Reflections on Leading Through Change with Kate Philips-Kaiser

Learn from Kate Philips-Kaiser, an international leadership coach and facilitator, who supports leaders and their teams for high performance and growth. She has coached hundreds of leaders from around the world, ranging from startup founders to executives in large multinationals. In addition to her work with organizations, she coaches, facilitates and teaches in top business schools, including INSEAD in France and Singapore and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She has a deep appreciation for working with diverse people, cultures and management challenges. Join Seasons Leadership Co-Founders Debbie Collard and Susan Ireland as they talk to Kate about her reflections on leading through change.

Show notes
After introductions, Kate is asked about her definition of leadership (3:56) – making something happen that would not have happened otherwise. (5:00) Kate shares her varied leadership journey from Canada to France to the United States of America and how it has influenced her views on leadership. Susan asks if she thinks leaders are born or created (6:55) and Kate responds with thoughts on what leaders bring to different situations.

Kate shares (8:05) a personal story of leadership not working well and the need for tenacity, agility and humility (9:24). She talks about the importance of holding space (10:08), appreciating how Seasons Leadership demonstrates vision and trying different ways to bring it forward. The leaders talk about the shift (11:18) when people recognize you in a different role and how this connects to change. Kate discusses how leading through change became important to her as a topic (12:16) and the role of leaders to create space for people to transition (13:04). She reflects on how she does this as a coach (13:57), helping people to find who they are becoming.

The conversation expands to how Kate views herself as a leader (15:00); collaborative, holding people accountable to themselves (15:36) and burning away the "crap" to reveal the shiny core underneath. Susan affirms Kate’s ability to see the shiny core as her vision (16:34). Kate reveals a big takeaway from coaching so many people (17:02) – you recognize there is no one way of being and you can tell when people are shining (17:30).

(18:00) – Show break – Learn more about the Seasons Leadership Reflection Circles offering.

The conversation continues (21:47) with Kate talking about how it is hard for people to lead through change, and the importance of first building awareness of how they live with change (24:02). Kate talks about her approach with Reflection Circles (25:59), how the virtual tool gives people space to reflect (16:28) and the how the group debriefs create the energy and perspective to navigate the change (27:00). She shares the magic that comes from connecting people from around the world for these circles (28:49) and the process for developing the program virtually (29:30). Susan shares her fandom of the program (31:50). The leaders discuss the challenge of making sense of what is changing and being conscious of choices (32:40).

The conversation concludes with Kate talking about her values (36:05) and the advice she gives to people going through change (38:20). Susan and Debbie talk about their takeaways from their conversation with Kate (39:30).

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