Thirdway Leadership | Author Archives

Congratulations to the “Class of 2020 of the School of Unparalleled Human Experience”

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Gina Paigen

(If you are reading this, and have survived this year,
even if only by the skin of your teeth,
you are now officially part of the Class of 2020)

As I think about our journey this year, I am reminded of the first three words, of the first paragraph, of the very first self-help / personal-growth book I ever read. The book is titled The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck.

Those three words have stayed with me since I first read them all those many years ago. They are:

“Life is difficult.”

Peck goes on to say:

“This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once when we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that it is difficult no longer matters.”

From this perspective, we let go of the idea that life should be easy. From this perspective we recognize life as a series of problems to be solved, challenges to be met, and doors to walk through. From this perspective, life is an endless series of opportunities to seize the day, rise to the occasion, and to learn and grow.

When we look at our lives from this perspective, we can see that our ability to meet what life offers, is what makes it beautiful, magical and intriguing.

This is not to say that being human isn’t painful. Every person on the planet today has experienced suffering and sadness, and for some of us, this year has brought that to a degree we could not have imagined just twelve short months ago.

Stepping up to meet the challenges life presents, and solve the problems we encounter, takes courage. It takes each us bringing the best of what we have to each moment.

Sometimes our best is brilliance beyond belief. Sometimes our best is simply being able to take the next step, breathe the next breath.

This year we have learned powerful lessons about how to ride the waves without letting them pull us under. But remember each time we get back up after we’ve been knocked down, each time we rise from the ashes, we come back a little tougher, a little stronger, and a little wiser.

Consider for a moment, the butterfly coming out of its cocoon, or the chick working its way out of its shell. If we intervene, and cut open the cocoon, or break apart the shell, the animal will die. As it goes through the process of working its way free, it builds the strength it needs to survive.

And so, despite everything 2020 has dished out, here we all are. And if there is one thing I know about the Human Class of 2020 (the most resilient class ever), it is that we will persevere.

In closing I want to wish you all the best in everything you do.

And I leave you with a challenge:

The challenge is this:

How will you bring your strength, your resilience, and your ever-expanding wisdom to others?
How will you pay forward the gifts you have received?
How will you truly be the change we all wish to see in the world?

Rock on Class of 2020

It has been a pleasure to live this life with you!

Black Lives Matter

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Gina Paigen

We stand strong in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and in opposition to all forms of hatred, injustice, and oppression.

We realize there is work to be done, and this is both a sprint AND a marathon. There are significant actions that must be taken right here, right now, today; beginning with an urgent need to address police violence against Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

And we need be in it tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. We need to think long-term, sustain the momentum, and fight for the kind of large-scale structural changes that will be required to create a truly equitable society.

We acknowledge that institutional and systemic racism are intricately woven into every aspect of our lives, and have been from the moment the first Europeans crossed the Atlantic. We can see it playing out everywhere; in housing, healthcare, education, and income and wealth disparities. It is alive and well in the over-policing of Black communities, racial profiling and the hyper-criminalization of Black people, the pipeline to prison, and mass incarceration. It is part of the very air we breathe.

We acknowledge that silence is complicity, and that not to speak out is to tacitly condone the status quo.

We commit to action. We have identified 10+ action items we commit to start, or continue doing, both individually and collectively.

Educate ourselves. Read, watch, listen and learn.
Donate money. Donate to a local, Black-led activist organization.
Donate books. Donate copies of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (a young adult book), and Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi (a new board book) to the local YWCA for their early childhood, middle-school, teen program.
Sign petitions. Sign petition in direct support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and in support of politicians who speak out about equity and social justice.
Seek additional outlets for our Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression program. We are kicking off our first cohort in July and will continue to seek opportunities to bring this work to the world.
Provide pro-bono coaching and team building services. Offer pro-bono coaching, leadership development and team building services for individuals and organizations actively engaged in Anti-Racism work.
Join the conversation. Participate in a 28-week circle conversation with other white people using Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad as a framework.
Adopt a state. Give time and energy to help facilitate a change in Washington come November. Go to Vote Save America for more information.
Support friends and family who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Be there when our support is needed or requested. Step back when it is not.
Speak up and speak out. Seek out opportunities to speak up and speak out while being thoughtful about how we use our privilege. Avoid staying silent (even when it gets uncomfortable), to protect our self-interest. Strive to amplify the voices of Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
Stay in it for the long haul.

This is a call to action. The time is now. If you haven’t yet done it, we challenge each of you to ask yourself how you will engage at this critical moment in history, and create your own list. What will you commit to today? What will you do to maintain and sustain?

Do it for the sake of your friends, and family, and your community. Do it for the sake of your children, and your children’s children, and the generations yet to come that will inherit a world grounded in peace, justice, and the right of every human to live a full, rich, and self-actualized life.

And do share your list in the comments section below!

In Solidarity,
Gina Paigen
Founder and Chief Impact Officer
ThirdWay Leadership

DEMYSTIFYING LEADERSHIP IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Gina Paigen

Part One: Welcome to The ThirdWay

Leadership Matters
In the rapidly shifting and highly competitive landscape of the 21st Century,
leadership has a significant impact on organizational outcomes across the board;
from operational efficiency and customer service,
to employee recruitment, retention and engagement;
from creativity and innovation, to productivity and profitability.

Leadership is a hot topic. With the flood of information available, how do you begin to cut through the clutter?

In this multi-part series we will demystify the art and science of leadership and illustrate what effective leadership looks like in the new millennium: what we call ThirdWay Leadership.

And we will provide a set of tools and techniques you can apply immediately that will support you and your organization on the road to ThirdWay Leadership.

Today, we introduce the ThirdWay Leadership Model. In upcoming installments we will take a deeper dive into the specific mindsets and skillsets characteristic of ThirdWay Leaders.

Defining Leadership

We define leadership as:
A process of social influence that catalyzes the energy and imagination of others, and maximizes their efforts towards the achievement of a meaningful goal.

What are the Hallmarks of ThirdWay Leaders?

ThirdWay Leaders take ownership of their piece of the puzzle.
They recognize people are the greatest asset in any organization, and they commit to developing themselves and those around them.
They understand every organization exists to achieve results, and they keep their eyes on the prize.
They realize the nature of work is shifting, the time we spend collaborating is on the rise, and mastering the art of teaming is essential.
They know that in today’s fast-paced environment, whether incremental or monumental, change is the only constant. They learn to navigate it gracefully.

ThirdWay Leadership may or may not be tied to a formal position of authority. We see it in the CEO who envisions a new direction and inspires people to get on board and turn the ship; and we see it in the line worker who recognizes a need for better departmental communication, and steps up to make it happen.

ThirdWay Leadership isn’t about command and control, wielding power or demanding compliance through fear. It is not, “Do this, or else,” or “You’re not being paid to think!” ThirdWay Leaders recognize the inherent value in each member of the organization; they walk their talk, and they build followership with honesty, respect and trust.

The ThirdWay Model of Leadership©

We have synthesized key concepts from the study of leadership theory, organizational development, entrepreneurship, psychology, neuroscience, coaching and creativity, along with direct, hands-on experience, to create a framework for understanding and mastering the mindset and skillset of ThirdWay Leadership.

Funnel 5

A note to remember:
Mastering leadership is a journey. No one does it all perfectly. As you explore the model, remember to play to your strengths, and bring a healthy dose of humor, humility and self-compassion as you identify areas you want or need to grow.

OVERVIEW OF THE MODEL

The Four Quadrants

The mindset and skill sets of ThirdWay Leaders are organized into four quadrants which represent areas of competency.

FOCUS ON RELATIONSHIPS: Capacity to Engage

The first quadrant looks at our ability to build effective working relationships and to lead with integrity.
Primary Competency: Practice social and emotional intelligence

FOCUS ON RESULTS: Capacity to be Effective

Quadrant 2 addresses our ability to focus on the outcomes and objectives that will move the organization forward, and our ability to create an environment that allows people to do their best work every day.
Primary Competencies: Begin with the end in mind; Set the stage for success

FOCUS ON COLLABORATION: Capacity to be Inclusive

Quadrant 3 examines our ability to work collaboratively, to build strong teams, and to create a culture that supports the full participation of a diverse community.
Primary Competency: Build a foundation of trust

ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET: Capacity to be Creative

The fourth quadrant explores our willingness to take ownership for all aspects of an enterprise, to embrace creativity and innovation, and to take calculated risks.
Primary Competencies: Practice accountability; Apply creative methodologies

The Two Axes

In addition to the four quadrants, the ThirdWay Leadership model is organized along two axes.

THE RELATIONSHIPS TO RESULTS AXIS

The two left quadrants (focus on relationships and focus on collaboration) address the relationship side of the leadership equation; the two right quadrants (focus on results and entrepreneurial mindset) look at how we get things done and move the organization forward.

THE STABILITY TO CREATIVITY AXIS

The top two quadrants are oriented around competencies that support stability in an organization; the bottom two are oriented around a commitment to creativity and change.

Bringing it All Together

With all the component pieces in place, the ThirdWay Model of Leadership creates a simple, user-friendly approach to understanding and mastering leadership.

Focus on Relationships (Relationships – Stable)
Our ability to build strong relationships creates a stable environment for the work of the organization.
Focus on Results (Results – Stable)
Our ability to generate positive results provides the consistent performance required to support growth.
Focus on Collaboration (Relationships – Creative)
Our ability to collaborate takes our relationship skills and moves them into a creative realm.
Entrepreneurial Mindset (Results – Creative)
Our entrepreneurial mindset sets us up to see ourselves provides the spark that will drive innovation and create a true competitive advantage.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will dive into the mindset and skill sets of relationship mastery!

In the meantime, reach out to us to talk to you about how you can bring the ThirdWay model into your organization and begin the journey towards leadership excellence!

The Company Retreat: One-Hit Wonder or Lifetime Achievement? 6 Steps to Great Bang for your Retreat Bucks

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Gina Paigen

Presenting the “Weather Girls” (a.k.a. One-Hit Wonder) Retreat

It’s the day after the company retreat, and there’s a buzz in the air. Everywhere you look, people are engrossed in lively conversations.

“I can’t believe I finally got up the nerve to ride the zip line.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard as I did watching our CEO’s karaoke rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’!

“We’re going to have to recruit more muscle for the sales team so we can reclaim the Tug of War trophy at next years’ event.”

What’s wrong with this picture?

There’s lots of engagement and excitement but none of the energy is directed towards the objectives of your organization or delivering outstanding value to your customers.

We call this the “Engagement Without Objectives” scenario.

Now for the “Never Even Made It Onto the Charts” Retreat

It’s the day after the company retreat, and it feel like all the air has been sucked out of the room. On each desk; a fresh, 3-ring binder filled with sales figures, Gantt charts, projections, market surveys, customer surveys, employee surveys and a printout of the 247-slide PowerPoint deck presentation that was the highlight of the retreat. Goals, metrics, and performance criteria have all been carefully spelled out, and now it’s time to deliver.

Engagement not Despite the CEO’s half-hearted end-of-the-day attempt at motivation (when most people would rather be sitting on a bar stool sipping a margarita), no one really has any sense of how they’re going to get from here to there.

We call this the “Objectives without Engagement” scenario.

What’s the alternative? How can we create an event that is interactive, energizing and memorable, and at the same time creates sustainable change tied directly to your mission, vision and objectives?

Introducing the “Aretha Franklin” (a.k.a. Lifetime Achievement Award) Retreat

Step 1 – Identify the Challenge (The Framework)

What is one significant challenge or opportunity facing your organization today? Perhaps you’ve become so process heavy people feel strangled and there’s no room for improvement. Or you’ve become siloed and there’s a lack of cross-functional collaboration. Or perhaps you’ve become complacent and you’d like to create a culture of creativity. Once identified, that challenge becomes the framework for the retreat.

Step 2 – Know Your “Why”

Clarify why this challenge is important. Why does it matter if you adopt a program of continual improvement, or if the sales team and the operations team are collaborating to create an outstanding customer experience? Why are creativity and innovation critical components of your competitive advantage? Be prepared to communicate your why in a clear and compelling way when you come together.

Step 3 – Identify Your Learning Objectives and Outcomes

Ask yourself: if this event were wildly successful, at the end of the day, what would be different? What would people have learned? What would they start doing that they’re not doing now, or what would they stop doing that isn’t working anymore?

Step 4 – Follow Up

It’s relatively easy to do things differently when you’re away from the office in a controlled environment set up to encourage alternative ways of interacting. It’s a different animal under the pressures of the workplace. To keep the momentum going, follow up is crucial. Let the group design what needs to happen next, set actionable goals and identify how they can take ownership of their piece of the puzzle.

Step 5 – Track Your Success

Devise ways to track success. Keep tabs on what’s working and what’s not and use the information to inform your next effort.

Step 6 – Hire a Professional

Design and delivery of training and development programs is an art and a science. Given the time and money you’re investing in the day; don’t skimp on the one piece that translates to return on investment: program design and facilitation. To insure your next event not only rises to the top of the charts, but becomes part of a long and illustrious development culture, give us a call. Click the Contact Us button.

We’re here and ready to assist.

Top 10 Reasons Talent Development Initiatives Fail

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Gina Paigen

“Been there, done that.”
“We spent a lot of money and had a great time out of the office, but in the end, nothing changed.”

These are common refrains amongst prospective clients talking about talent development initiatives. Digging deeper you can see where their efforts missed the mark. Here are their top 10 mistakes.

1. OUTCOMES AND OBJECTIVES ARE NOT CLEARLY DEFINED.
A problem well defined is a problem half-solved. The first questions we ask new clients:

What is the problem we’re trying to solve?
What would success look like and what are the results we want to achieve?
What do we want people to learn?
What are our performance objectives; what do we want people to do differently?

2. THEY MISS HALF THE EQUATION.
Substantive change requires a change in both behavior and mindset. Effective development programs address both sides of the equation.

A behavioral approach to change works well for learning new software, becoming a stronger swimmer or mastering scales on the guitar.

Changing mindset is a more complex, nuanced process. We spend our lives creating a set of deeply ingrained assumptions and beliefs that underlie our behavior, some which propel us forward, and some which hold us back.

If the goal is to be more innovative, people need to trust that failed experiments will not result in personal or professional disaster. If we want a more collaborative culture, there’s work to be done to expand our capacity to accept and embrace diversity.

3. THEY’RE TOO SHORT.
Sustainable change takes place over time and requires ongoing practice. A weekend of high-ropes and team-building is easily forgotten when the pressures of time, workplace conflicts and budget constraints set in.

Effective programs keep us engaged over a period of time, both in and out of a regular working environment. Getting away (if only for a few hours) allows us to put full attention on the program content and gain a new perspective. Following up with ongoing workplace-based activities allow us to transfer the learning and develop new competencies in a real-world context.

4. THEY TAKE US BACK TO SCHOOL.
Many training and development programs are delivered in a classroom setting where participants are treated as passive consumers of information, yet some of the most powerful insights and understanding occur in a collaborative environment where people learn as much, if not more, from each other as they do from a teacher.

5. THERE’S NO SKIN IN THE GAME.
If I’m motivated to get in shape, and I hire a top-notch personal trainer who’s just on the edge of affordability, I’ll do what it takes to get a return on my investment.

When we have a genuine interest in the program objectives and the content is meaningful (an intrinsic motivation), and the cost or the reward for participation is high enough (extrinsic motivation) we are inspired to play full out.

6. THE WATER DOESN’T RISE TO THE TOP.
In some organizations, development is relegated to high-potentials identified as part of the leadership pipeline. While this is important to an overall leadership strategy, as young leaders develop new competencies, it’s not unusual for them to run up against an old guard of senior leadership that still operates from a more traditional paradigm.

When excellence in leadership is clearly articulated as the standard for all lines and levels of the organization, and when the organization commits resources to development across the board, there is potential to create a true culture of leadership; a hallmark of high-performing organizations.

7. DESIGN AND DELIVERY ARE MONOLITHIC.
If we want to communicate a large volume of information, a lecture format may be effective. If, on the other hand, we want people to fully integrate new patterns of thought, feeling and behavior, we will be more successful if we create programming that appeals to a variety of learning styles and utilizes multi-sensory inputs (which are key to learning).

8. THE IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE DOESN’T INCLUDE ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.
Think of your development program as a new product, and your organization as both supplier and customer. As a supplier, you seek input on the customer experience (the participants) with an eye toward improvement. As a customer, you appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback (to the program providers) as each new iteration will potentially deliver more bang for your buck.

Whether your development initiative is generated in-house or outsourced, feedback and improvement mechanisms are critical.

9. THERE’S NO MEANS TO MEASURE IMPACT.
A masterfully designed, powerfully delivered development initiative is meaningless if it does not directly impact performance in the targeted areas.

A well-crafted program will assess performance metrics at the start and at completion (and possibly midpoints depending on duration) to determine how well the program is achieving its goals, and the bottom line ROI.

10. WHEN IT’S OVER, IT’S OVER.
Personal and professional development is a journey, not a destination. Homeostasis (the desire for a system to maintain balance and a status quo) can pull individuals back into old patterns of thought, feeling and behavior despite a serious commitment to change. Just as in any long-term relationship, a commitment to growth, both for individuals and for the organization as a whole, requires a lifetime of care and attention.

For more on how to create a sustainable change initiative that will make a significant contribution to your organizational objectives and your bottom line, click Contact Us for a consultation.

Welcome to the ThirdWay Blog

Posted on September 18, 2015 by Gina Paigen

Dear Friends and Supporters of ThirdWay Leadership,

Welcome to the new ThirdWay Leadership blog. We have created this space to share ideas and insights about life, leadership, creativity, organizational development, team-building and entrepreneurship.

We also want to use this as a place to interact with you; to hear what’s happening in your world and to get your questions, comments and suggestions.

Please take a moment to subscribe, and make this page a regular stop on your internet tour. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.

(If you are reading this, and have survived this year, even if only by the skin of your teeth, you are now officially part of the Class of 2020)