THE CRYSTALLISING LEARNING MODULE IN 3 SENTENCES

Crystallising Learning is a space for celebrating the collective learning journey.

Crystallising Learning is a journey of reflection and action.

Crystallising Learning is an opportunity to cement significant learning, make commitments to the future and plan to stay connected to this learning moving forward.

LEARNING INTENTIONS FOR THIS MODULE

Re-convene as a learning group.

Reflect on the impact of the Appreciative Interview with your Line Manager or equivalent.

Present your Personal Compass and harvest collective learning, reflecting on how you can grow creativity where you are.

Contribute to ideas around sustaining and building this learning community and sharing the impact.

Share final reflections.

Appreciative Inquiry with Line Manager

Inquiry

“The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing. Most people waste their time by asking questions that are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning is to discover what the other does know or is capable of knowing.” – Einstein

Questions are more transformative than answers and are essential tools of engagement. Questions create the space for something new to emerge. However, in the busy world of task, target, fix it and sort it, answers are still valued more than questions and, in the short term, often feel easier. Answers, especially those that respond to our need for quick results, while satisfying, shut down the discussion, and the future shuts down with them.

As leaders, what does this mean for your practice and how we ask questions?

Time has been called on the old-fashioned patterns of questions that many of us have been trained in and trained others to use. The processes we used 10 years ago are not fit for the unprecedented times of uncertainty and austerity that organisations find themselves in. We need to change.

For 10 years, I have explored a variety of models that come at questions from a different perspective. These include Appreciative Inquiry, Thinking Environments and Systems Thinking.

This process of you interviewing your line manager aims to capture your curiosity and support you to join the journey to discover powerful and generative questions – ones that not only change the conversation but also change the future. Where you don’t have a formal line manager within your organisation, we suggest that you use the same format with either the person who conducts your supervision or a person you work with on a regular basis. The main point is to experience the Appreciative Inquiry process and received feedback on your strengths, what you need to learn and what you need to let go.

Guidance

You will need 30-45 minutes; on no account should this be done on an email. Make sure you get the appointment in place with the line manager as soon as the programme goes live. Be mindful that you are there to inquire into the thinking of your line manager, not the other way around.

It might be good to record the interview if your line manager is willing, which means you can be fully present and not distracted in terms of note-taking. Make sure you are appreciative of their time and that you have a format and a pattern of questions you will be using. Depending on their thinking preferences, they might like to see the questions beforehand.

Afterwards, listen to the recording and pull out what you think are the most important insights for you personally.

Questions

• When you think about my strengths as a leader, what comes to mind?
• What do you see as the intrinsic value of having leaders in the organisation?
• In your view, in the context of my leadership, what do I need to let go of, and what do I need to learn?
• If this programme was to help me shift my impact, what would you like to see, and how can you support me?

Finally, make some notes about what you have learned as a result of the process, the conversation and the impact moving forward.

Personal Leadership Compass

Creativity

A recent IBM study of more than 1500 CEOs reports that the single most important leadership competency for leaders in the complex systems of today and tomorrow is creativity. They also discovered that many leaders are insecure around the idea of creativity, believing that they are not the creative type.

My experience is that this thinking can be unblocked and enabling leaders to do so can have far-reaching implications for them, their organisations, families, and the wider community.

To begin, leaders need to let go of the internal voice of judgement that says “I’m not good at this sort of thing”. This is not about being an artist: if you have ever solved a problem, found a way around something, baked a cake or built a sandcastle, then you are creative. Trust the process. What’s the worst thing that can happen?

Guidance

There is no time limit on this. You might make a start and then come back to it; it is your choice.

The Leadership Compass is an invitation into a safe, creative space. What follows is guidance, not a process or set of rules, more like some tips and thoughts. I have provided you with my compass and its story on the following pages in the spirit of shared learning, not as an exemplar.

Create your compass in whatever size you like, as long as it can be photographed and read as part of a collective artefact. As a rule of thumb, I would say no smaller than A4.

One leader who loved scrap metal built something; another baked a cake! It’s the making that matters. A collage, drawing, sewing, whatever! Just manifest your thinking in a visual way. The only rule is no PowerPoint and no computer-generated images! No one will die! Leadership is about stepping into the unknown…

Questions that could help

• How do you ‘show-up’ as a leader in your whole life?
• Who and what keeps you grounded?
• How does your significant learning from this programme impact your sense of direction for the future?
• What values guide you?
• What would you like to think your leadership legacy will be?

 

Overview

When I was thinking about my Leadership Compass, I was thinking about what and who keeps me ‘grounded’ on my leadership journey. I see this as a whole life thing, not just how I lead myself and others in a work context, but how I ‘show up’ as a leader in all aspects of my life. This is to do with who I am in all relationships, and accepting that how I use the compass to navigate these relationships will be different.

 

The Design

I started with the basic compass shape. The four points of the compass are what I think you will see in my behaviour as a constant.
Blue symbolises calm, and the blues I have chosen are reminiscent of the blues I see in the water around the West coast of Scotland.
The shapes are more fluid than rigid. I’m not great with too many rules, although I think there is a need for some structure to hold things together.

 

The Words

Centrally, the words show my connection to David, my family, my friends, and the Island of Iona (maternal heritage). Without these people and places, I would be adrift. They are at the heart of my compass. The other words inside and outside the circle describe what I think I do with my leadership and how I engage others, on my and their own leadership journey.

 

Reality

Of course, none of this means that I don’t make mistakes, get lost on the road, or take a path in spite of the compass: this is the human condition. However, having the compass and sharing it with you gives me a chance to show some of my vulnerability and strengths, and provides a framework for self reflection.

Importantly, on this journey I see you all as my thinking equals: my thinking is not more important than yours, only different.

Creative Leadership in Times of Uncertainty

Tim Brown, Co-chair of IDEO talks about creativity, leadership and innovation and provides some simple strategies to tap into creativity as a leader.