Always a struggle. Usually a tendency to change too much or too fast…to keep up with all the disrupting events, or new opportunities seemingly easily absorb-able in any organization. Poster 218 Geodesic Selection process [click here] is a framework for such consideration…Actually it’s an ongoing, every day management technique when running a LLF, since by design it shifts with the need and future of the actual participants. but in great moderation. AND I argue strongly, ONLY by a practiced, superbly alert, facilitator. Even these few facilitators must study the list, it’s implications, and the possible “magic” lost. Like
“Trust”, once lost, the “magic is very hard, perhaps impossible to regain!! Of the handful [ c. 4 of c. 250-300 I have run or helped run]. I have yet ever seen it “regained”. Only stopped. Thus the great care!!
Alan Alda’s new book [ yes, he’s from the TV show M*A*S*H], “If I Understood You, Would I have this Book in my Face – My adventures in the Art & Science of Relating and Communicating” ...especially the part just italicized, is fundamental today for all existing & aspiring I.T leaders. When he was acting [ now writing & teaching], he learned a lot about “Improv”,and shares that professional journey, its deep impact and broad applicability, for us all to benefit from. I’m on my 2nd careful read! Its relevance is essential, and often missing, in our currently fast changing set of I.T roles.Brace yourself for tons of insight, from voices not heard much in our profession. I will incorporate this in my Leadership Learning Forum Process. It adds clarity to needed shifts in every I.T. organization I am aware of!!
A very crucial organizational theme, in mt mind. Comes from another book about leadership and change…..”The Art of Change Leadership: Driving Transformation in a Fast Paced world” Cheryl Cran 4.8 of 5 multiple ranking comments in Amazon. I’d strongly suggest getting it for your own reading/reference/making it come alive. I am. Am also recommending it, quoting it, discussing the full meaning of the book title, in it’s macro implications, especially in micro/specific situations with clients, and graduates of my Leadership Learning Forum programs [perhaps 300 or more such groups now!!]
Answer in the “fullest sense”….. of your total input…. talk shows, magazines, newspapers, confidants, TV news, books, research papers etc., etc. This is more important than ever, with so many choices, “fake news”, endless opinions driven by deadlines, a requirement in most walks of life now, to “know more…understand well beyond your immediate chore list.
Some suggested guidelines: MULTIPLE – rely on more than several..push your search boundaries, as much as you can effectively…….. ROTATE – don’t get stuck in any channel, author, or viewpoint., w/o checking other views/sources……SETTLE on some respected /trusted “Readers” with different connections, who would easily discuss/explore together……ACCESS/EVALUATE periodically and carefully,for match up to your needs/ desires
Managing your input flow is one of every mature human’s most precious responsibilities!!
Twice very recently I’ve been part of a discussion about these three views. Likely there are others [ e.g., tell nothing], but this three cornered choice is difficult enough for many of us. Certainly so depending on position/profession. And on the context. The two were in I.T. groups, in large business organizations. I believe that to reap the benefits, and effectiveness of a superb “Internal Consultant”, one must be able to “stir” ….actually customize, that mix to the person(s) engaged, and arrange for a second[ or more] conversation to expand or deepen the response. It may be that the proper mix will always be subject to change. Some lessons from past attempts…..1] impossible not to combine,i.e., to have zero of one view….2]improper to short the “should” view in favor of the other two [ time and pace help here]……3] Like always, preparation and follow -up are often more effective than actual content. 4] It may well be that first interaction is only a preamble, hardly ever an “answer”…so “cooking time” is crucial for acceptance.5]”Can” hear is more central than it may seem..sometimes people are simply incapable of hearing a particular view they don’t want to hear & continuing wastes everyone’s limited resources!!
This book “How Today’s Market Leaders can beat Disruptive Competitors @ their own Game” is a must study, and branch out from, book, for everyone, in my opinion. If you’re a leader, or in technology , or surely in the increasingly wide intersection of those two professions, it’s mandatory to absorb and keep expanding your grasp of it’s views/ideas.
By Loucks, Macaulay, Noronha and Wade ISBN-10: 1-945010-01-0
It covers the technology Trends Converging Today, refernced in Poster 444 below, in the blog on June 10th. And a lot more!!. I’ll post several “book reports” from clients who are focused on it, in the section of this website, under the tab “Magic”, on the first page, and then under the tab “Book Summaries”….. in a few days [when we recover from “Father’s day- today!!!]
Can you do both?…and switch back and forth w/o losing your game? Few have that capacity naturally. Most of us need to work @ it/learn more about How?/Why?/When? Especially today in Information Technology. It’s not enough to be skilled at/fully understanding of, the disruptive technologies [Post 444 Tech Trends] happening in all professions. Neither is it enough to just attend the responsibilities of that level. Increasingly, competence is required in both.
Well….. how do you get there? As starters…carefully constructed reading/communication work habits early in your life…..relationships built on connections where you will be coached/mentored, actually “pushed”some…..with an overall personal attitude of humility laced with confidence and action….
Or don’t reach very far into any form of leadership!!
More soon. It’s a huge focus.
Recently while establishing several new customized cycles of the Leadership Learning Forum Process, in specific organizational settings, the 8 selection processes/discussion points [Post 280] modating increasing requirements to adjust. Hopefully that will continue amidst all the disruption/competitive pressure abound today.
Last week I was honored @ the 50th anniversary of the Society of Information Management [SIM], in Dallas Fort Worth, 4/11-13/18. Of the 11 SIM founders I was the “kid”, but the only one with $ and staff. All the others were authors, government officials, full professors, etc., except my boss, who was also a founder, and simply said “Get this done”. So I ran SIM for three years in my budget with two very competent young female analysts, and he approved every thing we decided to do. Twenty five years later a program I designed and implemented in my own business, I re-designed and started for SIM. It was their first program of leadership development, which they multiplied and still do today, now called Regional Leadership Forum [RLF]. There are c. 7 RLF’s in chapter areas, that produce the lion’s share of SIM revenue. Now very many of the Chapter and National leaders are graduates of that program. The 50 & 25 anniversary celebration in DFW, was generously and tastefully done, including two other long standing friends/collaborators, Bart Bolton and Darwin John, both of whom were basic in bringing The Society plus RLF, to it’s impactful position today!! Importantly ready for the challenges of the Future, SIM members face, in every profession!!
Real design, rare in most organizations, is well beyond just putting things together…which is hard enough sometimes. It requires more than a little of basic creativity…..starting almost from scratch…..or what seems like it. That is, a new market, or abrupt shift in organizational culture, a vastly different leadership style. Into such a context, the LLF process has been successfully, not easily, implanted often over the last 25+ years. Two beginning documents [recently updated] are linked here as a combined basis for starting such a design. I’ll follow these “poster” expressions with some audio ramblings….hopefully helping deepen effective understanding!
A longstanding Client, who has become a mentor of me in our process….suggested I add my speaking style, to each website verbal reflection/blog…..which I’ll now do…one more structured, the 2nd a bit more rambling…….personally expressive, if not proof read ready for print. This blog and the most recent one will be my first experiments with that idea. It will be an adventure!
I read recently of the common characteristics ascribed to water: flows around, hardly ever stopped long….grounded as much as possible…..powerful but appearing often calm/quiet….overwhelming @ times…..often present….almost always essential….sometimes hard to reach. There are others……An old Chinese parable of “Fire and Water” is superb. While not much in the current literature about leadership, these analogue connections are strikingly useful I believe. Especially in terms of the need for shifted approaches to leadership situations!! Many appearing to fit well, but beyond some of our capacity to adjust quickly. Authentically. Seamlessly. However it’s an imagery good to keep in our heads to implement when effective. A few days later I saw the award-winning movie “The Sound Of Water”, bringing another broad set of perspectives to ancient & recent expressions of leadership mentalities. Worth pondering as a full set for us all, I think
Some audio discussion of the above,will be added soon to this very brief verbal description of leadership
