November 19, 2009
Yesterday I had a really helpful phone call with friend and colleague Barb Saxberg. Barb invited me to work with her committee to bring conversational leadership to a Presidents Council meeting in Toronto. It was a meeting for 60 local union presidents, CBC Branch Council staff, and for some of the time, senior leadership from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The meeting was held over two days, one with theme of "Looking Back," and the other with them of "Moving Forward." Our phone call was a chance to be in reflective learning together. I received several gifts and points of clarity from our call. I felt like we were in the best of what people and organizations do to continuously learn. Thanks to Barb and many other leaders at the Guild.
1. Courage -- It really takes courage for someone inside an organization to invite a different way of meeting. They know clearly what they don't want to continue. They have some sense of what they want to move toward. Yet, it is in the end, a paradigm shift. When the habit is presentations from a podium, sitting in circle is a courageous act. When the history is blasting grievances, small group conversations about values and possibilities are a courageous act. Colleague Juanita Brown of The World Cafe speaks about this -- "conversation as a radical act." Her commitment is like that of Barb and the Guild's organizing committee. They knew they needed something different. They knew they could have played it safe and done more of the same, but chose not to, even knowing there would be some bumps and challenges. They knew they needed more capacity in their system to face their challenges and live their highest ideas, and that meeting in conversation was one step on the journey. Hats of to Barb, Marc-Philippe, Fiona and the others that lead with heart and courage to find a new way.
2. Team Clarity -- For design teams and planning committees that are moving into a new way of working, conversational and participative leadership, it is really important to do some good work up front on agreements. They are the ones that will hear the whispers from participants, the worries. This can be difficult to hold when colleagues start to question the effectiveness of the meeting. Speaking some of this up front and clarifying agreements for when it is "not easy" can really help hold a team together.
3. Harvest is Leadership -- Barb is working very thoughtfully to compile a report from the two days. I shared with her some of the notes I had. Some of the key questions. When working from a new paradigm there are two parts of a harvest report / document that feel important. One is the content. What happened. What we learned. Decided. What is different. For the Guild, this includes key questions surfaced with CBC management about work load, quality, sustainable resource models, etc. It includes core values that carry the Guild forward. It includes a sense of report on first next steps. Not full plans. First next steps of plans that grow from values. But the second part, and I believe as important or more, is the narrative on the "how" of working together. This is the one that talks about the need to innovate, to listen and learn together, to move to the next level of democratic participation. This is is the narrative that builds upon older models committed primarily to speed and efficiency, inviting the next level of creative thinking together about unprecedented challenges and dreams. It is the story we tell as leaders. I don't mean that to be manipulative or ingenuine. Rather, just owning it as an important leadership act. As my colleague in Utah, John Kesler says, "changing the narrative is half of the work."
4. Surveys -- It is common to offer a survey, inviting feedback about meetings. Sometimes on the spot. Sometimes later through email or electronic survey sites. There is a tendency in those surveys to ask how people "liked the meeting." Though this can be interesting, and I always hope that all people loved the meeting, it isn't as helpful as it could be. More helpful are questions that speak to the specific objectives of the meeting and of the conversational leadership process. For example, an assessment about strengthened relationships is helpful. About joy. About enthusiasm. About learning new approaches. I tend to focus conversational leadership on three areas. 1. Co-learning (not just presenting into the room, but learning together, creating together). 2. Building relationships (for the challenges that the Guild and all organizations face, we need strength or relationship to carry us through the challenges.) 3. Work (focus on specific projects that are called forward from the group). All are anchored in helping the group do what it needs to do. Action and accountabilities. Surveys need to assess the qualities of the new paradigm of working together, not the old. This is a strong and another courageous act of leadership.
5. Specific Reports -- We used open space technology for the "moving forward" part of the day. It was the way to get to action. It was the way to move into priorities. The reports we asked people to complete in their self-organized groups identified participants and key points of the conversation. However, less attention was given to the action steps. I'd like to add a bit more to the forms that include specific responses to next steps, resources needed, proposals, offerings, and asks for what people need. I sensed that the conversations that occur in the groups were quite rich. Yet, more can be done to move from the impression that conversation is "just talking" into "creating next action steps." In particular, I find myself wanting to emphasize more of the "this is the action" part of the meeting. Needing to be very explicit with it. And in particular offering the freedom framework from living systems that you can "start anywhere and follow it everywhere."
6. Length of Time for Open Space Groups -- At this event we chose three rounds of 45 minute sessions. Some groups that met in the first session re-posted their topics during the second round, thus extending their time to meet. Barb pointed out a good learning for me. When the intent is to explore, shorter sessions can work well. I tend to not go any less than 45 minutes. When the intent is to come up with plans, as was the case for this client group, 75 or 90 minute sessions are more helpful.
7. Preparing the Group -- In this case, the participants were told that they were coming to "something different." They were told that we would meet in circle. That message was clear. However, learning from this for me is that groups need more explicit description ahead of time about how the meeting will be different. Even a list of "will be doing / won't be doing." For example, "will be working at small tables / won't be sitting classroom style to hear presentations." "Will be creating your own agenda of topics / won't be assigned to particular groups." There are a bunch of things to say that just give the most simple form of expectations. Helpful, and I would say kind, to be explicit with this amidst groups that have strong patterns of how they meet. And, I say this with awareness that there will always be an invitation and need for people to welcome surprise and not knowing.
I return to courage, and courage to be in continuous learning. With thanks to Barb, Marc-Philippe, Fiona, Joanna, Gaynette, Xavier, Elizabeth. It takes courage to work in new ways. Particularly with your immediate colleagues and friends. Yet so needed in the pioneering and evolutionary time we live in when we must risk the letting go of the old to find our way to the added benefit of the new. At the Guild. At CBC. And so many other places, where our work immediately impacts the wellness of ourselves and of broad communities.
Photos -- A few that turned out well.
Design -- Agenda and timing that emerged for the days.
Showing posts with label Conversational Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conversational Leadership. Show all posts
10 Principles for Practicing Conversational Leadership
October 6, 2009
In late August a team of us (Toke Moeller, Helen Emerson, Glen Lauder, Mary Alice-Arthur, Peter Cowley, Jacqueline Benndorf) completed hosting an Art of Hosting training in New Zealand. There were 92 participants. For three days we had been through much learning together about hosting and harvesting conversations as a strategic approach. Conversational leadership as a strategic approach.
On the fourth day, two participants, Peta Joyce and Viv Maidaborn, hosted us in collecting content insights and gems from the full days together. I loved the commitment they brought to noticing what we could know together that was different from what we knew individually.
The headlines as principles for practicing conversational leadership are listed below. They are tips and insights for all of us as practitioners. They were born from the essential commitment of noticing what is emerging, a core competency in all conversational leadership.
Principles for Practicing Conversational Leadership
1. Give and Take What Matters
2. From Trust, Action
3. Notice Interconnection
4. Don't Be Too Hard On Ourselves
5. Share Responsibility
6. Create Our Own Best Living Space
7. Be Bold and Playful
8. Do One Thing Differently That Makes A Ripple
9. Clarify Intent, Hold Opposites
10. Celebrate the More of Me that is Available Because of Us
In late August a team of us (Toke Moeller, Helen Emerson, Glen Lauder, Mary Alice-Arthur, Peter Cowley, Jacqueline Benndorf) completed hosting an Art of Hosting training in New Zealand. There were 92 participants. For three days we had been through much learning together about hosting and harvesting conversations as a strategic approach. Conversational leadership as a strategic approach.
On the fourth day, two participants, Peta Joyce and Viv Maidaborn, hosted us in collecting content insights and gems from the full days together. I loved the commitment they brought to noticing what we could know together that was different from what we knew individually.
The headlines as principles for practicing conversational leadership are listed below. They are tips and insights for all of us as practitioners. They were born from the essential commitment of noticing what is emerging, a core competency in all conversational leadership.
Principles for Practicing Conversational Leadership
1. Give and Take What Matters
2. From Trust, Action
3. Notice Interconnection
4. Don't Be Too Hard On Ourselves
5. Share Responsibility
6. Create Our Own Best Living Space
7. Be Bold and Playful
8. Do One Thing Differently That Makes A Ripple
9. Clarify Intent, Hold Opposites
10. Celebrate the More of Me that is Available Because of Us
- short paragraphs of description for each of the principles
- a next level harvest on more principles that emerged from the community of participants
- links to additional resources including the design overview of the event, Wordle Illustrations of the principles, and related blog links
Paradigm Shift -- Get Talking
September 23, 2009
Last week I cohosted a leadership conference in Kingston, Ontario. A longer harvest of the shape of that day is here.
One of the gifts / learnings for me of the conference was spoken by Juanita Brown. Juanita and I hadn't seen each other in over three years. Yet it felt like it could have been three weeks ago. Such it is with dear friends and colleagues. Juanita offered a playful framing of conversational leadership that pointed to how the very paradigm of talking to one another has been discouraged or even punished for many of us in our early years. It is what many of us grew up with and is thus present in learning contexts today.
To indicate this, she asked how many of us by show of hands had grown up hearing things like, "Stop talking and get to work!" Or, "Stop asking so many questions and give me some answers!" Or, "Don't talk to your neighbor!"
I smile to think of each of these. To remember it from my child years makes me chuckle. Most hands in the room went up, accompanied with a slight groan. Clearly a shared experience. Yet, when I think of how these expressions -- patterns really -- show up in todays learning, it is deeply concerning. So much more feels possible from the perspective of conversational leadership. This was in fact Juanita's point. What becomes possible when we "start talking because it is our work" or "start asking more questions with permission to not have answers for a while" or "talk to our neighbors and coworkers and families"?
Juanita's invitation was to see systems as living networks. Communities. Places that we work. Families. Municipalities. Everywhere. Conversation is one of the mediums through which these systems live. As important as water to the fish. Important as the air we breathe. That's a paradigm shift. Conversation is one of the ways that we human beings connect with each other so that we can do what we need to do. Or do what we need to do with vibrancy and richness and innovation and sustainability and, and, and.
Juanita later named conversation as the new form of work. She offered story from her early community building with farm workers in Mexico. She talked of house meeting after house meeting where she witnessed people shift from dispositions of "if only..." to questions of "what if..." to convictions of "why not!"
Get talking. What a helpful invitation. And it is good to see it as the paradigm shift. I don't feel, by the way that we are at the beginning of this paradigm shift. It feels more like a taking-off point. People of all sectors, and organizations in all sectors, are more and more inviting and requiring us to get talking, talk to our neighbors, ask questions.
And with my kids, yup, it is the new world I've been raising them in all of their lives. To encourage their curiousity -- this is sweet. To ask them what questions they are asking of themselves and with their friends these days -- this is sweet. Makes me wonder what questions they'll be asking when they are older that evolve us even further in our capabilities as collectives.
Last week I cohosted a leadership conference in Kingston, Ontario. A longer harvest of the shape of that day is here.
One of the gifts / learnings for me of the conference was spoken by Juanita Brown. Juanita and I hadn't seen each other in over three years. Yet it felt like it could have been three weeks ago. Such it is with dear friends and colleagues. Juanita offered a playful framing of conversational leadership that pointed to how the very paradigm of talking to one another has been discouraged or even punished for many of us in our early years. It is what many of us grew up with and is thus present in learning contexts today.
To indicate this, she asked how many of us by show of hands had grown up hearing things like, "Stop talking and get to work!" Or, "Stop asking so many questions and give me some answers!" Or, "Don't talk to your neighbor!"
I smile to think of each of these. To remember it from my child years makes me chuckle. Most hands in the room went up, accompanied with a slight groan. Clearly a shared experience. Yet, when I think of how these expressions -- patterns really -- show up in todays learning, it is deeply concerning. So much more feels possible from the perspective of conversational leadership. This was in fact Juanita's point. What becomes possible when we "start talking because it is our work" or "start asking more questions with permission to not have answers for a while" or "talk to our neighbors and coworkers and families"?
Juanita's invitation was to see systems as living networks. Communities. Places that we work. Families. Municipalities. Everywhere. Conversation is one of the mediums through which these systems live. As important as water to the fish. Important as the air we breathe. That's a paradigm shift. Conversation is one of the ways that we human beings connect with each other so that we can do what we need to do. Or do what we need to do with vibrancy and richness and innovation and sustainability and, and, and.
Juanita later named conversation as the new form of work. She offered story from her early community building with farm workers in Mexico. She talked of house meeting after house meeting where she witnessed people shift from dispositions of "if only..." to questions of "what if..." to convictions of "why not!"
Get talking. What a helpful invitation. And it is good to see it as the paradigm shift. I don't feel, by the way that we are at the beginning of this paradigm shift. It feels more like a taking-off point. People of all sectors, and organizations in all sectors, are more and more inviting and requiring us to get talking, talk to our neighbors, ask questions.
And with my kids, yup, it is the new world I've been raising them in all of their lives. To encourage their curiousity -- this is sweet. To ask them what questions they are asking of themselves and with their friends these days -- this is sweet. Makes me wonder what questions they'll be asking when they are older that evolve us even further in our capabilities as collectives.
Conversational Leadership Conference
September 23, 2009
Last week I was in Kingston, Ontario cohosting a third annual leadership conference offered by Providence Care. Providence Care does great work in the community and region of Eastern Ontario. My colleagues and friends at Providence, in particular Lauri Prest -- she works with deep insight and devotion -- as well as several key senior leaders (Dr. Ken LeClair, Dr. John Puxty, Sandra Carlton, Dale Kenney) are doing an amazing job of building their own internal capacity for conversational leadership as well as the capacity that is in the community.
My cohosts included Lauri, Juanita Brown, Phil Cass and Teresa Posakony. Sara Heppner-Waldston created really beautiful graphic illustrations that require deep listening skills as much as anything. Angie Wagner contributed an amazing level of beauty in print materials. Jessica Herbison was always there supporting a level of logistics in this conference. It is important for me to name this team because the depth of work in these times requires a deep holding. Just as many hold the birth of a child into the world, so it is in the birth of a new view and practice of working together.
The conference was called "Conversational Leadership: Thinking Together for a Change." It was a weave of speakers followed by small group and cafe conversations. We offered as starting point, a definition of conversational leadership offered by cafe host and friend Carolyn Baldwin. We tweaked it a bit for this group: "The intentional use of conversation as a core strategic process to cultivate collective intelligence to create business and soical value."
The Honorable Ray Romanow, Former Premier of Saskatchewan and Commissioner on the Future of Health Care in Canada opened the conference. He is an inspiring speaker with much experience behind him. He is also a key figure in accellerating the impact of the Canadian Index for Well-being.
Teresa and I followed him, the beginning of several conversations during the day where she and I would have attendees turn to each other to learn. Teresa is beautiful to host with in her deep intuition and ability to see what is happening in the room. The conversation we invited of the small groups was simple -- "How does what Mr. Romanow shared connect to you personally and to what is important to you now?"
Juanita Brown was a next speaker. Juanita is a beautiful mix of commitement to core strategy / results and enormuous heart. Through what she is learning through The World Cafe, she offered a really helpful framing on organizations as networks of conversations and then the importance of key questions, involving stakeholders, and simple process steps that shift dialogue from just talk to strategic process. Juanita is all about invitation and engagement -- musts for conversational leadership. In the midst of this we offered small group conversations: "If organizations are networks of conversation what shifts for me / us in my work / community?" It was an invitation to put on the glasses and see through a new lense. And in another small group, "From that view, what possibilities and questions are most exciting to you?" We harvested these on postit notes so that they could be visible in the room.
After lunch, Phil Cass spoke. He told heartful story including his journey from being a driven command and control CEO to a leader that convenes. Meg Wheatley speaks this as the shift from "leader as hero" to "leader as host." Phil is one of the best people I know in this work. His heart is enormous. His ability is extraordinary. His presence is simply honest and authentic. He speaks with clarity. And he sparks a sense of possibility in the group because of his story, both personal and from his perspective as CEO of a medical foundation. I love the way Phil didn't speak from the stage. He came out onto the floor, the shift that all of us as hosts were deliberate to do during the day. It is a deliberate physical step to reframe the environment to one of learning together.
People were now seated in affinity groups: Physicans, Clinical Leaders, Sr. Leadership, HR Professionals, Internal and External OD Practitioners and more. The invitation at this point was to shift into another kind of practical. "What are the practial applications for your work?" It was an invitation for people to notice what they might be surprised by, and what they might need to let go of. Two rounds of this followed by some call-outs into the room.
After another break, we had people sit quietly. It was time to invite another kind of learning, another kind of settling into the day. With a framing assist from the poet David Whyte -- "sometimes the truth depends on a walk around the lake" -- we invited people to journal what they were beginning to see as important questions, key stakeholders that can help engage those questions, and first next steps of process. We gave them 10 minutes for this and then invited them to sit with a partner to share what they had noticed. I like this kind of exercise. Granted, it was short, but it still offers a way for people to notice their clarity and then be able to witness it or sharpen it with a partner. A good wave of words reported out after this as the mic travelled through the room (like creating a circle where you know the talking piece is coming) -- commitment, passion, balance, excitement, engagement, authentic, collaboration. Much was spoken then. And even though they were just single words, my sense is that it was important for the group to witness some of what had arisen and been experienced in the whole of the day. That group hearing is part of the clarifying that people take out of the room.
We closed with a few reflections on the gift of being together. Providence Board Chair Jim Barton offered a few closing remarks -- he is a retired senior leader from Dupont that you can't help but appreciate for his passion and gentle ways. His living of the values of Providence Care is clearly apparent. He is compassionate, and so committed to learning and action. Appreciations to Lauri, who is already three steps ahead in next offerings (Leadership Development Program, Customized Art of Hosting) -- she sees the big picture clearly -- and Providence Care for offering the leadership to strengthen Providence and the regional community of people committed to wellness.
The day was beautiful. There were about 200 participants. It was another courageous step in helping transform the identity of those who work in health care. As Phil says, "a shift from treating illness to promoting wellness." It was another courageous step to invite the community to create an identity together that is the next level of helpfulness in the community. And that shift in identity, as I've learned through Meg Wheatley's teachings on self-organizing sytems, is what changes behavior into the possibilities of a community that we all yearn for.
Last week I was in Kingston, Ontario cohosting a third annual leadership conference offered by Providence Care. Providence Care does great work in the community and region of Eastern Ontario. My colleagues and friends at Providence, in particular Lauri Prest -- she works with deep insight and devotion -- as well as several key senior leaders (Dr. Ken LeClair, Dr. John Puxty, Sandra Carlton, Dale Kenney) are doing an amazing job of building their own internal capacity for conversational leadership as well as the capacity that is in the community.
My cohosts included Lauri, Juanita Brown, Phil Cass and Teresa Posakony. Sara Heppner-Waldston created really beautiful graphic illustrations that require deep listening skills as much as anything. Angie Wagner contributed an amazing level of beauty in print materials. Jessica Herbison was always there supporting a level of logistics in this conference. It is important for me to name this team because the depth of work in these times requires a deep holding. Just as many hold the birth of a child into the world, so it is in the birth of a new view and practice of working together.
The conference was called "Conversational Leadership: Thinking Together for a Change." It was a weave of speakers followed by small group and cafe conversations. We offered as starting point, a definition of conversational leadership offered by cafe host and friend Carolyn Baldwin. We tweaked it a bit for this group: "The intentional use of conversation as a core strategic process to cultivate collective intelligence to create business and soical value."
The Honorable Ray Romanow, Former Premier of Saskatchewan and Commissioner on the Future of Health Care in Canada opened the conference. He is an inspiring speaker with much experience behind him. He is also a key figure in accellerating the impact of the Canadian Index for Well-being.
Teresa and I followed him, the beginning of several conversations during the day where she and I would have attendees turn to each other to learn. Teresa is beautiful to host with in her deep intuition and ability to see what is happening in the room. The conversation we invited of the small groups was simple -- "How does what Mr. Romanow shared connect to you personally and to what is important to you now?"
Juanita Brown was a next speaker. Juanita is a beautiful mix of commitement to core strategy / results and enormuous heart. Through what she is learning through The World Cafe, she offered a really helpful framing on organizations as networks of conversations and then the importance of key questions, involving stakeholders, and simple process steps that shift dialogue from just talk to strategic process. Juanita is all about invitation and engagement -- musts for conversational leadership. In the midst of this we offered small group conversations: "If organizations are networks of conversation what shifts for me / us in my work / community?" It was an invitation to put on the glasses and see through a new lense. And in another small group, "From that view, what possibilities and questions are most exciting to you?" We harvested these on postit notes so that they could be visible in the room.
After lunch, Phil Cass spoke. He told heartful story including his journey from being a driven command and control CEO to a leader that convenes. Meg Wheatley speaks this as the shift from "leader as hero" to "leader as host." Phil is one of the best people I know in this work. His heart is enormous. His ability is extraordinary. His presence is simply honest and authentic. He speaks with clarity. And he sparks a sense of possibility in the group because of his story, both personal and from his perspective as CEO of a medical foundation. I love the way Phil didn't speak from the stage. He came out onto the floor, the shift that all of us as hosts were deliberate to do during the day. It is a deliberate physical step to reframe the environment to one of learning together.
People were now seated in affinity groups: Physicans, Clinical Leaders, Sr. Leadership, HR Professionals, Internal and External OD Practitioners and more. The invitation at this point was to shift into another kind of practical. "What are the practial applications for your work?" It was an invitation for people to notice what they might be surprised by, and what they might need to let go of. Two rounds of this followed by some call-outs into the room.
After another break, we had people sit quietly. It was time to invite another kind of learning, another kind of settling into the day. With a framing assist from the poet David Whyte -- "sometimes the truth depends on a walk around the lake" -- we invited people to journal what they were beginning to see as important questions, key stakeholders that can help engage those questions, and first next steps of process. We gave them 10 minutes for this and then invited them to sit with a partner to share what they had noticed. I like this kind of exercise. Granted, it was short, but it still offers a way for people to notice their clarity and then be able to witness it or sharpen it with a partner. A good wave of words reported out after this as the mic travelled through the room (like creating a circle where you know the talking piece is coming) -- commitment, passion, balance, excitement, engagement, authentic, collaboration. Much was spoken then. And even though they were just single words, my sense is that it was important for the group to witness some of what had arisen and been experienced in the whole of the day. That group hearing is part of the clarifying that people take out of the room.
We closed with a few reflections on the gift of being together. Providence Board Chair Jim Barton offered a few closing remarks -- he is a retired senior leader from Dupont that you can't help but appreciate for his passion and gentle ways. His living of the values of Providence Care is clearly apparent. He is compassionate, and so committed to learning and action. Appreciations to Lauri, who is already three steps ahead in next offerings (Leadership Development Program, Customized Art of Hosting) -- she sees the big picture clearly -- and Providence Care for offering the leadership to strengthen Providence and the regional community of people committed to wellness.
The day was beautiful. There were about 200 participants. It was another courageous step in helping transform the identity of those who work in health care. As Phil says, "a shift from treating illness to promoting wellness." It was another courageous step to invite the community to create an identity together that is the next level of helpfulness in the community. And that shift in identity, as I've learned through Meg Wheatley's teachings on self-organizing sytems, is what changes behavior into the possibilities of a community that we all yearn for.
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