Leadership for a New Era Discussion Forum

Oct 5 2011, 8:24 PM EDT by billsay

dianascearce

overall structure of the draft

Synthesis 6/10

Aug 7 2011, 3:48 AM EDT by eekim

DeborahMeehan

What is leadership and networks?

Leadership and Networks Draft Synthesis OLD

Apr 8 2011, 2:12 PM EDT by pyoungm

pyoungm

Networked Leadership Through Communities of Practice (CoP)

Leadership and Neworks Bay Area Circle January 31, 2011

Mar 7 2011, 12:34 PM EST by pyoungm

Great edits

Leadership and Networks Draft Synthesis OLD

Feb 5 2011, 3:16 PM EST by creinelt

What's your leadership hypothesis or value propositon?

Leadership Development Hypotheses

Oct 11 2010, 12:36 PM EDT by KellyHannum

raqueldg

Cultivate Alignment b/w Your Leadership Practices and Values

Discussion Forum

Aug 4 2010, 10:35 AM EDT by raqueldg

A new theory of leadership

Leadership and Networks (Overview and Resources)

Jul 29 2010, 1:54 AM EDT by olivia751

Thread started: Aug 31 2009, 12:18 PM EDT Watch

Do we need a new theory of leadership that goes beyond an understanding of leadership as an influence relationship between leaders and followers? How do we explain how leadership emerges in networks and communities? What resources are you finding helpful in broadening and integrating your understanding of leadership? I recently read an article by Bill Drath and his colleagues at the Center for Creative Leadership that I would highly recommend if you are interested in developing a new theory of leadership. Direction, Alignment, Commitment: Toward a More Integrated Ontology of Leadership recently appeared in Leadership Quarterly, Issue 19 (2008). An author's copy is attached below this discussion thread. Drath et al. provide a theory for how leadership emerges through relationships and interactions among peers, where there is no asymmetrical influence relationships. I found his discussion one of the most illuminating I have read, although the language he uses is dense and needs translating to be really helpful to those of us in the field of leadership development. If you do read the paper I'd love to hear your reflections, and also what other resources you have found helpful.

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Social Networks as platforms of action

Emerging Topics

Jul 26 2010, 10:01 AM EDT by

Fostering Collaborative Organizations and Networks for Social Change

Jul 23 2010, 3:05 PM EDT by

Thread started: Jul 18 2010, 12:27 PM EDT Watch

Thanks Kendra for posting. (I framed a question for your post...feel free to edit it if you like). I so agree with you about the importance of understanding collaborative leadership using a system framework. A systems perspective focuses attention on the dynamics of what is happening within and outside organizations. An interesting issue to focus on is how collaborative activity is occurring within bureaucratic organizations? I think Patti's post speaks to this issue as well when she talks about informal and formal networks. I think there is a really interesting question you raise: How much bureaucratic involvement dampens the effectiveness of collaborative activity and where is the threshold of top-down control that still enables collaborative activity to thrive? So much network leadership is practiced within and across organizations whose leadership operates with a bureaucratic mindset, and it's often experienced as a real challenge. How do we keep pushing the threshold so that collaboration has more space to develop within and across organizations?

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RE: Fostering Collaborative Organizations and Networks for Social Change
By: , Jul 23 2010, 3:05 PM EDT

I found this forum through my networking and I'm beginning to understand it a bit more. It sounds like many of you are doing research on this topic. I encourage you to look at the Tutor/Mentor Connection, which I started in Chicago in 1993, as a model that might be duplicated. Its aim is to connect a constantly expanding universe of stakeholders into on-going learning from a web based body of knowledge, including sites like this, so that more people understand where and why volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are needed, what programs are already operating, how they differ from each other, what it takes to make them work, and what leaders from business, faith groups, politics, etc. could do to make more good programs available to kids in high poverty neighborhoods.

That's a mouthful, but if you visit this strategy map, and browse our web sites, you can see what I'm describing. http://tinyurl.com/tmc-strategy-map

One book that illustrates this type of leadership is The Spider and the Starfish, which talks about the strength of de-centralized organizations. It also describes companies like eBey who have created technology platforms for millions of owners to use for their own purpose.

Thus, as you look at the T/MC and the sites we link to, think of a platform that connects thousand of owners to each other, and provides a blueprint and a map showing where to get involved, how long to get involved, and who should be getting involved. The platform itself is constantly being upgraded as others pitch in to help.

At http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com/group/ohatsmetrics you can read about a documentation system, intended to show actions that have been repeated over many years to build this network of purpose. You'll also see a call for help from others who share the same goals.

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Gradymcg

refining the model of collective leadership

A New Leadership Mindset

Jul 19 2010, 8:26 AM EDT by amacgillivray

Thread started: Mar 16 2010, 10:33 AM EDT Watch

I think Debra makes a good case for the limits of leader development, which is an expression of the increasingly anachronistic "heroic" model of leadership, and a equally good case for the power of leadership development, which taps into the wisdom and energy of the collective and focuses more directly on impact. It also makes a nice contribution by articulating the model underlying leader development, and mapping the elements of an alternative emphasis on leadership development. What remains to be done, from my point of view, is to create a new model that makes cause/result connections as explicit as the old model, while incorporating--or acknowledging--elements like those Debra points to. The Center for Creative Leadership offers one way of thinking about such a model by positing three outcomes of leadership--direction, alignment, and commitment. What I like about this model is that it leaves entirely open how one gets there and who is involved. It focuses only on results. But the model stops short of specifying community- or system-level impact, which Debra stresses. I'm thinking it would be worth exploring how to integrate these two approaches.

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RE: Intentionality
By: amacgillivray, Jul 19 2010, 8:26 AM EDT

Hi Grady; good to see your smiling face as the last pre-trip online image.

I've never been one for carving things up, except for the value of the dialogue and common context sometimes needed through such carving. I tend to go to the academic literature to see the latest on what is being said there. I think the emphasis some academics put on these things has to do with "branding" and niche as much as substantive differences.

I've not mapped out the differences, but if I were to try to do this seriously, I would probably consider a couple of axes, which I'll name power and predictability for now.

I'll use "transformational" leadership as an example for power, though--in my view--it doesn't really fit what we are talking about here. Some people consider the transformational leadership paradigm as a way of distributing leadership, but it really is in the hands of someone with power to orchestrate this. So this sits relatively close to centralized power. Whereas "distributed" (though somewhat quietly and between the lines) recognizes that the ultimate form of distributed leadership is the total disappearance of the leader-follower paradigm.

I'm not sure predictability is a great axis, but just to play with it... Traditional leadership models often assume a lot of predictability. I would have to dig back into literature to see which of these makes that assumption (which is perfectly valid for some work, but does one need "collective" leadership for such work except perhaps for buy-in?) Some of these new models--such as complex and relational--acknowledge the unpredictability of much of our work. Of these two spectra, probably the unpredictable end is even more controversial than the give-away-power end.

I'll wave as we fly somewhere near Boston (unless we go over the pole).

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Networks and sustainability

Jun 15 2010, 9:14 AM EDT by creinelt

KenOtter

Simple model for Collaborative Group Work

Collaboration

Jun 2 2010, 11:34 PM EDT by KenOtter

RossWirth42

Lessons from Complexity Science

May 27 2010, 4:04 PM EDT by RossWirth42

RossWirth42

Leadership in contrasting network styles

May 27 2010, 3:46 PM EDT by RossWirth42

Great series of Partner posts planned on network leadership

May 25 2010, 1:05 PM EDT by creinelt

Thread started: May 25 2010, 1:05 PM EDT Watch

We have a great series of partner posts planned on network leadership over the next couple of weeks.

** Patti Anklam (Net Work) is reflecting on how to prepare organizational leaders to work in a networked world.
**Gibran Rivera (Interaction Institute for Social Change) is reflecting on what some of the organizational barriers are that get in the way of supporting network leadership, and how
organizations can create the space for network leadership to emerge.
**Diana Scearce (Monitor Institute) is reflecting on when and how to invest in network leadership and what forms this type of investment might take.
**Bruce Hoppe (Connective Associates) is reflecting on what leadership looks like in a healthy network.
**Beth Tener (New Directions Collaborative) is reflecting on why working through networked approaches is a core strategy for pursuing sustainability.

I am personally excited by these posts since over the last six months I have been working with more and more leaders who are discovering the power of organizing their work through networks, and who are frustrated by their organizational culture because it does not value network engagement. Organizational leadership cultures that seek to control and regulate the flow of information, ideas, and resources in order to maintain competitive advantage and authority make it difficult to exercise network leadership. How do we catalyze the development of leadership with a network mindset within organizations so that they are a force for social and system transformation not a barrier to it?

What additional perspectives or questions do you hope this series will take up? Do you have a perspective you would like to share? Join the Leadership and Networks partnership!

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erickkaufman

Collective Leadership versus ______________ Leadership

Collective Leadership (Overview and Resources)

Apr 16 2010, 1:12 PM EDT by erickkaufman

Boston Learning Circle: Conversation About Leadership and Networks

What are your takeaway insights & questions from the Boston gathering?

Mar 26 2010, 4:23 PM EDT by creinelt

Boston Learning Circle: Conversation About Leadership and Networks

Questions We Are Asking About Leadership and Networks

Seattle Learning Circle: A Conversation About Leadership and Race

Mar 12 2010, 4:32 PM EST by nataliallc

Thread started: Mar 5 2010, 10:39 AM EST Watch

I'm really excited about our upcoming gathering on Leadership and Networks at The Boston Foundation on March 26th. Those who are coming shared with us what they hope from participating. I've illuminated some of the underlying questions that emerged from reading those responses. I find these questions very provocative and look forward to digging deeper when we get together.

How is network leadership being developed and supported in communities of color?
How do we organize our work to better support network participation?
How do we learn to tap into networks?
How do we connect to other leaders and have fun?
How do we create dynamic teams?
What examples do we have of team leadership? Can we share our stories?
How do we learn together in ways that we can share with others (especially with youth and residents)?
What are practical strategies for sustaining leadership networks?
What are the deeper insights into the motives, incentives and barriers involved in sustaining leadership networks?

You also shared with us that you are joining our gathering on the 26th to have real time to think about leadership and networks, to reflect on your own networks, to learn and gain perspective, to connect with others who are thinking about leadership and networks, and to have a chance to discuss a topic your passionate about.

As organizers of this gathering, Gibran and I would love to hear your questions. What are you pondering about leadership and networks? What do you believe we need to pay attention to as we learn together about how to lead through networks?

If you are interested in joining us in Boston, you can still register to come. http://www.leadershipforanewera.org/

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nataliallc

What are some of the issues/topics you would like to discuss?