How We Help Clients Design and Reach the Desired Future State

how-we-help

This is part of a series on LKS Quaero’s leadership development programs, published in advance of our 2018 Public Program in Newcastle. You can book your ticket for our Leading for Change (Advanced) Diploma program or book your ticket for our Leading for Change (Essentials) Certificate IV program now. Both programs are delivered through our RTO partner, Australian College of Mining RTO No. 110084.

Once the organisational problem has been identified and the current state analysis has been undertaken, our clients have a clear picture of what’s going well and what’s not. How do we help them turn that knowledge into concrete change?

It’s tempting to go and tackle lots of little changes. However, without a clear plan, those changes don’t cohere or stick. We work with clients to clearly map out where they would like to be by helping them to design the desired future state for their organisation. Then we conduct a gap analysis by asking what’s stopping them from where they want to be in the future already. This results in an analysis of the discrepancies between the current state and the future state. We use the gap analysis to build an implementation action plan to move the organisation from the current state to the future state. When we’re building a plan for individuals rather than organisations, the current state assessment feeds into the development of a personal improvement plan.

We make sure that the future state (and the actions for getting there!) includes consideration of symbols, systems, and behaviours. These are crucial tools for leaders in shaping their organisation. Symbols are non-verbal messages, usually intangible ones, that leaders can use to support a better culture. Systems are ways of organising work. Behaviour is how you behave (or are seen to behave). These and other tools form a toolkit that we give people to help them measure progress themselves and make a real, demonstrable impact on the organisation.

There’s an enormous amount of learning, challenge, and self-reflection needed in order to complete this work. It results in concrete means for making tangible change – whether for individuals, their team, the organisation, or all three.

It can be difficult when looking at yourself internally to discover the nature of the problem, much less change it, especially when that problem lies with the leadership. We help hold a mirror up and provide an impartial, experienced voice and framework for making the changes. Crucially, we don’t stop there: we open up people’s eyes to the possibilities of the improvements they can really make beyond the life of the program, using their toolkits to start of a lifetime of learning.

At LKS Quaero, we help organisations with effective leadership and culture programs that stick. Register your interest for our 2018 Public Program in Newcastle. If you’d like to know more, visit us at lksquaero.com or follow us on LinkedInFacebook, and Twitter.

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