Anticipant Leaders & Anticipant Organizations Are Better Positioned for Innovation
Two recent Bonar Institute Webinars explored themes in purposeful leadership. Major General (Retired David Fraser, a Bonar Institute colleague, discussed in a June, 2022 webinar, Leadership in Uncertain Times – Developing Resilience, the need for anticipant leadership...
Leadership Self-Awareness – Bonar Institute Webinar Episode Three
Leaders who are looking to drive purposeful change often overlook an important aspect in the process -- self-awareness: an awareness of their own strengths, weaknesses, actions and presence. Do you need help developing a distinct understanding of you, the leader? Are...
Stress gets in the way of Good Leadership
Awareness of stress and how it manifests in the mind and body is crucial for organizational leaders. Ignoring it can lead to diminishing returns both mentally and physically. Stressed, leaders can lose mental focus and become ill-tempered leading to tension in the...
Keeping Closed Minds Open – Bonar Institute Webinar Episode Two
𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺. There are 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 to the people you lead, and the beginning of innovation is to understand the profile style of each member of your team - what they know, and how...
New Program: Elevate your leaders and gain the competitive advantage with Foundational Purposeful Leadership Development
It’s one thing to supervise a group of people. It’s another to lead a high-performing team. Are your leaders in the first category, the second category, or somewhere in between? As baseball legend Babe Ruth put it, “You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars...
Leadership in Uncertain Times: Developing Resiliance – Bonar Institute Webinar Episode One
Leading in a post-pandemic environment is creating new issues and will require a different way of leading purposefully. Major-General (Retired) David Fraser has over 40 years leadership experience in both the military and the private sector. In this month's webinar,...
Leading Human Beings, Not Human Doings
So much focus in business goes to action, specifically swift and decisive action. Think about common business phraseology such as “going the extra mile”, “hitting the ground running”, “playing hardball”, “going above and beyond”, or “stepping up to the plate”. Each...
What makes work attractive to people?
"Human beings are “symbolizing, conceptualizing, meaning-seeking animals," – Clifford Geertz The disconnection between employee aspirations to work and what they really experience at work is being increasingly voiced by their quest for destiny of preferred work and...
Spirituality and Purposeful Leadership
Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor in her new book Whole Brain Living says that most of humanity who live urban lives are stuck in the left brain. This results in linear, mechanistic thinking in the past and future tense, structured, certain, analytical, detail...
The Battle of Attrition Post COVID
Leaders today have just gone through a gruelling two-plus-year fight of normal business challenges that was coupled with an unprecedented worldwide COVID pandemic. As many would say, “you cannot make this up.” As we come out of the COVID pandemic, many leaders and...
Address the risk of burn out to increase employee retention
“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” — Lou Holtz The astounding phase of announcements on people moving to new jobs over the past year indicates high volatility in the market for top talent. This poses a major retention risk for...
Inaction is also a Choice: A Leader’s Dilemma
One of my coaching clients was struggling with one of the most difficult choices a leader must make. His company was growing quickly and some of his most trusted lieutenants didn’t have the necessary skills to foster exponential growth. The choice was stark: thrive by...
Leading Purposefully in The Era of ESG Reporting Fatigue
Purposeful leaders can create benefits for their companies and stakeholders by linking ESG reporting and company purpose and values. Let’s take a look at why. Much has been written about ‘sustainability reporting fatigue’ in recent years. There is no denying the toll...
Challenges of Internal Transition to a C-level Role
High potential candidates for a C-level position can benefit from an executive coaching engagement to prepare for the role and to succeed while in the role. Transition challenges are well-documented in the popular business press and peer-reviewed academic research....
From Startup to Exit: Necessary Leadership Adaptations
Each phase of a business’ life-cycle poses unique leadership challenges, and the Bonar Institute team can assist at each stage as coaches, mentors, and strategic advisors, and trainers. Senior executives need to adapt leadership practices and optimize the...
Need to Create Purposeful Teams
Teams need to be purposefully built. This is true because teams need to have the right balance of the skills and team characteristics required to solve the specific challenges they are facing. Team challenges can, generally, fall into three buckets: Generating...
Anticipant Leadership – New Rules for Leadership in the Digital Society
There have been many transitions for humankind. From the Neolithic, scientific, agrarian, industrial, information, and now digital era. Each one of these transitions fundamentally changed our lives. And for the better - on balance. What was fundamental in each change...
Freedom
“Without freedom, creativity cannot flourish. The right to freedom is crucial to progress in any society, and the context is having a sense of Global Responsibility.” - His Holiness The Dalai Lama Freedom is a deeply rooted value in how we live our lives in Western...
Endurance and Equanimity: Attributes of an Effective Leader
Endurance is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue.i Equanimity is defined as a state of...
Why We Should Do Better to See Social Entrepreneurship As a Spectrum
As events were unfolding at the Capitol in Washington on January 6 and in the subsequent hours when technology giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon decided to kick certain users off their platforms based on how users leveraged the platforms, I kept wondering how...
Artificial Intelligence is Shifting Traditional Notions of Competitive Advantage
“Consistency is the playground of dull minds” ― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Traditional sources of competitive advantage (CA) focus on relatively static aspects that allow companies to gain greater market share. Proprietary assets,...
Bonar Institute & Purposeful Leadership
I am often asked what is purposeful leadership, and why is it the focus of the Bonar Institute? These queries have inspired me to revise an article I published on purposeful leadership following the founding of the Institute in December 2014. Based on my work with...
Use Simple Rules to Avoid Bottlenecks
Organizations that enable employees to feel respected as individuals, as professionals, and as members of a team, also trust them to fully develop the potential of their skills, talents, and creativity. Jody Thompson and Cail Ressler, devised ROWE (Results Only Work...
Align Virtual Teams and Employees with Your Organization’s Mission, Vision, Strategy, and Values to Optimize Performance
Idea: Remote employees and virtual teams need continual alignment with your organization’s values, vision, mission, and strategy (VVMS) to optimize performance. Employee alignment with your VVMS mitigates some of the inherent performance challenges facing individual...
Disruption and Innovation
When COVID 19 hit several months ago, the words we heard most in our collective lives were “disruption, chaos, and disaster”. No one knew or could even imagine how the next few months would play out. At that time, we had no doubt that we would get back to our lives...
Inherently Spiritual People must be led by Spiritually Intelligent Leaders
The COVID pandemic has given the world a pause as we face the biological response to an ecological crisis. The crises exacerbated by the frenetic pace of the world with unfettered consumerism and economic growth have given us time to reflect on the merits of the...
Influence the Conversation: Plan for the Worst
When you are preparing to have a difficult conversation, it can be pretty daunting. Here are a few questions that you might find helpful to think about when you are trying to influence the conversation. What could go wrong in this meeting (e.g., emotions, new facts)?...
Empowering Clients to Thrive, Not Just Survive
Issue: The breadth and depth of risks facing businesses cannot be overstated. Seismic disruptions resulting from technological innovation and the instantaneous dissemination of data and information are transforming economies. Interconnectivity results in today's...
Leadership’s ESG Imperative and Practical Suggestions for Addressing It
Idea: Multiple internal and external stakeholders increasingly insist that businesses address ESG issues. Leaders must apply emotional intelligence and change management skills to actualize ESG goals within their organizations. What Is the ESG Imperative? Multiple...
Seven Simple Questions that Every Leader Must Answer for an Engaged Team
Engaging and mobilizing employees can feel like a daunting challenge. However, we have found that a few simple behaviours can make a huge difference in improving engagement. It is frustrating to have to read minds. For instance, many employees are frustrated because...
The Bonar Institute’s Influence Planning Tool
Some questions to think about Before going into any high-stakes conversation that requires influence, use this simple tool to make sure you have your bases covered: Action Step SET A CLEAR GOAL. Key Mistake Going in with one's gut instinct instead of a clear...
Need to Engage & Mobilize Your Employees?
Some questions to think about Why are you worried/frustrated about employee engagement?What does it cost your organization? What does it cost your team? What is your manager saying about it?Is it hurting quality?Is it hurting productivity?Is it hurting customer...
Steps to Executive Renewal
Intellectual Snapshot: Leadership has been described as a role involving chronic stress punctuated by periods of acute tension. Though typically, the working environment places little value on personal renewal, successful leaders learn to deal with the stress in...
Bouncing Forward: The Resilient Leaders’ Mindset
As we all struggle to come to grips with the human and economic devastation caused by the ongoing evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the most insightful leaders are identifying ways forward. They are adept at adapting their organizations' established contingency measures to...
Cost Questions
On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you assess your own levels of stress?Where does the stress show up?What are the effects of this stress on your job performance? Satisfaction?Whare are the effects of this stress on your personality?How aligned do you feel personally...
Managing in a Time of Crisis
James de Gaspé Bonar Ph.D., CEC, PCC March 29, 2020 Issue: Running a business is predicated on two things: • Making decisions • Executing the decisions made well The importance of rational, effective decision-making in a crisis cannot be overstated and the biggest...
S.M.A.R.T. Goals
SPECIFIC Ensure that your goals are targeted and clear-cut. Ask yourself questions like: What am I trying to accomplish?Why is this goal important?What resources are required?Are their operational limits that need to be taken into account?Who is involved?If geography...
Business as Usual: A Quaint Idea of a Bygone Era – Uncertainty is the Only Certainty
Issue: The current pace of change is unparalleled in human history. This is due to exponential technological advancements coupled with the instantaneous dissemination of data and information in our interconnected world. The increasing adoption of artificial...
Maturity Models for Leadership Risk Mitigation, Coaching, and Development
John Barker JD, CCEP, CHC, CHPC, CHRC December 8, 2019 John Barker is a Chicago-area management consultant specializing in innovation; and corporate strategy, product and market strategy & development. He is affiliated with the Bonar Institute Idea: Maturity...
Results-Driven Coaching in a Rapid-Fire World – Bonar Institute’s Proven Methodology
"I have had a number of executive coaches in the past, but in the end of the day they went nowhere. I need real, lasting results!" We have heard this refrain from corporate, government and non-profit clients at the Bonar Institute. To ensure productive executive...
Time Management Conundrum in Rapid-Fire World
Our org chart has so many vacancies that our senior people have to fill multiple roles. And, in some cases, they’re even unaware of all their managerial responsibilities! Does, this situation sound familiar? If so, you are not alone. Many organizations are...
How Business and Government Leaders Create a High-Performance Culture
The role of an executive in today's global economy is not for the faint of heart. The pace of economic, technological and social change is unparalleled in human history. Executives must also keep pace with a flood of instantaneous gathered, disseminated and analyzed...
Leadership & the Power of Influence
"Leadership is influence." - John C. Maxwell, New York Times Best Selling author One of my clients recently shared with me her frustration on being passed over for a promotion in her hoped-for ascent up the corporate ladder. A very capable executive, she is well-liked...
Servant Leaders and Unicorns
During the Q & A session after a talk on Success Through Purpose & Service, I was asked to elaborate on my comments on servant leaders, specifically in business. Below is an expanded version of my response. All organizations need leaders to provide focus,...
Abusive Leaders, Wounded Workers
"I hate to have to speak to you about this Paul [all names have been changed]… but I feel I have to... I can't go on like this… Sarah's bullying is too much for me". Sarah reports to Paul and is his star performer. "She often humiliates me in team meetings: 'You're...
The Private/Public Management Divide
Some of my executive clients share that they are attracted to the government by the desire to improve service to the Canadian public in a more cost-efficient way. They appreciate not being chained to quarterly results, allowing for more considered long-term goal...
Corporate Consciousness – A Key to Success
As I have previously written, organizations need to develop new ways of adapting to prosper in our complex, volatile and hyper-connected world. (See my August 27, 2017 article Surviving or Thriving? Prospering Through Purpose.) They need to foster greater...
Leadership & the Law
As an executive coach, mentor and management consultant, I work with leaders who are required to manage complex legal and regulatory issues on a daily basis. In my experience, clients who have acquired a solid understanding of their legal responsibilities as managers...
The Power of an Impactful Value Story
You can if you believe you can, and then others will believe you can. — Adapted from Virgil An old friend asked me recently how many of my coaching clients can tell their value story convincingly? I asked him what precisely he meant by value story. He responded that...
Government: The Forgotten Collaborator
Many of our executive coaching clients report feeling overwhelmed due to the daunting challenges of dizzying technological change coupled with instant dissemination of vast amounts of information -- and increasingly, disinformation -- in our hyper-connected world. The...