#BuildingCapacity in a Collaborative Culture

keynote Valerie J Davis, PhD

#BuildingCapacity | an ebbf international learning event

understanding and developing the latent talent in people and organizations

to enable adaptive and meaningful workplaces fit for the 21st century

! Background and foundational concepts ! Capacity building in a collaborative culture ! Why now?

The Map

IntroductionThe Study

The Study! Two organizations practicing collaborative leadership

! 25 participants

The Participants

! 25 people: 13 males, 12 females ! Two distinct generations (DOB from 1951 – 1991)

! Most have post-graduate degrees ! Most have had significant multi-cultural experiences

Foundational Concepts

! Collaborative leadership ! Power ! Capacity building

A dynamic, interactive process that occurs between two or more people, the purpose of which is to facilitate decision-making and shared agreement on direction, alignment to goals, and a commitment to action.

Collaborative Leadership

Power:! social power in an organizational context. ! understood to be a ubiquitous and animating force of human organization.

! a benign energy. ! Considered to be intrinsic to leadership. ! “America’s last dirty word” (Moss-Kanter, 1999).

Power Over

Power To

Power With

Influencing through mutualistic power or power-with

! Inspiring ! Role modeling ! Building capacity

Collaborative leaders prefer

! Empowerment?

Building Capacity

Capacity versus Competence

! Providing resources, encouraging, and supporting

! Generating a sense of ownership ! Promoting group unity

Releasing Capacity

! Is a win-win strategy. ! There is no loss of power for the leader. ! The more capacity each person has the more potential the organization will have.

Releasing Capacity

! When you’re managing people it’s more about working with folks as individuals and helping them grow for their own sake . . . If I’m a good manager that means that I am serving them by supporting them and being better and growing and strengthening their skills and achieving what they want to achieve. I see that if I can do that successfully then I am essentially extending the impact that I can have on the world by building up the ability for others to have that impact.

Benjamin

! A conceptual framework ! Developed by Ken Wilber ! Considers “being”, “doing”, “culture”, and “the larger system”

An Integral Perspective

INDIVIDUAL

COLLECTIVE

INT

ER

NA

LE

XT

ER

NA

L

CULTURE Intra-subjective

INTENTION Subjective

SYSTEMS Inter-subjective

BEHAVIOR Objective

! no one quadrant offers a complete picture. ! All perspectives are needed for a holistic understanding.

An Integral Perspective

! Prefers mutualistic power ! Abundance mindset ! Balances agency and communion ! Courageous ! Ethical ! Humble ! Minimizes ego ! Trustworthy and trusting ! Views people as full of potential

Intention

! Employs mutualistic power ! Consults others ! Puts others ahead of self ! Shows respect for others ! Works through conflict ! Transparent in communication

Behavior

! Collaborative ! Social equity ! Social justice ! Promote equality ! Principles-centered ! Participatory decision-making ! Safe environment ! Shared opportunities to express power ! Strive for consensus ! Transparent communication ! Values-based ! Value diversity

Culture

! Collaborative strategic framework ! Democratically inspired ! Devolved leadership ! Inspires beyond the organization boundaries ! Learning organization ! Minimized hierarchy ! Promotes sustainability and altruism ! Shared ownership of the enterprise

System

INDIVIDUAL

COLLECTIVE

INT

ER

NA

L

EX

TE

RN

AL

CULTURE Relational Equality

INTENTION Abundance Balanced Character and Virtues Moral and ethical

SYSTEMS Innovative Strategic Frameworks Seamless between internal and external stakeholders

BEHAVIOR Collaborative Consultative Respectful Faces conflict Transparent Reflective

INDIVIDUAL

COLLECTIVE

INT

ER

NA

L

EX

TE

RN

AL

CULTURE Relational Equality

INTENTION Abundance Balanced Character and Virtues Moral and ethical

SYSTEMS Innovative Strategic Frameworks Seamless between internal and external stakeholders

BEHAVIOR Collaborative Consultative Respectful Faces conflict Transparent Reflective

A few observations! The leaders in this study did not always think this way ! Some cautioned that negative capacity is as easily developed ! This takes time and patience ! In the end, mutualistic power and building capacity are a matter of choice

! People are at varying levels of capacity to collaborate.

! Leaders require deep self-awareness. ! Contradictory behavior will be scrutinized and magnified.

Challenges

! Technology ! Information ! Complexity

Why now?

Your Thoughts and Questions?

A few questions to explore . . .

! Is it possible to “renovate” an organization? If so, how can that be accomplished?

! What does collaborative leader development look like?

! What experiences would best serve to develop the collaborative capacities of employees?

! Your deeper questions?

Learnshop

How collaborative leaders build capacity ! Listen deeply ! Trust as a foundation ! Truly care about others ! Emphasize motivating and mentorship ! Focus on understanding; never blame ! Delegate ownership versus tasks ! Provide stretch opportunities ! Create environments conducive to learning and growth ! Place other-interest equal to or ahead of self-interest ! Participatory decision-making where appropriate ! Practice collaboration ! Promote consultation ! Employ reflection regularly