Today, we are thrilled to announce the launch of our new business venture, “The Leadership Paradox.” This collaborative coaching team brings together four seasoned leadership coaches with a singular mission: to help bold leaders make a difference, for themselves, their teams, their organisations, their stakeholders, and/or their clients. 

The 4 seasoned coaches are: Federica Salvi, Isabelle Verdon, Pilo Verdon and Susan Kuepfer.  We also have a brilliant dedicated support team as well as a growing group of affiliate coaches helping us deliver bigger projects for our clients. If you are interested in learning more about who we are, what we do and how we can support you, please click here.

We could say much more about why we decided to work together to focus on bold leaders making a difference. And we will, as we roll this out. However, for the first article coming from the Leadership Paradox team, we thought we would share how it looks from one of the many paradoxes we face and embrace: the paradox of Me or My Team?

Me: Each of us has been successful in our own work journeys as coaches so far.  We even have brand names that are recognised (e.g., Pilosophy or ValCOACH).  We have created lovely individual relationships with clients, both those we directly work with and those that hire us to work in their organisations. All our work has come from word-of-mouth. We have the freedom to try things out, make our own mistakes, choose our own strategies, and ignore them when we want.  But “Me” is also a lonely place.  And it is a limiting place.  We don't have the time or all the diverse strengths that come with a team. We can serve our clients better when we bring a bigger range of skills, experience, tools and strengths together.  

Team: It is great belonging to something bigger than just a company of one person. It is a lot more fun overall, and helps each one of us grow in new ways.  But it also means we have to give up some of the “Me”, and take on new roles, responsibilities and behaviours within this new team. Giving up some of that “Me” is not so easy!  There is a lot of blood, sweat, tears, money, personal identity and other attachments to deal with. Another shift that is shaping us is being accountable to each other as well as our clients and ourselves which adds more complexity and demands. It also means our pace is a team pace and not an individual pace so sometimes we feel like we are discussing simple decisions to death, while at other times it feels like we are flying at supersonic speed — without the plane (and… for some of us, that might bring quite a thrill 😄).

So figuring out how we bring and grow the “ME” in our new team and approach, while building a high value, value-creating “TEAM” that supports and cares for each other, has fun, courage to say and do what needs to be said or done, and loves adventure together, is the beauty of this paradox.  The key is to realise it is not a binary option - Me OR My Team.  It is how we bring the two together to grow together: Me AND My Team. 

And why does this matter? 

It matters because we are living and experiencing what we teach.  Leadership (from self to organisational) is all about embracing paradoxes.  It is rare to find situations where there are only two options: no/yes, go/stop, big picture/tactical focus, tell/ask, authentic/political, change/stability, challenge/avoid.  The key is to recognise there is a paradox at play, to embrace the concept of “AND” to find solutions through that perspective. 

It matters because these paradoxes are at the heart of many difficulties and tensions we see in organisations we support.

For example, as individual contributors, we're rewarded for personal expertise, output, and achievement. Then suddenly, upon promotion to leadership, success is no longer measured by what we personally produce, but by what our team accomplishes. This creates a fundamental shift from focusing primarily on “me” to the beautiful challenge of balancing individual identities and expertise while simultaneously fostering collective success. 

What about you?  

Where are you on the continuum between 100% ME or THE TEAM or 100% ME and THE TEAM?  What is getting in your way to shift further towards 100% ME and THE TEAM?

As mentioned, we will be sharing more about the why, what and how of our new Leadership Paradox team and how we hope it can serve you, as well as the many learnings we're making along the way.  

For those of you who are now or have been our individual clients in the past, we will be contacting you individually to talk about what changes, what doesn’t change and new potential growth opportunities that are already here or on the horizon. 

For now, though, we would like to invite you to share in the thrill of us embarking on this new journey together and embracing this interesting paradox of “Me or My Team”. We truly believe this will serve you better, to grow bold, successful, and impactful leadership for yourself, your team, and your organisation.