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How “learning leadership” succeeds

22.02.2020

 

Learning leadership – is that possible? Do we need it? Does it still fit in with the times? Does it make sense?

Let’s assume so, how could it look like then?

Surely the times of standardized management curricula lasting several weeks are over. Regardless of whether they are conducted in St. Gallen, at the Hernstein Institute or in in-house qualification programs. The requirements and expectations of customers have changed. Learning is different today and so is networking.

The fact that it works differently and is successful from the customer’s “executive” perspective is shown by the feedback of a pilot group of a customer’s holistically designed leadership and management development program. This group recently completed their two-year Learning Journey with a graduation. And what the participants reported in the retrospective suggests that they obviously did a lot right.

An impressive retrospective

The participants of the pilot group were simply fantastic in their ability to create a retrospective of their learning journey as individuals and as a group.

They expressed the digital competence they had developed in the meantime by making a film. Not only did the film highlight the various stages of the learner and Learning Journey, but the participants’ employees and superiors were also asked to show up in front of the camera to present their view of the impact of the qualification on the participants and their own organisation. By the way, no script had been written. Rather, this work was created in a creative collaboration in several iterations. An example of how the learning content on the topic of “new work” and “agile formats” came to life.

Afterwards, they arranged all participants in a “circle”, brought a (self-made) ball into play and let everyone have their say: The participants of the pilot group as well as the coaches and program managers and guests who had come to hear the learnings. Three questions provided the structure. The participants set the framework, initiated the process and then handed it over to self-organisation. This unit was prepared in peer groups and then collaboratively brought into the entire learning group without external facilitator. They already have the methodological and the social competence to turn those affected into participants.

Encouraging feedback

The feedback from the film and the following circle was inspiring and touching in many ways. In an unusual depth, people spoke openly about their own development. Many thanks were expressed for the many experiences and the lessons learned. There was talk of experienced and practiced appreciation. Acknowledgement of the progress made in building up competence in oneself and in others could be heard. The positive experience of cooperation and mutual support was especially emphasized. Examples of the sustainable effectiveness of qualification content in everyday life were mentioned. The weekly conference call set up in a peer group during the qualification trip was independently agreed upon as a regular call also beyond the qualification. This gave collegial consultation a space for sustainability. Learning in this new form received a certificate. This was combined with the request not to change anything, because learning makes sense and is effective in this way.

Learning leadership newly defined

How is this format designed to achieve such results and feedback from experienced managers?

On the one hand, it consistently follows the 70:20:10 approach, i.e. 70% of the qualification takes place at the workplace and by means of direct reference to the daily work routine. Here, virtual learning nuggets can also be consumed, which can be added to your own playlist according to individual needs. 20% of learning takes place in the community. Both in fixed peer groups and in the entire learning group. Routed via an exchange platform and supported by (video) calls. And 10% of the development takes place in face-to-face workshops. Particularly when the topics of person and behaviour are involved.

A transfer of the learning content into practice is consistently ensured with transfer tasks for the individual learner and in the virtual learner community. Often the learner’s work assignments also refer to their team or working environment. Here, primarily the long-term practical projects are to be seen. They demonstrate the business impact of the program and enable the development of competencies in (agile) project management.

Not to forget the highlight. Each participant is personally accompanied by a (virtual) coach. With this coach, individual concerns can be addressed. He/she also ensures that the participant always keeps the overview and direction in his/her largely self-organized learning journey.

Each participant has access to a comprehensive Wiki with in-depth content. Regular blogs help to ensure that the program always offers up-to-date content.

Learning leadership here means learning and iterating on the job. This starts with self-management, which is necessary for the program to come alive. After all, time for learning and development must be allowed by the participants themselves. This continues with the reflection on leadership in everyday work and the examination of the roles of “Manager & Leader” and their interaction. Leadership is also looked at from the future. This is where topics such as purpose, culture and new work come into play as well as new roles as change manager or enabler.

Then, there we are already talking about a Leader-Shift.

Redesigning leadership development.

That´s something we are good at.

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Leadership starts with the self

What does “leadership begins with the self” mean? Leadership is primarily understood as leadership of employees or leadership of an organisation – using different techniques and methods. Sometimes the spot is on management, sometimes the ideas of leadership are focused. After all, these task are traditionally allocated to a manager. And when taking care of these tasks, he or she can fall back on countless ideas and approaches as to how these can be managed. Leadership begins with the employee or with the task or with governance. Why then focusing on the Self when it comes to leadership?

A completely different understanding of leadership

Let’s say leadership starts with the self. Then leadership would no longer be limited to the role of a leader. Actually, everybody would be a leader. Leadership would be embedded in the self. And if everybody leads him/herself, why do we need leaders after all? Then leadership in the best sense would be provided by everyone, driven by self-organisation. For this, a suitable culture with suitable principles and the most necessary norms is required. Besides that, a powerful purpose and a shining North Star is desirable. By the way, this has already been described by Charles Manz and Henry Sims in “Superleadership“.

Admittedly an ideal image, in the best case a target image. Until then there will still be leaders on the road and for them there are good reasons to start leading the self. Namely to be able to consciously shape certain parts of their own personality and thus their own effectiveness.

Self knowledge – a basic requirement for people in leadership

In fact, a precise knowledge of one’s self is not as common among managers as one might expect. In any case, in qualifications or management audits, it becomes apparent regularly that the image of others differs considerably from the self-image. It is therefore not easy for (prospective) managers to name or assess their motivation, competence or factual and emotional impact.

The perception named here corresponds with statements from employee satisfaction surveys or commitment studies, which make it clear that employees accuse their managers of not being authentic, too power-related or not close enough. When managers are confronted with these statements, it is often very surprising to see how they are perceived. Since this view does not correspond at all with their own assessment.

Now, however, a deeper self-knowledge can be seen as a basic requirement in working with other people. In order to avoid projections or to recognize counter-projections, to differentiate hypotheses from reality and in the sense of a safe assessment of situations and possible de-escalation of conflicts, a precise self-perception is essential.

Working on one’s own self-awareness is thus a first leadership task for managers. Feedback from colleagues/friends, reflection with a coach and participation in appropriate qualifications are suitable support in this respect. The topic is just getting hip. Currently, there are also a lot of offers on the market. Here for example an offer from TCJG.

Good leadership is a question of attitude

Self-management also means being aware of one’s own attitude in leadership and to maintain a reflected approach to it. This means knowing your personal values, beliefs and needs. And to understand these as the foundation for one’s own leadership actions.

In his book “Haltung entscheidet” Martin Permantier offers to differentiate between attitudes in six different clusters and follows as far as possible the Spiral Dynamics approach or Ken Wilber’s reflections on memes. An analysis of one’s own attitude by means of the classification presented in the book also helps to better understand and align one’s own actions. One’s individual attitude forges best – oneself and the team.

The examination of one’s own attitude should be a further matter of course for managers, just like self-knowledge. Only those who can clearly name their attitude are in a good position to check whether it fits in with the corporate culture or whether “forced adjustments” need to be made, which are then perceived by the environment as inauthentic or manipulative.

At the same time, the attitude shapes the role model demanded by the manager. Authenticity will only be perceived if attitude is repeatedly experienced in coherent action.

Then it is also reliable to follow traditional or always new leadership models. Whether they are called “Servant Leadership” or “Human Leadership”, “Connected Leadership” or “Agile Leadership”. If one’s own attitude represents the spirit of the organization in which the leader works and if one’s own heart sets the pace, there is no need for static guidelines from the model catalogue.

Updating knowledge about innovation is of course something else. It is indispensable. But not only for managers.

Self-management wants to be practised

When self-knowledge is acquired and one’s own attitude is reflected upon, then there is still the behavioural level. If you know what makes you “tick” and what impacts your own actions and if your own effect can be described and there is awareness of how your own behaviour shapes the culture in the team, then you can proactively shape your actions consciously.

This is at first a question of will, in the sense of what I want to contribute to, my own purpose, which describes why I stand up every day as a leader. Then there is the ability, that describes how I will act, how I express what I want to get my team to do, how I go about designing. And then there is action, that shows what I do exactly, when and how often, in order to put will and ability into action.

While the purpose is best identified and formulated in peace, stillness and with some distance, the development and expansion of skills and procedures and, above all, consistent action is a longer process that usually takes place in iterations. Thus, an intention is followed by a period of experimentation and then again and again by practice. Until doing becomes a habit. On the way, discipline is usually required, as it is known from sports. Practice again and again, do not give up. Somehow this is like training for a marathon.

Resilience can’t hurt. Setbacks are part of it, especially when disturbances come from outside. A conflict situation within the team, a new supervisor, pressure from sales numbers.

Tips to ensure that leadership starts with the self

With a powerful driver, your own purpose backing you up and a goal of where you and your team should go, it will be easier to stay on the learning path.

It is proven to be a good idea to visualize both. In other words, to create a picture of one’s own “what for” and the desired result (vision) in one’s head or even on paper.

Rituals can be used for the daily behavioural routine. Just as you go jogging every day, for example, each day can begin with 15-20 minutes of reflection and alignment. Or one day a month can be scheduled for the “self”. Very important on the learning journey to oneself/with oneself are feedback sessions to check if the intended effect is achieved. Regular lunches with colleagues or employees can be helpful to allow space for this.

Becoming a manager is certainly not always easy, being a manager is a challenge, especially a manager who fills his role with charisma. As surveys show us again and again, it is more or less easy to master this challenge.

Those who are more successful are either natural talents or they have set out on their own journey to become themselves. An exciting journey by the way. And a rewarding one. Because leadership starts with the self.

 

Would you like to shape that?

This is something we´re good at.