflict and sees differences as opportunities to learn and expand; finds common ground and gets commitment to fair agreements. Deals with perceived problems openly, honestly and as soon as possible.
CLIENT FOCUS ~ Is dedicated to continuously understanding and meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external clients; consistently acts with clients in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with clients and gains their trust and respect.
COLLABORATION ~ Clearly and comfortably expresses own expectations about the work, the approach and communication preferences. Solicits and listens to others expectations about the work, the approach and communication preferences. Demonstrates mutual accountability, trusts others to perform and provides checkpoints to ensure success. Provides the information people need to be effective and feel included. Creates a climate in which people want to be/do their best.
LEARNING ~ Role models life-long learning. Understands and applies adult learning including learning plans, knowledge acquisition, experimenting, application in real life context, reflection. Takes coaching opportunities to develop others; is a people builder.
DIVERSITY ~ Relates and works effectively with all people; demonstrates fair process and opportunity for all, has a global perspective.
FUNCTIONAL SKILLS
* Engagement leadership
* Leadership coaching
* Adult learning and development
* Leading change
* Line management: sales, marketing, operations, IT, finance, people practices or organizational development
ORGANIZATION ~ Plans and engages others in plans to ensure people, funding, material, support etc to get things done; uses resources effectively and efficiently.
AWARENESS ~ Is self-aware. Knows personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and limits; seeks feedback and acts on it; gains insights from mistakes.
COMMUNICATION ~ Is an effective communicator (engages people) in a variety of settings: one-on-one, small and large groups, with peers, direct reports, and senior executives; with data, ideas and controversial topics.
QUALITY ~ Pursues highest quality products and services which meet the needs and requirements of internal and external customers; is committed to continuous improvement through learning conversations and management by data; is willing to re-engineer; open to suggestions and experimentation; creates a learning environment in pursuit of excellence.
GROUP ~ Understands why groups do what they do; reads and acts on group dynamic; adapts process to develop high-performing groups.

Client outcomes

Leadership styles adopted for the context.
Leaders talk, behave, decide and act based on stated values.
Collaborative plus tough issues are addressed.
Mutually understood expectations.
Improved morale and a shift in culture.
Confident, credible leadership.
Rapid, on-going learning.
Motivated, accountable, aligned people – 50% reduction in turnover.
Reduced stress from unresolved conflict.
Measurable outcomes in a few weeks.
Balance is a choice – realignment of roles and approach for maximum positive and strategic impact.
Expansive, strategic thinking resulting in reinvention of business.
Creative solutions for root causes.
55% revenue increase & 10% cost reduction.
40% cost reduction.
95% cycle time decrease.
3 times productivity increase; 30% gain in productivity in 8 weeks.
50% turnover reduction.
Days inventory reduced by 75%.
Field site reduction by 75%.
Space requirements reduced dramatically.

Untapped potential in organizations

Untapped leadership potential: Only 10% of leaders are highly focused, energetic and get the job done in a reflective and calm manner amid the chaos.
Source: 10 year study by Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghopal
Less than 1% of companies have the leadership, discipline, people practices, technology strategies and processes to move a company from good to great.
Source: Jim Collins Level 5 Leadership

Potential in people and practices

Highly talented managers are 50 -130% more effective than average or low performing managers. Companies with better talent at the top and talent management practices have a higher total market return by 70%. Source: McKinsey & Company Studies

Companies with better people and people practices have greater:

market returns by $18,000 per employee.
sales by $27,000 per employee/year.
profits by $4,000+ per employee.

Source: Mark Huselid, The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 1995.

Untapped employee potential

Less than 33% of employees are satisfied with their work!
Less than 25% of workers are working at their potential.
50% of workers put in no more than minimum effort; 75% of these say they could be more efficient.
Source: McKinsey & Company Studies

Retention:

People say they stay because of:
–    Exciting & challenging work – 50%.
–    Growth, learning & development – 43%.
–    Great people & relationships – 42%.
–    Fair pay – 33%.
–    Supportive management, a great boss – 25%.
80% of turnover is due to jerk managers.
Source: Retention Drivers Career Systems International 2002

What makes The Leadership Incubator unique?

The Leadership Incubator combines the best of leadership coaching; training and education; and consulting PLUS minimizes the weaknesses of each.
Observation and feedback in the workplace context enhances leadership coaching.
Real-time application of learning by a critical mass of employees adds enormous value to traditional training and education.
Implementation of a real strategy and accelerated realization of results ensures the value-added typically missing from consulting reports and recommendations.
Our program designs are customized to address client environment and outcomes, and they are:
Grounded in both current theory and practice.
Based on the integration of knowledge and experience across several fields: adult development, education and learning, business management, leadership, organization development, psychology, technology and group dynamics.