Able Leadership Kate Tucker Syngenta South Africa (Pty) Ltd
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Leadership and change
In a post-modern, complex world, our leadership challenges are radically different from those of even a few short years ago. The only constant is change, and
leaders at all levels need to learn how to equip ourselves to respond in a nimble and agile manner. Post-modern
thinking, and a philosophy that embraces change, innovation and the unexpected are the ways in which today's leaders are able to respond. Through story
telling and metaphor, we can, as leaders, reach within ourselves and within others to liberate latent potential.
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Fractals
http://to-campos.planetaclix.pt/fractal/mandelgen.html
Generates a Mandelbrot set while you watch and allows you to explore the levels of complexity in the set
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set
Learn about the Mandelbrot set and other fractals
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Leadership challenges
There are many, but they can be summarised as follows: Ability to understand truth/reality Ability to see and share the vision Ability to respond to change Ability to liberate potential Ability to translate vision into action and actions into the
next level of vision
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Leadership Presence
First lead yourself, then others! “It is necessary to go beyond ego” Serving involves:
– Strength
– Wisdom
– Professional behaviours driven from the inner core
– Doing the right things the right way
– Recognising that we search for meaning and thus have “soul”
Power is not what is important: rather, how others respond to what powerful people do
Nick Owen: More Magic of Metaphor. 2004; Crown House
Lynda Gratton: Living Strategy: Putting people at the heart of corporate purpose. 2000, Prentice Hall
>>Ubuntu Story
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About serving…
“You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you don’t mind who gets the credit”: President Harry S Truman
The word conductor is derived from the Latin conducere for which there are two meanings:
To lead together To serve
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Level Five Leadership
Highly Capable Individual
Contributing Team Member
Competent Manager
Effective Leader
Level 5 Executive
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 1
Jim Collins: Good to Great. Random House 2001
Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will
Catalyses commitment to and vigorous pursuit ofa clear and compelling vision stimulating higher performance standards
Organises people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives
Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with others in a group setting
Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills and good work habits
>> Dream story
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Leadership insights
Inside Outside
Me
Oth
ers
Personal Professional
The Team Infrastructure
Adapted from: Nick Owen: More Magic of Metaphor. 2004; Crown House
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Leadership insights
Four interdependent perspectives create a framework to help us find and create meaning:
– Four interdependent scripts
– Left = Inside
Upper Left Quadrant : Personal
– The personal, invisible world of the individual Values, attitudes, leadership style
Lower Left Quadrant : Team
– The invisible interior world of the community Shared values, shared vision, language and culture
Adapted from: Nick Owen: More Magic of Metaphor. 2004; Crown House
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Leadership insights
Four interdependent perspectives create a framework to help us find and create meaning:
– Four interdependent scripts
– Right = Outside
Upper Right Quadrant: Professional
– The visible, exterior world of the individual Personal capabilities and competencies, professional
behaviours, measurable outcomes
Lower Right Quadrant: Infrastructure
– The visible exterior world of the community Social, information and organisational systems, technical,
working and living environment Adapted from: Nick Owen: More Magic of Metaphor. 2004; Crown House
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Leadership insights
Inside Outside
Me
Oth
ers
Personal Professional
The Team Infrastructure
Adapted from: Nick Owen: More Magic of Metaphor. 2004; Crown House
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Response-ability
The ability to respond
– Flexibility
– Responsiveness in adverse and positive situations
– Responsible for personal development
– Responsible Doing the right thing the right way
Accountable
– Knows when to delegate what to whom
– Takes accountability appropriately
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Response-ability
Research shows that high performing leaders: Are aware of their strengths and limitations Think and talk about areas for development Are highly conscious of their feelings and behaviours as
they move through life including personal and professional passages
Learn to learn from their failures See themselves as:
– Continuously learning
– Responsive to both positive and negative circumstances Thus, high performing leaders have developed response-
ability in all areas of their lives
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Time
Response-ability: Recursive process rooted in the self
Self knowledge
Acknowledge experiences
and
feelings
Confront your own humanity
Resilience and the
ability to adapt
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Living the values and the purpose: Live the stories
“Leaders must take a role in developing , expressing, and defending civility and values. In a civilised corporation, we see good manners, respect for persons, an understanding of “good goods”. And an appreciation of the way in which we can serve each other”
Max du Pree (in Mbigi, 2005)
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Living the values and the purpose: Live the stories
Leaders who can develop and live exciting, extraordinary stories have the potential to enhance:
– Paradigm shifts (shifts in mindsets)
– Seeing possibilities
– Innovation
Max du Pree (in Mbigi, 2005)
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Leadership Stories: scripts to live by
Speak of the future as if it really already was present, in the here-and-now
– Mandela The Rainbow Nation We create our own reality through the language we use
– Self-dialogue
– Dialogue with others These dialogues are our scripts, which are verbal visualisations of
our constructed reality Narrative therapy has used the concept of re-scripting people’s lives
for a long time In groups, we have the potential to co-create positive reality (to script
for success) Do we, as leaders, use this potential for ourselves and for our
organisations?
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The Ubuntu Story
The Ubuntu philosophy recognises: The importance of individuals as tradition bearers of past and future
generations That we need to consider ways to make visible and optimise that which is
good, true and beautiful in our heritage That quality of life in the present contributes to the possibilities and
challenges for the future There are no individual heroes
– Membership of the community determines the obligations of the individual towards the community
The importance of being Thus, the key element of Ubuntu is interdependence Interdependence We recognise and respect each others’ differences,
similarities, strengths and weaknesses and function together to form a system that is greater than the individuals
Lovemroe Mbigi: The Spirit of African Leadership. Knowres Publishing: 2005 <<Leadership Presence
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“I have a dream!” The Martin Luther King Jr. Story
King’s philosophy of passive resistance/non-violence based in that of Ghandi, displays the response-able leadership style. A few key indicators:
King’s vision: “I have a dream!” first vocalised at the March on Washington “Leaders are needed … in every community all over this nation…not leaders
in love with money, leaders in love with justice. Not leaders in love with publicity, but leaders in love with humanity.”
King’s five desired objectives:– Self-respect– High moral standards– Whole-hearted work – Leadership– Non-violence
King recognised his own limitations, and worked hard to develop complementary relationships with other leaders from all sectors of America society
Astuteness and political savvy demonstrated in his relationship with J F Kennedy, and his cross-cultural mobilisation of various organisations, black and white, towards to realisation of the dream
<< Level 5 Leadership
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Some ideas for telling the stories
Awards and other recognition ceremonies Professional communities Talking circles Mailing lists Blogs Coffee times Appreciative Inquiry Personal reflection and enrichment
– If you are emotional bankrupt you have noting left to invest in others
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A concluding script
Drucker believed that nobody should be appointed to a senior position unless s/he is willing to be a character role model.
Further, Drucker believed that this should be a key criterion for appointments, and should be uppermost in the minds of those involved in appointments
“The spirit of the organisation is created from the top. If an organisation is great in spirit, it is because the spirit of
its top people if great. If it decays, it does so because the top rots …”
Peter F Drucker
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Storytelling game
Instead of question-time, let’s practice storytelling …
The script we will co-create starts as follows: Mpho is a relatively new MD, having been in this position
for six months. Previously, she held the position of Financial Director with the organisation which she now heads for five years. Early one morning, during her quiet time while she is still drinking her coffee, and reading her daily inspirational story, the Marketing Manager rushes into her office and says: “ …