Quantum Leap Coaching

The Enlightened Leader

Karin Lubin, Ed.D. — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 23:47:00 +0000

I started this Enlightened Teams blog discussing the team as a whole. Now let’s turn to one very important member of the team—the leader. Every team has a leader, but what kind of leadership does it take to create an enlightened team? What kind of leadership style, characteristics, and skills are necessary to bring out the best in all the team members and differentiate an enlightened team from a high performing team?

I’ve identified five qualities of an enlightened team leader:

1) The leader always keeps a focus on the team’s mission—on who we are. And the leader supports each team player to set their highest intentions for the best possible outcome for the group. For example, in The Passion Test family, our mission (our unique contribution) is We inspire Transformation Through Love. At a Passion Test weekend training, for example, we visualize at the beginning what the end of the weekend has brought to fruition. We state this as our vision and allow the love within the group to safely support people to unveiling their greatest potential.

2) The leader embraces wholeness and being “perfect in our imperfections.” Team members are asked to bring their completeness to the group—this includes emotions and feelings—so that all are real and authentic with one another. The enlightened team leader confirms team members’ unique strengths and states out loud how they harmonize and how their differences create a larger wholeness and a larger power that is beyond any one person.

3) The leader highlights and appreciates each team member’s individual strengths and skills, and expresses her or his sincere gratitude for their presence on the team. What better way is there for each member to be recognized and honored for their unique gifts? Appreciation builds respect, confidence and safety. On this foundation love naturally becomes a tangible part of the team.

4) The leader holds integrity and compassionate truth as the highest values, and models this in every moment. One of the core passions of The Passion Test programs is being audaciously authentic. By feeling safe to express our truest selves we each support the others to express their highest truth and give them the freedom to be seen and to shine. Often ideas, plans and beliefs can change—and yet if you can be transparent with whatever changes occur, others will trust and deepen their relationship with you. By being transparent and real you build your integrity within the group.

5) The leader brings a calm and peaceful presence to the team. Rather than allowing fear (false evidence appearing real) to take over, he or she inspires the team members to a higher vision of beauty and to the team’s highest purpose so that the group can serve in its highest, most effective capacity.

These five aspects really stand out as I study team leadership and as I continue to serve as a leader and team member.

Celebration and Appreciation

Karin Lubin, Ed.D. — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:21:00 +0000

I have identified 15 key characteristics that are essential to Enlightened Teams—teams that function smoothly while holding service and contribution as their highest purpose. Of these 15, five are completely different from those identified by other observers of high-performance teams. In the posts to come, I will describe them all.

Coincidentally, Sunday is Father’s Day, a day that reminds us all of the vital importance of family. One unique aspect of being part of an Enlightened Team is that you are treated like family. Team members go beyond “duty” to reach out to celebrate one another. Whether it be birthdays, special happenings, or really difficult events in one’s life, team members rally round to support and celebrate one another. Team members help each other to see their individual beauty and uniqueness.

The Passion Test Leadership Team exemplifies this. We, each in our own incomparable way, express our appreciation and delight in working together and playing together. There is a sense of being taken in deeply, so that we become extended family to one another. It is a remarkable experience—some of the team members I have known for less than three years, and I feel closer to them than to some of my blood relatives. And I confess I have never before received such over-the-top expressions of love poured over me as I have from this amazing team.

So what does that have to do with Father’s Day? Well, we learn about love and how to support one another in our “family sphere” first. Let’s expand on our appreciation of fathers who supported and celebrated their daughters and sons—and bring appreciation, support, and celebration out to the entire team! Go Team! Thanks Dad.

So there you have the first of these five stand-out characteristics that make the difference—distinguishing Enlightened Teams from other high-performance teams. Enlightened Team members excel and delight in celebratingeach other with the warmth and appreciation that is more often seen in close family relationships.

The Enlightened Team

Karin Lubin, Ed.D. — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

In recent postsI’ve been talking about how I’ve begun to recognize some distinguishing qualities of a supremely effective team on which I have the privilege of working. I believe this team exemplifies a new generation or category in the field of organizational development, a category I call the enlightened team. Why I chose that name will become evident as we proceed.

I’ve been studying this team and others to see if the qualities I’ve identified as “enlightened” have been highlighted elsewhere. I’ve been searching the literature to see if this “new generation or category,” has been described by other researchers. So far, I’ve not found it described or fully defined elsewhere.

I’ve identified 15 qualities that make up an enlightened team. In comparing my list to those of other researchers in this field, I find five distinct qualities that don’t appear on other lists of defining attributes of high-performing teams. Teams that display the full complement of these 15 qualities clearly stand out from the general field of high-performance teams.

The good news is that there’s nothing magical about these attributes. In fact, every human being possesses the innate capacity to create and perform on an enlightened team. This explosive effectiveness is available to everyone—yet so far, only a few pioneers have managed to access this innate capacity and create enlightened teams.

In many ways the enlightened team stands for the new level of collaboration, meaning, and purpose which is needed for a successful future. Up to now, it hasn’t been described in a way that organizations can replicate; the toolkit hasn’t been developed to enable organizations to take their teams to this new level of refinement in team building and business success. Stay tuned to learn more about this toolkit…

Can a team be more than high-performing?

Karin Lubin, Ed.D. — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:39:00 +0000

In my last post, I mentioned how my personal experience working with the leadership team at Enlightened Alliances has led me to more deeply explore what it is that makes an exceptional team. You may have observed, as I have, that teams can look and feel very different based on their surrounding organizational culture and climate. Perhaps you’ve also noticed thatthis culture and climate must include a pervading sense of trust and respect. Without these foundational attributes you cannot build a team that is high-functioning or fun!

High-performing teams are well documented in the current literature, with observers usually identifying six to eight qualities that distinguish a team as high-functioning. Our team at Enlightened Alliances seems somehow more than simply “high performance.” It often seems to explode with beneficial outcomes—both in terms of its impact on the Passion Test family and global communities in regards to the team outcomes; and in regards to the outcomes of individual team members. The team and its individual members are constantly evolving and growing. The team is pervaded by a strong sense of commitment to being the best, individually as well as organizationally. This commitment is less about striving for perfection, than about striving to be of the highest service possible.

In the past, I have seen many teams that are committed to a larger vision. What stands out about the Enlightened Alliances team is that it powerfully integrates each individual’s vision into the organizational vision. The individual and the collective visions join together to manifest a powerful synergy from which beneficial outcomes truly do explode far beyond the team’s and the individuals’ original objectives.

Breaking Out…

Karin Lubin, Ed.D. — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:53:00 +0000

Have you ever seen organizations or teams that seemed to be super-high-performing, where the business just flowed and people seemed to love their work and each other? Teams where everyone delighted in and completely supported each other’s brilliance and quirkiness, where the team vision is SO strong that it’s crystal clear to the team and everyone doing business with them? Teams like Google, Virgin, Apple, and Zappos for example?

For over 20 years, as an educator and leader in schools and organizations, I’ve been on a personal quest to understand teams and team building. Ten years ago, my quest led me to write my dissertation on servant leadership within organizations and educational settings. I studied how certain qualities in leaders created teams and cultures that built trust, safety, and respect.

Super-high-performing teams are usually identified as the best-of-the-best in organizational models. Yet since I joined The Passion Test family as a Passion Test facilitator and Director of the Passion Test Certification Program—part of an organization called Enlightened Alliances—I realized that the executive team I’ve been working with there is quite different from other high-performing teams I’ve observed.

I decided to build on my earlier research and see if I could identify and document this unique difference. If this difference can be identified, perhaps it can be replicated. What is it that makes this team stand out, even from the field of recognized, high-performance teams? What is it that turns a high-performing team into an enlightened team?