Coach 4 Executives

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Coach 4 Executives's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Coach 4 Executives is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

45COACH4EXECUTIVES |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

International Executive Coach, Supervisor

and Cross-Cultural Expert Jackie Arnold

International Reflective Executive Coach,

Supervisor and Creativity Expert Elaine Patterson

Coach4Executives, trading as Arnold Associates, are at

the forefront of cross-cultural working, “clean language

methodology” and innovative leadership development and

research. International Executive Coach Jackie Arnold has spent over

30 years partnering with leaders from all over the world. In addition

to the UK, she has worked extensively in Europe and the Far East,

while Associate Elaine Patterson blends over 30 years of senior

leadership experience in complex political organisations with her

extensive training and research in creativity, reflection and people

development through the Centre for Reflection and Creativity Ltd.

More of the same leadership development is no longer enough. Leaders today need to

understand how to work with the new and emerging markets in our global, complex,

virtual and volatile world. New action research has shown how an innovative 1:1

practice called Executive Reflection (ER) can enable leaders to bridge these worlds.

What do tomorrow’s leaders need today?

Our work together started through a series of conversations we had over 18

months. We explored how to better support leaders to lead in our VUCA world.

VUCA is defined as “volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous”. We noticed that

leaders are increasingly required to support staff in complex multicultural contexts,

working remotely and globally, where more of the same was no longer enough

FACTS ABOUT

COACH4EXECUTIVES

»International Executive Coach,

Supervisor and Cross-Cultural

Expert: Jackie Arnold

»International Executive Coach,

Supervisor and Reflective

Thinking Partner and an

Associate Partner with C4E:

Elaine Patterson

»Established in 2001

»Based in Brighton and London

»Services: Executive reflection,

international reflective

supervision and intercultural

workshops and retreats

»No. of employees: 4, with 12

associates worldwide

»www.coach4executives.com

Coach4Executives

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

46 | COACH4EXECUTIVES

because, as Albert Einstein said,

“Problems cannot be solved from the

consciousness which created them.”

Published statistics reinforced this.

There are many statistics available on,

for example, the high levels of CEO

turnaround, the low levels of employee

engagement and the increasing impact

of digitisation on our personal capacities

for deep thinking andreflection.

We felt that the global challenges

that capture our economic, social

and spiritual crises to leaders are best

summarised by Otto Scharmer’sstatistics:

»It is calculated that our world

economies consume the resources

of 1.5 planets. Our current

consumption is outstripping the

resources of earth to support us

»Eight billionaires’ own half as much

as half of the world’s population (3.8

billion) combined

»800,000 people commit suicide

each year – a number greater than

the sum of people who are killed

annually by war, murder or natural

disasters combined.

As Bushong also writes, “No generation

before now has had so many of its

members simultaneously living in,

between and among countless cultural

worlds as is happening today.”

We concluded that new ways of

seeing, thinking, relating, learning

and creating, at the deeply personal

and collective levels, are now mission-

critical – not only for individuals

but also in order for organisations

to create a secure future and build

vital international relationships in

our global, virtual and diverse (GVD)

world. We created the acronym GVD

to capture the essence of business

and organisational life today. GVD is

explained as follows:

»Global – the worldwide nature,

stretch and web of work that can

cross continents, time zones, cultures

and language

»Virtual – computers, the web and

digital technology have enabled

leaders to reach, communicate,

co-ordinate and deliver work to

customers and clients globally

»Diverse – the cultural mix and

blending of many different

countries, identities, cultures, races

and languages that can exist in

just one person, in a team and in

anorganisation.

We believe leaders now need to alter

leadership style and course as they

shape vision, goals, deliverables and

inspire performance. We had both

achieved a Diploma as Coaching

Supervisors with CSA Ltd. and knew

its effectiveness. We felt that this 1:1

practice, reframed and repositioned as

1:1 Executive Reflection, could offer

a new generation of leaders with the

tailor-made resourcing and support

to develop a new reflective leadership

style that was so clearly needed for

today’s VUCA GVD world.

We therefore decided to design an

action research study to test our

hypothesis working with our research

supervisor Dr. Alison Hodge pairing

ten senior global Volunteer Leaders

with ten senior global volunteer ER

Practitioners who had been trained by

CSA Ltd.

Executive Reflection for

developing tomorrow’s

global leaders today

New ways of

visioning,

leading,

thinking and

building

strong

international

relationships

at the deeply

personal and

collective

levels, are

now mission

critical for

leaders

everywhere

“

47COACH4EXECUTIVES |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

An action research inquiry to

explore the relevance and value

of ER to leaders in a global,

virtual and diverse world

The research:

»Confirmed the value and relevance

of ER – from the data, ER was found

to be valuable and relevant to the

volunteer leaders in the sample.

Reflection was found to be a vital,

invaluable and imperative oasis

for leaders to adapt, evolve and

transform, particularly in fast-moving

external business environments.

»Created a new definition of ER – ER

is an independently co-created 1:1

learning partnership and distinct

developmental practice built on

trust, safety and service. ER provides

a uniquely creative, resourceful

and generative oasis for leaders to

gain a robust “super-seeing” of

who they are, why they lead and

how they lead. ER attends to both

their personal and professional

development to resource leaders

to develop a more reflective style

in order to lead wisely in turbulent

times.

»A high level of maturity – defined

as skills, personal development,

reflective capacity and life

experience – was needed from both

the global volunteer leaders and

volunteer practitioners to benefit

from this level, quality and type of

intervention.

Research recommendations

It is recommended:

»Acronyms of VUCA and GVD are

widely used: VUCA and GVD need

to be used together to describe the

realities of leadership today.

»Recognition of ER as a distinct

1:1 practice: ER is recognised as a

specific developmental intervention

to resource and grow leaders to lead

in today’s VUCA GVD world. ER is

a co-created Learning partnership

for leaders in the context of their

leadership.

»Development of ER practitioners:

further work is carried out by the

researchers to define the skills,

training, resourcing and support of

ER practitioners working with leaders

in a VUCA GVDworld.

»Promotion of ER as a new style of

leadership: the value, importance

and relevance of ER to leaders

leading in a VUCA GVD world now

needs to be actively communicated

to all.

»Further research: with a larger cohort

is recommended to further test the

findings.

Call to action

Aligned with the UN Global Goals

for 2030 we are a specialist group

of cross-cultural, multilingual

professionals from diverse

backgrounds, cultures and experiences.

Our vision is to extend 1:1 ER sessions

world-wide and to promote its

flexibility and potential global impact.

We also plan to offer Global Village

Retreats to build vital leadership agility

and capacity across cultures to meet

the challenges faced by leaders in

today’s VUCA and GVD world.

Executive

Reflection is a

vital, invaluable

and imperative

oasis for leaders

everywhere to

lead wisely,

skilfully and

intelligently

“

Global Village Retreat –

an oasis to develop new

ways of leading in our

VUCA GVD world

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from the prime minister.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister