Cecil and The Guides: A Story of Engaging in Management Training with Arete Initiative

Cecil is a relatively new manager in his company of passionate and driven experts in their field, who work hard to improve their customers’ overall experiences with their organization.

Cecil knows that the company is growing fast, and he really likes being accountable for a team and their results and helping others to succeed and grow. Yet, at the same time, he is a bit nervous about the fast
growth. It typically means different types of demands will be asked of him, all while trying to acquire the
knowledge, skills, and experience to lead larger, highly impactful teams.

He keeps hearing talk about the future and the new demands on teams working remotely, exponential technologies, and team members wanting something more and different out of work and from their leaders. Plus, there isn’t a lot out there that is really connected with the vision, approach, and really amazing way people on his team and the company operate. It’s a special place, with amazing solutions and dedicated people. Cecil really wants to be a part of growing that culture without it becoming like a
soulless corporate machine, manned by unfilled and disimpassioned people, and useless meetings.

A good friend, Marisol, suggested that Cecil have a conversation with Matt, a trusted guide from Arete Initiative, whose purpose is to bring forth the next wave of human and organizational potential. Cecil was a little skeptical with how all this sounded.

Matt suggested an approach to Cecil where he opens himself up to other leaders in his company, learns with them, and works on real problems and projects to improve the company’s performance. After a lot of questions, Cecil began to feel that Arete Initiative and its team was a good fit for the individual and collective development they were looking for to move their organization forward.

Here is Cecil’s experience with the Arete Initiative and its team:
Cecil filled in a survey that included a bunch of tough questions – some that did not seem so relevant. (but he would later learn just how really relevant they were!) Cecil chatted with Matt who asked him a lot about what is “really going on” for him. It felt a bit like a counselling session, and he felt he was able to describe things meaningfully even though he is open with his team, peers and boss. This was a whole new level of openness and it felt good.

Then a group of Managers, working in similar positions met to talk about what Matt and the Arete Initiative team learned about them, and what they thought about this learned information?
They talked about the future, what it might demand, and where they felt they needed to be now, and in the future. Cecil and the Managers figured out a couple of really important key topics that were relevant to their success today, and in their phase of rapid growth.

Each person in the group was given a learning journal with some questions specific to discovery of a given topic, reflection on what it means to them, and a practice guide for coaching others and providing
feedback to engage them.

Cecil and the Managers were asked to identify one thing that they would have their team do to figure
out better ways of providing feedback to each other. Matt showed the group the basic practice of Peer
Mentoring, let them practice it in the session, and recommended that maybe they try it with their own
team on the problem of giving and receiving better feedback.
The group was then split into three sub-groups, and each given an assignment to work on as separate
teams. Groups were tasked with coming up with a recommendation to pitch to the Culture Committee
to see who might have the most promising solutions.
Perhaps a company-wide action or at least deep insights would emerge. That was a heady meeting!
Thank goodness it was time to get back to more tactical management work for a bit.

A couple of weeks later Cecil got a note from a member at Arete Initiative, it was a friendly reminder
about the individual assignment, the task with his team, and his group assignment.
A couple of weeks later the sub-groups met to formally do a learning reflection assignment that was assigned to them. The intent was to give them a chance to reflect on what new experiences and reactions were coming up for them, as they progressed on their group assignment.
After this meeting Cecil did a live, interactive check-in with his Arete Initiative contact, just to keep things on track, and adjust for his personal needs.

Two weeks passed and again a team member with Arete Initiative checked in with a short email survey
- with some more weird, but thought provoking questions. Cecil was not even sure if the answers were
even useful. But, he gave it his best go, since things seemed to be going well, so far.
Then about two months after the first session the full group came back together and they shared stories
about their individual experiences, what their teams did with the assigned task, and the outcome of the
pitches to the Culture Committee.

Overall, Cecil was amazed by how much they accomplished without adding much “learning time”
to their regular “day job” work. In fact, they seemed to be getting more done than expected and the new insights, knowledge, practices and assignments were all intermingling. And there was a noticeable difference among the group, his own team, and the ways he was opening his own mind to what being a better leadermeant to himself, as well as to his colleagues. This was not necessarily the outcome he was expecting, as he thought it would be more about motivation, what to say or not to say, and clever techniques to get others to get things done better. Rather, Cecil felt that he was changing as a person; his team was seeing him differently; and he had a deeper appreciation of what it takes to get the whole company moving in a certain direction together without “cracking the whip” so to speak.

This learning cycle continued with the team from Arete Initiative:
I. introduce a new topic for the group based on their stated needs,
II. share some understanding about it,
III. decide what they might do to deepen their practice on it.

As the learning cycles continued, the assignments began to shift from somewhat tactical behavioral
issues to company-wide strategy and planning decision-making. Yet they still seemed to be about all
the things that they felt as leaders needed to be done to shape the company, and its future.

At the end of the year, they all got together again to discuss the outcomes of these sessions, activities,
practices, and performance. Cecil felt more confident about himself, his peers, and his team. They all seemed to be clearer, and not surprising considering how they had all shifted, changed, and impacted others through stronger collaboration and working partnerships. That was because after a couple of rounds, it seemed normal to have breakthrough conversations every couple of months, and while this was hard inner work, the learning was valuable, and the results were tangible and visible.

Reflecting, Cecil was proud of the work they had all done this past year, and he began wondering just what else they could do and what new direction they could shift to move the organization towards.
So, Cecil called Matt and the team at Arete Initiative to see how they could collaborate together to empower the future year to come!