Rapid Action-Reflection Loops

We're applying our own advice

Hello!

If there's one core model that we apply to everything that we do at Potentialife, it's the Action-Reflection Loop.

It's deeply encoded in our organization's DNA thanks to our co-founder Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar's belief in it as the most effective way to create meaningful shifts in any sphere of life.

Take habit formation: You experiment with a new habit for, say, a week (Action). Then, assess how much you enjoyed it and how sustainable the habit is (Reflection). Maybe it's tweaked for another week (Action) and then assessed again (Reflection). On repeat. All our programs incorporate this model to help leaders develop life and leadership habits.

Take program management: When we launch a program with a client (Action), there's no autopilot mode. It's assessed every 6 weeks on average (Reflection) to create a chance to dynamically redesign (Action), and then assess it once more (Reflection). On repeat. It's this model that's helped our programs create unmatched impact.

And now, take this newsletter: We launched it in February this year and have published 9 editions since (Action). Now, we're taking a step back to hear from you about what's working and what isn't (Reflection).

Would you help us by sharing a few thoughts anonymously?

In case you are unable to access the Google Form or would prefer to respond to us directly, here are the survey questions:

1. What do you like most about How Programs Fly?

2. What would you suggest we change about How Programs Fly?

3. What topics or themes related to L&OD programs would you recommend we cover in future editions?
   

Through previous editions, we've strived to answer the question:
'How do programs fly? How can L&OD, Culture, and Well-being programs create higher, more sustained impact?' 

Today, we summarize.

Some programs fly because they smartly leverage elements of human psychology, such as:

• Enabling people to select self-concordant growth goals to gain their full committed to the growth agenda (Edition 1)

• Enabling people to run real-life habit formation experiments to keep them engaged and committed to the transformation (Edition 4)

• Garnering interest in a developmental program by beginning with what's closest to one's heart, one's own habits of well-being (Edition 6)

Other programs fly because they smartly incorporate Program Management techniques, such as:

• The Momentum Effect (Edition 2) and Positive Virality (Edition 7) to continuously reenergize participants by converting success into buzz 

• 1:1 Focus, where multiple guardrails ensure that not a single participant is left behind, unsupported (Edition 5)

• Robust Impact Measurement, where a host of metrics keep things on track and communicate impact to your myriad stakeholders (Edition 8)

Still other programs fly because their participants love how closely curated the program is to meet their current needs. We covered how:

• Leadership Development Programs for Women Leaders can double up as safe spaces through intelligent program design elements (Edition 3)

• The Coachlike Leadership program archetype is often exactly what GMs and VPs are looking for at this stage of their career – and life (Edition 9)

We now ask what topic or theme related to developmental programs would you, our reader, like us to cover in a future edition.

This is one of the three questions in our anonymous survey. If you haven't already, please do spare a couple of minutes to share some of your thoughts.

Over the next 3 weeks, we will invest time in listening to our readers and sharpening the newsletter, and will return with the next edition six weeks hence.

#9 | From VPs and GMs to Coachlike Leaders

And why it's like killing two birds with one stone

Hello!

Every year or two, you run a program for your VPs and GMs to groom them as next-in-line CXOs.

Over the years, these senior leaders have undergone several skill- or technical-based interventions to groom them for bigger things.

The question we hope this edition sparks (and perhaps, answers) is, 'What can we do, now, that's really going to excite them? What are they looking for?'

This may have undertones of an existential question, but if we had to begin somewhere, it's with a program archetype that we've seen resonate strongly with cohorts of senior leaders one hundred percent of the time.

No rounding up, no exaggeration, Coachlike Leadership is a popular and powerful program archetype. We unbox it for you in 3 x 1-minute sections:

#1 | The What: 'Completing the leadership repertoire'

Coachlike Leadership is not a coach certification program. Rather, it's a leadership style tailored for situations common to CXOs.

A next-in-line CXO would typically already have 3 leadership styles in their repertoire: Transactional Leadership for the day-to-day, Charismatic Leadership for charm offensives, and Collaborative Leadership for shared objectives.

A fourth style is needed to navigate situations where stakes and emotions run high, where the team needs to be guided through goals and challenges, and where inspiring peak performance in a supportive way would make a crucial difference.

Having Coachlike Leadership in one's repertoire is a game-changer for a CXO. But there's another reason why it's so popular.

#2 | The Why: 'Two birds, one stone'

We've just established how it's a necessary software update for those in line for CXO-ship, simply because a crucial part of their role will involve nurturing and forging ties with people. That's bird #1. 

Almost in perfect synchronicity, these leaders, after 15-20 years in the rat race, are often yearning for a more holistic, more fulfilling role that comes from nurturing those around them. Coachlike Leadership equips them to do just this, and they often feel grateful and energized by it. That's bird #2.

So: bringing senior leaders closer to the person they will soon need to be, and also want to be. Two birds, one stone, at least in theory. But what about in practice?

#3 | The How: 'Once tasted, always wanted'

True conviction in something can only stem from first-hand experience.

In Phase 1 of this program archetype, leaders experience a personal transformation where investing in relationships, expanding one's capacity to listen, sharing one's authentic emotions, and asking powerful questions are practiced as levers for personal growth. Through this journey, they also get a taste of the coachlike leadership style, and feel inspired to imbibe it.

ln Phase 2, they do exactly that by integrating these faculties into their own leadership style at work, 'their own' being the keyword that ensures it's practiced authentically, and not robotically.

1. It equips crucial next-to-the-top talent for their future roles, and reduces the likelihood that they exit the rat race, exhausted

2. These leaders find new meaning and purpose in their careers by growing into the nurturing leaders that they have started seeing themselves as

3. Coachlike Leadership cannot be programmed into a leader, but is an outcome of a program archetype where leaders methodically craft it into their own authentic leadership style

The next time you're planning a program for your VPs & GMs, we do hope that this edition sparks the idea to awaken coachlike leaders within each of them.

#8 | Measuring impact, robustly

Plus: 6 ideas for impact metrics

Hello!

When it comes to measuring impact on 'softer' topics like leadership or culture, most people just do not hold very high expectations, and hence standards. But this edition urges you to do just the opposite.

Why, really, is it important to measure impact? Apart from the obvious, let us add 4 not-so-obvious reasons:

1. First - It really galvanizes the project team towards outcomes. The project team is usually a mix of internal members and external partners. Having impact goals and a clear impact measurement mandate energizes everyone to play on the same team like allies.

2. Second - It unlocks the Amplification Effect. When impact is captured in meaningful ways, there is a glorious opportunity to play it back to participants, sponsors, and higher-ups. Doing so is smart. Playing back impact amplifies impact even further!

3. Third - There's, potentially, the Scaling Effect. Developmental programs are run to create meaningful shifts and growth in your leaders. Rigorous impact measurement can indicate if this has been achieved, and help you take a call on scaling up the program.

4. Fourth - There's valuable organizational learning. When you measure, you discover what worked and what didn't, which opens up a possibility for scaled programs with higher impact in the future — even if the project team has all new faces! 

How, then, does one go about measuring impact? That's a timeless question that we have 6 (six!) answers to:

• Weekly Engagement Data. Knowing how deeply participants are engaging with the program is a powerful metric. But it's a metric that's only sustainable to measure if the program has an online component. This, incidentally, is reason enough to ensure a part of it lives online!

• Net Promoter Score. NPS measures how likely your participants will promote (or criticize) your program. If measured, its charm lies in enabling comparisons between programs and across time. This throws up best practices and helps set new benchmarks.

• Metrics of very tangible outcomes. Self-reported data, enabled through a tech platform, actually has high emotional value and recall value. To illustrate this, let's go to a feature of the Potentialife platform, which is its ability to calculate how many hours per day a given leader has 'positively reinvented'. A sample finding could be, 'Leaders of X program now spend 45 minutes more per day having authentic conversations with their team members' and that makes as much of an impression as a real-life anecdote would!

• Comparative metrics. 'Major / Significant / Somewhat / Not at all' is a great scale to measure the impact of a program on cultural values or leadership attributes. With this, one can create impact charts that match the organization's leadership frameworks or culture pillars. In our experience, this is an impact metric with high recall value! 

• An end product is also 'living proof'. Sometimes, having participants create an end product is, itself, living proof of impact! Around two years ago, we started leveraging our programs to enable participants to craft their company’s culture book. Thanks to this, we realized that creating proof points is not only about measurement. A Culture Recipe Book, for instance, is itself evidence of impact!

• Direct and indirect KPIs. Many times, it's difficult or off-limits due to the access, data, and commitment it requires. But all said and done, KPIs are the holy grail of impact measurement for a business, and one's ought to be on the lookout for opportunities to measure them.   

• Measuring impact of a 'soft', intangible topic like a program is a glorious opportunity that most people just aren't seriously thinking about

• There are various ways to measure impact, and we hope we've left you with some ideas. Big bonus: Collate stories that reflect your data! 

• Impact measurement is not an exact science. Every metric is subjectively received by its viewer. 

This is why our parting thought is to have a bouquet of dynamic metrics that allows you to triangulate. To paint different pictures. To tell your stakeholders different stories. To discover what really excites them.

While you're singing your song, your stakeholders will join in for the chorus only if they like the tune and understand the lyrics! 

And it's the job of impact metrics on both those counts.

#7 | What can L&OD learn from virologists?

Positive Virality is what it's called!

Hello!

A major, but overlooked, design element of a Leadership Development, Culture, or Well-being program is ‘Positive Virality’: a term that describes how participants of a program get infected with positive energy of change and then transmit it (like a virus) to other participants.

The concept of virality is one we tend to reserve for what’s large scale: marketing campaigns, widely-prevalent beliefs, contagious diseases... But at a smaller scale like that of a developmental cohort, it’s overlooked. Ironically, it’s just what underpins the success and impact of your program.

So, how does Positive Virality take place? How does positive energy get transmitted? Read on for 6 insights that sound strangely similar to world events since 2020, and which you may consult to create positive, infectious change within any developmental program:

• A 'super-spreader event' at the beginning is a must: It pays off to invest a disproportionate amount of energy into designing a powerful launch to the program. For instance, Potentialife’s programs always begin with a one-day Self-discovery Workshop, which kickstarts Positive Virality every single time.

• There is no such thing as 'immunity to change': There often is immunity to imposed change. But immunity to change, per se, is rare, because all human beings are deeply invested in growing their own well-being and happiness. A program which starts with an agenda of personal growth crucially lowers people's defenses and immunity. 

• Incubation period is 2-3 months: To be truly infected by the bug of positive life and leadership habits, it takes far more than the 21-day number that's often cited. Discovering self-concordant goals and experimenting with different habits cannot be achieved in a time-bound manner. Acknowledging this helps you resist the urge to pivot the program prematurely, and this also allows gives Positive Virality time to take root.

• Energy of change gains momentum through 'community transmission': Small, close-knit buddy groups help to maximize Positive Virality and spread energy of change, as each participant infects others, and in turn gets re-infected when they feel a dip.  

• ‘Mask down moments’ are important: When face masks are down, diseases spread faster. When ‘stage masks’ are down, transmission of Positive Virality happens quicker. Ritualized connects where participants share small victories, or even meet without an agenda. are where stage masks are put down to spread Positive Virality.

• 'Mutation' makes the change more powerful: Programs often transform and enter a new phase. For instance, from focusing on personal leadership development to then building organizational competencies. Allowing - or better still - designing for mutations co-created by participants strengthens the impact of a program.

If you take away only one thought from this edition, we hope it’s this: Positive Virality ought to be intentionally induced in order for participants to continuously be infected by positive energy, and continuously transmit that energy to each other.

Only then can even the best-designed program create deep impact. 

Until the next edition! 

#6 | Want to grow leaders? Try this fertilizer.

Wholebeing is the new leadership

Hello!

You want your leaders to develop cutting-edge leadership habits.

Yet, it's likely you've faced the following obstacles when running Leadership Development programs in the past:

• Leaders are resistant to change

• They’re okay to change, but new habits don’t stick

Here is how you can avoid these and multiply the impact of your next program: by focusing the first 2 months of your program on habits of well-being.

The impact of doing this is will be 3-fold:

1. They will find their authentic leadership style. For instance, someone who grows their well-being by practicing gratitude will automatically start developing a supportive leadership style where appreciating people plays a role

2. You will impact retention, because they will have balance work and the rest of their lives better, and also because they will develop more buddies at work with whom they can have candid conversations

3. They will master the art of habit creation, which will act as a grease when you start the hardcore leadership habits part of the program. By this point, they will be skillful at developing new habits, thanks to Phase 1 of the program

So, that's the message of today’s edition.

However, if you're in the mood, we have 3 bonuses below to go even deeper and connect to the joy of it.

Let's arrive at this edition's message in a different way, via a dialogue from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:

Cassius: Will you dine with me to-morrow?

Casca: Ay, if I be alive and your mind hold and your dinner worth the eating.

[...]

Brutus: What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!

Cassius: This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, which gives men stomach to digest his words with better appetite.

Sauce. Today, we think of “sauce” as a semi-liquid substance made from the same ingredient as that of the main dish that adds flavour.

For Shakespeare, "to sauce" something meant adding an opposite flavour in order to temper the main ingredient and make it more digestible.

When participants begin a Leadership Development program with a focus on building well-being habits, they enter a zone of growth where working, then, on leadership habits feels like a natural extension.

So, in a Shakespearean sense, that's how the seemingly 'opposite' flavour of Well-being is the sauce to the main Leadership Development dish that not only adds flavour but also makes it more digestible!

Potentialife's Co-founder, Tal Ben-Shahar, has famously spent his last few decades as a researcher and teacher of Positive Psychology.

The work we do at Potentialife is closely influenced by his body of work that statistically identified 10 sources of energy that correlate with both whole person well-being (shortened as 'wholebeing') and leadership.

Try this: In the following statement, fill in the blank with any of the 10 sources of energy listed below. When I am ____, not only do I experience more well-being, but it also makes me a better leader.

• Playing to my strengths

• Appreciating strength

• Prioritizing health

• Calibrating stress

• Maximizing focus

• Being mindful

• Offering positivity

• Offering authenticity

• Creating meaning

• Strengthening commitment

Through this little exercise, one realizes that when you focus the first 2 months of your program on habits of well-being, participants (by default!) are also working on leadership habits — both just go hand in hand.

One of Potentialife India's largest cohorts just reached the stage of a post-assessment. The assessment results, by themselves, reveal some very powerful shifts. 

But more interesting is the picture that gets painted when we pair up results to highlight the correlation between well-being and leadership:

• 54% of participants developed a habit of physical exercise

• 59% of participants reported significant impact of the program on their ability to bring positivity and high energy while engaging with others
  

• 58% of participants developed a habit of better-quality and on-time sleep

• 61% of participants reported significant impact of the program on their ability to listen mindfully during conversations with colleague
  

• 71% of participants developed a habit of spending quality time with family

• 63% of participants reported significant impact of the program on their ability to take action to help, support and encourage colleagues
  

The results show correlation. For instance: regular physical exercise correlates with more energy to engage with others; more restful sleep correlates with listening to others mindfully, and so on...

Well-being habits and leadership habits always develop concurrently, and never in isolation.

1. The idea is to focus the first 2 months of a Leadership Development program on building habits of well-being

2. This helps participants master the art of habit creation, find their authentic leadership style, and it impacts retention

3. But this doesn't put leadership development in the backseat, because both, well-being habits and leadership habits, develop concurrently through the same 10 sources of energy or wholebeing

Until the next edition!