Dear Reader,

I have had 4 senior leaders that I coach and advise be promoted in the past 6 months. Dedicated individuals whose major strength in our journey together, was the commitment to learn and grow into the persons ready for bigger roles.

One of them now sits in a strategic position next to the CEO's office; the second was promoted from leading a team of 50 people to now a team of 300 across multiple departments; and with that a larger customer base, whilst the third has since hosted a whole masterclass for upcoming leaders in her organization.

These three are from 2 major financial institutions. The fourth was promoted into a higher level Executive role, managing a larger portfolio within a multinational food and drinks company. Amazing! These were people who were already in C-Suite positions but now elevated to larger portfolios.

It fills me up to see people step up and win at what they are great at. This is why I do what I do. Clarifying and focusing strategies for organizations, supporting the effectiveness of their leaders, and elevating the efficiency of their teams.

Surrounding yourself with aligned leaders

If you are a business owner, or an organizational decision maker, looking to cultivate and surround yourself with genuine, authentic leaders who are deeply self-aware and conscious, people who can create psychologically safe and conducive environments for their teams to step in and flourish, this is the work I thrive in.

Your strategy is the benchmark and foundation we use, followed by the individual leaders' purpose, vision and values.

1. We make sure that your strategy is clear and focused in a way that makes it easily transferable and translatable to all areas of the business.
2. We elevate your leaders' capacity to clearly communicate the strategic elements to their departments and teams; and with that, work on increasing their awareness.

Clear and focused strategies that are easily transferable to all departments and teams

What I know for sure is that strategy creates lasting value only when organisations have the leadership, people, systems and capacity to bring it to life. In the first instance, clarify the strategy. One way of doing that is by making it Actionable.

Most strategies I have evaluated look good on paper but are not actionable in that they are easily translatable to the rest of the organization. If the leaders cannot clearly communicate the strategy to their teams, in a way that they can operationalize it, team performance and productivity misalign.

​An Actionable Strategy becomes the reference template for leadership development. It becomes a performance evaluation tool for the team and each person. It becomes a reference guide, an audit tool, a pivot tool, and so much more.

Clarity of strategy creates an agile foundation that allows for forward moving progress. The more complicated a strategy, a process or an operation, the longer it will take to implement and or shift when needed. In this rapidly accelerating environment we are in, Agility is paramount.

Sustainable leadership development

Where the strategy is clear and focused, yet the leaders are not able to communicate it in a way that their teams can execute on its elements, then trust in leadership and ultimately the organization is slowly eroded until this is corrected. In the meantime, the organization experiences low performance, impact and ROI.

What differs in the way I coach, is that, yes, we will work on the communication skills, confidence, self-esteem and all other surface based elements needed for effective leadership, but we also bring attention to the underlying values and beliefs that have quietly but tragically hindered them from being effective in their leadership roles.

Dedicated leaders who want to and are committed to out in the work of assessing where they are at, clarifying where they want to be, learn and grow from the inside out always excel. And these types of leaders, already know that they are capable, but may not know what is stopping them from actually achieving the results and positions they would like.

This is where I come in: helping them become aware of:

• Their already existing capacities, so they can reclaim them, and
• Other people's misaligned beliefs and values that they may have - consciously or subconsciously adopted - causing them to forget their own capabilities.

What's on the surface is just a fragment of what is happening within us. It really does boil down to self-awareness.

The better able you are at seeing as much as you can beneath the surface, the more informed you are on what you can sift out that doesn't serve your life, leadership career and business goals.

Summary: Leading yourself efficiently and effectively

We started the conversation speaking about the need for an Actionable Strategy. Then moved to how that becomes the foundation for Sustainable Leadership that contributes to the growth of the organization. Now we move on to the teams that you lead.

To start off with, have an Actionable Strategy; one that does not only remain on paper, but one that can be turned into actual operational reality. Assess it with your team so that there is buy-in and contribution before implementation. This way we are on the same page. You create an actionable strategy by answering the following questions:

1. What is the purpose of your organization? And within this, what is the role that your team and department plays, i.e. what is the purpose of your team and department within the organization's purpose.
2. What are the long term goals (vision) for your team or department?
3. What are the actual activities (mission) your team needs to engage in, to achieve the long term goals within the specified time?
4. Are your values embedded in the actual activities?
5. What are the resources available for each activity?

There is no greater progress that comes from lack of clarity around the purpose, vision, activities, values and resources you have. The clearer the strategy, the easier it is to communicate to your teams; and the more skillsets are improved within this focused environment.

• Performance increases because there is direction;
• Impact for your internal and external stakeholders increases because your efforts are clear and targeted;
• ROI is maintained because it is easy to evaluate progress on the go, when the goals are clear.

Working together

Research shows that Lack of Clear Strategies, Poor Leadership & People Management Skills, result in:

• Poor wellbeing of the people you lead, leading to high employee attrition, especially from high performers, poor performance from those remaining = lower productivity from your staff; lower impact of your goals and lower loyalty from your customers; leading to lower overall ROI.
• Lack of trust of staff, of their leaders, little engagement, and performance for fear of being reprimanded and or being fired for potentially ‘overstepping’ a leader’s ego.
• Reactivity, uncertainty, high levels of stress, burnout and poor wellbeing in employees. Resulting in short sightedness, whether intentional or not, made it difficult to pivot in ‘hard or changing times’.

I help organizations create Actionable Strategies that turn their bold visions into sustainable, operational reality; whilst supporting their Leadership teams to effectively communicate these Strategies to their teams; so that they can create and sustain the Psychological Safety required for increased team performance, organizational impact and ROI.

Looking to increase performance, have targeted impact and sustained ROI in your organization, team or department? Fill out this form so we can explore what that could look like for you: Discovery Conversation.

If you are an individual leader, and looking at improving on your own skills, there are multiple ways we can work together. Here is a link to all related services: Services for Individual Leaders →​

If you received this article via email, and have some questions, just hit reply to this email with your question. I personally response to all emails. Speak soon! With loving kindness, grace and gratitude,