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How do you build Collaborative Leadership in organizations?
We build collaborative leadership by focusing on three things: Context, Commitments, and Conversations. Let’s look at each of these in turn...
Context
“The right actions in the wrong context = the wrong actions.”
We’ve all been in meetings where someone introduces a truly thoughtful, innovative, idea—one that could really address a gnawing problem or capitalize on an opportunity...only to watch as others react defensively, or ignore it entirely. Why? Would a more polished presentation, better public speaking skills, or more evidence to support the idea make a difference? Maybe, but not necessarily. Changing those actions might not change the underlying predisposition and receptivity of the group to really engage with the idea. It could be that the context of that meeting was not well matched to constructive conversation of that idea at the time.
Significant change, at the personal or the organizational level, hinges on creating the right context within which new actions can occur. Even when the market is ready, the strategy brilliant, and management is experienced and committed, the effort will usually fail if the context within which people are thinking and interacting is not conducive to aligned, collaborative performance.
The notion of context is foreign to most organizational change initiatives. Traditional change efforts (and consultants) tend to focus mostly on actions—getting folks to do new things. This often works for a short time, until the old, conditioned habits and routines reassert themselves. This may take hours, days, weeks, or even months, but it does happen. And when the old routines return, they usually bring some friends with them: frustration, resentment and cynicism or resignation.
In order for significant change to occur and to last, you need to observe and “redesign” the context in which people are thinking and working. This sounds esoteric but really isn’t. The context is what people are seeing, hearing, thinking and feeling “in the background,” while they are doing everything else that they do. For this reason, context is often invisible to folks, because it is just “how things are,” and is rarely discussed. The context of a team or organization includes:
- The vision or “story” people have about what the company is and does, and where it’s going.
- The types of future opportunities, challenges and possibilities people see when they look at themselves, the company, and the world.
- The predominant moods or emotions that people experience in the organization (which has a lot to do with the opportunities and challenges they see).
- The practices, habits and assumptions that govern how people act and interact within the organization, and what they can trust one another to do.
- The “external” factors that people perceive, such as market conditions, industry trends, social and political circumstances.
- The quality of “creative tension” that exists in every company (and every individual) between forward-looking ambition and acceptance of where things are at the moment. The way this tension is managed has a lot to do with how folks approach challenges and change.
How do you change the context of an organization, a team, or even an individual? You start by helping people to become skilled observers of the context—to actually recognize context and how this “background seeing and thinking” impacts performance and change. You then give them the tools and support to examine and redesign those elements that aren’t well matched to where they want the organization (or themselves) to go. This often requires skilfull facilitation and coaching.
The good news is that much of what we’re calling context can be changed. When the context changes, new actions, new conversations and new levels of commitment begin to emerge, almost effortlessly. Click here to continue...
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