The Leadership Inquiry Series A Case Study by Mike Bell Background The Leadership Inquiry was born out of my experiences of working with many managers who want to do an excellent job but are feeling increasingly isolated; with few opportunities to talk about the issues they really face in their work and to learn from one another. Many of the current challenges faced by managers relate to leadership and the ‘soft skills’. In times of change and uncertainty, a trusted forum for exchange, learning and practice can be a valuable resource both for the managers and for their organisation. The case study reports on the experiences of a group of managers during a pilot phase of the Leadership Inquiry. Introduction A large public sector organisation piloted the Leadership Inquiry with middle and senior managers from across the organisation. The Leadership Inquiry was set up as a ‘joint venture’ with the internal training department and the following is part of an invitation that was emailed to 50 managers together with a more detailed brochure:   As part of our ongoing mission to offer a wide range of high quality approaches to personal development, we have partnered with Mike Bell of The Wisdom Meme Ltd to bring you an innovative way to improve your leadership capability - The Leadership Inquiry Series. The Leadership Inquiry is not a discussion, debate or presentation but rather a dialogue designed to enable you, as a member of a trusted network, to explore the real issues you face as leaders in a changing organisation. It will create new insights, strategies and actions based upon relevant leadership models, frameworks and research and the collective wisdom of the group.   As a result, we recruited the 16 managers we wanted for the pilot and a few others were disappointed. The training department felt this was an excellent response and even attracted some managers who had otherwise been reluctant to participate in ‘training courses’. As each manager signed up for the series they were personally contacted by me, welcomed and asked to identify two or three of their key leadership challenges. These were analysed and grouped into three main themes. The themes and some of the specific challenges are listed below:   1. Visionary Leadership Developing a strategic vision Engaging colleagues with the vision - the troops rather than, say, the Board Leading, being visionary, and carrying out the work and managing - are they compatible? What leaders have that managers don't 2. Self Being heard and taken seriously without being over- assertive Being more assertive in setting goals for others to help achieve A reluctance to be confrontational All those things around the theme of letting go - negative criticism of me, etc Reconciling what I do and how I appear to others with how I feel inside Being more approachable Setting clear objectives for myself and others 3. Others Harnessing the skills of the senior motivated members of the organisation Change management Communication/Effective communication. Leading with one or two disruptive people/ Dealing with difficult employees Getting the team to understand its new role in the changing organisation   The complete list of challenges was discussed at the first Inquiry and agreement reached to begin with an exploration of visionary leadership. Review of the 3 Leadership Inquiries Leadership Inquiry One – Visionary Leadership The organisation had recently created and published a vision statement and this was a good opportunity to explore in the large group what vision meant and what it might mean to be a visionary leader. Armed with a short article, participants met in small groups to explore what being a visionary leader meant to them. Their findings were then discussed in the whole group. At the end of the Inquiry, members were asked for feedback by completing the statement ‘As a result of this session ….’ and here are some of their responses:   “I have been able to reflect and consider qualities that make for developing a vision for an organisation and the environment required for leading with such a vision: in part the need for leading with an inspirational positive view of where we are going.” “ I will have to consider if my values are transparent to my Division. (and do they map onto the organisations values)” “I have learnt that other colleagues have similar issues, problems and concerns on leadership that I do. Interestingly Core Values came out as a key driver.” “ I will further consider my own core values and evaluate my performance as a ‘visionary leader’ (or not…)” “ I have a clearer sense of why I feel dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the organisation’s management. I feel encouraged by the unanimity in the group about core values. I feel empowered to follow my beliefs.” “ I have clarified some perspectives on the needs for leadership and management within my department and higher level. I will seek to revive some elements of governance structures to address issues surrounding core values and empowerment of staff.” “I have shared the sense of the importance of values with colleagues, developing solidarity. I have developed a clear sense of some of the deficiencies that arise in the organisation as consequence of the absence of explicit values.”   Leadership Inquiry Two – Values The issue of values came so strongly to the fore in the previous Inquiry that we agreed to focus on this topic at this session. Again we had a large group inquiry into values – what they were, where they were present or not in the organisation and the value of values. Then in small groups, and with examples of value statements from similar organisations, members identified the personal and organisational values that they felt were needed, and reported these back to the whole group. In response to the question ‘As a result of this session …..’ people said:   “Think even more about how to ‘reward’ behaviour which demonstrates values in action.” “I arrived quite late but don’t think I have gained much. I was pleased to be reminded of the importance of looking first at oneself in any situation” “I have a great despair about the ability of others to lead! There was too much of the personal and not enough about how to make others and an organisation work” “I will use the issues raised and much of the information discussed as part of my efforts to develop core values for the Department” “I will name the values I want my Department to have and discuss these with a view to rollout/adoption” “I shall discuss with my Executive Board about identifying core values for my department” “Learned more about the perceptions/experience of senior staff within the organisation. Still not sure that all of the behaviour/culture I experience in this new job is as bad as is described by members” “It focussed my views around the issue of values which was incredibly timely given work on office mission and objectives.” “I will re-evaluate my core values and think about how they align with the actions of myself and my Division”   Leadership Inquiry Three – Communication Distilling the original challenges under the themes of Self and Others, this session looked into the question ‘Are you sometimes too aggressive or not assertive enough?’ In the large group we explored examples from people’s work of aggression and non-assertiveness and then discussed an Assertive/Responsive model as a way to make sense of some behaviours. In small groups people explored the model further in relation to specific work examples and their own behaviour. In response to the question ‘As a result of this session …..’ people said:   “I will think and practice different ways more about how I interact with people; I think I am rarely assertive, but often aggressive and non-assertive in almost equal measure and on different occasions. I know this but I don’t seem to change my behaviour that much anyway.” “I will endeavour to spend more time trying to change the non-assertive character of some of my colleagues” “I will review my previous ‘assertiveness’ training and techniques. I will also try to figure out why some staff behave the way they do” “I will think more about how I can influence interactions and will reflect on the Assertive/Responsive Model” “I will work in Assertive to move my team members in Non-Assertive as a priority rather than allowing this to affect the team. Thank you for today’s session it has been helpful.” “I shall discuss with my Executive Board about identifying core values for my department” “I will review my own approach to communications with staff who work for me and with whom I sometimes have difficulties. And look at ‘listening’ more than talking and resisting the urge to jump in.” “I have reflected on communication and benefited from others views” “I have been able to identify and verbalise some of the processes involved in communication between individuals.” “I’ll carry the suggested model with me to meetings in the future – very helpful. Also gives me the ability to reflect on my behaviour/ approaches in relation to outcomes.”   Recommendations Participants where asked if they would recommend the Leadership Inquiry to their colleagues in the organisation. All would be happy to except one who felt the format might be too ‘risky’. Here are some of the reasons why they would recommend:   “This is a forum to hear the ideas of others. It can highlight common thought but it can also point to areas of difficulty” “Good opportunity to explore key issues with colleagues from across the institution. A valuable forum to provide framework for self-evaluation” “The opportunity to take time out to reflect on your own stances/values/ life experiences and apply to work context experience” “Thought provoking, examining important issues, chance to spend time discussing these with colleagues in a structured way” “It is a valuable forum for stimulating thought and insight” “A forum to discuss important questions that are otherwise not addressed within the Organisation” “It makes you think ‘out of the box’. Gives a better insight into the thoughts of colleagues in different part of the organisation”   Review In the busy-ness of today’s organisations, managers rarely have the opportunity to look deeply into the issues they face and make sense (or not!) of what is happening to and around them The Leadership Inquiry helps reduce some of the isolation managers feel as they see that others have similar feelings. It helps them to explore together, through substantive and purposeful dialogue, the compelling issues they face, and to learn new approaches they choose to take away and try out themselves. In this example, the client was impressed by participants' claims of what they will do as a result of the Inquiry. While we did not follow these up, we have anecdotal evidence that many where being actioned. We also learned that the Leadership Inquiry is not for everyone - some people prefer a much more structured approach. If you see that organisations are, in part, social structures, then the Leadership Inquiry adds some glue to build a stronger community and increase social capital. If you accept that, in a knowledge economy, those organisations that can create and share new knowledge the fastest are most likely to succeed, then the Leadership Inquiry elevates the quality of conversation about key leadership issues, and generates more knowledge capital. Mike Bell, February 2004     © The Wisdom Meme 2008