Professional Coaching and Consulting
For people and teams in high-stakes and high-touch service environments Call Me NowCreate the team culture you want
Jonathan McCready
Executive Coach 4-D Systems Expert
Certified LEADS Coach
HOGAN Certified
Specializing in the development and transformation of people, teams and organizational culture where stakes are high and service matters.
“Everyone is our customer”
4-D Systems
The best team development system in the world
4-D Systems is a suite of unique, mutually reinforcing tools that enhance individual and team development and performance. It is robust, yet simple model highlighting behaviours that help create a healthy team and workplace social context– that which influences and shapes your workplace culture.
4-D Systems will benefit your team in:
- Building trust
- Creating accountability
- Increasing commitment
- Cultivating values
And will ensure your team navigates the VUCA world!
SUCCESSFULLY NAVIGATE A
VOLATILE, UNCERTAIN, COMPLEX, AMBIGUOUS
WORLD
The concept of VUCA originated to describe the increasingly convoluted world that was emerging in the post WWII era when the world was rapidly changing and more complex relationship systems were beginning to intersect.
It is safe to say that we are currently living fully in a VUCA world. A world in which single solutions no longer work. Our complex, fast-moving VUCA world requires us to let go of what no longer works, learn new things fast, attain deep levels of awareness and robust self-regulation. It requires that we address things both rationally and emotionally.
Upgrade your organization’s leadership to best navigate this VUCA world.
Acknowledge Values
- Express authentic appreciation
- Address shared interests
Show Commitment
- Address unfortunate reality
- Be 100% committed
Build Trust
- Appropriate inclusion
- Keep all agreements
Create Accountability
- Avoid drama
- Be accountable
4-D Systems reveals where we are strong and where we need to improve. 4-D Systems helps us to make sense of it all and do something about it with bullet proof action and practices.
“GREAT LEADERS NEED TO DO HARD THINGS”
OUR PROGRAMS MAKE HARD THINGS EASIER
4-DQ Teams
4-DQ Coach Development with HOGAN
4-DQ Professional & Executive Customized Coaching
4-D Systems Frameworks is our best way to navigate and manage the VUCA world and create a healthy team social context that continues to move towards improvement. Developed by Dr. Charles Pellerin PhD, former NASA Director of Astrophysics, to improve communication, performance and morale among NASA’s technical teams. The 4-D process has boosted team performance in hundreds of NASA project teams, engineering teams and managements teams including the people responsible for NASA’s most complex systems. Learn how to understand mindsets of customers, team members & other stakeholders and authentically craft appropriate responses and strategies to overcome even the most difficult people and situations.
Ask me about 4-D Systems, the best team building system in the world!
Trusted by 75% of the Fortune 500. Hogan assessments are the best tools to develop and coach talent. The Hogan HPI (Hogan Personality Inventory) describes a leaders strengths and developmental needs. The MVPI (Motives Values preferences Inventory) predicts culture fit by describing the kind of work environment in which this leader will thrive and the kind of environment they will create for others. The HDS (Hogan Development Survey) offers a clear look at how a leader will behave under stress, high pressure or boredom. Over time, these behavior scores can negatively impact performance by negatively impacting and degrading relationships. Combined with coaching at a regular cadence, derailing behavior can be acknowledge through strategic self-awareness & strategic self-management.
Ask me about an ACE development program!
One on one coaching with a trusted thought partner is the best way to move forward in challenging times or even in good times! One on one coaching focuses on helping a leader get clarity on what is important, what strengths, values and resources they have and what results they are looking for. Coaching is not advice, however I will offer tools & strategies as well as observe patterns and give direct feedback. The client is accountable to themselves only, although actionable next steps are co-created at each session and outcome accountability is agreed upon. Coaching sessions are private & confidential and non-judgmental. This space is designed with trust in relationship, accountability for actions, commitment to outcomes and gratitude & values.
Ask me about one on one customized coaching to achieve your future goals.
LEADS 360 Debrief & Coaching with Leadership Development Plan
Health Leadership Capabilities Framework
The LEADS in a Caring Environment Capabilities Framework is a foundational element for health leadership development in Canada.
The LEADS in a Caring Environment Framework represents the key skills, behaviours, abilities and knowledge required to lead in all sectors and all levels of the health system. It presents a common understanding of what good leadership looks like. Caring leaders maximize the potential for universal, efficient and effective service delivery to all Canadians.
These are places and work environments where optimal performance under pressure is paramount. These are spaces where a broken social context can lead to more than just a bad day at the office.
Inevitable disaster awaits when behaviors that lead to normalization of deviance go unacknowledged and unmanaged.
These spaces cannot afford wandering from process, blind Obedience, fear of Criticism, inappropriate Deference or these team toxins:
Defensiveness, Blame, Contempt and Stonewalling
4-D Systems
Customized Leadership Coaching Programs
Executive
Teams
One-on-one coaching focuses on helping a leader get clarity on what is important, what strengths, values and resources they have and what results they are looking for.
Coaching is not advice, however we will offer tools, processes & strategies as required and give direct feedback.
Coaching clients are ultimately accountable to themselves, although actionable next steps are co-created at each session and outcome accountability is agreed upon.
Coaching sessions are private & confidential as well as safe & non-judgmental. This space is designed with trust in relationship, accountability for actions, commitment to outcomes and appreciation of values.
One-on-one coaching with a trusted thought partner is the best way to move forward in challenging times and in good times.
Social context is the force that drives human behaviours. It is created by how team members interact and communicate with each other.
Social context is a more powerful determinate of a team’s success or failure, than individual skills, intelligence or performance. In 4-D team coaching we address team social context by measuring through assessments and managing through awareness, connection, learning, conversations, interactive activities and exercises.
Once a benchmark is established, then we work together to develop the areas requiring improvement and leverage team strengths. All in service of getting us from where & who we are now to where & who we want to become.
Fostering an environment of stability, inclusivity, accountability, commitment and appreciation.
Hogan Development
From entry-level hiring to executive development, strategic self-management starts with strategic self-awareness.
Trusted by over 75% of the Fortune 500, Hogan assessments offer the best tools to develop and coach talent:
Predict Job Performance
Hire better people by measuring basic employability, work style, safety consciousness, and organizational fit.
Evaluate Career Derailers
Identify and mitigate performance risks that can degrade leadership success, erode relationships, and damage professional reputation.
Identify Potential
Find and develop your organization’s next generation of top talent.
Develop Leaders
Leverage the strategic self-awareness gained through Hogan’s assessment process with executive development and coaching.
Coaching
Individual & Team
8 reasons coaching matters
1) Coaching helps people develop personal agency, empowerment, and resilience
2) Coaching helps people navigate the VUCA world – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous
3) Coaching tools and processes are scientifically proven to reduce stress
4) Coaching is a business enhancing process
5) Coaching results can be measured
6) Coaching is the best way to integrate change
7) Coaching is the best way to create the culture that you want
8) Coaching is the best way to develop and retain talent
How NASA Builds Teams
The Story of 4-D Systems
The 4-D System was developed by Dr. Charles Pellerin PhD, former Director of NASA’s Astrophysics division. It was created to address the issues that lead to the initial failure of the Hubble Space Telescope, launched into low Earth orbit in April of 1990.
Up until the moment that Hubble was sitting in the space shuttle, it had taken 15 years, $1.7 Billion and the dedicated work of thousands of people.
When Hubble was switched on and images transmitted to earth, it was apparent that something was wrong. The images were blurry and of lesser quality than images from earthbound telescopes. By this time, Dr. Pellerin had already arrived in Japan where he spent some well-deserved time off visiting colleagues. During this week off, he had no contact with anyone at NASA. As he stepped off his flight from Tokyo at St. Louis airport, he decided to check in with is secretary, who put him straight through to his boss Dr. Len Fisk. Dr. Fisk asked Charlie to pick up the local newspaper. Returning to the phone with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in hand; the headline read “NATIONAL DISASTER, HUBBLE LAUNCHED WITH FLAWED MIRROR”.
At first Charlie was convinced that this was a joke and asked “how did you plant a fake newspaper in here?”. But this was no joke, Hubble had been launched with a spherically aberrated mirror, an amateur mistake (in Charlie’s own words). This rendered Hubble’s mirror to be absolutely useless. Hubble instantly became a $1.7 Billion satellite that did nothing. It is also important to understood that Hubble was to have been NASA’s crown jewel and redemption project after the tragic loss of the Challenger Space Shuttle in January of 1986. (We will circle back to Challenger)
NASA immediately put together a failure review board to determine what went wrong with Hubble. They calculated that the flaw in the mirror was unimaginably huge, it was out by several centimetres. The mirror had been manufactured in 1977 and had also been in bonded storage at the contractor’s plant. It had been measured and the calculations verified. Since Charlie had joined the division in 1982, he felt (at the time) that this had nothing to do with his watch and he could now return to leading his team unencumbered by the proverbial Sword of Damocles. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
As the investigation continued, it was determined that there were hints of the mirror flaw from numerous tests. The question was raised, “why did very smart technical people not rigorously pursue these hints?”. It was also determined that the schedule and budget pressures influenced them to move relentlessly forward. The next questions ask why NASA scientists and engineers did not address these obvious inconsistencies. One disturbing discovery was that the contractor never forwarded troubling results about the mirror to NASA. Why not?
It was determined that leadership had caused the failure, not technical issues. NASA’s relationships with its contractors had been so hostile that the technical problems would go unreported if they could be rationalized away. The contractors were sick and tired of the beatings.
The good news for NASA, Hubble, Astrophysics, Astronomy, Cosmology and you and me is that Charlie Pellerin was 4-D able, even before he knew it. He took ownership and went on to address this unfortunate reality with 100% commitment; “I can fix the telescope, I will fix the telescope”. Charlie secured the funding through appropriate processes and sent a mission that was successful in fixing Hubble’s mirror and offered humanity the most striking and beautiful images of galaxies and other wonders, the likes of which no human eye had ever seen.
Following the successful repair of Hubble, Charlie left NASA and went on the develop the 4-D System of leadership. This system of leadership has been used since and is still used to this day by NASA and other organizations in high-stakes environments to keep leadership and teams on track to move towards success and away from failure.
It has been determined that social context is the most powerful determinant to a team’s success or failure. More important than individual knowledge, skills or intelligence. Social context is a human-made force that influences team behavioral norms that shape the culture or “how we do things around here”. Healthy social contexts ensure that problems are reported and addressed, processes are followed, information, power & rewards are shared appropriately and people are appreciated. It keeps cognitive bias in check and abates dangerous behaviours like blind obedience to authority, fear of criticism and inappropriate deference; these three can directly be traced to every industrial, transportation and business disaster in history.
We can circle back to the Challenger disaster which cost lives and apply what we know about social context. Many of us watched it on live television and were collectively perplexed and horrified at the moments of the explosion and crash; to this day I remember where I was at the time. The word on the street shortly thereafter, was that a failed O ring on the right rocket booster had caused the explosion, which was indeed the technical failure. However, the real issue was the broken social context that put so much pressure on the mission that technical issues were ignored or rationalized away. American Sociologist Diane Vaughan who was a member of the Challenger failure review board identified three organizational factors that lead to Challenger’s catastrophic demise; Normalization of Deviance, a Culture of Production and Structural Secrecy. All created by organizational leadership behaviour. This led to launching Challenger even though the data suggested that they should not. NASA engineers had made a “no launch” recommendation. Warnings were ignored.
Within the story of every man-made disaster in the past century up until today, we will find a broken social context paired with dangerous behaviours that went unacknowledged and unaddressed.
The 4-D model and processes were created to reveal and manage any social context and give managers and leaders valuable tools they need to do it sustainably. Keeping people and teams moving safely and effectively towards successful and measurable outcomes.
Charlie and me
I first met Dr. Charles Pellerin PhD (creator and developer of 4-D Systems) about 5 years ago at a 4-D Systems workshop where I asked him if he would be kind enough to sign my copy of “How NASA Builds Teams”. He cheerfully obliged.
We stayed in touch over the years and developed a close friendship. We discovered that we had many interests in common aside from leadership; from old cars, martial arts, playing guitar, mountain biking sharing stories about our childhoods and world travel – we have both even been to Antarctica! We stay in touch and regularly meet online and discuss 4-D, current events and have a few good laughs. I am very fond of Charlie and am very appreciative of his generous nature. Charlie is my mentor and most importantly, he is my friend.
Charlie & me at the How NASA Builds Teams Summit in Berlin, Germany December 2019
About Jonathan McCready
Executive Leadership Coach, 4D Systems Consultant
Jonathan McCready is Professional Executive ICF Certified Coach and 4-D Systems Consultant. An expert in high-touch customer service, Jonathan has over 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur in travel & hospitality. A business owner, leader, team builder and manager. His acumen for cultivating long term relationships with clients and vendors resulted in strong and sustainable alliances, networks, and authentic, meaningful relationships in a changing and complex service-intense industry.
Along with an in-depth understanding of corporate culture in a variety of industries, Jonathan’s insightful and pragmatic coaching approach helps him achieve consistent unquestionable results.
Jonathan received his professional coach training and certification from Adler Graduate Professional School as well as Organization Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC™) training from CRR Global and PCC designation from ICF (International Coach Federation.
Certifications
ICF – PCC (Professional Certified Coach)
The International Coach Federation is the gold standard in coaching today.
ICF Credential-holders are part of a self-regulating group of world class coaches who provide accountability to clients and the coaching profession. They pursue and complete rigorous education and practice requirements that support commitment to excellence in coaching.
Hogan Certified Consultants are licensed and qualified to launch and debrief Hogan Assessments.
LEADS Certified – CCHL (Canadian College of Health Leaders)
Certified LEADS Coaches are qualified to debrief the LEADS 360 Assessment. The LEADS 360 Assessment is a popular tool used across Canada and its popularity is growing. Appropriate debriefing of the LEADS 360 Assessment is a requirement for client purchase of LEADS 360 assessment licenses.
4-D Systems Certified – Trained and certified by Dr. Charles Pellerin PhD, founder of 4-D Systems.
ORSC™ – stands for Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching. It is an integrated and robust coaching model based on RSI (Relationship Systems Intelligence™).
Beyond EQ (Emotional Intelligence) relationship with oneself and SI (Social Intelligence) relationship with other is the realm of RSI (Relationship Systems Intelligence) where one’s focus shifts to the relationship with the group, team or system. This approach creates sustainable and resilient teams and families.
Resources
Recommended Reading and Curated Resources
Blog and Videos
Documentary film: ‘Soul Traveler’
How we take outer world journeys to support our inner world journeys and vice versa. Getting out of our comfort zones is where we begin to make our desired changes.
Our Reading List
– this is a list of books that I highly recommend!
How NASA Builds Teams – Charles Pellerin
The Daily Stoic – Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
Start With Why – Simon Sinek
Change Your Questions, Change Your Life – Marilee Adams
Mindset – Carol S. Dweck
Mindfulness for Beginners – Jon Kabat-Zinn
Flex – Jeffrey Hull
The Coaching Habit – Michael Bungay Stanier
Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman
The Industrial Operator’s Handbook – H.C. Howlett
But What if We’re Wrong – Chuck Klosterman
How to Think Like a Roman Emperor – Donald J. Robertson
Leading From Anywhere – David Burkus
Gun, Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond
Learn it. Live it. Love it!
UPLIFT OTHERS!