The 4 Disciplines of A Leader's Lifelong Learning

Leaders have no choice but to be Life-Long Learners. Life-long learning is the method & process by which individuals engage in learning, un-learning and re-learning, which centres around individuals rather than institutions. Indeed, formal education can only get you to the start-point in today's Knowledge Economy, where knowledge has become a major competitive advantage to nations, businesses and individuals.

While mastery of content knowledge remains important for entry into any field, to lead in the Knowledge Economy, one needs to hone skills that underlie the learning, unlearning and re-learning processes. To be successful exemplars of lifelong learning, leaders will require mastery of 4 learning-to-learn disciplines:

• Learning HOW one learns

Recognition of one's learning style and optimum learning conditions allows leaders to maximise their learning time and effort, while meeting their demands of operational roles in their respective organisations. Such a discipline provides the foundation of the next 3.

• Evaluating the value of WHAT one has learnt

Leaders practise active reflection of their newly-acquired knowledge and identify the core elements most directly relevant and applicable to their leadership contexts. With limited resources of time on their hands, the discipline of evaluation will ensure that their learning effort remains situated in the leadership and management situations they face.

• Integrating WHAT one has learnt with prior knowledge & experience

Leaders have then to consciously test and apply principles derived from their reflection process. As strategies develop from these principles, leaders begin to integrate the principles with their prior knowledge. Through this process, the learning done is now internalised and has gained the benefits of experience.

• Recognising a diversity of learners and learning experiences

Leaders are also teachers and as effective teachers, would recognise that there is a diversity of learning styles in the people they lead. This means they have to adjusting to different learning concerns as they teach. They will also need to develop instructional skills to facilitate meaningful learning experiences that cater to this diversity.

Whatever positions they occupy, Leaders are vital to the success of their organisations in leveraging on Knowledge as a competitive advantage. The degree of success will certainly depend on how they gain mastery of the 4 Disciplines of a Leader's Lifelong Learning.

Noel Tan
Resident Philosopher
(* All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)

An Update on the EdD Journey

Hi true believers,
I am halfway through Module 2 week and I can say that my proposed area of research ie into leadership metaphors is an inspired choice. It is truly fascinating how they reveal the inner perspectives that filter our understanding of the world and also how they reflect how that understanding is relevant to the situations we face.

Dr Wayne McGowan has been a personable and affable teacher and his facilitation of our learning over the past 3 nights was excellent. I felt that he clarified a lot of our unspoken concerns about the Literature Review. What could have been ultimately boring was turned into enlightening episodes of learning, filled with a lot of interaction.

I still haven't quite gotten over the '2 Fast, 2 Furious' pace that the EdD journey is going. Still, the mental exhilaration is right up there, but with Edna, family and work; I guess the sleep deprivation is likely to continue. Haha! Since we're on the topic of metaphors, I must add that the light at the end of the tunnel is certainly not going to be visible for some time yet too.

Noel
Resident Philosopher

Vicious Cycles and Systems Thinking

It is easy to find individuals who are able to see 'Cause-&-Effect' relationships behind everyday problems: global warming being due to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; 3rd World poverty fuelling global human trafficking syndicates in the First World. Sound familiar? From this perspective, once we get the cause out of the way, the effect gets solved. Right? No! Global issues, like those mentioned, often belie the vicious cycles that persist. It's a no-brainer that they don't get resolved!

People and organisations too, get caught in vicious cycles. Consider people we know who are stuck in bad relationships or life-crippling addictions to alcohol or gambling. For all intentions and purposes, they know these will do them no good to continue in them. Yet, they can't break out because they're in a vicious cycle. Because a vicious cycle in its downward spiral, gains its own momentum with each turn of the cycle, with each contributing cause blending into the other. Analytical Thinking helps us connect causes to their effects, but it does less well in resolving complex problems like vicious cycles. Why?

Systems Thinking, on the other hand, provides us with tools and applicable insights to transform vicious cycles into virtuous ones. It offers another perspective, apart from the usual analytical angle which is sometimes too linear for the good of those caught in the problem. It anticipates inertial & counter-change responses that frequently surface when the problem is tackled. It allows those attempting change to remain focused on the real issues. In particular, systems thinking provides a consideration of bi-directional relationships within the system:

• the inputs and outputs of the various factors involved (1 direction)
  
• the feedback loops (the other direction)
• the control mechanisms in the system and whether these are working and
  
• how the vicious cycle evolves as a result of the above 2 elements

An organisation I am helping is currently recognising that it is caught within a vicious cycle, where different units responded to organisational challenges in ways that worsened the perceived problem. You had swift departures of 2 CEOs within 3 years of each other, and then the loss of a key profit centre whose staff left with a Director to join another organisation in between the CEO departures. In response, existing profit centres took on the mission tasks of the unit, which by then was reduced to skeletal staff.

Over time, these tasks became part of the raison d'etre of those units. Now as the once-skeletal unit is ready to take on its old mission goals, these units have been wary of handing these back. From a purely analytical angle, the primary problem may be perceived to be due to the absence of leadership at the highest level. However, to determine it as the ONLY prominent factor may only be a portion of the full picture. Systems Thinking allows us to arrive at the following solutions for the organisation:

• Engage in Long-term Leadership Development at all levels

This has the aim of stemming the perennial problem of CEO & Director departures and the absence of able deputies. It also has the advantage of creating a common leadership vision and understanding of organisational concerns.

• Short- to Medium-term dialogue with existing profit centres to clarify their respective missions and their relationship to the organisational vision.

This move is to manage the 'ownership' issues viz-a-viz the once-skeletal unit, and also to build an understanding of interconnectedness between the units, which have been behaving as Silos for the longest time.

• Propose a series of Organisational Development and Diversity training workshops for key staff to begin to promote Systems Thinking and a Corporate Identity that was attached to CEOs, which when they left, became unhinged.
  

As seen, Systems Thinking provides incisive tools to paint a more accurate picture of the vicious cycle the organisation was in. More importantly, it helped identify steps and structures which promote an understanding of bi-directional relationships within the system.

We wish them well.

Noel Tan
Resident Philosopher
(* All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)
(Graphic Source: www.systems-thinking.org)

Breaking through that Silo mentality!

My facilitation team and I are always struck by 1 phenomenon at our teambuilding programmes: that participants when placed into new groups, show great energy in competing with other groups, but often fail to find the space for collaboration across groups. This has happened time and again, even when the activities that we have designed gives prominent place to collaborative interactions.

I put it down to the 'Silo Mentality', which kicks in the moment we blend our interests and goals with the immediate group which we are put into. Borrowing from Bruce Tuckman's Life-Cycle of a Team, I'd say that the Silo Mentality emerges during the Norming stage.

This occurs for 3 reasons:
1. When we come into a group, we begin re-aligning to the new identity, eg establishing new relationships and work patterns. Reading other members of the group, building rapport with them, and forging alliances will be the main preoccupations at this point.

2. Simultaneously, we are also balancing what our individual identity still requires eg. our own needs that we are unwilling or unable to give up. The 'mental juggling' of these 2 concerns leaves little room for group members to consider the possibility of collaboration with other groups.

3. People just want to get along after the Storming stage. Most people are fearful of conflict and after the myriad of 'Storms' just ended, group members would be focusing their efforts on putting the group on an even keel.

If the 'Silos' are not broken through, individual groups will still likely achieve their mission goals. This success extends to political turf battles between departments and units within the same organisation. Imagine if line operations, marketing and finance work so well independently, that there is no synergy between them. The negative impact on the company's bottomline, morale, effectiveness and mission goals will no doubt be significant.

However, all is not lost. There are 3 things leaders can do to break the Silo mentality.
Firstly, team leaders should use integrative metaphors to frame the need for team cohesion, against the backdrop of the larger organisational needs. In building team unity and loyalty, team leaders should be wary of the tendency of teams to turn into 'factions', because leaders have been prone to paint other teams or units as the 'enemy'. Instead, team leaders can use metaphors such as 'building blocks" and "ecosystem" to describe the relationships that their teams share with others in the organisation.

Secondly, team leaders play the role of interpreter-mediator between other units and their team. While the workteam is focused on its core mission, it is remains the responsibility of team leaders to interpret organisational goals for the team. The translation of these goals into team objectives requires team leaders to actively mediate between competing and at times, paradoxical concerns. Team leaders should not be 'parochial' in keeping their best team members, but instead send their best team members to join cross-functional teams and task forces.

Thirdly, senior management should engage actively in re-shaping organisational culture to build a ground that is receptive and fertile for collaborative practices across work teams and units. Pro-collaboration attitudes and practices can be promoted organisation-wide, for instance by:

• changing the reward structures to reward task force work,
• creating opportunities for cross-functional deployment for team leaders and executives to expose them to the larger organisational needs and perspectives,
• developing training programmes to promote appreciation of diversity and difference, and
  
• developing an induction package for all new employees to recognise the importance placed on collaboration.

Agricultural silos are built to protect grain from elements of weather and pests. They serve that function well. Yet, in organisational and team life, a 'silo mentallity' prevents collaboration from taking root. Without a culture of collaboration, the paradox of team success amidst organisational failure will result.

Noel
Resident Philosopher
(* All text is copyright of Trailblazer Trainers Pte Ltd)