Chris Froome raises the game in Paris. Photo bbc.co.uk Raise the Game! A framework for conscious leadership and organisa5onal vitality in interes5ng 5mes Andy Murray holds the Wimbledon trophy for all the World to see. Photo gembells.com Raise the Game 1 of 7
In sport we see how people mature over 5me to be able to thrive in the heat of contest. Chris Froome and Andy Murray are two examples that illustrate this phenomenon. Maturity clearly impacts on the ability to drive performance but what is the role of conscious leadership in developing this increased capability in organisa5onal life? Worlds of Perception A"er looking briefly at the emerging context in which leadership will be prac9sed, this ar9cle outlines the Worlds of Percep9on - a framework which relates our everyday pre- occupa9ons of thinking, feeling and ac9on to higher levels of consciousness. We explore the interfaces and flow that bring these different worlds into rela9onship and consider how this thinking can help you and your organisa9on become more conscious, crea9ve and vital. Meaningful Moment. Photo thetimes.co.uk The framework is like a sketch map it facilitates naviga9on in strategic territory, providing a degree of precision of language for consciously leading and organising. It is based on the premise that a mature human system is one that is able to move freely and consciously between worlds, to integrate them, to be whole and to create wholeness with others. Interesting times Thinking and models Brief alen9on to the media makes clear that we live, if not in a troubled, insecure world, then one lacking cohesion. Financial crisis, banking debacles, austerity, rising unemployment, poli9cal turmoil, social injus9ce, terrorism, revolu9on, war, dis- ease, famine, pollu9on, resource deple9on, deforesta9on, peak oil, species ex9nc9on all result from human ac9vity on this planet that is home to an ever- expanding human popula9on. The clima9c system, impacted by our ac9vity, is at a 9pping point beyond which life becomes ever less pleasant. Have we now become so addicted to the material comfort and spoils of industrial- age thinking that we are blind to the situa9on to which it has brought us? When we consider people at the top of their game, such as Froome and Murray, we o"en focus on the most visible aspects of their athle9c strength and skill. Yet their mastery derives from their ability to rise to ever tougher challenges - their maturity. Most of us have been seduced into believing that technological solu9ons can be found to the problems technology has itself created. Fragmentary, reduc9onist thinking has given us great benefits and yet is extrac9ng a high price as market forces, given free rein, priori9se short- term gains regardless of long- term costs. Our inherited models of organisa9on no longer serve us as well. Most thinking about organisa9ons is condi9oned by the metaphor of the organisa=on as a machine. Leverage, power, engines, control, gearing, trac9on are the words we use. We focus on assets and infrastructure, yet every organisa9on is populated by human beings with their hopes and aspira9ons, their ideas and inspira9on. In order to build a saner, more wholesome society for future genera9ons we need to take into account long- term, whole- system characteris9cs. I learned that one of the principal Chinese curses heaped upon an enemy is, May you live in an interes0ng age. Surely, no age has been more fraught with insecurity than our own present =me. Sir Austen Chamberlain (1936) Raise the Game 2 of 7
The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are crea=ng. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the ac=vity of making them, changes both the maker and the des=na=on. John H Schaar Far from being parts of a machine, we are social beings who want to get along, get ahead and find meaning in our lives. While few of us can even contemplate any alterna9ve to the paradigm of control and command hierarchy, there is a growing recogni9on that we are unique parts of an evolving, living whole. The paradox of humanity is that we are both independent and inter- dependent. We exist in rela9onship to everything else. It is our rela9onships that determine our reality! With new science, come alempts to organise along more natural lines, through systems for co- crea9on and collabora9on. With this new thinking it seems likely that humanity is poised on the cusp of a shi" of paradigm from organisa9on as mechanism to organisa9on as organism. This has profound implica9ons for the future of leadership. Leadership and Development Towards Conscious Leadership The way we understand leadership has changed drama9cally. The idea of a Great Leader fits with the mechanis=c model of organisa9on, based on a hierarchy in which leadership stems from the most powerful person and cascades down to touch everyone. Early alempts to understand leadership focused on innate personality traits leaders were considered born rather than made. Post- WW2 studies became more behavioural, focussing on what leaders did. By the 1980s competencies were used to describe behaviour and researchers were looking at situa9onal aspects of leadership. The century closed with the emergent concept of Emo9onal Intelligence that viewed leadership as a rela9onal prac9ce. Twen9eth century ideas of leadership that suited 20 th century organisa9ons no longer match the emerging needs of our increasingly complex world. Theories over the last decade have looked at leadership as a self- organising, adap9ve and systemic flow to which all contribute. With an emphasis on self- awareness, it enables people to evolve through their work the applica9on of their energy to that which is meaningful. Authen=city has come to be seen as a defining alribute, a pre- requisite and prac9ce based on an apprecia9on of everyone s uniqueness Conscious leadership engages people in the life- flow of an organisa9on. Such leadership is systemic rather than a personal alribute of a few individuals. People in posi9ons of authority become free from the expecta9on that they alone are the life- givers. Whatever their origins or professions, leadership awakens people to their poten9al; it brings out the best in people; it transforms individuals, teams and organisa9ons. Conscious Leadership is the whole palern and flow of energy composed of countless leadership acts, directed to a common purpose. Getting along, getting ahead, meaning business. Photo dailymail.co.uk Raise the Game 3 of 7
Worlds of Perception the framework The framework considers that we live simultaneously in worlds of different degrees of concreteness. Let us begin our explora9on with the most concrete, the PHYSICAL REALITY that pre- occupies us. We are, for the 9me being, physically embodied and learn through our senses of a material world of things, forces and movements, measurable by line and weight - the world of ac9on. We regard reality as being that which we can touch or see; tangible stuff that malers, that we can claim to own, to control and to master. The physical, sensate world masks much that we perceive, the meta- physical worlds that might be even more real or meaningful. A second world we experience directly is one of EMOTION the energy that brings about ac9on. Although we have no direct percep9on of gravity, electricity or radia9on we can accept forces and energies as substan9al. Through our feelings we are familiar with the mo9va9ons which direct our ac9ons in the physical world. Dis9nct from this is the world of our THOUGHT. Because much of our ac9vity is automa9c, we rarely think at all, unless we make a conscious effort to do so. This world of thinking enables us to gather data from which to analyse informa9on, organise, synthesise and plan. This intellectual world is characterised by the flow of TIME facts from the past, analysis in the present and plans for the future; It is constructed of memory, without which there are no facts or knowledge and no future. Such is our preoccupa9on with these three domains of thinking, feeling and ac9on, that we barely no9ce that we also inhabit other worlds. The next world is concerned with IDEAS and with SEEING or more specifically with seeing within. When you see, you grasp the whole of something, all at once. It is not necessary to painstakingly construct it from myriad parts. This kind of VISION, although perhaps indis9nct, nevertheless comes in its en9rety. With vision, thoughts that were difficult and obscure are now illuminated by insight. Insighful thought is quite different from thoughts that fumble in the dark. Beyond seeing is the world of PURPOSE which gives us reason for our being, our sense of iden9ty and mission. Hence it is very powerful. Common purpose unites people in a shared iden9ty and mission and from this they can receive inspira9on which illuminates the more concrete worlds of their existence. Again more abstract, we come next to a TRANS- PERSONAL world that the physicist, David Bohm, referred to as the Implicate Order, in which space and 9me no longer dominate. Here we perceive fields of poten9al with peaks and valleys, always in flux. Potencies ebb and flow. In this landscape, with a well- honed intui9on, we can grasp possibili9es and opportuni9es from a few clues and pointers. The world of UNIVERSAL INTELLIGENCE, is the ul9mate abstract world wherein resides our des9ny. All humans experience aspira=on literally the breath of life which is a quest for meaning and significance. When we use the word spirit; spirit of enterprise, entrepreneurial spirit, compe99ve spirit, figh9ng spirit and so on, we acknowledge this world that brings passion into our strategies. Without spirit life is dull indeed. Abstract worlds contain the concrete We thus have a schema of seven worlds of percep9on to which there is a natural order, spanning from the most concrete to the most ethereal. INTELLIGENCE penetrates into the coarse sensate world from the worlds of finer percep9ons; from ideas we can devise plans and direct our energies into inten9onal acts. In general terms, all behaviour manifests in the physical Raise the Game 4 of 7
domain where we measure performance and seek to achieve results. Science has focused largely in this domain of the measurable. We measure quan99es yet we live with quali9es which give life its meaning. Most of our 9me and most of the pre- occupa9on of our society is bound up in the worlds of thinking, feeling and ac9on. Linear rela9onships between these three domains work, up to a point, in control and command hierarchies, in rela9vely straighforward businesses and in stable 9mes. However, they are insufficient when dealing with the messy, complex and emergent situa9ons of a world in living mo9on. People some9mes act as if it is right that directors do the thinking and then managers mo9vate workers into ac9on. wherever this is the case, it is a diminished, de- genera9ve and dis- spiri9ng state of affairs. Coarse, physical energies invariably need finer energies to organise them, just as radio signals can control electronics that control mechanical devices that can move mountains. So, wherever I sit in the organisa9on, although it might seem I need an authority figure to direct my energies into ac9on, it will usually be more effec9ve if I am invited to mo9vate myself in alignment with the corporate purpose. Unless I am in control of my work I am not able to be response- able and therefore not responsible either! We are as intelligent as the wellspring of our actions. There is a flow that illuminates and animates life. To be crea9ve and intelligent we need, personally and corporately, to consciously alune our awareness so that, through insight we can have wise thoughts, through inspira=on we can clarify our future visions and, through intui=on we can determine our purpose and iden9ty and all so that our lives and our work can be imbued with meaning. All this depends, of course, upon our recep9vity to these impulses. This is the flow of CREATION; the process by which intelligence acts in our lives, our work and in the world. To be more intelligent is to listen beler to our intui9on, inspira9on and insight, so we can direct our energies into fruiful ac9on. To be reac=ve is to act from ins9nct or training vital for survival but not sufficient as a life strategy or as a management tool. Many managers revel in being reac9ve, lille realising that fire- figh9ng is less effec9ve than fire preven9on and very far from crea9ng an inten9onal future! When we think carefully before we act, we say we are responsive. When great ideas are the source of ac9on we can say we are pro- ac=ve. Being entrepreneurial requires us to intuit a wider context and be led by a clear sense of purpose. When we reach beyond that we are truly in the crea=ve flow. Raise the Game 5 of 7
Mastery in the more concrete worlds is necessary but not sufficient if we are to become fully alive. The higher the wellspring or our ac9ons the more intelligence we access. Crea9on is going on all the 9me. The crea9ve process is essen9ally the human spirit at play, manifes9ng as ac9on in the sensate world. It is also transforming the individuals, teams and organisa9ons that create. For example, a senior team works to clarify its purpose, vision and values and then engages others in similar processes. As they struggle to realise their ideas through their work, they are themselves transformed. They grow, they become more mature, conscious and capable, like our spor9ng heroes. Blocks to Intelligence PaLerns in our minds influence and control our percep9ons and some9mes act as blocks to our intelligence. Habitual behaviours channel our energies down well- worn grooves and make change challenging habits are hard to break as they o"en have physical form. Our assump=ons about life and work and what we are capable of, cause us to think the same old thoughts, even in new situa9ons. Our aftudes frame the way we see the world and inhibit the ideas we are prepared to entertain. These palerns, woven into the cultural fabric of organisa9onal life, make change difficult. Our values shape our iden9ty and restrict the purposes to which we can subscribe and our capacity to re- envision the world. What we believe, that which we assert as true, shapes the meaning we give to our lives, individually, organisa9onally and collec9vely. This is the subtlest and the toughest barrier of all. The flow from the coarse and concrete to the fine and abstract is helped by loosening the palerns in our minds. If we are less habit- bound, able to change our assump9ons, less fixed in our mind- set, we clearly have more freedom. Leing go or overcoming the barriers freeing ourselves from the tyranny within, from our personal or corporate limita9ons - is called LIBERATION. Conscious Leadership - the Vitality of Becoming To be fully, consciously alive is to par9cipate freely in this cycle of libera9on and crea9vity. We all have the poten9al to be more than we have been, to develop our vitality and our learning. We can all aspire to higher percep9ons and transcend the bonds of our limita9ons. As we learn to do so, we become more than we were we become more mature and more conscious - and our acts increase in significance. A growth of being; a move towards higher value; is what we call LEARNING. It is a con9nuous awakening to living in a way that adds value in the world and to life itself. By doing so we transform ourselves; we mature as human beings and so help to transform others. Conscious leadership is a flow of energy and informa9on that co- creates and communicates a sense of purpose and iden9ty. It enables visions to become real in the world of maler. Vision is the right use of imagina9on, which otherwise is tempted into pessimism and cynicism. Values, integral with purpose and vision provide the basis for judgement. Where values are aligned, people can trust one another to make wise decisions. If values are confused trust is barely possible. Using words, stories and pictures, Conscious Leadership communicates vision as a call from the future to the here and now. The call illuminates and energises the path of least resistance. Crea9ve tension then impels those who par9cipate towards their desired future. Problems become challenges and learning experiences the means of growth, development, transforma9on and maturity. Strategic Navigation Today s economic, social and natural environment, beset by uncertainty and instability, puts increased pressure on business leadership to respond appropriately. While the financial, poli9cal and clima9c scenarios cited in our introduc9on might not be acutely manifest in your organisa9on today, you will certainly be aware that these changes are endemic in our society. As they are surely affec9ng you and your people, they cannot be ignored! A true test in challenging 9mes is to keep focus on day- to- day prac9cali9es while aligning people to an overarching purpose. We introduced this schema as a kind of map. With a map, you can beler explore, filling in the details and probing the blanks. All our lives are vested in mental maps that have served us well enough thus far. But if the territory changes, old maps no longer serve us well. Many struggle to face the prospect and cling to their old dysfunc9onal map. A few are constantly re- mapping and, mature yet ever youthful, re- inven9ng and re- crea9ng themselves and their organisa9ons. As illustrated by Murray, Froome, Wiggins before him, and others in all walks of life, successful people persist in the face of tough challenges, maturing in their conscious leadership to inspire countless others. Successful managers and leaders are those who are able to adapt and re- create themselves, their teams and their organisa9ons. Raise the Game 6 of 7
It can be done Can we, too, displace comfortable habits, actudes, assump5ons, values and beliefs to embrace change for the beder? BeLer surely implies more advantageous to ourselves as an organism, an enterprise, community or society, now and in the future. Can we, too, reach beyond self- interest and short- term profit to evolve a purpose that raises the spirit and serves life as a whole? Although our Worlds of Percep9on framework makes no claim to be the truth, most people recognise in it something that corresponds to their experience. Like any map, it becomes meaningful and valuable as you learn to relate the details to your own situa9on. Then, we hope, it can help your leadership to bring about successful results. In a world dominated by materialist consumerism and all that it stands for, conscious leadership offers a viable alterna9ve a way of being and becoming that offers sanity and salva9on. A drive towards conscious leadership restores health and wholeness. Make sure you and your senior team have the capacity to raise the game for your organisa9on. Develop the courage and confidence to navigate uncharted waters and create a beler future. Have you the maturity for conscious leadership? Let s raise the game! The authors John Varney and Hugh Moss are both highly experienced leadership development coaches, process facilitators and learning integrators. They work with senior executives to develop strategic dynamism and manage cultural changes. Their deep understanding of human aspects of enterprise awakens innate creativity, develops maturity and enables people to make measurable progress towards meaningful results. How will you raise your game in 2014? Let LogoPraxis help. Call now for a free consulta9on without obliga9on. LogoPraxis helps organisa9ons raise their game by transforming capabili9es and improving performance. It provides a comprehensive bespoke service responsive to specific needs. It works in engaging ways that are challenging, crea9ve, empowering and libera9ng, guiding management teams on journeys of innova9on and development, with the power to transform their whole organisa9on. LogoPraxis is a collabora9on that brings together the experience, exper9se and mature capabili9es of Centre for Management Crea5vity and If Not Now When. Please give us a call +44(0)1729 830322 or email us at createchange@logopraxis.co.uk Raise the Game 7 of 7