• Reflexivity - Understanding the circular relationships between cause and effect that have made us who we are
• Focus and Mindfulness – The ability to be in the here and now, to be aware and observe what is all around us
• Presencing – To sense, to tune in and act from one’s highest future potential – a future that depends on us to bring it into existence. Presencing blends the words “presence” and “sensing.”
Developing 2015’s Leaders
Just as the qualities necessary for leaders in 2015 need to change from what has been perceived as important in the past, so there is a need for change, or at least alteration, in the way in which such leaders are to be developed. Certainly, as has always happened a few will “emerge” and thrust themselves to the fore, however the vast majority need to be nurtured and developed to enable them to enhance whatever innate abilities they may have and to assimilate new ones. More importantly this needs to be done within environments where leaders of tomorrow can make mistakes, practice, adjust and learn; an environment of true development.
Leaving aside the debate about whether development is for life or just for Christmas, one area that is not addressed, as far as I have come across, is exactly the nature of the development. What exactly is happening, apart from the learning of new skills? American philosopher and transpersonal psychologist Ken Wilber talks about two different functions of development; the first function is that of creating meaning for a person, this is a type of horizontal movement (which Wilber refers to as translation); the second function, that of transcending the self, is a type of vertical movement (referred to as transformation).
With translation, the individual is given a new way to think or feel about reality; the person then learns to translate both the world and their own being in the terms of this new belief or new language or new paradigm. This includes the attainment of new skills and mental models of working. However, with transformation, the very process of translation itself is challenged, witnessed, undermined, and eventually dismantled. With typical translation, the person is given a new way to think about the world.
Within this dual concept is much to help us understand leadership development; the horizontal translation appears to a clear explanation of the purpose of the vast majority of the development work that occurs within organisations; the trouble being that many of my colleagues (and in the past myself included) all wanted to think that we were doing the latter and helping people to transform.
This difference between transformation and translation is one of the things that I believe many organisations fail to recognise when commissioning ‘Development programmes’. All providers of learning and development have come across the scenario where a client, or indeed our own organisation explains that they want to develop leaders for the future – but you need to do this within a few days! The paradigm within which the commissioners are often sitting is one of Translation, the programme will give the participants more skills to enable them to do their job better; and what they are unprepared for is the new person who comes out of the end of the programme and wants a new job. The programme has opened their eyes, changed their values, even their self-identity, and they are unwilling to return back to their original starting position. What these organisations fail to recognise is that such a programme will change the person, which of course is the programme’s very purpose, and that this success may lead to dissatisfaction in other areas.
Hopefully, as the economic climate improves we see a return to programmes that are modular and are spread over nine to twelve months (if not longer); it is only through such programmes that a real and tangible amount of development can occur, especially in terms of Transformation. But this still begs the questions as to what such programmes need to focus on, and how does one achieve such transformation?
Mike has 30 years’ experience working within the fields of learning and development as a Senior Consultant with Dove Nest Group.
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