Ira Chaleff

As a coach, Ira provides a stimulating and safe environment for executives and their teams to examine and improve their leadership and followership styles and processes. One-on-one onsite or remote coaching identifies and focuses on the strategic, organizational and political challenges and opportunities his clients face. When interpersonal dynamics need remedying, he involves all those who have a stake in the change process, analyzes their input and provides frank, constructive feedback. While focusing on the individual client, he engages the wider group in supporting the coaching process to give it the time needed to achieve the desired results.

As a consultant, Ira conducts in-depth analyses of organization strengths and weaknesses and facilitates strategy reviews and organization retreats. He helps clients streamline core business processes, navigate organizational and business transitions and enrich internal communication. He helps boards and senior executives clarify problematic situations, identifies options for addressing these and guides the leadership team in moving the organization from its existing state to a more desirable condition. He particularly enjoys working with mission-driven organizations whose social value generates deep commitment at all levels of the organization.

For examples of the type of work Ira does, see cases histories, Merging Exec Teams, Interpersonal Conflict, and the Strategic Planning Retreat workshop.

As an author and speaker, Ira focuses on the vital relationships between leaders and followers, exploring the rarely examined dynamic styles of followership that contribute to leadership and organization success. His groundbreaking book, The Courageous Follower: Standing Up To and For Our Leaders, 3rd edition, is recognized as a classic in the field and has been translated into multiple languages. The text book he has co-edited, The Art of Followership: How Great Followers Make Great Leaders and Organizations  has been chosen for the highly esteemed Warren Bennis Leadership Series. Ira speaks about and conducts workshops on leader-follower dynamics for a wide range of organizations. For more information about this work see www.courageousfollower.net. Ira’s most recent book, Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You’re Told to Do Is Wrong was named the best new leadership book of 2015 by the University of San Diego, and is attracting attention from senior levels of the military to those engaged in early childhood development. For more information see www.irachaleff.com

Ira was a founding partner of the Institute for Business Technology, US. IBT now known as PEPWorldwide, conducts its popular “Personal Efficiency Programs” globally, providing seminars and coaching in work flow management for many Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. Ira has published numerous articles on Workload Management in the information age.

Ira has served as executive director of the Congressional Management Foundation, a non-profit group providing management training and consulting to congressional offices. He has facilitated over a hundred team building and planning retreats for individual congressional offices and has authored and edited several books and studies on management in political environments, Ira is now Chair Emeritus of the foundation.

Ira’s clients have included a wide range of organizations, among them:

• Private Sector: Ernst and Young, LLP, GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft, Volvo
• Non-Profits: AARP, Council of International Schools, Credit Union National Association, Georgetown University, National Democratic Institute, National Public Radio, Radio-Free Europe, National Rural Electric Cooperatives
• Government: Federal Executive Institute, NASA, The Smithsonian Institution, US Department of Agriculture, US Army, US Navy, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, EU Commission

Ira holds a degree in Applied Behavioral Science and is a Board Certified Coach from the Center for Credentialing and Education. As of January 1, 2018 he completed two terms of board service for the International Leadership Association and is a Visiting Leadership Scholar at Cambridge University in England. Ira lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of Washington, D.C., where he is adjunct faculty at the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia.

This work at times includes designing and facilitating sessions internationally for organizations supporting democracy growth or even for the political leadership of emerging democracies themselves.

This work at times includes designing and facilitating sessions internationally for organizations supporting democracy growth or even for the political leadership of emerging democracies themselves.

NIGERIA

Ira Chaleff was asked to design and conduct a strategic planning retreat for the leadership of the Senate of Nigeria which was held on February 3rd and 4th of 2001. The leaders and/or deputy leaders of the three major parties were present as well as several key committee chairmen. The retreat was sponsored by the National Democratic Institute which is deeply involved in helping Nigerians develop their democratic institutions after many years of living under military government.

We established four objectives for the retreat, all of which were met:

While political parties inherently vie with each other for power within a legislature, the Nigerian Senators demonstrated an impressive commitment to working together to strengthen their democratic institutions.

In a country of one hundred million citizens, in which ethnic and regional differences threaten the cohesion of the nation, National Unity emerged as the single most shared value to guide the political and policy choices the Senators would need to make during the remaining two years of their term.

The other widely shared values which emerged were Justice and Fairness, Fear of God (which I interpret to mean accountability to God), Service, Accountability and Transparency, to which the Senators individually, and collectively, committed themselves.

Six goals were drafted to form the core of the institution strengthening effort over the next two years, for discussion, modification and ratification at the full Senate retreat. The goals covered the issues of Institutional Development and Independence, Leadership Process, Budget Process, Intra and InterParty and Executive Relations, Committee System and Public Education on the legislative process.

It was an honor to work with such motivated, focused and collaborative political leaders, determined to seize the opportunities that history presented them to make a difference. The group adopted as its motto, “If not now, when?”

A similar, scaled-down version of the planning retreat was also held for the leadership of the House of Representatives. There was similar enthusiastic response to the tools offered them to help form a unified vision and plan.

In February 2004, Ira returned to Nigeria to help facilitate another retreat under the auspices of the National Democratic Institute for the full Senate of the National Assembly following the elections of 2003. This four-day retreat was attended by 102 of the 109 members of the Senate. It resulted in a communique outlining its resolutions for strengthening the workings of the Senate in the performance of its legislative duties. An implementation process has been established and will be closely monitored to ensure maximum benefit is derived from the excellent work that was done at the retreat.

The approach and processes used by ECCA in facilitating strategic planning are always adapted to the unique needs of the organization, its prior experiences, culture, governance structures, resources and preferences. When there is sufficient commitment to the process by an organization’s leadership, the group emerges not just with a written document, but with a “living” shared vision and set of values that the leadership team uses continuously to guide the organization.

SIERRA LEONE

In June, 2008, Ira Chaleff traveled to Sierra Leone to co-facilitate a Leadership Development and Planning Seminar for the leaders of the 3 political parties in the Sierra Leone parliament.

His co-facilitator was Ken Nnamani, former president of the Senate of Nigeria. Senator Nnamani and he autographed copies of their books for the parliamentary leaders.

The retreat focused on clarifying the roles of parliamentary leaders and the processes for maximizing collaboration across party lines. Mutually agreeable goals were identified for the leaders to bring back to their party membership as a step towards increased collaboration and parliamentary effectiveness.