Integral Development: 2007

Integral - Its Time!

by Ron Cacioppe, Managing Director, Integral Development

Over thirty years ago the motto used by the Australian Labor Party was ‘It’s Time!’. At Integral Development, we believe that ‘It’s Time!’ for Integral Theory to shape the way we look at, work and behave in the world.

The Macquarie Dictionary (www.macquariedictionary.com.au) defines ‘integral’ as “…of or relating to a whole; belonging as a part of the whole; constituent or component; necessary to the completeness of the whole; made up of parts which together constitute a whole…”.

Individually, a whole person comprises the integration of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual parts, along with the person’s skills and vision for their future.

Organisationally, to achieve commercial success, the whole organisation must comprise the integration of many parts, including staff wellbeing and development, customer service, products that meet a demand, worthwhile contribution to the community and environmental impact reduction.

While many organisations attend to some of these things well, few organisations attend to all of them superbly. At Integral Development we are helping to develop well-integrated individuals to become well-integrated leaders in well-integrated organisations that make a positive contribution to the community and the wider world.

Integral Theory was developed by the philosopher and transpersonal psychologist, Ken Wilber, and represents one of the most profound perspectives of the 21st century. There are many writers who have provided self-help theories on how we can live better lives, but Ken Wilber provides extraordinary insights into Eastern and Western philosophy, psychology, science and spirituality relevant to the 21st century. His books, such as A Theory of Everything (Shambhala Publications), describe the key components of his ‘Integral All Quadrants, All Levels Theory’.

Integral Theory comprises many parts and Integral Development has distilled these into practical tools for leaders, managers, teams and organisations. One such tool is Integral Development’s 3600 Leadership & Management Profile that facilitates personal and professional feedback to the individual, team effectiveness assessment, organisational surveys and team role profiles that in turn interface with a number of other commercially available tools and products.

While it is the tools that individuals and organisations first experience when working with Integral Development, it is the direct personal contact between our clients and Integral Development’s consultants and coaches that is integral to successful outcomes.

Integral Development’s tools can be applied to a range of individual, team and organisational requirements, but the essence of our work is in understanding that everyone and everything is connected in the universe and that when we act as individuals or organisations, a truly worthwhile purpose can be achieved with integration.

For example, in the workplace a leader’s aim might be to achieve strategic organisational goals and profit, but if that leader is a well-integrated individual it is possible to develop personally and professionally to achieve a level of integration where one truly realises that ‘I am the world’ and what I and my organisation do is an integral part of it. It is at this level that a leader can make significant contributions to improving themselves, the organisation, the community and the world, whilst establishing and maintaining harmony with the natural environment.

Every day we hear but are somehow disconnected from news of the hungry and homeless, the impact of national and international conflict and the impact of global warming. At closer quarters we hear expressions of discontent with the work/life balance and the impact of stress on the individual. What we usually do not hear is the possibility of resolving what ails us via integration on all levels.

In today’s highly competitive, helter-skelter environment in which individuals and organisations function, it requires commitment to implement an integrated vision. To this I say – It’s Time!

Integrating the environment

by Simon Waller, Environmental Program Coordinator at Integral Development

One of Integral Development’s more recent ventures is the Integral Environment Improvement Program, developed in response to a growing need amongst our clients to build sustainability and environmental capabilities. Traditionally, addressing environmental issues was seen as a business cost, but this is increasingly seen as an opportunity for bottom line returns by identifying and eliminating wastage and other potentially costly environmental risks.

Across the globe, ‘sustainability’ has become a buzzword for businesses, as increasing numbers take advantage of new opportunities in developing new markets and products for a world with an increasing need for sustainability. In so doing they are building profits, along with brand value and customer and employee loyalty.

At Integral Development we understand that one of the biggest barriers to developing environmental sustainability is the traditional lack of integrating this capability into core business practices.

Using the principles of Integral Theory and building on the work of Ron Cacioppe in his ‘Developing and Implementing Sustainability Strategies’ workshops, we have developed a holistic approach to address this issue, resulting in Integral Development's ‘Environment Improvement Program’.

The Environment Improvement Program involves an audit of your organisation’s environmental and social performance across the four quadrants of the Integral map: Culture, Systems, Practices, and Values. This information is then used as the basis for a program of organisational change to build awareness and capabilities around the issue of sustainability and the environment.

The focus of the program for organisational change is to assist organisations to develop their capacity for change, providing a basis for integrating sustainability into core business practice and making the organisation more responsive to new challenges in the business environment.

As part of Integral Development's environmental focus, we are hosting a half-day workshop ‘Leading Ideas in Environmental Practice’, which will bring together leading practitioners in the field to present the latest environmental thinking on a range of topics including the built environment, organisational systems and environmental law. Also at this workshop, Integral Development will provide information on an Integral approach to environmental sustainability and our work in building this capability in organisations.

If you wish to attend the Leading Ideas in Environmental Practice half-day workshop or you would like to arrange a meeting with Ron Cacioppe or Simon Waller to discuss our Environment Improvement Program, please contact Lauren Kotze at Integral Development on 6304 8354.

Simon Waller holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Murdoch University, is completing further study in futures thinking at Curtin Graduate School of Business, and has extensive experience in the ownership and management of small and medium sized enterprises across a variety of industries. Simon has been developing Integral Development’s environmental tools and maps, and has a keen interest in implementing Integral environmental and social action within organisations.

Work/life balance

Andre Zanardo, ID Executive Coach & Psychoanalyst (Jungian)

A great deal has been written about work/life balance and how essential it is for our overall health and wellbeing. But what is work/life balance?

Essentially it is developing and maintaining a meaningful balance between the factors of daily living, including healthy relationships, physical and psychological wellbeing, work that you enjoy and from which you derive satisfaction, spiritual development (eg religious belief, or self-reflective activity like meditation, yoga etc), financial stability/security, and free time. If any of these factors are left ‘undernourished’, there is likely to be deterioration in our general state of wellbeing.

Depending upon stage and circumstances of life, meaningful balance will mean the choice of greater emphasis on different factors at different times and because life presents us with a series of transitions, it is inevitable that imbalance will occur.

One example of an indicator of imbalance is excessive working hours that subsume the other factors of daily living and manifest as high stress levels, relationship difficulties or breakdown, declining physical and mental health (weight gain and its ongoing implications for our health, feelings of ‘emptiness’ and depression etc) and so on. The key is to address the imbalance before it becomes entrenched. Above all, we must recognise that developing and maintaining a meaningful balance between the factors of daily living is a matter of choice and we all have control over our work/life balance through the choices we make.

However, for most of us developing and maintaining work/life balance does not ‘come naturally’ and is a skill that has to be learned. At Integral Development we run residential Restoring Spirit and Balance workshops specifically for this purpose. The feedback from these workshops has been extremely positive, with participants reporting significant improvement in their work/life balance and the attendant benefits of improved general wellbeing.

The Restoring Spirit and Balance residential workshops are run by Dr. Ron Cacioppe (Integral Development Managing Director) and Andre Zanardo (Jungian psychoanalyst and yoga instructor) and can be tailored to suit the needs of your organisation.

For further information on the Integral Development Restoring Spirit and Balance residential workshops, contact the Integral Development office on 6304 8354 or call Andre on 0412 130 313.

Delegation: A powerful tool for individual development

Gregg Kershaw, ID Executive Coach & Analytical Psychotherapist

Successful delegation demands the coordination of different skill sets into a potently functioning process to achieve a specific outcome. Coaching and mentoring skills are central to keeping the delegation process on task for delivery of the outcome, as are other essential elements that include, but are not limited to: the ability to plan and coordinate workloads; effective goal setting, monitoring and feedback; the ability to clearly and unambiguously articulate what is required; and the capacity to evaluate progress.

Successful delegation is a powerful tool for individual development, as it provides a clear process for individuals to contribute by creating a culture of support, so that when mistakes are made it is in the context of a monitored formalised process that facilitates significant learning opportunity, a pathway for skill development and the generation of new ideas and innovation. The benefits of delegation in the development of individuals can include increased sense of personal achievement and increased levels of self-confidence and self-worth.

How the person doing the delegating, approaches the delegating, ultimately defines its success and the process of delegation can be a fertile ground for self-development. To maximise this opportunity for self-development, one must reflect upon the delegation process, the functioning of the people within the process and one’s own actions, and important self-reflective questions must be considered. These might include:

· What is my intention in delegating?
· What are my motivations in delegating??
· Have I interfaced responsibility with authority?
· Is delegating compatible with a larger strategy for workplace development?
· Is delegating compatible with a larger strategy of professional development?
· Who will benefit from my delegating?
· What does my delegating mean for the team?
· How do I know if my instructions are understood?
· Have I considered time frames and regular review?
The process of delegation and its capacity for self-development are essential elements in achieving a successful work-life balance, whilst acknowledging the interdependent nature of the modern organisation and the shared responsibility required in achieving a shared vision.

From the perspective of Integral Theory, leadership effectiveness and organisational success depend upon the active integration of the organisational whole with the individual parts. Within this context, delegation can be seen as a practical and actively constructive step in achieving integration and giving life to the maxim ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’.

Creativity = Innovation

by Ken Milling, ID Executive Coach

It is not unusual for managers and leaders to include creativity and/or innovation on their professional development wish list, but from whence do these attributes come?

The play of children is often taken for granted, as something we all go through and eventually grow out of, but it is through play as children that we develop, to individually varying degrees, the capacity for innovation and creativity. As we mature, the demands of daily life and of compliance in the workplace tend to diminish this capacity for play and, in turn, our capacity for creativity and innovation.

If joy and passion for our work is absent, this may indicate overwhelming compliance or pursuit of a compulsion that can manifest in ways that are detrimental to the individual.

The capacity for play is essential to achieving and maintaining a work/life balance. We need to allow ourselves space for reflective thought – ‘creative space’ – in which to ‘play’, because this can light a spark that in time ignites an increased capacity for innovation in the workplace and a more generalised passion for life.

In Alexander Newman’s book Winnicotts Words (New York University Press, p 326) well-known psychoanalyst and paediatrician, Donald Winnicotts, states…

It is creative apperception more than anything else that makes the individual feel that life is worth living. Contrasted with this is a relationship to external reality, which is one of compliance, the world to be fitted in with or demanding adaptation. Compliance carries with it a sense of futility for the individual and is associated with the idea that nothing matters and that life is not worth living. In a tantalising way, many individuals have experienced just enough of creative living to recognise that for most of their time they are living uncreatively, as if caught up in the creativity of someone else, or of a machine ...It is in playing and only in playing that the child or adult is able to be creative...
When we experience the inner realm of ‘play’ we can find creative ways of initiating ideas that excite and enliven our work life through innovative action. When a creative surge manifests through the individual, it can be infectious, with the potential to become a catalyst for collective change within an organisation.

The Integral Development coaching process helps to address work/life balance issues and guide individuals in creating a space for reflective thought that can lead to creativity and innovation.

Integral Executive Coaching Accreditation Course

Integral Development now conducts the Integral Executive Coaching Accreditation Course for workplace leaders/managers and professional coaches who wish to be accredited in the use of the Integral 360 Degree Leadership & Management Profile and to gain training in Integral executive coaching. Participants who successfully complete the three-day course will automatically have access to Integral Development’s unique coaching tools, associated support services and ongoing professional development in the field of executive coaching.

We will be conducting an Integral Executive Coaching Accreditation Course in Perth in late November 2007. If you are interested in finding out more about the course, please contact the course coordinator, Ken Milling at ken@integral.org.au or on 0437 632 589.