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Leadership

Ripples offers an array of services which can help your organization deal effectively with highly complex challenges in strategy, transformation, and leadership. As these challenges are deeply interconnected, many of our engagements include a blend of these services.

Building leadership capacity

Do you have the leadership talent necessary to put or keep your company at the leading edge? Are you investing sufficiently to grow your leaders both personally and professionally? Are you developing the next generation of leaders in the best possible way?

Leadership development is a critical investment that pays off provided you have a unique custom designed leadership development curriculum. Companies who get it right invest even in the downturn, and in the long run, they are the winners.

The Ripples Group’s approach to leadership development is unique: We design a fully integrated and customized leadership curriculum with programs for the different levels of leaders to develop leadership capacity in the organization to drive your strategic change and growth agenda. We work with your leadership model if there is one in place or help you create one that can suppport your strategy. The leadership programs whether it is managerial essentials for first time managers or high potentials or top leaders all are deeply embedded in the culture of the organization, cultivating the desired leadership behaviors.

Leadership Journeys

We have had the privilege to lead hundreds of journeys across the globe with top teams of large multinationals and leadership teams of many organizations in the private and public sector. These journeys take participants to majestic places, such as Guilin in China, Rajisthan in India, and Cappadocia in Turkey, offering participants a chance to connect with themselves, each other, and nature.

We design "leadership journeys" that are integrated with your strategy and address your specific needs. The can be designed 3-5 days and always include elements that are aligned with leading self, leading others, leading the business, and serving the community. These journeys, especially when they become annual retreats, can be instrumental for building a community of leaders with passionate purpose and extreme ownership. See our Publications for some examples.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Many businesses and their leaders realize that the rules of the game are changing. Climate change becomes all too palpable for some, while others find that they can no longer ignore disease and poverty. Some companies are ahead in the game, while others just trying to understand the new set of the rules. In the modern business environment, firms must adopt a strategic longer-term view of the business-society relationship and bring a socio-commercial mindset to their products, processes, and purpose.

Is your company taking appropriate and effective actions on corporate social responsibility? Are these coherent? Do they involve your employee and consumer base and the communities you serve?

The Ripples Group can help you:

Review your mission to integrate your social and economic agendas
Design service learning programs to develop leadership and involve employees
Become one of the cutting-edge firms in corporate social responsibility

High Performing Teams

Not all groups are teams, and not all teams are high performing. Not all groups need to become teams to be high performing, and in some cases, investment in team building may be unnecessary. However, if you have ever been part of a winning team, you know how special and valuable the experience is.

Team building activities are very helpful in understanding team dynamics and improving performance, but they alone are not sufficient. Teams have to go through development stages, a process that takes time and deliberate effort both by the leader and the team members.

The Ripples Group can help you:

Design and facilitate team building activities that will help you achieve your organizational goals
Establish learning processes such as team and project audits to help teams become high performing and self-managing

Women in Leadership

Why do women disappear as they climb higher up the corporate ladder? What is needed to better support women in senior leadership positions, and why should your organization care?

Current research shows that firms that achieve greater gender equity and diversity return better average financial results than other companies. Organizations that take active steps to both recruit and nurture talented women are better positioned to attain the competitive edge necessary to succeed in today’s challenging business climate.

Are you wasting precious talent? How well is your organization poised to develop women leaders who will contribute to your company's overall growth and strategic development?

The Ripples Group can help you:

Develop a strategic direction for advancing female leaders
Design diversity and inclusion strategies, such as flexible work options, supporting high-potential women, and creating a mentoring/sponsoring program
Assist women in becoming more effective leaders through one-on-one coaching
Create an institutionalized development program for women in senior leadership positions

Inclusive Leadership: Thriving on Diversity

Evidence that diverse teams outperform is plenty. Yet building inclusive cultures where everyone is valued for what they contribute irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity, age, and physical ability remains a challenge for most organizations.

Diversity is about having a mix of people in the organization, and it is achievable once the intention is there. The challenge is primarily in making the mix work - creating a flexible working environment where all can thrive and benefit from the diversity of perspectives.

The Ripples Group can be your partner in shaping an inclusive culture, in particular regard to addressing gender diversity and helping leadership:

Develop an appreciation for gender differences
Uncover unconscious biases
Remove barriers to women rising in senior ranks
Institutionalize visible support systems
Make it an ongoing conversation
Lead by example

360 Feedback

For those who are serious about personal and professional growth, feedback is an essential element. Leaders at all levels need honest feedback to increase their self-awareness and to have a better understanding of how they are perceived, how their actions impact their teams, and the overall climate in the organization. The unfortunate truth is that the closer you get to the top, the more difficult it becomes to receive honest feedback.

360 is one the most effective feedback tools for leadership development as it provides leaders with feedback from multiple perspectives: managers, peers, direct reports, and clients. 360 process gives people an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback that they might otherwise feel uncomfortable giving, thus providing invaluable input on leaders' critical skills from those individuals with whom they frequently interact.

The Ripples Group's custom 360 feedback tool will focus on leadership competencies and skills that are fully integrated with your organization’s values and desired leadership behaviors.

Most leaders focus on managing their direct reports and, in the best of cases, developing high performing teams. It is, however, equally critical to master the art of managing sideways and upwards for business impact. Ripples 360 report will help leaders identify specific actions they can take vis-à-vis different groups of stakeholders as well as provide feedback and insights that will increase leaders' overall effectiveness.

See our 360 feedback reflection tool.

DiSC

Regardless of your role or position within your organization, understanding the behavioral strengths and challenges within yourself and others whom you work with is critical to professional success. The DiSC is a behavioral assessment tool which can increase self-awareness and support interpersonal relationships.

The Ripples Group has facilitated many DiSC-focused sessions in a wide range of organizations, industries, and teams. The tool helps individuals appreciate the differences and strengths of others, while also learning about their own behavioral tendencies and communication styles. The purpose of the session is not only to learn about these behaviors and differences among team members, but it is also to develop strategies and awareness to deal with the diversity of people, communication styles, and professional needs.

Our intention is that at the end of the DiSC session, you will not treat others how you want to be treated but as they want to be treated.