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

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.coach4executives.com

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

www.coach4executives.com

This article was sponsored by Coach 4 Executives. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy