Changing Employee Behavior

This exercise provides a structured reflection tool designed to help individuals explore the significant events, emotional highs and lows, and patterns that have shaped their personal and professional journeys. Commonly used in executive education, leadership development programs and coaching contexts, the Lifeline Exercise enables participants to create a visual map of their experiences, identify key themes and gain valuable insights for future growth. The exercise involves creating a timeline graph where participants plot significant life events according to their emotional intensity in a range from deeply challenging experiences to peak achievements. Through this visual representation, participants can recognize patterns in their responses to adversity and success, understand the strengths that helped them navigate difficulties and identify recurring themes in their decision-making and growth. The accompanying teaching note provides comprehensive guidance for facilitators, covering three key stages: setting the stage for reflection, creating the lifeline graph, debriefing the exercise. It offers detailed instructions for conducting the exercise in various settings, whether for large groups, small groups, or individual sessions, and with specific approaches tailored to each context. This reflective tool serves multiple purposes: to increase self-awareness, recognize behavioral and decision-making patterns, gain perspective on how experiences have shaped values and priorities, and clarify future goals based on past insights. The exercise emphasizes the creation of a supportive environment where participants can engage in meaningful introspection while maintaining appropriate boundaries around personal sharing.

In this edition of Leaders Unplugged, IMD President David Bach and Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen discuss Europe’s energy risks and bold leadership.

Join Knut Haanaes and Julia Binder with climate negotiator Paul Watkinson as they unpack global challenges and progress in the clean energy transition.

When Antje Kanngiesser became CEO of Swiss energy company ALPIQ, she inherited a traditional culture, weary from restructuring and leadership churn. Partnering with IMD Professor Susan Goldsworthy, she launched a Secure Base Leadership program to unite leaders and co-create the future. The results were positive: Alumni became Coaching Ambassadors, SBL was embedded into processes, and executives were trained as coaches. Via a five-day program that became a company-wide movement, ALPIQ transformed culture by making leadership personal, shared and lived daily.

World Economic Forum President Børge Brende on new world order: geopolitics, resilience, and risk at IMD Alumni Symposium

In the face of burnout, quiet quitting, and workplace complexity, happiness is an overlooked factor that can transform leadership resilience and team performance.

What NBA champions teach us about business: 5 principles from basketball's top teams that help organizations build depth, culture, agility, and leadership.

As more women take up corporate leadership positions, the idea that they lack confidence no longer holds up. And yet, as old stereotypes are challenged by new realities, some crucial misconceptions remain. Do women really lack confidence? Or are w...

In this edition of Mike and Amit Talk Tech, José Parra Moyano joins to discuss how Gen AI empowers leaders, democratizes analytics, and drives innovation.

Starting a new role comes with challenges. Learn how to manage yourself through a transition and avoid pitfalls to set yourself up for success.