ISSUE 7 | 2010

Winning work with the National Trust Virtual learning for strategic advantage Developing leadership in health Learning and Development: measuring the payback Focus on sustainability

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Ashridge Consulting
An innovative consultancy with a proven track record of successful client partnerships: changing organisation culture and structure developing leaders and leadership teams developing strategy by engaging the organisation developing and assessing people and performance leading and working virtually engaging organisations with sustainability.
A centre for the development of consulting and coaching practitioners. All from a world class business school.

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www.ashridgeconsulting.com
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a word from the editor

As this edition goes to press, there is wide speculation about what the new coalition Government and the implementation of its planned legislation will mean, for business, the City and the public sector. The uncertainty that hung over the pre-election period and still prevails is a constant subject for discussion amongst Ashridges public sector clients. Typical of these are NHS Londons participants on the Next Generation Directors programme, which earlier this year included scenario building about government policy towards the NHS under different political party leadership. Whatever scenario comes to pass, the daily challenges of healthcare continue, requiring full attention and energy. All leaders are familiar with the challenge of doing the day job to the best of their ability whilst planning for the future. The need to juggle the demands of present and future is a theme of several articles in this edition of Converse. It is seen very clearly in the work of the National Trust, which needs to create the best possible experience for the public today whilst preserving the nations heritage and landscape for the future. Everyone engaged in sustainable business, to which our central supplement is devoted, is facing the very same challenge: to engage in best practice business today without jeopardising the resources and environment of future generations. Gill, Jennings and Every faced the challenge of how to manage their organisation now in a way that would ensure the firm was fit to meet the future. Managing for the future in a dynamic environment calls for skills that were not always necessary to managers of the last century. There is a need to form wide networks that include novelty and diversity, the need to spot trends and opportunities and distil unprecedented amounts of data from an ever growing list of media sources. These are skills of top talent who we discover, in Talent Management in Recession and Resurgence do not batten down the hatches and sit tight when the going gets tough in a recession. Its thanks to such talented people that business does indeed go on in the here and now and we are able to emerge from the doldrums of economic downturn. All professionals involved in learning and development share a responsibility to ensure that our top talent, our leaders and those at the sharp end of todays business, are able to work at their best today in a way that will best prepare organisations and individuals for tomorrow.

contents
ABOUT US Consulting in challenging times page 4 A day in the life page 12 Programme news pages 43 LATEST THINKING Rising from the ashes a new way of learning and working page 9 Real Time Coaching page 15 Learning and development: measuring the payback page 21 Talent Management in recession and resurgence page 24 Coaching Supervision: Quality Assurance for executive coaches? page 40 CLIENT STORIES
Royal Free Hampstead Moorfields Eye Hospital

Restore, enjoy and preserve: AC works with the National Trust page 5 NHS London Next Generation Directors programme page 18
Ambulance Service

Service Redesign

Strategy

Operations

Great Ormond St

Oncology

Nursing Imperial College St George's Primary Care Finance Westminster PCT

Mental Health

Paediatrics Commissioning

Project Management

Delma OBrien
Editor
Editorial team: Kate Campbell, Delma OBrien, Emma Wishart, Mike McCabe Design: www.redsky.biz
Copyright 2010, The Ashridge Trust. You may copy and circulate this publication to as many people as you wish. All rights reserved. Registered as Ashridge (Bonar Law Memorial) Trust. Charity number 311096.

Governance choices for growth at GJE page 27 Change in the Valleys page 28 SUSTAINABILITY SUPPLEMENT From light-bulbs to light-bulb moments Creating sustainable value page 30 Changing conversations in a changing climate page 34 How to look deeper page 37
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Ashridge Consulting Ashridge, Berkhamsted, Herts HP4 1NS Tel: + 44 (0)1442 841380 Fax: +44 (0)1442 841260 email: ACenquiries@ashridge.org.uk www.ashridgeconsulting.com

Like most of our clients, half way through 2009 Ashridge Consulting was facing huge uncertainty in terms of how the recession would impact the business. We trusted the recommendations coming out of In the Thick of It, the leadership research study undertaken by Andrew Day and Kevin Power and held fortnightly discussions (as well as the myriad of informal meetings and conversations) to engage the whole organisation in the challenges we were facing and the strategies needed to ensure our future health as a business. We were committed to balancing business development with the client work, research, and individual and organisational development necessary for building our capacity for the future. Many clients welcomed our light-touch facilitative approach, finding it particularly helpful in difficult circumstances, as it builds their own internal capability to address their challenges. We were pleased to win a significant number of important and challenging projects within the UK National Health Service, engaging with leaders of Trusts and Boards, and with senior health professionals to develop their skills to work effectively in this complex sector. One of these has been developing and delivering a truly innovative Masters in Leadership (Quality Improvement) for The Health Foundation, in partnership with Unipart Expert Practices (a leading independent logistics provider and pioneer of Lean Thinking). The year also saw some significant other achievements, notably: Winning the EFMD Excellence in Practice Award 2010 for Organisational Development for our work with The National Trust The growth of our virtual working practice Working with prospective MPs on sustainability Conducting successful experiments in evaluating our work with some key clients The successful accreditation of our first cohort of participants of Coaching for Organisation Consultants (CFC) at the Centre for Leadership in Denmark (and running the first CFC in Abu Dhabi) Leaving our home in the Orangery and establishing ourselves at the other end of Ashridge in The Coach House. We are always delighted when consultants who have been part of Ashridge Consulting in the past, are able to return to the organisation. We are pleased to welcome back Hartmut Stuelten and Karen Ward.

Karen Ward
She is pleased to be rejoining Ashridge to take the lead in developing two areas of interest: Strategic HR and Talent Management and Complex Programme Management. For the last five years Karen has worked in partnership with Dr. Mary Elaine Jacobsen to develop the field of Talent Psychology and is looking forward to bringing the insights from this action research to a wider audience. When last at Ashridge Karen co-developed and led an open programme Leading Complex Teams, which built on the lessons learned from her successful book Leading International Teams. She is currently part of an action research consortium with the consulting network SULEiS; the defence think tank RUSI and the professional body International Centre for Complex Programme Management (ICCPM), which together are enquiring into practices that would enable complex programmes in all sectors to deliver their outcomes more effectively. Outside of work, Karen enjoys beach walks and sailing, together with her two young sons, near her seaside home in Norfolk.

Hartmut Stuelten
Hartmut has been working worldwide in leadership and organisation development for the last 25 years, supporting managers in understanding themselves, others, their organisation and the changing world . For the first 13 years of his practice he worked as an internal OD consultant and OD manager for large, global companies, then practised as an independent OD consultant for eight years, followed by the last four years in consulting companies. He says: I am very excited to return to AC because I have a very deep connection to and affinity for it having achieved the Ashridge Masters in Organisation Consulting, worked on the faculty, and being currently engaged in research for my Ashridge Doctorate in Organisation Consulting. I look forward to contributing to us doing great work, developing new thinking, growing and being fulfilled as practitioners and people, and having a positive impact in the world. Hartmut has lived in Germany, the US, Switzerland, Spain and the UK and he works in English and German.

Our practice groups continue to develop our intellectual capital and business focus here are the people to get in touch with: Organisation transformation and renewal Caryn Vanstone caryn.vanstone@ashridge.org.uk 07880 788279
Leadership Lindsey Masson lindsey.masson@ashridge.org.uk 07775 946750

Strategy engagement Chris Nichols chris.nichols@ashridge.org.uk 07738 803410

Philippa Hardman philippa.hardman@ashridge.org.uk 07714 697159

Virtual working Ghislaine Caulat ghislaine.caulat@ashridge.org.uk +49 1705 465897 Strategic HR and talent management Karen Ward karen.ward@ashridge.org.uk 07946 533983 Creating sustainable value Alexandra Stubbings alexandra.stubbings@ashridge.org.uk 07879 668501
Nick Ceasar nicolas.ceasar@ashridge.org.uk 07595 650307
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Restore, enjoy and preserve: Ashridge Consulting works with the National Trust
By Billy Desmond and Delma OBrien

WINNER OF: EFMD Excellence in Practice Award 2010 for Organisational Development

When the National Trust needed to develop its internal consulting capability, it selected Ashridge Consulting to be its partner, in a process of personal and organisational development that would develop the skills of its Functional Advisers, enabling them to play their part in fulfilling the strategic objective of supporting and strengthening the roles of individual Property, or General, Managers. The work that ensued resulted in the EFMDs 2010 Best Practice Award for Organisational Development.
Preserving a green and pleasant land, studded with its palaces, castles and stately homes that house some of our nations greatest artistic treasures, is no mean challenge for the National Trust. Its an even greater challenge when that restoration and conservation for the benefit of future generations is dependent on income generated not just by legacies but by 3.7m members and 65m visitors: people who want to support and preserve, but many who simply want to have a great experience, today! Fulfilment of everyones aspirations depends on the myriad skills and capabilities of a workforce of employees and volunteers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as diverse as the landscapes and properties under the Trusts protection. Archaeologists, financial managers, conservators, marketeers, curators, retailers and more (collectively known as Functional Advisors), collaborate to ensure a memorable experience at any of the 350 managed properties and sites as well as in the open access fens, moorland, beaches, nature reserves and archaeological sites. In 2007 the Trust determined that one of its major strategic objectives was to strengthen and support the operational managers. In particular, the role of Property Manager at 40 of the Trusts most complex properties was to be enhanced, consistent with the strategy of putting its properties at the heart of the Trusts activities. They were re-named General Managers and given more responsibility and accountability. Key members of the Trusts Senior Management Team recognised that as power shifted to being held locally at properties, Functional Advisers would have to develop skills of consulting and influence in order to support and challenge the General Managers in their policy and decision making. They needed to deliver a collaborative, client-centred service, recognising the General/Property Manager as the decision maker. There needed to be a change in the organisation away from silo working and towards accessing integrated advisory services, with relationships of real trust being developed between the Managers and the Advisors. The National Trust recognised that a development programme was needed for its Functional Advisors. The desired impact of the programme can be summed up in its title: Developing Internal Consulting Capability. This meant first and foremost developing the consultants: in this case, the Functional Advisors.
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We were able to road test what it would be like to invite Ashridge into our organisation. It was a compelling way to approach the assignment and we havent been disappointed.
Jonathan Noall, Senior Training and Development Manager

It was going to be a question of personal and organisational development. The programme would have to support and challenge behaviours and attitudes in order to deliver the commercial and business objectives vital to the Trusts performance. It would also have to address the difficult issues that often accompany change and restructuring such as loss of power, trust and role identity where a mixture of anxiety, fear and hope is personally felt and experienced.

The enquiry begins

The National Trust invited potential providers to submit ideas for the design and delivery of the programme. The Ashridge Consulting approach was congruent with our relational consulting philosophy from the outset instead of prescribing and presenting a suggested programme of development, we (consultants Billy Desmond and Martyn Brown) entered into dialogue in a spirit of exploration and enquiry, to co-create and co-design a programme that would deliver the required impact.

So even at the stage of tender, the approach adopted was entirely congruent not only with the way in which the programme would be designed and delivered, but with Ashridges ethos of what constitutes best practice consulting skills. Ashridge consultants Billy Desmond and Martyn Brown visited some key properties and met managers and advisors, to gain an appreciation of the business, its people and their challenges. This very process on inquiry helped unleash the knowledge and creative thinking of people who knew the organisation best, informing the content and structure of the co-designed programme. The process also built confidence that Ashridge and the National Trust could have a collaborative relationship.

An initial contract
The spirit of enquiry in which the programme was co-created did much to guarantee the support of the stakeholders, who became certain that this was no off-the-shelf learning package, but really designed to develop the Functional Advisors who are so crucial to enabling the National Trust to meet its strategic goals. In practical terms, this meant developing them to think and act differently to deliver added value and to learn and hone consulting skills to become even more effective in helping the Trust secure its strategic and commercial objectives. Behaviours needed to change, particularly to include those on the right hand-side:

Transacting Directing Expert Specialist solutions

Relating Enquiring Collaborator Integrated solutions

These individual role changes needed to take place in the context of the changed organisational structure, with Advisors being mindful that their activities should be a representative of the way the Trust as a whole is changing. For Functional Advisors, the implications are: A central push replaced by property pull for advice All activity being wholly supportive of the Strategy and focused on helping properties and the Trust achieve the KPIs Advice being delivered in an integrated way, with specialist advice in one area taking as much account as possible of its impact on other areas A more robust attitude to risk, allowing for creativity and experimentation with safe parameters A more realistic yet ambitious approach to what can be achieved: a focus on enabling the property to achieve the vision through collaborative partnership and problem solving Awareness of the Trusts long-term aim to fulfil the requirement of its 1908 Act to promote conservation of and access to special places for ever, for everyone. Decision-making powers and control of budgets and teams are commonly viewed as metrics of the importance of organisational roles. Its not surprising the news that many of the Functional Advisors powers were being transferred to the front end Property Managers provoked a mixed reaction. Some struggled with the concept of loss of power and the change of professional identity. However, the programme provided the space to both reflect upon such reactions while inquiring into their own and others experience, and work towards developing new expertise and capabilities that built on past strengths and experience at the same time.

THE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

The first residential module
In November 2008 the first cohort of 12 Functional Advisors came to Ashridge for a threeday programme. The learning environment at Ashridge is renowned. The tranquillity and beauty of the building and grounds, amidst acres of National Trust woodland, made the participants feel that this was home from home and assured them that Ashridge and its people experience first-hand and understand the often conflicting priorities of the demands of day-to-day operations and the longer term mission of preserving part of our heritage for future generations. Participants were also to discover how tradition meets innovation in teaching and ideas, with Ashridge Consultants practising at the leading edge of their profession. The design was informed by the Ashridge Consulting relational approach to consulting, emphasising the importance of awareness, relational contact, inquiry, conversation, experimentation and reflection. We approached our clients with a genuine curiosity to understand their reality, as a way of facilitating change from within, while fostering connections between individuals to support a different way of relating and working. From the outset, the development programme design placed particular attention on fostering relationships and agreeing confidentiality to create a safe, supportive, fun, yet stretching learning experience. It was grounded in Functional Advisors experience and the reality of their current context. Pre-work was required prior to arrival. This included reflecting on and recognising their responses to a paper from the Director of Conservation. They completed a consulting styles questionnaire, requiring them to seek anonymous feedback from clients on how they were perceived and experienced. The programme started with an experiential process to help individuals get to know each other, their experience and the consulting capability already there to build on. The process that ensued over the three days developed this consulting capability further and was consolidated around key areas of structure, styles and skills, underpinned by attending to the here and now co-created consulting client relationship. This L&D process offered pragmatic and relevant concepts or frameworks including: a relational consulting cycle, consulting roles, ways of building and engendering trust, consulting intervention styles, conflict styles, listening skills, inquiry skills, and an appreciative and development feedback structure. Functional Advisors were invited to participate in activities relevant to their context, to experience, reflect and make sense,

with the purpose of encouraging learning from the here and now being assimilated to the there and then of their current client relationships and organisational activities. A challenging and stretching part of this learning process occurred during the consulting skills practice on the second day. Functional Advisors worked as a consulting team with a General Manager (played by an experienced actor), observed other teams consulting and facilitated an appreciative and development feedback process to support each others learning. On the third day Functional Advisors were supported to integrate learning of self and self in relationship to their role, while considering what they could do differently to develop more effective client consulting relationships back in the National Trust.

Action Learning
Given the depth of change required and the cultural shift away from traditionally transactional services to new ways of working in collaborative partnerships, the design needed to include longer term support for participants to practise, reflect and embed the learning with appropriate support and space. Following each programme, Action Learning sets were formed to support them in their ongoing learning in the face of day-to-day issues. These groups of six Functional Advisors met with an Ashridge facilitator for half a day, four times over a ten-month period, to support and challenge each other. Here, they addressed their consulting issues and problems and shared the learning as they developed their capability as Consultants.

Blended learning
Throughout the initiative, participants had access to the rich resources of the Ashridge Virtual Learning Resource Centre (VLRC), with its vast range of learning materials on all aspects of management, leadership, strategy and change, by Ashridge and world-renowned authors. Ashridge customised the National Trusts VLRC portal, mapping materials to the organisations competency framework. Technology is also being deployed to enable some of the Action Learning sets to engage in Virtual Action Learning. Participants are discovering that contrary to popular assumption, Action Learning can be just as effective in a virtual environment and they are also experiencing and practising a different way of learning and working in the virtual space. Not only does this option mean that geography is no longer a barrier to the coming together of Action Learning sets, but it is also highly congruent with the National Trusts commitment and core values to preserve the environment.
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THE IMPACT
The evaluation process
We engaged in an Evaluation Inquiry process (see Figure 1) underpinned by a rigorous, inquirybased research approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Its purpose was to understand through evidence the impact of the Developing Internal Consulting Capability intervention on participant Advisors and their clients e.g. General Managers, and on the wider organisation. In particular, effort was made to determine the effectiveness of the component parts of the programme. Attention was also paid to the organisational contexts which support successful client-consultant relationships, highlighting in particular the importance of effective leadership. The evaluation served both to monitor the effectiveness of the programme, and to provide Ashridge and the National Trust with qualitative and quantitative data to inform future interventions that facilitate the change process, while delivering value for money. The evaluation process sought to collate stories on what is working, how it is working and what is the impact so that the ways of working and organisational aspects that support this change can be amplified. Confidential online surveys were sent to 87 programme participants. The incredibly high response rate of 86% is indicative of the learning and value Functional Advisors are attaining. Following the surveys, one-to-one telephone enquiries were held with six Advisors and ten clients.

Phase 1
Designed the questionnaire NT to brief /inform participants/ clients of the process Agreed roles and responsibilities

Phase 2
Online Confidential Survey
Surveys will be administered online Survey 1: All programme participant and invite feedback confidentially Outcomes: Understand the programme components which were most helpful Determine what advisors were sharing and applying in day job To identify client groups

Design and Engagement

1
Phase 4
Sense-making and Communicate Findings

2 3

Share quantitative and qualitative data Outcomes: Feedback to all participants and sponsors Review current design and adapt if necessary Identify future trojan mice experiments that can be encouraged Identify more targeted OD interventions and approaches that deliver greatest individual and organisational impact Integrate learning to inform and shape future OD/Training interventions for 2010

Interviewed ten clients RD, ADO, GM/PM Interviewed six advisors who were mentioned as successful Outcomes: To understand what a successful clientconsultant relationship is in reality To gather stories, experiences and understand psychological processes Identify themes, and success stories, and contributing factors
Figure 1

Inquiry Interviews - One to one telephone

Phase 3

The evaluation findings

Individual impact It is clear from Functional Advisors comments that they are learning about themselves personally and professionally, and integrating learning into their roles and working environment. I believe this has enabled me to be a better person, more rounded, more patient with my thoughts, more effective in the new role I now occupy. Action Learning Groups were invaluable in ensuring that I did not go back and forget what I had learned from the course said one participant, and the learning environment was extremely useful in giving me permission to experiment, said another. Impact on others The Functional Advisors themselves identified ways to amplify the change process: for example, some suggested that the Property Managers undergo similar training, with regular reinforcement and involving both clients and consultants as a matter of course.
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93% of Functional Advisors have found ways to share their learning with colleagues and teams: by coaching, setting up workshops, developing their staff and networking. The communication promises to be a dynamic process, for the ongoing good of the Trust.

REFLECTIONS
Both Ashridge Consulting and the National Trust agree that the strong sense of partnership and trust throughout the tender, design, delivery, evaluation and planning for the future has been key to the programmes success. Jonathan Noall commented, A trusted partnership has developed which began when we first met at the tender invitation. Billy, Martyn and the facilitators at Ashridge lead by example in their consulting style. We have all worked hard to remain connected to wider business developments to ensure this cultural change programme is integral and supportive of organisational goals: a sure recipe for success! We in Ashridge Consulting have derived additional satisfaction from the creation of a dynamic learning environment that is being created by the participants back in the workplace. We are delighted that not just the participants, who pride themselves on enabling real transfer of skills, but the whole organisation, is benefiting from the programme

Organisational impact It is becoming clear that the Functional Advisors are indeed developing their internal consulting capability and stories are emerging about the good results of their effective working relationships with General Managers and the wider organisation, particularly in complex scenarios. Business impact Over the last few years, National Trust membership has grown (from 3.5m to 3.7m members), more volunteers are giving their support (from 48,000 to 55,000), visitor numbers are up from 14m to 15m and commercial income has increased by 10%. Given that the programme for Functional Advisors, though a key initiative, is but one part of the learning and development strategy, it is difficult to quantify the business improvements directly attributable to it. However, the evaluation feedback from participants and those who benefit from their services and expertise makes it clear that dynamic learning translated into action at individual and systemic levels is having direct impact on the Trusts ongoing success.

Rising from the ashes a new way of learning and working

More and more clients across the world are experiencing the benefits of Virtual Action Learning (VAL). Skilful facilitation is crucial, so Ashridge Consulting is now not only providing an open programme in VAL facilitation, but is helping some organisations develop their own in-house capability. This story describes the experience of German financial services organisation MLP, as it discovers that VAL can lead to strategic advantage. By Ghislaine Caulat and Delma OBrien
The closure of vast expanses of European air space as a result of the dangers of volcanic ash made hundreds of thousands of people stop and think about much that they take for granted. Whether its a question of travel for business or leisure, attendance at state funerals, or the supply of exotic fruit and vegetables, nothing can be taken for granted once planes are grounded. Much is being written about the adverse economic effects, but the crisis might have demonstrated more sharply than years of effort by the sustainability lobby, that there are other ways of operating when face to face relationships and transactions are not possible. These are challenges that learning and development professionals are increasingly grappling with: the need to develop geographically dispersed global teams without incurring vast travel costs and downtime due to hours spent travelling. There is also an increasing need for just in time learning, specific to dynamic business scenarios, that can become a distinct strategic asset and give competitive advantage. Ashridge Consulting (AC) is developing a track record in sustainable skills development. Not only does AC pride itself in learning that is really sustainable in the sense that it is lasting, due to the transfer of skills and culture of ongoing learning that it creates within client companies; but also in its ability to promote learning that is not reliant on experiences in a classroom or even on face to face contact. Already a centre of excellence in the research, practice and development of Action Learning, AC has been providing Virtual Action Learning (VAL) over the last five years to more than 12 global organisations, involving more than 1,500 participants.
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THE TERMINOLOGY
Action Learning
Originated by Professor Reginald Revans in the United Kingdom in the 1940s, this learning format enables groups of up to six managers to present their respective `issues (an issue can be, for example, a strategic decision that one needs to take, a challenging operational problem, or an interpersonal difficulty with a colleague) and through a process of questioning and feedback by peers, the `issue holder` (the person presenting the issue) obtains useful challenge and support to develop a deeper understanding of the issue at hand, which often results in finding a different approach to address it. The process is usually facilitated by an experienced process consultant. In some cases Action Learning groups carry on for several years and self-facilitate.

Often facilitators have the basic skills but need to learn how to deploy them in a virtual environment, paying attention to the right things at the right time.

Audio Action Learning

The most appropriate platform for Action Learning work where participants bring a personal issue to work on, is a teleconferencing setting when people have only the audio channel to connect and work with each other: we call this Audio Action Learning.

Virtual Action Learning

We have learnt that when people choose Action Learning to work on a project common to the team, it is best to use a web-based platform in addition to the audio connection so that people can at the same time view and work together on documents: we call this Virtual Action Learning.

As our VAL with clients gains pace, we notice that far from being a second best compared to face to face communication, this way of working is spawning its own benefits which would not have been derived in a face to face environment. For example, participants very often notice already at the first session that the quality of listening in the virtual environment is of a much higher standard. Due to the fact that participants are not distracted by each others physical appearance and by the surroundings, once they have managed to overcome this lack of visual cues and clues, people soon come to see it as a real enabler. But to derive all the benefits that can be gained, both participants and most importantly, facilitators, must develop new skills and techniques.

Developing Virtual Action Learning Facilitators

In any Action Learning set, the role of the facilitator is crucial: his or her skills and competence in the role bear a major impact on the learning outcomes from the sessions. Whereas many learning and development professionals and indeed, many managers have developed their expertise in face to face facilitation, VAL facilitation demands a different set of skills. Whilst pioneering VAL, AC has commonly provided a facilitator for Virtual Action Learning sets. However, moving to the next level of sustainable working and in keeping with its long tradition and expertise in the transfer of consulting skills, AC is now developing clients internal expertise in Virtual Action Learning facilitation skills. This is about making sustainable learning sustainable in that organisations whose facilitators Ashridge have developed, retain their ability to facilitate and promote VAL on an ongoing basis, on demand and representing the best combination of Virtual facilitation skills with knowledge of the business.

In order to develop clients competence in VAL, AC are offering a programme that draws on four years of research and practice. The story of MLP, a German financial services company, illustrates how the development of its internal virtual facilitation capability is not just delivering new ways of learning but is also becoming a strategic asset.

VAL for strategic advantage

Headquartered in Wiesloch, Germany, MLP AG offers independent financial advice to a range of private and institutional investors. Its expertise spans mortgages, non-life insurance, pensions and investments. It operates through a network of 220 branches, each with between 10 and 20 staff. Its unique business model involves finding its potential clients of the future by offering career services to university graduates, and nurturing them through their career as their financial needs change. MLP faces the epitome of a complex business environment. Myriad new financial products from an ever-growing range of suppliers

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flood the market, the regulatory framework in which it operates is constantly shifting, the economic background is ever more turbulent and its clients needs continually evolve. Consistent with this scenario, MLPs employees learning is never finished. It has to be ongoing, as knowledge ranging from micro detail of individual products to macro economic trends is the key to its business success. In recognition of the importance of Learning and Development, MLP has positioned a Corporate University outside Heidelberg and employs no less than 400 in-house trainers, each of whom undergo between 5-15 days training per year. As the importance of learning rose ever higher on the corporate agenda, a decision was taken to select 50 of the best trainers for a higher level of development over a two to three year period. MLP selected Ashridge Consulting to provide Audio Action Learning for members of this group and as a result of its success, six members, together with Head of Learning and Development Wolfgang WagnerSesemann, are undertaking training as VAL facilitators so that MLP will have its own, in-house virtual facilitation capability. Wolfgang believes that the development of VAL facilitation skills will help the culture of VAL and indeed, working and learning in the virtual space, all of which are becoming a strategic asset to the company. In dynamic business environments, so much can change between the attendance at one face to face training programme and the next. Wolfgang believes that Virtual Learning enables the rapid translation of learning into practice, whereas only a small percentage of what is learnt on a longer formal training course will be retained and deployed back in the workplace. He said: VAL is consistent with our change definition of learning, which needs constant short, sharp impulses, almost on demand and specific to scenarios and issues.

The introduction of VAL within MLP has not been entirely without its critics, as about a third of the 500 learning and development staff, more used to face to face delivery of training, retain some scepticism. Wolfgang added: We have to be careful not to describe a VAL session as an arena for problem solving: our sales professionals simply dont do problems: but they have to do achieving through people, being catalysts for change and managing their individual issues within the organisation. The success of Virtual Action Learning within the company in future will be very reliant on our facilitators, which is why we have turned to Ashridge to develop our own Virtual Action Learning Facilitators. Not to mention the fact that having our own facilitators is of course cheaper! The MLP Virtual Facilitation Programme ran at the end of January 2010, consisting of virtual workshops run on Webex, for four hours on three consecutive days. The workshops were in German and a German speaking technical facilitator was on hand. By the third day there were opportunities to practise virtual facilitation within the group and get feedback from coparticipants. Following the virtual workshops, Ashridges Ghislaine Caulat (the consultant) provided three follow-up sessions with the group, where each participant has the opportunity to facilitate audio action learning and receive feedback from colleagues and the consultant. Is VAL facilitation so different from conventional facilitation? According to Wolfgang: Often facilitators have the basic skills but need to learn how to deploy them in a virtual environment, paying attention to the right things at the right time. Good listening, the ability to build trust and intimacy in a virtual environment, becoming comfortable with silence and reflecting on its meaning and acquiring good process skills appropriate to the virtual environment, are all aspects that good virtual facilitators need to develop.

The skills that are now being put into practice within MLP do not just simply enable effective VAL, but they have also enhanced the facilitators virtual coaching skills, both for one-to-one coaching and for team coaching. For all involved, the increasing familiarity of working and communicating in the virtual environment means greater comfort with concepts like Virtual Learning and on-demand learning that can be accessed as needed for specific business scenarios.

VAL facilitation training now available

AC is working with a number of clients to develop their internal VAL facilitators. However, in addition to these company-specific programmes, an Open Programme is now available. It will enable participants to: Gain an in-depth understanding of Virtual Action Learning (what is unique about this form of learning, how it is different from and similar to face-to-face Action Learning) Learn how to encourage intimacy and trust in the virtual space Understand the concept of presence in the virtual space and how to establish your own presence Assess and increase your own impact in the virtual space Understand and work effectively with the dynamics of virtual groups Develop robust facilitation skills for Virtual Action Learning Learn through practising Virtual Action Learning.

The programmes delivery is totally virtual, highly experiential providing lots of opportunity to facilitate sessions of Audio Action Learning and receive feedback from the other participants, very practice oriented and stretching. Bookings are now being taken for programmes that commence in September and November 2010. Each programme consists of an initial 2-hour briefing session and 3-day (3 x 5 hours) virtual workshops followed by three half-day (3 x 3 hours) virtual action learning sessions over 7-9 months. Additional one-to-one coaching is available where necessary To find out more, or to book a place on the programme, please contact: sue.jabbar@ ashridge.org.uk

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Peter Shepherd
06.00 Woken
by my alarm clock. Its programmed to play one of my favourite pieces of music but I feel obliged to thump it out of action before the end of the first bar so as not to wake my wife or the toddler next to her who is snoring like a comedy drunk. Out for a run. Cold, dark morning and have some difficulty working out in which order to put on gloves and press play on my iPod. Set off for the park, a bit taken aback at the strength of the head torch Ive just bought. Wildlife flee in my path.

A day in the life of

Virtual Facilitator
Take a cup of tea upstairs and look in on bedroom of child sent to get dressed for school. Child appears to have forgotten this instruction and is playing with small pieces of plastic. Hurry child into clothes deciding that pampered child forever is mildly preferable to raised voices right now.

07.45

09.45 A

06.15

07.55

Peter Shepherd is a principal consultant with Ashridge Consulting who specialises in strength based approaches to learning and change.

07.00

Settle into my work day by opening the laptop and checking how much charge is in my phone. Reception signal is strong and internet connection seems stable. Go round muting or disconnecting anything likely to vibrate or ring out in my immediate vicinity.

Return to find rest of the house rising and with them the volume of ambient noise. Try to sound a bit menacing when I tell kids I am working from home and how much I would appreciate quiet when I am on my first call at 8.00am. Shower and breakfast trying to calculate what time it will be for my client in Pakistan when we are due to speak. Open phone and doublecheck my schedule. After the early call, I have a couple of hours in which Ill do some email and diary management. Am due to facilitate a web seminar from 11.00 to 13.30. Ill take a break and then finish the design for another virtual session later in the week. The deadline is tomorrow and I want to confer with my colleague before I send anything to the client.

08.00 Am

07.30

relieved when client picks up quickly, though there is an echo. We agree to hang up and I call him back. This time the sound quality is great and I relax into the conversation, remembering how much I liked this person when we met face to face. He talks freely and Im reluctant to interrupt. I let him know I am listening and interested with plenty of uh-huhs and mms. The call is a study in minimalist coaching it reaches a natural end at about when we were scheduled to finish anyway. Realise that the house is now eerily quiet. Time to grab a peaceful cuppa before returning to the laptop and opening and actioning my mail.

note of thanks from my coaching client has already appeared along with a query from someone from Europe who is part of a group Im due to speak with tomorrow. They have received a meeting invite via my Lotus Notes and they want to know what CEDT (Central European Daylight Time) is. Is it the same as UTC (Co-ordinated Universal Time) or is UTC the same as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)? He just wants to make sure that we will all get to speak. Is this what people mean by a Kafka-esque moment? Before I reply, I check and re-check the meeting invite the conference call number, the passcode and the time which has left me expressed as a GMT+ value but has arrived with the client expressed as CEDT only they dont know what that is. The apologist for colonialism within me shudders slightly. Headphones on again, I open an automated mail with a link to the web-based conference I am due to facilitate in half an hour. The phone number is pre-programmed into my handset so I quickly add a passcode and a user ID to get in. On the screen, next to my name on the participant list, a phone icon appears: knowing he can now hear me, I say hello to our technical facilitator, Andy, who is already on the line. It is good to hear his calm tone and I notice myself taking on the role of an airline pilot checking with the tower for runway clearance.

10.30

09.15

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I ask him about my sound quality and we practice a sequence where we have to take people in and out of virtual breakout rooms at speed. I have changed the slides that I want to use so I replace the set weve uploaded with some I amended last night. Finally, I alter the wording of a poll that I will conduct at the end of the session. I think were good to go, so I dash downstairs to mash up a banana and get some yoghurt. A colleague who also does a lot of virtual facilitation tipped me off about food you can suck up more or less silently!

10.50

A name appears on the participant list the first of our twelve participants is on-line, though not yet simultaneously on the phone. His voice follows and he risks a timid Hello? like someone lost in an empty warehouse. I am quick to welcome him, firm and reassuring. We chat about where

he is calling in from and his voice softens. He is joined by colleagues but only certain of them appear to know each other. The boss arrives panting and breathless, so we help him adjust his microphone to sound less like a nuisance caller. An earlier arrival is silent but I can hear the tap-tapping of fingers on a keyboard. All are present and Im struck by how punctual everyone is. I didnt have any reason to think they might be late but maybe I can take some credit. Ive learned to set aside a period for virtual mingling so that people can join a session from twenty minutes early and Ive also learned that starting on time is a must in all but the most exceptional circumstances. The welcome email I sent was explicit and I also gave some rather stern advice about the equipment people would need and the environment they should work from.

10.55

We get going. The group are new to this way of working using telephone and internet simultaneously. The opening sequence is pretty structured. Introductions are followed by the agenda and a bit of contracting about roles. I ask who is more or less familiar with the software platform and ask Andy to give people a quick tour of the space. They play with the features for a few moments and I lead a focus exercise in the hope that it will help them shift attention from the virtual surroundings to the content of the meeting.

11.15

A colleague who also does a lot of virtual facilitation tipped me off about food you can suck up more or less silently.

It is an awkward start. My client is an HR specialist embedded in an operational team. Her boss, the team leader, set the agenda for the session. When we were planning the detail, I mostly liaised with the HR person. The boss seemed pretty busy and I had a sense that he wasnt keen to invest much time in preparation for this medium. The HR person was anxious that the boss would come unstuck if he was under-rehearsed. It was difficult to get sign-off on the final design. The boss presents some figures and some analysis of business performance. With our help, he has prepared questions that he wants team members to respond to. I split the team into small groups to come back with their reactions and ideas. I had asked him to test the phrasing of his questions on one or two team members, since they were in English which is not the first language of most of the team, even though it is the official language of the business as a whole. When people return from the virtual breakout rooms, it is with the most perfunctory answers and the session quickly falls flat. The boss then becomes uneasy and starts to dominate, rephrasing his earlier questions then answering them himself. The team grow ever more silent. I am reluctant to rescue him but am growing concerned that an impasse is forming. My HR client has a lower pain threshold and can
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bear it no longer. In a calm, even, tone, she describes her experience of the meeting so far, in detail, but with no hint of judgement or criticism. Then a pause. We hear an intake of breath then I dont know if I should say this, but... A team member is suddenly opening up. He talks of how he resents the story the figures appear to tell, he is confused by the questions posed and more than anything, he isnt sure whether the boss is asking for the real story behind their performance or whether this is just some empty ritual. I get a private chat message from the HR client. Really sorry. I reply What for? This is what needs to happen. You did the right thing. For a moment I wonder whether other members of the team will be emboldened but instead only silence and a virtual tumbleweed blowing away out of sight. I think I am not the only one relieved to hear the boss speak. Let me be really honest with you, he begins. I had no idea at all that this was in any way contentious. Or that anyone felt as strongly as you clearly do. Thank you for having the courage to speak up What do other people think? Suddenly courage is abundant and I facilitate a really lively discussion. It is very constructive in tone though the energy soon starts to fade and I suggest we take a break. My HR client stays on the line and we start to debrief what just happened. This never would have happened face to face she says. Really? I reply. She has a Scandinavian accent and Im tickled to hear her use the rather antiquated English phrase: Not on your life.

The whole thing is feeling much more natural as we start to close. Andy and I use a polling device to get some immediate feedback both on the session and on the groups willingness to work in this way in future. The response is overwhelmingly positive on both counts and we have time for people to elaborate out loud on their responses to the poll. Variously they describe the session as a watershed and a breakthrough. The boss is the last to speak and just as I am expecting a rather worthy homily, he tells the group that he was dreading the session and didnt think he would get anything from it. He is happy to have been proved wrong and thanks everyone for the wake up call that he thinks the session has been. We all give each other hearty farewells. I stay on the line to thank Andy and he sounds as mellow as ever. I feel quite wrung out.

them. Fingers crossed that my colleague, who I have arranged to speak to at 4pm, likes the idea and that it is technically possible. If it is, why not mock something up to show the client tomorrow rather than send them a slideshow?

She is enthusiastic about my suggestion and I agree to create some sort of demo. She will phone the client and see if we can present the design live in the virtual setting rather than submit a document. Hope the client agrees.

15.45

Grab a cup of tea, as eyes and brain are a bit tired. Should have taken a longer break at lunchtime! Unlock the back gate and put the childrens bikes in the shed. Try to refresh and ready myself to speak to my colleague. Midway into the allotted hour to speak, my colleague and I are ready to discuss the matter in hand. We havent been in contact for a while and it feels right to natter for a bit before getting down to business. Shes had a difficult day up to that point and we compare notes interspersed with bits of company news. I wear my headset for the call but pace about, glad not to have to look at the screen as well.

17.05

16.30

Bid colleague goodbye and pick up the laptop for the last time. Messages will keep coming all evening but I can always view any that wont wait on the phone. Check my work email and my personal email account. Fret that I must appear a passive hostile social networker if Facebook were a room I would be standing at one end in moody silence. Look through calendar at days and weeks ahead. Glad of the mix with more virtual facilitation in prospect and plenty of face to face work too. Today was quite intense and Im pretty tired. Jolted out of rumination by sounds of family gathering for tea. Log off

18.00

13.10

End the phone call and log off the internet. Think about putting the radio on while I eat lunch and think better of it, enjoying the quiet.

18.05

Im back at my desk after a break of sorts. I have done some on-line banking and loaded a song from iTunes onto my iPod.

13.45

14.15

12.30

The session is coming to an end and the second half after the break has been very positive. We more or less jettisoned our design and took a lead from the boss who seems much more comfortable improvising with the team than working to a script. I enjoy making process suggestions without worrying about a design.

I have responded to a couple of emails that accrued in the time I was leading the midday session then, for the first time in the day, I push the laptop to one side and get out a sketch pad to mindmap some ideas for the design I have to submit tomorrow. The session is for a group of technical specialists who are trying to hone their consulting skills and I want each of them to be able to show the rest of us a visual map of their key clients and what their workload looks like viewed as a dynamic system. I know we can use a facility whereby everyone else can view one persons desktop. The fiddly bit is for two people to be able to click and drag elements of the map in turn so that the rest of us can witness a live negotiation between

To learn more about virtual facilitation with Ashridge Consulting and how it could help your organisation please contact: +44 (0)1442 841380 or visit: www.ashridgeconsulting.com

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Real Time Coaching

by George Binney and Isabelle Read
A simple but powerful new form of leadership development is being practised by Ashridge. Real Time Coaching involves an Ashridge coach observing a leader as they go about their work and then sitting down with them to reflect on their practice as a leader. How does the leader actually lead? Are they having the impact they want to have? What works well for them? What would help get better results? The attention is on the real work of leadership, in real time.
The approach is being used in the leadership programme that Ashridge is providing for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Over three years, this programme will involve 120 leaders of health research across England. Each is being offered Real Time Coaching. So far, results are encouraging.

How does Real Time Coaching work?

The process starts with a phone conversation in which the coach outlines the approach and invites the leader to participate. Intrigued by the idea of a coach turning up in their world to observe them and discuss how they lead, most leaders have said Yes. For many, its the first time anyone has offered to focus on them and their leadership style. They may be a bit apprehensive but they are interested to have a go, says George Binney, leader of the NIHR programme.

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Participants think carefully about which day or half day, initially, to offer for observation. The best days have been when a leader is involved in a variety of events. For example, one leader chose to be observed during three hour-long meetings in quick succession: the last hour of an Awayday with the organisations executive team, a project group meeting and, finally, a performance review with a medical colleague. This presented a valuable opportunity to observe the leader in different roles in three very different meetings: more useful than when leaders offer big, set-piece, occasions like board meetings which are too long and offer too little variety. The coach who is observing should be as invisible as possible. We want to interfere as little as possible with the normal dynamics of the leaders interactions, says George. Obviously our presence does have an impact, but usually people seem to forget about us after a while. When we ask people, they say that the essential dynamics of their exchanges dont change. Before and after the observation, the coach spends time with the leader to help review the leaders intentions, behaviours and actions. What did you want to achieve? Did you get what you wanted? What could you have done differently? What might be points to think about for the future? We go from specific incidents to possible conclusions about the strengths of the leaders approach and areas they may want to develop. Asking a few open questions frequently leads into a powerful discussion about how a person leads. By focusing on specific actions and responses, we prompt the leader to think carefully how they lead and what impact theyre having.

The leader is then sent reflective notes that play-back the key themes of the observation and discussion, to give both leader and coach a reminder of important points that they can both return to in later discussions. The process of observation and reflection takes place over several half or full day visits, spread over 6 to 12 months. The repeated visits enable trust to build up and an increasingly intimate and focused conversation to develop.

How does Real Time Coaching compare with traditional executive coaching?
Ashridge coaches are excited by the difference Real Time Coaching brings, in three ways: 1. The observation quickly provides the coach with a wealth of data about the environment, organisational culture and the key people and relationships that the leader works with. Issues that might take months to surface or might not be visible at all in conventional coaching are immediately apparent. 2. Following observation, the review conversation is direct and personal. Sometimes it takes only a few simple, open questions to bring key issues into discussion; at other times it takes attention to incidents and moments and some feedback on the impact of a leaders behaviours and actions. 3. Because the review conversation draws on recent experience, there is a ready link back to developing practice. Reflection leads naturally into questions about a leaders practice in the future and possible experimentation and development.

Whereas traditional coaching often happens away from the place of work and away from the people and relationships that surround a leader, real-time coaching happens in the thick of the people and situations that leaders work with. We are struck by how often a few open questions and some time together to reflect after observation can provoke a leader into re-thinking of the strengths they have and how to make more of them and of possible shifts in practice, says George. The approach has led to feedback like: My coach made me re-think how I handle a deferential middle manager. I used just to tell him what to do. We looked at this pattern. Now I ask him What do you suggest we do? At the monthly meeting I used to find myself just presiding with no sense of intention there because its the monthly meeting. I started to ask myself: what am I trying to do? I felt I was doing all the work. My coach asked: who is going to share leadership with you? I hadnt focused on how to get people to step up.we discussed ways of doing this

What does Real Time Coaching require of participants?

The first requirement is courage the courage to disclose publicly that they are getting support with their leading and the courage to be part of a process when they dont know at the outset exactly where it will take them. We have been helped in the NIHR project, says co-leader Isabelle, by the fact that doctors are used to being shadowed by students, colleagues and others. Those who have developed in the university system usually have mentors. Also important is a leader deciding how they want to use the process. I found I needed to change from being a passive recipient to structuring the coaching and using the consultant in the way that was most useful to me, says Professor Sallie Lamb.

Obviously our presence does have an impact, but usually people seem to forget about us after a while. When we ask people, they say that the essential dynamics of their exchanges dont change.

What does it require of the coaches?

There is a peculiar balance needed: being physically present in the room without intruding into or detracting from what happens. This means not intervening during meetings. Noticing, noticing, noticing your antenna has to be finely tuned, says Isabelle. Real Time Coaching requires sustained curiosity and alertness. It is very intense and absorbing and requires some stamina for the long periods of attention, and being tuned in to what is significant, while letting go of enormous amounts of facts, figures and feelings that flow around.

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 Improvisation: You never know what is going to happen as you accompany a leader; what issues will emerge and what relationship you can develop with the leader, says George. Courage is required to be a critical friend telling your truth and feeding back the tough stuff. Offering hunches and intuition to individuals who want evidence and facts is not for the faint-hearted! says Isabelle. You need to be willing to say the things no-one else is saying. Establishing an assertive, adult and trusting relationship, as a professional in your own right is important early on. Introducing new concepts or ways of seeing things good teaching is useful and introducing some theories in the longer reflective sessions. Preparing others is important: leaders are given notes to adapt and send to those whose meetings will be observed, to outline the programme that the Senior Leader is participating in. Balancing challenge with unconditional positive regard and affirming people in a way they often dont get elsewhere. The leaders must know that the coach is on their side and not assessing them or reporting back. Taking time to realise when you have made a difference and contributed something of value. Ensuring that the coaches have a strong process of supervision to consider the issues that arise from the work. The NIHR team has formed itself into trios who give each other regular supervision as well as receiving support occasionally from individuals outside the team.

Professor Phil Luthert is director of the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London which is a world leader in eye research. George has now worked with Professor Luthert over a year to support his leadership of his high profile work in which a number of the countrys leading scientists and clinicians are involved. Professor Luthert explains, The coaching has given me the chance to step back from day-to-day pressures and think about what is really most important. Having met some of my colleagues and observed me in action, George has a good understanding of my world. He helps me focus on the key points I need to concentrate on. The whole process has been hugely encouraging and supportive of my leadership.

Case example Shifting patterns of leading

I spent the day real time coaching Tim. It was a day full of scheduled meetings all of which took place in his big office. When I arrived, he briefed me that was coming up was a series of catch up meeting with colleagues in the department. His PA came in and out between meetings adjusting the timetable. What I noticed at the beginning of each meeting was the genuine interest in the individual/s Tim showed he remembered to ask after family members and holidays. His style was relaxed, gentle and considered he asked open questions: How is it going? What was your interpretation of that? and did lots of listening and nodding. There were moments of humour which others seemed to appreciate. As the day progressed, I began to notice a pattern emerging. Several of the people who came to see Tim had almost finished their allotted time and were being ushered out of the door, before they asked for what they really wanted. In one case this was about Will you be my sponsor? In another it was Im having a life re-evaluation (I need to talk about it). At the end of the day, I gave Tim feedback on this pattern I had noticed. We discussed how he might help people (who see him as a senior, authority figure) ask for what they want and need. We did some work on the process of effective meetings and how it could be helpful to find out up-front what all the agenda items are and what would constitute a good outcome from the meeting for each person involved.

Does it work with other groups?

Health research leaders are a demanding group. They are very bright, driven and competitive. They have very little time, they are impatient of anything that is not well thought-out and they face tough challenges. They often are responsible for large organisations and budgets and work across many organisational and political boundaries but have had little or no management or leadership development. But the programme leaders believe the approach has something to offer other leaders facing tough challenges, whatever their previous leadership development experiences.

Professor Richard Eastell is Director of the Sheffield NIHR Bone Biomedical Research Unit (BRU), a collaboration between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Research studies in the BRU centre around bone medicine, preventative treatments and increasing participation by the public in clinical trials. Isabelle has now worked with Professor Eastell for a year. Professor Eastell explains that I had never had comments on my leadership approach before. It is always useful to sit together between meetings and discuss reactions while they are still fresh in my mind. I do now prepare much more thoroughly for meetings I will attend.

What is the future of Real Time Coaching?

Real Time Coaching in the NIHR project is linked to organisational change. The leadership programme is part of a wider process of change the Government has set about since 2006 to secure the UKs place as a world class centre of clinical research that benefits patients and improves health. So far, Real Time Coaching is proving itself as an integral part of the process of change. It has been a way in for the leadership programme a way to engage with a very busy and sceptical population of leaders. The process is so obvious and simple that once you are doing it you wonder why you havent always done it that way
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NHS LONDON
NEXT GENERATION DIRECTORS PROGRAMME
Leading healthcare across London is a complex business. NHS London determined that the talent who will hold directoral positions in future years should be given the best possible preparation to enable them to step up to their future leadership roles with confidence. A partnership between Ashridge, Manchester Business School and Unipart was chosen to deliver a five module programme for a carefully selected cohort of Next Generation Directors. Delma OBrien describes how the programme got underway.
Royal Free Hampstead Moorfields Eye Hospital

Service Redesign

Strategy

Operations

Great Ormond St

Oncology

Ambulance Service Nursing Imperial College St George's Primary Care Finance Westminster PCT

Mental Health

Paediatrics Commissioning Project Management

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The rigorous assessment process was complete: a launch event had radiated the enthusiasm and aspirations of the 36 Next Generation Directors selected from hospitals, trusts and health care services across NHS London; then at Ashridge, in November 2009 the learning began, with the first three-day residential module of a programme for these rising stars of NHS London. From the outset, it was clear that this was no attempt at a how to fix the NHS learning programme, despite the blend of expertise in soft and hard skills represented in programme directors from Ashridge and Manchester business schools and Unipart. The three organisations combine Ashridges skills in international leadership development with Uniparts Lean expertise deployed in a range of private sector organisations, with health policy knowledge from Manchester Business School. The focus is on recognising and giving voice to the complexity and challenges in the NHS and helping individuals understand what leadership means in such scenarios. More specifically, its about participants taking up leadership roles in their immediate and wider organisational environment. This first module kicked off with context setting plenary and small group discussion of issues such as how to fund ever more expensive treatments amidst shrinking resources: when to collaborate and when to compete; the balance between treatment and prevention; and political uncertainty. All these issues impacted the individuals present as they reflected on and shared their personal challenges as leaders. They voiced the need to develop their ability to strengthen their influencing skills, support and guide staff and stakeholders through change, be resilient and courageous in decision-making, balance conflicting priorities of doing the day job whilst pursuing service re-design and change as well as making effective leadership contributions to their local team

and to the wider NHS system. A less talented group of participants might have reacted like rabbits caught in the headlights as they stood back to contemplate the scale of complexity and challenge. But not this group: they were encouraged to be reassured that helping those around you make sense of complex scenarios is a vital part of leadership. However, complexity does not mean paralysis and as their role is to improve patients experience, they moved rapidly on to devouring articles about various different approaches to change penned by organisation development and operations gurus. Over dinner they contemplated within their newly assigned groups how these approaches might be deployed in a fictitious NHS scenario (Rivergate) that spanned organisational boundaries. The next day, five groups gave convincing presentations that deployed persuasiveness, logic and innovative thinking to demonstrate how Appreciative Inquiry, Lean thinking, change approaches by Kotter and Goodwin, as well as Complexity Theory, could be used as the underpinning methodology to address the problems of Rivergate. The solutions were delivered with a real sense of passion and demonstrated how rapidly the participants had been able to establish a strong sense of teamwork. The other participants were invited to sift, distil and evaluate the approaches and not surprisingly found that each approach had strengths and weaknesses. Just as there is no one size fits all answer to the myriad challenges across NHS London, so no single approach will offer up a text book answer to complex issues where theory and practice are inextricably intertwined. Inevitably, the spotlight turned away from methods and approaches useful though they may be to inform best practice and thinking to the discretion, experience and change skills of the individuals in positions of influence. This was the ideal moment to

How can I manage expectations and a clear contract around my role, in such a demanding and dynamic environment?

introduce Action Learning, which is a central feature of the Next Generation Directors Programme, continuing between modules. Ashridge is a pioneer in the use of Action Learning a method of development based on the ideas and belief of Reg Revans that executives learn best with and from each other by tackling real life problems. Action Learning occurs when people bring their own work issues for discussion in a group of peers who are both supportive and challenging. The purpose of the group is not simply reflective, but conversely, is a spur to action. Successful outcomes depend on the groups commitment to each other, participants honesty, diversity and confidentiality. Six Action Learning sets were created from the Next Generation Directors participants, each of six people. The groups got out their diaries and committed to meetings throughout the programme, hosted at each of the members sites in turn, together with a facilitator. The effectiveness of the Action Learning sets will be enhanced by the development of members individual listening and coaching skills, and there will be followup actions after every meeting. The groups will help to reinforce and integrate the learning from the programme sessions into the members practice in their daily

work and development as leaders. Care was taken that the participants did not know each other previously in any personal or professional way, to ensure what one participant described as a safe environment you cant achieve among peers at work! Paradoxically though, whilst ensuring complete confidentiality, the creation of the sets is putting in place a secure basis for a future network across the entire range of organisations represented on the programme. With new friendships, teams and Action Learning sets formed, the group enjoyed an opportunity to walk and talk albeit in the November damp before a stimulating private dinner, where the guest speaker was Paul Moore, former Global Head of Corporate Risk at HBOS who was dismissed for ringing alarm bells about the extent of risk being taken during the credit boom: this was a stark reminder that its not only the NHS that presents challenges and dilemmas for its leaders! The final morning was ideal preparation for relaunching participants back into their day jobs: there were hands-on sessions devoted to managing conflict, handling difficult conversations, influencing without authority and managing transitions all the stuff of an NHS managers intray! The
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first module was deemed a great success and participants left with lots to think about and action before their next meeting. That meeting took the shape of the second module of the fourmodule programme and occurred amidst ferocious winter weather conditions in the first week in January. The Next Generation Directors willingness to battle their way to Ashridge through the blizzards and ice was a result of their eagerness to come back for more, given the rating of the first module as outstanding and exceeding expectations by the vast majority of the participants. Once inside the winter castle at Ashridge, there was actually less ice-breaking to be done than previously, as faces were now familiar and relationships with other participants were developing well, particularly amongst members of the Action Learning sets, which by now had met up at least once. The focus of the second module was the wider health and healthcare landscape and the meaning of leadership in this context. Inevitably this involved the consideration of personal and group involvement in shaping and delivering policy, so the programme for the two days included focus not just on individuals but also on how teams work, and particularly, how Boards function. Prior to the module, participants had completed either Belbin or Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaires: two of the most useful psychometric instruments in helping people understand their likelihood to behave and contribute in a particular way within their team, and the way they perceive the world and take decisions. The results of these prepared participants for a session on day two about how teams work together and in particular how they might act and contribute within their teams. The session was followed by individual feedback, contributing not only to their self-knowledge and awareness of their working style and preferences within a team, but also informing the compilation of their
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personal development plan. The final day provided an opportunity for participants to consider how they personally should prepare to step up to the mark, when they assume their role as Directors. Whereas Ashridge tutors had played a major role in the first module, Manchester Business School tutors led the NHS policy sessions of this module. They engaged participants in discussion in plenary sessions and small groups of current health policy and its likely future; not least what it would be like under a Tory government. This naturally led the Next Generation Directors to consider the implications for leadership and management, as well as personal development, under these scenarios. Close attention was paid to the role and workings of Boards in healthcare. Participants had all recently attended a meeting of the Board of their organisations, to observe how it worked, what worked well and where the challenges lay: this preparation heightened awareness of the interplay of roles in terms of both behaviours and functions, the process of discussion and the way decisions are made. Neil Goodwin and Naomi Chambers led a session examining what constitutes effective Board working, and conversely, what corporate failure looks like in the NHS. Discussions covered Boards of different types that impact on healthcare: public, private and third sector. As prospective future Board members, participants learned not only about techniques they might use to ensure better meeting management and outcomes, but also about their own potential impact on meetings, linking in with the strands of more personal development in the programme. As well as the module providing more learning about the organisational context within healthcare and individuals personal development, time was also given to consideration of participants careers. In particular, there was the opportunity to reflect on what

factors might result in career derailment, and how these might be managed. With two modules down and two to go, it was now time to reflect on what the programme was achieving and how the participants felt they were benefitting. 90% of the participants now rated the programme as exceeding expectations and in terms of design, welcomed the greater opportunities for reflection and networking afforded in the second module. Areas of learning and development that participants reported they will pay attention to back in the workplace included: Understanding Board meetings Managing power and politics Engaging Non Executive Directors Being a policy entrepreneur Communication planning Applying a stakeholder engagement process Managing upwards as well as downwards Change management theory. When asked which leadership skills they felt the Forum had helped them develop most, there was a varied range of responses from participants: Personal impact and presence Team building/working Leading agendas (boards) Persuasive communication Effective partnership Reflection Knowing yourself/knowing others Delivering the vision Building an inspired team. Many of these themes are being reiterated in the individual coaching sessions, which are a vital strand of personal development throughout the programme. Everyone had at least one face-to-face coaching session before the second module and found them highly valuable opportunities to consider their own journey on the way to becoming Directors. They have been able to discuss issues personal to themselves, such as: Am I really ready for the next step?, How will it affect my work/life balance? and

How can I manage expectations and a clear contract around my role, in such a demanding and dynamic environment? It is overwhelmingly clear to the programme tutors and to fellow participants that the levels of commitment, professionalism, drive and enthusiasm are exceptionally high. The programme is highly valued and the participants feel privileged and motivated to share their learning with others back in the workplace. Only half way through the programme, several participants have already been promoted or moved into new, more challenging roles, giving them lots of opportunity to put their learning into practice and renewing their eagerness to continue their development as leaders in the final two modules. One such participant is Sam Higginson, who at the start of the programme was NHS Londons Assistant Director of Strategy. When the opportunity arose to apply for the role of Director of Strategic Development at University College London Hospital, he felt that both his readiness to make the move and his application were strengthened by the confidence he had gained on the programme so far. He said: The programme isnt just about the content delivered its much wider than that. Sam particularly appreciated the benefit of the one-to-one coaching sessions that are ongoing throughout the programme: They really gave me an opportunity to reflect on the risks and challenges of stepping up into a Directors role. A session immediately before the interview definitely helped my performance on the day. As he starts his new role, he is looking forward to the support of his Action Learning set, which he feels brings a vitally important range of perspectives to the issues its members face

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT: MEASURING THE PAYBACK

In this article, Ellen Pruyne highlights the increasing importance of programme evaluation and outlines some of the approaches Ashridge is deploying to assess the impact of learning and development interventions.
How do you know if a programme has had any real impact in terms of participant learning and concrete business results? Lets say that you have done the hard work of identifying specific learning and development needs and designing and delivering a programme to address those needs. You have participant endof-programme evaluation forms indicating that the participants were happy with the programme and fully intended to apply what they had learned back in the workplace. But now senior and line managers are demanding some tangible evidence that participant learning has actually persisted over time, been actively applied in addressing work challenges, and brought about valued outcomes or results. Until you can provide this evidence, they remain unconvinced that the programme has been a valuable investment of organisational resources and are hesitant to continue funding
what you strongly believe to be a high-impact programme. You want to generate compelling evidence that will secure ongoing commitment to and funding for this programme, but assessing learning and measuring impact is easier said than done. You know your colleagues in other organisations are struggling with similar demands, and they dont seem to have any easy solutions either. Not only do we empathise with our clients who are facing this kind of challenge, we at Ashridge have been trying to address the issue of how to measure and document the impact of our learning and development programmes. This challenge is in fact industry-wide, one with which business schools, training providers and their organisational clients have all been grappling. Over the past few years we have been experimenting with a variety of standardised and
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bespoke methodologies in a quest to identify optimal approaches for assessing participant learning and measuring programme impact. By optimal we mean both efficient in terms of the time and human resources involved and effective in terms of the quality of the evidence that is generated. Our experiments have allowed us to move beyond the first level of participant reactions in Kirkpatricks well-known evaluation framework, i.e. so-called happy sheets, to the other three levels participant learning, transfer to the workplace, and (to some extent) business impact. We have tried quantitative and qualitative methodologies as well as a combination of the two. We have engaged in both formative and summative assessments, i.e. those that occur during a programme and feed into programme design and delivery, and those that capture outcome data only after a programme is finished. From these experiments we have been identifying and honing a variety of approaches that are able to meet our own criteria for efficiency and effectiveness as well as satisfy a range of client needs.

Get more in-depth information on the usefulness of individual programme components Determine to what extent participants were able to transfer and apply what they had learned back in the workplace Identify elements of the organisational culture that were supporting or impeding learning transfer Ensure that the programme was producing the intended outcomes and determine if it was having any unanticipated outcomes or effects Validate some of these outcomes with beneficiaries who worked with the participants as supervisors, subordinates, colleagues or clients Solicit recommendations on how the programme could produce greater impact. Discussions with the client indicated that they had a limited budget for programme evaluation, one that would cover an online survey and several dozen interviews but not a more extensive and in-depth process. They were also under internal time constraints that argued for a faster and more

Tailoring the success case method

One of the more standardised approaches that we have tailored to client requirements is the success case method developed by Professor Robert Brinkerhoff. This is a highly validated methodology that can be conducted as a summative assessment once an entire programme has concluded or as a formative assessment after a number of cohorts have been through an ongoing offering. It involves administering an online survey followed by interviews, resulting in a rich collection of both qualitative and quantitative data that can be analysed in a variety of ways. We have recently utilised this method with six clients operating in a range of sectors, industries and countries, adapting the method to accommodate their particular programmatic and evaluation needs. An example of how we used the method with one of our clients will provide a sense of how it works and why it can be a powerful approach for generating data on participant learning and programme impact. The client in this case was an organisation operating in many countries around the world. The programme they wished to evaluate was a leadership development programme for mid-level managers and technical specialists. It had been operating for over two years, and a number of cohorts had already completed the one-week off-site training workshop and participated in follow-up action learning groups. The client had a number of objectives for conducting an impact evaluation of the programme at this particular time:
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What, if anything, are you doing differently now as a result of this programme?
efficient process. Fortunately the success case method is ideal for situations like this in which there are both financial and time constraints. It is also ideal for situations in which the client desires additional evidence beyond participant opinions on what did or did not work, i.e. the other three levels of evaluation. We therefore designed a three-phase evaluation process involving an online survey, interviews with participants, and interviews with beneficiaries that was able to satisfy all of the clients objectives and requirements. In the first phase we conducted an online survey of all participants who had completed the programme. We worked closely with the client in developing a tailored version of the survey format normally used in the success case method. Besides the standard items in which participants are asked to rank the programme components and indicate the extent to which they were able to apply these components in their work, we included a number of additional questions designed to

gather the more specific data desired by the client. A few of these questions were of the standard yes-no variety, e.g. Are you sharing any aspect of what you learned in the programme with others in the workplace? But the majority were openended questions that encouraged participants to give us their unvarnished perspective on the programme and its impact, e.g. What, if anything, are you doing differently now as a result of this programme? These questions generated a wealth of data on how participants were using what they learned back in the workplace, what was supporting or impeding them in doing so, what kinds of outcomes and effects they were experiencing from this application, and how they believed the programme could be improved for greater impact. The real purpose of the online survey in the success case method is actually not the generation of such qualitative data, however. The explicit purpose is to identify those participants who gained the most and the least from their involvement in the programme. By interviewing these high success and low success cases and comparing their responses, it becomes possible to identify the factors that appear most salient in the success or failure of learning transfer and application. We asked participants to supply their name and contact details if they would be willing to engage in a follow-up interview and close to 90% did so. We attribute this high percentage to two critical factors the enthusiasm the participants clearly felt about the value of the programme and our guarantee that all personal responses would remain confidential and not be shared with the organisation except in collated or anonymised form. We then began the second phase of the evaluation process. The success case method requires only five or six cases each of high success and low success to generate valid data. We therefore solicited twelve respondents who met the high/low success criteria and also provided some measure of diversity in terms of demographic background, geographical location, grade level, and cohort. Again, we worked with the client in developing a tailored version of the interview format recommended by Robert Brinkerhoff by adapting and adding questions as needed. As is expected in the success case method, the interviews produced rich qualitative data that allowed us to pinpoint specific factors that appeared significant in whether participants were able to apply what they had learned back in the workplace. (These factors have in fact differed

from one client organisation to another.) Also as intended, the interviews generated detailed stories and examples of how participants succeeded or failed in their attempts to apply what they had learned in their work. Normally the success case method ends with participant interviews, but in this evaluation the client was keen to enrich the data with the perspectives of colleagues, supervisors, subordinates and clients who had been involved in the respondents stories and examples. We therefore conducted a third phase of the process in which we interviewed another twelve or so beneficiaries or witnesses of the participants attempts to apply what they had learned back in the workplace. We designed an interview protocol that allowed us to elicit witness perspectives without revealing the examples or stories the participants had related to us. These perspectives added yet another layer of richness to the data we had collected. As might be expected, one of the most challenging parts of this evaluation process was making sense of such rich and voluminous data. We used a qualitative research software package to code the data, identify recurring themes, and generate findings that responded to the specific evaluation objectives set forth by the client. Of particular interest were a number of unexpected and significant findings. These called upon the client to reconsider some aspects of programme design and suggested other ways that the organisation could more effectively support participants in applying what they had learned back in the workplace.

to conduct longitudinal interviews with the participants at three points in time immediately before the programme, within the week following the programme, and two to three months later. The intention behind this design was to discover the following: What did the participants bring with them in terms of knowledge, skills and beliefs about the subject matter and expectations about the programme? What did they take with them in terms of knowledge, skills and beliefs about the subject matter and intentions for applying what they had learned? What did they keep over time in terms of the knowledge, skills and beliefs they had learned in the programme and been able to consolidate through workplace application and practice? We designed an interview protocol that allowed us to ask essentially the same questions at all three points in time. The protocol was broken down into two sections, one that focused on their understanding of and experience with the subject matter, and the other that explored the process and outcomes of their participation in the programme (e.g. expectations, emotions, opportunities and challenges, etc.). Because the instrument was repetitive and potentially boring to participants, we warned them that the questions would be familiar but that we were interested in their responses at this particular point in time. We were pleased to find that participant involvement was thoughtful and considered, especially considering the time pressures to which this particular pool of participants were subject. The value of this particular approach proved to be the opportunity it presented to analyse the data in a variety of different ways. First, we conducted longitudinal analysis of individual participant learning over the three points in time. Second, we analysed the responses to each question across participants and identified crosssectional themes. And third, we analysed the entire data set for any particular learning-related themes and findings that emerged. These three separate analyses provided a rich set of findings that included a number of surprises for client and faculty alike. In particular, new insights were generated in terms of the kinds of learning that were occurring in the programme, differences among participants in their ability to engage with the material, the opportunities and challenges that participants faced in transferring the learning back into the workplace, and the kinds of support that most effectively enabled them to do so.

The value of a well-designed impact evaluation

Both standard and bespoke approaches to learning assessment and impact evaluation, such as the two examples outlined above, can bring great value in terms of understanding how to enhance learning outcomes and facilitate learning transfer for a particular programme. Perhaps more important, a well-designed evaluation can generate data that is invaluable in pinpointing the factors that have an impact on the effectiveness of all L&D programmes within a particular organisation. For example, in one organisation we discovered that the support of supervisors and colleagues was one of the most critical factors in whether individual participants were able to practise and consolidate their learning. In another organisation, the determining factor was the organisational structure and the reward system. In both of these evaluations, the client came away not only understanding how to enhance learning outcomes on a specific programme, but also how they might support the transfer of learning and impact of L&D interventions across the board. Until very recently, learning assessments and impact evaluations were generally viewed as expensive and optional programme addons. They seemed to eat up substantial investments of time and money while producing findings of questionable significance. The field of evaluation has evolved and more and better evaluation methodologies are now available. Return on investment (ROI) is still a tough nut to crack, but valuable data on learning outcomes and learning transfer, and to some extent workplace and business impact, can now be collected. Market surveys by industry experts and our own experience suggest that a new era in evaluation has dawned. Organisations at the forefront no longer view learning assessments and impact evaluations as expense items in the L&D or training budget but as investments in the overall development of organisational capability. Evaluation is no longer an add-on; it is part and parcel of a well-designed learning and development programme.

Example of a bespoke learning assessment

The success case method is an appropriate evaluation methodology in some but not all circumstances. In some cases it is necessary or desirable to develop a bespoke approach for assessing learning transfer and/or evaluating programme impact. A bespoke approach is often formative in nature in that those involved wish to improve or enhance an ongoing programme rather than evaluate a programme that has already ended. We recently designed a learning assessment for one of our ongoing programmes tailored to a specific client. In particular, we wanted to evaluate whether participants were achieving their desired learning outcomes during the programme and optimising their learning transfer in the months following the programme. We approached our tailored client with a proposal to conduct a learning assessment with two upcoming cohorts of the programme and were granted permission to proceed. Given our objectives and the resource and logistical constraints involved, we decided

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Talent Management in recession and resurgence

Karen Ward, head of Ashridge Consultings Strategic HR and Talent Management practice, shares research findings into how people identified as high potentials have experienced the organisational response to the need to manage and value talent during a recession.
Just over twelve months ago Converse reviewed the Talent Management (TM) research that Ashridge conducted in partnership with the Chartered Management Institute, reflected on the TM landscape in the midst of the deepest recession in a generation and noted some fundamental assumptions and key themes. These included: People hold onto safe jobs in an uncertain world Most organisations define talent through some reference to potential TM systems can be dangerously static. Some complementary research that first started in 2005 and is ongoing1, has enquired into these themes from the perspective of individuals who have been identified as high potentials. Just what has been their experience of the organisational response to the need to manage and value talent during a recession? ongoing research1, a recent poll of global high potentials by Talented Psychology Consulting (TPC) indicated that 63.5% of the sample have left an organisation or role because they were under-challenged or bored. The research has highlighted that the organisations which responded to the recession by limiting opportunities for challenge and creativity and who played it safe, have damaged their ability to thrive as recovery returns, by alienating the very employees who create superior value.

Most organisations define talent through some reference to potential

Second, research yielded up some interesting insights into the issue of potential2. The key issue that the recession has brought to the forefront is one of quantity and quality. Talent pools have been shown to be rather shallow when it comes to people with potential to lead in times of ambiguity, complexity and rapid change. Research by the Corporate Leadership Council has shown that less than a third of those identified as talent actually has potential and Ashridge research (Blass, 2007) indicated that only 31% of managers were confident that their appraisal system is capable of identifying high potentials. So that even when organisations had developed succession plans and talent pools, they often lacked the right person for key strategic change leadership roles, when they were most needed.

People hold onto safe jobs in an uncertain world

First, the fundamental assumption that talent does not leave during a recession has not been played out indeed the opposite has proved to be true in many cases. Individuals with high potential know their worth and have clear ideas about the type of organisation and the type of work they want to engage in. As part of the
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For the last five years TPC has been undertaking research into the criteria that predict leadership potential in times of ambiguity1. Cofounder of TPC, Dr Mary Elaine Jacobsen, is the world expert in gifted adults and has been applying her considerable wealth of experience of the gifted educational world to the organisational arena. Her research with identified high potentials has demonstrated that many organisations have significant bias against the very individuals they claim to want to retain and develop. They want the value they contribute to the organisation, but do not want to invest in understanding what motivates and engages them.

Figure 2: Talent Management as a dynamic process

L TA

ENT

DEVELOPMENT
redundant talent requirements

Talent Management in action

TALENT IDENTIFICATION Performance Potential Motivation

emergent high potentials

emergent talent requirements

talent pools and succession plans

high potential departures

TM systems can be dangerously static

Some organisations, where HR is involved in true strategic leadership, have begun to have a more sophisticated approach to their TM: they explicitly link the acquisition and development of talent to the strategic priorities of their businesses. They have sought to create vertical alignment from the people processes to the business performance outcomes and have also focused on the horizontal alignment of the resourcing and development activities as illustrated in Figure 1. However, the most sophisticated response we have encountered to date (and it is not widespread, nor comprehensive) is from those organisations that recognise that talent management goes beyond a linear supply chain of talent and is both a dynamic process and a two way dialogue between the organisation and its high potential employees. It recognises
Source: Adapted from Pidgeon/Moncrieff (1999)

EV TA L E N T R

IEW

Figure 1: Strategic alignment of Talent Management

Source: Richardson, D. (2008) SHRM

Hiring

Onboarding

Assessing

BUY

Sourcing

Attraction

It was noted by interviewees3 that where they felt valued, their organisations recognised that there are three elements to be considered when considering talent identification. First, the issue of high current performance: many organisations have reasonable robust processes for knowing who their current high performers are; although evidence from An environment where talent thrives high potentials in global organisations still What are the key characteristics of an organisation demonstrates an HQ or Corporate Centre that is going beyond the norm and creating an perspective on what constitutes performance. environment where high potentials thrive? There This may mean that as market opportunities shift are a number of factors that were commented on to different parts of the globe, the organisation by our research participants. may be slower to respond with appropriate depth and breadth of talent. The personal motivation of the individual employees is often overlooked. Many organisations assume all their talented employees Strategy aspire to senior roles, yet action research from the last decade indicates that the percentage of high potentials on talent development initiatives who wish to take up senior posts in their organisation is steadily declining. In our interviews with high Talent potentials, less than 10% had been open with Brand Talent engagement & proposition progression their organisations about their intentions. So retention the reasons behind this decline are neither apparent or being explored, as there is no real dialogue taking place between individuals and organisations. Talent The area that is least Employer brand BUILD development Leadership brand developed in nearly all the organisations reviewed is the third area: potential. The vast majority of organisations still rely on line management judgements to assess potential, despite the negative Talent Talent identification endorsement consequences for the requisite variety of the resulting talent pool. Even more critical from the
>> continued over page
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that talent conversations are part of the DNA of the organisation, rather than one-off annual processes, and that talent can and do make choices. They aspire to respond to the needs of their high potentials by exploring what they are looking for, rather than presuming that what the organisation has to offer currently meets the need.

Talent identification

high potential perspective is the context within which the identification process takes place who is involved? Is it transparent? Are the talent consulted or are their needs assumed? Does the TM system seek to fit square pegs into the preexisting round holes or does it genuinely look to identify talent and then create opportunities for that talent to add value? As the economy emerges from recession and nudges its way into recovery, what should organisations be paying attention to if they want to retain and maximise the potential of their top talent? Certainly, the TM environment should be dynamic, with the right ways of identifying who should be in the pool of top talent, aligned to the strategic needs of the organisation. However, there are a number of other issues which our research suggests should be considered.

Redundant talent
An interesting paradox emerged in our conversations with high potentials: how often does someone get taken off a succession plan or out of a talent pool? Given the rapid pace of change in our external environment, one might conclude that this would be a relatively frequent occurrence. Yet evidence suggests otherwise. For example: In one organisation involved in our research, an individual had been identified in the corporate succession plan as Ready Now for promotion to the next level for the previous three years, but in that time had been unsuccessful in every promotion he applied for. When challenged about this apparent contradiction, the Talent Review Committee responded but we dont want to de-motivate him. It had never occurred to them that the mismatch between the intent (of being in the talent pool) and the action (being turned down for promotion) was de-motivating the individual anyway. When interviewed for the research, the individual knew things were not working and just wanted someone to be honest with him about his real potential to progress within the organisation so he could make some choices about his career. He was willing to hear what he needed to do differently and was open to needing development. Without feedback he felt unable to make progress and was actively considering leaving the organisation, despite possessing key capabilities that the organisation needed and having key elements of the potential to progress.

required for success will shift and consequently the makeup of the talent pool will reflect these changes over time. Ongoing talent conversations which are part of daily business keep open channels of communication and manage expectations accordingly.

Talent reviews
Consequently, in mature TM environments, talent conversations are an integral part of the daily business, rather than something hosted by HR in an external forum once or twice a year. Each time a new assignment is allocated or a new team created, the development opportunity presented is considered alongside the task outcome. The vertical alignment to the business strategy keeps the TM strategy relevant and forward-focused and the horizontal alignment of people processes that creates a culture that understands and utilises potential means the right people are in the right place when the business needs them. So a year on and there is much work in progress and much to be hopeful about. However insights from the high potentials themselves indicates that there are lots of missed opportunities that could easily be spotted and too many organisations are still allowing high potentials to walk out their doors to create future competitors
1 Talent Psychology Consulting Alumni Consortium Action Research 2 Jacobsen, M.E. (2008) Giftedness in the Workplace can bright minds thrive in todays organisations? Mensa Research Journal, Vol. 39, No 2 3 Jacobsen, M.E. and Ward, K. (2009) Why I dont want to work for you: Top Talent speaks out www.talentpsychology.com

Talent development
A recent survey of global high potentials1 illustrated that over a third of them had left an organisation because the talent development programme did not meet their needs. Research3 has demonstrated that high potentials continue to walk out the door of organisations because they do not feel the development process is mutually beneficial. Too often there is a one size fits all approach to developing key talent. The focus on Return on Investment (ROI) in learning and development has made the process lopsided in favour of organisational outcomes, rather than exploring what would be valuable to high potential employees, thereby creating a talent win-win. High potentials want to be engaged in the process of designing the development they participate in they prefer learning processes that actively involve them in co-creating their own learning: for example coaching; peer reviews; action learning and live case assignments.

How honest are your talent conversations?

Talent pools and succession plans
Once an organisation has matured into an organisation where high potential thrives, we notice clear differentiations between the succession plans and the talent pools. The succession plan is a tactical, short term (up to three years) snapshot of who is available to step into key roles throughout the organisation it will contain a mix of high potentials, high performers and safe pairs of hands. Its primary purpose is business continuity: how do we ensure we have a contingency for all our key roles so that we can deliver the business outcomes we have committed to key stakeholders? The talent pool, on the other hand, is a network with permeable boundaries, which contains those individuals who have been identified as having the potential to take on roles outside their current areas of responsibility and to progress beyond their current level in the organisation. As the external environment changes, the capabilities

Emerging requirements for talent

TPCs research1 indicates that not only do talent pools contain too few individuals with real potential, but that they are also overpopulated with the capabilities the organisation needs today, rather than in the future. A key question for the owners of the TM strategy is to what extent does your current talent process enable you to scan the horizon and hypothesise what capabilities will be in the ascendant three to five years from now? Are you close to the boundaries of your organisation, listening to what customers and suppliers are asking for? How are you future-proofing your talent process? Feedback from high potentials1 in growing BRIC markets indicates many organisations may suffer from talent blindness in many instances.

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Brands, trademarks and patents are gaining ever more high profiles and importance. They are generating unprecedented coverage in popular media, not least due to the copycat culture being facilitated by readily available technology. Not surprisingly, business is booming for leading Patent Attorneys like Gill Jennings and Every LLP (GJE). Philippa Hardman describes her work with them.

Governance choices for growth at GJE

Founded as a partnership in London nearly 100 years ago, GJE currently consists of some 100 staff, made up of 14 Partners, associates and support staff. The founding Partners may be long gone but the firms expertise continues to be replenished by talent from disciplines such as natural sciences and engineering. While the stable for their talent might have been the same as that of the founding Partners, the business they are joining is operating in a far more complex, global environment. For example, GJE is now an expert in opposition and appeals at the European Patent Office activity which has led to the firms presence in Munich as well as in the City of London and Cambridge. GJE people are highly professional and knowledgeable about their day to day business, but like many partnerships, they have found themselves facing challenging issues about the future of their organisation. Recognising the need for a coherent approach in preparing for the future, they asked Ashridge Consulting (AC) to help them take stock of their current position and help them think about where the organisation is going. AC initiated an inquiry process that involved staff at all levels: this involved one-to-one conversations and focus groups, exploring everyones understanding about where the business is now and where it needs to be in the future. Some of the issues that emerged will resonate with many consultancies and Partnerships that reach a critical point in their growth and lifecycle of the business: Is the involvement of all Partners in both the strategic and the more mundane resulting in slow decision-making processes and duplication of effort? What can be safely delegated? To what extent should business won by Partners be serviced by them personally or might it be shared to ensure more even workloads? Does GJEs reputation lie with the firm or does it rest on loyalty to individual Partners? Are the right people doing the right things? How can this size of business best handle issues of modern working life, such as work/life balance and flexible working? Is there sufficient shared clarity about important business issues such as profitability, risk and the operating environment? The results of the inquiry were fed back to Partners in a one-day workshop. To some, the feedback was familiar in its themes, whilst for others it bore elements of surprise. But the Partners unanimously acknowledged that issues around how the Partnership is managed and governed were getting in the way of any other conversations about the future. Earlier attempts to address this, through the appointment of focused committees, had simply resulted in duplication of time and effort and the creation of silos. The days discussion resulted in the 14 Partners decision to elect a three-person steering group. The steering group, as well as AC Consultant Philippa Hardman, undertook to explore issues of management and governance at other similar Partnerships, looking to identify examples of best practice, efficiency and effectiveness. Three good models emerged from this investigation, and in another workshop with the full Partnership each option was presented by one of the steering group members. They each talked to a couple of Partners about their particular model, gaining their thoughts and feedback, before the Partners moved on to discuss the next option. In this way, each member of the steering group was able to gather the thoughts and reactions of all the Partners to the different models and identify where preferences lay. In addition, a lawyer visited to talk about the experience of changing the governance structures within his firm. Not only sharing practical details, he empathised about what such changes could actually feel like: it might involve taking power for some and relinquishing it for others. It wasnt just about appointing leaders it was also about becoming followers. It was overwhelmingly clear to the steering group from their conversations that Partners preferred model of governance was the appointment of three Managing Partners and a Chief Operating Officer. AC helped them create an election process whereby each Partner was automatically a nominee unless they chose to deselect themselves, and each Partner could exercise three votes. In November 2009, their vote resulted in a decisively clear outcome, with the appointment of Robert Skone James, Alasdair MacQuarrie and Helen Jones as Managing Partners. Jeremy Dutton was recruited as Chief Operating Officer, joining the firm at the beginning of 2010. This team of four now take all the business decisions and in the event of stalemate on any decision, Robert Skone James as Chairman holds an overruling vote. Its still early days and the process of handing over professional work, to free up time for more management and governance duties, is still in progress. But the managing team are starting their roles from a secure base, as a result of the highly participative process by which the management model was arrived at and by which they were elected. All Partners are supporting them in their new role and are far more optimistic about being able to make headway in preparing the firm to face the future

AC were able to help us address not just our vision for the future but the very practical people and management issues that were blocking our own attempts to move forward. They really understood the issues that face professional services Partnerships and brought the right blend of understanding and challenge.
Robert Skone James, Chairman GJE
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Change in the Valleys

by Kate Campbell

In Converse we aim to give you stories of current client work and the latest perspectives on challenges faced by organisations. But this article is about work which Ashridge consultants began nearly a decade ago. The publication of a new book, Seeds for Change Action Learning for Innovation, has brought a remarkable management development project back into focus. The seeds which we helped to sow back in 2001, developing the skills of 16 action learning facilitators, have germinated and flourished over the years. The work has become a force for regeneration and innovation embracing over 1,000 Welsh farmers and is a superb example of sustainable learning.

the idea of designing a management development programme for Welsh farmers was obviously way out of our zone of experience and I could not see how to get Welsh farmers into such a programme, nor how to teach them management, whatever that might mean in their context. We were told, repeatedly and forcefully, Welsh farmers do not work in groups. They are canny, careful, undemonstrative, quiet. They do not let on, open up, express their vulnerabilities and passions with others, probably not even with their own families let alone neighbours or strangers.

The development of the Agrisgp facilitators

Many of these facilitators had been accustomed to working in an advisory capacity as expert agricultural consultants and themselves needed to un-learn well-developed skills and cast aside their expert mantle in order to play a truly facilitative role. They faced the challenge of resisting taking responsibility for others problems and giving advice. While an appreciation of the facts and figures, and a certain degree of business acumen, were important, an understanding and empathy for the difficult decisions and tensions farmers were experiencing was critical to their new role says Shirine.

The approach which emerged

But the Ashridge team, led by Robin, with Claire Jones, David Pearce and Shirine Voller in support, did know how experienced, mature and dedicated people learn, and believed in certain fundamental principles: learning through enquiry and action; peer-based learning in a community; the need for an appreciative and respectful environment. They brought these beliefs to their work with a passionate group of individuals from two Welsh organisations: ADAS (a rural development consultancy) and Menter a Busnes, whose deep experience and knowledge of the Welsh farming community gave them the credibility to work directly with the farming families. They were all too familiar with the many challenges and problems facing these families: problems of succession, of inspiring young people to stay and work on the land, the lack of community leaders and rural entrepreneurs and the general social and cultural decline in rural areas. They would be the delivery agents of the Action Learning programme, now known as Agrisgp.

The challenge
At the beginning of the new Millennium many farms in Wales were struggling and the authorities, encouraged by the European Union, were searching for ways to renew all sectors of the economy and their communities. New and innovative approaches were required experiments which would sow the seeds for change. There was a strong desire that change should be sustainable, and Action Learning where participants study their own actions and experience to improve performance was chosen by the Welsh Assembly Government as the basis for the work. Supporting organisations with their change agenda is Ashridge Consultings core business; Action Learning a methodology in which we are skilled; but working with farming families and their local communities was less familiar territory. As Robin Ladkin describes: The need seemed pretty well articulated and clear, but
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Managing the project

Eirwen Williams, now Director of Rural Programmes at Menter a Busnes, was joint project manager of Agrisgp and still leads this remarkable programme. She describes her initial doubts about the project: When I was first introduced to Action Learning, I struggled with the touchy

Members of the Dolau Cothi Welsh Lamb Group

feely concept and couldnt imagine practical and hardworking farmers sitting in groups and discussing and disclosing issues that were close to their hearts. More than that, I was nervous about the actual benefit to farming families. The training delivered by Ashridge Consulting was a journey into a new life. It opened my eyes to a new way of thinking; I felt part of a family; a family that would support each other no matter what. One of the first Agrisgp facilitators was Huw Davies, a sheep farmer and Farm Software Trainer at the time. As he arrived for his first training session he was warned by Eirwen not to be surprised by anything. He recalls: The two days I spent in the company of David, Claire, Robin and Shirine were different; enlightening, empowering and started me on a voyage of selfdiscovery that is still ongoing. The first memory I have of the training is everybody being asked to tell their stories and how powerful a technique that has turned out to be over the years. Huw is still a passionate advocate of the process and a facilitator of 14 Agrisgp groups.

Successes
Testament to the success of the Agrisgp programme are the many examples of entrepreneurship and innovation, representing all aspects of Welsh agriculture lamb, beef, eggs, beer, biofuel, farm tourism that have been launched in the decade since it started. One of the first successes was a group of National Trust tenant farmers from the Dolau Cothi area who secured a contract to sell their lambs collaboratively to Sainsburys at a premium price. Now in their 7th successful year of marketing their produce as a group (winning national and regional awards too) they are considering an additional venture taking over the management of the village pub! Another Agrisgp group, in addition to striking a deal with Marks and Spencer to supply their lamb into their stores for a premium fixed price, developed a unique collective initiative to bring about an even greater change: they have linked up with The Princes Trust to provide learning opportunities for disadvantaged young people on their farms. Participation in their local Agrisgp group gave a Gwaun Valley couple the confidence to turn their farmhouse homebrew into a commercial product, setting up a micro-brewery in a redundant granary. Eight businesses came together to form The Bluebell Egg Agrisgp Group to consider the benefits of sharing and developing ideas regarding free range (blue) egg production. Between them they had 135,000 hens, and from initially sharing production and management ideas, they are now in the final stages of developing their own brand to market their eggs collectively.

had an idea that turning the old cowshed into accommodation for bed and breakfast visitors would make money since my house, with the coming and goings of all the children, felt like a B&B already. But her family were sceptical and resisted the idea: Women arent meant to be the forerunners. We follow behind our men content with being home-providers and good mothers. Joining her local Agrisgp group gave her the confidence to put her idea into practice and she now has a thriving teashop. The nations of the world are sitting in my Grandfathers old cowshed chatting with me and eating my home cooked food. The whole family has embraced the business and even wants her to expand.

Becoming self-sufficient
The Ashridge team is no longer directly involved there was always the intention to withdraw once the initiative was on a sustainable footing. However, the relationships developed over a number of years with the facilitators and project management team endure and the team will always look fondly back on a piece of profound and hugely rewarding work

The ongoing activity

And so it started: having been introduced to the philosophy and skills of Action Learning by the Ashridge consultants and coordinated by Menter a Busnes and ADAS, the Agrisgp facilitators began to bring individuals and families together, creating environments in which they could support and challenge one another to acknowledge current reality, think creatively about how to address the challenges they were facing and make well-informed choices about their futures. As word about this initiative spread, interest in forming new groups grew. The facilitators then became trainers themselves, developing new facilitators to run those groups and so on. In all, there have been more than 120 Action Learning sets established in this way throughout Wales. The project has become a virtuous circle, taking on a life of its own. Far from not working in groups Welsh farmers have embraced the approach Agrisgp offered.

To read the stories first hand

Seeds for Change Action Learning for Innovation

The power of Action Learning

Individual producers coming together to form collectives to wield greater power in the market place is not new, but the book tells stories of empowerment, inspiration and innovation which have been possible by adopting Action Learning as the underlying methodology of the Agrisgp groups. The safe and disciplined environment enables a quality of thinking, listening and sharing that is absent from many environments, families and work situations, says facilitator Olwen Thomas, Agrisgp groups provide that platform to articulate hopes, fears and aspirations for the future. I have sat in amazement as a group have benefited each other financially by sharing information that no other situation would have enabled them to do. Brenda Lewis describes herself as a mother, grandmother and businesswoman. The job I had brought no joy, no fulfilment, just the knowledge that there would be a little something extra at the end of the month for the bills to gobble up. I had
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Some hurdles
However, it has not all been smooth sailing. Recruiting and developing facilitators is a tough business it took time and energy to identify potential facilitators and not everybody recruited onto the programme found they were compatible to the role. The accelerated growth of those who did flourish found it brought its own life-changing challenges. Developing and implementing a programme of this size is complex, and highly dependent on human beings and their interactions Robin writes that at a meta-level there is much to be learned and developed about communitybased projects.

Edited by David Pearce and Eirwen Williams Published by Menter a Busnes, Aberystwyth, 2010 The book can be purchased from Ashridge at a price of 14.99. Contact kate.campbell@ashridge.org.uk.

FROM LIGHT-BULBS TO LIGHT-BULB MOMENTS

CREATING SUSTAINABLE VALUE
by Alexandra Stubbings and Nick Ceasar
So youve changed the light bulbs, recycled the printer cartridges, introduced a travel policy. Maybe youve gone further assigned sustainability roles and responsibilities, implemented an environmental management system, developed a couple of ethical or light green products or services. But sooner or later you find that all the obvious and relatively pain-free things have been done. Change towards sustainable practice has been safely contained within the narrow parameters of technical and processual tweaking, so far as that goes, and the organisation continues pretty much as usual, doing, as green architect Bill McDonaugh might say, its damage more slowly.
Eventually, though, the point is reached where any further tweaking becomes expensive beyond any conceivable return on investment and so continued incremental change becomes prohibitive. From within the paradigm of business-as-usual the pursuit of sustainable business stalls. Could it be time to shift the paradigm? Conventionally, when such a crunch point is reached, the options open are limited to a couple of predictable repertoires. The easiest and quickest option, and the one we saw taken through the recession, is to quietly and subtly allow the range of initiatives to narrow or simply falter and die as part of wider cost cutting measures. The second option involves the redrawing of boundaries, where refreshed objectives and a little restructuring become an effective sleight of hand to keep a companys KPIs on target and to collapse any dissonance between wider corporate responsibilities and profit and growth. However, the potentially more rewarding option, the one that takes enormous bravery,

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determination, and humility, is to question the very notion of business-as-usual, and to address the more fundamental questions of organisational purpose: What is it we are really doing? Why do we exist? What do we want to be known for? What contribution do we want to make, not only to our customers, shareholders and employees, but also our communities, to society, to the environment? It is the option that requires that no stone remains unturned or at least un-turn-able, that nothing is thought of as sacred, impossible or given, and that asks what becoming not just less harmful, but actually restorative, means. These are the questions that inspire transition to truly sustainable value, that shift the paradigm. They are also what we would term substantive questions of organisation identity. And because our personal sense of identity can be so closely associated with our organisations, they can be questions of individual identity too. After all, when we strip away the artefacts and artifice of organisations the facilities, products and services, the processes, physical and virtual systems we realise it is people who constitute what we understand organisation to be, continually reconfiguring it and themselves through the complex interplay of their multiple and mutable relationships and interactions; through their on-going conversations. The organisations we belong to, including the looser affiliations of community, voluntary associations and portfolio networks shape us then, just as we are shaping them. Engaging with these substantive questions of identity can be daunting, and potentially very disturbing, because they are essentially existential in nature. They invite us to ask ourselves as individuals what our own purpose is and why we choose (explicitly or tacitly) to collaborate in the on-going construing of particular social norms and attitudes, of which our organisations are the outward manifestation. They ask what we are choosing to be complicit in and they recognise the fundamentally social nature of our being and our interdependence with others, in the human and more-than-human world. So to work with these questions at the organisational level is also to simultaneously work at the individual level, requiring us to be mindful to power relationships and status, social norms and rituals, pre-existing in-groups and out-groups, and the fluid dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. This means that creating sustainable value is work that cannot be satisfactorily achieved using a traditional top-down change programme, not least because such approaches generally fail to shift how we think and feel. On the other hand, internal grassroots change movements, whilst a great opportunity for on-the-ground engagement, learning and self-organised innovation are unlikely to provide the structure and oversight necessary for a comprehensive, cross-organisational transformation. If we are serious about shifting the paradigm we need to address not only the issues and implications of strategy and operating model, leadership and structure, but more vitally, to shift upstream, to address our habits of thought, our assumptions and beliefs, to see what has been out of awareness till now. The best way to achieve this is to involve and openly engage all internal and external stakeholders, within and outside of our hyper-amorphous organisational boundaries to develop new perspectives and to re-conceive and re-construct what we believe our business is about. Great opportunity lies here. We shift into the realm of meaning and purpose, focusing on the implicit values and ethics that underlie choices and actions and on the diverse motives which guide individual and collective behaviour. In addition, the very act of sharing with others what we value, what has meaning for us, brings us into contact with our nobler, more human selves. It is no coincidence that when invited to share stories of their peak moments in organisational life (quite a generic, if positively-framed question we use frequently in the course of our inquiry work), the stories people tell overwhelmingly reveal qualities of care, passion and compassion, expansive attention to the needs of others. They are profoundly human stories that speak to deeply felt needs for identity, relationship and recognition. Paradoxically, in the retelling, people experience a higher sense of purpose and connection to others; their field of awareness expands with a consequent outpouring of renewed energy and passion. It is in this more open, exploratory space that we see people engaging positively and willingly with the strategic challenges of their organisations broader context and associated impacts. Engagement for change towards sustainability, then, becomes not a necessary evil or regulatory burden that drains resource and strength from an organisation, but a desirable, vitalising and powerful source from which we can foster possibility, experimentation and innovation. These renewed connections take us beyond our daily preoccupations and our individual selves to where sustainable value is created. So how do you engage potentially large numbers of diverse voices with more or less understanding of the current organisational context and strategy in a dialogue for change?

From within the paradigm of business-asusual the pursuit of sustainable business stalls. Could it be time to shift the paradigm?

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Because of the transformational nature of the work involved the shift in mindset and behaviour the approach needs to be comprehensive, participative, cross-disciplinary and internally coherent. This avoids overlaying yet more discrete initiatives on top of existing systems and processes, by investigating, and if necessary unpicking and re-designing diverse aspects of working practice in line with a clear set of appropriate design principles developed early in the change process. This radically integrated approach transcends top-down and bottomup methodologies to effect more of an all in it together experience; it learns from and reflects the complexity of organisational environmental ecologies on which it depends and works to transcend the poles of the typical dichotomies that many change efforts founder on. So, change in service of sustainable value embraces: planned and emergent initiatives, strategic/whole organisation interventions and tactical/local experimentation. It is multi-level and inclusive, (in terms of hierarchy, function, other stakeholders), multi-stranded (congruent, consistent streams of change activity simultaneously), and highly adaptive (sensitive to feedback from both within and outside of the organisation). We have summarised this as:

Drawing on firsthand experience and theoretical insight from psychology, ecology and sociology, and methodologies building on action research, appreciative inquiry and complexity theory, the model of change recognises the unique challenges of creating sustainable value. Whilst superficially it can be conceptualised as a cycle of sensitising, re-visioning and transforming, it is better understood as a spiral, as the process can start small, with quite limited, local and safe explorations and activities, but can quickly broaden to encompass much larger numbers, deepening engagement, awareness and aspiration.

Sensitising
Traditional change methodologies tend to see the early articulation of the need for change in two ways either as a problem to be solved (Kotters burning platform), or as opportunity to build on strengths and topics of interest already inherent in the on-going discourse (the Discovery work of Appreciative Inquiry). However neither of these approaches adequately deals with what is often a fundamental lack of education, understanding and/or awareness about the contextual issues and challenges that society and therefore organisations must confront. The habitual sources of data and information influencing our strategic decision-

S RAN

FORMING

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making processes no longer suffice. Indeed for many the sources are myopic, short-term and even dangerously ignorant of the potential risk to material, economic and reputational worth of the business. To produce informed strategies that generate sustainable value we need to extend our organisational antennae much further, to hone our attentiveness to the subtle trends and weak signals, not only in our markets, but in our ecosystems, communities, societies and beyond. Sensitising requires new capabilities for leaders and decision-makers, and new strategic practices based on inquiry, engagement and exploration. So we often find that the entry point is sensitising, bringing people into direct contact with new data and broader knowledge repertoires, often in new ways, as well as surfacing they already know implicitly and can access amongst the many stakeholder groups with which they are in contact. In doing so we combine internal inquiry work, (a significant intervention in itself), with novel input from business, science, technology, non-governmental organisations, think tanks, academics and the unusual suspects in local communities, stakeholder groups and, the hardest to hear, the staunch critics. It isnt enough, however, to wheel in a series of talking heads. Absorbing novel information and stimulating fresh learning requires time and considerable space to express doubts, fears and new questions, to make sense individually and collectively. So artful facilitation is key. On the one hand it should safely hold peoples feet to the fire, to help them explore not only the organisational implications but also to connect them personally, resituating themselves in broader relationship to cultural, societal and ecological contexts. On the other it should help sustain their engagement, holding open the space for learning in which new possibilities emerge and from which generative transformation can follow. Greater consciousness of how the organisation is situated within its context will also and inevitably lead to questions of resilience, how well placed the organisation is to sustain itself, what responses are necessary and/or desirable and what fundamentally needs to change. This work of sensitising, done well, draws out the strengths and resources from within the organisation and its members, at the same time as they become aware of and inspired by the transformational change required. So developing sensitivity not only enhances the capability of the organisation to develop sound strategic responses to the complex or wicked problems being faced but also uncovers the opportunities for innovation, novel forms of working and structuring and enlightened working practices. This is where the shift into re-visioning happens.

SENSITISING

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IS

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Re-visioning
Much of the re-visioning phase will happen naturally as a consequence of the sensitising work. We cannot be untouched by what we have learned, nor can we ignore the opportunities presented. So some shift in thinking and acting is inevitable. But for greatest effect we prefer to bring people together, in diverse small and large groups, and invite them to imagine together new possibilities for what they do and how they do it to radically re-conceive organisational purpose, model, strategy, structure and ambition. But rather than the typical small group of senior managers or strategy experts exclusively defining the future strategy and vision on behalf of the whole, the value of re-visioning is the engagement and collective wisdom of crowds that ensues from many voices and perspectives coming together and in their commitment to participate in what they have co-created. The re-visioning phase articulates and briefly enacts what the organisation can become (building on our experience of Appreciative Inquiry Dream work), making re-visioning much more than a new mission or vision statement. It is a dynamic, embodied process where real novelty can emerge, and highly memorable experiences generate positive energy that sustain members through the longer-term work of transformation. or more informally through management sponsorship, prioritising and mentoring will likely make the difference between successful venture and slow dwindling and failure. Such support can take the very practical form of providing training and coaching for local and cross-functional projects. However at an early stage, as the vision for the future organisation emerges, it is worthwhile to develop some clear organising design principles to enable any project, team, function or leader to design processes and systems consistent with organisational purpose and strategic direction. These principles draw on the re-visioning work and incorporate concepts or platforms from ecology and human ecology, articulating aspects of the organisation culture, identity and purpose. As new thinking translates into new design and new process, so new questions emerge how to develop specific new products, whether to penetrate new markets or withdraw from current ones, what alternative forms of governance and organisation can be modelled and experimented with. All such questions lead back to further broadening and deepening of understanding of context further sensitising. And building on the learning and capability developed in the first phase, the work of inquiry and integration of new contextual understanding becomes more easily incorporated as the new business-as-usual. In summary, then, a radically integrative approach to building sustainable value will access and incorporate multiple dimensions of and approaches to change across hierarchy, scale, formality, planning and emergence, technology and behaviour, thinking and acting. It engages broadly and invites participation in the widest sense, to include stakeholders expected and unusual, and it goes with the grain of the culture and existing identity and dynamics to develop clarity of purpose, values and ethical principles upon which new infrastructures can be built. It recognises the importance of the as is whilst also encouraging the continual testing of assumptions and stretching of perspectives. It makes space for the inner work that is required of organisational members and associated stakeholders in re-aligning personal values and beliefs, whilst supporting the wider empowering and liberation of the voice, creativity and higher purpose of the whole organisational community. Finally, it acknowledges and leverages the understanding that developing sustainable value is not only a technical or even behavioural process of change, but requires a shift in how we think, feel and relate in organisational settings, to ourselves, to others and to the more-than-human world. Just as tectonic shifts in the physical world are a combination of many small and fewer large seismic events, it is the combination of the multiple, emergent work in the informal with the more formal large-scale intentional action that shifts the organisational values, purpose and strategy on to a more sustainable and valueadding foundation

Transforming
As with the boundary between sensitising and re-visioning, the boundary between re-visioning and transforming is blurred. The more irresistible the visions of the future created in the re-visioning phase, the greater and swifter the shift into action to bring them powerfully to life. Transforming is often not so much about starting something new as it is blowing on the flames of the many small fires that have already been lit. Sometimes it is more a matter of getting out the way, or even to engage in creative destruction of the old, to allow the new to emerge. This is often the point at which senior managers face some tough choices it is easy to focus only on the quick wins and low hanging fruit, conveniently overlooking the more complex and systemic changes that involve a longer-term return-on-investment and require greater cross-organisation collaboration. It is also the point at which cultural and identity change becomes cemented into operating models, systems and structures. This is where the focus on enabling innovation becomes paramount. As inchoate ideas the small fires start to develop into practical action, qualities of creative thinking, calculated risktaking and intrapreneurship become essential, and the support given formally in incubators, laboratories and allocated innovation funds,

Sensitising requires new capabilities for leaders and decision-makers, and new strategic practices based on inquiry, engagement and exploration

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Changing conversations in a changing climate

It is now widely accepted that regardless of the swiftness of our actions, significant climate change will be inevitable this century and in many instances is already being felt. The effects, current and anticipated, will reach into every aspect of our lives our working practices and transport, our built environment and urban planning, our health and well-being. Governments the world over are acutely aware of this. Despite the failure to agree suitably stretching targets in Copenhagen last year, the recognition of the urgent need to reduce the fossil fuel dependence of our societies on the one hand, and the development of appropriate adaptation strategies on the other, will eventually drive political agendas in every aspect of public life.

by Alexandra Stubbings and Nick Ceasar

Many organisations and business leaders are recognising the need to act urgently, not only to decouple growth from carbon, but also to create the necessary flexibility, creativity and resilience to prepare for adaptation challenges. Many have set targets and objectives. And whilst some have strategies in place to meet them, others are hoping that clearer signals will come from the markets and the policymakers to incentivise and drive the rapid decarbonisation and practical action required. Business is looking to Government to set the pace and scale of change. Yet for many politicians action on climate change is simply not a priority and, even if it was, they would worry about the electorates reaction to strategies to tackle it particularly given the media coverage given to the voice of climate sceptics. Also, climate change, as it is commonly framed today, is often associated with hidden agendas, polarised views, scientific obfuscation and the language of sacrifice - which do little to inspire engagement, change, or win elections.
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It was with this dilemma in mind that Green Alliance, an influential environmental think tank, approached Ashridge, with a view to supporting leading parliamentarians from all three major parties to bring climate change closer to the core of their political agendas; to help them engage with the complexity and ubiquitous nature of the issue and to ensure it becomes figural in shaping the public discourse required for business and society to go further. As Becky Willis, Green Alliance adviser and Vice-Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission states: The political need, locally, nationally and internationally, is to move towards much longerterm planning cycles together with an increasing strategic focus on decarbonising society as well as dealing with extreme weather events. Climate change needs to be part of a wider political and economic convergence that is in turn part of a more simplified and flexible policy framework which makes clear sense to stakeholders and to the public at large.

SUSTAINABILITY SUPPLEMENT
The objective, therefore, of the Climate Change Leadership Programmes held in Whitehall over the winter of 2009/2010, and in the run up to the general election, was to equip a cadre of future potential political leaders with the knowledge, understanding, vocabulary and positive motivation to take assertive and visionary action on climate change in the next government.

Sensitising, re-visioning, transforming

Ashridge Consulting responded with a programme design based on the Sustainability Practices cycle of sensitising, re-visioning and transforming. (See page 32). This starts with sensitising participants to the broad context and its implications; providing diverse perspectives and routes into the territory; creating the essential space needed for participants to articulate the issues and implications in their own language; and connecting them positively and meaningfully to their own story. From the start a variety of opportunities was presented to help the parliamentarians express openly their own concerns, doubts and uncertainties, to suspend their immediate judgements and be curious and open to novel thinking, with the intention that this would allow for the emergence of more generative and creative conversation. Key aspects included: pre-workshop inquiry and interviews; the tightening of

feedback loops (shortening the perceptual distance between action and consequence); the inclusion of multiple voices and viewpoints from a diversity of stakeholders; sequential cycles of inquiry, reflection and dialogue building on previous input; identification and articulation of commitments, to each other and to senior party representatives; all brought together by facilitation that was intended to sympathetically hold the process whilst remaining unattached to any particular outcome.

issue. Each conversation provided a real insight into both the concerns of the participant, the dilemmas they encounter and how climate change is seen as a phenomenon in different constituencies around the UK as shown by the following quotes taken from the interviews. I struggle with the argument around trying to get people to change their behaviour, especially around vehicles. In my living memory poorer people couldnt afford to go abroad on holiday or own a car. On one hand cheap flights dont reflect the externalities, on the other hand these people have been empowered to travel and potentially discover new cultures. Its a question of convenience versus sacrifice. For example: public transport round here is so unreliable.
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Sensitising
Pre-workshop interviews were used to make initial contact, to discover each politicians main preoccupations, to understand how they experience climate change and to talk through any mixed feelings they might have about the

Alexandra Stubbings and Nick Ceasar: Leaders of the Ashridge Sustainability Practice

What has been the most significant event of the decade? According to Sir Terry Leahy, CEO of Tesco, the UKs largest employer, there have been three: Asia has re-emerged as the generator of most of the worlds GDP after two centuries of Western dominance The internet has transformed communication, and so peoples lives Climate change has become an incontrovertible fact.
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There is too much spin and information. Too many organisations telling us to do little things that act as distractions and will not add up to anything. Companies are making a lot of money out of this e.g. charging for plastic bags. Tightening the feedback loops in this instance means helping people to draw more immediate connections between their own more personal experiences and likely responses and that of the broader debate about global long term trends and climate sensitivity. For the parliamentarians, with limited time available, some initial sensitising at the workshop was achieved using a carefully designed gallery containing images, text and multi-media. We asked participants to highlight points of interest with post-it notes and comment on things that drew their attention. The inclusion of models, maps and graphs, quotes, comments and news stories, and photos, imagery and film, helped them to engage with the material on multiple levels, whatever their preferred learning style or way of interpreting information. As facilitators we could connect the themes coming out from the gallery to other aspects of the workshop throughout the day, enabling us to continually ground what could be quite an abstract topic into the reality of participants own contexts.

Re-visioning
As we started to focus in on the detail, such as the policy implications, for example, we wanted to ensure that each session was participant-led. This means that rather than diving into the scientific technicalities that so often halt expansive dialogue, we stay with the more qualitative aspects by asking the participants to think about: What really is the heart of the matter here in my own words? What elements of the gallery speak to me now? What are the grey areas in all of this? What new questions are emerging as a result of this?
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The intent behind this approach is the recognition that every significant perspective has some slice of the truth in it, even though there may be multiple and conflicting truths. By holding open the group to the paradoxes and conflicts within the climate change arena we give more attention to the patterns and relationships between the various aspects of the debate and avoid simply collapsing into a singular, and overly simplistic, discussion that gives us only one perspective as to what the most appropriate action might be. In practice this meant that rather than the usual keynote followed by a Q&A, participants were introduced briefly to the territory and the speaker and asked to come up with the questions they wanted answering. These could then be clustered, and the speaker could immediately see where the interest lay. One clear advantage of such an approach was the collapsing of the distance between speaker and participants. Whilst these experts would be more than comfortable delivering lectern based soliloquies, in this instance they readily engaged on a far more personal and relational level. This not only reduced the power difference but greatly enhanced the quality and depth of engagement and learning. Again, a potentially abstract topic was rendered more real by the speakers telling their personal stories of reacting to the evidence.

the then Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, invited participants to continue to develop their interest in climate change leadership following the General Election Im doing a radio interview next week and I asked for climate change to be on the agenda. Previously I would not have been confident enough to have the debate Labour PPC The policy and politics session really made me think about how to create policies which are more carrot than stick more likely to appeal to voters Conservative PPC

Speakers included: Professor Brian Hoskins Fellow of The Royal Society Stephen Hale Director, Green Alliance David Kennedy Chief Executive, Committee on Climate Change Ed Langley Head of Environment, IPSOS Mori Ben Caldecott Climate Change Capital Juliet Davenport Chief Executive, Good Energy Group Gavin Neath CBE Senior Vice President Communications and Sustainability, Unilever

Working with Conservative candidates and Greg Clark, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in January 2010

Transforming
Of course at some point we need to convert dialogue into action and commitment, and begin to discuss what we might do differently as leaders, what we might experiment with and what support we need going forward. As part of this we were fortunate enough to be joined by party leaders in front of whom these commitments could then be stated. As the parliamentarians were very aware, public and high profile commitments such as these are much harder to retract and so become very powerful routes to change. In this context, Greg Clark,

SUSTAINABILITY SUPPLEMENT

How to look deeper

In November 2009 Ashridge Consultants Chris Nichols and Chris Seeley brought together 20 people from business, NGOs and government, from Europe to Vietnam to Brazil, for a Purpose and Profit workshop: a week of shared inquiry jointly hosted by Ashridge Consulting and Schumacher College, to ask profound questions about business: what is it for, and how might it be re-envisioned? In this article, Chris Nichols reflects on an inspiring and insightful week and shares his observations about what made possible the challenges and learning that occurred through various ways of exploring the deepest questions. He notes, once again, that learning emerges from the informal and the unintended as well as from carefully crafted contributions and processes.

An invitation to look beyond commonplace ways of seeing

The starting point for our week together was a willingness to accept an invitation. This workshop was advertised jointly by Ashridge and Schumacher as exploratory and challenging work. Simply by choosing to come on the workshop an important first step towards deep exploration was taken. The group also met in an on-line forum prior to the workshop, to begin getting to know each other, sharing their perspectives on business and their reasons for coming. But beyond this step of invitation and preparation, what was it that enabled the group to work deeply and well? My first observation is that for good exploration to come about, a good enough provocation is needed. This provocation is needed to provide a purposeful challenge to everyday ways of seeing, sufficient to incite interest in exploring the topic and to provide a starting point. In this case the challenge offered by the facilitators to the group was that business as usual rests on three interrelated fantasies. These are: The Fantasy of Limitless Growth The Fantasy of Actions without Consequences The Fantasy of Separateness. Each one of the common fantasies was stated and explained by the facilitators, then opened up for conversation within the group.

First, the belief that growth can be without limits and society is successful only if its economy is growing. Governments measure success by pointing to economic progress. In the boardroom, it takes a brave manager to ask: why do we need to grow? Yet we live in a finite biosphere. Fitting infinite human economic activity into a finite biosphere is a sleight of hand that the Earth cant afford. Secondly we have the fantasy of actions without consequences: the idea that we can act in any way and that it will not have consequences that we need to consider or be responsible for. The benefits of most business actions flow to the individual, their company and their customers. The costs are borne elsewhere and go unaccounted for. Strategic conversations rarely touch on them. Thirdly we have the fantasy of separateness. Most of we humans engaged in corporate life (as both executives and consumers), live a life heavily insulated from the biological reality of our being. Gregory Bateson noted: If this is your estimate of your relation to nature and you have an advanced technology, your likelihood of survival will be that of a snowball in hell. Until business starts to be framed and formed from a position of oneness with the biosphere, rather than from a position of separate from, the consequences of the three fantasies will continue to unfold.
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Graphics by Chris Seeley

A different framing
My second observation, one familiar to all consultants and facilitators working creatively, is that the work of looking deeper requires a different perspective, a different lens. We all see the world through familiar filters. Much of our mental processing is automatic. The familiar metaphors of business are machine words and imagery: cogs, wheels, supply chains, alignments. Once we expect to see the world that way, we see the world that way. So how can we see the world of business with fresh eyes? For participants in the Purpose and Profit workshop, the re-framing took place in Martin Crawfords forest garden on the Dartington estate. Martin began his 2.5 acre garden 15 years ago, fencing a disused paddock. Now it is a flourishing food forest, growing enough to feed a family of eight. As we walked around the garden, Martin spoke about plants and forest maintenance. But he could just as easily have been speaking about the frontiers of business. I wrote down some of Martins observations about his garden and Chris Seeley recorded these graphically (see illustrations above). Martin spoke about an equation for the garden: energy in and energy out. His yield per acre is lower than conventional industrial farming, but his energy input is tiny. His no dig, low maintenance approach means the food forest needs only ten days a year of maintenance and the garden produces no waste. What a profound challenge to business thinking this is. How different would your organisation be, measured on an energy

input-output scale? How different is business where all waste from one activity is an input for another? Martin spoke about how his raspberries have migrated several metres southwards since planting. Traditional gardening would weed out the new growth, keeping the plants in their set place. But this would stress the plants and they would need feeding and replacing. The freshly migrating plants are vigorous and healthy. How much organisational effort goes into keeping the appearance of order, and what is lost as we do it? How would business be if we let the raspberries head south? There was much more to be learned from visiting Martins garden. Martin described his food forest as partially managed wildness. Out of this wildness emerges a sophisticated, resilient, diversity. It struck us that much of the deep strategic issues of this century are about business learning how to work well with partially managed wildness. Our visit to Martins garden offered us a powerful reframing of the traditional view and helped us to envisage business.

Ways of making sense

My third observation is that we gained insight through many less familiar ways of sense-making and sharing: Graphic facilitation: Not only is Chris Seeley a superb facilitator and group worker, but she also brings an extraordinary talent for recording conversations graphically. Her illustration of the conversation following the visit to the forest garden is included in the image above. We found

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that people gathered around the artwork and new conversations flowed. New connections and insights were made that might easily have slipped away without the graphic record being with us. Freefall writing: Sometimes it makes sense to write without thinking. We frequently paused to allow a few minutes of freefall writing. Peter Reason talks about this technique as writing without a parachute letting go of control and settling into wild mind. Just writing without thinking and without stopping may seem strange, but new insights and connections spontaneously emerge. One of our participants reflected afterwards . What could I hope to gain from that? Quite a lot it would seem. I have reviewed those jottings several times and remain surprised at how eloquently my subconscious spoke to me prompting a round of deep reflection that would crystallise the jumble that was crashing about in my head. Collage and sculpture: Sometimes words arent the right medium, so we took the opportunity to play, to create. Accompanied by the spare and spacious music of Arvo Parts Alina, we each made collages or sculptures to explore and express whatever understanding was emerging. Once the exhibits were prepared, the group divided: half to present their work as artists, half to visit the exhibition as critics and writers. Roles were then exchanged, and once everyone had visited, everyone spent some time in freefall writing, and then in sense-making conversations. One of our participants wrote of this: A collage made of magazine cuttings and framed by the liberal application of felt-tip pen? That particular piece of contemporary art is now taped to my office wall to remind me to find the courage to step into a more activist role. Photography: One of our participants was Steve Marshall, photographer and doctoral student. Throughout the week, Steve worked with his camera. Once again, the richness of having another way of seeing, re-presenting and re-interpreting the work and conversations was part of the creation of new insight. As Steve reflected: A month or so later, it is the shift of attention that is having the greatest effect. I am seeing different things. I am reacting differently to my world. The process started with the photographs that I took of our group by trying to express relationship rather than image something changed for me seeing life differently feels like a significant change. As I reflect now on Steves words, I notice the power of his trying to express relationships rather than images. Working in this way Steve reminds us visually of the fundamental place of right relationships at the heart of creating business that stands sustainably on the Earth.

The power of the deeply simple

My final observation is about the value of the simplest things. Simply being together, talking, living in community and sharing the work of cooking, cleaning and gardening deepened our inquiry. As Steve Marshall wrote, he valued: the incidental learning, the small asides, the patient and generous questioning of my fellow participants as we chatted The daily routine of Schumacher contributes well to this kind of experience. Questions of how we should behave in business generated a greater sense of meaning when we were in conversation with colleagues as we cut apples together, which heightened our senses as well as our intellect. Our contribution to the daily chores of the college slows us down and offers space for a wider perspective. How different would business be if we simply took the time to cut apples together sharing the menial tasks at the heart of the business, without awareness of power and status, and if we derived insights and solutions from using our senses as much as our intellect? As for the small asides, the patient and generous questioning, I cannot speak too highly of the importance of slow, patient and generous conversations. Hugh Pidgeon worked with the group on the practice of dialogue, creating conversations of greater depth, noticing and letting go of layer upon layer of assumption. For me, the stories of the impact of good conversations played a vital part in moving the group to work more deeply. Hugh introduced the group to the story of Brendan Dunny, the secret peacemaker who for two decades hosted in his home secret talks between military republicans and agents of the British Government. The words that stay with me today are Dunnys when speaking of a militant splinter group that still excludes itself from the peace settlement: Dont exclude them, he said. So much of the practice of working more deeply lies in not excluding. Not excluding the voice you most dont want to hear, not excluding the potential of the position we just dont understand. What would be different in the relationship between business and the planet if we worked in patient conversation, not excluding points of view we find difficult to hear, including the perspective of the other than human world?

I know that for some readers this will be a step beyond what is comprehensible. Wayne, in some ways represents a way of seeing that is excluded from everyday organisational life. But that is the point. We have depleted our ways of seeing to such an extent that we are bewildered, we have lost our connection to wildness and a sense of wonder. Wayne brings wonder flooding back to everyone he touches and he is, because of this, one of the greatest teachers. Simply working in the kitchen with him brings about new ways of seeing, and new ways of seeing are at the heart of the healing that needs to come about. Coming to a place where we can allow ourselves to see the world differently is a way to experience deep learning. So is the work of finding ways, step by step to bring our new ways of seeing into practice. Bringing together the right group with shared intent is part of our work as consultants, in enabling deep learning to be experienced. Another part of the work is to offer a challenge to conventional thinking and to provide new framings that allow alternative ways of seeing. Above all it is the social and the relational parts of the work that deepen the exploring: the sharing of insights through multiple and diverse ways of making and representing emerging sense made, and of shaping and supporting planned actions from which more learning will flow. Above all, this work although urgent is not hurried. Reframing understanding of business requires us to hold space and time as precious, but to work at the pace that is necessary, knowing that no particular outcome can be assumed

A closing thought: cutting apples

One participant spoke of the revelation of working in the kitchen with Wayne Schroeder. Wayne is catering manager at Schumacher College, and he has a profound impact on everyone who visits. Wayne brings reverence to his relationship to food, respecting each apple, seeing its beauty, holding the apple sacred.

How much organisational effort goes into keeping the appearance of order, and what is lost as we do it?

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Coaching Supervision:
Quality Assurance for executive coaches?
Access to coaching is no longer viewed as a privilege restricted to an organisations elite: over the last decade it has become widely used as a just in time development intervention in a wide range or managerial and technical settings. For the in-house learning and development specialist, this widened access brings with it the challenge of ensuring that the coaching is fit for purpose not an easy task given the confidential nature of the vast majority of coaching relationships. In this article, David Birch explores the purpose and benefit of coaching supervision and its importance in ensuring the quality and professionalism of executive coaching in organisations.
Executive Coaching: the emergence of a new profession
Only a few years ago, it was easy to set yourself up as an executive coach, with credentials based on recommendations and past experience. Qualifications were unheard of and very few organisations thought to ask about prior training or ongoing arrangements for professional development. All that is changing: most large corporations now make use of internal and external coaches, who are expected to have been trained and accredited by a recognised institution. In many ways this increased demand for professionally qualified coaches parallels the expectation that business leaders have themselves been professionally developed. This growing professionalisation of coaching and business leadership has contributed to the growth of
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What is coaching supervision?

Coaching supervision takes place either in groups or on a oneto-one basis. The purpose of supervision is to help the coach bring the best of themselves to their work with clients; in practical terms this means ensuring that the coach is sufficiently wellresourced to help their clients take responsibility for their behaviour and their choices at work. Although supervision is a developmental process, its fundamental purpose is to monitor and improve the quality of the coachs work with their clients. By attending to their own emotional and intellectual resourcefulness, coaches will be in a stronger position to help their client. At Ashridge we see coaching supervision as an essential quality assurance process for coaches, designed to ensure that the client benefits from a coach who is fit for purpose, equipped with the insight and personal resourcefulness to be able to help. So what does this mean in practice? The first and most essential feature of coaching supervision is the regular provision of a confidential space where the coach is helped to reflect on their professional practice. Coaches are often very busy, combining their coaching with other professional roles which in turn have to be balanced with demands and responsibilities outside of work. Even though taking time out from a hectic schedule is always challenging, the benefits for the coach and their clients are potentially huge.

our qualification programmes at Ashridge, including our MSc in Executive Coaching alongside our MBA and other Masters and Doctorate level programmes. However the achievement of a coaching qualification cannot be taken as evidence of professionalism and competence by itself. Coaching is an extremely demanding activity and coaches frequently struggle with ethical dilemmas or invitations to collude with dysfunctional organisational behaviour. For this reason we expect participants on our qualification programmes to be in regular supervision and after qualifying we require them to provide evidence of ongoing supervision if they wish to maintain their professional accreditation. Supervision is no longer a nice to have; it is an essential prerequisite to maintaining the quality, competence and professionalism of an executive coach.

CASE EXAMPLE An experienced executive coach was working with a client who was about to become a father and was under intense pressure both at home and in his leadership role. The coach had been working with the client for some time and they had built up a strong trust. During the early sessions the client hardly expressed any emotion but was now sharing immense anxiety, profound anger and a sense of helplessness. The coach felt overwhelmed by his clients strong feelings and was concerned that working with this level of emotion was beyond her level of competence. At the same time, she realised that the client was relying on their trusted relationship as one of very few places to bring his despair. During supervision the coach started processing her own emotional response to her client and discovered to her surprise that she was feeling protective towards him. With this insight and the encouragement of her supervisor she felt strong enough to offer her client a clear boundary that would enable him to explore his emotions in a more detached way. The supervisor and coach agreed that if she felt she or her client was not coping, she would contact the supervisor directly in between sessions. The frequency and duration of supervision varies according to the coachs workload, however as a rule of thumb Ashridge recommends that coaches have a minimum of five supervision sessions a year. As the supervisory relationship develops over time, the

Slowly but surely the coach develops an inner capacity to observe themselves in action.

focus of the supervision is likely to evolve as both parties deepen their awareness of the coachs strengths and blind spots. Slowly but surely the coach develops an inner capacity to observe themselves in action, or what Patrick Casement (2002) calls the internal supervisor. Over time they learn how to detach themselves from the intensity of the moment so they can monitor what is happening between themselves and their client. As they do so they automatically increase their repertoire of responses allowing them to chose one that is likely to be of most use to their client. As coaches learn to trust their supervisor, they are more inclined to work with live ethical dilemmas or issues that are troubling them in some way. They might be concerned that they have confronted a client too strongly. Perhaps they feel that they have been too familiar or have colluded with the client. They may have reasons to be worried about a clients alcohol consumption or mental health. Whatever the dilemma or issue, a confidential supervision session provides the essential breathing space to think through the options and decide what to do. Sometimes paying attention to the supervision relationship can illuminate what is happening in the coaching relationship. For example, if a coach is getting stuck with a particular client, are similar patterns being played out between the coach and supervisor? If there is some form of parallel process, i.e., can the coach learn by reflecting on their own needs and feelings in the supervision session itself?

CASE EXAMPLE The coach was a British management consultant who had been working in Italy where he was coaching a local manager. In group supervision he described how he struggled to relate to the exuberance of his client and worked with another participant to explore how the Italian was challenging him. At the end of their conversation the supervisor drew attention to a parallel process: the fact that the coachs behaviour had changed; he had been so animated and lively. After feeling almost intimidated by his client, he had proceeded to behave in the very same manner with his fellow supervisee. This insight freed him sufficiently to genuinely inquire into what his client was communicating both verbally and non-verbally.

Supervision in organisations
Given the wide-ranging nature of coaching supervision, it is perhaps not surprising that Learning and Development professionals are unsure what to stipulate or provide for their coaches, whether they are in-house or external. In some respects it is easier when working with external coaches: all the procurer needs to do is ask for a supervisors reference? Some organisations follow this through with a phone call to the supervisor asking them specific questions about the coachs competence. Other organisations prefer to provide supervision in-house, for both internal and external coaches. Group supervision can be an
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In a group there is a much greater chance that someone will be brave enough to name the elephant in the room that is culturally unmentionable because of shared assumptions and beliefs.
attractive option in this situation. Bringing coaches together (either virtually or face-to-face) fosters a feeling of camaraderie and mutual support, where coaches learn together as a community of practice rather than existing in lonely isolation. There is also a potential organisational benefit, as the supervisor(s) will inevitably encounter recurring issues and themes which can be fed back on a non-attributable basis. The biggest obstacle in organisations is the very legitimate concern about confidentiality, especially where the coaches may know who is coaching who. Although these issues can be partially dealt with through robust contracting, our experience is that group supervision tends to work better in larger organisations where there are fewer overlapping boundaries or relationships. We agree with Proctor (2008) that in the right setting the advantages of group supervision outweighs the drawbacks. For example group supervision allows practitioners who might have quite different approaches to mix and open up their work to one another. There is also greater scope for creativity and experimentation in a group; for example group members might take it in turns to supervise one another and then offer feedback on both the content and process of the supervision. Group supervision increases accountability: in a group there is a much greater chance that someone will be brave enough to name the elephant in the room that is culturally unmentionable because of shared assumptions and beliefs.
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CASE EXAMPLE A team of coaches working with High Potential leaders at a government department had been meeting virtually for group supervision. Over time it became apparent that the content of many of the coaching sessions was on the coachees poor relationships with the executive team, with many of the coachees blaming senior management for being remote and uninterested. Some of the coaches themselves felt similarly about senior management and wanted the supervisor to feed the concerns back to the executive via the Learning and Development manager. The supervisor helped the coaches recognise that they were colluding with their clients and that they may also be part of a parallel process. He then helped the coaches reappraise their role and the coachees personal responsibility for their interaction with senior management. Group supervision also has the advantage of being cheaper on a per capita basis than individual supervision, although there are several schools of thought concerning questions such as how much? and who pays? At Ashridge, we are upfront about charging for group supervision on larger projects and undertake to feed back the recurring themes and issues as they present themselves. Most of our clients are agreeable with this approach and share our view that group supervision is an integral part of the Quality Assurance process similar to other elements such as project meetings and evaluation processes.

Finding a good supervisor

What makes a good supervisor? Hawkins and Shohet (2006) point out that one of the biggest obstacles to effective supervision is the supervisees fear that they will be judged or criticised by the supervisor. Taking this into account, good supervisors will be able to help supervisees feel at ease with the process and create a safe and containing atmosphere where they feel valued and understood. Without this atmosphere it is unlikely that the coach is going to be open to critical feedback or challenge. Other qualities and attributes that we might hope to find in an ideal supervisor are a passion for learning, flexibility, humour and an ability to see situations from multiple perspectives, combined with a sensitivity to the wider organisational issues. For a group supervisor, we should add group process awareness and facilitation skills to our list. Such people do exist, although our recent experience is that the demand for credible supervisors is beginning to outstrip supply.

This part-time programme runs over ten days, several months apart, providing an opportunity to be supervised individually and in groups and ultimately to qualify with a professional qualification in supervision. Each day follows a supervision theme, with a focus on coaching supervision in Year One and on organisational development supervision in Year Two. There are several written assignments, including case studies, an academic essay and a viva supervision session. Successful participants are awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Organisation Development and Coaching Supervision. For more information see www.ashridge.org.uk/acos

Further reading
Casement, P. (2006) Learning from our Mistakes. Brunner Routledge Hawkins, P and Shohet, R. (2006) Supervision in the Helping Professions. Open University Press Proctor, B. (2008) Group Supervision (2nd Edn.) Sage

Developing supervision skills

With a track record in the training and accreditation of coaches, Ashridge Consulting is answering the demands in the marketplace for an offering that accredits supervisors to certificate level. Every year we organise a development process for a small group of very experienced OD consultants and executive coaches, to be supervised and to become an accredited supervisor.

PROGRAMMES FOR CONSULTANTS, CHANGE AGENTS AND COACHES

Ashridge Masters and Doctorate in Organisation Consulting
You are an experienced OD practitioner or consultant looking for a combination of significant personal learning and theoretical challenge. This two-year part-time programme consists of workshops, interspersed with action learning, practical assignments and a final dissertation; the doctoral steam continues for a further two years. You will benefit from the leading-edge thinking and business practice experience of faculty and peers and gain a highly reputable qualification.

Coaching for Organisation Consultants

You are a consultant working with a number of client organisations, or as an internal OD practitioner. You already work as a coach and wish to broaden and deepen your coaching experiences and skills. This programme is a stimulating blend of coaching practice and psychological theory. Its highly interactive and experiential approach focuses on the coaching relationship and how this can be used within an organisation to make a real difference.

Ashridge Executive Coaching

Ashridge Executive Coaching can help you and your organisation by providing tailored individual or team coaching solutions. Executive Coaching is an effective way to provide support, whether to a new Board executive, people leading major change within an organisation, or coaching top talent within a team. We have coached teams to be more successful, and have helped managers to create a coaching culture within their organisations. For more information about how we can help, please contact: Liz Ainslie on 01442 841405, or email: coaching@ashridge.org.uk

The next cohort starts on 30 Sept 2010. Visit: www.ashridge.org.uk/cfc

The next cohort starts in Jan 2011. Visit: www.ashridge.org.uk/amoc or www.ashridge.org.uk/adoc

Virtual Action Learning Facilitation

You are an action learning facilitator or coach who wants to develop your potential to facilitate virtually. Based on research as well as on the approach and models used in our own successful practice, this programme will enable you to discover the real potential of this powerful format and become a confident and successful facilitator of virtual action learning.

Ashridge Masters in Executive Coaching

You are a coach, seeking to develop yourself to your full potential and gain highly soughtafter accreditation for your coaching practice. This programme is based on a foundation of business experience, psychotherapeutical and behavioural knowledge and quantitative research. The initial Coaching for Organisation Consultants programme is followed by workshops, coaching supervision and a dissertation. During the programme you are assessed to become an Ashridge accredited coach.

The next cohorts start on 22 Sept and 24 Nov 2010. Visit: www.ashridge.org.uk/valf

Ashridge Masters in Sustainability and Responsibility

You are a consultant, activist, public sector manager or NGO professional, concerned with ensuring that organisations are both profitable and responsible, and you seek to engage in the growing international debate about sustainability and corporate responsibility. This is a two-year part-time Masters programme based on a series of eight intensive residential workshops, each of five days duration.

The next cohort starts on 30 Sept 2010. Visit: www.ashridge.org.uk/amec

The Business of Sustainability

You are a senior executive or strategic decision maker, wanting to explore the commercial opportunities and challenges that sustainable practice can bring to your business. This workshop will give you practical insights and lessons from other organisations; enhanced understanding of the issues, opportunities and urgency for sustainable business practice; and enable you to put together a strategic plan to begin to engage your organisation.

The next cohort starts on 1 Nov 2010. Visit: www.ashridge.org.uk/amsr

Ashridge Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Coaching

You are an experienced OD consultant and/ or an experienced executive coach, looking to continue your development through gaining a postgraduate-level supervision qualification in executive coaching and organisation development.

The next cohort starts on 6 Oct 2010. Visit: www.ashridge.org.uk/bos

The next cohort starts on 14 Apr 2011. Visit: www.ashridge.org.uk/acos

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