Evolutionary Provocateur

Leadership: Getting Past the Word

A question posed on LinkedIn recently asked: Are we over focusing on leadership? The comments it generated were enlightening. For me, what was most interesting was what respondents associated with the word leadership. Like strategy, it looks like the word has been worn out. Or has it? Perhaps it is curiosity about the many associations, experiences, images and meanings the word stimulates making eyes roll.

 

This week I had a conversation with Bill Joiner of ChangeWise, Inc. who, with Stephen Josephs wrote the book Leadership Agility. On my desk, right beside their article by the same name, is an article on Adaptive Leadership by Dr. Carol Mase, a colleague from SoL. It turns out, from research, that agility is considered to be more practical and all encompassing than adaptive. Adaptive appears to be associated with survival (at least in some circles), but agile is associated more with creative forms of leadership; ones that are better equipped to go with the flow of change to achieve contribution – several steps above survival.

 

As a professional facilitator I can recall many times seeing a team blow up in conflict when a specific word was mentioned. Conflict was converted to understanding when the associations were mapped out illuminating what triggered the emotional response.

 

Why is this important? A shift needs to happen at the deepest levels of personal development and organizational change. That shift is inspired by a clear picture of what the vision is. We are all leaders even those who prefer to follow. We lead our lives; we touch others with how we move through the world individually and collectively. So when we talk about leadership it is important that the words conjure up the most consciously creative level of leadership imaginable. Only a high level of courage and boldness will guide organizations through the transformational process to achieve a globally sustainable economy. That may sound jargony but practically it will soon amount to the price of food at the local grocery store and a totally different model for the market.

 

What does agile leadership mean to you? What does adaptive leadership mean to you? What images show up?

Trust, Speed, Gen Y and Agile Leadership

Not long ago I had a coffee with a Gen Y friend of mine. She had just attended a workshop where she noticed that when she multi-tasked, laptop open, checking links as the workshop leader mentioned them in real time, she perceived that she was not viewed as credible… in fact she appeared to them to be disengaged. She also noticed that another Gen Y in the room, who operated more like the bulk of participants in an older demographic, was being treated with credibility and respect.

 

Our conversation went from that to her discussions with her colleagues who were working for companies who didn’t trust their speed. In fact, they (management: co-workers) saw their speed as a reflection of unprofessionalism. Slow was the operative word for competent, which meant that the Gen Y employees had to slow down to appear to be doing the job.

 

Now who is right and who is wrong is not relevant. The perception is. The belief in what speed says is what is different. This takes me to the book, The Age of Speed written by Vince Poscente and loaned to me by a friend. He documents the limitation around resistance to speed companies have, as recognized by the CEO of Kodak for example.

 

The profound belief? Speed is not to be trusted. Fifteen years ago when one of my facilitation colleagues worked with a senior executive team they came to a decision to a complex problem after one-day of working it through. Now the whole point behind hiring a facilitator is to make hard multi-party decisions or processes easy and fast. The team non-consciously decided that because it wasn’t painful and because they had completed the task in less time than they expected then the result couldn’t be trusted. So, they spent another day haggling it through until they arrived at the same decision. This time they were happy. It had taken longer to get to the same place but since this met their expectations they accepted both the process and the result.

 

Back to Gen Y and my colleague: IF Gen Y is slowing down till corporate cultures and the beliefs that underpin them catch up, they won’t stay and if they do it is unlikely that the company will inspire their creative talent to flow. You’ve heard this before in this column but the other simple difference is that Gen Y operate intuitively, like operating in teams, see information as a tool not leverage for advancement, and so can do back flips and still hear what is going on. Maintaining steady eye contact is not a pre-requisite to being engaged. There are specific cues that are traditionally associated with engagement that are not modeled by Gen Y. When company leaders understand this; when the beliefs that relate speed to being ineffective are questioned and replaced, then company cultures can be re-calibrated to function at the speed of change. Meanwhile, creative talent is on hold in all generations pinned down by non-conscious habits. It’s time for an upgrade.

Part 5: Organizational Learning - Training - Idea Ownership

When you work with a client over a long period of time the patterns and assumptions that guide decisions soon become quite transparent. For example, in an organization where I co-delivered leadership development trainees would tell stories. In one case, we discovered that they were there because there had been a difference of opinion between a superior and a staff member. In this fairly centralized organization, the default solution was to send the staff member on training. Rather than take the ten minutes to understand the situation and to understand each other the default pattern was to enroll the staff member in a $12,000 course so they could get ‘fixed’. This is an expensive way to ensure that employees disengage. It is also an indicator of how the culture ‘thinks’ and manages (controls) its talent.

 

*Traditional Management Style: Training is kept to a minimum with periodic reviews and it is typically focused on a particular problem or solution. Outputs are measure, progress is monitored and we own your ideas.

 

*Stewardship Style of Management: Continuous training with continuous feedbac. Training is open-ended with learning measured, progress inspired and your ideas are recognized by us. [* Page 76-77 of Profit for Life by Jay Bragdon.]

 

Gen Y demands continuous feedback. Boomers are happy hearing it once a year whether you need it or not. If a business culture wants to get the most out of its young talent then it’s a reasonable guess that a stewardship style of management will be the model to nurture and cultivate. Everyone responds well to love; love in the form of recognition, acknowledgement. This is what powers the human spirit. Inspiration powers innovation and innovation is what economic crisis invites.

 

If you are in career transition and looking for a new company to contribute your creative talent, the indicators outlined in this five part series tell you whether the company is evolving toward adapting to change or resisting the inevitable shift to an adaptive culture based on organizational learning and a value for living assets. We are in times where the individual has much power and control by directing decisions, both as a consumer and as a career professional, to support the shift in business cultures toward a more holistic, sustainable and profitable (for all) outcome. Exciting opportunity, no question about it.

 

 

Accessing Intuition Through the Whole Self

Funnily enough in everywhere but business, emotions are recognized as part of life. In businesses working with a very narrow notion of how the world works, they are not. Hence the need for Steve Roesler over at All Things Workplace to spell things out.

The joke is that by ignoring or minimizing the data that comes in via emotional frequency you block access to intuition. Since that is THE portal to making fast and accurate decisions, you have to ask why is this so, especially in an fast moving, high demand environment that we live in. The interview done with Dr. Rollin McCraty on www.management-issues.com reveals that energetic sensitivity is one of the strengths and allies that helps us see the unseen. Emotional information is woven into that set of frequencies. The more clear you are on what you are feeling and why (what lies at the heart of the matter), the easier it is to get a clear signal.

This is also the podium for evolving capacity to be Present and, by extension, Presence; one of the univeral leadership qualities. Presence as defined in the UTheory with Otto Scharmer, sees "all aspects of presence as leading to a state of consciously participating in a larger field for change. In effect, this esoteric notion becomes a powerful tool for navigating complexity, uncertainty and for seeing the whole as the greater effect.

I can't help but think that this is pretty handy in organizations where the 'silo effect' has blocked natural paths of communication to the point where units compete over collaborate. It also helps business hold the longer view rather than the rather myopic outlook on life which says 'I exist to make a profit'. The new model says, I exist to contribute... profit follows.

A shift in focus is accessible through the intuitive wisdom we all hold. Let's not confuse it with fear and emotional angst.

Accesssing and Trusting Your Intuition-Why Bother?

After posting the recent research from Heart Math, I was sharing the research findings with another ex-corporate man (Will the last one out please turn out the lights?) who asked an interesting question: Why is accessing and trusting intuition the most important ally a leader can have right now?

It is a short answer. The volume of data coming at you daily far exceeds the capacity of the logical mind to synthesize, sort according to criteria, and sift out the most pertinent information to inform your decisons.

Noted physicist, Theodore Modis observed in the Center for Creative Leadership 10 Trends study that "both the breadth and intensity of change will continue to increase at alarming levels." HIs prediction is consistent with the pocess mapped out in the Mayan Calendar. Modis was predicting 2025 as the horizon. The Mayan Calendar ends in 2012. At that point, according to biologist Dr. Carl Calleman, the transit time between one wave and the next shortens from 365 days (the current cycle) to 26 days. Dont' quote me on that! The point is they compress and the speed ramps up considerably.

So what does this mean to leaders at all levels?

The three components of intuition were: intrinsic knowledge, energetic sensitivty and non-local intuition.

Most people only trust what they know and have rarely developed the discernment to identify what messages come from fear and what are sourced in inner knowing. Discernment is a sophisticated skill set that only develops to the most subtle levels as conscious awareness becomes highly developed and attuned.

Energetically sensitive people have been more judged than valued because most often they are physically impacted (negatively) by their environment; working environments in particular. Yet, when you open the subject up, executives reveal this gift as a tacit one; innate yet over-ruled or repressed as too touchy-feely. These are the same people  who when connected to their talent, walk into a business culture and know whether it is calibrated for engaging passion or for paying out checks every two weeks. If you are the CEO of a company, this is pretty handy. Dave Packard from Hewlett Packard described this sensory skill as he determined whether the HP culture was 'on'.

Intuition also speaks to us through our bodies; which requires a high level of body attunement. One famous broker who made a fortune on the stock market knew the market was going to shift because his back went out...it hurt. He would exit the market immediaely and the shift would inevitably follow. In chiropractic terms, the back is structural. The primary difference between this person and another is that he knew what his back was telling him... and he trusted it. The body's physical balance can often serve as an indicator of what is going on emotionally and intuitively. 

As the speed of change ramps up, so must our capacity to become more fluent and trusting of ourselves. The capacity to lead through complexity depends on it.

P.S. My thanks to the folks at www.highlysensitivepeople.com for their support.

Leading the Way to a Better World

Some people shrug their shoulders when anything related to Change the World comes up. After all, as one woman said, 'what is the matter with it the way it is?'. This misses the point. What most of us know deep down, is that we are at a pivotal place in our evolution as a species and that, 'we are the change we wish to see'. To that end, Peter Gabriel has formed The Elders. Jason Mogus's blogpost at Cornocupia makes the connection quite clear along with the power of Web 2.0 as a vehicle for the kind of connecting that can accelerate growth.

Whether we are working toward integrative health care and all that means, or working to shift internally corporate cultures so that they can embrace the energy that Gen Y brings, it will take an expansive of the thinking and awareness of what paradigms shape perception for the doors of the mind to open and see new light. How and what is your company doing to see and think global?

The Power of Position - Part 3 of the Power series

Clever me. I did parts 1 & 2 and totally forgot part 3....well here it is.

The Power of Position is the 3rd universal expression of power as documented by Angeles Arriens in her book The Four Fold Way.  The power of position speaks to taking a stand. What you stand for; how you stand up for yourself. it also refers to spatial intelligence or where you put things in relation to the space you are in - how to extend respect, set boundaries, align word with action.

In business, the power of position is often confused with authority or the size of the office. Particularly, in hierarchical cultures, the size of the office is assumed to be a statement of importance. Anyone who has ever worked in politics knows that this is illusional at best. Personal power is what ever person has. The power of position refers to how you as a person shows up, knows where they stand, what they contribute, why they are here. Purpose is a natural extension of that conversation of course.

Power and force are frequently confused. Force is one way of wielding power but it is not the same as power. Physicist David Hawkins explains this very well in his book Power versus Force and helps us see how that plays out politically as well. An earlier post I referred to Cy's film www.spentaproductions.com which is about power in politics and how it is used. Head over there or to YouTube for a revealing historical insight into how important one's relationship with power is to the capacity to weild it effective.

Crossing a Bridge

When out hiking this weekend in the mountains behind Vancouver I had to cross a bridge. Normally, with the railings on either side of me this would be a no-brainer. Just do it. Safe and securely sandwiched between the rails. However, this time there was 10 feet or about 2 meters of snow on top of the bridge. So much for secure hand rails.

For my dog, the trip was easy. She has four legs, which is a bit more to coordinate, (she does better than I do with two) but is closer to the ground, less subject to toppling over. For me, who gets a bit unsettled by heights, not so much. First, it was a show stopper. Too many 'what ifs' running through my mind. Then, not to be deterred by the fear of possibility, I returned and walked over, eyes focusing on the other side. Coming back, I took the snowshoes off.

I could not help but notice that leadership feels like that sometimes. Those moments when lying down and waiting till the opportunity passes by would definitely be easier. The better thing to do is to get up and get on with it. 

Especially now. There is lots going on globally that is quite exciting.

First, www.heartmath.org have launched their Global Coherence Monitoring Project. It needs funding and support. To provide either head over to www.globalcoherenceproject.com

Second, Wisdom University is updating research on the Cultural Creatives. If you are one, you are part of a collective capacity for radical innovation that can truly shift how we exist to quantum levels. The technology to solve most of the world's problems exists. The mindsets don't. Hence the need for this group to know themselves as a group and to shed off any notions of limitation or limiting belief.

Third, the desire to fulfill one's destiny is more compelling than ever. Changing gears in mid-point is about settling in on the target for existence. The up-take on Oprah's new program is one example. Business is experiencing it as engagement issues. The evidence is all around us.

Always, it appears to return to how one sees, hears, feels and senses the world around them. Exciting times.

Corporate Leadership-To Much Higher Levels

Citizen lead action is popping up all over the world. Between Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour to Peter Gabriel's vision for The Elders launched by Nelson Mandela, there is growing action to shift the crash course humanity has set for itself. While some are in denial and others keep saying 'its not our fault' the reality is that the global changes have implications for humanity and implications on business.

Much of business powers on - business as usual - struggling with the emotional implications on their employees without recognizing that, as part of a much larger picture, they are power behind the solution.

Many people ask why it takes cancer or some kind of life altering experience to shift the mindset to see and create a different life. The same question is relevant to business.

Shift in Action, launched by the Institute for Noetic Science names 2008 as the year for going deep...deeper into the self and ultimately to tap into the creative force and source of solutions. Jim Garrison from www.wisdomuniversity.org stated that the technology we need to manage ourselves is here. We simply can't see it. Stiff mindsets stand in the way. Fit minds are flexible. They can widen to take in the big picture and narrow down to see the minute nuances that make or break successful navigation. With fit minds comes vision and capacity to see ahead.

That would help right now. The notion that emotion is touchy-feely is so worn out it does not qualify to be antique or any form of wisdom. Emotion is energy and energy powers leadership. Now, we are on the podium of radical change that is happening so quietly few but the most attentive and attuned can sense it. These are now the more advanced leadership skills that are required to shift company culture, and hence radical innovation, to much higher levels. The cross roads is where personal spirit meets business and takes off. We are the leaders we have been waiting for. Oh yeah.... Let Er Buck

The Power of Presence-Part 2 of the Power series

The universal principle 'Show up and choose to be present' is what this is all about. Being present is more than physically being in the room. It is about being aware, there, and energetically present with all four dimensions on full throttle.

Most often we associate value with intellectual prowess, forgetting that there is no shortage of academics or executives/managers who have plenty of intellectual horse power but who can't relate or communicate, preferring instead to pontificate. The four intelligences that are reflected in the capacity to be present include your emotional, spiritual/energetic, physical (the body as a source of intelligence) and the intellect.

This only comes from a disciplined practise of taking personal leadership to a higher level. Occasionally individuals are gifted by a massive amount of charisma, but this does not translate into leadership until four domains are embodied in their character. A 'leader' with charisma, who is tempted by actions that reinforce a need for self-adoration, is not going to be taking the kinds of risks true leadership requires.

We have tossed the word leadership around a lot....quite simply because it is the only word that evokes an image most are familiar with. However, what has become associated with leadership is to be the one who knows it all, has all the answers. Being present and emanating the power of presence requires enough self-awareness and self-security to enable receptivity and curiousity to be the primary drivers of action. Each individual can then take in the unseen, the unsaid, and the hidden thoughts and merge them into a picture that can include seemingly competitive and polar opposites as many sides of the whole picture.

It is an art and a science in my experience. How about yours??