by Astrid Davies | 21 Oct 2023 | Leadership Matters
(Image credit: Luis Villasmil on Unsplash )
Have you ever felt the need to clear your mental clutter? Are you juggling multiple priorities, together with brilliant ideas, and all the while afraid of forgetting the best ones? Perhaps you just want to put your thoughts on paper to see where they lead.
I confess I am one of those people who enjoys decluttering programmes on television. The sense of peace, calm and purpose that “clear decks” bring is palpable. In the same way, I derive immense satisfaction from helping clients organize their thoughts. Witnessing their hopes, dreams, and fears laid bare is a profound privilege. Brené Brown asserts, “Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.” I’ve seen this courage displayed by my clients many times. Every single time I am proud for them; I know how hard it can be to do.
Given that I offer a service that helps clients clear mental clutter, I thought I would present a case study to illustrate how it works.
Case Study
A client approached me with the exciting task/challenge of downloading the contents of their brain. In effect, they needed to clear mental clutter. It was a tremendous compliment and a significant responsibility. We met in their office, facing a massive, empty whiteboard.
This client was no stranger to challenges. They were an ambitious leader, driven by excellence, equipped with a focused intellect, unwavering confidence, and a thirst for personal development. A blank whiteboard posed no intimidation.
Instead of a simple brain dump, my client asked, “How shall we approach this?” It was a fantastic question.
In every coaching session, the client should lead. So, we discussed what my client needed and what they wanted to achieve beyond just emptying their mind. What was the purpose, the desired outcome, and the change they sought?
The goal was to explore ambitious business plans and address personal aspirations, ultimately creating the mental space to think through their plans.
The process: how we help you clear mental clutter
We began by listing personal and business ambitions, noting the challenges, envisioning the company’s future, creating a mind map, and filling the whiteboard.
The hard work may seem like the client’s, but I was there every step of the way. I asked probing questions, cutting to the heart of the matter. Progress was clean, with no distractions.
My role was to challenge their thinking, test the robustness of their ideas, and help them gain new perspectives. Playing Devil’s Advocate refined their goals.
Once the whiteboard was full, the client structured their thoughts, taking a literal step back to gain perspective. A clear plan emerged. Within three years, despite challenges like Covid, their company grew, diversified, and freed the client to pursue personal ambitions.
How can this help you?
In today’s busy world, having space for unfettered thinking seems like a luxury. However, as this case study demonstrates, investing in a help to clear mental clutter is an intelligent business move. It provides the headspace to identify priorities, validate plans, and unearth new opportunities.
You can try this on your own, but it’s challenging. Alternatively, you can get in touch with us. Let’s help you declutter your mind.
by Astrid Davies | 19 Oct 2023 | Leadership Matters
In today’s fast-paced world, senior leaders, such as CEOs, CFOs, and Board members, often find themselves overwhelmed by a deluge of thoughts, ideas, and responsibilities. They juggle countless tasks, manage corporate ambitions, and make strategic decisions. This constant mental barrage can clutter their minds.
This is where the art of unpacking their full brains comes into play. It helps them think more clearly, ultimately driving progress within their organizations.
At ADCL, we have the privilege of working with senior leaders across various sectors. Actually, we partner with them, helping them navigate the complex landscape of their responsibilities. Our purpose in this is simple. We assist them in downloading their thoughts, sifting through them, and identifying and prioritising the ideas that will propel their organisations forward, as sustainably as possible.
The Overloaded Mind of a Senior Leader
Generally, the role of a Board member is not for the faint-hearted. They have to oversee the big picture while simultaneously managing countless details. Their brains are like “mind palaces” of insights, experiences, and aspirations. However, without a structured approach, these treasures can remain buried beneath the clutter.
Picture the mind of a senior leader as a bustling library. In detail, the shelves are stacked high with books representing ideas, challenges, and opportunities. Without proper organization, this library can become chaotic, making it challenging to find the right thought at the right time. Our lead consultant’s background as a Chartered Librarian for decades is particularly useful in this context.
The Process of Unpacking
Our approach to helping senior leaders unpack their minds therefore pulls on these librarianship skills. We support a process of pulling information together, sifting through it and then helping our clients to prioritise the key actions to take, to reach the outcome they want. As with much of our client work, it has three simple stages:-
1. Downloading Thoughts:
The first step involves encouraging leaders to release the maelstrom of thoughts swirling around their minds. This can be done through one-on-one sessions or team workshops, depending on the context. We provide a safe and structured environment where they can articulate their ideas, concerns, and aspirations without judgment.
During this phase, leaders are encouraged to think about everything that occupies their mental space. What keeps them up at night? Which opportunities excite them the most? What challenges are they facing? By allowing them to articulate these thoughts, we help bring clarity to the chaos.
2. Sifting Through the Chaos:
Once the thoughts are out in the open, the real work begins. We assist our clients to categorise and organise their thoughts into distinct areas or themes. In fact, this process is crucial. That is because it helps identify common threads and connections between seemingly disparate ideas.
By sifting through the chaos, our clients can “press pause” and put a stop to the noise. This clarity ensures they gain a better understanding of the issues at hand and can prioritise what truly matters. They can start to identify which ideas have the potential to drive significant progress and which may need to be parked. Importantly, they will also be encouraged to let go of pipe dreams and ambitions that only they hold dear. This often forms a surprisingly large proportion of the noise.
3. Identifying and Prioritizing:
Since they now have a clearer picture of their thoughts, leaders can now identify and prioritise the ideas that align with their strategic objectives. This step involves a critical examination of each idea’s potential impact, feasibility. Next our clients review their alignment with the organisation’s mission and values. This also offers a useful insight into any misalignment at Board level between its members, which is something we will also help our clients to address.
By focusing on a select few high-impact ideas, leaders can direct their energy and resources more effectively. This streamlined approach enables them to make informed decisions and take purposeful action.
Think more clearly
The journey from a cluttered mind to a clear and focused one is transformative. When senior leaders can see the path forward with greater clarity, they become more effective in their roles. They can communicate their vision more convincingly, inspire their teams more profoundly, and navigate challenges more adeptly.
Moreover, this process of unpacking the mind isn’t a one-time event; it’s an ongoing practice. As the business landscape evolves and new challenges arise, leaders can return to this process to adapt and refine their strategies. This simple system is all part of the “Diagnose” section of our 3-part consultancy approach. In addition, we always make sure we leave behind these skills in our clients’ organisations.
The value of One-on-One and Team workshops
Although our approach to helping senior leaders unpack their minds has a system, every client’s project is different. Of course, this necessitates a flexible service. In fact, it results in a totally tailored service. We offer both one-on-one sessions and team workshops to cater to different needs and preferences.
One-on-One Sessions: These sessions provide a personalized and confidential space for leaders to explore their thoughts and emotions deeply. It’s an opportunity for introspection and self-discovery.
Team Workshops: In a team setting, leaders can collaborate, share insights, and gain a broader perspective. Team workshops foster a culture of open communication and alignment, enabling organizations to move forward cohesively.
Conclusion
In the ever-evolving world of leadership, senior leaders benefit from a structured approach to manage the complexity of their roles effectively. Unpacking their minds, sifting through their thoughts, and identifying and prioritizing ideas is a transformative process that leads to clarity, focus, and progress.
At ADCL, we are dedicated to partnering with senior leaders on this journey. Our goal is to help them unlock their full potential, lead with purpose, and drive their organisations toward success. By assisting leaders to think more clearly, we empower them to make informed decisions. This then helps them to inspire their teams. And this ultimately enables them to leave a lasting legacy in their sectors.
How to think more clearly
If you’re a senior leader seeking clarity, focus and a meaningful impact, please message us or contact us via our website. Let’s get started on the clarity and headspace you crave.
by Astrid Davies | 14 Jun 2023 | Leadership Matters, Profiling
In a previous blog I wrote about how my company was changing. Well, here’s the promised evolution update.
And it is only a small update, not the finished report. Changing a small company can be fast, when you have staff or use third parties. Changing a small company when you are a solopreneur is a much, much slower process. It is slow for a lot of reasons. In truth, a main reason is lack of time to give the change the headspace it has really needed. It’s also slow because of the options that are open to me. In fact, there is a wealth of options for the future direction of my company. There are actually so many it has been hard to pin down my choices.
However, another reason it has been slow, and more painful than I had bargained-for, is that I am looking to change something that has served me well for seven years. It has been a part of me and, of course, I have been pretty much all of it. That’s always the way with owner-managed businesses which feature the owner as the service lead.
So, what is this evolution update?
I have refocused my core offer. Specifically, I received some helpful feedback about my website. “What do you DO, Astrid?”. When you have taken an age doing and redoing your website, that’s a tough question to be asked. As a result, I looked yet again at the website, and at how I help my clients. By talking it through with people close to me, I have been able to focus down what I do. More than that, I have been able to articulate it a bit more clearly (at least, I think I have – you will have to be the judge of my success or otherwise!). At least, I have been able to analyse what I do and simplify it into clear products and stages.
I told you it was small!
As a matter of fact, it’s really only the website that has changed. Nevertheless, I am reporting back, as my accountability task. The actual services I offer remain the same. The important difference (I hope) is that the emphasis is no longer on a menu of services, but on the problem I am seeking to solve with those services.
Oddly, for a coach, this has been quite hard. It has been hard, because I am in the moment with the clients. It is only after I have helped them achieve the solution they want, that I reflect back and analyse in detail, HOW I did what I did. So, to unpick this and understand it “up front”, has been a challenge. A challenge, however, that I have enjoyed. It hasn’t been hard in any painful sense. It has simply been difficult because it has been new. As with all new things, it is taking a while for it to become comfortable.
And that is where I am right now – wearing in a new way of thinking about my company and my delivery. A bit like new shoes, but without the blisters!
And what will the next evolution update entail?
In truth, I have no idea – yet. I will let this new, “productised”, approach to my company sit and settle for a while. It may not make a blind bit of difference (although I really hope that is not the case!). I am a very straightforward consultant, as my testimonials make clear time and again. That is why I have adopted a straightforward approach to my services – there’s the simplified three-step process for consultancy, and a range of services which are now for sale directly. We shall see where this takes my company. And you can be sure I will report back, when I know more.
If you are interested in finding out more about the services, please go to the “How we help you” tab in the menu above, and hopefully it will all be clear. Hopefully, you will also feel you understand the value of how I could help your organisation. You might even buy something!
by Astrid Davies | 31 May 2023 | Leadership Matters
If you are a young professional in a field such as law, accounting or surveying, you might think that your technical skills and expertise are enough to advance your career. However, the truth is that you also need leadership skills to succeed in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous market. This is what I call the “career development gap”.
I would argue that leadership skills are not just for senior executives or managers. In fact, I would argue that leadership skills are for anyone who wants to make a positive impact. By influencing others, and driving strategic plans through to delivery in your organization, you’re demonstrating leadership. Leadership skills include communicative, interpretive, affective, and perceptual skills. These enable you to enjoy effective, proactive and collaborative relationships with your peers, clients, and stakeholders.
Leadership research tells us …
Actually, according to research by the Center for Contemporary Leadership , leadership development enables organisations to do the following four things that drive sustained success:
- Improve bottom-line financial performance.
- Attract and retain talent.
- Drive strategy execution.
- Increase success in navigating change.
That’s great, you may be thinking, BUT … what if your organization does not have an in-house leadership development programme? Or if your boss does not see the value of investing in your personal and professional growth?
That’s where Future Leaders Breakfast® networking comes in. Future Leaders Breakfast® networking (FLB®) is a unique opportunity for young professionals like you to network with other like-minded individuals over an informal breakfast.
So far, so standard, you may be thinking. What’s the USP?
What makes FLB® unique is that they focus on supporting you to grow your career. Most networking requires you to know some sports trivia or be prepared to discuss yet another aspect of the weather. That’s not the FLB® way. With us, you get to participate in themed discussions that feature key leadership topics. Through your networking conversations, you will also learn and practice leadership skills such as time management, giving feedback, people reading, and handling your inner critic. If truth be told, these are the skills that help you fill the career development gap faster than exams and post-nominal letters.
Future Leaders Breakfast® networking is not just another networking event. It is a fun and business-focused set of events that will help you grow as a leader and as a person. You will gain insights from experts and peers, share best practices and challenges, and build relationships that will last beyond the breakfast table.
Not only this, but FLB® networking is beneficial for your boss and your organization. By sending you to this event, they will show that they care about your development and well-being. They will also benefit from having a more confident, competent, and connected employee who can contribute to the organisation’s goals and vision. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
So what are you waiting for? Here’s your chance to do something about that career development gap you’re facing. Join Future Leaders Breakfast® networking today and discover the benefits of leadership development for yourself and your career.
Your next opportunity is 13 June for FLB® Portsmouth (in collaboration with University of Portsmouth and Blake Morgan). Please book your ticket and come to find out about the FLB® idea, leadership … and yourself. You’ll be so pleased you did.
by Astrid Davies | 9 May 2023 | Leadership Matters
Tonight I had a chance exchange on social media DMs. Someone (a medical professional, saving lives in our amazing NHS every day) was “discounting”. By this I mean they were deflecting gratitude and praise, reflecting it back on me … but I suspect it’s a common habit and they reflect and deflect as a default setting. They said I was being kind when I expressed gratitude for their efforts with keeping people healthy. That phrase didn’t sit right with me.
Was it “being kind” … or is it doing what I am here to do? ot purely being a coach, or a leadership consultant, but by being a decent human, surely? Actually, all I was doing was telling the truth.
“Discounting” is such a scourge. Self-deprecatory humour is part of the British psyche – we don’t like to blow our own trumpet and are encouraged to look down on those who do. And yet, we are also encouraged to sell our services as a small business. When you ARE that business and those services, it means you have to sell yourself ever day.
In my experience, when people show leadership, we reward and seek to undermine them in equal measure. That is particularly true, when that is in public in the social media circus, showing leadership means the same as putting your head above the proverbial parapet. By doing so, anyone is seen as fair game, open to justified vitriol.
What happened to “being kind”?
“Being kind” is sometimes seen as code for being mealymouthed, going through the motions of being insincerely generous. If not that, then it can be code for “I appreciate you mean well but I can’t be seen to agree with your words”. I suspect this was the case tonight. Being on social media can mean people have a target on their backs for having the temerity to have an opinion. “Keyboard warriors” are everywhere online these days.
Just imagine having to watch your every word and action and emoji, for fear of the likely criticism. I remember that, having been a bullying victim for years at secondary school. It’s not fun.
What should a coach do?
What should a coach do, in this sort of situation? We are taught to let the client lead, but when someone is not a client (and you’re not keen to look like you’re selling AT anyone … that takes us right back to the 3rd paragraph above – it’s not a good luck) what do we do?
Do we offer suggestions, in the hope they won’t be taken as unsolicited advice?
Do we offer supportive words, but really all we’re offering is platitudes?
Or do we offer an observation, which may help a bit of reflection but which doesn’t amount to an open bit of “work”? I went for the last option.
Coaching isn’t “kindness”
This is important – coaching isn’t about kindness. It’s about being supportive, listening to your coachee and helping them to find the answers they seek, through effective questioning and challenge. Obviously, we don’t seek to be UNkind, but it’s not about the bland unquestioning generosity of spirit that “kind” implies. Perhaps that is where the issue lies, for me. I am inferring a meaning that the other person in the DMs may not have meant. They may have meant “unconditionally positive”, or “supportive” or even “nurturing”. However, my professional discipline took over and I confirmed I was not “being kind” but I was saying it how I saw it. And that’s about – and on – me.
Coaching should never be about the coach. Although I am not in a coaching relationship with the other person in the DMs, and it is unlikely I will be, there is still something wrong with my approach. I am inferring, I am projecting my own meaning onto theirs. Unintentionally, I am discounting too, aren’t I?
“Physician, heal thyself”
There’s lots of fodder for reflection in this small exchange. Indeed, that is what I will be doing tonight – reflecting. I will let their words sit with me. I will reflect on their impact and reflect on what that is about for me. And then I will “allow it” as my daughter says so often – I will go along with the expressed gratitude and appreciate that for what it was, a genuine expression of gratitude, with no angle.
So the next time someone says you’re “being kind”, please don’t put an imagined and unwelcome “just” before it. Accept the gratitude and positivity. And keep being kind. Always. It’s the best medicine for a lot of ills.
If this blog triggers some thoughts for you, and you’d like to discuss them, please do get in touch. I would love to discuss your thoughts and what it all means for your leadership journey.
by Astrid Davies | 5 Apr 2023 | Leadership Matters
Charles Darwin’s “theory of evolution” is often misquoted as
“the survival of the fittest”
This is inaccurate and an oversimplification. His theory, together with a contemporary Alfred Russel Wallace, proposed that evolution occurs because of a phenomenon called “natural selection.” This noticed that, in nature, organisms tend to produce more offspring than is required, but some of those offspring do not get to a state in which they can breed. In this way, those which do breed are seen as to have “fitted” their environment best, and so were able to survive, thrive and breed successfully.
In business, this concept has been applied to stigmatise companies which are not wildly successful, arguing they are not “fit” enough for market conditions. This is again a crude oversimplification, applied to business success in a way which often smacks of little other than machismo.
Let’s look at evolution in a business context
What can we gain from revisiting Darwin’s theoretical approach and re-applying it to a business? Here are three ways in which “natural selection” could be useful, if applied with a lighter touch
- It makes sense to check the trading environment. If that changes, then a company’s ability to continue to thrive may change. The pandemic taught us this all over again, at a global scale. So, we need to monitor our marketplace and check our company, or at least its offer, is relevant and has a real potential to thrive.
- Whilst not actually breeding, a company may be able to diversify better in a marketplace where it knows it already belongs. It makes sense to find a range of ways to generate revenue, so long as they fit within your company’s overall business direction. You could use Ansoff’s Matrix to do this. It will give you an exercise to focus your thinking. In this way, you are giving your business a wider customer base, which may help you protect against changes in customer demand.
- In addition to checking the trading environment, it makes sense to check your own company. Are you doing what you set out to do? If so, do you want to still do this? If you are not doing what you set out to do, are you happy about that? You may not be happy about it. If you’re not, what will you do about this? Regular reflective practice by the Board of any company is crucial, to keep the company on track. It may be making money hand-over-fist. However, if it is moving away from, for instance, its original ethical stance, then your company will lose customers. It could also find it more and more difficult to recruit the talent you need to grow. Checking in with your company and its purpose is a crucial way to make sure your company is still fit for purpose. You need to know what your company is for, to know whether it’s successful, after all.
So what am I doing, giving business advice here? It’s not my core purpose in my company – I work with making leaders even more effective through improved Board relationships, behaviours and performance.
The answer is simple. My company is evolving. It no longer focuses on 1:1 personal performance coaching. Instead, we now focus on teams coaching and meeting facilitation. 1:1 executive coaching is a fun by-product of this work, but it is no longer the focal point.
Making changes
This evolution feels massive from within the business, but in truth it probably seems incidental (or even largely irrelevant) to anyone reading this. A bit self-indulgent perhaps? Maybe. The issue is, however, that as a leadership consultant I need to demonstrate self-leadership. If I know that my business has shifted focus, and the business model as a whole needs to follow suit, I really must take actions that I would expect of any client. I must take action, full stop.
My next steps, therefore, are to complete a review of my company’s business model. Once I have tested this with trusted members of my network (in business, the value of your network will always exceed the value of your business!) I will make the necessary changes. What will these changes be? Marketing (website, social media) will feature for certain. Ways of working will too. Maybe the clientele will shift. Maybe I will even attract a whole range of new clients, because my offer is clearer and more targeted, thus making it MUCH easier to understand! A trusted advisor said to me recently, “Make yourself easy to buy from” having had a look over my online presence. Lots on what I do, little on how my help will solve your problems. Rookie error 101.
I will report back once I have taken actions,. Part of this will be for accountability and part will be through shameless marketing content! I hope that the changes, and me having walked my talk about business evolution, will make sense.
If this has struck a chord and you are considering a similar evolutionary process, do please let me know. I would be interested to learn from you, so please comment or get in touch.
