Leadersharp

Christopher Jones, CEO: LeaderSharp Group Developing New Managers Into Effective People Leaders

LeaderSharp Group is a full-service leadership development company based in Calgary, Alberta, with a team of Associates across Canada. Our team is comprised of highly skilled and experienced leadership coaches, trainers, course designers, facilitators, and consultants. We are strongly guided by our Vision, Mission, Purpose and Values. Our Mission is: Raising the collective consciousness, capability, and impact of today’s leaders for the possibilities of tomorrow. Our Values are: Every conversation is an opportunity; Distinctly unique; Better together; A love of learning; The art of possibility; Being of service.

Tell us about yourself?

I emigrated to Canada from England in 1981 and started working on oil rigs as a geologist. I quickly moved into leadership roles and spent over 30 years as an executive in the information service industry for oil and gas companies (software and data). My last executive role was leading the Canadian division of a global information company. We had 300 employees and $70 million in annual revenue. When that role ran its course, I decided to become an Executive Coach and start my own business. In 2014, a good colleague, Lisa Scott and I put our businesses together to co-found LeaderSharp Group. We are now very happily married as well as being business partners.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

Plan carefully for the ebbs and flows of the business. Be agile enough to adjust financially. Invest more money into marketing.

What problem does your business solve?

We develop new managers into effective people leaders. We transform leaders’ effectiveness by helping them evolve their mindset to thrive in our complex and ever-changing world. We change dysfunctional groups into high-performing teams, and we create transformational blended learning leadership programs with our Docebo LMS.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

Our Purpose is: The World Needs Better Leaders. This inspires us all, and we are committed to making a positive difference in the world, one leader, one team at a time.

What is your magic sauce?

Most of us have business leadership experience as well as being certified, accredited, very experienced coaches and trainers. Our brand and reputation are of high-quality services, world-class products, and a partnering approach to clients committed to their success.

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We are thrilled to share some exciting news with you. LeaderSharp has been recognized as one of the Top 10 Leadership Development (Coaching/Training) Companies in Canada in 2022 by Manage HR Magazine.

LeaderSharp Group is a full-service leadership development company based in Calgary, Alberta, with a team of resources across Canada. Their team is comprised of highly skilled and experienced leadership coaches, facilitators, course designers, trainers, and consultants. LeaderSharp is guided by their Core Values, Mission, Purpose and Vision, which focuses on advancing the development of generative leadership for a complex and ever-changing world. They are passionate about creating more effective corporate and government leaders that can lead teams, functions and organizations with courage and compassion through the ambiguity, uncertainty, and disruption faced by today’s organizations.

Lisa Scott, Board Chair & Chris Jones, CEO

In an interview with Manage HR, Chris Jones, CEO of LeaderSharp Group, shares his insights on how the company specializes in leadership and team development, inspired by their Purpose: The World Needs Better Leaders.

How has LeaderSharp grown over the past eight years:

LeaderSharp Group was co-founded by my wife and business partner, Lisa Scott, and I in 2014. Before starting LeaderSharp, we both had successful careers in business leadership roles before becoming leadership coaches and trainers. It was just the two of us for several years, trying to survive and grow through the challenging times. Just after we started LeaderSharp there was an oil and gas industry downturn and economic decline in western Canada, which lasted four years. Though our business was slow back then, we decided to increase the investment in our marketing efforts, such as building our fabulous website. That investment really paid off by increasing the volume of qualified leads that contacted us.

Then in 2019, COVID unfortunately started. Not only was there a global financial crisis, but the way people worked changed dramatically, especially moving to virtual platforms. And the worst part for us was that most companies cut their budgets for leadership training and coaching, and work really dropped off. This again tested our resilience. Lisa and I worked hard to diversify our client base, and we began to form a team of like-minded, high-quality coaches and trainers. By mid-2020, we began to grow again, which, over the past two years, has accelerated, and we now have more than 20 fantastic Associates from Victoria to Quebec City— all very experienced and qualified individuals—and nine staff members who support the success of our clients and our Associates. We’ve enjoyed significant growth over the 18 months in particular, with bigger clients and bigger projects. Today, we are expanding from a coaching and training company into an eLearning company specializing in designing and delivering custom, high impact leadership development programs utilizing our Docebo LMS platform for online learning.

How does LeaderSharp address the current trends in the market?

The requirement for retention and succession planning in the middle of the Great Resignation is one of the primary pain points. There is a global shortage of trained labor and an increasing need for good leadership skills. The mass exodus of baby boomers from professional and management positions creates a growing demand for Gen X and millennials to step into leadership roles. To fill these positions, there is an overarching need to develop quality leaders in great numbers. LeaderSharp is addressing this need by coaching and developing leaders from different age groups and various levels of leadership, from the C-Suite to high potentials.

Another market trend is the increased demand for leaders with a more humanistic approach to leadership. The pandemic has shone a light on the critical need for these skills, such as relationship building and communication, transparency, empathy, compassion and emotional intelligence. Organizations have begun to transition toward people-centered leaders focusing on employee wellbeing, as well as diversity and inclusion, which I think is a really positive and overdue trend.

During the pandemic, expenditure on leadership development was significantly reduced. However, post-pandemic, there is a huge interest in leadership training and coaching, which we are happily responding to.