The 5 Wells

Professio’s approach to growing courageous influencers

The 5 Wells Coaching Framework

Two sentences capture the cause that gave birth to Professio and our 5 Wells Coaching Framework:

1. Growing Courageous Influencers
2. Re-humanising Life and Leadership

The World We Live In

Life and leadership are increasingly complex. The speed and depth of change is such that many of the cultural norms and social conventions that were once believed solid ground are proving to be swamp, even quicksand.

Our world is being reshaped. Technology, globalisation, the exponential increase in knowledge, the secularisation of society, increasing inte-rgenerational conflict, the rise of multi-culturalism and religious pluralism are significant forces impacting leadership.

Those we lead carry these and other tensions in their everyday lives and are increasingly unwilling to leave these tensions outside their workplace.

Growing Courageous Influencers

We influencers carry these same tensions but for us it’s complicated further in that we have to lead others, and ourselves, in the midst of this reshaping.

Courageous leaders enter an ongoing, unfolding, dynamic conversation that’s grounded in the question of what it mean to be human. The result is that everything is challenged, reframed, re-meaned and reworked.

Courageous influencers take on a life long journey of active co-learning. They know the leading well is not achieved in isolation but in journeying with others who walk a similar path

Re-humanising Life and Leadership

A new re-humanising of leadership is required. It is a courageous leadership that is prepared to think very differently and live outside of the current box. It is prepared to go deep and wide in exploring what leadership means in its truest sense.
Professio sees beyond the shrunken vision of people as mere ‘resources’ & ‘producers’, of leadership as ultimately about the ‘achievement of goals,’ and of business success defined solely as ‘profit maximisation’. It provides a framework designed to tap humanity’s hardwiring toward flourishing, including meaning making, community belonging, and engagement in meaningful as well as profitable work.

Professio’s 5 Wells

Professio’s 5 Wells coaching framework is not a linear but mosaic process. It lives in the tension between knowing and unknowing, between listening and speaking, between communication and conversation. A word must come for something to change, but a word told is less powerful than a word discovered.

Professio’s 5 Wells helps influencers live from a knowing that is deeper than intellect, a gut, instinctive knowing that yields conviction, motivation and courage.

1. Naming Well

‘Living and Working Towards Who and Why You Are’

Naming Well is about identity and language. Identity because that is the heart of who we are. Language because our words either hold us back or help us move forward. What we think about ourselves and life has a way of becoming our reality. Naming Well is about maturity in that we identify weak and poor Namings, avoid playing comparison-itis, and move forward into truer and stronger Namings. Naming Well is about you and your organisation living and working true to who and why you are.

2. Living Well

‘Holding To What’s Important, Not Falling Victim To Cultural Ideals and Social Conventions’

Living Well, in all its diversity, remains the primary aim of humankind, whether that is as individuals, organisations or societies as a whole. Living well is achieved together. We can’t don’t live well on our own.

Living Well speaks of our ensuring that our goals and methods remain true to both the needs of the now and the goals of the not yet. It speaks of holding true to the big picture of what’s important, not naively falling victim to the trappings of cultural ideals and social conventions.

3. Naming Well

‘Living and Working Towards Who and Why You Are’

Naming Well is about identity and language. Identity because that is the heart of who we are. Language because our words either hold us back or help us move forward. What we think about ourselves and life has a way of becoming our reality. Naming Well is about maturity in that we identify weak and poor Namings, avoid playing comparison-itis, and move forward into truer and stronger Namings. Naming Well is about you and your organisation living and working true to who and why you are.

4. Achieving Well

‘Getting Done What Needs To Be Done’

Achieving Well reflects the inherent human need for our lives, including our work, to be meaningful. It’s when our lives are lived in service to a cause beyond ourselves that we come alive from the inside out.

It’s no coincidence that our work shapes the world. It’s also a reality that we too are shaped by our work.

Achieving Well involves our knowing the ‘What’ we need to achieve and ‘Why’ it’s important. It also knows the ‘Who’, the ‘When’ and the ‘How’.

Achieving Well is about getting done what needs to be done.

5. Finishing Well

‘Living True To The Future Realities So As to Arrive With Gratefulness, Not Crippling Regret’

Finishing Well is acknowledging that life is about starts and finishes. Some appear somewhat mundane; many hold significance and offer direction. A wise person is attentive to this and acts accordingly.

Further there is one ultimate finish line common to us all. It’s one that our society seeks to snub. It’s one we would be wise to remember: Death.

Finishing Well is about living honest to all future realities so as to meet them with gratefulness and without significant regret.

Client Testimonies

David has been working with me as my Coach for two years. The desire to have a Coach came from a desire to better manage the stresses I faced within my job. He has empowered me to: (i) better understand myself (personality, strengths and weaknesses), (ii) engage with tools to help cope with moments of stress, (iii) establish clearer boundaries to protect my emotional wellbeing, (iv) find ways to improve my time management, (v) maintain perspective and enjoy life. David is very supportive, attentive, informative, kind and carries out all aspects of his role in a professional manner. I recommend him to others who are looking for similar support.

Jamin Lietze
Principal, Myross Bush School

What David Graham and Professio offer is unique to the market. David is deeply focused on what it means to be human and how we can best work together. This means where he takes you is challenging, confronting and stretching. It is not a list of ‘how to’, ‘must do’ or ‘nice to do’. You can go anywhere for that. Instead, David works with you, the person who has influence, to go deeper and further than many would dare to consider. Together you begin the important journey of exploring your beliefs, values and understandings of yourself and humanity. An effective leader is a leader who knows themselves the most. David takes you on that road.

David McKenzie
Principal, Edendale Primary School

Our reason for engaging with David nearly 10 years ago was to help discover our purpose and gain clarity in how this could be translated to position ourselves in the market. What started out as an organisational conversation (what key tasks belong to who and how do we work true to those tasks) has become a conversation of meaning (What does it mean to be human? What is the role of work in this? How do we build community in this context?). This conversation is deep and is transforming the DNA of our business. Rather than merely focusing on financial targets, we are now focused on how we better construct meaning for ourselves and our customers. When it comes down to it, we all want to make a difference rather than just a profit. Professio has focused us on the right conversation which has led to increased wellness and well-being for our team. Rather than just offering a job, our business now offers meaningful and profitable work.

Brendon Harrex
Director, Peer Review Ltd

“Although being slightly jaded by past experiences with performance coaches, I decided to trust and give David a try. Quite simply, I am stunned. The insights, I have received have been very helpful and the structure I now have around both personal and business goals is delivering immediate and decisive results”

Mark J Beard
Director, Kreshendo Pty Ltd