Immunity to Change

Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey at Harvard’s Graduate School for Education have developed potent learning tools to help leaders shift from old behaviors and step into new ones.  Most of my work with leaders incorporates at least a few of these tools, in particular their Immunity to Change Map.  This map is designed to articulate a primary ‘learning edge’ for an individual as well as the undermining patterns, fears and beliefs—their immunity to change--that hold them back from growth and evolution.  

Kegan and Lahey share their extensive organizational development research in several publications including An Everyone Culture: Becoming A Deliberately Developmental Organization and Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization.  

For a good summary of their approach and its impacts, see this overview about their work from Harvard’s website.  

The Gene Keys

Another primary tool I use in my work with individuals is the Gene Keys Hologenic Profile.  The Gene Keys ‘framework’ — a transmission brought into the world through Richard Rudd of the UK representing an evolution of the ancient I Ching — is designed to illuminate the core aspects of consciousness you are here to embody and serves a map for self-knowing and self-discovery. I bring 15 years of learning and fluency with the Gene Keys, allowing clients access to the system’s extensive lexicon as well as the higher intuitive wisdom that lies within your unique profile. For a deep dive into the Gene Keys, visit the website.

The Conscious Leadership Group

Another resource that has had a strong influence on my work includes books and tools coming from a cadre of researchers at the Conscious Leadership Group.  Their self-published book, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A new paradigm for sustainable success, is essential to any library on leadership development.  These 15 Commitments are one of the most concise sets of principles related to ‘right conduct’ generally and for people in positional authority specifically.  Written in a very accessible style, this list never fails to include at least one commitment that perfectly describes a healthier behavioral pattern a client is working to step into.  

King County Transit

King County Transit engaged me for several years on a variety of projects.

Rob Gannon hired me to support his first year as General Manager with King County Metro-Transit.  He was taking over from a GM who had been in place for many years and was seeking to establish a strong foundation for his executive team and a different leadership culture.  I coached all members of his team, facilitated several team retreats and supported them to identify the practices and agreements they would commit to over time to sustain trust, and engage in collective sense- and decision-making.   

“As a leadership coach, Lisa has shown me how to wrestle with competing forces–even the ones I had labeled irreconcilable.  With her support and guidance, I have found ways to energize inside of conflict, whether it be actual “on the ground” issues, or the sparring of my own internal demons and better angels.  I am finding ways to cast off the archetypes of traditional leadership in favor of expressing myself genuinely.  And my team, my whole organization, for that matter, is refreshingly responsive.  Lisa is interwoven grace and tenacity; equal parts gunnery sergeant and zen master.”

–Rob Gannon, King County Transit General Manager

The Creative Ground team was also hired by King County Transit’s Design & Construction Division to help remedy an incoherent leadership team and a disjointed culture amongst its engineers and project managers.  The culture that its new Manager Pete Melin stepped into was dominated by petty politics, blame lack of accountability, all too common within deep bureaucracies.  We interviewed a select group of staff, developed an organizational culture assessment and suggested a slate of recommendations to rebuild the senior team and develop better practices of communication across the Division. 

“We worked with Lisa over several productive months when I took over a section of Metro Transit that was struggling with trust and communication issues.  Lisa is an insightful, compassionate truth teller who will provide you valuable feedback and tools.  She truly cares yet she’ll tell you what she sees, not necessarily what you want to hear.  If you are willing to acknowledge the true state of affairs, and buy into a collaborative plan, you’ll not be disappointed. From organizational development, to executive coaching, or anywhere in between, Lisa provides a positive view of leadership, staff, or organizational challenges and an achievable path to improvement.”

–Peter Melin, previous Manager, King County Transit Design & Construction

The Story of Creative Ground

After leaving my last government position as a policy aide for then-Seattle Mayor Paul Schell in 1998, I sought a more fulfilling outlet for my innate creative disposition and belief in creativity’s power to enliven and empower all aspects of our lives.  I developed a business plan for Arts Corps, an organization that convened a faculty of teaching artists to work with young people in and out of school to facilitate their self-expression and confidence through creative practice.  We raised $150k in the first year to get the program off the ground and it continues today to serve young people who would not otherwise have access to arts learning. 

Much of what I learned about excellent teaching and facilitating creativity and self-expression comes from watching Arts Corps’ teaching artists.  When I left Arts Corps in 2008, I returned to the world of politics and leadership but this time with a new mission--to bring creative practice, facilitation and strategy to the organizations I would work with under my new umbrella, Creative Ground.   

Since then, I have been diving deep to learn what keeps us from our own creative flow so we can express ourselves authentically in all aspects of our lives. Perhaps my biggest take-away is that it’s fully time to play again and take ourselves less seriously. Work infused with play may just help us discover a culture of bliss long forgotten. Join me there.

"The things we fear most in organizations—fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—are the primary sources of creativity."

— Margaret J. Wheatley

"A person might be able to play without being creative, but he sure can't be creative without playing."

— Kurt Hanks and Jay Parry

Seattle Parks Department

One of Creative Ground’s first clients was the Seattle Parks & Recreation Department.  My primary focus at the time was leading staff retreats that focused on developing creative habits of mind for higher staff engagement and performance.  I worked with the Playfields Director, the Recreation Division, and some of the Parks operations staff.  Michele Finnegan, Director of Finance, whose perspective was instrumental in several of my organizational assessments with the Parks Department, became one of my strongest collaborators.

“Creative Ground’s work with clients exemplifies the creative habits they are trying to cultivate in us, particularly tolerance for ambiguity, challenging assumptions, risk-taking, self-reflection and persistence. Lisa’s approach to designing and implementing projects allows for a truly creative collaboration between her vision and that of her client’s to achieve the greatest possible impact.

-Michele Finnegan, Director of Finance, Seattle Parks & Recreation

Thought Partnership for Creativity

In the first decade of my career, I worked primarily for elected officials and built many connections within Seattle’s local and regional political worlds.  I worked for Tom Weeks, former City Council Member and served on the New School Foundation Board with him several years later.  Reuven Carlyle, a WA State legislator for many years, and I shared many ideas over the years about the challenges in government and how we could make government work better.   All three of us sought to challenge the status quo in our own ways.

“Lisa offers far-reaching, creative visions and then builds smart, effective, and politically savvy ways to get there.  She pushes a group's thinking way outside the box, then has a delightful ability to bring ideas back to the ground so real, sustainable action can take place.  I am always sure that the projects she works on will challenge our assumptions and reveal new solutions and ways of seeing the world.”

–Tom Weeks, previous Seattle City Council Member

“Lisa brings deep insight, serious experience, and a unique perspective that is extremely valuable to organizations struggling with major personnel, policy and structural challenges. I have found her counsel to be nuanced and challenging, focused and compelling. She views change management as a cause and helps leaders to embrace systems holistically. A true professional and a kind, gracious person.”

--Reuven Carlyle, former Washington State Senator

Community Planning in Johnson City

Sarah Davis invited me to Johnson City, Tennessee 25 years ago seeking to learn from my experience creating Arts Corps, the non-profit arts organization I founded in 2000 and led as Executive Director for 8 years.  She asked me to be the keynote for their annual arts conference and invited me back again a few years later.  Since then, she has engaged me in a number of ways, all related to facilitating creativity with individuals and within groups. 

Our most interesting collaboration was for the City of Johnson City.  City leaders hired me to shape a day-long workshop to engage over 100 community leaders on their visions for the City’s future and how to get there.   I designed a sequence of exercises to weave the personal together with the collective in such a way that their single vision was able to hold a cohesive dream that all participants could see themselves within.

“For 14 years, I’ve seen Lisa in numerous professional situations—motivational speaking, retreat facilitation, community visioning, and leading. She is a deep listener and sows seeds for change that resonate long after she has left the room. Witnessing participants reconnect with their own creative rocket fuel is something to behold! Her authentic spirit leads us to new places where we can tap into our full potentials and see the vision for a world healed and enlivened by collaboration and creativity. Lisa IS the rocket fuel that everyone needs.”

–Sarah Davis, Board Member, Going Elemental

The Dangers of a Single Story

The TED Talk summary for Chimamanda Adichie’s talk says it best…Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. 

This truth parallels what I say so often about creativity, which is the dangers of telling ourselves a single story about who we are and what’s possible for our lives.  

Beautiful Retreat Locations

Whether it’s a Board of Directors needing to learn more about what makes each other tick or a team needing to get clear about their strategic objectives for the upcoming year, taking time away from the press of institutional demands is an essential investment for people seeking to collaborate.  

After 15 years, I have facilitated too many retreats to count.  Retreat facilitation is now one of my sweet spots.  I always spend time in advance getting to know all the participants, even for just a bit of time.  In this way I can combine what I know about their aspirations for the time together with the real-world challenges of the individuals sitting in the room.  I have witnessed a single day-long retreat catalyze significant change in a group with sustained and positive repercussions for their future together.

Here are just a few of my favorite retreat locations near Seattle, Washington where I live:

Whidbey Institute

I have led several retreats at Whidbey Institute on Whidbey Island located on the territory of the Lower Skagit, Swinomish, Suquamish, and Snohomish tribes in Washington State.  It’s surrounded by 100 acres of mature Pacific Northwest forest, has a diverse array of spaces for convening and sleeping, and puts a primary emphasis on healthy food, some of which is grown from their own garden.  I have retreated there on my own for a solo retreat and found the serenity on this bit of land to be unique. 

Seward Park Audubon Center

The Audubon Center at Seward Park in Seattle is a gem.  Tucked away on the building’s second floor is a warm library complete with working fireplace, to convene a smaller group of up to 12 people.  The staff are exceptionally welcoming and the park and lake surrounding the building provides a perfect escape for solo meandering between sessions.  

Mt. Baker Rowing & Sailing Club

Another prime Seattle-based day-long retreat location is the second floor of the Mt Baker Rowing & Sailing Club.  With a fabulous view of the lake, two balconies, a fireplace and plenty of space for a larger (up to 40 people) group, Mt Baker is a wonderful container for bringing groups together to learn and grow surrounded by the beauty of the PNW.  

Team of Teams

General Stanley McCrystal, who led American troops in Iraq under President Obama, reinvented methods for collective sense- and decision-making in highly volatile, constantly changing conditions.  He has since left the military and consults with companies around the world who know that older leadership models have become increasingly defunct and new ways of leading are required for these times. 

McCrystal’s approach focuses on developing coherent team dynamics with the highest levels of trust, pushing decision-making much closer to the level of execution, and the practice of transparency by senior leadership to be much more forthcoming with the information needed for everyone to make better decisions.  Sharing information on a ‘need to know’ basis was no longer working.  Transparency has become an essential pathway to growing organizational resiliency.  This methodology aligns very closely with my approach to team building and leadership development.

Team of Teams: https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/docs/default-source/playbooks/team-of-teams-summary.pdf?sfvrsn=8f00a506_7

Collaborative Skills Worksheet

Over the last 15 years, I’ve compiled a list of 24 attributes and behaviors that, when practiced, grow the potential for collaboration, trust and psychological safety in relationships.  As a starting point to any process, I will ask people to select the behaviors that make the biggest difference for them personally in terms of trust and collaboration with others.  Then we’ll discuss the nuances of why these are so important to each person, where the need for it comes from, and what it looks like in practice.  Interestingly, people have noticed that all of them could be boiled down into one simple practice which is just ‘listening with curiosity to understand.’  If folks did nothing else, this one intentional practice would amplify trust exponentially, even when people disagree with each other about a approach or a decision.  

Break the Pattern Before it Breaks You

This year I launched a YouTube channel called ‘Rollin’ Different’ and has become a place for me to post my novice song-writing skills and short bits of wisdom related to creativity and a heart-led life.  A recent post confronts the challenging truth that if we aren’t willing to shift old patterns, they will come calling and force the shift onto us in a more uncomfortable way.  I’ve run into so many walls in my own life as I tried to avoid looking at, and then breaking, old patterns.  My hope is this wisdom might be a good catalyst for others in this moment.  

Regional & Rural Services

King County’s Director of Regional & Rural Services, Joan Lee, hired me to bring her leadership team back together in 2023, the first time they had come together in person following the pandemic.  Since then, I have continued to support them to create more reflective time together to face some uncomfortable realities as many of them start to consider retirement and how to grow the next generation of leadership.  Specifically, I have helped Joan challenge older assumptions she carried about herself and her own leadership, which has been food and inspiration for her team.

“Lisa Fitzhugh came with outstanding recommendations from a colleague at the County.  Over the last few years, she has supported our leadership team into a more generative, integrated and productive collaboration.  She has also coached challenged me to think differently about my approach. We collaborated on a learning map process to incisively pinpoint the most profitable area for me to grow around related to my own leadership development.  The whole team stronger, and I have moved to a place of more authentic transparency.  I am so grateful for Lisa’s clarity and conviction in the leadership she has drawn out of me and our leadership team members.”

-Joan Lee, Director of Regional & Rural Services, King County DNRP

Immunity to Change

Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey at Harvard’s Graduate School for Education have developed potent learning tools to help leaders shift from old behaviors and step into new ones.  Most of my work with leaders incorporates at least a few of these tools, in particular their Immunity to Change Map.  This map is designed to articulate a primary ‘learning edge’ for an individual as well as the undermining patterns, fears and beliefs—their immunity to change--that hold them back from growth and evolution.  

Kegan and Lahey share their extensive organizational development research in several publications including An Everyone Culture: Becoming A Deliberately Developmental Organization and Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization.  

For a good summary of their approach and its impacts, see this overview about their work from Harvard’s website.  

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/hgse100/story/changing-better

My Ted Talk: Creativity as a Pathway home

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