Age of Complexity

For many centuries leadership approaches have relied on the fundamental assumption of organisational theory that a certain level of predictability and order exists in the world. In recent times as organisations had become more and more complex, Researcher and consultant David J Snowden in 2007 developed the 'Cynefin Framework' (Snowden, 2007) which allows executives to see things from new viewpoints, assimilate complex concepts, and address real-world problems and opportunities.

The framework sorts the issues facing leaders into five contexts defined by the nature of the relationship between cause and effect.

Four of these – simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic – require leaders to diagnose situations and to act in contextually appropriate ways. The fifth – disorder – applies when it is unclear which of the other four contexts is predominant (Snowden, 2007).

Good and Great Leadership

First let's start with 'good' and 'great' leadership. James Bailey disputes the stubborn resolve that great and good are points along the same stream, and that it just isn't that way (Bailey, 2016). To summarise Bailey describes "great" as usually being associated with unusually intense or powerful, a force, or also 'excellent'. "Good" is usually associated with morality, virtue, and ethics, a 'good person'.

The above accounts for why great usually overshadows the direction of good (Bailey, 2016).

Great - a force that is often irrational and ungovernable
Good - a direction that has a north star, providing a point of shared values.

The great and good leadership do coexist, and the relationship is one that is perpetual and dynamic. See below:

It's important to understand the difference between the two, great can be destructive, good can be impotent, effective leadership arguably needs both to coexist, but without good there can be devastating consequences. We need to manage the relationship between force and direction within organisations.

Authentic Leadership

At an individual level, there is growing evidence that an authentic approach to leading is desirable and effective for advancing the human enterprise and achieving positive and enduring outcomes in organisations (George et al., 2007). Organisational studies have shown there are many personal benefits of authenticity as well as organisational, including higher levels of psychological well-being, enhanced feelings of friendliness, and elevated performance (Grandey et al., 2005). If organisational leaders know and act upon their true values, beliefs, and strengths, while helping others to do the same, higher levels of employees' well-being will occur, which in turn have been shown to positively impact follower performance (Ryan & Deci, 2001).

A theory of authentic leadership has been emerging over the past two decades. As conceptualised within the emerging field of positive psychology (Seligman, 2002), authenticity can be defined as "owning one's personal experiences, be they thoughts, emotions, needs, preferences, or beliefs, processes captured by the injunction to know one- self" and behaving in accordance with the true self (S. Harter, 2002: 382).

Researchers Shamir and Eilam (2005: 399) described authentic leaders as people with the following attributes:

- the role of the leader is a central component of their self-concept
- they have achieved a high level of self-resolution or self-concept clarity
- their goals are self-concordant
- their behaviour is self-expressive

As well as these attributes Avolio and Gardner (Avolio, et al., 2005) argue that authentic leadership includes a positive moral perspective characterised by high ethical standards that guide decision making and behaviour.

In Conversation

As we move from planned to emergent change (Liebhart, 2010) in organisations theorists are understanding complexity sciences, psychology and sociology in new ways and which are defining new perspectives.

On managing complexity, researcher/author Patricia Shaw states, there are two ends of the spectrum here (Shaw, 2002):

"if organising is understood essentially as a conversational process, an inescapably self-organising process of participating in the spontaneous emergence of continuity and change, then we need a rather different way of thinking about any kind of organisational practice that focuses on change."
- Patricia Shaw ( ).

Shaw talks about her approach to consulting and the value of 'just talking'. She believes in the facilitation and coaching approach but puts real emphasis on the value of the conversation - arguing it creates conditions that foster spontaneous reorganisation into more aligned, goal-directed activity (Shaw, 2002).

There are two interesting approaches developed for this conversational approach of which Shaw describes: Open Space Technology (Owen, 1992) and Future Search Conferencing (Weisbord, 1992).

Open Space Technology (OST) resides in four organising ideas:

- These are the geometry of the circle (meeting in the round)
- Rhythm of the breath (iterative cycles of working issues)
- Marketplace (organising around different interests)
- Bulletin board (public posting of who is meeting where about what)

Owen talks about a 'safe', well-managed working environment, in which structure and purpose are clear, difference does not seem so threatening. Such experiences tend to engender enthusiasm and goodwill, a sense of mutual value, a strengthening of one's identity as a contributor to collective effort and increased motivation for taking future action. Owen talks optimistically about organisational processes that generate and are generated by 'love'. (Shaw, 2002)

Future Search Conferencing design is constructed on these basic ideas

- Invite the 'whole system' into the room.
- Think globally, before acting locally.
- Future focus and common ground rather than problem solving and conflict resolution.
- Self-management and responsibility for action.

Future Search design invites people to construct together trajectories of their own personal experiences within an organisation, community or issue, and create from this a 'map' of the shared/global context. The next step is to create s fully as possible a picture of a desired future agreed context. The final step is that of people identifying potential projects and collaborations that will contribute to realising this envisioned better future (Shaw, 2002).

Future Search conference facilitation is influenced heavily by Wilfred Bion's psychoanalytic work (Bion, 1961) on repetitive patterns in groups, particularly in the face of anxiety to 'fight or flight', dependency and counter-dependency patterns in relation to authority and scapegoating, all ways in which the group energies become diverted from working on the task.

Emery and Trist made a discovery that a clear task placed in a shared global context reduces anxiety in a group and thus the tendency to fight or flee. Whenever the whole conference gathers for dialogue, they make it a point to stay silent as long as it takes for the first person to say something (Trist, et al,1973).

Patricia Shaw conclude's in her book 'Changing Conversations in Organisations' (2002) - "how do we participate in the way things change over time?" meaning "How at the very movement of our joint sense-making experience, are we changing ourselves and our situation?'" and suggests:

"I am encouraging us to experience the paradox of forming and being formed as situated social selves, emerging persons in emerging social worlds patterned by history but open to movement as present interaction."


Reflection

Other theories and methodologies have been developed more recently such as Dialogic OD (Bushe, et al, 2014), and Grounded Dialogic OD (Walsh, et al, 2015). They discuss similar ideas in emergent organisational change and the focus on people rather than systems. But I believe they focus more on sense-making and understanding in scientific terms, rather than capturing the true essence and complexity the way Shaw describes within the moments of conversations.

A new world view is emerging for organisations, recently popularised by Frederic Laloux's book 'Reinventing Organisations' (2015). Laloux's argues that "something is broken in today's organisations, employers are disengaged, leaders are all powerful, customer do not trust businesses, and we are not thinking about the planet enough". This all falls in line with the research we have already discussed so far. The concept is that humanity evolves in sudden leaps and something new is on the way (Laloux, 2016). Ken Wilber, a philosopher of human consciousness, refers to these stages in colours, which makes things easy to remember.

Laloux believes, as doe others, we are about to invent a whole new management paradigm. I have tried to summarise the other four stages below.

We have to remember that no organisation is really just one colour. A modern organisation is normally made up of many of these colours. It is also important to point out, that we should not think of people as 'better' if their thinking is in a later stage. Instead we can think of each stage as more 'complex'. (Laloux, 2016).

Not every practice will suit some organisations but there are some foundation practices that are needed to support a Teal organisation. I have tried to summarise some of the main ideas that support the three breakthrough components of Evolutionary Teal here:

Self-management: Complexity, Self management, Advice process, Self-initiated Salary, Performance Motivation, No power hierarchy.

Wholeness: Reinventing practices, Safe Spaces, Reflection, Storytelling, Effective Meetings, Performance Evaluations.

Evolutionary purpose: Have an evolutionary purpose, Sense and respond, Strategy is adaptive, Structured ways to listen, No change management, Must have a world view.


Necessary conditions to shift to Teal:

A - The founder or CEO must view the world through Teal lenses, and they must understand the Teal practises.

B - Owners of the organisation must also understand and embrace a Teal worldview.


Transforming an existing organisation

To move away from existing practices in a pyramid, a committed and powerful CEO is needed. They need to listen to the organisation, to it's energy, and ask for which change is there most energy? Where is energy currently blocked or waiting to be set free? (Laloux, 2016)

Some might feel nervous about the risks involved, and some people might not be comfortable leaving everything to trust. As Laloux points out though, in Teal, control is exerted in a whole new way. Control is embedded in the organisation's capacity to self-correct. Something we are not too familiar with, but it is extremely powerful. For a system to self-correct three thing are needed:

1. Shared understanding of what's healthy
2. Information, data and transparency
3. Forums for conversation to trigger action

How will employees react to change?

Some people who are passive and cynical can suddenly blossom and surprise everyone with all sorts of initiatives. Many companies like FAVI, a french car manufacturer, made it clear there's no need for managers or supervisors anymore and supported their decisions to stay or go financially. Many senior management say how liberating it is to no longer have pressure above and below, an go back to doing something more creative. (Laloux, 2016)

Lastly the role of CEO will change, as many of their time spent in meetings will disappear. However they have multiple roles to fill like being the public face of the company. Other roles include sensing - listening and understanding where the organisation wants to go, holding the space - whenever there is a problem, ensure that old management methods do not creep back in, and role modelling - be willing to go to a deeper level in themselves, take risks and build trust.