Working with Issues that Matter
Leadership Practice Reflection focuses on one or more issues that matter to you. They could involve things like a change initiative with several stakeholders that is not progressing well; a difficult conversation with a colleague; uncertainty about how to intervene in a troubling group dynamic; or a complex situation that you wish to better understand.
We work with the situations you face as they are, helping you gain greater clarity about what is going on now; where you want things to get to; and what might help bring about progress.
Creating Space Around the Issue
When we’re caught up in difficult situations, it’s easy to react quickly, become wedded to an explanation of what’s occurring, or be preoccupied with how we think others might be causing the problem.
Leadership Practice Reflection aims to loosen our immediate responses and create some space for exploring alternatives.
In working through an issue, we will generally look at:
• What you can actually observe, as distinct from assuming or interpreting
• How the situation might make sense from other perspectives
• How you might be contributing to what is happening
• The outcome you would like to achieve
• What you genuinely think, feel or want but perhaps have not yet voiced
• Possibilities for experimenting or otherwise acting differently.
While the methods I use are consistent, we draw on them as seems sensible at moments in our conversation. But together, they provide a way of slowing down and making better sense of what is happening – to clarify the situation and reveal other possibilities for action.
Leadership as practice
Leadership practice, as I use the term, is not about exercising the job requirements associated with a senior role. Instead, it involves being intentional and conscious in how we think about and engage in specific situations where there is a need for change.
Leadership Practice Reflection also has a developmental purpose. As we work with different situations, you become more familiar with a set of practices for stepping back, observing more carefully, exploring other perspectives, testing your own assumptions and becoming clearer about how you want to engage.
As we work together, I will help make the reflective practices we are using visible, so that you can recognise and apply them for yourself in other situations. The intention is that you increasingly become able to use these practices independently – becoming more able to be your own reflective partner when issues arise.
When Leadership Practice Reflection Can be Especially Useful
It can be particularly valuable when:
• An issue is complex, and there is no obvious single way forward
• Relationships, sensitivities or different perspectives are complicating progress
• You find yourself repeatedly going over the same situation without making much progress
• An important conversation is approaching and you want to prepare carefully
• Something has not gone as you hoped and you want to learn from it
• You could benefit from having a thoughtful, independent person with whom to work something through.
The aim is both practical and developmental: to help you make useful progress on the issue you’re dealing with while building a set of reflective practices that you can increasingly draw on for yourself.
Why Not Call this Work Coaching?
While there are similarities, Leadership Practice Reflection is different with its emphasis on exploring an issue as it currently is – helping you gain clarity about what’s actually going on now, looking into other perspectives, and exploring what comes up for you. The purpose is still to make headway, but without moving too quickly from identifying a problem to goals, strategies and solutions. Importantly, I’ll help you practice key capabilities you can apply to future issues.
Practicalities
Ordinarily, I work with people over four 1-hour sessions, including a review of progress and learning. The sessions are usually conducted virtually, at mutually convenient times, often 2 or 3 weeks apart, to enable experimentation and practice between sessions.
You can also begin with a session before deciding whether to continue with the four-session process.
To learn more about Leadership Practice Reflection, get in touch with me via the Contact button below. I’d be happy to meet for an obligation-free 20-minute chat.
