Leadership begins with self-responsibility. Management teams thrive when inquiry is robust and collective purpose is aligned. Meeting cultures, command and control.

Inquiry

Jonas Salk said it best: “What people think of as the moment of discovery is really the discovery of the question.” Transformation starts right there—at the foot of that first unexpected, authentic question. Sometimes it is a question others believe has already been answered; sometimes it is one we fear to ask.

Granting ourselves the permission to ask any question, at any moment, often leads to unexpected strategic breakthroughs.

During a facilitated discussion amongst some of the nation’s most prestigious philanthropies, someone offered an extensive description of what their program had achieved. At its completion, one of the listeners leaned forward and asked: “So what?” The ensuing silence was electric. We had let the content of tactics and outcomes trump the power of inquiry. The conversation then took off as all parties began to collaborate around the questions we needed to be asking of one another, of ourselves.

What's at Stake (purpose)?

During a complex acquisition negotiation in the health services sector, my counterpart and I hit an issue we could not resolve. The longer we talked the more intransigent we became. It was not until a coincidental public crisis reminded us both of what was truly at stake (millions of patients dependent upon our ability to resolve this issue). With the press of all of those people needing the fruits of our negotiation, we sorted through the issue in minutes.

If we are be guided by the deepest purpose calling us and are willing to explore what is at stake for each of us, we will be galvanized towards purposeful and transformative action.

Identifying Management Talent

Often systems become blind to their own talent. The culture, bent on serving the needs of its leadership, begin to turn away from disruptive question or nuanced thinking. There is no time (or incentive) to give emergent leaders the chance to experiment, even fail in pursuit of knowledge. We find that throughout every system are entrepreneurs and visionaries who have decided that their voices are no longer relevant.

We explore ways to bring their work and their innovations to the attention of a senior leadership often preoccupied by other matters. 

Mindfulness and Reflection

Now more than ever, leaders and teams are coming to terms with the need for self-awareness and self-responsibility. The days of command and control are giving way to new forms of collaboration. Hierarchies have their place, but leadership (in the healthiest companies) is becoming the work of all employees.  

Mindfulness and reflection are active tools that stimulate leadership. Without self-responsibility, however, mindfulness and reflection are useless. The Cheyenne ask: what is the one thing Spirit cannot give you? The answer: self-honesty.

During many of the Quests I have co-led at Leaders Quest, I sometimes found myself in a place of judgment or critique. How can someone treat someone else that way? Why is someone not appreciative of what they are being offered by one of our hosts? I have come to learn that my first answer to any of my judgmental questions must be: “How is what I am saying of them true of me?” Until I am willing to own my critique of others as a critique of myself, I can be neither mindful nor reflective.

Strategic Planning

We learn more from strategic planning than strategic plans. Plans are marginalized the moment we act on them; circumstances change, assumptions explode. Scenario planners understand this. They call on us to hold our suppositions lightly, to be curious about what is possible, unexpected or catastrophic.  

As planners, we look to step lightly on tactics and dig in around core values and purpose. Our task is always to review, reconsider and reset. The best strategic planning process I ever participated in led to throwing the plan out upon its completion. We started again, wiser and more focused and drafted a manifesto for the organization in a day. It still lives by those words a decade later.