The FLAME Model for Sustainable Companies

Flame Advisory
The FLAME Model

We have created a framework for companies wishing to migrate from a conventional profile to a sustainable one that puts sustainability at the heart of its strategy. We have defined five steps within this model and we are providing our solutions and coaching programmes all along this model:

F
F
Formulating the social, societal or environmental mission 
Formulating the social, societal or environmental mis…
L
L
Lead and guarantee the success of the mission internally and in
conjunction with the main stakeholders
Lead and guarantee the success of the mission internally and inconjunct…
Aligning shareholders, board, management, employees,
customers, suppliers, and society at large around the mission
Aligning shareholders, board, management, employees,…
A
A
A
A
Aligning shareholders, board, management, employees, customers,
suppliers and society at large  around the mission
Aligning shareholders, board, management, em…
A
A
Aligning shareholders, board, management, employees, customers,
suppliers and society at large  around the mission
Aligning shareholders, board, management, em…
M
M
E
E
Making commitments and defining actions
Making commitments and defining actions
Evaluating the accomplishment of the mission
Evaluating the accomplishment of the missio…
Viewer does not support full SVG 1.1

Our services and coaching programmes for companies

We intervene in the various migration stages within the FLAME model:


Coaching of the Board of Directors or the management bodies to define the purpose and the mission of the company
(Stage F of the FLAME model)

The first step is to define the purpose of the company. It represents the deep ambition of your company and the meaning of its activities. We will support you in defining it, in consultation with your stakeholders, and according to your strategic challenges. Involving stakeholders in defining the purpose of your business promotes its relevance and appropriation.

A second step aims to translate the purpose of the company into mission(s), associated with social and environmental objectives. The definition of the mission is accompanied by the creation of a monitoring body (the mission Committee).

We will use the Leader’s Dashboard which is a seemingly simple tool but which requires a certain rigor. On a single page, it takes a leader from the highest-level questions about mission, vision, and values to strategic questions about core talents and priorities; tactical questions about measuring performance; and individual questions about key relationships and opportunities for professional development. It takes a lot of reflection and dialogue to answer these questions.

The Leader’s dashboard challenges the leader to clarify and synthesize business priorities so that it focuses exclusively on the most important areas that could ensure its success.

The social, societal, or environmental mission of an organization provides a goal in the service of the community. This reinforces employee motivation, especially when it comes to going the extra mile, especially in times of crisis or uncertainty. At the same time, customers are more attracted to organizations whose mission goes beyond mere profit and are therefore more likely to consume the services and products of those companies.


(Stage L of the FLAME model: lead and guarantee the success of the mission internally and in conjunction with the main stakeholders)

Leading teams is a source of frustration for many leaders and executives. There are many reasons for this dilemma, from the lack of a clear purpose to ill-defined roles, personality conflicts, unrealistic deadlines and budgets, poor communication, and gaps in acquiring the talent needed to be successful.

As a coach, I help the team leader and team members to discover what works best in their teams and what can be improved in the teamwork. The first step begins by exploring with the team leader the goals and challenges of the team.

Following a process of active inquiry of the team’s leader, I set up an evaluation phase using a competence evaluation tool. The objective is to provide:
  A personalized support for the manager in his leadership position in the service of team performance.
  A process allowing a development plan for the team through a group dynamic and individualized support.

Then, the coach and the client (team leader) review the assessment and together define the coaching plan:
  I begin coaching on the topics that will best help the team move forward, based on the challenges and opportunities the team faces, and the team’s situation in its lifecycle. Usually, the life cycle and major challenges of the team determine the agenda.
  The coaching include behavioral coaching for the team leader (for example, if the client has a behavior problem that hinders their ability to lead the team).
  As a trainer/facilitator for teams that do not have a lot of prior expertise to work as a team or collaborate. For example, the coach can act as a facilitator to help team members develop a set of work rules.

Depending on the needs, the coach can serve:
  As a facilitator of the whole team, interview team members beforehand about progress and challenges, report on results, and help solve problems. As a general rule, any frequency between monthly and quarterly can work.
  As a trainer/facilitator for teams that do not have a lot of prior expertise to work as a team or collaborate. For example, the coach can act as a facilitator to help team members develop a set of work rules.


Stakeholders’ alignment around the mission
(Stage A of the FLAME model)

Once the Board of Directors or the Executive Directors Committee has completed the Dashboard’s worksheet, you should identify key members of your operational teams or departments for their input. You should also define key stakeholders for their input as well.

These team leaders will be defined and selected by the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee. What do they think of the vision and the mission? What would they add to take advantage of it and make it even better?

Coaching team leaders will allow everyone to make their opinion known and thus discover possible convergences and divergences in the way in which the mission of the company is perceived by the different actors. We will coach team leaders or selected teams if requested. The coach will be able to use the same Dashboard worksheet and thus highlight the divergences and identify the actions required for better convergence. The results will be summarized to facilitate the management of the process.

After the coaching of the stakeholders, the leaders will write a final readjusted vision and mission; a compelling, inspiring, unique, and daring mission statement.


(Stage A of the FLAME model)

Business leaders with a sustainability mindset take the perspective of the entire value chain of their companies, beyond merely their own operations. They are very conscious of the fact that without the support of stakeholders like customers, employees, suppliers, society at large, the company will lose market share.

This programme provides a practical approach to address key issues related to engaging employees and other stakeholders. For example, leaders have to understand they engage employees one at a time, individually, based on their unique aspirations, motivations, and styles. From there, it is easy to imagine a coaching engagement that works with clients to develop and update engagement plans for each direct report while building skills in the key areas required to authentically engage.

Another aspect of this programme is resolving unproductive conflict. Executives and managers often struggle with conflicts at work. When conflicts become personal or unproductive, the coach can intervene in ways to resolve the conflict.

I can also coach leaders who oversee a team or organization that has conflicts that may appear within a context of change or crisis. Resolving conflicts comes also with how a sustainable leader can improve the overall collaboration across the organization. The leader would need to assess each key colleague and unit with which he has to collaborate for his success and the success of the organization.


(Stage A of the FLAME model)

The program gives you three powerful approaches to take. The first is what might be called traditional relationship coaching. Here, the coach works with the client to assess their current network, and then systematically develops a plan to improve the key relationships in their network. The program shows different exercises, depending on whether the leader is focused on improving their network within their organization, or is more externally focused, as with an entrepreneur.

The second is a much more profound coaching approach, called Future Powerbase NOW. Here, the coach and the client think about the client’s ideal vision for their future career. Given this vision, they determine what their powerbase will look like when they have achieved it. Then they can work backward to figure out how they met the powerful people in their network to achieve that vision. This type of coaching can lead to deep insights about how the client needs to show up differently today.

Third, the program may focus on coaching the client to proactively get more introductions by having conversations with people in their existing networks, and becoming more visible in ways that fit their natural interests and style.


Improving the sustainable company’s action plan
(Stages M and E of the FLAME model)

Making commitments and defining actions means concretely implementing the mission with the concerned teams, defining projects, setting environmental and societal objectives, a timetable, and operational and financial responsibilities. It is also about supporting the teams in defining performance indicators to guide the process in a logic of continuous improvement.

According to the client’s needs, we may intervene as a facilitator and coach in this process.

Business coaching helps business owners grow their companies, increase what their companies are worth, and have their businesses be less dependent on them.

The model that I use in business coaching that covers the above areas and leadership coaching is the CASTLE Model for Business Growth and Success.

Evolution
Evolution
Control
Control
Aspirations
Aspirations
Strategy
Strategy
Tactics
Tactics
Leverage
Leverage
Viewer does not support full SVG 1.1

CASTLE is an acronym for:

Control
Control refers to the business owner’s mastery of the financial performance of the business, from knowing his or her breakeven volume to understanding and improving the key levers that have the most impact on revenues and profit. Most business owners do not pay enough attention to projecting and meeting key metrics. A business coach help clients get control of their business and grow it proactively while focusing on the numbers that really matter.

Aspirations
Aspirations are the business owner’s long-term goals for the business. Without high aspirations for the business, the business owner will not be motivated to make any changes or difficult decisions required for lasting success. The coach help business owners get back in touch with their passion for starting the business, set their most ambitious goals.

Strategy
Strategy is a plan for the business to compete and dominate its market. The coach provides value by helping clients clarify their positioning in the market, targeting customers, developing products and services, and what they do best. For larger companies, I work with the owner on an overall strategy per our Strategic Planning program. For smaller companies, I might start with the marketing strategy, which helps the client determine the best message and positioning to succeed in the market.

Tactics
Tactics are ways clients will achieve their metrics to create a profitable enterprise and get visible in their marketplace.

Leverage
Leverage refers to a variety of ways for business owners to build a business that runs without them. With proper leverage, business owners can focus on setting direction and standards, make more valuable use of their time, build an enterprise that has significant worth, and achieve their aspirations. Most business owners have jobs, not businesses.

Evolution
Evolution describes how the business owner will continue to learn and develop, including new skills, attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge.

In a business coaching engagement, the CASTLE Model normally begins with the A (Aspirations), the C (Control the numbers), and the T (Tactics to improve the business). Coaching clients on their aspirations creates a positive environment filled with potential and enthusiasm. Following up with Control and Tactics – if the client is not strong in these areas- gets the business in shape for ongoing growth. From there, the coach and client can work on bigger picture areas, such as strategy, leverage, and the evolution of the business owner as a leader.


Coaching Board's members
Coaching of the Board of Directors or the management bodies to define the purpose and the mission of the company
(Stage F of the FLAME model)

The first step is to define the purpose of the company. It represents the deep ambition of your company and the meaning of its activities. We will support you in defining it, in consultation with your stakeholders, and according to your strategic challenges. Involving stakeholders in defining the purpose of your business promotes its relevance and appropriation.

A second step aims to translate the purpose of the company into mission(s), associated with social and environmental objectives. The definition of the mission is accompanied by the creation of a monitoring body (the mission Committee).

We will use the Leader's Dashboard which is a seemingly simple tool but which requires a certain rigor. On a single page, it takes a leader from the highest-level questions about mission, vision, and values to strategic questions about core talents and priorities; tactical questions about measuring performance; and individual questions about key relationships and opportunities for professional development. It takes a lot of reflection and dialogue to answer these questions.

The Leader’s dashboard challenges the leader to clarify and synthesize business priorities so that it focuses exclusively on the most important areas that could ensure its success.

The social, societal, or environmental mission of an organization provides a goal in the service of the community. This reinforces employee motivation, especially when it comes to going the extra mile, especially in times of crisis or uncertainty. At the same time, customers are more attracted to organizations whose mission goes beyond mere profit and are therefore more likely to consume the services and products of those companies.


Teams' Mobilisation and Performance
(Stage L of the FLAME model: lead and guarantee the success of the mission internally and in conjunction with the main stakeholders)

Leading teams is a source of frustration for many leaders and executives. There are many reasons for this dilemma, from the lack of a clear purpose to ill-defined roles, personality conflicts, unrealistic deadlines and budgets, poor communication, and gaps in acquiring the talent needed to be successful.

As a coach, I help the team leader and team members to discover what works best in their teams and what can be improved in the teamwork. The first step begins by exploring with the team leader the goals and challenges of the team.

Following a process of active inquiry of the team’s leader, I set up an evaluation phase using a competence evaluation tool. The objective is to provide:
✔   A personalized support for the manager in his leadership position in the service of team performance.
✔   A process allowing a development plan for the team through a group dynamic and individualized support.

Then, the coach and the client (team leader) review the assessment and together define the coaching plan:
✔   I begin coaching on the topics that will best help the team move forward, based on the challenges and opportunities the team faces, and the team's situation in its lifecycle. Usually, the life cycle and major challenges of the team determine the agenda.
✔   The coaching include behavioral coaching for the team leader (for example, if the client has a behavior problem that hinders their ability to lead the team).
✔   As a trainer/facilitator for teams that do not have a lot of prior expertise to work as a team or collaborate. For example, the coach can act as a facilitator to help team members develop a set of work rules.

Depending on the needs, the coach can serve:
✔   As a facilitator of the whole team, interview team members beforehand about progress and challenges, report on results, and help solve problems. As a general rule, any frequency between monthly and quarterly can work.
✔   As a trainer/facilitator for teams that do not have a lot of prior expertise to work as a team or collaborate. For example, the coach can act as a facilitator to help team members develop a set of work rules.


Stakeholders’ Alignment
Stakeholders’ alignment around the mission
(Stage A of the FLAME model)

Once the Board of Directors or the Executive Directors Committee has completed the Dashboard’s worksheet, you should identify key members of your operational teams or departments for their input. You should also define key stakeholders for their input as well.

These team leaders will be defined and selected by the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee. What do they think of the vision and the mission? What would they add to take advantage of it and make it even better?

Coaching team leaders will allow everyone to make their opinion known and thus discover possible convergences and divergences in the way in which the mission of the company is perceived by the different actors. We will coach team leaders or selected teams if requested. The coach will be able to use the same Dashboard worksheet and thus highlight the divergences and identify the actions required for better convergence. The results will be summarized to facilitate the management of the process.

After the coaching of the stakeholders, the leaders will write a final readjusted vision and mission; a compelling, inspiring, unique, and daring mission statement.


Stakeholders’ Engagement and Collaboration
(Stage A of the FLAME model)

Business leaders with a sustainability mindset take the perspective of the entire value chain of their companies, beyond merely their own operations. They are very conscious of the fact that without the support of stakeholders like customers, employees, suppliers, society at large, the company will lose market share.

This programme provides a practical approach to address key issues related to engaging employees and other stakeholders. For example, leaders have to understand they engage employees one at a time, individually, based on their unique aspirations, motivations, and styles. From there, it is easy to imagine a coaching engagement that works with clients to develop and update engagement plans for each direct report while building skills in the key areas required to authentically engage.

Another aspect of this programme is resolving unproductive conflict. Executives and managers often struggle with conflicts at work. When conflicts become personal or unproductive, the coach can intervene in ways to resolve the conflict.

I can also coach leaders who oversee a team or organization that has conflicts that may appear within a context of change or crisis. Resolving conflicts comes also with how a sustainable leader can improve the overall collaboration across the organization. The leader would need to assess each key colleague and unit with which he has to collaborate for his success and the success of the organization.


Strengthening the leader’s professional network
(Stage A of the FLAME model)

The program gives you three powerful approaches to take. The first is what might be called traditional relationship coaching. Here, the coach works with the client to assess their current network, and then systematically develops a plan to improve the key relationships in their network. The program shows different exercises, depending on whether the leader is focused on improving their network within their organization, or is more externally focused, as with an entrepreneur.

The second is a much more profound coaching approach, called Future Powerbase NOW. Here, the coach and the client think about the client’s ideal vision for their future career. Given this vision, they determine what their powerbase will look like when they have achieved it. Then they can work backward to figure out how they met the powerful people in their network to achieve that vision. This type of coaching can lead to deep insights about how the client needs to show up differently today.

Third, the program may focus on coaching the client to proactively get more introductions by having conversations with people in their existing networks, and becoming more visible in ways that fit their natural interests and style.


Business Coaching
Improving the sustainable company’s action plan
(Stages M and E of the FLAME model)

Making commitments and defining actions means concretely implementing the mission with the concerned teams, defining projects, setting environmental and societal objectives, a timetable, and operational and financial responsibilities. It is also about supporting the teams in defining performance indicators to guide the process in a logic of continuous improvement.

According to the client's needs, we may intervene as a facilitator and coach in this process.

Business coaching helps business owners grow their companies, increase what their companies are worth, and have their businesses be less dependent on them.

The model that I use in business coaching that covers the above areas and leadership coaching is the CASTLE Model for Business Growth and Success.

Evolution
Evolution
Control
Control
Aspirations
Aspirations
Strategy
Strategy
Tactics
Tactics
Leverage
Leverage
Viewer does not support full SVG 1.1

CASTLE is an acronym for:

Control
Control refers to the business owner’s mastery of the financial performance of the business, from knowing his or her breakeven volume to understanding and improving the key levers that have the most impact on revenues and profit. Most business owners do not pay enough attention to projecting and meeting key metrics. A business coach help clients get control of their business and grow it proactively while focusing on the numbers that really matter.

Aspirations
Aspirations are the business owner’s long-term goals for the business. Without high aspirations for the business, the business owner will not be motivated to make any changes or difficult decisions required for lasting success. The coach help business owners get back in touch with their passion for starting the business, set their most ambitious goals.

Strategy
Strategy is a plan for the business to compete and dominate its market. The coach provides value by helping clients clarify their positioning in the market, targeting customers, developing products and services, and what they do best. For larger companies, I work with the owner on an overall strategy per our Strategic Planning program. For smaller companies, I might start with the marketing strategy, which helps the client determine the best message and positioning to succeed in the market.

Tactics
Tactics are ways clients will achieve their metrics to create a profitable enterprise and get visible in their marketplace.

Leverage
Leverage refers to a variety of ways for business owners to build a business that runs without them. With proper leverage, business owners can focus on setting direction and standards, make more valuable use of their time, build an enterprise that has significant worth, and achieve their aspirations. Most business owners have jobs, not businesses.

Evolution
Evolution describes how the business owner will continue to learn and develop, including new skills, attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge.

In a business coaching engagement, the CASTLE Model normally begins with the A (Aspirations), the C (Control the numbers), and the T (Tactics to improve the business). Coaching clients on their aspirations creates a positive environment filled with potential and enthusiasm. Following up with Control and Tactics - if the client is not strong in these areas- gets the business in shape for ongoing growth. From there, the coach and client can work on bigger picture areas, such as strategy, leverage, and the evolution of the business owner as a leader.