We are often asked about the roles and responsibilities of our partnership programme where the University of Derby Corporate has established The Performance Solution as a collaborative partner of the University for the delivery of the following Higher Education programmes:   PG Certificate in Applied Coaching PG Diploma in Applied Coaching MA in Applied Coaching   These are fully accredited programmes of study, managed and delivered outside the university to allow the flexibility of study off campus and are therefore run under the partnership scheme and not in the same way as an internal programme. Holders of non-UK degree or other qualifications will be subject to the University’s normal entry procedures with regard to the assessment of the equivalence of qualifications. The Performance Solution (TPS) are responsible for checking the authenticity of such qualifications prior to formal University enrolment. Where qualifications are not HE qualifications and leaners wish to claim advanced standing or credit for modules, learners are required to put together an APL portfolio that maps and evidences their professional learning and experience to the learning outcomes of the modules that they wish to seek credit for.Where a candidate’s first language is not English, advanced English Language competence in the form of appropriate certificated learning (IELTS requirement of 7.0 or equivalent) must be demonstrated as detailed in the University of Derby Admission Regulations and these students may also be required to attend an additional English for Academic Purposes programme which will be undertaken at their own expense. All overseas non- EU students will need to provide relevant documentation to comply with the UK Border Agency Regulations if they intend to visit the UK, and copies must be provided to UDC and TPS on request.Selection to the course will be through completion of application form, and normally a face to face or telephone interview. The interview is a process of mutual selection: for applicants to discuss how the course meets their needs and the course team to judge their suitability for the course. Details of the interview are recorded in the TPS AcT database.   The Performance Solution (TPS) are responsible for the design, development, marketing, recruitment, delivery, supervision and first marking of the MA in Applied Coaching.  TPS will collect application information and paperwork and send to an administrator at UDC for enrolment. TPS will make available appropriate personnel to liaise with the University and provide all assistance and information to the University to enable the carrying out of agreed duties. Where students experience disabilities or personal difficulties TPS is the main contact point. TPS will arrange appropriate support for the students and will liaise with the University where necessary e.g. where an application for an extended period of study is felt to be appropriate. Lisa Wake (qualified and practising psychotherapist) will provide psychotherapeutic support and referral to specialists (at the student’s expense).  Jeremy Lazarus will provide performance coaching and motivational support, Dr Sally Vanson will provide support on academic standards. Dr Allan Parker will provide support on project and time management. It should be noted that in line with the philosophy of coaching and adult learning, all students are responsible for managing their study and resources, meeting agreed deadlines and submitting work as directed by their supervisors. Additional financial support through TPS or UDC is not available. Students with disabilities or special needs are dealt with as individual cases and every effort will be made to accommodate their needs in accordance with current UK legislation and the philosophy of the programme of study. This will be managed by TPS for module attendance and marking and according to University protocols for attendance at any University events e.g. professional discussions or graduation ceremonies. This is a partnership programme so the usual avenues of learning support through the main university are not open to partnership students. Students are responsible for making their own arrangements in consultation with TPS.   The University of Derby Corporate (UDC) are responsible for the proper and efficient conduct of admission and registration procedures and the maintenance of accurate records of all students. UDC will quality assure the programme, initially second making all work, and provide an external examiner for the programme and have conduct of the assessment board, according to University regulations. Administrative and student support will be provided in accordance with University regulations for collaborative partner programmes. UDC will manage graduation and certification. TPS and UDC work together to review a shared Operational Manual and update a master version where changes are made. For all enquiries and concerns, contact The Performance Solution direct: E-mail: enquiries@theperformancesolution.com Phone: 01225 867285 The Performance Solution The Studio, The Old School House Lower Westwood Bradford on Avon BA15 2AR www.theperformancesolution.com For all matters regarding academic content you should contact your supervisor. Students will have access to the digital library only, books cannot be sent out to students, SCONUL access and interlibrary loans are not permitted. Students may be able to enrol at their local university library and TPS will provide letters of introduction to confirm that students are enrolled on an HE programme, upon request. You will not receive a library or student card. Once you are enrolled you will also be given a contact at University of Derby Corporate who is responsible for any issues concerning University administration. You should only deal with this person when dealing with enrolment and eventual graduation. University of Derby Corporate University of Derby Enterprise Centre 37 Bridge Street Derby. DE1 3LA www.derby.ac.uk/corporate   The post TPS’s partnership with University of Derby appeared first on The Performance Solution.

We are all getting excited about Dr Simon Western’s Analytic Network Coaching workshop, 10-12 December in Bath. 20 people are signed up and we have two places left, so if this is the year you want to really up your game in coaching we will delighted to see you. Please contact enquiries@theperformancesolution.com to secure your place. Simon coaches senior leaders and CEO’s, who want to work on themselves, to focus on their desires, defences and their authentic self. He aligns this to their role, and then they work on the business and organizational strategy. This is value based coaching for business. With teams he specializes in team dynamics, working on strategy and creativity, working with confidence and clarity in the most challenging and senior teams. They work and learn; making strategic decisions, whilst learning about team dynamics, and personal strengths and challenges. In OD Coaching he brings together personal learning with OD interventions; Learning from each other, creating coaching cultures, forming new leadership cultures, whilst delivering business results; all supported by coaching/mentoring initiatives: Analytic-Network Coaching is a new concept in coaching, that addresses the challenges facing individuals and organizations in the 21st century. A-N coaching is a process specifically designed to take the coachee on two trajectories: Individual Analysis: on a journey of inner-depth, before working on relationships and role Network Analysis: examining the context and network to strategically influence change Most coaching approaches aim for behavioural change to improve performance, using coaching tools and techniques, that neither focus on depth (personal values, neither do they address the persons context or network, in which they live and work. The A-NC process enables the coach to work systematically and adaptively and the aims are; To discover deep personal insight and apply this to desired change, To liberate individual talent and encourage acting in ‘good faith’, To maximise a leaders influence on their networks, To develop Eco-Leadership, a new paradigm of leadership (Western 2008, 2010) To download information on the Analytic Network Coaching, click here : The post Dr Simon Western’s Analytic Network Coaching workshop appeared first on The Performance Solution.

It’s that time of year when people start thinking about living the life they have dreamed of. We receive several calls a week from coaches wanting to start their own business (or who have started a business without thinking it through). Although not in the profession of running business start-up courses we have offered coaching and mentoring around this issue and in this article we share our musings. It seems to us that many coaches, NLPers, and trainers get involved in the self help, talking therapies and personal development movement by attending training themselves. They then tell us ‘I have found my calling or purpose’, ‘I want to make a difference’ or even ‘I want to escape from the corporate world’. Our challenge is to ask whether you really understand and accept who you are. Are you a great entrepreneur? Do you understand the interplay between financial management, marketing, sales, social media, time management, self management, IT, company law, trades descriptions and data protection legislation as well as being a great and professional coach? Do you understand professional etiquette and ethics? Are you collaborative? Can you work alone (often from a spare bedroom), can you work for days on the business - often without speaking to anyone else? You have to promote yourself, speak up for yourself, and chase your own debts.  If you want to be successful, you cannot hide, go off sick, make excuses or even delegate. Have you got the motivation to succeed?  Can you really work as a sole trader? All successful businesses start with a dream. We are all entitled to our dreams however when they become a way of life, the critic and the realist must be given voices to ask; is this really, really what you want and can you live on the proceeds? What is the impact on your friends and family and how will you build a credible and professional reputation? Have you got the mind set to become self-employed or will you still think like an employee?  Running your own business means you do the little jobs (admin, filing and cleaning the toilet!) If you are running away from stress inducing situations, long travel, long working hours or political people please know that having your own business will continue to bring you stress, travel long hours and difficult people with no sick pay, no paid attendance at courses and conferences and no paid holidays. You will not be working 9 to 5, with more holidays and days off if you really want to be successful. Be realistic about your own strengths and listen to others - what do you truly have to offer? What is your competitive edge? What are your values? Will they form the nugget of a compelling brand? Owning your own coaching business isn’t a walk in the park. 30% of coaching businesses fail in the first two years. You can be fabulous at helping people with your coaching or mentoring, but if you don’t have the fundamentals of marketing and sales at the very least, you’re not going to have many people to help. You’ll either have no clients, or clients that make you want to tear your hair out! Can you afford to sack clients that don’t work for you? What is your ethical stance? The first year is fun. It often works well. New entrepreneurs have a passion and energy to get going, they have savings from their previous work and they have contacts and old friends who want to help them out and give them work as a favour. These things don’t last! You spend the first year delivering all this good work which then dries up and the cupboard is empty - now the real business starts. It’s too common to start your journey as a coach, trainer, NLPer or mentor and think that because you can transform the lives and businesses of your clients, it will be easy to start making money and live a life of freedom. We often see people struggling. We sometimes stand back and watch as colleagues become competitors. We experience people who undercut others and do the profession a disservice. We have people stalking our social media accounts and contacting our contacts - this is unethical and desperate behaviour. How to succeed; Please don’t quit your day job and jump into coaching. It will take time to build your new business, so make it a sideline if you must enter one of the most over-supplied and transient professions. Can you start from within your current employment? Put money aside for certifications. We often get asked; ‘Do I really need to take qualifications to be a coach?’ The answer is YES,  get qualified to the highest level in the area in which you want to deliver. Would you go to an unqualified Doctor or Dentist? Put aside funds for your own personal development plan. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater - what current skills, qualifications and talents can you take into your new business? E.g. from my previous profession of organisation development and human resources I bring change facilitation, organisational consulting, systemic thinking, psychometric testing, high level recruitment, employment legislation, employee engagement, cross cultural and international working, academic and vocational training and assessment, counselling, teaching and training, to add to my qualifications in coaching, mentoring and NLP. This is what makes me who I am - an international organisational development specialist and change facilitator. Take time to do a stock check on what value you have to offer clients. Decide on your niche - what is your specialist area of practice?  What is the market demand for that niche? If there isn’t one - choose another niche while you take time to educate the market that they need your original idea. Get help - yes some weeks your help will earn more than you. Think about who answers the phone (or not) when you are out coaching. What is the professional face you are trying to present? Are you trying to bath the baby, cook the dinner, walk the dog or deal with postman when you answer the phone - really not very professional! Build your network. Make contact with competitors, learn from and collaborate with them - there is nothing worse than bright eyed new entrants to the field who break the unwritten rules, undercut prices, play political games and make themselves unpopular. Behave professionally. Your brand is your ‘self’. Think about how you dress, what you do (actions speak louder than words). Develop a business plan which is integrated with your personal plan. This is about you, your future, your success and your happiness. You cannot afford to short change yourself. For more information about individual mentoring and coaching with a focus on developing your business idea contact our office enquiries@theperformancesolution.com The post Can you afford to start your own business? appeared first on The Performance Solution.

As big as your dreams are and as smart as you might think you are, you can’t do it alone. It never ceases to amaze me in the world of Coaching and NLP how aggressive some individuals can get about competing with each other when business is challenging. Providers revert to a 1980’s style of price competition - undercutting each other’s prices, associate coaches offering cheaper deals to customers of who is often their own main customer, often a generalist ‘ego led’ service proclaiming they can do anything and these and similar strategies are unsustainable. We even have examples of some players in the NLP field publicly questioning the quality and qualifications of their competitors in a naïve attempt to rid the market of a number of players. How does this behaviour underpin ‘the map is not the territory’ and other presuppositions? The problem is at an ‘identity level’. The ‘me, me, me’ mentality that has evolved and causes a paralysis in our own development. It is impossible for a human being to exist in isolation as we are connected beings. These naïve, often unprofessional and unethical behaviours do not serve the personal development industry well. One of my early retail mentors; Peter Harrison, used to say; ‘find your niche, determine your standards and hold strong when times get hard’. At that time we watched other retailers discounting products, running half price and blue cross days and adopting a bargain basement mentality and guess what - they went out of business or were taken over. We won through and our managers became highly sought after within the industry. Co-opetition is a business strategy that uses insights gained from game theory to understand when it is better for competitors to work together. It is a combination of the words cooperation and competition. The principles and practices of coopetition are credited to Harvard and Yale business professors, Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff. Competitive businesses that also cooperate when it is to their advantage are said to be in coopetition and the result is an ethical, collaborative partnership that delivers benefits to all concerned. Several years ago when working with Nationwide Building Society we were delighted to be invited to a suppliers’ event where the customer got competing businesses in the room and encouraged us to work together to design and deliver the very best service we could, in partnership with the customer. A win:win for all and it was so much fun as well as providing realtime learning. There is nothing new about Coopetition. Bengtsson and Kock (2000) postulated that relationships among competitors focuses either on competitive or on cooperative relationships between them, and the one relationship is argued to harm or threaten the other. Their research considered that two firms can be involved in and benefit from both cooperation and competition simultaneously, and hence that both types of relationships need to be emphasized at the same time. They argued that the most complex, but also the most advantageous relationship between competitors, is "coopetition" where two competitors both compete and cooperate with each other. Complexity is due to the fundamentally different and contradictory logics of interaction that competition and cooperation are built on. It is of crucial importance to separate the two different parts of the relationship to manage the complexity and thereby make it possible to benefit from such a relationship. E.g. two competing companies could collaborate to design and deliver the same course or qualification and agree to market it to different niche sectors, this reducing their own production costs and benefiting from each other’ expertise. E.g. one partner delivers a coaching programme with the corporate world which is his/her area of expertise and where s/he has credibility, the other partner may deliver the same programme albeit with more pertinent case studies in the health or sports arena. The benefits are shared learning whilst each partner plays to his/her strengths and works where s/he is most credible. Research from Bengtsson and Kock (2000) used an explorative case study of two Swedish and one Finnish industries where coopetition is to be found, to develop propositions about how the competitive and cooperative part of the relationship could be divided and managed. It was shown that the two parts can be separated depending on the activities degree of proximity to the customer and on the competitors’ access to specific resources. It was also shown that individuals within the firm only can act in accordance with one of the two logics of interaction at a time and hence that either the two parts have to be divided between individuals within the company, or that one part needs to be controlled and regulated by an intermediate actor such as a collective association e.g. the initial developer of the product or a professional association. Hendy (2014) shares that businesses of all shapes and sizes are forming co-working arrangements, enabling them to become stronger competitors in the process. This new perspective on business collaboration requires both parties to create a working arrangement that enables them to capitalise on the arrangement. Unlike traditional collaborations in which businesses may come together to offer a joint promotion, co-opetition is a Co-opetition is thriving among Australian start-ups, according to Sydney technology entrepreneur Mick Liubinskas. He’s seen lots of examples of co-opetition among education and technology companies, where many players regularly share ideas and tools. "The co-working spaces, accelerators and investors that predominantly work together to support co-founders are the ones that build successful businesses," Liubinskas says. "Most people are a part of three, or four, groups and everyone shares information and connects." Adventure Capital founder and managing partner Stuart Richardson says that co-opetition is a critical business skill. "Start-ups need to find mechanisms to scale efficiently, or face a painful death of 1000 cuts. Partnering, and forming an effective ecosystem that extends your influence and enhances your access to market is a sustainable means to achieve this." The founder of custom jewellery website StyleRocks has also benefited from a co-opetition arrangement. Pascale Helyar-Moray forged a relationship with chocolate retailer Lollypotz, which gave away StyleRocks gift certificates. The arrangement works well for StyleRocks as a cost-effective customer acquisition mechanism and also a source of revenue, Helyar-Moray says. "What we find is that gift certificates help customers make their first online purchase with StyleRocks jewellery. It also gives Lollypotz something innovative to offer their customers - the idea that customers have their chocolate now, and jewellery later." Harvard Business Review blogger Marquis Cabrera wrote recently that sharing information is a good way to build trust with your competitors in the lead-up to a co-opetition arrangement. These partnerships have also worked well for businesses that create new technologies given the high costs associated with research and development, she says. Cabrera suggests choosing partnerships where each person brings something different to the table. "In many circumstances, forming co-opetitions is better than traditional collaborations because they create transparency about motivations, agendas and goals." However, it’s important to understand how to protect your own interest whilst co-operating with competitors to maximise value. Richardson says the business relationship should be formed around a clearly articulated set of principles, which are used to ground the progress, success or need to discontinue any arrangement. "Like any relationship, it takes time and energy to develop and grow the best partnerships. And despite best intentions, sometimes they can end in tears," This is usually when one partner doesn’t stick to agreements and has differing values which cause them to try and benefit from the relationship whilst still ‘doing their own thing’. Like any great relationship the underpinning behaviours stem from ethics, authenticity, communication and shared values. Are these not the very cornerstones of the NLP and Coaching industries? The post Competition or Co-opetition? appeared first on The Performance Solution.

Business is changing at an incredible pace and we need to remain relevant and current in this fast changing world. The most important thing to question frequently relates to both ourselves and our business model being relevant to what our clients want and whether it delivers our services the way in the way clients want them delivered? I often experience coaches who ignore all the great background and experience that has allowed them to become who they are and I see them leaping off into unknown waters e.g. health professionals trying to sell their coaching services into the corporate world, where they do not have credibility, instead of realising the health market has huge challenges and through their understanding and previous experience they have an enormous amount of value to add. At The Performance Solution we specialise in the corporate arena - why? because our Directors and coaches have been there and done it, we have held board level positions in multi-national organisations, we are credible!!! We are not credible in the world of dentistry, sport etc. Of course it is possible to cross into other areas and that’s hard work. We will only remain credible if we keep learning, growing personally and providing services that engage and satisfy our clients, so much easier to build on what we already know and the network we already have. If we lose relevancy we will ultimately lose the credibility that we have today. So we must always be learning, evolving, innovating, getting better, improving, staying relevant and current in the market place. We need to be ‘fleet of foot’. Kodak was once one of the world’s biggest companies before filing for bankruptcy in January 2012, Kodak was founded in 1889 by George Eastman. From its inception, Kodak dominated the global photography industry. As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% of film sales and 85% of camera sales in the United States alone according to a 2005 case study for Harvard Business School. By 1988 Kodak employed over 145,000 workers worldwide. 1996 was the peak year for Kodak. The company had over two thirds of global market share. Kodak’s revenues reached nearly $16 billion, its stock exceeded $90, and the company was worth over $31 billion. The Kodak brand was the fifth most valuable brand in the world. Kodak missed the boat on digital not once, but at least three times. Besides never capitalizing on the digital camera technology it helped create, Kodak also gravely misunderstood the new ways consumers wanted to interact with their photos, the technologies involved and the market forces surrounding them. Our credibility is a result of our performance, not just our past performance but also our current performance and attitude towards our future performance. Too often we see Coaching and NLP businesses not remaining relevant, almost every week we hear of another coach going out of business or taking a job because they did not remain relevant, communicate with their clients, adjust their business models to suit our ever changing business environment. They focused on themselves and their own needs without researching the market and they paid the inevitable price. The post Credibility in the marketplace appeared first on The Performance Solution.

Today—and every day for the next 15 years—10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 65, making retirement and workforce planning a priority for every company. Start by implementing a knowledge sharing program. Read more in the ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTOR article.  

by Grant Soosalu Do you sometimes suffer from conflict between your thoughts, feelings and actions? Find yourself not acting upon or sabotaging your dreams, goals or plans? Do you have trouble making decisions or stopping unwanted behaviours or habits and don’t know why? Or sometimes feel like something is missing and you’re not fully connected with your deepest inner self? Then chances are you’re not aligned and using the power and innate wisdom of your multiple brains - the brains in your head, heart and gut. You see, when coherently aligned, your head, heart and gut produce an incredible emergent wisdom that allows you to deeply tap into intuitions and competencies that you can’t get from your head brain alone. When you learn to connect your three amazing brains you’ll experience a sense of consciousness that creates a oneness at the level of core self, deep values and your wisest and most authentic self. We don’t just have one brain! Recent Neuroscience findings have uncovered that we have complex, adaptive and functional neural networks - or ‘brains’- in our heart and gut. Respectively called the cardiac and enteric nervous systems, these adaptive neural networks display amazing levels of memory and intuitive ‘intelligence’ and there’s a growing array of evidence that these brains are deeply involved in the control and processing of numerous functions and core behavioural competencies. By combining these Neuroscience findings with behavioural modeling research, a number of key insights have emerged that have profound implications for the fields of personal evolution, NLP, coaching and adaptive leadership. Behavioural modeling research Over the last 5 years, informed by the Neuroscience findings, my colleague Marvin Oka and I have performed behavioural modeling research on how the heart and gut brains function in the practical areas of decision-making, action-taking, intuition, relationships, leadership and personal development. Along with this action-research, analysis of evidence from a wide body of divergent sources has shown that the heart and gut brains are involved in representing and processing very specific forms of intelligence and intuitive functions. For instance, the heart is optimized for processing emotions and drives our modes of connecting in relationships, while the gut handles protection, self-preservation, core identity and mobilization. What you can see from this is that each of the brains has a fundamentally different way of communicating and different concerns and domains of competence. These findings also support the commonly held notions and neuro-linguistic expressions such as trusting one’s ‘gut instinct’ and being ‘true to your heart’, and show they are more than just metaphoric. The findings also back up the assertions from many fields such as Adaptive Leadership field, saying that whole leaders need to use not only their heads, but also the innate intelligence and wisdom of both their heart and gut brains. mBIT - multiple Brain Integration Techniques So how do we do this? Facilitating the multiple brains into congruent alignment and operational effectiveness, requires a pragmatic ‘how’. So the field of mBIT has developed a suite of simple and powerful techniques that People Helpers, Teachers, Trainers, Coaches and Leaders can use in appropriate contexts. As detailed in our recently published book ‘mBraining’, these techniques and processes involve getting the client into communication with their three brains, getting them aligned around the particular issue and then getting the brains functioning at what is called their ‘highest expression’. When this is achieved, the person’s innate intuitive wisdom emerges and the quality of their decisions and actions becomes adaptively and generatively different. Neuroscience meets ancient wisdom What’s also fascinating about these new findings is that current scientific knowledge is finally catching up with deep insights from esoteric and spiritual traditions informing us for thousands of years about three powerful intelligences found in the head, heart and gut. So we’ve known at a deep and intuitive level, across the ages and within our own lives, that our intelligence, wisdom and core life competencies are not just embodied in the head. The consciousness of highest expression As indicated above. one of the many powerful models emerging from the mBIT action research work suggests that each of our brains has what is known as a ‘Highest Expression’. This is an emergent competency that expresses what it means to be truly and deeply human. It represents the highest, most optimized and adaptive class of intelligence or competency of each brain. The Highest Expressions of each brain are:  Head brain - Creativity  Heart brain - Compassion  Enteric brain - Courage What’s crucially important is that these Highest Expressions are only accessed and activated when you are in an optimal state of neurological balance, or what is defined as ‘autonomic coherence’. This is when you’re neither too stressed nor too relaxed, but are in a ‘flow state’. And it makes sense that unless you’re in a neurological flow state, your perceptions of any particular issue or situation along with your subsequent decision-making will be impaired by contrast. The good news is that mBIT provides simple yet powerful techniques for bringing yourself into autonomic coherence. Evolving your world Over the last few hundred years, the world has had a fascination and obsession with science, technology and head based rational thinking. The power of science and its benefits to our lives have driven ongoing and accelerating change throughout our society. It can be argued however, we’ve largely focused on and elevated, to our detriment, head based rational cognition over more traditional heart focused and intuitive gut based ways of knowing. Through an over-use and over-focus on our head based ways of living, our world and lives have become dangerously out of balance. By using mBIT and tapping into an integrated way of using all of your powerful neural networks, you can bring intuitive wisdom to your life and access new levels of generative consciousness to evolve your world. For further information, please either • go to www.mbraining.com or • grab a copy of the book ‘mBraining’.or • book your place on a course at enquiries@theperformancesolution.com As part of the call to action, generated by the mBraining community to bring compassion, courage and a more harmonious way of living to each of every one of us, The Performance Solution are hosting a special ‘not for profit’ course for educators, health professionals, parents, police and public sector employees in Bath on 10-13 December 2015. Please contact us to enquire about availability. The post mBIT and mBraining appeared first on The Performance Solution.

The Accelerated Millennial Manager blog post on the Chief Learning Officer’s "Ask A Gen Y" is a top story this month and it features Devon, Diane & Taylor. Leaders must be sure their fast-tracked millennial managers receive basic business training that they may have skipped over in their speed to rise professionally. Read more at the Chief Learning Officer’s "Ask A Gen Y" blog here.

The Three Brains of Leadership - harnessing the wisdom of the head, heart and gut brains for generative and adaptive leadership By Marvin Oka and Grant Soosalu The complex issues and adaptive challenges facing organizations today require a far more generative response than simply devising innovative strategies and new business models. New strategies developed and executed from conditioned ways of being and thinking predictably end up back in status quo. What is required is a new form of leadership. Not a new approach to leadership, but a new form. This new form is not about a particular leadership style or ‘type’ of leadership. It’s about the leader themselves and their ability to emerge new levels of consciousness and wisdom in their decision-making. Despite the abundant variety of leadership models available today, persistent issues still remain common to many organizations such as: Staff engagement Execution on strategy Attracting and retaining talent Cultivating a performance culture Maintaining market and community relevance Brand relevance and having a compelling and authentic brand story Delivering quality customer experience The typical organizational response to these and other frequent issues is to call for a ‘step change’ in the forms of ‘innovation’ (in strategy product or service) or ‘transformation’ (business, culture or process). Otherwise the response is a call for an increase in leadership itself and a subsequent pursuit of new leadership models that hopefully happen to catch the interest of the organization’s senior managers. While all of these responses and approaches are useful to a point, any real whole-system change that is both sustainable and wise requires leaders who are authentically connected deeply within themselves, to their staff, and to the communities they touch. In other words, this requires wise leaders who are integrated across their head, heart and gut brains; leaders who are neurologically integrated. By aligning their conscious and unconscious intuitive abilities, they are able to harness the innate wisdom of their head, heart and gut intelligences for powerful and generative decision-making. Truly generative and adaptive leadership today requires whole new levels of self-awareness and self-facilitation for integrating head-based intellect with heart-based values and gut-based instincts. No longer can a true leader rely solely on the competencies dominated by their head alone. As the now well-validated field of Emotional Intelligence has shown, mental cognition and thinking processes alone are not sufficient for total success. And growing lists of leadership experts are weighing in saying that even IQ and EQ together don’t provide the full solution. For example, in their popular leadership book, ‘Head, Heart & Guts- How the World’s Best Companies Develop Complete Leaders’, leadership mavens David Dotlich, Peter Cairo and Stephen Rhinesmith make the case that leaders who operate only from the head are what they consider ‘incomplete leaders’. To truly thrive and lead successfully in today’s complex social and business environments, ‘whole leaders’ must learn to tap into the innate intelligence of their head, heart and guts. Backing this up, in a recent TEDx presentation, Marty Linsky, co-author of several books on adaptive leadership along with Ronald Heifetz, explicitly states that "technical leadership is from the head, and adaptive leadership is from heart and gut". These sources make fascinating and intuitively obvious claims, but what exactly does all this mean? Neuroscience and the Cardiac and Enteric ‘Brains’ Over the last decade or so, the field of Neuroscience has uncovered some intriguing findings that give support to the ideas that true leaders use all of the intelligence available to them and go well beyond that of just their head brain. Starting with his pioneering research on neuro-cardiology, Dr. J. Andrew Armour introduced the concept of a functional brain in the heart. His work revealed that the heart has a complex intrinsic neural network sufficiently sophisticated to qualify as a ‘brain’ in its own right. The heart’s neural network meets all the criteria specified for a brain including several types of neurons, motor neurons, sensory neurons, interneurons, neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells. Its complex and elaborate neural circuitry allows the heart brain to function independently of the head brain and it can learn, remember, feel and sense. Following on, in 1998, Neurobiologist and M.D. Dr. Michael Gershon published his pivotal book, ‘The Second Brain’, in which he described the culmination of over a decade of research and discovery that the gut also contains a complex and fully functional neural network or ‘brain’. The gut brain, also known as the enteric brain, contains over 500 million neurons and sends and receives nerve signals throughout the chest and torso and innervates organs as diverse as the pancreas, lungs, diaphragm and liver. The gut brain is a vast chemical and neuro-hormonal warehouse and utilizes every class of neurotransmitter found in the head brain. Research has shown that the gut brain can learn, store memories and perform complex independent processing. The significance of these findings to leadership development is profound. Modeling the Competencies and Functions of the Heart and Gut Brains Over the last 3 years, informed by these Neuroscience findings, we have performed behavioral modeling research on how the heart and gut brains function in the practical areas of decision-making, action-taking, intuition, relationships, health and wellbeing, and personal fulfillment. Along with this action-research, further analysis of evidence from a wide body of divergent sources has shown that the heart and gut brains are involved in representing and processing very specific forms of intelligence and intuitive functions. These findings support commonly held notions such as trusting one’s ‘gut instinct’ and being ‘true to your heart’, and they also back up the assertions that whole leaders need to use not only their heads, but also the innate intelligence and wisdom of both their heart and gut. [We have documented both the Neuroscience findings and our subsequent modeling research in our recently published book, ‘mBraining’.] Our findings indicate that there are three core Prime Functions for each of the three neural networks, or ‘brains’: HEART BRAIN PRIME FUNCTIONS Emoting - emotional processing (e.g. anger, grief, hatred, joy, happiness etc.) Values - processing what’s important to you and your priorities (and its relationship to the emotional strength of your aspirations, dreams, desires, etc.) Relational affect - your felt connection with others (e.g. feelings of love/hate/indifference, compassion/uncaring, like/dislike, etc.) GUT BRAIN PRIME FUNCTIONS Core identity - a deep and visceral sense of core self, and determining at the deepest levels what is ‘self’ versus ‘not-self’ Self-preservation - protection of self, safety, boundaries, hungers and aversions Mobilization - motility, impulse for action, gutsy courage and the will to act HEAD BRAIN PRIME FUNCTIONS Cognitive perception - cognition, perception, pattern recognition, etc. Thinking - reasoning, abstraction, analysis, synthesis, meta-cognition etc. Making meaning - semantic processing, languaging, narrative, metaphor, etc. Clearly, each of the brains has a fundamentally different form of intelligence and has different goals operating under different criteria. In other words, the head, heart and gut have different ways of processing the world with different concerns and domains of competence. The importance of this to you as a leader is two-fold. First, it’s crucial whenever making personal or group decisions that all three intelligences are accessed and incorporated into the decision-making process. Without the head intelligence, the decision will not have been properly thought through and analyzed. Without the heart intelligence, there will not be sufficient values-driven emotional energy to care enough to act on or prioritize the decision against competing pressures. Without the gut intelligence there will not be sufficient attention to managing risks nor enough willpower to mobilize and execute the decision once challenges arise. The second implication is to ensure you avoid using one brain to do the function of another.  Each brain has its own domain of competence and by definition is not the most competent in the other Prime Functions. This mistake can be typically seen in organizations where the head brain is used to define the corporate values that people’s heart brains don’t really care about, or the head brain is used to design action plans that people’s gut brains don’t really engage with.  Numerous other examples abound in daily corporate life. This is why we maintain that to cope with the complexity of modern day business, truly adaptive leaders need to use more than just the skills engendered in their head brains. Leaders must learn specifically how to tap into, communicate with and align their multiple brains - their head, heart and gut intelligences — and gain the synergy and wisdom that arises from ‘multiple brain leadership’. And equally important, to also learn how to influence and align the multiple-brains of those they are leading. The Highest Expressions of Leadership One of the many powerful models emerging from our research work suggests that each of our brains has what is known as a ‘Highest Expression’. This is an emergent competency that expresses what it means to be truly and deeply human. It represents the highest, most optimized and adaptive class of intelligence or competency of each brain. The Highest Expressions of each brain are: Head brain - Creativity Heart brain - Compassion Enteric brain - Courage [Note: while there may not be a single, definitive Highest Expression for each brain that is true for everyone in all contexts, we have found in our action research that the above generative set serves as a powerful foundation for consistently emerging higher orders of wisdom and ways of being.] These Highest Expressions are accessed and activated when the leader is in an optimum state of neurological balance, or what is defined as ‘autonomic coherence’ where they are neither too stressed nor too relaxed, but are in a ‘flow state’. It makes sense that unless a leader is in a neurological flow state, their perceptions of any particular issue or situation along with their subsequent decision-making must be impaired by contrast. For instance, if the leader’s autonomic nervous system is functioning in an overly sympathetic (e.g. stressed) state, their perceptions and decision-making will typically default to their reactive conditioning. Conversely, if their autonomic nervous system is functioning in an overly parasympathetic (e.g. apathetic or ‘freeze response’) state, they will exhibit an inability or lack of desire to act, or at best make timid decisions. When in an optimum state of autonomic balance, however, we have found that leaders are able to bring a higher order of consciousness to their decision-making. Additionally, they also make decisions and take actions that arise from a more authentic expression of their deepest and highest sense of self. Creativity As a Highest Expression, what we mean by this is not just lateral thinking or thinking outside the box. Instead, we mean the creative and collaborative process by which a leader is able to conceive of new possibilities and new futures that emerge as an authentic expression of who they are and what’s important to them. It’s also about the collaborative process of manifesting these new possibilities into reality. The process of creativity requires more than just mere imagination. If nothing manifests in the physical world, then nothing can be deemed to have been created. The head brain’s Highest Expression of Creativity is also about the leader being able to continually generate entirely new lines of thinking and new perspectives that can transform their world and the world of their organizations. The import of this sense of creativity is obvious to the practical applications of adaptive and generative leadership. Compassion While this is not a word that is commonly used in business parlance, it is indeed commonly used by almost all wisdom traditions whenever describing the higher qualities of human consciousness and of the very nature of being human. Within the context of adaptive and generative leadership, it’s essential to remain cognizant of the obvious fact that leaders are humans, and that the people they lead are also humans. Subsequently, compassion does in fact play a significant role for authentic leaders who lead not because they have positional power, but instead lead because they feel a connection with the people and the communities they serve. True leaders are emotionally connected to their staff, their customers and the communities in which their organization impacts. In other words, they care. And being values-driven, they care enough that if the current human condition is not satisfactory then their sense of compassion for those affected causes them to step up as leaders and take action to improve that situation. Compassion encompasses a conscious intention for helping people experience and benefit from a better way of doing things and a better way of being. The heart brain’s Highest Expression of Compassion is an active expression of true leadership that connects with, values, relates to and responds to human needs and the human condition. Courage By definition, leaders lead. They take us to new places and new futures that are different and better than our current set of conditions. They create, invoke and stimulate change to the status quo, and this takes courage. A leader who does not have courage is no leader. Without courage, someone with the opportunity to lead will quickly back down and capitulate at the first sign or resistance or challenge. Without courage, a true leader is not able to act upon their visions, dreams and goals. They are not able to live a deeply authentic life due to fear of things unknown, uncertain, or unfamiliar. Without courage, change from the status quo would either be impossible or occur only by accident or luck. In contrast, with courage a leader’s gut brain is able to express their deepest sense of self by empowering them to act in ways that are true to what’s important to them and who they really are as leaders. With courage, the leaders gut brain is able to empower them to act from their deepest sense of identity in spite of any fear-based conditioned reactions. Organizational Evidence There is a growing body of evidence in the Organizational Leadership literature, along with backup from the Neuroscience of Leadership research, that competencies such as Compassion, Creativity and Courage are vital for organizational success. For example, a recent study by Christina Boedker from the Australian School of Business of more than 5600 people across 77 organizations, found that the single greatest influence on profitability and productivity was the ability of a leader to be compassionate. As Boedker observed, "It’s about valuing people and being receptive and responsive", and finding ways "to create the right support mechanisms to allow people to be as good as they can be." It’s important to note that compassion is not about pity, sympathy or niceness. It’s about deeply supporting and nurturing people to be the best they can be; to guide and coach them to bring the most calmness, creativity and courage to solving their issues and to flourishing within their organizational environment. As Geoff Aigner, director of Social Leadership Australia maintains in his thought-provoking book, ‘Leadership Beyond Good Intentions:What It Takes To Really Make a Difference’, good management is ultimately an act of compassion, and requires leaders to take responsibility for the growth and development of others. But as Aigner also points out, and this is backed up by the work of Dotlich, Cairo and Rhinesmith, along with many others, "taking responsibility for organizational systems and the people in them can be overwhelming, tiring or frightening." And this is where Courage as a highest expression kicks in. Through engendering courage in themselves, as well as in the people they are leading, adaptive and generative leaders can push through the barriers to organizational change. Organizations require creativity and innovation to adapt to rapidly changing environments, and the change engendered by this often leads to cognitive dissonance and push back by the people impacted by the new paradigms the leader is emerging. A focus on compassionate leadership and sponsorship within the organization allows people to feel valued, validated and supported, making them more amenable to supporting the creative evolution of the organization. Aligning this with courage, enables people to cope with the fears and uncertainties and to make the most of emerging opportunities that together with their leader the organization is creating. The Generative Power of Sequence Another key finding from our behavioral modeling research is the importance of sequence whenever aligning and harnessing the wisdom of your three brains. The order in which each of your brains is accessed makes a significant difference to how they work together and the wisdom that does or doesn’t emerge. This makes sense when you consider the fact that each are separate neural networks with different Prime Functions. It therefore makes a difference if the head is influencing the heart or the heart is influencing the head, or if the gut is leading the head or if the head is directing the gut (along with any of the numerous combinations between the three brains). In other words, it makes a difference if your thoughts are influencing your feelings or if your feelings are influencing your thoughts, or if your gut reactions shape your perceptions and thinking versus your thought processes triggering your gut reactions. Of the multiple combinations that are possible between the three brains, we have found there is a particular sequence that is more ‘neurologically friendly’ than others and seems to be the most generative in its results. Not surprisingly, we have also found that particular sequence to be the natural order in which many widely admired role models of leadership intuitively do, ranging from socio-political leaders like Nelson Mandela to commercial entrepreneurs like Richard Branson. This organic sequence is what we call the ‘Foundational Sequence’ and as a general rule (other than for specifically contextualized situations) can be used for the purposes of leadership development, diagnosis, and praxis. It can be used for developmental purposes in leadership trainings and coaching, it can be used to diagnose the quality of consciousness in play by any particular leader at any point in time, and it can be used by leaders as a real-time personal strategy to utilize and embody. The Foundational Sequence starts with the heart intelligence. From a leadership perspective, engaging the Prime Functions of your heart brain ensures you start with a felt connection to the people you lead and the communities you serve. This felt connection arises from a values-based connection within yourself and generates strong emotional energy and a desire to respond to human issues in meaningful ways. The Foundational Sequence then moves from the heart to the head brain. The connected and values-based emotional states from the heart influence and shape the head brain’s thoughts, perceptions and interpretations. This influence of the heart on the head is essential for authentic leadership. The perspective of a compassionate heart provides the emotional fuel and desire to make things better for others, for yourself, for your organization and for the world. This directionalizes the creative perspective of the head brain to synthesize all available information into a larger pattern for a new way of seeing and understanding the situation or issue. In a manner of speaking, this is the ‘heart’ of a true visioning process that is meaningful and inspiring. The Foundational Sequence continues as these new insights and understandings from the head are emotionally reinforced and supported by the heart brain by giving them high value and salience. The combined signals of the heart and head neural networks then connect with the gut brain which then assimilates them into the leader’s identity and mobilizes them into action. As these actions are values-driven, the leader’s identity is greatly expanded and evolved through this action-taking. The Foundational Sequence finishes back at the heart brain to ensure the underlying values and human connection remains the anchor point across time as the leader takes ongoing action in the world. In short, the Foundational Sequence that we have found produces the most generative change is: 1) start with the heart, 2) move to the head, 3) move back to the heart, 4) move down to the gut, 5) finally, move back to the heart. Generative Wisdom and Generative Leadership Adaptive and generative leadership requires integration across all three brains to bring the greatest possible intelligence to bear in the organization. It also requires the multiple brains be aligned through their Highest Expressions so that generative wisdom emerges in the leader’s actions, decisions and ways of being. Generative wisdom is wisdom that is enacted; it is wisdom that is inculcated and behaviorally practiced in the way the leader lives their life. And for wisdom to be generative it needs to be creative, compassionate and courageous. Generative wisdom is a wisdom that is holistic and transformational. It continually transforms who you are, how you see the world and how you relate to it. In essence, generative wisdom is about continually emerging your highest sense of self through the pragmatics of daily living. And for leaders, this includes the way you are leading your organization, your industry, and the wider communities you impact. Summary: mBIT (multiple Brain Integration Techniques) and Leadership The latest findings in Neuroscience show we have three functioning brains in our head, heart and gut respectively. Using these findings as the basis for further behavioral modeling research, we have discovered patterns of competencies that are foundational to adaptive and generative leadership. We have also developed a body of techniques and processes for aligning and harnessing the wisdom of the three brains which we call ‘multiple brain integration techniques’, or mBIT for short. mBIT provides leaders with a range of simple and pragmatic tools and methods for engaging and  developing the head, heart and gut intelligences of every individual and team within an organization. There are obvious and immediate applications of mBIT to organizational decision making, talent development, relationship building, coaching, and the full range of people skills that make a leader truly great. The best companies develop ‘complete’ leaders, and with mBIT, those leaders are able to tap into and harness the intuitive intelligence of their multiple brains to know how to wisely guide and evolve their people, their relationships, their decisions and their organizational worlds. As Dotlich, Cairo and Rhinesmith point out, great leaders turn out to be those who are deeply in touch with their head, heart and guts. Even more so, it is our view that some of the greatest gains to organizational success come from harnessing the intuitive wisdom of both leaders and those they lead, so that organizations can truly evolve and adapt with generative wisdom within our complex and rapidly changing world. [More information about mBIT can found in the book ‘mBraining - using your multiple brains to do cool stuff’ by Marvin Oka and Grant Soosalu. Also, you can join us on our Mbit FOR Senior Leaders and Professional Coaches course in September 2015 enquiries@theperformancesolution.com   The post The Three Brains of Leadership appeared first on The Performance Solution.

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