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APRIL/MAY 2010
Hi Folks; Spring has sprung and the vestiges of the changing seasons remind me that life is a continual process of birth, growth, death, and decay. To become fully who we are, we must allow parts that have served us well to diminish and die, thereby allowing something new, more complex, more inclusive to grow from within us. J. C. Smuts, (Holism and Evolution, 1926) developed the term “holism” to reflect “the process of creative synthesis” that permeates the evolutionary tendency of the universe in all of its forms of existence. In Smuts view, the “synthesis affects and determines the parts, so that they function towards the whole; and the whole and the parts therefore reciprocally influence and determine each other, and appear more or less to merge their individual characters: the whole is in the parts and the parts are in the whole, and this synthesis of whole and parts is reflected in the holistic character of the functions of the parts as well as of the whole.” Executive development is an example of the holistic process. In this issue, we begin to look at the developmental stages of leaders. In my work, I use a variety of assessment tools, including development assessments, to get a sense of what is the primary frame of perception driving the executive. Often, when given a developmental view, it enables the client to sense a new way of being that might be possible. Using the work of Harthill Consulting, based on the research of Bill Torbert, we will explore adult development and the creation of action logics that depict each stage of development.1 A brief summary of the action logics is included in this issue and we will more deeply explore these in subsequent issues until we have looked at all of them. If you enjoyed the newsletter, please forward it to someone that would benefit from it. If not, thanks for reading it and kindly click on the Unsubscribe link below. Herb StevensonPresident/CEO 1I am indebted to Bill Torbert, David Rooke, Elaine Barker, and Jackie Keeley at Harthill for their gracious permission to reprint the descriptions of their leadership development framework, including the leadership action-logics that depicts the stages of executive development. www.harthill.co.uk Leadership as DevelopmentalAdult Development2
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Overview of the key Action Logics of the Leadership Development Framework |
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Action Logic | Key Traits | Leadership Style |
Opportunist | Wins any way possible. Self-oriented; manipulative; ‘might makes right’. | Short term horizon; focus on concrete things; deceptive; rejects feedback; externalizes blame; distrustful; fragile self-control; possibly hostile humor or ‘happy-go-lucky’; views luck as central; views rules as loss of freedom; punishes according to ‘eye for eye’ ethic; treats what they can get away with as legitimate. Seeks personal advantage: takes an opportunity when it arises. |
Diplomat | Avoids overt conflict. Wants to belong; obeys group norm; rarely rocks the boat. | Observes protocol; avoids inner and outer conflict; works to group standard; speaks in clichés and platitudes; conforms; feels shame if they violate norm; avoids hurting others; seeks membership and status; face-saving essential; loyalty is to immediate group, not distant organization or principles. Attends to social affairs of group and individuals. Provides supportive social glue. |
Expert | Rules by logic and expertise. Searches for improvement and rational efficiency. | Is immersed in the self referential logic of their own belief system, regarding it as the only valid way of thinking. Interested in problem solving; critical of self and others based on their belief system; chooses efficiency over effectiveness; perfectionist; accepts feedback only from ‘objective’ experts in their own field; dogmatic; values decisions based on the incontrovertible facts; wants to stand out and be unique as an expert; sense of obligation to wider, internally consistent moral order. Consistent in pursuit of improvement. Strong individual contributor. |
Achiever | Meets strategic goals. Delivery of results by most effective means. Success focused. | Effectiveness and results oriented; long-term goals; future is vivid, inspiring; welcomes behavioral feedback; feels like initiator, not pawn; begins to appreciate complexity and systems; seeks increasing mutuality in relationships; feels guilt if does not meet own standards; blind to own shadow, to the subjectivity behind objectivity; seeks to find ways around problems in order to deliver, may be unorthodox. Adopts rather than creates goals. |
Individualist | Innovates processes. Relativistic position with fewer fixed truths. Self, relationships and interaction with the system. | Focus on self and less on goals; increased understanding of complexity, systems operating and working through relationships; deepening personal relationships; takes on different role in different situations; increasingly questions own assumptions (part of rise in self absorption) and assumptions of others; attracted by change and difference more than by stability and similarity; increasingly aware of own shadow. |
Strategist | Creates personal and organizational transformations. Links between principles, contracts, theories and judgement. | Recognizes importance of principle, contract, theory and judgement - not just rules and customs; creative at conflict resolution; process oriented as well as goal oriented; aware of paradox and contradiction; aware that what one sees depends upon one’s world view; high value on individuality, unique market niches, particular historical movements; enjoys playing a variety of roles; witty, existential humor (as contrasted to prefabricated jokes); aware of dark side of power and may be tempted by it - may misuse their own abilities and manipulate others. Postconventional. |
Alchemist | Generates social transformations. Interplay of awareness, thought, action and effect. Transforming self and others. | Seeks participation in historical / spiritual transformations; creator of events which become mythical and reframe situations; anchoring in inclusive present, seeing the light and dark in situations; works with order and chaos; blends opposites, creating ‘positive-sum’ games; exercises own attention continually; researches interplay of institution, thought, action and effects on outside world; treats time and events as symbolic, analogical, metaphorical (not merely linear, digital, literal), involved in spiritual quest, often helps others in their life quests. |
In the next issue we will delve deeper into the first two action logics: the Opportunist and the diplomat.
2 See David Rooke and Bill Torbert, Seven Transformation of Leadership, in the Harvard Business Review for an abbreviated description of the action-logics of leader development.
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Herb Stevenson is President/CEO of the Cleveland Consulting Group, Inc. and bridges the worlds of business and spiritual healing. He is a nationally recognized author, trainer, executive coach and management consultant. He has published 26 books on various aspects of banking and business. Herb’s expertise in facilitating group discussion and individual goal setting will assure attendees achieve optimum take-home value, leaving the workshop ready to live a more fulfilling life with purpose and passion.
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