Alene Candles
When Alene CEO Rodney Harl asked his head of HR, Heidi Ebol to take the lead to create a conscious leadership program at Alene Candles, she jumped in with both feet. She collaborated with us to design a six month program to train employees at all levels of the organization to lead more consciously. We credit Heidi’s passion and commitment for results that exceeded our expectations.
Many difficult conversations and vulnerable emotions surfaced along the way, helping to bridge communication divides and eliminating silos. A unique feature of our work with Alene is that we worked with their hourly manufacturing employees, in addition to the executive and management teams
Across the board, people shifted from blame to curiosity and we were especially impressed with how this shift played out between hourly employees and management. Team members now entertain themselves with play instead of gossip. Understanding, empathy and appreciation have taken root throughout the organization.
Appreciation for CLG's Impact
The 15 Commitments in Action
Leadership Uses the Enneagram All leadership team members, and most managers, have been Enneagram-typed. We regularly acknowledge our types in conversations and what makes each of our perspectives unique, which enables greater empathy and understanding of each other’s perspectives.
15 Commitments in Monthly Meetings During our monthly management meetings we read a chapter from “Conscious Leadership.” Each one of our top 12 people tells a story about how they have observed the commitment at work or in their personal lives. This has changed the dynamic of our meetings, and changed the relationship between people, because there's a vulnerability there.
Prioritize Issue Clearing in Meetings Our core senior leaders include time in our monthly leadership meeting for “issues clearing”, speaking candidly about disconnects and clearing concerns with each other.
Common Language We call out specific phrases in our meetings: "I'm (or you’re) below the line on this…", "The story I make up is…", "My 100% role is…". We are seeing much more ownership for individuals' own situations, versus people waiting for others’ actions before taking action themselves.
Reminders Throughout the Office There are two “drama triangle rooms”, which are breakout rooms with the CLG drama triangle drawing and words on the wall. Our HR Director’s office also includes a reminder to check in and see if you’re “Above or Below the Line”. Finally, there are six company value tiles on the office walls. We included Candor as an element of our “Respect” value, underscoring that all employees can speak freely and truthfully to anyone else in the organization.
