2. We are excited. Never before has there been such an opportunity
to create radical change in the world of leadership.
Study after study reveals that staff and customers alike have become disillusioned with the people leading our
businesses.The latest Edelman GlobalTrust survey shows us that only 38% of people trust what a CEO says
about their business; many face crumbling reputations, poor staff engagement, global competition, and a host
of new channels to market, which are definitely ‘wicked’ rather than ‘tame’ problems.What is brilliant is that
an impressive job title no longer means anything if a leader can’t consistently deliver. The result? Leaders are
starting to take action around leadership itself. They recognise that to succeed, they need more than a corner
office, they need to be experts at leading: leading people, decision making, communication, high trust cultures,
development, teams, talent, engagement, strategic direction, brand and execution. Leaders are starting to work
on the craft of leadership.
The time is now
“Only 38% of staff trust what a CEO says
about their business.”
2013 Edelman Global Trust survey
38%
This is exciting because at Blue Sky we believe whole heartedly that
leadership can be learnt.We believe the purpose of leadership is to drive
organisational performance and it requires the right mindset coupled with
significant skills and expertise.We believe that becoming a great leader is
rarely something that happens by chance, but is achieved through a lifelong
commitment to learning.This means we work with teams of leaders that
want to be exceptional and have the humility and determination to find out
what is possible.
“The Experian ‘Inspire’
programme is the most
powerful Leadership
programme that I
have ever been on.
I see the benefits of
the programme every
day in the quality of
the conversations we
have and decisions we
make and in the way
that we interact as a
team and with others.
We have seen tangible
benefits in our business
performance and
people survey results.”
Managing Director,
Experian Credit Services
UKI
3. A fundamental shift in how we
develop our leaders is taking place
CONSCIOUS LEADERSHIP – CREATING RADICALLY GOOD LEADERS | 03
All too often, leadership development sounds great, but fails to change
the behaviour and the performance of the people involved.Thankfully,
knowledge about the way people learn has undergone a revolution and
this revolution is integral to any leadership development programme
we create.The latest research shows that reliably successful leadership
programmes need to be:
Focused on the essentials
McKinsey refers to the ‘alphabet soup’ of leadership: leaders are being overwhelmed with complex lists of values,
behaviours and competencies, which are seemingly disconnected to what they do on a day-to-day basis. Success comes
from focusing on which changes will have the greatest impact and getting them right.
Delivered in a way that creates actual behavioural change
Billions are wasted on leadership programmes that don’t work. Understanding the science of how change works,
choosing the right learning methodology, and then levering the three behavioural drivers (Mindset, Capability and
Management Practices) ensures consistent results.
Measured and managed as a priority
If you don’t take the behaviour of your leaders seriously, why should they? Creating a clear vision of what good looks
like, measuring how people perform against it, and then managing them accordingly, demonstrates your commitment.
Tick boxes aren’t enough.
“I wish I had this 30 years ago. I have done ok in my
career, but this would have changed everything for
the better.As it is, it will now ensure that I reach
my full potential in my role.”
Chairman, RBS
30YRS
Owned and led internally
The leadership culture within a business is the sum total of what its most senior leaders ‘do’ consistently. Development
only succeeds when change comes from the top.
4. There are thousands of leadership development companies out there,
and it can be difficult to work out who does what. Understanding our
approach will help you decide whether Blue Sky is right for you.
Is it a Blue Sky day?
We believe that successful leadership is made up of three things: providing
clear direction, delivering a robust strategy and creating the climate
for success.This means having the people, the mindset, the culture, the
competence and the ways of working that mean you can actually deliver
what you set out to achieve.This bit, the people bit, is our area of expertise.
You can have the best vision and strategy in the world, but if you don’t have
a team of capable, engaged people, you will fail. It is the leader’s job to create
these teams by being the kind of leader people trust, learn from, excel for
and want to work with. It is their job to choose the right people, set clear
expectations and support and coach them to get there. It is their job to create
a culture of dialogue, growth, truth, effectiveness, pride, curiosity, creativity,
ownership, consistency, learning and once created, guard it with their lives.
This is what we do.We show leaders how to build relationships that deliver
personal and business results.We help them understand what good looks
like and we create a learning journey that enables them to get there.
We call it Conscious Leadership.
“Never before have we
been taught the process
of behavioural change
and how to apply it.
I now realise how
essential it is to any
kind of development.”
Director, Carlsberg
“We asked a lot of Blue Sky and
this programme lived up to it.
Leadership is now firmly and
squarely in everyone’s mindset.”
HR Director, RFU
5. Real development engages both the
head and the heart
CONSCIOUS LEADERSHIP – CREATING RADICALLY GOOD LEADERS | 05
If this is what you want, how do you get it? First, you need to focus on the
Two C’s of Leadership and then you need to deliver it in a way that enables change.
The Two C’s of Leadership
The Art and Science of Change
Even given the gift of amazing content, change is by no means a done deal. Creating a programme
that results in your leaders thinking and behaving differently means combining everything we now
know about the art and science of human and organisational change. It is a complex matrix of
essential change criteria, but for now it is enough to focus on two things: how you ‘own’ and
how you ‘learn’.
Leadership Competence
In an increasingly competitive market, leaders must be able
to consistently deliver what the job requires.Alongside
building a strong sense of character and purpose, we ensure
our leaders are competent in a number of crucial skills,
so that they are able to:
• Provide a clear sense of purpose in a world that is
constantly changing
• Build relationships based on trust, by being trustworthy
themselves
• Create dialogue that builds more clarity, quicker
decision-making and effective execution
• Develop lean, efficient teams that pull together, without
wasting time on sniping or politics
• Coach and develop people so they really improve,
instead of leaving them to sink or swim
• Manage performance so the right people are in the
right jobs, delivering the right results
• Prioritise character and competence so they become
non-negotiable standards
Ownership like you have never seen it
The motivation for change needs to be clear and senior
leaders need to take ownership for the success of the
programme. Rocking up for a summary overview of the
programme isn’t enough. Senior leaders need to lead
by example, and we make sure they change by example, too.
For this reason we see our leadership development
programmes as change programmes and our eight-stage
approach to leadership transformation ensures that
everything that enables leadership change actually takes
place. Senior leaders get engaged at the outset, they set the
direction, measures, understand their role and help scope
the diagnostic. In partnership, we diagnose, learn, design, test
and adapt.We create communication plans and we support
senior leaders in launching the programme and telling the
compelling stories that get people emotionally engaged.
We deliver, challenge, measure and keep communicating.
Together,we celebrate the success.
Learn to change
Ultimately, leadership development requires a change
in behaviour, both on an individual and a cultural level.
To achieve this, all of our learning interventions are based on
our Embedded Learning MethodologyTM
, a unique system
that brings together everything we have discovered over our
years of studying and working in leadership development.
This methodology is not something that is done to you; it is
something that becomes part of who you are, by using the
most effective ways to help people learn and change. Forget
lectures or interminable away days; we change behaviour
through a combination of focused workshops (where you
have the safety to learn about yourself and the opportunity
to try new ways) and directed workplace learning, with your
peers as your coaches and your team providing the feedback.
We work with you in person, both 1:1 and in groups.
We teach you how to become agile learners, how to create
your own behavioural change and we create an environment
where intentional practice, teaching others, creating feedback
loops, coaching and active self-reflection become the norm
and we do it all firmly within your business context and
specific role.
Leadership Character
The best indicator of someone’s ability to lead others is
how they lead themselves.A big part of what we do involves
cultivating self-leadership: helping leaders build awareness
of their underlying values, beliefs, mindset, business context,
behavioural impact and personal brand, to help them make
choices about the kind of leader they want to be and why
they want to lead.We spend time teaching leaders how to
change their behaviour and become agile, lifelong learners.
Making the decision to change is important; we translate it
into action.
6. C
onsciousLeader
ExpertMan
ager
Co
nsciousManager
ConsciousLead
er
ConsciousM
a
nager
Conscious Leader Conscious Manager
ExpertLead
er
Expert Leader Expert Manager
Exp
ertLeader
E
xpertManagerSelf-Leadership Self-Leadership
Self-Leadership
Self-Leadership
Direction
Creating vision,
meaning creation,
setting expectation
Leadership
Mindset
Self-awareness, values,
beliefs, brand, business
context, the leadership
role, conscious choice
Outward
leadership
Stakeholder map,
networking, influencing,
benchmarking,
collaboration
Team
Effectiveness
Purpose, clarity,
relationship,
stakeholders,
learning
Trust
Self, team,
organisational,
customer
Dialogue
Effectiveness, decision
making, accountability,
speed, transparency
Change
Compelling story, role
modelling, capability,
measurement
systematic change
Develop
Role model, leader
as coach, mentor,
teach
Communicate
Real conversations,
1:1, group, conflict,
inspiration
Management
Mindset
Self-awareness,
intent vs impact,
role, burning platform
Execute
Decisions, resource,
projects, problem
solving
Engage
Meaning, belonging,
motivation, types,
dynamics
Team
Management
Purpose roles,
accountability,
meetings,
first team
Performance
1:1’s, data, analysis,
performance levers
Coach
Skills coaching,
behavioural coaching
Presence
Circle 1, 2 or 3,
gravitas, impact,
personal brand
Behavioural
Change
Learning
Agility
Behavioural
Change
Learning
Agility
The Leader-Manager Conundrum
“AtVINCI we already had positive
experiences of working with leading
business schools, and at the outset we
were pretty sure a business school
would be the way to go for our
Leadership programme – then we met
Blue Sky.The level of support from
Blue Sky, from the CEO down, has been
second to none.Without Blue Sky we
wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Head of Organisational Development,VINCI
“The Embedded Learning Methodology changes
everything. It means from day one you start to
create a true learning culture – senior leaders
actually share what they are working on…it is
like nothing you have ever seen.”
Director, Centrica
Conscious Leader Talented Manager
The Leader-Manager Conundrum diagram shows the kind of content that our programmes would
typically draw upon.We’re not hung up on the language of Leadership versus Management.We believe
that great leaders are able to manage, and great managers are able to lead.We work to understand your
needs, your people, your challenges and your opportunities, then we choose the content that will make the
biggest difference to your people and your business.
7. What kind of results are
you looking for?
“Having you there,
watching me, observing
what was really
going on as I tried to
make the change was
invaluable.The truth
is, I really thought I
was doing it, but I just
wasn’t.You were able
to tell me why.”
Director, Arcadia Group
“My results have been
not just alright, but
have been great – I’ve
seen quality and KPIs
improve, I’ve managed
some really difficult
situations, influenced
and gained the buy-in
from challenging people
on the team and have
found what I want
to do to further my
career.”
Director, Sage UK
CONSCIOUS LEADERSHIP – CREATING RADICALLY GOOD LEADERS | 07
Great leadership affects the bottom line,
we all know that. It’s also important to
acknowledge and measure the steady daily
changes that build to create an utterly
different leadership culture.
We do this by agreeing up front both the business and behavioural
changes you are looking to see and exactly how they will be measured.
For your business, it may be through your sales or service results, your
staff engagement or cultural scores; however you want to measure ROI,
we will work with you to create an effective mechanism for proving it.
Within this we also take the measurement of individual and collective
behaviours very seriously and use our Leader Behaviour Checklist 360 to
get detailed and on-going feedback on specific behaviours for individuals,
teams and functions.This allows not only the individual leader to build
their knowledge of what good looks like and how they stack up; it allows
the business to identify the specific development that will have the
biggest impact, where and when.
“The 10% increase in engagement scores atVINCI
was a direct result of the Empower leadership
programme and that was very notable for me.
When looking at benchmarking across industries,
this shift is very significant.”
Tom Debenham, Managing
Director, People Insight
8. Blue Sky Performance Improvement
The Old Malt House
33The Street
Shalford
Guildford
Surrey
GU4 8BU
www.blue-sky.co.uk
+44 (0)1483 739400
At Blue Sky we are passionate about people
development and changing behaviour to drive results.
We provide a combination of coaching, consulting
and training for senior leadership teams – all geared
towards improving business performance.
Visit www.blue-sky.co.uk to discover how you can
benefit from our approach and learn more about the
results we have achieved with our clients.
Executive Coaching | Team Coaching | Leadership | Management | Sales | Service
Sound exciting?
If you think this makes a lot of sense for your
business and you’d like to find out more, discuss
your challenges, or simply get a feel for who we are,
give our team a call on 01483 739400 or email us
at hello@blue-sky.co.uk. We’d love to talk.
