Unleashing Leadership Learning from New Social Movements Dr Simon Western Eco-Leadership: Toward a...

Unleashing Leadership Learning from New Social

Movements

Dr Simon Western Eco-Leadership: Toward a New Paradigm

These statements show that leadership does not belong solely to an individual

Leadership is much more

What is Leadership?

“She was a courageous leader” “An innovative

leadership culture flourished in the company””

“The company board showed great leadership”

“Scandinavia takes a lead on social welfare”


Controller Leadership DiscourseScientific rationalism and efficiency

The Controller Discourse underlying assumption is

that leadership focuses on maximizing efficiency

and control, to increase output.

Employees are treated in a functional way as

replaceable human resources, ‘cogs-in-the-wheel’ of

the efficient organizational machine.

Hugely successful but critiqued as de-humanising


Therapist Leadership DiscourseHappy workers are more productive workers

Therapist leadership works on human relations and

motivation. By the 1960s the rise of individualism

and therapeutic culture infiltrated the workplace,

changing the culture from controlling employees to

motivating them.

‘Therapist’ leaders encouraged workers to self-

actualize

at work. Employee’s ‘come to work to work on

themselves.’ (N. Rose)


The Messiah discourse arose in the 1980s following an

economic slump in the west. The fad of

‘transformational leadership’ offered hope in the face of

despair, when people look for a saviour.

Messiah leaders create strong loyal cultures, but expel

difference, undermining creativity and independent

thinking.

Messiah Leadership DiscourseCharismatic Leaders and Strong Cultures


Messiah Leadership Discourse

Isolated elements swimming in the same direction for the purpose of understanding. Damien Hirst (1991)

Individually cased, Hirst’s fish swim blindly in the same

direction without interaction. It’s a cold and clinical metaphor

for

society without conflict. An utopian ideal of a harmony that

comes at an unthinkable cost of sameness and emotional

confinement.


The Network Society undoes leadership and management theory

of the past century. Linear hierarchies, fixed structures and

roles are not ‘fit for purpose’ in this new environment.

The organizational metaphor changes from a machine to an eco-

system, organizations are inter-dependent networks

requiring adaptive responses, with leadership from the edges

as well as the centre.

The Eco-leadership DiscourseFrom Machine to Eco-system


Eco-Leaders look both ways

Internally: Eco-leaders connect people in networks and encourage

leadership to flourish everywhere in the organization.

Externally: Eco-leaders focus on stakeholders, competitors,

political and environmental trends, to ensure their organization

adapts to changes in the external eco-system.

Organizational

networks

External environment

Eco-Leadership Connectivity, Inter-dependence and Ethics

Dr Simon Western Eco-Leadership:

Toward a New Paradigm

Four Qualities of Eco-Leadership


Connectivity Interdependence

Organizational Belonging

Leadership Spirit

Systemic Ethics


1. Connectivity and Interdependence: Eco-leadership is

founded on connectivity, recognizing how the network

society has transformed social relations, and our inter-

dependence with each other and the environment.

2. Systemic Ethics: Eco-leadership is concerned with acting

ethically in the human realm and protecting the natural

environment. It goes beyond personal morality and

addresses wider ‘systemic’ ethical issues such as the

condition of outsourced workers, climate change and wider

social issues.



3. Leadership Spirit: Eco-leadership acknowledges the

importance of the human spirit. It extends its values beyond

material gain, paying attention to community, spirituality,

the unconscious, non-rational, creativity and imagination.

4. Organizational Belonging: To belong, is to be a part of the

whole, it is to participate in the joys and challenges faced by

communities (local and global). All organizations belong to

the social fabric of community, and cannot operate as

separate bodies. Organizational belonging is to rethink

organizational purpose and meaning.


The Business Case for Eco-Leadership


Protecting the brand against social activism and negative consumer voices

Efficiency savings Reducing energy bills and waste

Talent attracted and retained Ethical practice and socially responsible companies are more attractive to bright minds

Employee engagement and brand loyalty: Employees and customers respond to companies that align good business with doing good.

Anticipating regulation as natural resources decline and climate change increases, international and national regulation will increase. Eco-leaders lead rather than follow these moves, anticipating change. Emergent capability Engaging all employees in tackling the big issues creates unexpected business opportunities. Emergence is to see the patterns and opportunities that emerge from the unexpected.

Unilever are a leader in the field of sustainability There is no conflict between sustainable consumption and business growth. Quite the opposite, in fact. There is a compelling case for sustainable growth - retailers and consumers demand it and it saves us money. Paul Polman, Chief Executive, Unilever


Eco-Leadership integrates other leadership approaches to adapt to the context of the organization.


.

New Social Movements


.

Business and Organizational Leadership Trends

Purpose beyond Profit & Productivity Values led, authenticity, connect with community Clear brand Identity that employees and clients/customers can identify with

Form Move from:Heroic to post-heroic, management to leadershipControl to influencing, hierarchy to network, dependency to autonomySecretive to transparency

Skill Sets Hard and technical skills need balancing with soft skills I.e. Motivation, influencing, delegation, communication, collaboration

Mindset From closed system, and silo’s to open networksDevelop connectivity, network mindsets, holistic, and integrated approaches with customers, clients outsourced work, and all stakeholders


.

New Social Movements

PurposeIndividuals and collective movement wholly motivated by clear purpose (no material leverage). Values led, self-motivated, authentic engagement, creates supportive and dynamic networks. Self-identity and movement strongly connected.

FormNon-hierarchical, Self-organising, Distributed and Autonomist leadership, egalitarian-democratised.

Skill setsInfluencing and communication skills, collaborative teamwork, conflict resolution, Expertise in social media/technology and viral communicating. Reliant on innovation.

MindsetNetwork Mindset, open-source thinking, collective wisdom- e.g. crowd sourcing. Understand inter-dependencies with eco-systems


Can you guess which social movement this value statement comes from ?


A trick question, this value statement is from a bank. As this demonstrates, commercial business have borrowed from the language of social movements and are also learning from their organizational forms and leadership approaches.

The question is whether these are genuine attempts to change culture and purpose, or merely a cover story whilst behind the scenes its business as usual.

‘In a highly original way, taking “Critical Theory” as a point of departure, Dr. Western helps us to obtain greater insight into the enigma of leadership.’

Manfred Kets de VriesDirector INSEAD Global Leadership Center

Eco-leadership Publications

‘I see a lot of books on Coaching, and this is without doubt the most stimulating, original, thoughtful and and well-founded account…’

Jonathan Gosling, Professor of Leadership Studies, University of Exeter



A-NcP Five Frames

• Depth Analysis• Relational Analysis• Leadership Analysis • Network Analysis • Strategic Analysis

See www.simonwestern.com for further information

We have developed a number of OD, leadership and coaching interventions, robustly researched and tried and tested to deliver Eco-leadership in organizations. For example the Analytic-Network Change Process©. A simple yet profound five-frame systematic process that delivers change in the business, in leaders and stimulates culture change.

Implementing Eco-leadership in Practice

http://www.simonwestern.com/

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