16PF
16PF - we use the 16 Personality Factors inventory for selection and development of individuals and teams. Leadership Connections are Accredited 16PF administrators and we use this approach to help organisations find suitable personnel
Our Approaches
Search Conference/Future Search
Is a powerful but essentially simple method to bring together a group of people, large or small, to better understand their environment and jointly agree a plan to respond.
In organisations it's used to generate creative and innovative strategies and plans whilst simultaneously delivering wider alignment and engagement in implementing them.
For more detail please click here or scroll down.
Our Approaches
Click on the headings below to see more on some of the approaches that we use.
Supporting leaders to overcome their obstacles and develop themselves - through coaching and mentoring
Increasing the effectiveness of management teams through leadership team development
Identifying and improving leadership across the organisation through talent management and leadership development
Mobilising large groups for change through creating inspiring conferences and motivational speaking
Increasing the effectiveness of the Human Resources function through HR strategy and skills development
What is a search conference?
Search conferences (sometimes called future search) are planning meetings which brings together small or very large groups to generate shared understanding and action.
It brings people from different parts of the system into the same conversation - those with resources, expertise, formal authority and need. They meet for a number of hours - sometimes over more than one day. People share perspectivesabout their past, present and desired future. Through dialogue they discover their common ground and use this to make concrete action plans.
The meeting design comes from widely tested theories and principles It relies on mutual learning among stakeholders as a catalyst for voluntary action and follow-up. People devise new forms of cooperation that continue for months or years.
Search conferences have been run in many parts of the world in public, private and nmot for profit settings.
Background
The Search Conference evolved from the work of a number of social scientists and is useful for both problem solving or planning. It is designed to help the stakeholders of a system develop mutual perceptions of their existing circumstances, their desired future, and how to get there. It draws on their experiences, values, knowledge of the system and its environment. A search conference involves a number of steps.
- The group/s draw a collective map of trends in society as a whole.
- They then add information about the history and situation within their own organisation or system.
- They then consider the resources available as well as existing structure and culture.
- The group create strategies for how things could be changed.
- They then consider next steps to get started.
Although the steps may appear simple there are a number of things about the process which enhance creativity:
- Taking a new and broader perspective by first looking at the environment before looking inward at the system or organisation involved.
- Focussing on the desired future rather than on current problems and constraints.
- Ensuring that stakeholders to confront and reconcile conflicting views into a shared design of and plan for the future
- A key difference is that Open Space begins with understanding where your world is going and then considering how best to adapt to it, rather than the more usual problem-solving process where you choose a set of goals, and then try to see how to achieve them.
Philosophy of Facilitating
Search conference facilitators work with the following assumptions:
- Every person and group is doing the best they can within what they currently know and their current circumstances..
- People do only what they are ready, willing and able to do.
- There is no need for individuals to change their own minds or anyone else's in order for a group to discover its common ground and potential for action.
A Search Conference's goal is to produce an adaptive relationship between your organization and it's uncertain, changing environment. It's designed to identify a desired endpoint and increase the effectiveness of strategic planning by giving those actually affected by change more control over their purposes and directions.
A Search Conference is a structured participatory process where groups of concerned and active individuals scan through turbulent environments for:
What is required of you if you choose a search over other planning methods?
You need to believe or accept that:
- The ability to plan and respond to uncertainty can be developed and built into a core group of people.
- Commitment is earned through participatory strategic planning combined with shared responsibility for implementation of plans.
- The firm is, at heart, a human community which can grow and expand as people work together to achieve their desired future.
- Determined and inspired people can control their own performance.
- That when people's ideals are captured in their plans for the future their energy, commitment and initiative will be given.
- People can identify and creatively synthesize emerging trends into a desirable future. They can carry forward the best of the past while overcoming obstacles to the future.
- Expert analytical planning techniques are not enough, in themselves, to chart the future today. These need to be combined with the knowledge of people (who interact with customers, suppliers, government officials, strategic partners, competitors, other parts of the business) to create the most insightful and achievable plans.
Let's Talk
The easiest way to understand how we can help, and whether you feel that you could work with us, is to begin with a conversation.
We don't believe in a "hard sell" and often find that people get value out of the exploratory discussion - whether or not we go on to work together.
Please Contact Us – we would love to hear from you.