Hi Birgitt,
I like this topic a lot. Thanks for opening it here for discussion, and
civil discourse.
One paradox in leadership might be "the paradox of leading as following."
I continue to learn more about this. My current beliefs on the topic go
something like this:
There is a symbiosis relationship between so-called followers, and
so-called leaders. Any genuine authorization leaders actually have
actually comes from others, not from the organization.
Formally-authorized leaders might get some kind of authorized standing
from "the organization." So-called position. The problem of course is
that formal authority- 'position'- is not enough. Leaders need
peer-to-peer authorization from others before they can exercise it. This
so-called "informal authorization" is also known as "street credibility"
or "respect." Also known sometimes as "influence."
When someone with informal authorization is speaking, they are probably
speaking for the group as a whole.
When formally and informally authorized leaders lead without following,
then by definition, they are not acting on behalf of the group. When
they speak, then by definition, they are not speaking for the
group-as-a-whole. They are actually powerless, since power is the
exercise of authority, and they have no effective authorization.
They therefore cannot exercise.
They are ignoring, or are currently ignorant of, this paradox of leader
as follower.
I wonder what you-- and everyone else-- is thinking about this idea. I
invite your thoughts on the matter.
Daniel
On 3/10/16 9:21 AM, Birgitt Williams via OSList wrote:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Facilitators, change agents, consultants, coaches, moderators and
trainers, in my experience, struggle with their role and power as
leaders. Years ago, I learned a lot from the late Angeles Arrien about
the power of leadership: the power of position, the power of
influence, the power of communication. In our roles especially as
outsiders to an organization and to the lives of the people involved,
we have all three of these powers. I have been active in my pursuit of
understanding leadership since I was fifteen and catapulted into
leadership positions that I may or may not have been ready for,
despite what the adults around me might have believed.
In recent years, one of the leadership competencies that has grown and
expanded in me is the ability to embrace paradox, to simultaneously
hold two seemingly opposing views or emotions, with both being valid
for me. For example, I can recognize in myself to be in extreme
gratitude for something simultaneous to feeling extreme
anger…containing both emotions simultaneously, not sequentially. I
have come to understand how important this is as a leadership
competency, and I write about it on this list as I feel it is a most
valuable competency for facilitators of OST. I remember way back when
Harrison teaching about OST assisting the people in a system working
with both chaos and order. I was fascinated by this topic. And yet,
today, I admit that as I learned about chaos and order, I seemed to
have an internal picture of one, then the other, then the other, kind
of like a teeter totter with possibly some kind of balance point at
the fulcrum. As I expanded my capacity to handle paradox, I was able
to genuinely grasp chaos and order both existing simultaneously.
In understanding and working with OST, I think it is important to
embrace paradox and to expand our personal capacity to handle paradox
in even very stress filled situations. For example, a paradox that we
end up contending with is that everything is open space, and Open
Space Technology is a tool. What is the benefit of grasping this
paradox, you might ask? If I approach OST as a tool from the
simultaneous perspective of ‘everything is open space’, I am going to
influence different outcomes than if I approach working with OST only
as a tool.
I wrote about embracing paradox recently, so you can see I am feeling
deep interest in this topic at the moment
http://www.dalarinternational.com/the-power-of-limits. What are your
thoughts about ourselves as leaders? What are your thoughts about the
importance of expanding personal leadership competency with embracing
paradox? Or maybe, in working with OST you are currently developing
other leadership competencies? I am interested to see if anyone has
interest in showing up to this topic.
With blessings,
Birgitt
Birgitt Williams
President & Senior Consultant of Dalar International Consultancy, Inc.
http://www.dalarinternational.com <http://www.dalarinternational.com/>
Co-founder of the Extraordinary Leadership Network
http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com
<http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com/>
Co-founder of the Genuine Contact™program and author of The Genuine
Contact Way: Nourishing a Culture of Leadership
http://www.genuinecontactway.com <http://www.genuinecontactway.com/>
Co-owner of the Genuine Contact Co-owners Group Ltd.
http://www.genuinecontact.net <http://www.genuinecontact.net/>
*/Supporting leadership development for leading in a culture requiring
agility and flexibility in a performance environment of constant change./*
Leadership development at your own pace? Become a member of the
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http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com
<http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com/>to participate in an
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