Integral Leadership Means Leaders Pay Attention to Their Inner World

Integral Leaders see all aspects of a situation. The big picture includes inner values, beliefs and internal dynamics. In the four quadrant model, the upper left (individual interior subjective) should be taken into consideration in all decisions and evaluations.

We can see examples in the news where individuals have ignored their real values. Only when they find themselves negotiating a plea bargain agreement, do they realize that something went very wrong. As Houston’s premier leadership coaching organization, Thinking Partners, Inc.’s coaches see first hand that this blindness can happen in less dramatic ways as well, during leadership coaching sessions many leaders realize they have not been stepping back and looking at all aspects of a situation, including their internal beliefs and values as well as their unique personality traits, before making leadership decisions.

Thinking Partners, Inc.’s Houston leadership coaching sessions allow leaders the opportunity to comprehensively analyze their inner world to determine if their current job role, and the organizational structure of their company is properly suited to their inner world. An important part of our Houston leadership coaching is to help leaders recognize the interconnectedness of their inner values and beliefs with their leadership styles and to determine if there is a feeling of succumbing to the pressure of abandoning those values and beliefs to achieve or to meet the demands of others. Understanding your values and beliefs at a deep level, and how those values and beliefs are possibly being suppressed by your leadership style, can give you the necessary insight to reduce considerable stress.

Many of our integral leadership conversations with clients include considerations in the subjective internal part of the four quadrant model and how they impact aspects of the other quadrants.