Narrative Leadership Leading Change

Getting Your Head and Heart to Agree

2011-06-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

Recently I talked with a leader who was in the quandary of feeling she should do one thing but thinking she should do something else. In essence, her head and heart weren’t in agreement. She knew what convention expected of her even what the demands were that she placed upon herself but meeting those expectations wasn’t satisfying her emotionally. I asked, “What makes your heart sing?” and after the briefest pause she answered with the thing she loved doing above all. That was her heart; what remained was for her to reconcile her expectations with what brought her satisfaction.

In reality, emotions are formed from chemical reactions within our brains.[1] This makes the notion of head and heart as separate more a false dichotomy than a reality. The wisdom of sacred text established this fact and firmly posited all we are as stemming from our thought life in the saying, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).[2] For leaders this holds sobering implications. Here’s why: Our emotions can be coded responses to earlier events in life and may not reflect the reality before us. This means that what we feel can be different from what we see. Put another way, it could mean that what we want to do may not always be the same as what we should do. One reason for this is that our emotions are linked to memories. Caroline Leaf explained,

If you had a math teacher who shouted at you and said you would never be able to do math, you would have stored that memory... Thereafter, every time you do math or anything related to the subject, you will re-experience the negative feelings of shame, hurt and fear... you will struggle to learn anything new about math, because the negative feelings... block the learning process. (28)

If you’ve ever felt fear that defied rational explanation then you’ve encountered the linkage of memory and emotion. In recognition of the emotional quotient in our lived experience Richard Stott said, “We frequently rely on partial information and convenient heuristics in making judgments. Our knowledge and beliefs thus originate and continue to be shaped by a complex mix of perceptions, deductions, guesses, memories, hazy inferences, and gut feelings.”[3] The resulting distraction for those who trust our leadership can be deafening. Its cure is to achieve an internal congruence within ourselves where work reflects our core values and our decisions the awareness of what has formed them. Making the resolve of these a key priority is critical for leaders.

Value Congruence and Inner Congruence
Technically, the expression “leader congruence” refers to the leader’s work life being aligned with his/her values.[4] This is where the leader in our example struggled. There are other forms of Value Congruence: Some point to the common understandings that followers take from a leader’s initiatives[5] as well as the leader’s ability to foster shared values among followers.[6] One additional concept is the leader’s imposition of his/her values on the organization through selecting other leaders who share the same values and in this fashion achieving congruence or agreement within the organization.[7] What these underscore is that the leader’s influence upon both people and organization originates in his/her inner life. However, Value Congruence isn’t the only alignment a leader should seek. Although doing so will increase our effectiveness it will not make us the kind of person that makes better people. That’s the role reserved for Inner Congruence.

Although leading can take many forms it seems that leadership originates in one place: Our self-expression. I believe it possible to achieve all the above forms of Value Congruence yet still be a dysfunctional leader - think of Hitler or Hussein. While developing value alignment is to be prized, even necessary, our leading as a whole person and aware of the influences that have shaped us is even more so. Inner Congruence isn’t oriented toward the degree of influence exerted upon others but asks why we influence people as we do. It may require coming to grips with the why and how of our memories and that in the willingness to forgive and love. The result will be the ability to distinguish our emotional reactions from the facts before us so that our influence isn’t tainted with self-interest but for the welfare of those we serve.

[1]Leaf, C. (2007). Who switched off my brain: Controlling toxic thoughts and emotions.Rivonia, South Africa: Switch on Your Brain Organisation PTY (Ltd.)

[2]The New King James Version of the Holy Bible.

[3]Stott, R. (2007). When head and heart do not agree: A theoretical and clinical analysis of rational-emotional dissociation (RED) in cognitive therapy. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly. 21,(1).

[4]Bono, J. and Judge, T. (2003). Self-concordance at work: Toward understanding the motivational effects of transformational leaders. Academy of Management Journal, 45, (5), 554-571.

[5]Scroggins, W. (2006). Managing meaning for strategic change: The role of perception and meaning congruence. Journal of Health and Human Services Administration.Summer.

[6]Brown, M. and Trevino, L. (2006). Socialized charismatic leadership, values congruence, and deviance in work groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, (4), 954-962.

[7]Dickson, M., Giberson, T., and Resick, C. (2005). Embedding leader characteristics: An examination of homogeneity of personality and values in organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90,(5), 1002-1010.

Memories and Narrative Construction

2011-05-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Memories and Narrative Construction

There continues to be a good deal of research about the importance of story in leading an organization. Some thoughts about this revolve around the understanding that narratives are powerful because they are stories. They are the stories we tell about ourselves that fix our place in time and link our memories with events. They bring coherency to our experiences1 and help us create meaning.2 When our stories are woven into a comprehensive narrative, they become the way we know ourselves and our larger society3 as well as the main source of knowledge in our organizing.4

The narrative of everyday life is a timing of activity in an attempt at making sense of our experiences. It provides rhythm to the social order5 and through it we relate what is past to what is present, organizing the experience of time into a personal history6 (Richardson, 1990). Richardson said,

People organize their personal biographies and understand them through the stories they create to explain and justify their life experiences. When people are asked why they do what they do, they provide narrative explanations. It is the way individuals understand their own lives and best understand the lives of others. (p. 126)

Collective Identity

In forming these narratives, our memories refer to events that are known and verifiable, the same memories that provide us a sense of personal coherence and integrity. In effect, they help form the basis of our personal identity9 and make change of our identity (something we choose to do) perceived differently than change to our identity (something forced upon us).10

Organizational identity is a combination of member’s individual narratives with the narratives and myths of the organization. It represents what an organization does, enables its members to locate themselves and their place in the world, and reflects the underlying values, assumptions, philosophies, and expectations of organizational life.11 The result is that the organization becomes a unique expression the individual identifies with, even to the extent that self-esteem can be intimately connected to the organization’s identity.12 Taking this concept and applying it the members in the “Blue Chair” story makes it possible to see why what the members held corporately was also held personally. In other words, these were organizational narratives because they were also personal narratives.

At issue in leading organizational change is the leader’s appreciation for the lived experiences of members and the practices they have privileged. It is not a slavish confinement to honor everyone’s story but those that result in the practices for which the organization is known.

1 Bojea, D. & Rhodesb, C. (2005). The leadership of Ronald McDonald: Double narration and stylistic lines of transformation. Leadership Quarterly, 17, (1), 94-103.

2 Polkinghorne, D. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

3 Denzin, N. (2000). Narrative’s moment. In Andrews, M., Sclater, S., Squire, C., & Treacher, A. (Eds.), Lines of narrative: Psychosocial perspectives. London: Routledge.

4 Brown, A., Humphries, M., & Gurney, P. (2005). Narrative, identity and change: A case study of Laskarina Holidays. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 18, (4), 313-326.

5 Patriotta, G. (2003). Sensemaking on the shop floor: Narratives of knowledge in organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 40, (2), 349-354.

6 Richardson, L. (1990). Narrative and sociology. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 19, (1), 116-135.

9 Fivush, R., & Neisser, U. (Eds.), (1994). The remembering self: Construction and accuracy in the self-narrative. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

10 Lundberg, C. (1999). Organizational development as facilitating the surfacing and modification of social rules. In Pasmore, W., & Woodman, R. (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development. Volume 12. Stamford, CT: Jai Press.

11 Hopkins, A., Hopkins, W., & Mallette, P. (2005). Aligning organizational subcultures for competitive advantage. New York: Basic Books.

12 Brown, A., Humphries, M., & Gurney, P. (2005). Narrative, identity and change: A case study of Laskarina Holidays. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 18, (4), 313-326.

Change Leadership

2011-03-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

Leading Change

Leading organizational change can be daunting and while it likely will never become a favorite task neither does it have to be your crucible. During research into the leader’s use of story to conduct change, I discovered three essential practices.

You Have to Know Your Approach to Leadership

Knowing your approach deals with two things: Your personal approach to leadership and your approach to leading change. While not meant to be prescriptive or exhaustive I encourage leaders to determine which of the following three leadership approaches is most natural to them: Builder, Crusader, or Developer. Builders are people who get their strokes building the organization; it and not people are the priority. Crusader oriented leaders are consumed with a cause. For the Crusader oriented leader the cause is greater than either people or organization. Developer oriented leaders develop people and are highly relational. They too can successfully lead organizations but may do so with a greater value for those they lead. To accomplish their work leaders move into and out of these domains but will tend to exert greater influence in only one of them. Because our leadership approach reveals how we instinctively relate to members, I’ve found that before undertaking a change initiative leaders must get clear about this facet of their leading. The second essential practice for leading change is to have a firm grasp on how we approach change.

You Have to Know Your Approach to Change

How leaders approach change is as important as the change they envision. Here are four that work regardless your leadership approach. Communicate. First, realize that people don’t reject change as much as they resist being surprised. The three C’s of change are simply communicate, communicate, communicate. Change. Second, in making a change if it isn’t necessary to remove the practice you want changed then don’t; merely add the new one. This gives those who need more time the time to adjust and those ready to move forward the path to do so. Contact. Third, periods of high change demand high touch. That is, you and your leadership team must not only be accessible but pro-active in giving assurances with your words and presence. Confirm. Fourth, acceptance of any proposition is made easier when people know that their values are being honored. As members evaluate our change efforts to determine whether their values are supported or threatened we’re given the opportunity to touch those values and provide the concepts and language needed to discuss the meaning of the change. These efforts are given greater meaning when leaders take it upon themselves to know the story of those they serve.

You Have to Know the Story

Simply put, conversation in organizations is on two levels. The first merely reports activity and are the reporting stories that informs you Mike went skiing, Susan was sick, etc. Not particularly remembered by those who hear them they pass into what was just another day. The second are those that by bearing an essential truth of our corporateness provide structure and meaning for our interactions. Think the “HP Way” or Ray Kroc’s message of consistency for McDonalds. These structuring stories speak of values; they form the organization’s heritage and even become the shared understandings to which everyone is expected to subscribe.

Stories not only create identity for organizations but define it for individuals as well. Our fondness for narrative makes us ready receptors for cultural stories as from them we extract what eventually becomes the components of our selves. To some extent this same fondness is at work in our appropriating organizational stories, especially if there is agreement with our personal values. The result can be a sense of “fit” and affinity with the organization. While this doesn’t mean we will like everything our organizations do, it underscores that in the areas where the corporate story and our own share similar values and because our personal identity and that of the organization are similarly grounded, we will resist change to the story. Our identity demands it and is the reason why knowing the story is important.

There are instances when the organization’s story must change but these, I suspect, are few. Usually, the leader’s role is to restate the original story, bringing the organization back to the values that made it successful.

Cross-cultural Leadership

2010-07-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Good News

If you lead from a foundation of values shared by your members, if you emphasize team building, if you involve your group when making decisions, if you support those who work with you and aren’t status or class-conscious or independent and individualistic then it’s likely you could lead in any culture. Yes, it’s a little more complicated than that but the good news is that good leadership is universally recognized and desired.

A study across 20 countries discovered eight common leadership characteristics. They are: responsibility /commitment, charisma, competency/experience, authenticity/integrity, drive/passion, intelligence, insight into the future, and courage/risk taking. The GLOBE study generally agreed stating that while behaviors and leadership characteristics are culturally bound, some leadership characteristics are present in every culture and give rise to forms of leadership so germane to humanity as to be the same everywhere. In effect, what culture may make acceptable is, by virtue of our common humanity, already credible. In the GLOBE study four leadership styles are universally viewed as contributing to leader effectiveness while two are seen to inhibit leader effectiveness. GLOBE is not the only study to examine leadership across cultures; however, the six leadership styles it reports are worthy of consideration.

Those that make for effective leaders are: Charismatic/value-based leadership or the ability of leaders to “inspire, motivate, and encourage high performance from others based on a foundation of core values. Team-Oriented leadership places emphasis on effective team building and implementation of a common goal among team members. Participative leadership reflects the extent to which leaders involve others in decisions and their implementation and Humane-Oriented leadership comprises supportive and considerate leadership. The two leadership styles universally seen to inhibit leadership: Autonomous leadership or independent and individualistic leadership behavior and Self-Protective leadership that focuses on ensuring the safety and security of the individual through status-enhancement and face-saving” (Middlemist).

The Big Picture

Taking cross-cultural leadership a little further, five common themes or rules are thought fundamental to human society; rules, it appears, that naturally inhere among people and as such have critical implications for leaders. They relate to 1) Power, 2) Role, 3) Relationship, 4) Time, and 5) Behavior. These five are referred to as core cultural dimensionsand ask the following questions of a given society. 1) Is power distributed vertically as in a hierarchy among the people or horizontally in a participative fashion? 2) Are groups or individuals viewed as the fundamental building block of the society? 3) Are external events viewed as something we must control or live with? 4) Is time based on attention to single tasks or simultaneous attention to multiple tasks? 5) Is the locus of societal control the uniform application of law/policy or personal ties? For example, as to Power a culture may make some live with what others decide (vertical power distribution), as to Role its people may value the clan over the individual (group over individual), concerning Relationship its people could see their future influenced by sources not of their control (external events are to be lived with), Time could be reckoned by the event instead of the accomplishment of details (time based on multiple tasks), and their Behavior may be governed by group rule more than objective civil law (law in personal ties).

The importance of these to leaders isn’t in the determination of whether a given culture is “Eastern” or “Western” in worldview for the tendency to see cultures in these polar extremes isn’t altogether accurate. As an example, cultures that could be considered “Western” prefer hierarchical power distribution the same as their “Eastern” cousins. Because of this “worldview” in reference to cross-cultural leadership, unlike to that of philosophy, has a challenge. It also serves as reminder for the cross-cultural leader to rely less on preconceptions than sensitivity. No, the importance is in what these things mean for the leader’s pace of change. For if leadership is about any one thing it is enabling people to change something about their location, beliefs, and/or practices. Doing so with a cultural frame out of sync with those you serve will lead to frustration and ultimately burnout. In addition to these structuring themes, cultures also contain rules that determine how the behaviors and characteristics associated with leadership are understood.

Culture-wide Understandings About Leadership

Just as individuals hold ideas about what leadership is and compare them against those who purport to lead, cultures do too. That is, the expectations, permissions, and status given leaders results from cultural forces and forms people’s expectations of what a leader is and does. Negatively, it means that people will resist leadership if it’s seen to violate their commonly shared understandings. Positively, it means that roles are defined and these stipulate what leaders can and may do in their work as well as what may be assumed about their place. For instance, in some cultures it would not be considered unusual for a leader to assume that his/her place was in command. Yet in aboriginal cultures this would be an offense to their value of communal consensus building. In this example the value of place differs among cultures.

Culture is, in the words of another, the “software of our minds” programmed through a common language, belief system, ethnic heritage, and history. Culture supplies the “fit” that assures us we belong and highlights why others don’t. It is complex in its composition yet simple in its expression making what those within know instinctively the work of years for those without. We live by it and protect it without thought to the demarcation it creates among people accepting all such as normal. And normal it is but lest we be lulled into thinking that culture is quantifiable it’s worth bearing in mind that no consensus exists as to its definition. In large strokes culture refers to the rules in use by human collectives to distinguish themselves from each other. For the leader who desires to lead well and finish well learning rather than assuming the nuances of a culture, be it national, regional, or organizational, is the first step to fulfilling service.

2010-06-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Implicit Leadership and Categorization Theories

In brief, Implicit Leadership Theory (ILT) says we hold mental prototypes that are ideal instances of leadership. When an individual meets our mental criteria, whether or not they identify as a leader, we’re inclined to see them as such. In conjunction with this is Categorization Theory (CT) that suggests we will evaluate leaders who match these internal images more favorably than those who don’t. In the first are the reasons we accept leadership and the second the mechanisms that make acceptance possible.

Our recognizing leadership seems to occur, in part, by the information we receive, interpret, store, recall, modify, and act on. In fact, what are thought as mental images may not be static images at all but constructs that emerge in the moment based on context, history, and the qualities of the people involved. Whether we recognize leadership from stored images or the ability to create them some of the more important variables that make those images are our personality, the similarity of the leader to ourselves, and the traits of our family.

Personality and Similarity
In regards to leadership, personality is discussed along five axis: “(1) Agreeableness - the tendency to be sympathetic and helpful to others; (2) Conscientiousness - the tendency to be reliable and punctual; (3) Extroversion - the tendency to be active and talkative; (4) Openness - the tendency to be open to ideas; and (5) Neuroticism - the tendency to experience guilt and irrational ideas” (Keller, 1990). In exploring the thought that we choose leaders most like us Keller tested the personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extroversion and found that we use them implicitly to determine suitability for leadership. Here agreeableness determines the value we place upon a leader’s sensitivity, conscientiousness the value we place upon a leader’s dedication; and extroversion the value we place upon a leader’s charisma. In other words, the extent to which we’re agreeable, conscientious, and extroverted is roughly the same that we look for in our leaders. This scheme or way of working is inward to us and implicit in how we choose people to lead others or us. But where do we get the first images?

The Traits of our Family
Parents are the first leaders we see and as such role models that codify leadership for us. It is in our family unit that we observe the first instances of leading and following and while this isn’t the only source for leadership prototypes it is an important one. The susceptibility to parental influence is enhanced by two conditions: a) Our preference for familiar behavior and b) our assigning value to behavior by its outcome, i.e., a parent yells and get his/her way, since getting what you want is good we deduce that yelling is good. The fact that yelling isn’t socially acceptable loses importance to what is familiar, in this case, the parent yelling and the “good” result it produces. Yes, that’s simple, maybe too simple but it does communicate an important truth about ourselves: We’re impressionable to what benefits us. Through this ready lens of impressionable self we concretize the images of leadership portrayed by our parents, particularly when the parent is overbearing. In the same work mentioned above, Keller also discovered that parental traits of manipulation and dominance are more likely to be internalized as acceptable images of good leadership while that of compassion less so.

This isn’t to say the only images we take from our family are those of dominance, far from it. While these do impress us and are retained in our thinking others are likewise formed, especially those built around our perceptions of parental behavior as opposed to the actual behavior. Interestingly, Hartman and Harris found that regardless the behavior a parent reported as their own, the child’s perception of the parents’ behavior is that modeled in their leadership.

This makes it essential that the leader have understanding of the stories that give shape to the lives of those s/he purports to lead. It also requires that the narrative undertaking be entered into aware that leadership will mean something different to each member. There is acknowledgment of this possibility in Implicit Leadership Theory where members determine the effectiveness of leadership by comparing the leader’s effort against their own internal model of what an effective leader is. The stories of our life do produce memories but also templates by which we know and understand. Learning them before attempting change, while slowing our effort to “get there,” helps make the transition a more humane affair.

Keller, T. (1999). Images of the familiar: Individual differences and implicit leadership theories. Leadership Quarterly, 10(4), 590-607.

Embodied Leadership

2010-03-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

Donna Ladkin and Steven Taylor have written about a form of leadership that they’ve called, “Authentic Embodied Leadership.” While their work has meaning for all leaders it seems especially fitting for clergy leaders. The premise is simple: the leader’s ability to convey authenticity enhances the follower’s experience of the leader/led relationship. Although in the field of leadership studies no agreed upon definition exists as to when our leadership is authentic, Ladkin and Taylor have discovered three themes that run throughout. They are: a) authentic leadership is an expression of the leader’s true self; b) the leader must be aware of his or her self to express it authentically; and c) since the self is inclined toward virtue, authentic leadership is closely linked to moral leadership. However, leaders and followers may be equally as challenged to find the true self.

The difficulty is two-fold: For the leader it is to find the mechanisms that bring awareness of their self. For followers it is to discern when the leader is expressing his/her true self. What followers can see, however, is the leader’s body and how s/he uses it. It is upon this that follower’s perceptions are keyed. Though unable to know the inner thoughts of their leaders, follower’s awareness of them as knowing themselves and thus revealing through their body what is genuinely and truly self forms the basis of followership. In short, our bodies become the method by which our invisible intents are manifest and the follower’s perception of the leader’s authenticity founded.

For this embodied leadership to remain authentic to both leader and follower the leader must be aware, if not give expression, to what s/he actually feels. Doing so is to engage in the awareness of self that occurs between our bodily clues and the larger world’s affirmation of our identity, but how is that done? These two, our bodily clues and the world’s affirmation of our identity, are referred to as our somatic and symbolic states. The somatic holds the existence of a firm, stable, and fixed self as a matter of fact while the symbolic sees the self as constructed from the stories that comprise our living and created depending upon the context. In the somatic view the sense of self can be thought of as grounded in our bodily reactions. This can be, among others, an inner sense about a decision; a “feeling” that arises in our emotions or that is felt in our body. If listened to it takes us closer to the “real” us. In the symbolic view others validate our real self by their response to our actions as we interact with them through language and gesture. In effect, the world tells us who we are.

So which is it? In reality it’s both. Because our self changes as we learn and age, we use both clues to determine our real self at a given point in time. Rigorous self-examination isn’t needed but awareness of what our inner clues tell us about ourselves and what others affirm about us are. This embodied leadership will enable us to lead authentically and followers realize the stability that authenticity brings.

Ladkin, D., Taylor, S. (2010). Enacting the ‘true self’: Towards a theory of embodied authentic leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 21:64-74.

Public Leadership: The Art of Leading Responsively

2010-02-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

Leadership in a not-for-profit enterprise can differ from that in a for-profit venture. Without the motivation of market wages to entice cooperation people are motivated by another sense, often the altruism of helping accomplish the organization’s mission. However, recognizing that not-for-profit members respond to a different motivation isn’t all that’s required of leadership: the appeal for cooperation also has to be packaged differently. In other words, taking a “do as I say” approach may satisfy the drive for corporateness but if we're to retain members our involvement in their cause must be the medium of our communication.

Newer thought on the topic of Public Leadership can benefit those who lead not-for-profit enterprise. Although in a traditional sense Public Leadership has had more to do with elected leaders and those who work in government service, the term has expanded to include those entities oriented toward the common good within not-for-profit leadership, corporate leadership, and community leadership including religious, health, and social care. This broader definition moves Public Leadership from the nexus of politics and funding by taxation that once anchored it to the recognition that the common good may be interpreted by public entities chosen in forums not associated with political office. Consideration from two areas of human experience has enabled the expansion. These are the notion that leadership to be called such must be responsive to those it serves and that human emotion is intelligent. Both offer helpful insight.

The assertion that leadership must be responsive to those it serves is in some sense a refutation of the “great man” school of thought where leaders are seen as “be all” and “end all” beings. It recognizes that instead of located in a person called “leader,” leadership can be both specific to the context and co-created with members. What this new responsiveness entails is an understanding that we will not be “on point” in every situation, that other members are equally or more qualified to express the interests of the group and enable the achievement of its goal. It also holds that our leadership is a give and take of influence between leader and member and not by virtue of any title. These thoughts fix our service in irrevocable fashion to those we serve redefining it as “one among” and not merely as “one.”

The second consideration to influence Public Leadership is that emotions are intelligent and contrasts with the philosophy of Max Weber that public servants should maintain formal distance and in the execution of their duties be passionless. This emotional antiseptic came to be seen as a source of greater control and less initiative for some who work within and are served by public agencies, bureaucracy, and process: Its result was thought visible in a leadership concerned with the public more in name than fact. With the advent of New Public Management and its openness to modeling public service after the marketplace and recent thought calling for leaders “to take account of the complex processes of co-creation between producers and users” (John Benington, From Private Choice to Public Value?), the need for an intelligence beyond mental prowess has come to the fore.

The proponents of emotional intelligence present it as at least one possibility beyond what mental acuity can produce. They may be right. Robert Kramer (Beyond Max Weber: Emotional Intelligence and Public Leadership) begins with the premise that intelligence doesn’t cover all knowledge, that an entire world of knowing exists beyond the boundary of logic. He refers to this as our intelligent emotions and the source for building both group intelligence and social capital.

Without the intelligent guidance of emotions, human beings cannot respond to situations very flexibly, take advantage of the right time and right place, make sense of ambiguous or contradictory messages, recognize the importance of different elements of a situation, find similarities between situations despite differences that may separate them, draw distinctions between situations despite similarities that may link them, synthesize new concepts by taking old concepts and combining in new ways, or develop ideas that are novel. Without the guidance of emotions we cannot be intelligent. Without the guidance of emotions we cannot be rational. (p.5)

Central to the inquiry is if leaders will continue to see people as things to be directed or as potential to be discerned? Emotion in our leadership makes us vulnerable and sensing and instills a listening posture. Its lack robs us of the contribution of people and the good sense they could have made to the endeavor. While this is applicable for all forms of leadership even if not for all situations, not-for-profit leadership can especially benefit by the increased sensitivity to its members, their concerns, and cause available in emotional intelligence.

Clearly, not all who serve publicly are unresponsive and must change. The malady of leaders disconnecting from members is universal to all forms of leadership but can be corrected by seeing our work as influence and not position and through a willingness to explore the messiness of emotions. Although behavior seems generally to fall within known areas, still, the variableness of we humans along with the need of successive generations to express knowledge in familiar frames of reference make the work of research never complete. In this vein, leadership as a topic continues to be studied, analyzed, and categorized. This has produced multiple theories about leading and given the several forms that leadership is thought to take. Public Leadership is one of those forms.

Neo Institutional Theory and Leading Change

2009-11-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Currie, Lockett, and Suhomlinova have completed research that underscores the role of environment upon our leadership. In their article, "Leadership and Institutional Change in the Public Sector: The Case of Secondary Schools in England" (The Leadership Quarterly, 20, (2009), 664-679), they make the case that rather than being isolated to either personal characteristics or situation, leadership can be an amalgam of these but with another added: the environment in which the leader serves.

Their work is grounded in neo-institutional theory, a theory that posits the practices of our organizations are affected by the institutions within society. Among these are institutions with power to regulate and thus manipulate conformance and those that reify values and define what is normal. The use of the word "institutions" doesn't refer first to buildings or organizations but to an idea or ideal through which the accumulation of permissions to wield influence over human agency has become a structure of power over that agency. Examples of two such can be government and culture.

In a study that tracked the work of school principles tasked with introducing a "results oriented" leadership to their schools, they noted that the preferred and commonly accepted form of leadership for principles was a "moral" leadership that valued "wider social goals" over test scores. These two, results oriented leadership and moral leadership, in effect, reflected the public face of two institutions: the former representing the government and the latter the educational culture. Though the principle's had good reason to conform to the government's demands - such as sanctions against their schools - in those settings where students were socially deprived, principles chose to express leadership in support of the environment that fostered them: the educational culture and its insistence upon a moral approach to education.

It should not be concluded that the principles sole reason for rejecting the government legitimating their leadership was an unconscious need for acceptance by their faculties. Yet it does underscore the importance of environment upon our leadership and as importantly what we believe about the ultimate goal of that leadership. Further, it suggests that not only are we are a product of the environment that shaped our beliefs but also of the one in which we serve and from which we take cues regarding that service.

For those leading organizational change the implications can be sobering. In this instance, the principles were to counter the culture of their organization and in the process effectively negate decades of permissions that had come to govern human agency. Not all organizational change is so dramatic yet leading people to create a new story about themselves and the organization that defines them can be. To say it requires sensitivity of the leader is not fair to the tremendous strain s/he is placed under. Rather, it is essential for the leader to know themselves and in that knowing be fully aware of their values and what animates them.

2009-09-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Robin Dunbar's "Grooming and Gossip: The Evolution of Language" is an informative read about the dynamics of social interaction. It's helpful for the narrative leader by providing insight into language and its power to form social networks - issues that are key to Narrative Leadership.

Narrative and Implicit Leadership Theory

2009-08-05T12:30:00.001-07:00

People are narrative beings. We express this in a number of ways but one that is poignant is how we make sense of activity and thought. The human way, our way, is to do so by the story line of past and immediate experience and the greater story of permissions and identity that culture provides. This makes the derivation of meaning and the experience that grounds it contextual. The necessity then is that if we are to derive meaning from stimuli it must have some comparable in experience.

This makes it essential that the leader have understanding of the stories that give shape to the lives of those s/he purports to lead. It also requires that the narrative undertaking be entered into aware that leadership will mean something different to each member. There is acknowledgement of this possibility in Implicit Leadership Theory where members determine the effectiveness of leadership by comparing the leader’s effort against their own internal model of what an effective leader is. Keller (1999) held that such models of leadership likely arise in the family unit where as a child we observe the first instances of leading and following.

The stories of our life do produce memories but also templates by which we know and understand. Learning them before attempting change, while slowing our effort to “get there,” helps make the transition a more humane affair.
William Salyards Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved.

Keller, T. (1999). Images of the familiar: Individual differences and implicit leadership theories. Leadership Quarterly, 10(4), 590-607.

2009-07-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

Paul Cobley gives an excellent survey of narrative and provides a basis for understanding why narrative is critical for leadership. For the person interested in narrative and its integration with sociality this is the place to start.

Storytelling in Organizations

2009-07-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

In the debate between organizations as rational or relational, Yiannis Gabriel shows the role of stories in organizational culture. His work is helpful for those who seek to lead while sensitive to the influence of story in and upon our everyday life and living.

Making Decisions

2009-06-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

While leading change I have found that having guidelines for the decision process to be helpful. Among them is that the effects of a decision can last much longer than the time it takes to make it. This is especially true when the decision involves people as opposed to things simply because people are connected to other people. So a first good rule is to “slow up” the decision process by the number of relationships the decision is likely to affect. It is key that you not see this as an inability at or hindrance to being decisive but the opportunity to bring more people into your way of thinking about the proposed decision.

I have had moments when, on the spot, I’ve made the decision to terminate the role a person is fulfilling knowing that my action would affect the individual and that their friends and co-workers would question my judgment. However, advance work in listening and discussion, while not removing every obstacle, at least gave others the rationale behind what I was doing. So again, a first good guideline for decision making during change: the more relationships that are involved the greater that deliberation is in order.

Discourse and Identity

2009-06-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Bethan Benwell and Elizabeth Stokoe give an excellent overview and discussion of the formation of human identity in their book, "Discourse and Identity." Beginning with understandings prevalent in the Enlightenment to the social constructivist approach of Post-modern thought, their work is a necessary read for those who seek to lead narratively.

Leading and Leadership

2009-05-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

I have been intrigued to discover what I call the difference between leading and leadership. In the first are the practices that build up a people and in the second the environment of mutual trust and respect that makes it possible. I point this out because I suspect that in human sociality the majority of people aren’t as interested in having a leader as in having leadership. Of course one cannot occur without the other but I think it serves to locate the primary task of leaders as “environmentalists” while reminding us that our role cannot be fulfilled in a vacuum: we need people. It’s oxymoronic yet so fitting in the grander scheme of life that what we need to accomplish our mission is also that which defeats it. Leaders and perhaps particularly narrative leaders then dance the perpetual steps of the unconvinced but always moving toward a destination, taking people with us.

Member Values

2009-05-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

Re-narrating even working practices involves an appeal to transcendent values and asks if the practices that represent those values are the best way of relating to the world. Changing them requires another story, another way of looking at the same truth but through eyes freshened with possibility and that takes into account the myriad ways custom and technology creates new opportunities. When I say, “transcendent values,” I compare that term against another: “transactional value.” I’ve parsed an individual’s values as being held as transcendent or transactional (the language is mine). Values held transcendently are absolutely right or correct, non-negotiable, and resistant to change. Values held transactionally are those needed to transact a person’s living in a given situation or course of life. An example of this is one person’s comment that if the practices of the church changed she would “keep an open mind, evaluate it, and see if it’s something that the other members want to do.” When asked if other members were to change their position regarding the Bible being inerrant would she go along with that? Her response was a firm, “No.” “That’s one thing I won’t change.” The willingness to change and even adapt to a practice not completely of her liking so long as it was “something that the other members want to do” would not extend to every practice. Clearly, there was more than a single value or a single narrative at work.

What are the Origins of Narrative Leadership?

2009-05-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

The expression, “narrative leadership,” doesn’t explore the vast knowledge base regarding leadership but references an underlying notion that leaders use narrative in their practice of leadership. Though “narrative leadership” is used in current leadership and organizational vernacular, its use in critical literature is limited. This sparseness of use is also reflected in its definition. Fleming (2001) who may have been earliest in its use provided no succinct definition except to say that narrative equips leaders in their sensemaking role. He held sensemaking as the ability to question an outdated interpretive scheme while providing a new alternative. Key to this is the leader’s ability to tell stories. Taking an altogether different tack from Fleming yet still grounded in the emotive nature of the leader’s speech, Gahmberg (2002) interpreted narrative leadership differently. He viewed narrative leadership as an analysis of the leader’s emotions, “particularly the dimension of enunciation” (p. 1).

To determine what Narrative Leadership could mean in a non-critical sense and in the current vernacular, I surveyed the course offerings of various educational institutions and consulting firms in the USA and UK and arrived at a somewhat unified description. Among them is that of Wales (2008) where narrative leadership is “storytelling as a change management technology and a tool for engaging others.” Cass (2008) described narrative leadership as using the “power of story for organizational and personal change.” Similarly, Hartford (2008) as well as Alban (2008) held it to be the use of “narrative for personal and organizational change” while Denning (2008), a popular business consultant and author in narrative, seems to take pains to not use the two words, narrative and leadership, as a conjoined expression. In an instance of his doing so, it refers to techniques that “use well-targeted and well-deployed emotion to stimulate self-motivated, coordinated action” (p. 1).

It is possible, if not likely, that the term “Narrative Leadership” emerged from other appreciative forms of leadership, particularly transformational leadership (Burns, 1978) and strategic leadership (Hunt, 1991). While this isn’t clear it is telling that common to each is the idea of talking with people about the organization’s future (Boal & Schultz, 2007) and what their individual futures may look like (Driscoll & McKee, 2006). In this vein Boje and Rhodesb (2005) appears to have provided the critical definition to which Fleming alluded and the various course offerings appealed. He stated,

The role of a narrative leader is to facilitate the transformation of one way of narrating the corporation to another, in this case from epic to novelistic. In terms of narrative strategy this is a transformation to more novelistic or polyphonic narration. It is also a means of reformulating meanings and changing organizational cultures and transmitting tacit norms. (p. 101)

In this understanding, narrative leadership assumes that to make sense of their worlds people and their organizations rely upon story (Allan, Fairtlough & Heinzen, 2002; Boje, 1991; Brockmeier & Harre, 2001; Owen, 1999). Thereby a possibly newer form of leadership emerges, one where a person’s storied connections are prized and developed (Boje, 2005).

For a complete list of cited references please follow this link.

Leading Change

2009-04-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

There can be a good deal of talk about changing the story of a group and that as a means of making their enterprise better. Undoubtedly, stories of lore or founding stories are sometimes replaced but not likely changed. I think this is so because a story of the group's founding is approximated in the real - what is being talked about actually happened and you can't change facts.

What is possible however, is to replace one story with another. Founding stories and the identity they confer upon a group are ready for replacement when the practices they foster are no longer needed or accepted by the larger culture the group purports to serve. Here's an example: an entrepreneur begins a business and as success comes decides that to reward those who have stayed during the lean times there will never be a layoff. In the ensuing years the wisdom of this policy is seen in employee loyalty, low job turnover, high-quality production, and cost containment. Then the time comes when the product loses appeal in the marketplace. There is nothing wrong with either the policy of no layoffs or the product that supports them. What is wrong is that the culture the organization serves no longer supports the organization through the consumption of its product. If it will remain viable it must change. This could entail change to the product and even, for a time, change to its founding story of no layoffs. It is possible that for the company to survive the founding story could be replaced entirely.

2009-04-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

Stephen Prickett's explanation of appropriation in his "Origins of Narrative", is interesting. Using the Christian Bible as the template, Prickett develops the idea that much of our sense of narrative in the West is influenced directly by its stories, particularly our allowing one thing to stand in for another. He calls this appropriation. Appropriation is used extensively in the Christian faith. Through it we understand a certain thing or event in scripture to have meaning to our life today. An example is in our appropriating David's triumph over Goliath onto challenges we face and our hope for a similar successful conclusion. Appropriation helps us deduce meaning and in its use we find another story to tell about our life.

2009-04-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

We've all heard it before: the more things stay the same the more they change. Perhaps this has risen to a truism because it is true. Change is here to stay. People change yet feel that the systems or organizations that we're a part should never. And some, seemingly don't. I think you would be hard pressed to find a single organization that has not changed in some way, even the most durable and venerable around us. The most enduring has in myriad ways changed since its founding. Not all change is dramatic nor must it be extensive to be change. I believe that incremental change is easier for organization members to accept than that to its entire direction. To accomplish change of this magnitude it is necessary to restory the organization. This can be the work of narrative leadership.