THRIVING LEADERS AND TEAMS: THE CASE OF INTRA AND INTERPERSONAL TRANSFORMATION IN BUSINESS

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to share a comprehensive case study where intra and interpersonal transformation of an executive leader and his leadership transformational team in a UK company is presented. The case demonstrates the holistic work done within a business organisation to help it transform into a thriving organisation on the basis of the executive leader’s and team’s transformation, where an approach based on coaching is used to accelerate this transformation.

The presented case is part of a broader research relating to thriving lead- ership – concept, factors, and coaching for leadership and team transfor- mation. The author’s main hypothesis is that sustainable organisational thriving is achieved through leaders’ wholehearted commitment to intrap- ersonal transformation and leadership teams’ wholehearted commitment to interpersonal transformation. This process can be accelerated by using a coaching approach. The author’s first working hypothesis is that leaders thrive and sustain this state (are at their best) when they are wholehearted- ly committed to their intrapersonal transformation, when they are driven by a meaningful purpose, and when they primarily use their natural way of thinking („brain dominance”). The author’s second working hypothe- sis is that coaching accelerates intra and interpersonal transformation to thriving. The third working hypothesis is that when leaders are thriving and they lead their teams to interpersonal transformation to thriving, this naturally leads to organisational thriving.

For the purpose of her holistic research the author uses a mixed investiga- tive paradigm, combining qualitative and quantitative methods.

The author’s CORE Model© for interpersonal transformation is presented.