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Published byKerrie Houston Modified over 9 years ago
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Salt and Light Leaders’ Conference Session 1 What is the cultural background to the prevalent model of leadership and what are some new metaphors for leadership today?
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Traditional Worldview: the Enlightenment Rational Logical Scientific Linear
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Newtonian/ Mechanistic Cause and effect Control and Prediction Competition Reduction Objectivity One right Answer Certainty
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Applications Medicine Psychotherapy Organisations Marketplace Church?
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New Metaphors for Organisations Solvay Conference 1927
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New Metaphors: Einstein Wave/particle duality What if both are right? Einstein held up the paradox – the Principle of Complementarity Choosing one means losing the potential of the other Diversity and unity, not uniformity
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Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle Electrons: particles or waves? When measuring location, it’s a particle When measuring speed, it’s a wave Both are right Our observation matters You find what you’re looking for
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Fractals: Benoit Mandelbrot Deeply patterned objects The shape of the whole is in the parts Self-similarity on different levels of scale Patterns not measurement Influence not force Want culture change? You change…
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Meg Wheatley Not survival of the fittest, or natural selection, but adaptation by a species Life collaborates with life – no competition. We can all play our part in the ecology of church Change that appears negative may not be so – a new beach after the hurricane Organisations – churches - are living systems
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Organic/ Quantum Non-locality: influence not force Experimentation, not control and prediction Co-operation and co-dependence Holism, not reductionism Participation, not objective observation Millions of right answers, not just one Uncertainty
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Leadership Mindsets Change is a nuisance Change is life Grand plan Local initiatives Homogenous policy – one size fits all Heterogeneous policy
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Leadership Mindsets Equilibrium desired Equilibrium is short-lived Managing outcomes Managing mindsets Directed strategy Emergent strategy
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Leadership Mindsets Top down managed Propagation Pre-specified success Post-specified success Single decision Iterative process
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Leadership Mindsets Prediction Surprise Engineered change Cultivated change Designed identity Autopoeisis
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Summary Old metaphors for organisation – mechanistic New metaphors from quantum physics – organic Wave/particle duality – both are right Heisenberg – we find what we’re looking for Fractals – influence not force Living Systems – collaboration not competition Leadership mindsets – old and new
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