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You are invited to join our
Windsor Experience for Leaders on
Releasing Ambition from 4.00pm on Thursday October 3rd 2013 until 11.30am on Saturday October 5th in
Windsor Castle. This is the first in a new international series of
Windsor Experiences for Leaders organised by asaleader.com.
Places are only open to Chief Executives, Presidents and Executive Chairs of organisations. In the case of major corporates we are also able to take bookings in the names of Vice-Presidents and Executive Directors.
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Contents
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Our Aim
4
Our Method of Working
5-9
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Three Groundrules for this Windsor Experience for Leaders
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Three ambitions for this Windsor Experience
12-13
Experiencing Windsor Castle
14-15
Booking your place
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Key timings
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About St. George’s House
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Pete Ashby: CV
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Contact details
Our five themes on Releasing Ambition
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Our Aim “I have worked with Pete at two events that he has facilitated at Windsor Castle and have been thoroughly impressed on both occasions. He manages to balance just the right amount of challenge with support, guidance and informed external input that really gets you thinking. On both occasions his facilitation got me and the rest of the group to come up with innovative yet practical ideas for taking our agenda forward that we would not have achieved with a less committed or experienced facilitator. I would wholeheartedly recommend Releasing Ambition to you."
To support you as a leader in fulfilling your ambitions through releasing those of your Executive team, Board and employees.
Sean Taggart, Co-owner and Chief Executive of The Albatross Group of Companies
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Our method of working We have called this a Windsor Experience for Leaders because it is NOT a traditional conference where leaders gather together to be told by outside “experts” how to do your job. This is about leaders working together with peers through a dynamic process to share experiences and trade ideas to support each other in sharpening up your own approaches towards your development as leaders. Our discussions will be facilitated by Pete Ashby, Director of asaleader.com. Pete has led nearly 200 residential events in Windsor Castle over the past 25 years. He will draw on these facilitations as well as many others to create a process that enables us to determine our own agenda as we go, based on three levels of challenge and support: • Self-challenge • Peer challenge and support • Supportive challenge by Pete as facilitator.
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Our five themes on Releasing Ambition
For this process to work effectively, we always outline a number of challenges beforehand, on the basis that we trust ourselves to ration our time carefully as the process unfolds, giving priority to those challenges that the group regards as the most important.
We propose five main themes for this Windsor Experience for Leaders: Theme 1: Fulfilling YOUR AMBITIONS as a leader
We will start by asking you to work in small groups of 3 or 4 to take stock of your current sense of fulfilment as a leader. Do you feel your ambitions are being sufficiently released in your present leadership role? As individuals feed back your personal conclusions to the wider group, we hope to draw you out on how strong a link you think there is between your sense of fulfilment as a leader and your ability to release the ambitions of those around you.
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Next, we want to turn to your role in releasing the ambitions of your top team. Some CEOs like to tell their team what their ambitions are for the organisation and expect the team to get on with making them happen. Others are rather more consultative and say that shared ambitions first need to be agreed between themselves and their top team, before they take them to their Board. Where are you on this? If you see yourself as being fairly directive, is it an option for Directors to disagree with you - and if they do, are you open to changing your mind?
Theme 2: Releasing the ambitions of YOUR TOP TEAM
If you see yourself as consultative by nature, how consultative are you - really? Are you willing to NEGOTIATE shared ambitions with your team? Can you recall a time when they have disagreed with you and you’ve gone along with their view?
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Theme 3: Releasing the ambitions of YOUR BOARD We now turn to your relationship with your Board. Some CEOs see their role as being to drive up their Board’s overall sense of ambition, whilst others see themselves playing more of a restraining role. For those of you with Non-Executive Directors, what do you think they would say if we asked whether you seek their advice about tricky issues or generally just expect them to rubber stamp decisions you have already taken. If you would like your Board to be more ambitious and visionary, how much do you think their lack of ambition is to do with how you pitch things to them? If you think your Board are too pushy and sometimes have unrealistic ambitions, how much is this a response to what you offer them – or maybe don’t offer them?
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Theme 4: Releasing ambition ACROSS YOUR ORGANISATION We now ask whether you think you’re doing enough to release ambition across your organisation. Some CEOs see this as the responsibility of their Executive team, and say that so long as they are leading their top team effectively the team should get on and do what needs to be done. Others say that lasting culture change needs to be led by themselves personally, and that it’s their responsibility as CEO to champion the drive for the “right” sort of culture and behaviours. Where are you on this? For those who lead larger organisations, when did you last invite your middle managers – and maybe more junior employees as well – to give you feedback about an idea before it became official company policy? A lot of “culture change” is top-down. Does this describe your situation, or are you open to bottom-up as well as top-down? If you have good experiences of releasing ambition across your organisation, we hope that you will share a memorable story and offer us the lesson that you took from it.
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Theme 5: After all that we’ve discussed, what are the implications for your ambitions and style as leader?
This theme provides the basis for our final session on the Saturday morning, when we will start by asking whether any of you have changed your minds during the course of our discussions – and if so, how.
We are after MAXIMUM CLARITY for each of you, so that from Monday onwards you will be in a position to act on the resolves that are firming up in your mind at the moment.
We always learn the most from those who have changed their mind in one way or another.
In the final minutes we hope that there will be some energetic sharing of practical ideas, and that between us we will be able to pool together a wide range for you to draw on and customise to your own needs.
We then want to ask others whether or not you agree, and what you’re now thinking about your own ambitions and style as a leader. We are not after a consensus.
The proposals and conclusions in this final session will form the core of our summary note of key outcomes that we will send you by October 12th.
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Three groundrules for this Windsor Experience When we meet together on October 3rd, we will start by asking you to agree three groundrules for this Windsor Experience for Leaders:
1. Completely confidential We treat our discussions as completely confidential. We are all free to take away any ideas and tips that others share, on the basis that nothing can be attributed to anyone after we leave Windsor Castle.
2. Thinking on your feet Every hour or so we will make a point of breaking into small standing groups for 10 to 15 minutes, making sure that each time you are working with different people. In order to generate some real pace in our discussions, we ask that when you return to the main group you are willing to share ideas without feeling that you first have to rehearse in your mind what you want to say.
3. Just speaking for yourself For our discussions to be open and fast-moving, we need to ask each of you to make a point of just speaking for yourself when you contribute to the discussions. Please don’t see yourself either as a representative of your organisation or of the small group you’ve just been working with.
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1. Assuming the best At the beginning we will ask that we all take a conscious decision to assume the best of everyone else involved in this Windsor Experience for Leaders. Once we are all assuming the best of each other it is remarkable how much more we can achieve as a group. This is really important when someone suggests something in a way that isn’t clear and we need to show genuine curiosity to dig deeper and discover the “gold” that isn’t immediately obvious.
2. Challenging your own assumptions Our second ambition is that you view this time as an opportunity to challenge your own assumptions about your role as a leader in raising the ambitions of others. This opens up all sorts of possibilities, not least because of the impact on others of you recognising that you might be wrong about something.
3. Not justifying anything in a defensive way This places you in a much better position to challenge them, because it makes it a lot easier for them to reciprocate and avoid justifying themselves in a defensive way. Once we have achieved this third ambition, our capacity to work together creatively will be considerably greater.
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Three Ambitions for this Windsor Experience
Experiencing Windsor
Castle
The Vicars’ Hall Our main meeting room for this event will be the Vicars’ Hall, which is one of the finest rooms in Windsor Castle and was built in 1415.
20 minutes from Heathrow For those who have some distance to travel, one of the many attractions of Windsor Castle is that it is only 20 minutes by taxi from Heathrow. How thoughtful of William the Conqueror to exhibit such forward planning skills!
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The Vicars’ Hall was the venue for Shakespeare’s first performance of the Merry Wives of Windsor in front of Queen Elizabeth 1 at a feast of the Order of the Garter on April 23 1597.
St. George’s Chapel Two of the main highlights of your time in Windsor Castle are offered by St. George’s Chapel, which is adjacent to St. George’s House where we will all be sleeping and taking meals.
Private Chapel tour At around 10.00pm on the Thursday, after dinner, we will invite you to a private floodlit tour of the Chapel. This always offers some of the most special moments for any group staying in St. George’s House, not least because Henry V111, Charles 1, George V1 and a range of other former Monarchs are all buried here.
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Sung Evensong On the Friday afternoon you will be invited to join sung Evensong in the Chapel at 5.10 and the Verger will try to seat you in the stalls reserved on special occasions for Knights of the Garter. The choir of St. George’s Chapel comprises 24 boy choristers and twelve Lay Clerks and is one of the finest choirs in the country.
Booking
Your Place A maximum of 25 places are available for this Windsor Experience for Leaders. The cost of a place is £1,747 (approximately $2,654 depending upon the current conversion rate). For UK participants the fee is subject to VAT. Your fee covers: • all costs incurred by asaleader.com in delivering the event, • the cost of your ensuite accommodation in St. George’s House for the nights of October 3/4 plus all meals and drinks in the House, as well as all refreshments in the Vicars’ Hall, • a note that we will email to you by October 12th capturing the key outcomes of our discussions. This fee includes a non-refundable deposit of £447, to secure your place until August 31st. Once your deposit has been paid you will receive confirmation that your place has been reserved, subject to you having the right to change your mind for any reason within 72 hours of paying the deposit, in which case a full refund would automatically be paid.
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The outstanding sum of £1300 payable by august 31st Three days after you have paid your deposit we will invoice you for the outstanding sum of £1,300 for single bookings (approx. $1,974) and ask that this is paid in full by the end of play on August 31st at the latest. Until August 31st, this fee is fully refundable. If you subsequently find that you need to withdraw from Windsor after August 31st, we would be happy for you to arrange for your place to be taken by an immediate Deputy or another leader eligible to join this group. However, we would not be in a position to offer a refund, since the calibre of participants makes any idea of a waiting list a nonstarter and the costs that we incur with St. George’s House would by then be fixed.
A limited number of places for partners There are a limited number of double rooms in St. George’s House (all of which are twin bedded). On the basis of “first come, first served” we would be happy to allocate double rooms to participants who wish to be accompanied by their partner. In this case, the additional cost for a partner will be £397 (approx. $603). Where you indicate that you wish to book a place for your partner, and a double room is available, we will add this additional cost to your invoice once you have paid your deposit. In the timings that follow, +P indicates those parts of the programme that will also be open to partners to join.
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Thursday, October 3rd
Key
Timings
From 12 noon onwards Check into your room in St. George’s House (if you want to check in earlier, please let us know and we will try to make a special arrangement with the House)
3.45pm onwards Tea available in the Vicars’ Hall (adjoining the Horseshoe cloister opposite the main steps into the Chapel – and facing you as you look out of the Sitting Room in St. George’s House).
4.00pm prompt Refreshments to coincide with work in small groups Welcome, introduction to groundrules and ambitions and straight into discussion about theme 1 on fulfilling your ambitions as a leader. At least two rounds of small groups during this session
7.00pm +P Break for free time/drinks in St. George’s House. Followed by Dinner at 8.15pm
10.00pm +P (optional) Private floodlit tour of St. George’s Chapel (highly recommended)
Friday, October 4th 8.00am +P Breakfast
9.00am Refreshments to coincide with work in small groups Back in the Vicars’ Hall. Key insights from yesterday then on to theme 2 on releasing the ambitions of your top team, occasionally breaking into small groups to work through specific issues. By the end of the morning move into theme 3 on releasing the ambitions of your Board
12.30pm Working lunch in St. George’s House
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Friday, October 4th
Key
Timings
2.00pm Reconvene in the Vicars’ Hall. On with theme 3, develop ideas through small groups, sharpen up overall outcomes and by 4.00pm aim to open up debate about theme 4 on releasing ambition across your organisation
4.30pm +P Tea in St. George’s House followed by (optional) sung evensong in St. George’s Chapel, going across at 5.05. Please come straight to the Vicars’ Hall after evensong
6.00pm Drinks available Back in the Vicars’ Hall and on with theme 4, being careful to keep in our sights key outcomes from our earlier discussions
7.30pm +P Drinks in St. George’s House followed by dinner at 8.15 and social evening
Saturday, October 5th 8.00am +P Breakfast
9.00 – 11.30am Refreshments to coincide with work in small groups Final Session in the Vicars’ Hall, straight into theme 5 on the implications of our discussions for your ambitions and style as a leader. Some time for personal reflection and sharing of key insights, draw together key overall messages, final comments on how you have found this Windsor Experience and finishing just before 11.30am, for those who need to make a quick getaway. Please do all that you can to avoid having to leave early. The final hour is often the most powerful part of the whole event.
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About
St. George’s House St. George’s House was founded in 1966 by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh and the then Dean of Windsor, Robin Woods. Its aim is to “effect change for the better in our society by nurturing wisdom through dialogue”, and its values are openness, honesty, trust and respect. One point that we always stress to people who are coming for their first visit to St. George’s is that the House is NOT a hotel. Countless times people staying in the House have described it as like staying in a friend’s country house retreat, except that this one is inside the largest Castle in the world! The culture of the House is that visitors are treated as guests and friends. In this spirit, there is a tradition of not generally handing out bedroom keys unless people make a point of requesting one, on the basis that most of us don’t offer keys to guests staying in our home. (All bedrooms can be locked from the inside, of course.)
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We should mention that the bedrooms themselves are pretty modest in size. The House goes back to the Queen Anne period and the addition of en suite facilities some years ago resulted in most bedrooms losing a fair bit of space, as strict planning restrictions ruled out any radical changes in design. So long as you are expecting this, we find that all works fine, and the feedback from guests is that their views of the inside of the Castle more than offset the size of their room. The dress code is “smart casual”, with an emphasis on casual. This means that men are not expected to wear a tie at any time during the event unless you positively want to. Wi-Fi connections are freely available throughout the House.
Pete Ashby: CV April 2012 Founding Director of asaleader.com; facilitator of Board events, challenging coach to Executive teams and one-to-one mentor to CEOs
2004-2012 Director 2WayTrust Ltd, supporting leadership teams with improving business performance through higher trust working. Developed a series of national and regional events in the UK on this theme
2002 -2004
Director of the New World Order Forum, led international consultations in St. George’s House on behalf of the Asia-Europe Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, and involving senior diplomats representing a range of national governments on the implications of the 9/11 atrocities for the emerging world order. Culminated in a speaking tour across South-East Asia on “Creating a new politics of trust”
1996-2002
irector of Open Agenda, developing the Open Agenda groundrules widely used by many organisations in D the UK for creative ideas-building based on “no hidden agendas”. Worked with the Soul of Europe to support conflict resolution in Bosnia
1988-1996
irector of Full Employment UK, working as a cross-party group to champion full employment. Pioneered D the use of in-depth focus groups with low paid workers and unemployed adults to inspire innovations in public policy
1987-2006
Appointed by the Council of St. George’s House as a Fellow to lead a series of national events on the emerging “underclass”; subsequently reappointed every two then three years. In the 1990s led a series of 80 “Windsor Consultations” on the theme of “Investing in Skills” in conjunction with Ministers and Government Departments
1986-1988
irector of Action on Long-term Unemployment, testing out policy ideas with groups of long-term D unemployed adults and publishing detailed proposals for workfare
1984-1986 Head of Policy Analysis, National Council for Voluntary Organisations 1978-1984
Official in the Trades Union Congress
1976-1978
Deputy President of the National Union of Students
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"I was working at St. George’s House in 1987 when Pete joined the staff as a Fellow. We had always prided ourselves on providing an environment for calm reflection. Pete managed to offer this and also share his energy with everyone and everything in ways that left groups going away with an incredible sense of mission and shared purpose. I have seen so many different facilitators and event leaders and know of no-one else who has been able to create the excitement, the dynamism and the honesty among a group that he engenders. Even when a group started off as pretty grey and pedestrian, Pete had a gift for turning them into dynamic, imaginative leaders in their organisations. I have seen this many times and it is truly amazing.” Patsy Knight, Fellow of St. George’s House
If you have any questions about anything that you need to know more about before deciding whether to take part in this Windsor Experience for Leaders, please email Pete Ashby on pete.ashby@asaleader.com. If Pete can’t deal with your query by email he will agree with you a time to call. www.asaleader.com +44 (0)1364 631310