Facilitating New Ways of Thinking
Most of Clear Vision Alliance’s presentations and workshops are learning about change, how the forces of change are coming together to change the space in which you operate including threats, challenges and opportunities obvious and not so obvious. As most business leaders are internally focused and engaged in fighting daily challenges and when they do look outwards they still look at the world as it appears now (Linear Thinking) and not what it could be (Non-linear Thinking), these workshops and presentations create a:
- Platform for changed thinking challenging assumptions and traditional thinking.
- Connection between future and present for developing strategies that are a good balance between managing the present and shaping the future.
Organizations Stop Growing When Leaders Stop Growing
Inter-Dependency between Organizational Growth and Executive Leadership Development
Great vision is a journey; not a document crafted within four walls of a boardroom during a weekend retreat. It must be sought after with an open mind from beyond the confines of your organization or even your industry. Great visionary leaders, who create a compelling vision and develop the plan to achieve that vision, focus as much on personal growth as on business growth. For most CEOs and C-suite executives, there are two distinct areas for potential growth:
1) Development of an Innovative Mindset:
Developing an innovative mindset is a skill and competency that requires a strong commitment on the part of any executive and includes becoming a good student of change, being curious to find opportunities within the change and being innovative to connect the dots and capture the value within their business model. It also requires self-awareness, which involves getting over their filters, biases and blind-spots. Great vision is the result of acquiring these skills and embarking on the journey of self-awareness which in some cases may become a spiritual journey.
2) Management of Executive Team Dynamics:
The second area of growth, mainly for the CEO, is within their ability to manage executive team dynamics including the forces that influence strategic decisions, resource allotment and execution. The strategic planning process starts with analyzing the data where the inference becomes the foundation for strategic decisions. Personal biases, filters and, in some cases denials, influence these inferences and thus alter the definition of the problem trying to be solved.
This process further leads to key strategic decisions in developing a plan for growth where team-dynamics, power-struggles, individual insecurities, egos and biases play a major role in influencing the outcome. CEOs need the skills and courage to manage these team dynamics and hold senior executives accountable. As strategy and execution are the key roles and responsibility of an executive team, poor strategy with excellent execution will only take the organization to the wrong place that much faster and more efficiently.
Our discussions will focus on gaining a deeper level understanding of how leaders influence their organization’s growth potential into the future.
Change Leadership
Staying Relevant and Ahead of the Change
This theme focuses on taking a fresh look at what’s changing and helping you determine how prepared you are to keep up or stay ahead of the change.
Opportunities are ever present. Yet many of yesterday’s successful companies no longer exist or are barely hanging on, and many of today’s successful companies will not survive into the future.
- What is changing in and around your business?
- How prepared are you to keep up with or stay ahead of the change?
- How will you survive into the future?
Our discussions will focus on leadership’s ability to recognize threats and opportunities within the ever-changing environment while also recognizing and adjusting to the facts that what got you here won’t get you there in order to lead the organization to profitable growth. During these discussions, Peter Drucker’s questions are asked:
- What business are you currently in?
- What business will you be in in the future?
Recognizing a need for change and making change happen are two different things. Using John Kotter’s famous “Leading Change” article, discussions delve into the organization’s ability to transform to changing needs and the leader’s ability to become an effective catalyst of change.
Building Blocks of Continuity and Sustainability for Your Business
Thinking beyond Here and Now
This theme will be centered on the core principles and values underlying these building blocks of endurance and growth for your business with additional focus on leadership transition and building the bench-strength for future leaders within your organization.
Three types of entrepreneurs and business leaders exist. Those who:
- Build their business to last
- Build their business to sell and
- Live in the moment with no real plan or strategy for the future.
While most business leaders have the intention of building their business to last beyond themselves, a gap exists between intentions and actions. In some cases, this dialogue has not even started. If your aspirations are to build your business for progressive growth and longevity then a balanced approach is necessary.
During this presentation/workshop series, key issues and leadership challenges in balancing between Managing the Present and Shaping the Future will be discussed with additional focus on leadership competencies, skills and knowledge needed to achieve enduring success along with the five key pillars of organizational strategy: Leadership, Bench-Strength, Market-Focused Business Strategy, Infrastructure and Financial Capacity; all of which are influenced or influence Organizational Culture.
Building Blocks of Leadership
Developing the Next Generation
This theme will center around the core principles and values of Developing the Next Generation of Leaders in Business with a specific focus on Self-Awareness in the following areas: Character, Business Sense, Decision Making, Vision, Communication, Management Style and Courage.
True leadership does not result from a given title. Nor does experience serve as a prerequisite for good leadership since not all experiences are equal. Good leaders are driven and guided by their inner compass of aspirations, ambition and values. These cannot be taught but rather nurtured to be acted upon.
As with a title, knowledge does not create power. The real power is in the application of knowledge that delivers the intended results. And while results are important, how you get to them is more important. Those with good leadership potential recognize that people skills do not equate to people pleasing, character cannot be taught and vision is a journey.
Building leaders in business is more than gaining and applying business knowledge or managing projects and people but rather alignment between your personal self, your aspirations and your role in life and business. And it all starts with self-awareness.
Building Blocks of Strategic Vision
Developing Strategic Thinking for the Future
Great vision is a journey and not a document crafted within four walls of a board-room during a weekend retreat. It must be sought after with an open mind from beyond the confines of your organization or even your industry. Great visionary leaders, who create a compelling vision and develop the plan to achieve that vision, focus as much on personal growth as on business growth starting with two simple questions:
- Where are you challenged?
- Where do you want to be challenged?
This theme focuses on taking a fresh look at your strategic planning process with additional emphasis on:
- Developing your intuition for change
- Becoming a student of linear and non-linear changes and their impact
- Developing an innovative mindset
- Building an effective executive team which fosters innovative new ideas
- Building bench-strength of strategic thinkers
These discussions will take you beyond the confines of your own business or industry to explore possibilities without constraints.
The Next Five Years for You and Your Business:
Threats, Challenges and Opportunities
The economy has slowly been on the rise for the last 8 years, yet cannot continue to grow forever. Baby boomers will soon transition out of the workforce requiring their spending habits to change. While a group of millennials will be ready to settle down, start families and buy homes fueling demands not yet experienced in recent times. In addition, technology, both a disrupter and accelerator of change, will continue to transform consumer buying habits. Then add to that the globalization of the economy and balancing of economic power which will create demands for products and services not yet invented.
- How relevant is your product, service and business model?
- What is your frame of reference for making business decisions – the past and present experience or the knowledge of the future?
Historic data may not help in the planning of the future nor can the future be accurately predicted within the current pace of change, but you can plan for the next five years from where you are today, hence this theme of: The Next Five Years for You and Your Business: Threats, Challenges and Opportunities.
Additional Clients We’ve Helped
Testimonials
Clear Vision Alliance’s approach at the Round Table meetings both motivates and challenges the group’s perceptions of their businesses and the roles in their business. It provides a clear view to additional points of consideration.
Michael Fleming
The experience and their extensive research Clear Vision Alliance has translates into action plans that prepare businesses for the impact of the global economy, the pace of change, and the trends that impact them. Their unique perspective paves the way for companies to recognize uncertainties before it is too late.
Gail Sherman
Having reached a plateau in our business strategy thinking, we asked Clear Vision Alliance to work with us on our Strategic Planning Process and Executive Leadership Development… They have been instrumental in helping move us to the next level so we can support and lead our organizations future growth.
Jim McCarthy
The coaching that Clear Vision Alliance provided our organization has been invaluable. From leadership development, to conflict resolution, to strategic planning and financial accountability, every person on our team has benefited from their wisdom and expertise.
Brenda VanLengen
At one year’s EANE Executive Roundtable, I discovered I didn’t have the right people in the right jobs. It was not an obvious mismatch. It became apparent through CVA’s expertise in asking questions and facilitating discussions. That discovery alone was worth my time and the price of admission!
Rick Willard
As an individual and professional consultant, Ravi makes himself available, he seeks feedback, and shares from his own learning experiences, making the whole experience rich and real.
Michael Seibold
I always walk away from the monthly roundtables with a fresh perspective and would highly recommend working with CVA if you want to grow as a professional and want to push yourself to greater limits.
Michael Weissbrod
As a potential business leader in the world of architecture, I constantly look for ways to gain perspective and push myself to the next level. The monthly roundtables offer me a unique experience in which I get the benefit of having discussions with other business professionals on a variety of vital topics.
Michael Weissbrod
Clear Vision Alliance has served a vital role in the rapid, controlled growth of our firm, professional development of key staff (including myself), and are instrumental in providing the framework for pending transfer of Ownership.
Michael Weissbrod
“I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity of working with Ravi Kulkarni of Clear Vision Alliance (CVA) for the past three years. CVA has served a vital role in the rapid, controlled growth of our firm, professional development of key staff (including myself), and has been instrumental in providing the framework for pending transfer of Ownership. Of all that they do and are able to offer though, perhaps the most important service that they provide to me is the hosting of monthly roundtable meetings.
As a potential business leader in the world of architecture, I constantly look for ways to gain perspective and push myself to the next level. CVA’s monthly roundtables offer me a unique experience in which I get the benefit of having discussions with other business professionals on a variety of vital topics. Ravi is always able to guide these roundtable discussions through the introduction of tough, thought-provoking issues while providing real-life examples based on years of experience in the industry. With these discussions, I’m able to draw conclusions and translate thought to action which can often have a profound effect on my firm’s health.
I always walk away from the monthly roundtables with a fresh perspective and would highly recommend working with CVA if you want to grow as a professional and want to push yourself to greater limits.”