Andrew Mahtaney
I’ve had the pleasure of working with the LAL team for the past 3 years. From attending The One Year Program (a.k.a., EgoFree Leadership program) with my boss and peers to now doing WeLead with my team and overall 90 of us, the experience has been unlike any other.
On the personal side, while I’ve had leadership coaches over my career, none were as direct and thought provoking as the LAL frameworks are. An example of this is a situation I encountered years ago in which I became very frustrated – an old coach of mine explained my frustration in that situation in a way that made sense to me, but wasn’t the real issue (only to be realized later). Years later, when reflecting on this situation with the LAL team, I realized it was my ego that was hurt which ultimately led to my frustration. While an old scenario, understanding it was a true unlocker as I could build the pattern recognition of similar experiences and identify my usual negative response. It was through this understanding that I have made a true more meaningful shift in my approach vs. a surface level of change through previous coaching.
WeLead has been a truly formative team experience. Even though I thought I really knew my team and we had an open candid environment, it was through WeLead where I really realized what that meant. Going through the course and it’s modules such as giving feedback to each other in an open and live setting has brought our team together in a way that wouldn’t have happened without it and the results are pretty incredible. We have built a lot of trust in each other – trust to give each other candid, direct, and honest feedback. This has been important in cutting through the interpersonal issues that create negative energy on our team. Most importantly is we have trust that we won’t get it right all the time, but that we come from a place of caring so we can always assume the most positive of intent. This last point is what allows you to take a big swing and be ok with less than perfect – and that’s really special.