HIGH, TOUGH AND SMART:TURNING EXECUTIVES AND ELITE ATHLETES INTO REAL LEADERS

www.theeverestacademy.com.au

Our high altitude and wilderness-based leadership programs are designed to transform people into real leaders. Leaders who after they return to sea level are ready to complete their journey to become more self-aware, more resilient, more consistent in the behaviours they model and better able to inspire others to follow them. In other words, be high performers.

“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”SIR EDMUND HILLARY

Transforming leadership behaviours

The Everest Academy offers world-class programs designed to transform leadership behaviours.

The Everest Academy guides this transformation by providing participants a unique “reboot” experience in a high altitude or wilderness environment coupled with coaching to reinforce new habits and make performance change accountable after they return to sea level. Their experiences are backed by measurement protocols to underpin confidence and objectivity in the results.

Consistent high performance is the development objective.

High altitude, wilderness and sea level

The centrepiece of our leadership programs is conducted in high altitude locations and culturally rich environments, such as the Nepal Himalaya, or demanding and beautiful wilderness locations, such as Cradle Mountain / Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania.

Our programs with a high altitude experience are 10-20 days on-mountain and are conducted at altitudes of up to 5500m-6500m. They offer an “elite” experience because the combination of the environment and our people facilitate particular lessons. These lessons are important for developing the emotional intelligence and humility fundamental for the culture of high performing teams.

Our programs with a wilderness experience are shorter duration at 3-7 days on-mountain and are conducted at lower altitudes but in variable weather conditions. They offer a demanding experience with a solid base for performance change but allow participants to be away from their workplace for fewer days.

For both program types, the on-mountain or wilderness experience is organised around a carefully prepared syllabus that includes activity sets designed to foster particular leadership outcomes at the individual and group level.

The book-ends necessary to complete both programs are initial preparation sessions for diagnostics and leadership orientation. Post-mountain coaching enables participants to translate their on-mountain “reboot” experience into behaviours that will result in higher performance in their workplace. We usually recommend a schedule of coaching for up to nine months post-mountain to make the results durable, accountable and for new habits to form.

Leadership. Measured.

More resilient, emotionally smarter, able to influence and committed to the conduct necessary to win

The Everest Academy helps executives and elite athletes – and the people who recruit them – improve performance and careers by influencing the kind of behaviours and cognitive patterns required to make them better leaders.

Our high altitude and wilderness-based leadership programs are designed to transform people into real leaders. Leaders who after they return to sea level are ready to complete their journey to become more self-aware, more resilient, more consistent in the behaviours they model and better able to inspire others to follow them. In other words, be high performers.

We focus our attention on influencing the leadership behaviours associated with emotional intelligence. These are the capabilities that enable leaders to make better decisions about themselves, influence others, be more resilient in the face of setbacks and accept with the necessary humility their place in a team. For elite athletes in particular, we also work on making leadership practical and relevant, and instilling the belief in being able to win from anywhere.

The Everest Academy respects the role of class-based leadership training. It has its place when participants have need for a solid background in theory or they can’t travel far. But when the organisation’s challenges demand that its leaders be self-aware – and this self-awareness needs development in an undistracted environment to an accountable process – then programs like ours have no substitute.

Consequently, there are five reasons why you should choose The Everest Academy:

High-impact “reboot” makes behaviour change possible

Undistracted, non-negotiable environments raise the stakes and focus

Diagnostics provide a fact base

Participants get emotional as well as cognitive commitment to change and guidance on turning new behaviours in to habits

Leadership is made accountable and linked to performance

Familiar challenges, practical solutions

We recognise that organisational under-performance manifest as patterns of recurring challenges. Market shifts, stiffer competition, mediocre resources and poor culture are some of them. Leadership is a solution to some, but not all of these problems.

The acceptance of that reality and the reciprocal demands for commitment that we make on our clients mean that The Everest Academy is not for everyone.

These are some organisational and individual challenges we are familiar with and for which one of our programs can be the right solution:

cadre of high-promise young managerial talent that needs more attuned awareness of others so they can become effective executives able to influence those they want to lead as teams

established leadership team that can’t agree or won’t collaborate to do what is necessary to deliver a company or divisional turnaround

elite sporting team that is struggling to create a shared experience of success and to have players commit to the conduct necessary to win consistently and rebound from setbacks

former executives or elite athletes looking to take their careers in new directions and needing to understand themselves and the impact they have on others so they can authentically and powerfully influence others as coaches, leaders or entrepreneurs

The development method

The Everest Academy adheres to a sequential method for developing leaders and leadership in teams. With the high altitude or wilderness experience at the core, the remaining steps take the participants through forming new habits to achieve a lift in performance.

We use diagnostics and observation to provide an objective measure of individual personalities and gain insights about team and culture. This gives a baseline and helps identify the behaviours that need to be kept or discarded before taking the step up to high altitude or into the wilderness. Post-mountain, we work to help participants translate that “reboot” experience into habit-forming behaviours and attitudes that can be measurable in terms of performance.

Our philosophy: self then team

The Everest Academy rejects quick-fix team building approaches that seek to gloss over individual differences or rush to cement team bonds when the foundation is weak. We put ‘self’ at the start of every leadership development process – even when teams are involved.

The Everest Academy’s philosophy re-asserts that an individual’s greatest barriers to performance are often erected by them not others. It is by accepting who they are and how they respond under pressure that they can begin to learn new behaviours and new ways of being able influence others. Only then can they begin to commit to the team they serve or lead so the team can earn the right to success. This comes through non-negotiable commitments to the individual and collective conduct necessary to assure a change in performance or winning.

There are no short cuts. Every individual and every team has its own Mt Everest to climb.

We summarise that journey as the “Six Peaks”. It’s shorthand for the process that a leader takes to build individual competencies associated with resilience, courage, judgement, influence and humility so the leader can effectively participate in or lead a high-performing team that becomes entitled to success through non-negotiable commitments to collective conduct.

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than he who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.”

ARISTOTLE

“The core of this program strongly resembles the one we took to win an AFL premiership. This process is more rigorous. I’m convinced it can pioneer a new paradigm of competitve advantage for elite teams.”

BRIAN CUNNINGHAM, FORMER CEO PORT ADELAIDE FC

1

2

4

5

6

3

Measure

Commit

Relearn

Perform

Reboot

High altitude / wilderness

Baseline

Keep / discard

Reset & re-enter

Practice

Remeasure

Capabilities

The Everest Academy combines capabilities in management, high altitude activity, diagnostics and organisational psychology. Collectively our team has summited Mt Everest and many 6000m+ mountains, operated in the C-suite and provided psychology management for elite teams.

Program structure = 3 + 1

The Everest Academy’s leadership programs range from a week to up to 12 months in duration.

Both our advanced and elite programs are structured in three parts with a program extension to secure the results. Day estimates are the commitment per participant.

1. Preparation session for diagnostics and rules on-mountain (1–2 days)

2. Core on-mountain experience for the “reboot” (5–20 days)

3. Post session to translate the experience into a plan for sea level behaviours (1–2 days)

+Performance extension to coach individuals and teams to new habits, forge a non-negotiable commitment for the conduct necessary to succeed or win, and measure changes in performance (3–8 days over 9–12 months)*

Our introductory programs focus more on diagnostics and short-duration coaching (i.e. parts 1 and 3) and may have some performance extension. They are primarily intended as introductions to our advanced and elite programs.

During all our programs, The Everest Academy invests in working with key stakeholders so we understand where the client organisation has come from, what it is trying to achieve and that they understand how the program is tracking. This keeps our programs relevant and accountable.

It is within these parameters and our development method that The Everest Academy can adapt the specifics of its programs to meet individual client needs.

* After extended programs we encourage participants to connect to our alumni so they can further their development

Intro Standard Advanced Elite

Objective Introduction to leadership fundamentals / other programs

Advancing leadership development

Pathway for leadership growth

Foundation for durable leadership excellence

Snapshot 2-day sea level program with teaching, diagnostics and group-based activity

7-10 day program with core wilderness-based experience plus diagnostics, group-based activity and some individual coaching

20-day program over 3-6 months with core high altitude program, diagnostics, group-based activity and individual coaching

30-day program over 9-12 months with core high altitude program, diagnostics, group-based activity and individual coaching

Suitable for: Time constrained / training focus

Time constrained / development focus

Investing in selecting and developing leaders

Investing in developing leaders for long-term performance

Key benefits

Grasp of leadership fundamentals ★★ ★★★ ★★★★ ★★★★

Ease of access ★★★★ ★★★ ★★ ★★

Practice of leadership ★ ★★ ★★★★ ★★★★

Intensity of change experience (“reboot”) ★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Before / after performance measurement ★ ★★ ★★★★ ★★★★

Accountability for results ★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Effective behaviour change ★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Shared experience of winning ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Development support ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Features

Total program duration ★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Challenging / undistracted environment ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

High altitude / wilderness kinesthetic experience ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Outdoor-trained coaches / psychologists ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

High altitude mountaineers as on-mountain leaders ✔ ✔ ✔

Immersive impact of Sherpa culture ★★★ ★★★★

Diagnostic profile individual / team ★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Performance / change diagnostics ★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Physical preparation test / nutrition mgt (optional) ✔ ✔

Investment required*

Financial investment (AUD) $3K – $4K $5K – $10K $8K – $20K $15K – $32K

Time commitment ★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★★

Wilderness / high altitude data*

Location Tasmanian wilderness Everest region (Nepal) Everest region (Nepal)

Duration on-mountain 3-7 10-14 15-20

Maximum altitutde 1620m 5550m 6500m

* Program data / price is illustrative and will vary based on program content / location customised to meet individual client needs

Our Leadership Programs compared

Level 3, 22 Horne Street, Elsternwick Vic 3185, AustraliaPhone +61 (0) 3 8532 5378 ►Mobile +61 (0) 412 591 995www.theeverestacademy.com.au ►info@theeverestacademy.com.au

ABN 15 221 365 262 ACN 165 991 891 Copyright © 2015 The Everest Academy. All rights reserved.

www.theeverestacademy.com.au