Episode 41: Peer-based Advising

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Transitions: The Best and Worst of Times
Episode #41 of the Third Turn Podcast with Kristin & Mark

What exactly is the point and value of peer-based advising?

If we had to boil it down, three words help snapshot the value equation:

• Proactive
• Objective
• Reflective

Proactive - It’s been said that roughly 30% of an organizational leader’s time should be dedicated to future strategy.  Studies show that on average, 36% of a leader’s time is spent in reactive mode--which indicates that the battle is real.  Leadership expert Ron Heifetz calls proactive thinking “balcony time”--stepping away from the metaphorical dance floor of pressing daily obligations to take a longer strategic view.  And while many would say that making the time is most challenging, Heifetz says that giving oneself permission for this time is, for many, the deeper obstacle.

Objective - As Mark shares, processing and hearing from one’s peers often offers a better benefit and higher perceived value than paying for a consultant.  There’s a different level of trust in the wisdom, advice, and perspective shared, as well as the ability to learn vicariously from the real-world experience of others.  And objective eyes can so often help us see ongoing, ingrained realities in a fresh way that yields creative solutions.

Reflective - Leadership is developed through a combination of nature and nurture, and perhaps especially through on-the-job crucible experiences.  But places to then reflect on experiences and also ingrained beliefs and assumptions have proven to be a critical ingredient in one’s leadership development.  Warren Bennis, credited as the father of leadership development, once said: ‘There are lessons in everything, and if you are fully deployed, you will learn most of them. Experiences aren’t truly yours until you think about them, analyze them, examine them, question them, reflect on them and finally understand them.’

Add to these leadership truths the unique realities of Third Turn, Maestro-level leadership, and spaces and places for proactive, objective, and reflective thinking and camaraderie become even more critical and transformative.  Which is why Mark and I have given ourselves to gathering and providing such spaces and places for this “herd of unicorns”--both for the sake of these leaders and their unique season, as well as those successors and generations that follow.

Additional Resources:

• Maestro-level leader cohort experiences--For those who want to very intentionally and proactively invest in a season of exploration around what future value, session strategy, and legacy might look like in their own unique circumstances.
• Leadership On the Line - Ronald A. Heifetz & Marty Linsky
• On Becoming A Leader - Warren Bennis
• Peer-Based Advising - Mark L. Vincent 

- Kristin Evenson

With each episode of the Third Turn Podcast we host a conversation among leaders who want the world to flourish for generations beyond their lifetimes.

Listening with others in some way and enjoying in-depth conversations of your own as you reflect and choose what you would do the same or differently is a plus!

We always welcome you sharing these podcasts with others as well as sending along any suggestions for making these podcasts better.

The Third Turn Podcast is part of the Maestro-level leaders initiative, a production of Design Group International. Strategically Connected's Jennifer Miller is the producer.

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