1 of 39
Leadership: From Hero To Host
Published on Dec 04, 2015
No Description
MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
7 Strategies to Write a Speech with Ease
84596 views
10 ways
45167 views
TXLA Wrap-up 2015
9449 views
Techno Teaching
26932 views
How to make a portfolio
17008 views
What is Creativity
67825 views
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
LEADERSHIP
MOVING FROM HERO TO HOST
Another way to look at effective leadership of organizations, we can move away from the need to rescue organizations and take on the burden of having all the answers. Rather, we can host processes that increase buy-in and improve outcomes through increased engagement.
Photo by ecstaticist
HEROES
WE LOVE THEM
We want to have heroes. We think we can find a leader to save us, one who will do the hard work for us. One who will tell us what to do, which way to go. Even though, deep down, we know this is unrealistic and unsatisfying.
Photo by JD Hancock
Leader as hero: Assumptions
- Leaders have the answers
- People do what they're told
- High risk requires high control
We base our belief that heroes can save us on these assumptions. And sometimes, we choose to act as though we do have the answers, and that exerting high control will help us to be successful.
Assumptions:
- Leaders have the answers
- People do what they're told
- High risk requires high control
Assumptions:
- Leaders have the answers
- People do what they're told
- High risk requires high control
Photo by JD Hancock
WHEN HEROES FAIL
WE BEGIN SEARCHING FOR NEXT (PERFECT) ONE
As long as we continue to search for the "perfect" hero to save our organizations, we will continue to fail to address change in real and meaningful ways.
Photo by improbcat
MORE TO 1+1=2
NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE "+"
"We think we understand 1 and 2 because 1 and 1 is 2. But we need to pay attention to the 'and'."
This plays out in our relationships and ways we lead our organizations--there is something morewe need to understand in the "and" of me and you than a simple additive idea.
This plays out in our relationships and ways we lead our organizations--there is something morewe need to understand in the "and" of me and you than a simple additive idea.
Photo by Isabella Fischer
GIFTS WE GIVE EACH OTHER
CURIOSITY, WISDOM, & COURAGE
As we seek to find ways to create success and solve problems in our organizations, we can develop processes in which we seek answers together by accessing an open stance that builds on the values of curiosity, wisdom, and courage of those with whom we connect and build relationships.
Photo by seanmcgrath
DISEQUILIBRIUM
LEADS TO GROWTH
We tell ourselves that stability and growth can coexist in systems. Science tells us something different. In open systems, it is disequilibrium that leads to creativity and growth. It is as the system allows new elements in that it is forced to adapt.
Photo by Domiriel
OPENNESS
CREATES A STRONGER SYSTEM
A system learns to adapt to new information and becomes stronger and more resilient in the process. There is a need to recognize the inherent order in systems, not to try to control it.
Photo by nigham
QUANTUM UNDERSTANDING
RELATIONSHIP & CONTEXT
Quantum science is clear and concrete--and really weird! What comes through clearly is that it is about connections, relationship and context. This has implications for how we view our human interactions and organizations.
Photo by Linus Mimietz
CHAOS
CANNOT PREDICT WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT
When we are in the midst of chaos, it is the wild unpredictability that leads us to believe that the wild oscillations we are feeling are death throes of our organization and life. With a longer view, and greater perspective, we can discern a pattern that binds these oscillations back towards the center over and over again.
Photo by Duncan Rawlinson - Duncan.co
"STRANGE ATTRACTOR"
A SELF-PORTRAIT DRAWN BY CHAOTIC SYSTEM
Modern computers give us a longer view of chaos. The wild oscillations we are feeling are not death throes. Oscillations center around "strange attractors," a central equation that binds the energy together. With greater perspective we can see that there is a pattern that binds these oscillations back towards the center over and over again. We do not see a dispersal into fading entropy, but a rhythm that keeps the system together, although the outer limits are far apart.
Photo by kevin dooley
HEISENBERG
IS LIGHT A PARTICLE OR A WAVE?
We interact with the world, and it changes as we do so. Light behaves like a particle if we choose to look for it as a particle; like a wave if we choose to look for it in that way. If no one is observing, it behaves randomly. This has impact in how we look at our interactions and relationships with others. What do we choose to look for in them?
Photo by bgcabestany
THE UNIVERSE
A THOUGHT, NOT A MACHINE
It turns out that the universe is not a machine that was created then set in motion to devolve into entropy and decay. It behaves more like a great thought, that keeps expanding and surprising us with the directions it takes.
Photo by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
SCHROEDINGER'S CAT
WHAT DO WE CHOOSE TO OBSERVE?
If you cannot see or hear a cat because it is in a closed box, the cat is BOTH alive and dead until you can observe it.
Photo by hereticsun
ENACTMENT
ENVIRONMENT YOU WORRY ABOUT, YOU CREATE
In the same way, we think we are separate from our environment, and it operates outside of ourselves. Yet we enact the environment we fear, we create it through our actions, our intentions, and the fact that we pay attention to that which confirms our fears, not that which contradicts them. If we can learn to be intentional about what kind of environment we want to create, it can be made manifest.
Photo by dingatx
ACT BEFORE PLANNING
INTERACTION WITH WORLD CREATES IT
If we have responsibility for the creation of our environment, it makes sense that we can stop our analysis paralysis and DO something in order to better understand what will occur as we engage the world. Once we act, we can adapt, adjust, then act again.
Photo by IRRI Images
NEED CLARITY
WHO DO WE WANT TO BECOME?
Just as the strange attractor organizes chaos, we need to be clear about who we are and who we wish to be. We need to create processes that allow us to peel back the layers of habit and blindness to how we behave to find our core identity.
Photo by Markus Laanisto
PROCESSES
TO CLARIFY INTENT
Group processes, with a wide range of stakeholders from both inside and outside our organizations, are powerful ways to get to the heart of who we are, who we want to be, and why these things are important.
Photo by Vandy CFT
CRITICAL CONNECTIONS
HOW DO WE AMPLIFY DISTURBANCE IN THE SYSTEM?
When a system begins to oscillate, we need to create openness of information and build upon these disturbances in order to see where they lead us. We have been led to believe that we need to have enough people who are convinced of the merits of change in order to overcome resistance. Rather, we need to trust that these tremors are meaningful and helpful, and connect those who can help identify and harness the power that is building in order to enact creativity, not destruction.
Photo by israel palacio
NEW PEOPLE & INFO
STRENGTHEN CONNECTIONS WITH
We can amplify and strengthen these critical connection through the introduction of new people and viewpoints, and a greater flow of information. We tend to think we need to control these things, which leads to gatekeeping and bottlenecks. We fear the messiness of collaboration. It's going feel like its out of control. Learn to accept. That is a cost to creative adaptation.
Photo by IITA Image Library
PROCESSES THAT EVOKE SENSES
NOT JUST THE MIND
Processes that evoke the senses allow us to go deeper than words and thoughts can. Quantum leaps occur when electrons jump from one place to another without the typical intermediate steps. Processes such as mind-mapping, collages, sculptures, and other non-verbal creative work, can help us to get to deeper levels. Create processes that honor both extraverts and introverts--provide small group work, journaling, meditation, walking--to balance out the larger plenary sessions.
Photo by Nicholas Ng
PARTICIPATION
WHO ELSE SHOULD BE HERE?
It is important that we constantly ask, "Who else should be here?" "What other eyes need to look at this?" It is important that those expected to implement change, and who are impacted by it, are part of the team examining the system and seeking solutions.
Photo by hdzimmermann
CHAOS
GREAT DESTRUCTIVE ENERGY OF TRANSFORMATION
We fear that which will transform us, because we do not know what we will look like afterwards. It is easier in some ways to provide hospice care for those parts of our organizations that are struggling and dying, than to help to birth that which we have not yet seen.
Photo by AlicePopkorn2
PATTERN
ITERATION AND FEEDBACK LOOPS CREATE SHAPE
While there are only about 12 known strange attractors, there are an infinite number of fractals--iterative patterns with feedback loops that continue to be present despite how deeply we delve into something. Broccoli is still broccoli whether a head, or a floret, or an individual nub. In organizations, this is true as well, demonstrating again the critical importance of context, relationship, and a deep understanding of who we are at the deepest level. We need to seek the patterns in our organizations.
Photo by eriwst
HAVE WE SEEN THIS BEFORE?
PATTERNS REVEAL THEMSELVES THRU BEHAVIOR
Patterns are simply things we have seen before. In human systems, these show up as behaviors. The players may change, the details of the drama may be slightly altered, but organizational culture shows up in patterns of behavior. The key is to determine if the pattern that is enacted is still effective in creating a successful organization. If not, what new behaviors might be more helpful and still align with the core values of the organization?
Photo by VinothChandar
MEANING
THE GREATEST FORCE OF ATTRACTION
Stories help us to discover the essential meanings, the core values, that have created patterns in our organizations. What processes might allow you to find and tell those stories?
Photo by Leonard John Matthews
COLLECTIVE SELF-IDENTITY
AFFECTS INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR
As the organizational self-identity and core is uncovered, individual behavior is affected. People will compare their own behavior to that which is identified as valued. If these do not match, the force of group dynamics will lead to changes at the individual level in order to minimize disparity in the system.
Photo by Motoki Tonn
ORGANIZATION SELF-KNOWLEDGE
IDENTITY, INFORMATION, RELATIONSHIPS
Organizational self-knowledge develops through processes that uncover the organizational identity, create open information, and develop deeper relationships.
Photo by Thomas Tolkien
SHARED ATTENTION
REAL CHANGE HAPPENS WHEN WE SEE WHAT'S WORTHY OF
What we pay attention to matters. A clear organizational identity and focus helps us see the parts of our environment that we can leverage for change. That's when things shift. It has to do with a quality of attention, and the energy that is produced when a number of people come to share the same view and urgency.
Photo by cambodia4kidsorg
HUMAN DYNAMICS
- Need for trust
- Meaningful work
- Desire to contribute
- To be thanked for contribution
- Participation in planned change
Leaders need to stay aware of basic human dynamics. People have a need for trust, a need for meaningful work, a desire to contribute and to be thanked for that contribution, and a desire to participate in change that affects them.
Photo by Paco CT
LEADER AS HOST
TENSION: "I DON'T KNOW" & "I TRUST YOU"
Leaders move from Heroes to Hosts when stepping into the tension of admitting that they don't have all the answers (scary for all), and that they trust those around them to help solve the issues through creativity and accountability. It doesn't mean throwing up your hands, or saying, "Just do it." It is staying in a place that says, "I don't have all the answers. But together, we can begin to get clear about what to do next. I need your help to figure this out."
Photo by angela7dreams
LEADERSHIP
- Provide conditions & good group processes
- Provide resources of (scarce) time
- Insist people & systems learn from experience
- Offer unequivocal support
- Keep bureaucracy at bay
HOW TO BE A HOST
- Play defense with other leaders
- Reflect back to people regularly
- Work to develop relevant measures
- Relationships built on mutuality of purpose
Playing defense with other leaders is really about making sure that other members of the leadership team don't come in and try to take back control.
Relevant measures of progress are usually more effective when qualitative measures are used, not just quantitative ones.
Relevant measures of progress are usually more effective when qualitative measures are used, not just quantitative ones.
EFFECTIVE LEADERS
- Communicate powerful vision
- Motivate people to work hard
- Achieve results
- Exceed plans
- Implement change
Photo by VinothChandar
PATIENCE
IT TAKES 12-18 MONTHS IF HISTORY OF BEING SILENCED
If the organization has a history in which people have been autocratically silenced, it will take time for them to trust these processes. Generally, 12-18 months of repeated, sincere efforts to establish trust will be needed.
Photo by Taraji Blue
GOAL
- A resilient province
- Able to survive disruptions
- Province grows in capacity
- System doesn't lose its way when leaders retire
Disruptions in this context are about moving past a place where we try to wall ourselves in and keep disruptions out. In an open system, we want to build in a certain amount of elasticity so that things such as staff changes will not be experienced as so difficult to manage.
Capacity is about the development of individuals.
Capacity is about the development of individuals.
Photo by cellar_door_films
