Pygmalion Management Consultants
Learning and Development in Cape Town

Pygmalion (founded and owned by Sean Germond) has been been around since 2000 as a niche Leadership & Organisational Development practice.   We operate in South Africa and adjacent markets, and have European networks and associate partnerships.  Our focus is on executive coaching (individuals and senior leadership teams), talent, learning & development solutions and large scale organisational change processes.  We consist of a core entity with well a number of professional and experienced consultants who operate as independents.   This allows us to tailor our services and costs to offer a significant return on your investment.

We offer a range of Services (professional consultation, process facilitation and coaching), Products (specific tools and methodologies that we incorporate/tailor to suit client needs) and Solutions. Whatever we do is based on a sincere motive to have a positive impact on the lives of the people and organisations with whom we partner in the delivery of the development work that is required. There are two reasons to establish a Leadership Forum in your business: to improve communication (information exchange and the understanding/interpretation thereof), and to improve learning (building leadership, technical and functional capabilities that are linked to real time experience and future orientated innovation). Typically, communication within organizations tends to be a reactive, top-down, functionally driven and one-way process. Much of the information flows that fill line manager’s email in-boxes tend to be in response to operational tasks that are both planned and un-planned. The messages that get passed around rely on individuals’ insights and abilities to manage work flows, prioritise tasks and manage their own time and resources. With our networked organisations (access to shared folders and intranet sites), the over reliance on electronic communication tools, and the busyness of operational meetings, we have neglected to tap into the richness of people actually talking to each other in a more reflective manner. TAILORED EXECUTIVE COACHING PROGRAMMES Leadership development requires a consideration both of the person and the person in context. Our executive coaching programme takes into account the need for a dual focus on the personal (e.g., awareness, self-insight & understanding; motivation & aspirations; functional and leadership knowledge and practices) and the social realities (e.g., the business that they are part of, the organisational system and structures that they are embedded within, support networks, roles and processes, etc.). The way we see it, to lead is a combination of the need to inspire, to provide direction and to govern. We find that the coaching conversation often straddles operational delivery right through to the strategic positioning of the leader’s business. This is all about assisting our client organisation in the definition, design, delivery and implementation of desired change initiative. For such change to be sustainable, we recommend that there is a dual focus on developing both people (leadership practices, relationships, interpersonal capabilities, and attitudes/levels of awareness) and the workplace (systems, work processes, supporting structures).