Core purpose.
We increase global awareness of the attributes of and red flags for dark personalities along with the tactics they use to destroy others and avoid accountability.
We decrease harm inflicted by narcissists, psychopaths, coercive controllers and predators.
We support the creation of workplace, organisational and community cultures in which people thrive.
Note: To thrive is to grow vigorously, to do well, to flourish, and to prosper. To flourish is to find fulfillment in our lives, accomplishing meaningful and worthwhile tasks, and connecting with others at a deeper level in essence, living the ‘good life’ (Seligman, 2011).
Vision.
A resilient,- and thriving human population.
Core values.
Passionately engaged.
We are committed to the cause and inspired by the possibility of the vision.
Rigorously informed.
We are highly experienced and deeply knowledgeable in our work.
Respectfully honest.
We speak the truth, even where this may be challenging, unbelievable, or risky and we are always professional.
Personally fulfilled.
We find the work interesting and rewarding and take steps to manage our resilience.
Our people.
Our team is composed of highly experienced professionals who have an exceptional level of wisdom, insight, and practical knowledge.
Our people are passionate about what they do and highly motivated to work with others on creating thriving, vibrant organisational cultures, and safe communities.
It is rare to find a team of such experienced, knowledgeable, motivated, and outcome-oriented practitioners.
What we do.
There are two aspects to our offerings. The first is building thriving cultures. The second is addressing people and behaviours who undermine or block thriving cultures.
The first is a complex process of engagement. The second can be a challenging and sometimes risky exercise.
Creating and maintaining cultures in which people thrive.
Creating thriving cultures.
Addressing blockers to thriving cultures.
Cultures are powerful behavioural drivers which can make or break organisations and communities. Cultures have the capacity to create overwhelmingly positive results through engagement of people’s passion and commitment. Organisations without healthy, vital cultures, however, are at risk of great loss, controversy, and ultimate demise, because of the capacity for people to behave consistently in ways that are not aligned with the organisation’s aims and aspirations and are harmful or compromising of others.
It is imperative that organisations and communities develop, maintain, monitor, and structurally embed cultures that are aspirational and drive behaviours which align with these aspirations. The risk of loss is otherwise great. Research shows that individuals who engage in bullying, toxic or predatory behaviours, regardless of their contribution or importance in an organisation, decrease overall effectiveness and results.
Our story.
The Kalmor Institute was started by Karen Mitchell in 2003. Karen was concerned about the low number of women in senior roles she observed as she worked with leading organisations on culture change interventions, so she left the boutique consulting firm she worked with to start one of her own.
Karen’s vision when she started Kalmor was that all women live lives that they love while contributing powerfully and to their greatest potential in the paid workforce.
Kalmor has been engaged by many top tier organisations across all sectors in the gender space and across general culture change, training and education, and coaching areas, as well as being sought for guest speaking events and media comment.
A further chapter was yet to come for Kalmor. In her decades of culture change and leadership development work, as well as her volunteer and charity work. Karen distinguished a set of common behaviours in some individuals which destabilised organisations and compromised and harmed individuals. Karen was struck by how destructive these behaviours were which led to a PhD, and a new and broader vision for The Kalmor Institute.
Karen’s PhD data and the new specialist area for Kalmor is on the shared attributes of, and tactics used by corporate psychopaths, coercive controllers, narcissists, predators, and others who manipulate, bully/intimidate, harm and control but may appear ‘normal’, knowledgeable and compelling. Her work shows this sub-set of the population have behaviours driven from a common set of attributes.
Kalmor has been engaged by many top tier organisations across all sectors.
Our approach and philosophy, some key points.
Teach a person to fish, don’t give them fish. We train people to manage change, so the capability stays within the business or the organisation.
Our focus is always on building awareness, knowledge, confidence, and capability in others. We don’t only impart knowledge; we build confidence and skills.
Our work is data-informed and research-based.
Our work is always tailored to you, the client. We must understand who you are before we can assist and support you. We must also understand the environment you are operating in.
Narcissists, psychopaths, predators, coercive controllers actively violate social norms; harm and disadvantage others by conscious choice; and share a common set of attributes. Someone is either of ‘Dark Personality’ or they are not. There are no degrees or continuums.
Confidentiality is paramount to our work.
What makes us unique?
The Kalmor Institute comprises a team of people with an outstanding level of knowledge, wisdom, and practical experience, as well as a passion to make a difference which goes far beyond most advisors, consultancies, and individual experts.
Understanding human behaviour is our super-power.
Our knowledge of and insight into human behaviour is exceptional. All of us at The Kalmor Institute have metaphorically ‘wrestled a tiger around a room’. That is, we have firsthand experience with a wide range of extremes of human behaviour and everything in between. There is not a situation regarding human behaviour we do not have insight into and knowledge on how to address.
Our knowledge is stand-out.
Our interventions, support and programs are informed by behavioural science research and the most current learnings on human engagement, cultural change, women and success, corporate psychopaths, narcissists, bullying, toxic behaviours, predators, and coercive control. Some of our people have specialist PhD’s in areas we advise in and offer cutting edge knowledge to our offerings. Karen Mitchell’s PhD data, for example, is the first in the world on the shared attributes of, and tactics used by corporate psychopaths, coercive controllers, narcissists, predators, and others. Felicity McFarlane’s PhD is on trauma in children often resulting from parenting by a coercive controlling, psychopathic or narcissistic parent.
We have a deep understanding of and familiarity with workplace and organisational drivers.
At the Kalmor Institute we are deeply experienced in work with organisations, from both an internal as well as an external advisory and practice perspective. We understand organisations have a purpose, goals, and financial as well as other drivers, that advice and support is not delivered in a vacuum but within an organisational context. Our work is highly cognisant of commercial and organisational imperatives. We also understand organisational dynamics, factors influencing organisational and environmental leverage, and the importance of stakeholder input in any change interventions. Our advisors are highly experienced and sophisticated in their insights and recommendations.
Our approach is pragmatic.
Our advice and programs are highly practical. We are experienced at working with people in a wide range of circumstances and contexts. We use our knowledge to offer highly pragmatic, down-to-earth, usable advice, feedback, interventions, training, coaching and support. In the training and education area, our work equips people for ‘real life’.
We are interested in building confidence and capability, not just knowledge.
Most training and development and one-on-one coaching and counselling programs provide participants with insight and knowledge. Our programs are different. We also build confidence and capability in our participants, so they feel motivated to engage with what they have learnt and equipped to handle barriers and push-back. Our programs are delivered by highly experienced professionals who have an exceptional level of wisdom and practical knowledge. It is rare to find a team of such experienced and senior practitioners, all with great passion to engage and support others in growth and learning with compassion and insight. In our organisational change work, we are also interested in building internal organisational capability, so you do not need to engage external support in the future. We train your people to drive, manage and support further change.
We are the only corporate consultancy in the world offering a highly sophisticated range of advisory and training services related to high functioning psychopaths, narcissists, coercive controllers, and predators.
Our offerings apply to all contexts, from corporates, to the justice system, to religion, to law enforcement, to domestic violence, and many others.
Further questions we get asked about our training and education and coaching and one-on-one programs.
Who delivers our programs?
Our training and development and one-on-one coaching programs are delivered by highly experienced professionals who have all worked in and with complex organisational dynamics at all levels.
Do you tailor programs to our organisation?
While we have set material that is important to cover to meet the objectives of our training and education programs, we do tailor our programs to organisations. This may include the use of organisation-specific language, targeted case studies, organisational speakers, role play scenarios, to name a few. Our coaching and one-on-one programs are very specific to the individual and their needs.
Do you offer electronic learning options?
Yes! We have online courses with the same content and same fantastic interactive delivery techniques as our face-to-face programs. We design our online programs with flexibility in mind, so that working professionals and others can easily access the content at a time that suits their needs. Depending on your needs, culture, and issues, we may recommend face-to-face learning for better outcomes.