Up to 70% of companies with flexible work schedules are planning to increase the days employees must work in the office by 2025. However, with many major companies – including Disney, Apple, Google, and Zoom – issuing ‘Return To Office’ (RTO) mandates this year, there has been a significant rise in the latest ‘quiet’ rebellion … ‘hushed hybrid’ working.

‘Hushed hybrid’ working is when, contrary to company policy, managers quietly allow some employees to work from home or work flexibly. According to a survey by Owl Labs, 70% of managers have allowed team members to work from home despite an official company policy mandating otherwise.

The rise in this trend signifies a strong disconnect between executives and middle managers that could result in unwanted ripple effects if this gap were to widen.

As first point of contact between employees and the wider organization, it’s important that middle managers feel able to communicate employee feedback to the company’s leadership. However, the rise of this trend suggests that many middle managers believe senior leaders are not prepared to listen to employee’s views on hybrid work, preferring instead to stand behind their RTO mandates.

But whilst ‘hushed hybrid’ working may provide middle managers and their teams with a convenient workaround, it is an ultimately unsustainable solution that could damage the wider culture of the organization.

For one thing, managers letting some if their team quietly work from home whilst others are required to come into the office will inevitably create tension between employees. Pair this with the element of secrecy that is rooted in ‘hushed hybrid’, and you create a recipe that could result in a workplace culture which becomes ‘toxic’.

In addition to this, ‘hushed hybrid’ also plays a role in the widening the gap between policy and practice, which should be a huge ‘red flag’ for HR as, if RTO policies are not being followed by managers, it raises alarms of what other policies are being flouted or simply ignored.

All of this risks a collapse of trust across the organization.

Instead, middle managers need to feel that they can openly and honestly communicate with their leaders to give feedback on policies that don’t seem to be working well.

We have all seen the problems with the rise of these ‘quiet’ trends since the pandemic ended, so it’s important for employers to break the cycle of these hushed practices by fostering a culture of openness and honesty so that they can enhance their workplace culture and become an employer of choice.

If you would like to discuss how we can help coach your leaders in communication, as well as foster a culture of openness in your workplace, please get in touch with us today, or book in an hour with one of our experienced HR practitioners through our confidential online consultation service OrgShakers CL!CK.

As we look to 2025, enlightened organizations will be planning to invest in enhancing the capabilities of their senior leaders.

Why now?

Because across multiple areas of business, opportunities are emerging to gain significant competitive and commercial advantage – and smart companies know that seizing these opportunities means shaking things up: Appointing new leaders. Building new teams. Giving existing teams important new goals and objectives. Enabling and empowering executives to think and act differently. Strengthening working relationships across the senior leadership group.

And for these changes to be successfully implemented, the development of key executives is vital.

At the same time, cost management is at the forefront of the C-suite’s agenda, which is why we have created the Executive Action Series – a leadership development program which is laser-focused on the five areas that will create the greatest return on investment:

1. Customer Experience

Customers are the fuel that keeps the fire burning for organizations, and so 2025 needs to be all about driving customer experience. This means personalized marketing that delivers what someone needs when they need it, an easy setup and installation, and efficient problem resolution. The idea is that companies will be creating business strategies that promote a sense of individuality and value for each customer, making their experience unique to them and putting their specific needs at the forefront.

2. Generative AI

A recent survey from Access Partnership discovered that 93% of employers expect to use generative AI in the workplace in the next five years. While the presence of AI isn’t necessarily new, generative AI has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for organizations, and is seemingly the harbinger for the age of working smart. But in order to optimize its uses, business leaders need to have a deep understanding of generative AI to unlock its full potential.

3. Remote and Hybrid Working

The tug-of-war between employers issuing ‘return to office’ mandates and employees wanting flexible working arrangements has been going on since lockdown ended. But aside from flexibility being a strategy for attracting talent, the digitalization of the working world has seen the barriers of place and time evaporate, allowing organizations to gain access to the best talent on a global scale. Hybrid and remote work, if managed successfully, can play a huge role in a business’ economic strategy.

4. Skills-Based Hiring

Employers have increasingly relaxed their need for qualifications in favor of skills, aptitude, and attitude. Skills-based hiring continues to gain momentum, and by identifying areas where this can be woven into business strategy, employers will catalyze social mobility and foster a more diverse workforce.

5. Resilience

An organization that can foster resilience is going to be best prepared for disruptive events that can happen at any given moment (economic downturns, cyber-attacks, global pandemics, etc.). Having the knowledge to recognize, predict, and mitigate risk will be fundamental to the health and sustainability of a business.

The Executive Action Series is divided into five modules that are spread across the corporate calendar. Each module covers the theory behind best practices, and then brings these to life through a combination of case studies, real-world scenarios, and visits to organizations where these practices can be experienced first-hand. Participants will also hear directly from world-class subject matter experts, as well as collaborating with other leaders in their organization.

Each module will help equip leaders with a variety of new tools and knowledge that will create resilience and sustainability for the future:

Module #1: Leadership Portrait

We use comprehensive diagnostics, alongside personal and team reflection, to gain actionable insights into individual leadership brand and enhance contributions to team effectiveness. We also consider how the ensuing levels of trust allow leaders to leverage differences of opinions for enhanced outcomes.

Module #2: Shaping Strategy Through Customers, Diversity & AI

Together, we examine the impact on strategy of three levers that the research above identifies as critical to current success: customer experience, workforce diversity, and generative AI. Further, we introduce world-class thought leaders to facilitate discussions about key issues that will be important to future success.

Module #3: Activating Strategy

At this stage, we explore a range of powerful tools for activating strategy through operations, including effective leadership of large-scale change and the impact of operational choices on customer experience. We also introduce the concept of the Program Acceleration Office as a best practice for optimizing a portfolio of projects.

Module #4: Winning Through Talent

Knowing that 46% of CEOs have Talent in their Top-3 immediate priorities, we explore the evolution of the workplace and the talent strategies that will help us win the war for talent. What can senior leaders do to enable the recruitment, development, and retention of the right people across the right organization?

Module #5: Sustaining and Evolving a Resilient Strategy

To sustain success, we must smooth out the peaks and troughs that are typical of ongoing change. We explore the latest methods of building strength and flexibility throughout the organization to cultivate resilience across your workforce, your culture, and your strategy, and to help weather turbulent business cycles.

To ensure skills and insights gained from the program are applied when executives return to the workplace, Program Guides will provide virtual facilitation between modules and encourage ongoing collaboration through small group peer support coaching.

If you would like to discuss the Executive Action Series in more detail, please get in touch with us via gordon.robinson@orgshakers.com or anya@orgshakers.com

As we continue to navigate new technologies and advancements in AI, it can be challenging for employers to keep up with the rules of the working world when the rules are always changing. That’s why this month we’re recommending Gary A. Bolles’s The Next Rules of Work: The Mindset, Skillset and Toolset to Lead Your Organization Through Uncertainty.

Gary is the Chair for the Future of Work with Singularity University and a Partner in strategy consulting firm Charette, LLC. As a globally recognized expert on the future of work, he regularly consults with C-suite leaders of global companies, labor and education leaders from Brazil to Canada, and global non-profits.

This vast amount of experience and expertise has been channelled into his latest book, which acts as a guide for employers to thrive in the modern economy where the rules of work are changing almost as fast as people can learn them.

‘Old rules’ have long dominated modern companies – under this ethos, bosses embraced the idea of presenteeism and the basic hierarchical structure that leaders called the shots and workers obeyed. But the new way of working is shedding these old rules, and in its place the ‘Next Rules’ are emerging.

Those companies embracing these new rules are following a new mindset. Managers are not the source of all knowledge, but rather the guides who help workers achieve their goals and flow in the right direction. It’s about embracing innovation, creative thinking, and autonomy to result in a workplace that is fluid enough that it can take change in its stride whilst still growing in an upwards direction.

However, change has always been a tough pill to swallow, for employers and employees alike. But if employers are proactive about change and creating and implementing strategies to mitigate change fatigue, then those businesses can thrive under the new rules of work.

Gary’s book captures the notion of change and the mindsets that are needed to thrive from it expertly, pooling his own knowledge with psychological data and analytics to create a guide that all employers should read if they want their organization to not just survive, but thrive in a contemporary working world.

If you would like to discuss how we can help you strengthen your change management strategies, please get in touch with us today.

And in the meantime, make sure you grab a copy of The Next Rules of Work – you can purchase it here in the UK and here in the US.

You can do a lot in sixty minutes.

In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright marked the dawn of aviation with their FOUR successful sustained human flights. All four of these happened in the space of just one hour!

In 2022, Filippo Ganna cycled 56.8km in one hour setting a new world record. To achieve this, he sustained an average speed of over 35mph for a full 60-minutes. Try matching that at your next spinning class!

And, today, it’s estimated that Jeff Bezos will be earing around $3.5 million an hour.
(So, Jeff, if you read the whole of this article it will have taken up just $120,000 of your valuable time which I’m sure you’ll agree is great value!)

What we are seeing here is that although 60-minites may seem like a relatively short amount of time – the length of a lunch break, the time it takes to travel home, the duration of an episode of TV – it’s also possible for an hour to be highly productive … and maybe even groundbreaking.

At OrgShakers, we believe in The Power of the Hour … 60-minutes where leaders can bounce around ideas, receive expert advice, or get the objective feedback they need to start something incredible. After all, every successful business we’ve come to know started with an idea – and someone who was willing to listen.

That’s why we have launched our brand-new consulting service: OrgShakers CL!CK.

OrgShakers CL!CK is a one-hour, private and confidential online consultation with one of our seasoned HR professionals. It offers instant advice and is designed specifically for those times when you need help figuring out how to overcome a challenge, when you need advice on your HR processes, or if you simply just want a sounding board for new ideas to see what sticks.

With years of first-hand corporate experience on a global scale, our team can advise you on any HR question you may have, whether that be the day-to-day tactical challenges or a complex strategic issue.

If you would like to learn more about this service and book in time with one of our team members, head over to https://orgshakers.com/orgshakers-click/

By Anya Clitheroe and Gordon Robinson

As the pace of change continues to increase, forward-looking organizations will be planning to invest in enhancing the capabilities of their senior leadership teams.

Why now? Because across multiple areas of business, opportunities are emerging to gain significant competitive and commercial advantage – and smart companies know that investing in the development of their key executives is vital if they are to successfully seize these opportunities.

At the same time, cost management is at the forefront of the C-suite’s agenda, which is why OrgShakers has created the Executive Action Series – a leadership development program which is laser-focused on supporting your senior leaders and executives with their strategic goals in the face of five emerging business challenges:

1. Customer Experience

Customers are the fuel that keep the fire burning for organizations, so the future needs to be all about driving customer experience. This means personalized marketing that only requires a simple approach for putting it to good use which will deliver what someone needs when they need it, as well as efficient problem resolution. The idea is that companies will be creating business strategy that promotes a sense of individuality and value for each customer, making their experience unique to them and putting their specific needs at the forefront.

2. Generative AI

A recent survey from Access Partnership discovered that 93% of employers expect to use generative AI in the workplace in the next five years. While the presence of AI isn’t necessarily new, generative AI has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for organizations, and is seemingly the harbinger for the age of working smart. But in order to optimize its uses, business leaders need a deep understanding of how generative AI will support and enable their business strategy to unlock its full potential.

3. Remote and Hybrid Working

The tug-of-war between employers issuing ‘return to office’ mandates and employees wanting flexible working arrangements has been going on since lockdown ended. But aside from flexibility being a strategy for attracting talent, the digitalisation of the working world has seen the barriers of place and time evaporate, allowing organizations to gain access to the best talent on a global scale. Hybrid and remote work, if managed successfully, can play a huge role in a business’ economic strategy.

4. Skills-Based Hiring

Employers have increasingly relaxed their need for qualifications in favor of skills, aptitude, and attitude. Skills-based hiring continues to gain momentum, and by identifying areas where this can be woven into business strategy, employers will catalyse social mobility and foster a more diverse workforce.

5. Resilience

An organization that can foster both organizational and individual resilience is going to be best prepared for disruptive events that can happen at any given moment (economic downturns, cyber-attacks, global pandemics, etc). Having the knowledge to recognize, predict, and mitigate risk will be fundamental to the health and sustainability of a business.

The Series is divided into five modules that are spread across the corporate calendar. Each module covers the theory behind best practices, and then brings these to life through a combination of facilitated conversation and group coaching paired with case studies, real-world scenarios, and visits to organizations where these practices can be experienced first-hand. Participants will also hear directly from world-class subject matter experts, as well as collaborating with other leaders in their organization.

Executive Action Series

Each module will help equip leaders with a variety of new tools and knowledge that will yield resilience and sustainability for the future:

• Module #1: Leadership Portrait

We use comprehensive diagnostics, alongside personal and team reflection, to gain deep, meaningful insights into individual leadership brand and enhance contributions to team effectiveness. We will also consider how the ensuing levels of trust allow leaders to leverage differences of opinions for enhanced outcomes.

• Module #2: Shaping Strategy Through Customers, Diversity & AI

Together, we examine the impact on strategy of three levers that the research above identifies as critical to current success: customer experience, workforce diversity, and harnessing the power of AI. In addition, we’ll introduce world-class thought leaders to facilitate discussions about key issues that will be important to future success.

• Module #3: Activating Strategy

At this stage, we explore a range of powerful tools for activating strategy through operations, including effective leadership of large-scale change and the impact of operational choices on customer experience. We will also introduce the concept of the Program Acceleration Office as a best practice for optimizing a portfolio of projects.

• Module #4: Winning Through Talent

Knowing that 46% of CEOs have Talent in their Top-3 immediate priorities, we will explore the evolution of the workplace and the talent strategies that will help us win the war for talent. What can senior leaders do to enable the recruitment, development, and retention of the right people across the right organization?

• Module #5: Sustaining and Evolving a Resilient Strategy

To sustain success, we must smooth out the peaks and troughs that are typical of ongoing change. We will explore the latest methods of building strength and flexibility throughout the organization to cultivate resilience across your workforce, your culture, and your strategy, and help weather turbulent business cycles.

To ensure skills and insights gained from the Series are applied when executives return to the workplace, Coaches will provide virtual facilitation between modules and encourage ongoing collaboration through small group peer support coaching.

If you would like to discuss the Executive Action Series in more detail, please get in touch with us via anya@orgshakers.com or gordon.robinson@orgshakers.com or reach out to us through our website.

British department store Marks & Spencer’s was one of the latest large companies to announce that they were adopting a co-leadership structure. They now position themselves alongside such names as Salesforce, Netflix, and Goldman Sachs in this venture – and this has rekindled the debate over whether more organizations should consider a co-CEO format.

A recent study of 87 public companies with co-CEOs were found to produce more value for shareholders than their sole-CEO peers. Co-leaders generated an average annual shareholder return of 9.5% – significantly better than the 6.9% average for each company’s relevant index.

The study also found that co-CEO tenure was basically the same as sole-CEO tenure; about five years on average.

Despite these promising statistics, when we asked our followers on LinkedIn if they thought co-CEOs are a good idea, the results were divided nearly down the middle: 57% of respondents said no and 42% said yes.

Let’s explore some of the promising aspects of co-leadership, as well as some of the potential drawbacks.

Benefits of co-leadership:

• Shared Workload – the most notable benefit of having co-leadership is the ability to share the workload of a role that continues to become increasingly overwhelming. This is evidenced by the fact that 82% of CEOs experienced exhaustion indicative of burnout, and 96% felt their mental health had declined. By splitting the load, this helps mitigate the very real risk of CEO burnout.
• Diverse Perspectives – by combining different backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints, decision-making can become much more well-rounded and creative. This also aids in addressing more complex problems that require innovative solutions. As the old adage goes, two heads are better than one!
• Complementary Skillsets – being in a leadership role requires a vast skillset, and there are a number of different leadership styles. Installing dual leadership can effectively bridge different styles and skillsets so the leaders complement each other through their individual areas of expertise. For example, one leader may be great in strategic planning while the other excels in execution.
• Resilience – another noteworthy co-CEO benefit is leadership continuity and stability for the team even when one CEO is absent, making the organization more resilient in the face of substantial change or crises.

Potential drawbacks of co-leadership:

• Power Struggles – one of the biggest potential drawbacks of co-leadership is the potential power struggle that may ensue. The world of work is accustomed to hierarchical working and there can be growing pains when this norm is challenged. One result can be co-leaders falling into the trap of having one considered the ‘main’ leader. For co-leadership to truly work, the leaders have to be entirely equal in their standing. This challenge can be further exacerbated by employees on the team, who may play each leader off the other – not dissimilar to how a child may challenge authority by asking two parents the same request in the hopes that one will say yes.
• Slower Decision-Making – co-leadership runs the risk of decisions being made a bit slower as they are made together. Even though the decisions will likely be assessed and thought through more thoroughly, this process can be time consuming.
• Inconsistent Messaging – if leaders are not completely aligned, conflicting messages may be given to the team, causing unnecessary confusion, and potentially damaging the trust employees have in their leaders.
• Relationship Compatibility – the effectiveness of co-leadership relies on the quality of the co-leader relationship. If this relationship deteriorates for whatever reason, it can have a spiralling negative impact on the entire organization.

As seen above, there are a number of ways co-leadership can lend to the success of an organization, and also a number of ways it could stunt this success. Context plays a key factor in deciding whether or not co-leadership is the right move for your business. For start-ups and smaller companies, as well as companies going through significant changes or mergers, co-leadership can be a fantastic tool to help these processes go smoothly.

It’s important to be able to recognize when co-leadership could be effective; a company may benefit from using the co-leadership structure at a certain point of development, but it may not be as beneficial later down the line.

I believe proper preparation is fundamental in mitigating potential co-leadership drawbacks. At the beginning of a co-leadership endeavor, both leaders can increase their success and effectiveness by having a dedicated coach to help them address workplace tension, optimize their skills, and complement each other rather than tread on each other’s toes. This same notion applies to the team as well. Offering them group coaching around what to expect and how to navigate being led by co-leaders can help avoid that ‘playing parents off each other’ scenario.

If you would like to discuss how we can help identify areas where co-leadership would be beneficial and support this implementation, please get in touch with me at amanda@orgshakers.com

It’s not a far cry to assume that positivity is a positive thing…but is it always?

There is a lot of research to show that being happy and positive at work leads to better productivity. The famous study from Oxford University is commonly cited after discovering that employees are 13% more productive when happier. Meanwhile, a different report found that positivity in the workplace had a significant impact on employee wellbeing, productivity, and organizational performance.

However, positivity can only lead to productivity if it is grounded in realism, otherwise it can very quickly slip into toxic positivity.

Leaders exhibit traits of toxic positivity when they convince themselves that acting happy and being blindly positive will help change the outcome to a situation that is near-impossible to fix. No matter how bad or stressful the situation, or how difficult the circumstances, they will keep on smiling and tell their teams they ‘won’t take no for an answer’ and to ‘persevere’ – placing the responsibility on their team to attempt to survive in a broken and dysfunctional environment without addressing the underlying issues in the first place.

This is why it’s important to strike a balance and ensure that positivity is grounded in reality. In order to do this, there are two main points of focus for leaders to consider:

1. Transparency – when it comes to strategizing and decision making, it’s important to keep the inclusion of your team at the heart of this process. If a leader is smiling through the pain and expecting their team to find solutions to problems that don’t have them, it will ultimately lead to discontent and disengagement, while the problem still persists. Instead, be honest with your team members, keep them informed and in the loop, and invite them to share their insights into creating a path forward. This inclusion and honesty is much more likely to earn the respect of your peers as a leader, and creates the space for realistic discussions which are fundamental to sustaining healthy positive attitudes.
2. Psychological Safety – another crucial element that leaders need to ensure they have is a psychologically safe environment. Team members will only feel they can truly be honest about their insights if they feel psychologically safe, so it’s important to be building psychological safety into your workplace culture. This significantly helps to mitigate the risk of a leader slipping into toxically positive habits, as team members will feel they can openly communicate their concerns and address issues where they may have been overlooked in favor of ‘powering through’.

If leaders are actively fostering transparency and psychological safety, this will create a fertile working environment for growth and innovation to take place, while mitigating the risk of becoming toxically positive. This balance will keep positivity grounded, and result in a team that feel valued and are fully engaged with the organization’s goals.

To discuss how we can help build psychological safety and inclusion strategies into your workplace culture, and help coach leaders on how to avoid the slippery slope of toxic positivity, please get in touch with me at marty@orgshakers.com

A third of executives say they would leave their organization if it requires employees to return to the office, compounding HR’s challenge of retaining a strong leadership team, according to a recent Gartner report.

The flight risk is concerning because, according to a 2023 Gartner survey of 520 HR leaders across a number of industries and regions, 80% of CHROs do not think they have a deep list of possible replacements for senior roles.

“If a mandate is put in place and a lot of executives leave, it’s a huge risk not to have a strong bench to fill those roles,” says Caitlin Duffy, research director in Gartner’s human resources practice. “That’s because it cascades down and impacts all the levels below and can be difficult to manage.”

Read the full story here: https://hrexecutive.com/why-mandated-rto-could-lead-to-massive-executive-departures/?oly_enc_id=4235F9720301H5Y

This month, we have picked up a copy of Edwina Dunn’s latest book, When She’s in the Room: How Empowering Women Empowers the World.

Edwina is a pioneering and successful leader in the data industry – famed for co-founding dunnhumby, which revolutionized the retail and consumer goods industry through its role in creating the Tesco Clubcard and other global loyalty programs. Edwina now leads her campaign, The Female Lead, which focuses on celebrating the achievements and diversity of women who shape our world.

Edwina’s latest book captures her wealth of experience and transforms it into this data-driven guide to challenging the status quo and creating a roadmap for a more equitable world.

Women have always been subject to being forgotten, unseen, overlooked, and under-appreciated, but Edwina has drawn upon her knowledge of research and data collection to present clear solutions, models, and simple actions that can have noticeable and positive impacts on the lives of women and men.

She outlines the changes that women want to see in themselves, in business, in education, and in government, and dares to wonder what the world might look like if it was okay for women to truly embrace their ambition and nurture their drive.

By acknowledging the inequality that exists, employers, educators, and policy makers will be able to start shaping society into a better and more equitable place, which will lead to a more fulfilling life and workplace for all. And the first step is realizing that women are not secondary characters by any means and should be empowered to find their potential in leadership and decision-making roles.

If you would like to discuss how we can help bolster your diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to unlock the potential of all of your workforce, please get in touch with us.

In the meantime, make sure you grab a copy of When She’s in the Room; you can purchase it here in the US and here in the UK.

In the latest episode of Dr. Jim Kanichirayil’s podcast, Engaging Leadership, OrgShakers’ very own Brittany Burton sat down with him at the HR Transform in Las Vegas to delve into the nuances of talent strategy within high-growth organizations.

Brittany hones in on the importance of recognizing and nurturing emergent leaders within a company, especially in the context of start-ups. She discusses how identifying and developing these individuals is essential for innovation and growth, emphasizing the personalized nature of effective talent development.

Listen to the full episode below:

Taking inspiration from the International Women’s Day 2024 theme – #InspireInclusion – this webinar explores how organizations, leaders, and individuals can create inspiring, equitable workplaces.

You’re Coaching Whom?

Here’s how it started…

With March being Women’s History Month, at the beginning of the month I was chatting with a colleague and we thought about how amazing it would be to have had the chance to coach a famous woman from history. What an experience it could be to understand what drove them, understand their thinking behind their major decisions, and more importantly, to help guide them to be even more impactful and see how a coaching relationship might have informed how they chose to lead. How might it have accelerated or expanded their trajectory?

The more we played with this idea, I found it difficult to choose someone – because I would want to be sure the facts were accurate, that I didn’t miss key events in their life that informed who they were as a leader, and that I didn’t offend anyone! Then we explored the idea of choosing a fictional character, and suddenly it felt easier – much more license to play.  So, this is how we landed on Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series…

What if Hermione Granger had an executive coach? How might that have impacted her trajectory and the way she chose to lead and make a difference in her world?

Here are some caveats…

The purpose of this blog is to have fun reading the imagined coaching conversation, and to provide a setting for you to reflect on the same questions that I pose to Hermione. While you are enjoying the story, please take the time to think through the questions for yourself.  Hopefully, you will gain new insights about yourself as a leader and discover new perspectives that can help propel you forward to discover your path to bold and extraordinary leadership.

Here’s some context…

Hermione is a Muggle-born witch – that is, unlike most of her witch and wizard peers, she did not grow up with magical parents, but rather two human (or Muggle) ones. She did not learn she was a witch until she was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at age eleven. However, despite Hermione discovering her magic later than the average wizard, she is known as one of the most capable and intelligent witches of her year. She was often bullied at school and faced many microaggressions; some derogatorily called her a ‘mudblood’ because of her non-magical heritage, others called her a ‘know-it-all’ as a result of her intellect and status as the best academically.  Hermione often showed up believing she knew best and wanted to control the situation, but after befriending Harry and Ron in her first year and developing a fierce loyalty to them as the years went on, we see her ‘controlling style’ begin to loosen as she realises that sometimes rules can be bent and broken when they are unjust. As we navigate her coaching engagement, we will begin to see a theme of standing up for those who are unable to stand up for themselves as a key motivator in Hermione’s actions.

The following is my first (imagined) session with a young, twenty-something Hermione, fresh out of Hogwarts, just starting her career at the Ministry of Magic and still with an exciting journey ahead of her. I have done my best (with the help of some Potterheads) to capture what I believe Hermione would think and feel during this time in her life, but as a disclaimer, this is fictional! More avid Potter fans may think she would respond differently. I welcome your feedback!

Let’s get started!…

For expediency, assume we have covered the coaching goals, expectations, and confidentiality conversation.

COACH:

Hermione, how are you today? I’m honoured to partner with you on this journey and begin our coaching relationship.

HERMIONE:

Thank you, I’m excited too. Although I must say I’m a little bit nervous. I don’t quite know what to expect.

COACH:

Thank you for letting me know, Hermione. Don’t worry, we’re in this together, and this is your time.  This is an opportunity for you to better understand who you are as a leader, what motivates you, how you process information and make decisions, and how others see you.

Over the course of our engagement, we will work together to help you discover the conditions that you need in order to thrive, how you get in your own way to achieve your goals, how you communicate effectively or not, how you’re most comfortable engaging with people, and how you can be more proactive to own your unique talents and gifts to express them in the most effective way and deliver the impact that you want to see. 

I also want you to get a clearer understanding on what you really want to do and how you want to go about achieving it.

I know this is a lot. We will take our time and layer the process to build upon your insights and discoveries about yourself. I am confident that you are up for the challenge. Does this make sense?

HERMIONE:

This sounds really exciting. I’m eager to get started.

COACH:

Fantastic! So, I’m going to start by asking you a couple of reflection questions. I don’t want you to overthink them, just tell me what comes to mind, there’s no judgment. If I were to ask your classmates, colleagues, and friends to describe you and what they value most about you, what do you think that they would share with me?

HERMIONE:

Right, okay. So, they would say that I am smart, and that I can think quickly under pressure. That I’m very loyal, too, hopefully. And when I see something that doesn’t seem fair to me, they would say that I latch on to it to figure out ways to make it better.

COACH:

That’s great. And what else do you think they might share?

HERMIONE:

Well, they would probably say sometimes I can be annoying because I’m so smart, but they would also feel like they could ask me anything because I will likely have an answer. They would also say that I have a really good heart and care for people, and that I am quite determined once I set my mind to something that I care about.

COACH:

Is there anything that you wish that they would say about you that they may not think of?

HERMIONE:

Well, I suppose I wish people would not misinterpret me having the answers as me trying to be better than them. I’m just trying to help solve problems and keep us all safe. I can admit that when I was first starting out at Hogwarts, I did feel the need to prove myself. But I just wanted to be seen as an equal, and I thought that making sure I knew all my classes back to front would mean I would fit in, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. I was bullied in my younger years at school, for being a ‘know-it-all’ and a ‘goody-two-shoes’. It wasn’t too severe, and I always tried to brush it off and act like I didn’t care, but of course I did. I remember crying in the bathroom when I was in my first year because I overheard Ron, of all people, calling me a ‘nightmare’. I can laugh about it now, but at the time it really upset me. It made me feel very alone. But even when Ron and Harry made fun of me, they were the ones that saved me when I was attacked by the troll. Funny how my lowest point also became the moment the three of us would become real friends.

But yes, sorry, I got a bit off track there. The point is I just didn’t want to be judged for my background as a Muggle-born. I just wanted to be recognised for who I was. I don’t think the boys ever noticed how hard it was for me to keep a brave and strong front so that they could continue to rely on me.

COACH:

I think that’s very insightful, Hermione. Thank you for sharing. Let me ask you, thinking about what is most important to you, what do you love to improve and have input in?

HERMIONE:

I care about my friends. They may have thought I was a nightmare at first, but they still didn’t hesitate to save me from a troll. I care about finding ways to help people that can’t help themselves, and I want them to know that they can count on me. I get very frustrated when I see things that I think are unjust or when people are being treated unfairly. I want to help make it better, to protect them and lift them up.

COACH:

These are wonderful attributes. Let’s talk a bit more about when you say, “help people that can’t help themselves”. What is happening that causes you to get frustrated?  What do you see or what is going on that signals this reaction? How does it make you feel?

Try to think of some examples about how you approach these situations. Also, while you are thinking about examples, I would like you to reflect on when this happens, is this based on your own assessment, or is it based on information that you’ve gotten from whoever you think is being treated unfairly?

Take your time to think through these questions. Maybe as you share some examples with me, more insight will emerge for you, and we can explore this with a bit more granularity.

HERMIONE:

Yes, okay. Let me think…the first time I tried to improve something I was just fourteen. I discovered that Hogwarts had house-elves working in their kitchens, being forced to work without any pay, and just generally were treated like slaves. I hated how unfair it was, and hated the fact that so many wizards believed that house-elves were happy to do their bidding. They had never known anything else, never been offered any sense of freedom, and I wanted to help show them that they could have more, and that they deserved more than just a life of servitude.

So, I put together the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (SPEW), but I could never get any support behind it. I still would like to lead this. I think I have always wanted to be able to make a difference in my world, and I believe I can do that if I knew how to get the support that I need to help make things happen. I haven’t had many instances of formally leading people, but that’s part of the reason why I wanted to come here and work with you. I think I could have what it takes to be a good leader, I’m just not sure how to start taking those steps. I will say, from that first attempt, I believed so much in what I was saying that I think I forgot I needed others to believe in me and my cause too.

COACH:

You have good insight here. And as a leader one of the most important skills is to communicate to others in a way that sets a clear vision, that articulates a clear ‘why’, and is conveyed in a way that resonates for them. We will focus on effective communication and engaging key stakeholders when we build your Impact Plan. Another attribute you mentioned earlier was that you care about finding ways to help people and knowing that they can count on you. Can you tell me more about this? 

HERMIONE:

I quite like being relied on to be the thinker of the group, and I believe that Harry and Ron rely on me to be prepared for all possibilities, even if they don’t realise they are doing it.

I think it’s about knowing that I have a part to play, that my role in those situations is making a difference for others. I suppose you could say I like seeing the difference I make, it’s quite a rewarding feeling. I suppose my deciding to leave Hogwarts in my final year to help Harry find the Horcruxes is an example of this.

COACH:

Can you tell me more about that?

HERMIONE:

After we discovered that You-Know-Who had split his soul up and hid them in different objects as Horcruxes, I insisted on helping Harry to locate and destroy them. So did Ron, of course. But this meant having to leave school. Even though I loved learning, I knew Harry needed me, even if he never asked directly. And I believed that I needed to be there. I think things might have gone differently if I never decided to go. 

And, as I think about this, I realise that as I’ve gotten older, I feel more confident in myself and my abilities. When I made the bold decision to leave school for the year, I knew it was a risk, but it really taught me a lot about myself and how I enjoy being someone people can rely on, which is what inspired me to go back to school, complete my studies, and apply to work in the Ministry of Magic. I knew that if I ever wanted to make real and lasting change, it would be by doing it at a legislative level.

COACH:

You were very brave to step away from your studies to help Harry in his quest. I would like to ask, before we close our first session, you spoke about your job at the Ministry and wanting to make change.  

What are the most important changes that you want to be a part of? Once we are clear on this, we can explore the most effective ways that you, with your preferred style and your talents, can make the most impact. 

HERMIONE:

What’s most important right now is my work on my SPEW campaign to get better treatment for house-elves. I learnt a lot from that experience back when I was 14 and it is helping me now. I haven’t dived in all by myself or tried to start before I am able to handle the responsibility. I did that with my first attempt and didn’t quite realise all the leadership skills needed to lead such a change. I need to work on rallying people behind a cause, and I also need to take the time to work with the house-elves to make sure they have a voice in the campaign. As much as I want their betterment, it’s ultimately about what they want, too.

Even though right now my job ranking is low, I know it is a path to make an impact. And I know I could do more if given the chance. One of the reasons I came to the Ministry is that I believe that the wizarding world can be a better place, and I want to be a part of making that happen. In some sense, I think my academic aptitude would be helpful here. Transferable, even. The Ministry employs some of the best and brightest witches and wizards. They have been alive a lot longer than me, but so much has changed since they first came around. I want to bring a fresh perspective. 

COACH:

I think the fact that you are able to look back on your previous attempts and begin to see the areas that need improving is going to make our coaching sessions that much more effective, so, well done.  

Hermione, we covered a lot of ground today. What I would like you to do until we meet again next time, is to reflect on all that we talked about. Write down your answers to the questions we discussed today in more detail and see if you begin to identify any patterns or themes. Then when we meet next, we will dig more deeply into your responses. It is important that we take the time to build a solid understanding of who you are as a leader, what motivates you, and how you respond and interact in different situations. This will help us identify your strengths to lean into, as well as where you might want to focus your development. We want you to strengthen and refine the leader that you want to be so you can achieve your goals and aspirations, not what others want you to be. How does that sound? Do you have any questions?

HERMIONE:

No questions. If I’m honest it has been a bit overwhelming, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I’m excited to continue working together. I feel like I am already learning a lot about myself.

COACH:

That’s great to hear, and I appreciate your deep thinking today, and for being so willing to dive right in. We can probably attribute that to your determination and your love of learning! I will send you the key questions we discussed to help provide a structure for your reflection. Thank you and have a fun and wonderful week.

HERMIONE:

Thank you!

Keep an eye out for Part Two of our series where we re-unite with Hermione in her second coaching session and begin to gain a better understanding of the crucible moments in Hermione’s life which shaped who she is as a leader.

And, in the meantime, click here to download a copy of the key coaching questions she was asked. Reflect on them and answer them for yourself!

If you would like to discuss the coaching we offer in more detail, please get in touch with me at Lisa.finkelstein@orgshakers.com or reach out through our website.