Leadership in Practice
Leadership through Strengths II (part 1 was carried in the April issue of Polaris Digest)
While leaders and managers both have their challenges, we suggested in the last issue of Polaris Digest that leaders have particularly difficult obstacles to overcome when applying personal strengths to their advantage.
I firmly believe that this is surmountable – as likely does Otto Scharmer, author of Theory U, which investigates the ‘blind spot’ in leaders’ approach to transformational change. You can gain a quick and revealing overview of his concept in just a few minutes. The first reference below is a two-page overview and the second is a 17-page summary of his 2008 book on the topic:
The Blind Spot revealed . . .
We know a great deal about what leaders do and how they go about it but we know very little about what it is that drives the process. What and where is the source from which true leadership originates. This is really worth knowing, right?
Scharmer says that we have a leadership ‘blind spot’ which demands a new consciousness which, in turn, will result in increased personal and collective capacities. He says further that this consciousness is the source dimension from which effective leadership and social interaction come into being.
To understand and benefit from his ideas we should first consider how we, working as a group, accumulate information and intelligence. It’s that age-old process called listening which we’ve been doing all our life (so far). It is no secret though that some are better at this than are others.
Scharmer presents a four level classification that can help us. Consider the following and decide – where do you operate most of the time?
Downloading – “Yeah, I know that already” – listening to confirm that which we already know
Factual – “Wow, look at that!” – listening and suspending judgment so to discover what is new
Empathy – “I know exactly how you feel” - listening empathically to move into another(s) reality
Generative – “I can’t express my feelings in mere words” – listening that ‘reaches’ or transforms.
Now, we’re ready for the trip around the U. It’s a journey and there are five “movements”, using Scharmer’s term. First we descend the left side of the U in two separate movements or stages, then transverse the bottom (deep within) and then we ascend the right side again in two movements – like this:
Movement 1 – Co-initiating seeks to build common intent; to make a difference in a situation that really matters and to create a common intention. This means we need to stop and listen to others and to open ourselves to what life and the circumstance are calling us to do.
Clearly, Downloading listening isn’t going to get us there, and it’s very doubtful that Factual listening will benefit us beyond a certain, very limited point. We need to really see and to become increasingly Empathic - the third level of listening orientation; this is ‘deep listening’.
As we move deeper, towards Movement 2 - Co-sensing, Empathy listening is critical to success. Our task here is to observe, observe, observe; to go to the places of most potential and to listen with wide-open minds and hearts. We need depth and clarity together with an emerging awareness of our collective potential.
We achieve this through shared perception, something we experience together. We will innovate on what we experience together far more effectively than we will by using reported information. The emotional component of the shared experience becomes a source of energy and also a filter for common meanings and desired values.
We are now ready for the third and crucial step, Movement 3 – Presencing. This is a connection to the source of inspiration and common desire which will emerge from the depths of both individual and collective subliminal consciousness. Why should this be so difficult or elusive? Well, it’s the age-old problem of ego interference!
It is so hard to let go of what we currently represent and ‘know’ about ourselves and even harder to release our perception of who we are. Scharmer uses the biblical analogy of the camel passing through the Eye of the Needle – a gateway in the city of Jerusalem. One has to unload and unpack the camel completely in order to pass through, then to reassemble everything on the other side. Frankly, it’s easier to go around the gate than to take on all that ‘unnecessary’ work, and many will elect to do just that.
The essence of Presencing is “the experience of the coming in of the new and the transforming of the old”. Here there’s a threshold which, once crossed, changes everything – nothing can ever be as it was. Just like repacking that camel once it is through the gateway, the order, relationship and even the importance of things has changed.
There is a heightened level of awareness, energy and a sense of future possibility. I’m reminded of the Buddhist teaching, “Do not seek the Way; become the Way”, and Ghandi’s exhortation, “Be the change you want to see!”
Making it work . . .
We press on to Movement 4 – Co-creating. Now we have a new reality, new possibilities for the future and a fresh and perhaps strange awareness of attainable realities, it’s time to make them real. While I admire Scharmer’s demonstration of the critical behaviors involved in this step, I also recall the insightful initiative of gardeners at Caius (Keys) College, Cambridge when charged with preserving delicate grass on the college’s internal quadrangle lawn.
Students would walk across the lawn rather than around the perimeter as they changed classes thus wearing out the grass. Concrete paths were installed as diagonals – the students ignored them, walking over the lawn instead. The gardeners tore up the pathways and sowed new grass. After a while they observed carefully where the wear was occurring and then laid new pathways right there. The grass was preserved because students used the paths!
Prototyping is the process of providing prototype solutions for real needs in real time – then observing and adapting to suit. First we clarify the question, then we observe and build again to observe, then adapt again, and so on. It’s exploring by doing rather than reflecting and speculating; leveraging through small, practical examples which guide the overall change through multiple, common experiences.
Finally there is Movement 5 – Co-evolving. Here we embody the new as part of the ‘macro-system’ and/or culture that will facilitate perspectives - seeing and acting – as an integral whole. By selecting carefully from the successful prototypes according to their respective impacts, we create a new reality wherein everyone responds positively.
It all becomes an inseparable part of the accepted ecosystem, and/or culture - ‘the way we do things around here’ -and thus it is reality. Overall, it is a dynamic process that changes as it moves through the five stages / movements and may ultimately become invisible, even to those who are engaged in it.
How does this apply? . . .
Using this model, it is more obvious which personal strengths are required as the process unfolds; each person can identify within him / her self the particular personal strengths that are brought to the table. Consider each separate Movement and what specific strengths you could offer to make your contribution. Then consider which strengths you can identify in others that would enhance both your and their contributions to the collective process.
In Movement 1 - Co-initiating, we’ll take a look at your DTI Inspired Leadership profile for example. Reflect on how the specific attributes on page 8 within the Dimension of “Creating the Future” (Visioning) would help you – Visionary, Legacy Builder, Single–mindedness and Opportunity Awareness would apply. In which attributes are you ‘strong’ – as indicated by both your higher (top 6) rankings and high (70%+) relative effectiveness levels?
For the second stage, Movement 2 – Co-sensing, go to page 9 of your DTI profile and consider the attributes listed under “Clarifying Values” (transferring to and exchanging visions with others). The specifics here are Values Champion, Consistency, People Champion and Customer Champion. Ask yourself the same question – where am I particularly strong? If you’d prefer a different profile, the classifications offered by the Gallup profile are directly comparable while using different terminology.
Personal Strengths that assist and leverage the Presencing in Movement 3 are more speculative. If you consider the “Wisdom” and “Transcendence” categories in the VIA profile you’ll find a fair number of options – Creativity, Open-Mindedness and Perspective under Wisdom as well as Awe / Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence, Hope and Spirituality under Transcendence.
It becomes easier again when dealing with Movement 4 – Co-creating. Let’s return to the DTI Inspired Leadership profile (page 8) in the Dimension “Enthusing, growing and appreciating others” where we’ll find personal strengths such as Team Building, Enthusing, Enabling, Social Adaptability and Self Belief. Applying the stronger attributes of these, either from one’s own repertoire or by co-opting others’ strengths will leverage great outcomes for all as we proceed with building and adapting our prototypes.
Putting ‘score on the board’, the final act where results become the new reality, is Movement 5 – Co-evolving, and the DTI profile – “Ideas to Action” on page 9 - serves us well here. We can include Self Reliance, Enthusiastic Learning, Proactivity, Practicality and Reflection, from our own account or from those of other group members.
The Bottom Line . . .
We’ll experience substantial individual and collective growth when we pursue this enhancement of our leadership capacities by tapping into our personal strengths and our source dimension. According to Scharmer, there are seven key capacities that will emerge and develop in particular; these are:
- Holding the Space where we improve our listening capabilities
- Observing with an open mind so we can accept change
- Sensing with our hearts in order to embrace change
- Presencing as we connect to the deeper sources within our self and also to our ‘will’
- Crystallizing where we attract and define intentions through progressive prototyping
- Performing as we integrate our successes in the creation of a brave new reality.
At the crux of all this is an open mind, open heart and open will, plus the process of ‘suspending’, ‘redirecting’. ‘letting go’, ‘letting come’, ‘enacting’, and ‘embodying’ – six processes that connect the seven Movements through the “U”. It’s of no consequence whether we travel quickly or deliberately – the traveller and the journey are one.
For certain, there’s no better way to achieve our goals and desires than to engage our personal strengths, and thus to leverage our collective cognitive abilities, as we build new relationships and a new future as we travel together.
This is the essence of effective leadership. Think about it, try it and profit thereby.
I'd welcome your questions, comments and suggestions. We can all learn through dialogue and your experiences will undoubtedly gain more value when shared. Please contact me at david@andros.org.
A Note to our Readers . . .
Previous series of articles on the topics of
- Tomorrow’s Leaders – a model for SME organizations
- The Leadership Crucible – the ‘making’ of leaders
- Leadership Characteristics – a comprehensive catalogue of leader qualities
- Succession Planning – the strategic argument, principles and strategies, and
- Managing Change – every person’s guide to painless processes
have been summarized as discussion guides for those who lead and manage through mentoring and coaching. If you would like to secure a copy for your own use, please contact us.
It is a pleasure to share ideas with you and we’d welcome your questions, suggestions and comments. They’ll assist us refine and expand the essential value of these initiatives. Thanks in anticipation for your participation.
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