Lots of Learning Opportunity - Chief Executive Officer Learning as Leadership Employee Review

Learning as Leadership (LAL) morphed from a nonprofit hoping to make the world a better place, one more-enlightened person at a time, into a small company that serves the same mission. As a 360 Feedback Specialist, I was responsible for interviewing family members and colleagues of the company's clients, most of whom are sponsored by organizations wanting to improve leadership skills and team dynamics among top level and other key personnel. The company has less than 20 employees, both full-time and project/part time. Many of the employees are longterm, and there is a very strong family feeling throughout. My colleagues are unfailingly kind and well intentioned, not only in the work we do, but in their interactions with each other. I've never worked at a company where the leadership was so transparent about their thoughts, questions, and perceived strengths and weaknesses. The company conducts an annual all-staff survey, and takes seriously even minor suggestions for improvement. On the Feedback team, our manager made the creation of team spirit a priority and even though I've just left due to other professional opportunities, I built close relationships with my fellow Feedback specialists and others in LAL and plan to stay connected with them in the future. The opportunity to have deep conversations with our clients' family and professional circles was always fascinating, and I felt fortunate to engage in such deep conversations while contributing to the personal and professional growth of our clients. Further, even though I had significant experience as a qualitative researcher before joining LAL, I was able to learn some new/tweaked interviewing techniques that I am applying outside of LAL. Finally, a huge per of working for LAL is that they pay a modest stipend for employees to participate in the workshops that they offer client, including being assigned an individual coach. I learned a tremendous amount from participating in the Personal Mastery workshop, and grew personally and professionally. Having first hand verification of the effectiveness of LAL's programs is very motivating, as an employee, Logistically, LAL was very accommodating in allowing me to accept projects when it was convenient given my outside work. They try to give project-based employees as much or as little work as they can handle at a given time, subject to their need to get work done well and on time.

Feedback into my performance as I learned and practiced the specific requirements for LAL interviews and the resulting written deliverables could be clearer and more consistent.

First and foremost, the main pro for me is working in a learning environment. I just love personal growth and development! We are immersed in the methodology daily, have one another's support, and can use what comes up for us to explore further. Beyond that, it is a real joy to watch our clients grow and develop as well as seeing their teams prosper. That is a real benefit to me! Finally, as a family-owned business there is a lot of care and concern for everyone as part of the family.

Cons The con on the flip side of the family-owned business is the strong preference for consensus and decisions by committee which can slow down decision making or organizational evolution over time. This can inhibit growth for the business and limit development opportunities for the staff.