We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Paul Crick. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Paul below.

Alright, Paul thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

In 2019, Forbes reported that $366BN was invested globally in leadership training and yet, as consulting firm McKinsey reported, most of these leadership programs fail to create the desired results.

Putting that into perspective, this investment :

– is fourteen times the size of NASA’s total budget for 2023

– would build ninety eight new hospitals in the UK (at 2020 prices)

– would buy two hundred and eighty one exact replicas of Buckingham Palace

– can procure a fleet of eight hundred and seventy three Boeing 747-8F aircraft

– acquire an area of land equal to almost twelve times that of the geographic area covered by the City of Los Angeles

Yet, whatever lens you choose to apply and by whatever yardstick we use to measure the effectiveness of these investments in leadership training, there is a disconnect between what is taught in the classroom and what happens on the field of play in our teams and organisations.

Most of us want real leadership more, yet want the leaders we have less in a world where organisations continue to play finite games in a world where the resources available are not infinite.

The Elevate Partnership seeks to make a positive contribution to enabling us all to close the gap between what we have and what we want ; one leader, one team and one organisation at a time.

Paul, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am the Founder and Managing Partner of my own leadership development consultancy, The Elevate Partnership. I specialise in helping individuals and teams to create generative change from the inside out to work together better and produce more creative results, with real business performance gains.

For individual leaders, I help them do the inner work to increase their capacity and capabilities to lead themselves first and then others. Warren Bennis noted that,“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It’s precisely that simple, and it’s also that difficult.” This work applies from entry level to the C-Suite.

For teams, I use a series of proven tools to help them work together better – to be creative, courageous and compassionate – to connect at a human level and truly see each other to harness the power that lies underneath our insecurities, prejudices and assumptions about each other.

I’ve been a management consultant, coach, educator, facilitator and trainer for over 20 years, working worldwide with Fortune 500 and Times 250 corporations, public sector institutions and voluntary organisations. for PriceWaterhouseCoopers Capgemini and IBM.

I previously co-led IBM’s Global Coaching Community of Practice and helped grow this to over 4,000 coaches across 80 countries. In addition, I served as an Executive Coach in IBM’s Professional Coaching Service.

I have taught and coached leaders individually and in groups across 22 countries, including C-Level Executives.

I have been learning and practicing the craft of coaching since 2007. In 2023, sixteen years later, I was elected as one of the Top 50 thought leaders for coaching by Thinkers 360 and selected from 17,000 candidates to be one of Dr Marshall Goldsmith’s Pay It Forward coaches in his 100 Coaches organisation.

I hold an MBA from Henley Business School, a BSc in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester and am a seasoned, accredited coach with certifications spanning several psychology domains. I also hold a black belt in Aikido and bring the lessons from the dojo into my work.

I live happily in the middle of nowhere in the UK, nestled in nature with my wife, Tina, indulging my passion for practicing Aikido and writing music.

Today’s business environment requires teams to operate at an ever increasing and breathless pace of change, where everything affects everything else and all that was familiar in the workplace is either currently unknown or is being adapted and redefined.

Business owners and senior teams are acutely aware that the performance and behaviours of the whole senior leadership team, and their wider teams, are not where they need to be.

Despite everybody’s best efforts to be stoic, courageous and resilient, external conditions are increasingly stressing existing operating models and bringing their teams and culture closer to breaking point.

There is a significant gap between today’s circumstances and people’s individual and collective capacities and capabilities, but most leaders can’t see how big it is today and don’t know how to close it.

Those that are adapting well to current conditions attribute the height of their performance to the depth of connection among their people and teams. Deeper connection enables a step change in the quality of trust which supports stronger team cohesion and collaboration.

The Elevate Partnership enables our clients’ senior leadership teams to cultivate these kinds of deeper connections using a tailored programme of team development, designed from the inside-out. Here’s how we do it:

1. Show you where the gaps are using a unique blend of proven tools

2. Work with you to co-create and deliver a tailored team development programme

3. Assess and report out the impact of the programme for you, your team and your business

Our approach is informed by data and led by conversation to reassure task and numbers driven CEOs who are less comfortable with, and may be sceptical of, the value of the softer elements of people management and workplace culture.

We bring 20 years of experience in the field of transformation and change, working internationally with FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 Corporations, bringing teams together to connect, interact and perform.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I am a recovering process addict and in my time racked up a personal debt of around $250K. Added this, I had to hand the keys to our marital home because I could no longer afford the payment. Instead of taking the easy route and declaring bankruptcy, I paid every cent of this off in 9 years and 9 months living on cash alone.

Added to this, I am an ex-smoker and have been sober for 3 years (July 2023). I also earned a 1st degree black belt at the age of 58 having previously weighed 270 pounds.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Leaders are readers and my wife and I both love to read and learn.

Important books that have influenced my outlook include:

– The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté
– Fearless by Dr Pippa Grange
– The Long Win by Cath Bishop
– Mind by Dr Dan Siegel
– The Heart of Trauma by Dr Bonnie Badenoch
– This is Marketing by Seth Godin
– Fortitude by Bruce Daisley
– Belonging by Owen Eastwood
– Being You by Dr Anil Seth
– In Search of Warrior Spirit by Dr Richard Strozzi-Heckler
– The Anatomy of Peace by The Arbinger Institute
– Mastering Leadership by Dr Bob Anderson and Dr William Adams

Podcasts

Akimbo by Seth Godin
Phronesis by Scott Allen
On Being by Krista Tippett

Newsletters

The Marginalian by Maria Popova

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theelevatepartnership.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcrick/
• Youtube: The Pocket Dojō (Coming Soon)
• Other: Substack: The Pocket Dojō (Coming Soon) https://thepocketdojo.substack.com/

Image Credits
Headshot Credits are to Phil Askew, Luminous Lives