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K.M. Lowe is a writer, editor, and corporate communicator in Victoria, British Columbia. Her work includes more than 100 articles, profiles, and columns published in magazines, newspapers, and websites as a staff writer, contributing writer, and associate editor.

K Lowe

Summer 2013 - The Public Manager

Managing Training and Development at the National Gallery of Art

December 2015 - The Public Manager

This summer Yelp forged a new agreement with the General Services Administration to rate government agencies.

Something to Yelp About

This is the second post in a three-part series examining leadership.  (See post 1 and post 3.) In the present business climate, the leaders need to become champions of the “learning organization” as designers, teachers, and stewards (Senge 1990), rather than position themselves as the traditional charismatic hero (Steyrer 1998).  With that in mind, leading others requires constant learning and development (L&D) and designing of knowledge-creative workplaces that foster growth. Agile Skills Required Enter “design thinking.” Research reveals that design-driven companies, such as Apple, Coca-Cola, Ford, IBM, Intuit, Nike, P&G, Starbucks, Starwood, Target, Walt Disney, or Whirlpool, have outperformed America’s S&P 500 large companies by an extraordinary 228 percent over 10 years (DMI 2014). Likewise, being smart about agile working, agile workforce, and agile environments and cultures should be on every leader’s list of priorities. In fact, a 2014 CIPD survey of HR leaders and employees found that improving “leadership and management capability” (64 percent of respondents) and “learning and development” (54 percent of respondents) are top tactics to deliver organizational agility. Meanwhile, respondents in the CIPD research ranked “reward management” (15 percent of respondents) and “increasing workforce diversity” (17 percent of respondents) much lower. In the 2014 report, Change Agents: The Role of Organizational Learning in Change Management, ATD Research concurred that organizations and their leaders should be more adaptive to change. Indeed, the research study found that 61 percent of organizations experience three or more changes per year, but they are not prepared to manage that change. Only 17 percent of respondents rate their enterprises as highly effective at managing change, and a mere 30 percent of organizations have change management teams. The good news is that there is clear evidence that an adaptive, generative, and knowledge-productive learning and development (L&D) approach to leadership development can provide the infrastructure for numerous progressive methods designed to produce adaptive leaders. Coaching and self-managed learning are clear examples of this approach. Why Coaching Works Through my own research into leadership development, I have found that coaching is about building and sustaining high-quality links with others. Extremely good coaches energize, ask, listen, invite, and equip others to develop themselves and achieve their personal and professional best. How does this work? The coach energizes the relationship, while the coachee empowers it. As a result, the link re-energizes the coachee, so that he or she is better able to discern, ideate, transform, and deliver (Tkaczyk 2014). More importantly, numerous coaching skills can be applied routinely with clients, peers, or direct reports. They include setting the stage, bringing forth positive leadership presence, tracking information, identifying issues and key factors, playing back exchanges and checking-in, giving and receiving constructive feedback. In addition, one of the most important tools when working with others is the skill of positive inquiry (Tkaczyk 2014). Meanwhile, Stanford’s 2013 Executive Coaching Survey revealed that nearly 100 percent of CEOs enjoy the process of coaching and receiving leadership advice from professional coaches and outside advisors. Although CEOs are receptive to making changes based on these interventions, the Stanford study found that a majority (66 percent) do not receive leadership advice or coaching. To be sure, the benefits of coaching for developing leadership skills are tangible. ATD Research’s report, The Coaching Approach: A Key Tool for Successful Managers, concluded that, in reality, coaching improves communication (69 percent), raises engagement (65 percent), improves skills-to-performance transfer (63 percent), and stimulates productivity (61 percent). Becoming Self-Managed Learning Leaders As leaders grow, they need to become “L&D crafters” (Tkaczyk 2014). To maximize their leadership presence and learning agility, rooted in design thinking (Austin and Devin 2003, Martin 2009) and positive organizational scholarship (Cameron at el_._ 2003, Cameron and Spreitzer 2012), such L&D crafters may routinely use a “continuing developmental portfolio” comprised of two components: Continuing Executive Development Check-In: A disciplined L&D system, self-managed by an individual who constantly “checks in” with themselves by asking reflective questions regarding any critical and opportunistic incidents that happened in the workplace or outside, daily or in the past week.Design: A natural and drilled L&D mechanism that is self-guided by the leader, in which they constantly “design” their own L&D by asking developmental inquiries regarding what it is that they still want to learn and develop, and how exactly they will execute their development plan. International research conducted by the Learning Entrepreneurs project from September 2011 through September 2013 found that such self-managed learning produces personal gains: upgrades your skills and helps monitor your learning in an evidence-based way (91 percent) and boosts your credibility as a reflective and creative leader (90 percent). It also offers organizational benefits: unlocks HR potential (80 percent) and builds “knowledge-creative” workplaces (73 percent). Interestingly, participants in this global research project represented diverse geographies, including Africa, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and North America. Still, more scientific research is needed, especially as Asia/Pacific leaders were not represented in the study (Tkaczyk 2014). For more on “self-coaching” as a self-managed leadership development method, see my August 2014 TD article, “Daily Check-Ins Stimulate Self-Improvement.” Finally, other approaches for developing leaders for future success can include:cognitive or relational job re-designjob enlargementsposition transfersjob rotationssabbaticalsexternships—professional development through a full-time temporary position at another organizationself-assessment inventories360-degree feedbackpsychological profiling and strengths-findingleaderless group discussions in which a team of multiple leaders is assigned a complex challenge and must work together to work it out within a certain time periodacting and storytellingconcept mappingrepertory gridscritical incident technique, as utilized in job analysis,mentoring·one-on-one Personal Management Interview (PMI) programs, namely purpose-finding and role-negotiation sessions—approximately 60-120 minute each, and preferably twice per month, depending on life cycle rhythm of work. The final installment in this leadership series will address future vistas in leadership.References ATD Research, 2014. Change Agents: The Role of Organizational Learning in Change Management, Association for Talent Development (ATD), Alexandria, VA.  ATD Research, 2014. The Coaching Approach: The Key Tool for Successful Managers, Association for Talent Development (ATD), Alexandria, VA.  Austin, R. and Devin, L., 2003. Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.  Cameron, K., Dutton, J., and Quinn, R. (eds.), 2003. Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA.  Cameron, K. and Spreitzer, G. (eds.), 2012. Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.  CIPD, 2014. HR: Getting Smart About Agile Working, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London.  DMI, 2014. “Design-Driven Companies Outperform S&P by 228% Over Ten Years—The DMI Design Value Index,” Dialog, Design Management Institute (DMI), Boston, MA.  Martin, R., 2009. The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.  Senge, P., 1990. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Century Business, Random House, London.  Stanford, 2013. 2013 Executive Coaching Survey, Stanford University/The Miles Group.  Steyrer, J., 1998. “Charisma and the Archetypes of Leadership,” Organization Studies, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 807-828.  Tkaczyk, B., 2014. “Critical Clarification on Coaching,” International Coach Federation (ICF).   Tkaczyk, B., 2014. “Positive Inquiry Skills: Crafting Vital Coaching Questions," Association for Talent Development (ATD).  Tkaczyk, B., 2014. “Crafting Continuing Learning and Development: A Positive Design Tool for Leadership Development,” Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 5-8.  Tkaczyk, B., 2014. “Daily Check-Ins Stimulate Self-Improvement,” TD, Vol. 68 No. 8, pp. 72-73.

Leadership Development in Post-Heroic Times—An L&D Orientation

Why Do You Lose Job Candidates to Other Companies?

Why Learning Loves a Good Story

Jeanette Winters is a results-driven people professional passionate about combining culture, innovation, leadership, and inclusiveness to create learning and work experiences people love. Her initiatives are built on data and scientifically validated methods and practices. She strives to enable organizations to align business and talent strategies to achieve desired results. “Dr. J” has a well-established track record of designing and implementing world-class solutions in challenging global environments resulting in performance and productivity improvements. As chief talent officer at Parrish Partners, she provides organizations with customized learning, strategic consulting, and executive coaching.

Jeanette K. Winters

Amit Nagpal offers a recap of the 2016 ATD India Summit, hosted by Infosys on its Bangalore campus.

L&D Makes Learning an Experience at ATD India Summit

Typically, one novelty can pave the way for others in a process called “expanding the adjacent possible.” While all this seems random, new research examines the mathematical regularities behind how people encounter such novelties.

Mathematics of Novelty and Innovation

June 2017 - The Public Manager

Millennial leaders sound off about what they love and what they would change about working in government.

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