About Cypress

Cypress Leadership Inc. is a professional management consulting practice committed to working with the Board of Directors and senior executives in organizations to develop strong and effective leadership teams. The goal of my work is improved organizational performance through more effective leadership of people.

In my work over the past 35+ years with a wide variety of organizations, I have learned that people must be willing to change if they want to get better.  Organizational change is the primary responsibility of the executive leadership team.  This group must develop the strategies and model the behaviours that will create a culture receptive and supportive of progressive change.  If individual members of the executive leadership team cannot engage change on a personal level, then the organization as a whole will not be able to sustain any necessary change.  Organizations that do not respond in a timely manner to the demand for change from its marketplace and various stakeholders will inevitably slip into decline and fail. 

Intellectually, few people will disagree about the importance of change and the key role played by executive leadership.  On an emotional level, however, change can be very difficult to implement for individuals and organizations.  It's the difference between knowing what we should do to enjoy good health, for example, and actually doing it!  The reason change is so difficult is that both the catalyst for change and its consequence is discomfort.  People will actively seek change only when the status quo becomes sufficiently uncomfortable …. people who are comfortable see no reason to change.  Those who are working through personal change will experience a great deal of discomfort as they let go of old familiar ways and replace them with new and unfamiliar ways.

However, often people who want to change and are willing to work through the discomfort cannot sustain the change for reasons unrelated to their own commitment.  A significant contributor to the challenge of sustaining new behaviours is the organizational context ..... the structure of the organization; an ambiguous culture or inconsistent values; the design of individual jobs; or the management tools and processes available to support the desired change.  I have seen good people work very hard on personal transformation, only to find that the “system” cannot accept or positively support the change.  The very nature of the organization pulls them back into old and ineffective behaviours.

Building stronger and more effective executive leadership teams requires thoughtful consideration of several inter-related factors.  My preference is to look at the "context" factors first to ensure team members have the appropriate foundation for success:

• Organizational structure and job design provides the architecture for the team, defining the role and contribution for each individual member.   The various responsibilities must form a coherent whole job.  Decision making authority must align with responsibilities.  People must be able to “get their arms around” the scale and scope of the job.  Leaders need time for critical thinking, creative problem solving and mentoring of subordinates.  Opportunities for employee development and succession planning must be built into the architecture of the organization, as well as a part of the management process.
• Practical management tools are essential for communicating expectations, delegating effectively, providing actionable feedback, managing performance and recognizing achievement.  Many of the traditional tools are too complex, or simply don’t work, and there are better ones available.
• Team processes deal with planning, communication, decision making, coordination and cooperation within the leadership team itself.  These processes require structure, disciplined execution and demonstrated accountability to be effective.

• “Technical competencies” are the tangible specific skills, knowledge and experience required to perform the job and provide credible leadership to subordinates.  The competencies that truly matter must be accurately identified and obtained or developed, not assumed. These competencies are broadly related to what is known as cognitive intelligence.
• “Behavioural competencies” are somewhat intangible and relate to one’s self awareness, authenticity, understanding of others, interpersonal savvy, managerial courage and leadership style.  These competencies can be learned, are consistently employed by all great leaders and have come to be known as emotional intelligence.

My approach is designed to help an organization develop their executive leadership team by analyzing the existing situation; offering suggestions for improvement where needed; providing practical tools and training needed to implement those suggestions; and coaching team members as they apply and integrate what has been learned.