Bridging Engineering, Acting, and Executive Development with the KPI with Paul Black
Paul is the founder of Magnify Talent, a coaching and consulting firm focused on bringing executives and mission-critical teams to higher levels of effectiveness. A former engineer and classically trained actor, he combines right-brain creativity with left-brain pragmatism to bring out the best in every individual.
www.magnifytalent.com
Q: Tell us what attracted you to the KPI and becoming KPI Certified?
A: I do a lot of team development as well as individual coaching and executive cohort development in my work I was working on a number of team engagements with a colleague who has been trained in Polarities and studied with Brian, She introduced me to the idea as we saw Polarities come up in the team’s we worked with. In addition to this, my coach used a polarity tool in one of our sessions and I found that very powerful. I read the Navigating Polarities book and decided to sign up for Certification! I gained a lot of knowledge about polarities and made some great connections.
Q: How have you used the KPI in your work?
A: I’m supporting a client with a Leadership Development Program they developed for Senior Executives at the top of Global Organization. One of the topics they wanted to explore is Enterprise Leadership which is best manifested by Managing for the Short Term::Planning for the Long Term. At a workshop I ran, their CEO talked about his desire for leaders in the program to step into that space to operate in that polarity. He didn’t use those words, but I was sensitized to how to hear a polarity because of our training. I was able to say -this is something we could explore in the Program and a great way to introduce the topic would be to use the Leadership KPI.
We introduced it to a group of 25 Senior Execs, debriefed using a Group Debrief approach, then shared the Polarity Navigator tool and used an example and framed it all under Enterprise Leadership.
Q: What are your top tips for a powerful debrief?
A: I like to be prepared and well immersed in the tool and have thought it through and… I think of a Debrief as a Coaching session and less about a script and more about being ready to improvise with the client. I’m ready to listen to them and see where they lead the conversation and follow where they want to go. As this was my first time debriefing the KPI with a group, I worked with Rachael at Andiron to talk through my approach and hear best practice from their experience.
Q: Any polarities you are working on at the moment? How’s that going?
A: Holding Lightly::Taking Seriously. It was apparent from my 360 that this one I was suffering. I practice the idea of noticing, paying attention to my inner life and how I respond to situations and dynamics. Sometimes when I am suffering the polarity I now can recognize it and notice when it’s operating on me. By noticing I’m able to reframe it so I’ve got it.
Q: Anything else you want to share or ask practitioners?
A: I’m happy to hop on a call and chat more or answer any questions if you want to contact me on LinkedIn or through my website.
Posted In: KPI Practitioner Exclusive