I am a leadership consultant at INSEAD in France and Organizational developement centre SpringValley in Latvia.
I am designing and running integral coaching and leadership development programs both for individuals and groups. In Latvia and internationally I cover a large variety of sectors ranging from banking, pharmaceuticals, information technologies, telecommunications industries and government sector.
I entered the organizational development field 11 years ago after a successful career in communications. I have been managing media and government relations for a major telecommunications operator and office of the Minister for Finance of the Republic of Latvia. I also successfully established and managed a communications agency for 5 years. My personal and professional curiosity brought me to discovering my purpose and expressing my authentic voice in personal and organizational development.
I am a fully credentialed Integral Master Coach from Integral Coaching Canada and also a certified MBTI practitioner. Having studied social work and pedagogy I holda a Master degree in Social Sciences from the University of Latvia and a Master degree in Communications from Leicester University in UK.
I experienced directly having to cope with ambiguity, uncertainty and complexity caused by the disruption of the social, economic and political system in early 1990s. I have seen and lived the impact of the emergence of a new system on individuals, groups and society at large. This has driven my passion for change and development of collective consciousness.
Why am I so passionate about leadership development? Because mature and human leadership of organisations, states and world is the solution biggest economical, environmental, social and political problems the world currently faces. Only the quality of leadership determines whether people are encouraged to develop their operational system or thinking. Why is this important? Because people who experience their own growth feel engaged and are not afraid to make mistakes and learn. They are also more able to deal with greater complexity that the current operational system might not be sophisticated enough to cope with.
“I believe that wise leadership is a solution to biggest portion of social, economical and political problems both on micro and macro levels we face today. Leadership used out of greedy and selfish motivation is causing enormous harm and suffering to human beings and the world in general. The leadership we experience every single day directly influences the quality of our personal lives.
Every living organism has this inner drive to grow built in it. Experiencing one’ s growth and evolvement is a fundamental prerequisite to feel fulfillment and meaningfulness of life. I truly believe that organizations are the best contexts for adult development and that developed, evolving human beings is the next generation competitive advantage. In the complex, ambiguous, uncertain and volatile environment we currently live in there is no other way for organizations to survive and grow than to support development of “operational systems” – the consciousness – of their people. The human beings at more developed levels of consciousness are more likely to be able to handle the challenges of the world as it is now.
My passion is to be besides organizations that want to become incubators of development of their people. I am supporting the organizations in developing their cultures that drag their people into a continuous development process to help them not only be more efficient within the current framework but also be more able to take full responsibility of their thinking, behavior, emotions, feelings, see the world more accurately and courageously offer their ideas to it.
I want to support the leaders to become more aware of what kind of leadership helps to unleash the full potential of the organization and how to practice it day by day. I see how transformed leaders transform this world. This work is my fire, it is a big part of who I am and allows myself to grow and stretch continuously.
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the vuca environment, crisis of trust in leadership and disengagement of people in organisations requires a new approach to leadership and organisational development.
One research after another confirms two major challenges organisations face today - one is crisis of trust in leaders and two is disengagement of people. As much as 80% of people holding management positions in organisations are not fit for work in the VUCA environment (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) and are still trying to handle the challenges of organisations with the illusion in mind that they can predict and control the future.
The new capabilities of the leaders include:
being authentic
being courageous to say I don't know
withstanding the heat of the moment and not be emotionally hijacked
welcoming and handling conflict
sitting with the discomfort of not knowing
creating the space for growth and development
asking curious questions
responding dynamically to unknown and unpredictable
holding the paradox
calibrating the language to different people and cultures
remaining loyal to trajectory in spite of the short term distractions
trusting self
opening up to vulnerability
accessing and applying both feminine and masculine energy
being curious about self, others and the world
“The task to reflect daily in writing over the course of the program was a way to have a valuable dialogue with myself. It helped me to analyse interactions, reactions, emotions and feelings of myself and others. It also helped me to grow in my awareness from moment to moment. Reflection has become my daily practice.
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The program allowed me to take my first steps in opening up around vulnerability.
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The biggest a-ha for me was the authenticity. It totally surprised me as an instrument that really “works”.
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I loved the combination of various forms of learning. Switching from class to online sessions, learning individually and in pair, and regular reflection in writing helped me to realize what learning and development is all about. Exciting, multifaceted and effective program.
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I haven’t experienced such a sincere and deep teacher’s interest in development of every participant of the program for a very long time. Humanity shines through and trough her. Pausing, thinking, feeling into the shoes of others, listening to music or connecting without words by looking into each other’s eyes are things we seldom experience in business. But we should. There is a sense of fulfillment for another huge step in my personal development.
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What does it mean to develop leadership?
All the organisations want effectiveness. What has it got to do with leadership? If all organisations have their goals to achieve, they also need teams of people to work together to do it. The task of the manager is to ensure smooth cooperation between the people which is where the challenges begin. Mutual blame, conflicts, lack of truth, unhealthy group dynamic are just a few of the most common obstacles for people to do a good job together. Your expertise is no longer the key to success. It is the mastery of human behaviour skills that play a key role here.
““Competencies and skills are not the prerequisites of a team efficiency. It is the psychological trust that builds efficient teams. People in these teams are not afraid to have a conflict and do not need to wear a political mask of politeness. These are the teams where one can show up fully with all she’s got. It is a prerequisite for creativity, effectiveness and engagement.” ”
All I can offer to organisations is a support to explore and learn about human behaviour in groups and organisations. How are people assuming leadership at work and home? What is it that people do or avoid doing and how is this behaviour affecting achievement of the business goals? Exploration and learning about the human behaviour can provide the keys to build trust, engagement, cooperation, drive, creativity and innovation. All of which is fundamental to any organisation who wants to survive and grow in 21st century.
What does explore and learn mean in reality?
It means creating circumstances and opportunities for people to become more aware of their behaviour and its impact on achieving the goals. Practically it means a learning and development program that provides the participants with opportunities to learn from their direct experience by engaging in series of exercises and thorough analysis of experiences generated by these exercises. Learning from experience provides a unique opportunity to become aware of how leaders are assuming, avoiding, sharing or not sharing the leadership and how this in turn affects achievement of the goal. The learning experience allows to develop awareness of self which is a prerequisite for a conscious choice, decision and activity. It also provides a wealth of opportunities to experience the group dynamics and irrationality of human behaviour that lies in the very bottom of reasoning why organisations are failing to achieve the agreed targets.
testing the waters of psychological safety in teams and organisations
Before embarking on major steps in leadership development in your organisation, it might be a good idea to help your people test the water by becoming aware about many different ways the people are assuming leadership, cooperating, managing time and stress, dealing with conflict through the world’s No 1 psychometric instrument MBTI® (Myers Briggs Type Indicator). Spring Valley is the only consultancy in Latvia certified to work with this instrument.
By helping to discover ones personality type, the MBTI tool builds a robust foundation for life-long personal development. It provides a constructive, flexible and liberating framework for understanding individual differences and strengths.
The MBTI instrument is the best known and most trusted personality assessment on the market. Far more than just personality tests it provides a constructive, flexible framework that can be applied to all areas of human interaction and personal development. The MBTI profile reveals how we see and interact with the world, giving insight into our motivation and the motivation of others. This provides a strong foundation for personal growth and development, underpinning enhanced personal effectiveness.
Some facts:
79% of the TOP 100 companies listed in the London Stock Exchange have an in-house MBTI practitioner
More than 2 000 000 users annually
One instrument, numerous developmental applications
Frequently copied but never rivalled
12 000 independent scientific publications
It becomes the language the organisation uses
If you wish to talk about the learning and development needs of your organisation please contact me on +37129335339 or Zanete.Drone@zanetedrone.lv.