What Are Challenger Tools?
I was introduced to the concept of challenger leadership when I joined Relume, who are the well-spring for all thing Challenger as far as I am concerned. ‘Challenger tools’ is a term I, and they, use a lot, but what does it mean? There is no official definition that I am aware of so how here’s mine:- An assortment of helpful devices for accessing and activating the possibility of change.
First things first. All credit for these tools belongs to Khurshed Dehnugara and Claire Breeze, the founders of Relume who taught me all about this stuff. They don’t claim to own all the tools themselves but some are their original thinking, often in collaboration with their clients, and others have been adapted from published work by people such as, for example, Stephen Covey and Ralph Stacey.
I use challenger tools a lot in my work and have taught their use for a number of years. They exist, like artefacts from folk culture, in the stories and experiences of users, and have not particularly been codified or defined or even collected together. So I am a little wary about even writing this article.
What I would say is that challenger tools provide a really helpful way of making sense of the psychological and behavioural wiring that runs through us so that we can improve our chances of making changes to the way things are. This might be shifting a personal stuck habit, unlocking an unhelpful pattern of behaviour or making a breakthrough in what appears to be an unsolvable problem. The context in which I have used them mostly has been among leader communities in large organisations, but I think they can be helpful to anyone who is keen to disturb the status quo. They all have a focus on the individual (intrapersonal work) and some in the relationships between people (interpersonal). They mostly all pay attention to mental, emotional and physical aspects (inner work) as well as the behaviour the results from this (outer work). What I particularly like is there practical nature and that their value is in their utility more than their theory. In other words, like regular tools you may use, challenger tools need to be experienced and used to be worth knowing.
Below is a list of challenger tools that I use and can teach. It is not a definitive list and is not mine. I would like to describe the tools in more detail over the coming months and years because I think they are useful for everyone to be aware of and try out. When I do I’ll create links from this list:
The relationship pyramid
Hitting the bullseye
The learning zone
Above and below the line
S+T=R
Disturbance matrix
Rattle and shake
Circle of control
Breakdown to breakthrough
Ancestral rings
Transitions