SEVEN TRANSFORMATIONS OF LEADERSHIP - Pablo Tovar · Pablo Tovar, socio y fundador de AddVenture,...

SEVENTRANSFORMATIONS

OF LEADERSHIP

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El acierto de David y Bill fue compartir con claridad y brevedad algo tan complejo y de gran valor; reflejar en pocas páginas la esencia del modelo de desarrollo de consciencia o mindset con el que ellos trabajan y han contribuido a desarrollar, aportando además evidencias de una investigación empírica o aplicada, un estudio longitudinal realizado durante más de una década. Es muy difícil decir más con menos palabras.

Pablo Tovar, socio y fundador de AddVenture, conoció este modelo en 2006. Desde entonces siempre supo que era una opción excepcional para realizar coaching ejecutivo de transformación y se dijo a sí mismo que algún día utilizaría ese enfoque para el desarrollo de líderes.

No fue hasta algunos años más tarde que Pablo Tovar y Verónica Menduiña entraron en contacto personal con David y Bill. En julio de 2010 fueron a Inglaterra a conocerles, y poco después ambos se certificaban con ellos en el modelo.

Alrededor de 2013, David y Bill dejaron de trabajar juntos, y Pablo y Verónica apostaron por continuar con la relación profesional con Bill y GLA, Global Leadership Associates. Durante los últimos años, Bill ha ejercido de mentor de ambos, lo que también les ha permitido desarrollar una relación de amistad. Verónica, además,

ha traducido al español el libro fundamental del Bill Torbert, Action Inquiry, cuyo prólogo ha sido escrito por Pablo.

Desde 2010 este enfoque de trabajo evolutivo y constructivista forma parte esencial de la metodología exclusiva de coaching ejecutivo para altos directivos de AddVenture, desarrollada por Pablo Tovar y Daniel Poch. Se trata de un enfoque realmente transformador y que permite llevar el liderazgo de sus clientes a niveles extraordinarios.

Todos los coaches de AddVenture están entrenados en este poderoso enfoque, que impregna todo el trabajo que realizan, lo que les convierte en un equipo único que puede afrontar con éxito transformaciones culturales de gran escala con equipos directivos diversos. El propio Bill Torbert vino a España en 2016 para realizar personalmente un entrenamiento con la mayor parte de ellos.

Este artículo de David y Bill es una excelente introducción de solo 11 páginas al modelo y a su potencial en el desarrollo y transformación del liderazgo. Si deseas conocer más, en 2016 publicamos en español un ensayo algo más largo sobre el Aprendizaje Vertical y en concreto sobre este modelo. Y si aún deseas saber más no dejes de contactar con nosotros.

IntroducciónEste artículo de David Rooke y Bill Torbert es uno de los más destacados sobre liderazgo publicados nunca en Harvard Business Review. De hecho, en 2012 fue incluido en un especial de HBR con los 10 mejores artículos de liderazgo.

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www.hbr.org

Seven Transformations of Leadership

by David Rooke and William R. Torbert

Leaders are made, not born, and how they develop is critical for organizational change.

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by David Rooke and William R. Torbert

harvard business review • april 2005 page 1

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Leaders are made, not born, and how they develop is critical for organizational change.

Most developmental psychologists agree thatwhat differentiates leaders is not so muchtheir philosophy of leadership, their personal-ity, or their style of management. Rather, it’stheir internal “action logic”—how they inter-pret their surroundings and react when theirpower or safety is challenged. Relatively fewleaders, however, try to understand their ownaction logic, and fewer still have explored thepossibility of changing it.

They should, because we’ve found thatleaders who do undertake a voyage of per-sonal understanding and development cantransform not only their own capabilities butalso those of their companies. In our close col-laboration with psychologist Susanne Cook-Greuter—and our 25 years of extensive sur-vey-based consulting at companies such asDeutsche Bank, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care,Hewlett-Packard, NSA, Trillium Asset Man-agement, Aviva, and Volvo—we’ve workedwith thousands of executives as they’ve triedto develop their leadership skills. The goodnews is that leaders who make an effort to un-

derstand their own action logic can improvetheir ability to lead. But to do that, it’s impor-tant first to understand what kind of leaderyou already are.

The Seven Action Logics

Our research is based on a sentence-comple-tion survey tool called the Leadership Devel-opment Profile. Using this tool, participantsare asked to complete 36 sentences that beginwith phrases such as “A good leader…,” towhich responses vary widely:

“…cracks the whip.”“…realizes that it’s important to achieve

good performance from subordinates.”“…juggles competing forces and takes re-

sponsibility for her decisions.”By asking participants to complete sen-

tences of this type, it’s possible for highlytrained evaluators to paint a picture of howparticipants interpret their own actions andthe world around them; these “pictures” showwhich one of seven developmental action log-ics—Opportunist, Diplomat, Expert, Achiever,

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David Rooke

([email protected]) is a partner at Harthill Consulting in Hewelsfield, England.

William R. Torbert

([email protected]) is a professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management in Massachusetts. They are coauthors of

Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership

(Berrett-Koehler, 2004).

Individualist, Strategist, or Alchemist—cur-rently functions as a leader’s dominant way ofthinking. Leaders can move through these cat-egories as their abilities grow, so taking theLeadership Development Profile again severalyears later can reveal whether a leader’s actionlogic has evolved.

Over the past 25 years, we and other re-searchers have administered the sentence-completion survey to thousands of managersand professionals, most between the ages of25 and 55, at hundreds of American and Euro-pean companies (as well as nonprofits andgovernmental agencies) in diverse industries.What we found is that the levels of corporateand individual performance vary accordingto action logic. Notably, we found that thethree types of leaders associated with below-average corporate performance (Opportun-ists, Diplomats, and Experts) accounted for55% of our sample. They were significantlyless effective at implementing organizationalstrategies than the 30% of the sample whomeasured as Achievers. Moreover, only thefinal 15% of managers in the sample (Individu-alists, Strategists, and Alchemists) showed theconsistent capacity to innovate and to success-fully transform their organizations.

To understand how leaders fall into suchdistinct categories and corporate performance,let’s look in more detail at each leadershipstyle in turn, starting with the least productive(and least complex).

The Opportunist

Our most comforting finding was that only 5%of the leaders in our sample were character-ized by mistrust, egocentrism, and manipula-tiveness. We call these leaders Opportunists, atitle that reflects their tendency to focus onpersonal wins and see the world and otherpeople as opportunities to be exploited. Theirapproach to the outside world is largely deter-mined by their perception of control—inother words, how they will react to an eventdepends primarily on whether or not theythink they can direct the outcome. They treatother people as objects or as competitors whoare also out for themselves.

Opportunists tend to regard their bad be-havior as legitimate in the cut and thrust of aneye-for-an-eye world. They reject feedback, ex-ternalize blame, and retaliate harshly. One cansee this action logic in the early work of Larry

Ellison (now CEO of Oracle). Ellison describeshis managerial style at the start of his career as“management by ridicule.” “You’ve got to begood at intellectual intimidation and rhetori-cal bullying,” he once told Matthew Symondsof the

Economist

. “I’d excuse my behavior bytelling myself I was just having ‘an open andhonest debate.’ The fact is, I just didn’t knowany better.”

Few Opportunists remain managers for long,unless they transform to more effective actionlogics (as Ellison has done). Their constant fire-fighting, their style of self-aggrandizement, andtheir frequent rule breaking is the antithesis ofthe kind of leader people want to work withfor the long term. If you have worked for anOpportunist, you will almost certainly remem-ber it as a difficult time. By the same token,corporate environments that breed opportun-ism seldom endure, although Opportunistsoften survive longer than they should becausethey provide an exciting environment in whichyounger executives, especially, can take risks.As one ex-Enron senior staffer said, “Before thefall, those were such exciting years. We felt wecould do anything, pull off everything, writeour own rules. The pace was wild, and we alljust rode it.” Of course, Enron’s shareholdersand pensioners would reasonably feel thatthey were paying too heavily for that staffer’sadventure.

The Diplomat

The Diplomat makes sense of the worldaround him in a more benign way than theOpportunist does, but this action logic canalso have extremely negative repercussions ifthe leader is a senior manager. Loyally servingthe group, the Diplomat seeks to pleasehigher-status colleagues while avoiding con-flict. This action logic is focused on gainingcontrol of one’s own behavior—more than ongaining control of external events or otherpeople. According to the Diplomat’s actionlogic, a leader gains more enduring accep-tance and influence by cooperating with groupnorms and by performing his daily roles well.

In a support role or a team context, thistype of executive has much to offer. Diplo-mats provide social glue to their colleaguesand ensure that attention is paid to the needsof others, which is probably why the greatmajority of Diplomats work at the most jun-ior rungs of management, in jobs such as

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frontline supervisor, customer service repre-sentative, or nurse practitioner. Indeed, re-search into 497 managers in different indus-tries showed that 80% of all Diplomats wereat junior levels. By contrast, 80% of all Strate-gists were at senior levels, suggesting that

managers who grow into more effective ac-tion logics—like that of the Strategist—have agreater chance of being promoted.

Diplomats are much more problematic intop leadership roles because they try to ignoreconflict. They tend to be overly polite and

Seven Ways of Leading

Different leaders exhibit different kinds of action logic—ways in which they inter-pret their surroundings and react when their power or safety is challenged. In our research of thousands of leaders, we ob-served seven types of action logics. The

least effective for organizational leader-ship are the Opportunist and Diplomat; the most effective, the Strategist and Al-chemist. Knowing your own action logic can be the first step toward developing a more effective leadership style. If you rec-

ognize yourself as an Individualist, for ex-ample, you can work, through both for-mal and informal measures, to develop the strengths and characteristics of a Strategist.

Action Logic

Opportunist

Diplomat

Expert

Achiever

Individualist

Strategist

Alchemist

5%

12%

38%

30%

10%

4%

1%

Characteristics

Wins any way possible. Self-oriented;

manipulative; “might makes right.”

Avoids overt conflict. Wants to belong;

obeys group norms; rarely rocks the

boat.

Rules by logic and expertise. Seeks

rational efficiency.

Meets strategic goals. Effectively

achieves goals through teams; juggles

managerial duties and market

demands.

Interweaves competing personal and

company action logics. Creates unique

structures to resolve gaps between

strategy and performance.

Generates organizational and personal

transformations. Exercises the power

of mutual inquiry, vigilance, and

vulnerability for both the short and

long term.

Generates social transformations. Inte-

grates material, spiritual, and societal

transformation.

Strengths

Good in emergencies and

in sales opportunities.

Good as supportive glue

within an office; helps bring

people together.

Good as an individual

contributor.

Well suited to managerial

roles; action and goal

oriented.

Effective in venture and

consulting roles.

Effective as a transforma-

tional leader.

Good at leading society-wide

transformations.

% of research sample profiling atthis action logic

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friendly and find it virtually impossible to givechallenging feedback to others. Initiatingchange, with its inevitable conflicts, representsa grave threat to the Diplomat, and he willavoid it if at all possible, even to the point ofself-destruction.

Consider one Diplomat who became the in-terim CEO of an organization when his prede-cessor died suddenly from an aneurysm. Whenthe board split on the selection of a permanentsuccessor, it asked the Diplomat to carry on.Our Diplomat relished his role as a ceremonialfigurehead and was a sought-after speaker atpublic events. Unfortunately, he found themore conflictual requirements of the job lessto his liking. He failed, for instance, to replacea number of senior managers who had seriousongoing performance issues and were resist-ing the change program his predecessor hadinitiated. Because the changes were controver-sial, the Diplomat avoided meetings, evenplanning business trips for the times when thesenior team would meet. The team memberswere so frustrated by the Diplomat’s attitudethat they eventually resigned en masse. He “re-solved” this crisis by thanking the team pub-licly for its contribution and appointing newteam members. Eventually, in the face ofmounting losses arising from this poor man-agement, the board decided to demote theDiplomat to his former role as vice president.

The Expert

The largest category of leader is that of Ex-perts, who account for 38% of all professionalsin our sample. In contrast to Opportunists,who focus on trying to control the worldaround them, and Diplomats, who concen-trate on controlling their own behavior, Ex-perts try to exercise control by perfecting theirknowledge, both in their professional and per-sonal lives. Exercising watertight thinking isextremely important to Experts. Not surpris-ingly, many accountants, investment analysts,marketing researchers, software engineers,and consultants operate from the Expert ac-tion logic. Secure in their expertise, theypresent hard data and logic in their efforts togain consensus and buy-in for their proposals.

Experts are great individual contributors be-cause of their pursuit of continuous improve-ment, efficiency, and perfection. But as manag-ers, they can be problematic because they areso completely sure they are right. When subor-

dinates talk about a my-way-or-the-highwaytype of boss, they are probably talking aboutsomeone operating from an Expert actionlogic. Experts tend to view collaboration as awaste of time (“Not all meetings are a waste oftime—some are canceled!”), and they will fre-quently treat the opinion of people less expertthan themselves with contempt. Emotional in-telligence is neither desired nor appreciated.As Sun Microsystems’ CEO Scott McNealy putit: “I don’t do feelings; I’ll leave that to BarryManilow.”

It comes as no surprise, then, that after un-successfully pleading with him to scale back inthe face of growing losses during the dot-comdebacle of 2001 and 2002, nearly a dozenmembers of McNealy’s senior managementteam left.

The Achiever

For those who hope someday to work for amanager who both challenges and supportsthem and creates a positive team and interde-partmental atmosphere, the good news is thata large proportion, 30%, of the managers inour research measured as Achievers. Whilethese leaders create a positive work environ-ment and focus their efforts on deliverables,the downside is that their style often inhibitsthinking outside the box.

Achievers have a more complex and inte-grated understanding of the world than domanagers who display the three previous ac-tion logics we’ve described. They’re open tofeedback and realize that many of the ambigu-ities and conflicts of everyday life are due todifferences in interpretation and ways of relat-ing. They know that creatively transforming orresolving clashes requires sensitivity to rela-tionships and the ability to influence others inpositive ways. Achievers can also reliably lead ateam to implement new strategies over a one-to three-year period, balancing immediate andlong-term objectives. One study of ophthal-mologists in private practice showed that thosewho scored as Achievers had lower staff turn-over, delegated more responsibility, and hadpractices that earned at least twice the grossannual revenues of those run by Experts.

Achievers often find themselves clashingwith Experts. The Expert subordinate, in par-ticular, finds the Achiever leader hard to takebecause he cannot deny the reality of theAchiever’s success even though he feels supe-

Initiating change, with its inevitable conflicts, represents a grave threat to the Diplomat, and he will avoid it if at all possible, even to the point of self-destruction.

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rior. Consider Hewlett-Packard, where the re-search engineers tend to score as Experts andthe lab managers as higher-level Achievers. Atone project meeting, a lab manager—a de-cided Achiever—slammed her coffee cup onthe table and exclaimed, “I

know

we can get 18features into this, but the customers want de-livery some time this century, and the maineight features will do.” “Philistine!” snortedone engineer, an Expert. But this kind of con-flict isn’t always destructive. In fact, it providesmuch of the fuel that has ignited—and sus-tained—the competitiveness of many of thecountry’s most successful corporations.

The Individualist

The Individualist action logic recognizes thatneither it nor any of the other action logics are“natural”; all are constructions of oneself andthe world. This seemingly abstract idea en-ables the 10% of Individualist leaders to con-tribute unique practical value to their organi-zations; they put personalities and ways ofrelating into perspective and communicatewell with people who have other action logics.

What sets Individualists apart from Achiev-ers is their awareness of a possible conflict be-tween their principles and their actions, or be-tween the organization’s values and itsimplementation of those values. This conflictbecomes the source of tension, creativity, and agrowing desire for further development.

Individualists also tend to ignore rules theyregard as irrelevant, which often makes thema source of irritation to both colleagues andbosses. “So, what do you think?” one of ourclients asked us as he was debating whetherto let go of one of his star performers, awoman who had been measured as an Indi-vidualist. Sharon (not her real name) hadbeen asked to set up an offshore shared ser-vice function in the Czech Republic in orderto provide IT support to two separate and in-ternally competitive divisions operatingthere. She formed a highly cohesive teamwithin budget and so far ahead of schedulethat she quipped that she was “delivering ser-vices before Group Business Risk had deliv-ered its report saying it can’t be done.”

The trouble was that Sharon had a reputa-tion within the wider organization as a wildcard. Although she showed great politicalsavvy when it came to her individual projects,she put many people’s noses out of joint in the

larger organization because of her unique, un-conventional ways of operating. Eventually,the CEO was called in (not for the first time) toresolve a problem created by her failure to ac-knowledge key organizational processes andpeople who weren’t on her team.

Many of the dynamics created by differentaction logics are illustrated by this story and itsoutcome. The CEO, whose own action logicwas that of an Achiever, did not see how hecould challenge Sharon to develop and movebeyond creating such problems. Although am-bivalent about her, he decided to retain her be-cause she was delivering and because the orga-nization had recently lost several capable, ifunconventional, managers.

So Sharon stayed, but only for a while.Eventually, she left the company to set up anoffshoring consultancy. When we examine inthe second half of this article how to help exec-utives transform their leadership action logics,we’ll return to this story to see how bothSharon and the CEO might have succeeded intransforming theirs.

The Strategist

Strategists account for just 4% of leaders.What sets them apart from Individualists istheir focus on organizational constraints andperceptions, which they treat as discussableand transformable. Whereas the Individualistmasters communication with colleagues whohave different action logics, the Strategist mas-ters the second-order organizational impact ofactions and agreements. The Strategist is alsoadept at creating shared visions across differ-ent action logics—visions that encourage bothpersonal and organizational transformations.According to the Strategist’s action logic, orga-nizational and social change is an iterative de-velopmental process that requires awarenessand close leadership attention.

Strategists deal with conflict more comfort-ably than do those with other action logics,and they’re better at handling people’s instinc-tive resistance to change. As a result, Strate-gists are highly effective change agents. Wefound confirmation of this in our recent studyof ten CEOs in six different industries. All oftheir organizations had the stated objective oftransforming themselves and had engaged con-sultants to help with the process. Each CEOfilled out a Leadership Development Profile,which showed that five of them were Strate-

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gists and the other five fell into other actionlogics. The Strategists succeeded in generatingone or more organizational transformationsover a four-year period; their companies’ prof-itability, market share, and reputation all im-proved. By contrast, only two of the other fiveCEOs succeeded in transforming their organi-zations—despite help from consultants, whothemselves profiled as Strategists.

Strategists are fascinated with three distinctlevels of social interplay: personal relationships,organizational relations, and national and inter-national developments. Consider Joan Bavaria,a CEO who, back in 1985, measured as a Strate-gist. Bavaria created one of the first socially re-sponsible investment funds, a new subdivisionof the investments industry, which by the end of2001 managed more than $3 trillion in funds. In1982, Bavaria founded Trillium Asset Manage-ment, a worker-owned company, which she stillheads. She also cowrote the CERES Environ-mental Principles, which dozens of major com-panies have signed. In the late 1990s, CERES,working with the United Nations, created theGlobal Reporting Initiative, which supports fi-nancial, social, and environmental transparencyand accountability worldwide.

Here we see the Strategist action logic atwork. Bavaria saw a unique moment in whichto make ethical investing a viable business,then established Trillium to execute her plan.Strategists typically have socially consciousbusiness ideas that are carried out in a highlycollaborative manner. They seek to weave to-gether idealist visions with pragmatic, timelyinitiatives and principled actions. Bavariaworked beyond the boundaries of her own or-ganization to influence the socially responsibleinvestment industry as a whole and later madethe development of social and environmentalaccountability standards an international en-deavor by involving the United Nations. ManyAchievers will use their influence to success-fully promote their own companies. The Strat-egist works to create ethical principles andpractices beyond the interests of herself or herorganization.

The Alchemist

The final leadership action logic for which wehave data and experience is the Alchemist. Ourstudies of the few leaders we have identified asAlchemists suggest that what sets them apartfrom Strategists is their ability to renew or

even reinvent themselves and their organiza-tions in historically significant ways. Whereasthe Strategist will move from one engagementto another, the Alchemist has an extraordinarycapacity to deal simultaneously with many sit-uations at multiple levels. The Alchemist cantalk with both kings and commoners. He candeal with immediate priorities yet never losesight of long-term goals.

Alchemists constitute 1% of our sample,which indicates how rare it is to find them inbusiness or anywhere else. Through an exten-sive search process, we found six Alchemistswho were willing to participate in an up-closestudy of their daily actions. Though this is obvi-ously a very small number that cannot statisti-cally justify generalization, it’s worth notingthat all six Alchemists shared certain character-istics. On a daily basis, all were engaged in mul-tiple organizations and found time to deal withissues raised by each. However, they were notin a constant rush—nor did they devote hourson end to a single activity. Alchemists are typi-cally charismatic and extremely aware individ-uals who live by high moral standards. Theyfocus intensely on the truth. Perhaps most im-portant, they’re able to catch unique momentsin the history of their organizations, creatingsymbols and metaphors that speak to people’shearts and minds. In one conservative financialservices company in the UK, a recently ap-pointed CEO turned up for work in a tracksuitinstead of his usual pinstripes but said nothingabout it to anyone. People wondered whetherthis was a new dress code. Weeks later, theCEO spoke publicly about his attire and theneed to be unconventional and to move withgreater agility and speed.

A more celebrated example of an Alchemistis Nelson Mandela. Although we never for-mally profiled Mandela, he exemplifies the Al-chemist action logic. In 1995, Mandela symbol-ized the unity of a new South Africa when heattended the Rugby World Cup game in whichthe Springboks, the South African nationalteam, were playing. Rugby had been the bas-tion of white supremacy, but Mandela at-tended the game. He walked on to the pitchwearing the Springboks’ jersey so hated byblack South Africans, at the same time givingthe clenched fist salute of the ANC, therebyappealing, almost impossibly, both to blackand white South Africans. As Tokyo Sexwale,ANC activist and premier of South Africa’s

What sets Alchemists apart from Strategists is their ability to renew or even reinvent themselves and their organizations in historically significant ways.

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Gauteng province, said of him: “Only Mandelacould wear an enemy jersey. Only Mandelawould go down there and be associated withthe Springboks…All the years in the under-ground, in the trenches, denial, self-denial,away from home, prison, it was worth it. That’sall we wanted to see.”

Evolving as a Leader

The most remarkable—and encouraging—finding from our research is that leaders cantransform from one action logic to another.We have, in fact, documented a number ofleaders who have succeeded in transformingthemselves from Experts into Achievers, fromAchievers into Individualists, and from Indi-vidualists into Strategists.

Take the case of Jenny, one of our clients,who initially measured as an Expert. She be-came disillusioned with her role in her com-pany’s PR department and resigned in orderto, as she said, “sort out what I really want todo.” Six months later, she joined a differentcompany in a similar role, and two years afterthat we profiled her again and she still mea-sured as an Expert. Her decision to resign fromthe first company, take a “sabbatical,” and thenjoin the second company had made no differ-ence to her action logic. At that point, Jennychose to join a group of peer leaders commit-ted to examining their current leadership pat-terns and to experimenting with new ways ofacting. This group favored the Strategist per-spective (and the founder of the group wasprofiled as an Alchemist), which in the endhelped Jenny’s development. She learned thather habit of consistently taking a critical posi-tion, which she considered “usefully objective,”isolated her and generated distrust. As a resultof the peer group’s feedback, she started a se-ries of small and private experiments, such asasking questions rather than criticizing. She re-alized that instead of seeing the faults in oth-ers, she had to be clear about what

she

couldcontribute and, in doing so, started the movefrom an Expert to an Achiever. Spiritually,Jenny learned that she needed an ongoingcommunity of inquiry at the center of her lifeand found a spiritual home for continuing re-flection in Quaker meetings, which later sup-ported (and indeed signaled) her transitionfrom an Achiever to an Individualist.

Two years later, Jenny left the second job tostart her own company, at which point she

began profiling as a Strategist. This was ahighly unusual movement of three action log-ics in such a short time. We have had only twoother instances in which a leader has trans-formed twice in less than four years.

As Jenny’s case illustrates, there are a num-ber of personal changes that can support lead-ership transformation. Jenny experienced lossof faith in the system and feelings of boredom,irritability, burnout, depression, and even an-ger. She began to ask herself existential ques-tions. But another indication of a leader’sreadiness to transform is an increasing attrac-tion to the qualities she begins to intuit in peo-ple with more effective action logics. Jenny, aswe saw, was drawn to and benefited hugelyfrom her Strategist peer group as well as froma mentor who exhibited the Alchemist actionlogic. This search for new perspectives oftenmanifests itself in personal transformations:The ready-to-transform leader starts develop-ing new relationships. She may also explorenew forms of spiritual practice or new forms ofcentering and self-expression, such as playing amusical instrument or doing tai chi.

External events can also trigger and supporttransformation. A promotion, for example,may give a leader the opportunity to expandhis or her range of capabilities. Earlier, we citedthe frustration of Expert research engineers atHewlett-Packard with the product and deliveryattitude of Achiever lab managers. Within ayear of one engineer’s promotion to lab man-ager, a role that required coordination of oth-ers and cooperation across departments, theformer Expert was profiling as an Achiever. Al-though he initially took some heat (“Sellout!”)from his former buddies, his new Achieverawareness meant that he was more focused oncustomers’ needs and clearer about deliveryschedules. For the first time, he understood thedance between engineers trying to perfect thetechnology and managers trying to deliver onbudget and on schedule.

Changes to a manager’s work practices andenvironment can also facilitate transformation.At one company we studied, leaders changedfrom Achievers to Individualists partly becauseof simple organizational and process changes.At the company’s senior manager meetings,for example, executives other than the CEOhad the chance to lead the meetings; these op-portunities, which were supported by newspirit of openness, feedback, and frank debate,

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fostered professional growth among many ofthe company’s leaders.

Planned and structured development inter-ventions are another means of supportingleadership transformation. We worked with aleading oil and gas exploration company on de-veloping the already high-level capabilities of apool of future senior managers; the managerswere profiled and then interviewed by twoconsultants who explored each manager’s ac-tion logic and how it constrained and enabledhim or her to perform current and recent roles.Challenges were discussed as well as a view ofthe individual’s potential and a possible devel-opmental plan. After the exercise, several man-agers, whose Individualist and Strategist capa-bilities had not been fully understood by thecompany, were appreciated and engaged dif-ferently in their roles. What’s more, the organi-zation’s own definition of leadership talent wasreframed to include the capabilities of the Indi-vidualist and Strategist action logics. This inturn demanded that the company radically re-visit its competency framework to incorporatesuch expectations as “sees issues from multipleperspectives” and “creates deep change with-out formal power.”

Now that we’ve looked generally at some ofthe changes and interventions that can sup-port leadership development, let’s turn tosome specifics about how the most commontransformations are apt to take place.

From Expert to Achiever

This transformation is the most commonly ob-served and practiced among businesspeopleand by those in management and executiveeducation. For the past generation or more,the training departments of large companieshave been supporting the development ofmanagers from Experts into Achievers by run-ning programs with titles like “Managementby Objectives,” “Effective Delegation,” and“Managing People for Results.” These pro-grams typically emphasize getting resultsthrough flexible strategies rather than throughone right method used in one right way.

Observant leaders and executive coachescan also formulate well-structured exercisesand questions related to everyday work to helpExperts become aware of the different assump-tions they and others may be making. These ef-forts can help Experts practice new conversa-tional strategies such as, “You may be right, but

I’d like to understand what leads you to believethat.” In addition, those wishing to push Ex-perts to the next level should consider reward-ing Achiever competencies like timely deliv-ery of results, the ability to manage forperformance, and the ability to implementstrategic priorities.

Within business education, MBA programsare apt to encourage the development of themore pragmatic Achievers by frustrating theperfectionist Experts. The heavy workloads,use of multidisciplinary and ambiguous casestudies, and teamwork requirements all pro-mote the development of Achievers. By con-trast, MSc programs, in particular disciplinessuch as finance or marketing research, tend toreinforce the Expert perspective.

Still, the transition from Expert to Achieverremains one of the most painful bottlenecks inmost organizations. We’ve all heard the eternallament of engineers, lawyers, and other profes-sionals whose Expert success has saddled themwith managerial duties, only to estrange themfrom the work they love. Their challenge be-comes working as highly effective Achieverswho can continue to use their in-depth exper-tise to succeed as leaders and managers.

From Achiever to Individualist

Although organizations and business schoolshave been relatively successful in developingleaders to the Achiever action logic, they have,with few exceptions, a dismal record in recog-nizing, supporting, and

actively

developingleaders to the Individualist and Strategist ac-tion logics, let alone to the Alchemist logic. Thisis not surprising. In many organizations, theAchiever, with his drive and focus on the end-game, is seen as the finish line for development:“This is a competitive industry—we need tokeep a sharp focus on the bottom line.”

The development of leaders beyond theAchiever action logic requires a very differenttack from that necessary to bring about the Ex-pert-to-Achiever transformation. Interven-tions must encourage self-awareness on thepart of the evolving leader as well as a greaterawareness of other worldviews. In both busi-ness and personal relationships, speaking andlistening must come to be experienced not asnecessary, taken-for-granted ways of communi-cating predetermined ideas but as intrinsicallyforward-thinking, creative actions. Achieversuse inquiry to determine whether they (and

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the teams and organization to which they be-long) are accomplishing their goals and howthey might accomplish them more effectively.The developing Individualist, however, beginsto inquire about and reflect on the goals them-selves—with the aim of improving futuregoals. Annual development plans that set newgoals, are generated through probing andtrusting conversation, are actively supportedthrough executive coaching, and are carefullyreviewed at the end of the cycle can be criticalenablers at this point. Yet few boards and CEOsappreciate how valuable this time investmentcan be, and it is all too easily sacrificed in theface of short-term objectives, which can seemmore pressing to leaders whose action logicsare less developed.

Let’s go back to the case of Sharon, the Indi-vidualist we described earlier whose AchieverCEO wasn’t able to manage her. How might acoach or consultant have helped the CEO feelless threatened by Sharon and more capable ofsupporting her development while also beingmore open to his own needs and potential?One way would have been to try role-playing,asking the CEO to play Sharon while the coachor consultant enacts the CEO role. The role-playing might have gone as follows:

“Sharon, I want to talk with you about yourfuture here at our company. Your completionof the Czech project under budget and aheadof time is one more sign that you have the ini-tiative, creativity, and determination to makethe senior team here. At the same time, I’vehad to pick up a number of pieces after youthat I shouldn’t have had to. I’d like to brain-storm together about how you can approachfuture projects in a way that eliminates thishassle and gets key players on your side. Then,we can chat several times over the next year asyou begin to apply whatever new principles wecome up with. Does this seem like a good useof our time, or do you have a different perspec-tive on the issue?”

Note that the consultant in the CEO’s roleoffers clear praise, a clear description of a limi-tation, a proposed path forward, and an in-quiry that empowers the CEO (playingSharon) to reframe the dilemma if he wishes.Thus, instead of giving the CEO one-way ad-vice about what he should do, the coach enactsa dialogic scenario with him, illustrating a newkind of practice and letting the CEO judgewhether the enacted relationship is a positive

one. The point is not so much to teach theCEO a new conversational repertoire but tomake him more comfortable with how the In-dividualist sees and makes sense of the worldaround her and what feedback may motivateher to commit to further learning. Such spe-cific experiments with new ways of listeningand talking can gradually dissolve the fears as-sociated with transformational learning.

To Strategist and Beyond

Leaders who are moving toward the Strategistand Alchemist action logics are no longer pri-marily seeking personal skills that will makethem more effective within existing organiza-tional systems. They will already have mas-tered many of those skills. Rather, they are ex-ploring the disciplines and commitmentsentailed in creating projects, teams, networks,strategic alliances, and whole organizations onthe basis of collaborative inquiry. It is this on-going practice of reframing inquiry that makesthem and their corporations so successful.

The path toward the Strategist and Alche-mist action logics is qualitatively differentfrom other leadership development processes.For a start, emergent Strategists and Alche-mists are no longer seeking mentors to helpthem sharpen existing skills and to guide themtoward influential networks (although theymay seek spiritual and ethical guidance frommentors). Instead, they are seeking to engagein mutual mentoring with peers who are al-ready part of their networks (such as boardmembers, top managers, or leaders within ascientific discipline). The objective of this se-nior-peer mentoring is not, in conventionalterms, to increase the chances of success but tocreate a sustainable community of people whocan challenge the emergent leader’s assump-tions and practices and those of his company,industry, or other area of activity.

We witnessed just this kind of peer-to-peerdevelopment when one senior client becameconcerned that he, his company, and the indus-try as a whole were operating at the Achieverlevel. This concern, of course, was itself a signof his readiness to transform beyond that logic.This executive—the CEO of a dental hygienecompany—and his company were among themost successful of the parent company’s sub-sidiaries. However, realizing that he and thosearound him had been keeping their headsdown, he chose to initiate a research project—

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on introducing affordable dental hygiene indeveloping countries—that was decidedly outof the box for him and for the corporation.

The CEO’s timing was right for such an ini-tiative, and he used the opportunity to engagein collaborative inquiry with colleagues acrossthe country. Eventually, he proposed an educa-tional and charitable venture, which the parentcompany funded. The executive was promotedto a new vice presidency for international ven-tures within the parent company—a role he ex-ercised with an increased sense of collaborationand a greater feeling of social responsibility forhis company in emerging markets.

Formal education and development pro-cesses can also guide individuals toward aStrategist action logic. Programs in which par-ticipants act as leaders and challenge theirconventional assumptions about leading andorganizing are very effective. Such programswill be either long term (one or two years) orrepeated, intense experiences that nurturethe moment-to-moment awareness of partici-pants, always providing the shock of disso-nance that stimulates them to reexaminetheir worldviews. Path-breaking programs ofthis type can be found at a few universitiesand consultancies around the globe. BathUniversity in the UK, for instance, sponsors atwo-year master’s degree in responsibility andbusiness practice in which students work to-gether during six one-week get-togethers.These programs involve small-learning teams,autobiographical writing, psychodrama, deepexperiences in nature, and a yearlong busi-ness project that involves action and reflec-tion. Interestingly, many people who attendthese programs report that these experienceshave had the transformative power of a life-altering event, such as a career or existentialcrisis or a new marriage.

Leadership Teams and Leadership Cultures Within Organizations

So far, our discussion has focused on the lead-ership styles of individuals. But we have foundthat our categories of leadership styles can beused to describe teams and organizations aswell. Here we will talk briefly about the actionlogics of teams.

Over the long term, the most effectiveteams are those with a Strategist culture, inwhich the group sees business challenges asopportunities for growth and learning on the

part of both individuals and the organization.A leadership team at one of the companies weworked with decided to invite managers fromacross departments to participate in time-to-market new product teams. Seen as a risky dis-traction, few managers volunteered, except forsome Individualists and budding Strategists.However, senior management provided suffi-cient support and feedback to ensure theteams’ early success. Soon, the first partici-pants were promoted and leading their owncross-departmental teams. The Achievers inthe organization, seeing that others were beingpromoted, started volunteering for theseteams. Gradually, more people within the orga-nization were experiencing shared leadership,mutual testing of one another’s assumptionsand practices, and individual challenges thatcontributed to their development as leaders.

Sadly, few companies use teams in this way.Most senior manager teams operate at theAchiever action logic—they prefer unambigu-ous targets and deadlines, and working withclear strategies, tactics, and plans, often againsttight deadlines. They thrive in a climate of ad-versity (“When the going gets tough, the toughget going”) and derive great pleasure frompulling together and delivering. Typically, theteam’s leaders and several other members willbe Achievers, with several Experts and perhapsone or two Individualists or Strategists (whotypically feel ignored). Such Achiever teamsare often impatient at slowing down to reflect,are apt to dismiss questions about goals and as-sumptions as “endless philosophizing,” and typ-ically respond with hostile humor to creativeexercises, calling them “off-the-wall” diver-sions. These behaviors will ultimately limit anAchiever team’s success.

The situation is worse at large, mature com-panies where senior management teams oper-ate as Experts. Here, vice presidents see them-selves as chiefs and their “teams” as aninformation-reporting formality. Team life isbereft of shared problem-solving, decision-making, or strategy-formulating efforts. Seniorteams limited by the Diplomat action logic areeven less functional. They are characterized bystrong status differences, undiscussable norms,and ritual “court” ceremonies that are carefullystage-managed.

Individualist teams, which are more likelyto be found in creative, consulting, and non-profit organizations, are relatively rare and

.ES 13



very different from Achiever, Expert, and Dip-lomat teams. In contrast to Achiever teams,they may be strongly reflective; in fact, exces-sive time may be spent reviewing goals, as-sumptions, and work practices. Because indi-vidual concerns and input are very importantto these teams, rapid decision making may bedifficult.

But like individual people, teams canchange their style. For instance, we’ve seenStrategist CEOs help Individualist senior teamsbalance action and inquiry and so transforminto Strategist teams. Another example is anAchiever senior team in a financial servicescompany we worked with that was emergingfrom two years of harsh cost cutting during amarket downturn. To adapt to a changing andgrowing financial services market, the com-pany needed to become significantly more vi-sionary and innovative and learn how to en-gage its workforce. To lead this transformation,the team had to start with itself. We workedwith it to help team members understand theconstraints of the Achiever orientation, whichrequired a number of interventions over time.We began by working to improve the way theteam discussed issues and by coaching individ-ual members, including the CEO. As the teamevolved, it became apparent that its composi-tion needed to change: Two senior executives,who had initially seemed ideally suited to thegroup because of their achievements, had tobe replaced when it became clear that theywere unwilling to engage and experiment withthe new approach.

During this reorientation, which lasted

slightly more than two years, the team becamean Individualist group with emergent Strate-gist capabilities. The CEO, who had profiled atAchiever/Individualist, now profiled as a Strat-egist, and most other team members showedone developmental move forward. The impactof this was also felt in the team’s and organiza-tion’s ethos: Once functionally divided, theteam learned to accept and integrate the di-verse opinions of its members. Employee sur-veys reported increased engagement across thecompany. Outsiders began seeing the companyas ahead of the curve, which meant the organi-zation was better able to attract top talent. Inthe third year, bottom- and top-line resultswere well ahead of industry competitors.

• • •

The leader’s voyage of development is not aneasy one. Some people change little in theirlifetimes; some change substantially. Despitethe undeniably crucial role of genetics,human nature is not fixed. Those who arewilling to work at developing themselves andbecoming more self-aware can almost cer-tainly evolve over time into truly transforma-tional leaders. Few may become Alchemists,but many will have the desire and potentialto become Individualists and Strategists. Cor-porations that help their executives and lead-ership teams examine their action logics canreap rich rewards.

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En AddVenture compartimos vocación y propósito y sostenemos juntos un firme compromiso.

La transformación social que todos anhelamos, y en particular la empresarial, se fundamenta en la transformación personal que permite mejoras radicales de tipo cognitivo, emocional, relacional e incluso físicas. Son estas mejoras disruptivas las que permiten que una organización sea rentable de modo sostenido. No habrá organizaciones prósperas y avanzadas si no se dan las necesarias transformaciones personales y colectivas.

Cada transformación del mindset permite acceder a un nivel superior de sabiduría y sensibilidad necesarios para gestionar con éxito los cada vez más desafiantes retos a los que nos enfrentamos en el siglo XXI.

¿Habrá un número suficientes de líderes en el planeta que realice esta transformación antes de que nuestra civilización sucumba, o que nos extingamos como especie, o incluso antes de que desaparezca (destruyamos) el planeta?

Sabemos que tenemos una oportunidad única como civilización para transformarnos y liderar el cambio necesario, imprescindible. Además, nosotros también sabemos cómo guiar el desarrollo de la cosmovisión, del mindset, e impulsar mentes y corazones a otro nivel más evolucionado, donde seamos más conscientes, con una visión diferente de lo que es el ser humano, las organizaciones que creamos y el mundo en el que vivimos.

Si lo hacemos bien, podremos influir positivamente en cómo avanzamos a través de estos tiempos desafiantes e inquietantes.

NUESTRO PROPÓSITO

Somos expertos en coaching ejecutivo para la alta direcciónDesarrollamos líderes de éxito para conseguir crecimiento rentable y responsable en sus empresas.

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16.ES

IMPULSAMOS LÍDERES TRANSFORMADORES

Nunca antes hemos experimentado un entorno más exigente, incierto, complejo y cambiante como el que tenemos hoy.

Avanzar en esta época requiere que una organización cuente con líderes con capacidades de liderazgo sin precedentes.

La mayor parte de los líderes contemporáneos están sobrepasados, desbordados ante los desafíos que deben enfrentar, incapaces de adaptarse y evolucionar eficazmente con suficiente agilidad y rapidez.

Cuanto mayor es la responsabilidad asumida, mayor es la complejidad de su rol, más son las paradojas y contradicciones que aparecen y mayor es la probabilidad de sentirse sobrepasados.

En AddVenture apoyamos a la alta dirección para transformar su liderazgo. Contribuimos con ello a que estos líderes puedan:

• Innovar en lo cotidiano para conseguir resultados extraordinarios.

• Construir relaciones poderosas basadas en la confianza con todos los stakeholders clave.

• Ponerse en juego y mostrar un carácter basado en fuertes convicciones sobre lo que es su propósito y valores fundamentales.

• Actuar con valentía extraordinaria, sin reaccionar, pero con determinación, promoviendo que otros hagan los mismo.

• Desarrollar otros líderes.

Líderes que crean líderes en todos los niveles de la organización.

Asesoramos a la alta dirección para alinear estrategia de negocio y cultura de liderazgo.

Hacemos posible el crecimiento sostenible de las empresas, poniendo el foco en resultados, relaciones y reputación.

Apoyamos a directivos de éxito a hacer su siguiente transformación.

Tenemos dentro de cada uno de nosotros y a nuestro alrededor todo lo que necesitamos para crear un nuevo escenario nunca conocido antes, donde podamos florecer como humanidad y en armonía con la naturaleza de la que formamos parte.

La responsabilidad personal de cada uno es la de tomar las riendas de su propio desarrollo, de la evolución de su mindset, de su cosmovisión, de su lógica de acción, permitiendo y animando a otros a hacer lo mismo.

Este es nuestro sueño en AddVenture. Deseamos contribuir. Este es nuestro compromiso y nuestro propósito. Y nos apasiona hacerlo junto con nuestros clientes, con nuestras familias y con nuestros amigos. ¿Qué mejor legado podemos dejar a las generaciones venideras?

(+34) 918 278 092 I [email protected] I www.AddVenture.es

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