Leadership Agility

338 Pages·2006·1.56 MB·English

Joiner.ffirs 8/30/06 3:21 PM Page i
Bill Joiner
Stephen Josephs
Q Leadership Agility
Five Levels of Mastery
for Anticipating and
Initiating Change
John Wiley & Sons,Inc.
Joiner.ftoc 8/30/06 3:22 PM Page iv
Joiner.ffirs 8/30/06 3:21 PM Page i
Bill Joiner
Stephen Josephs
Q Leadership Agility
Five Levels of Mastery
for Anticipating and
Initiating Change
John Wiley & Sons,Inc.
Joiner.ffirs 8/30/06 3:21 PM Page ii
Copyright © 2007 by Bill Joiner and Stephen Josephs.All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Joiner,Bill,1950-
Leadership agility :five levels ofmastery for anticipating and initiating change / Bill Joiner,
Stephen Josephs.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13:978-0-7879-7913-3 (cloth)
ISBN-10:0-7879-7913-9 (cloth)
1.Leadership—Psychological aspects. 2.Organizational change—Psychological aspects.
3.Maturation (Psychology) 4.Leadership—Psychological aspects—Case studies.
5.Organizational change—Psychological aspects—Case studies. 6.Maturation
(Psychology)—Case studies. I.Josephs,Stephen,1945- II.Title.
HD57.7.J649 2007
658.4'092—dc22
2006020996
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
FIRSTEDITION
PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Q
Contents
Introduction:The Master Competency v
Part One:What Is Leadership Agility?
1 Agility in a World ofChange and Complexity 3
2 The Five Eds 13
3 Four Competencies for Agile Leadership 31
Part Two:Five Levels of Leadership Agility
4 Expert Level:Solve Key Problems 43
5 Achiever Level:Accomplish Desired Outcomes 64
6 Catalyst Level:Mobilize Breakout Endeavors 91
7 Co-Creator Level:Realize Shared Purpose 123
8 Synergist Level:Evoke Unexpected Possibilities 155
Part Three:Becoming a More Agile Leader
9 Assessing Leadership Agility 193
10 Developing Leadership Agility 203
Appendix A:Research Behind This Book 227
Appendix B:Stages ofPersonal Development 235
Notes for Inquiring Readers 249
References 295
Resources 307
Acknowledgments 309
The Authors 311
Index 312
iii
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We dedicate this book to
Debbie and Noah,Alice and Sean,
and to our parents:
Frances (Bunny) Joiner (1921–1999)
Billy Joiner (1920– )
Teddy Josephs (1914–2006)
Israel Josephs (1904–1981)
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Q
Introduction:
The Master Competency
Leadership agility isn’t just another tool for your toolkit.It’s the mas-
ter competency needed for sustained success in today’s turbulent econ-
omy.This book,richly illustrated with real-world examples,shows
what leadership agility looks like in action.It will confirm your best
instincts and introduce you to new forms ofleadership currently prac-
ticed by only a small percentage ofhighly agile leaders.
Leadership Agility draws on a strong research base and three
decades of experience consulting,coaching,and training leaders in
companies based in the United States,Canada,and Europe.Although
most ofour stories and examples come from the business world,this
guide is also designed for managers in the government and nonprofit
sectors,in professional firms,in academic and religious institutions,
in fact,for anyone interested in developing as a person and becoming
a more effective leader.
Ifyou’re a leadership development professional,and you sense that
our global economy demands new personal capacities as well as new
leadership competencies,this book is also for you.It not only provides
the first in-depth examination of leadership agility,it also describes
five distinct levels that leaders move through as they master this much-
needed competency.1Strikingly,the research reported in this book
indicates that less than 10 percent ofmanagers have mastered the level
of agility needed for sustained success in today’s turbulent business
environment.2
AN INTEGRAL APPROACH
The prevailing approach to leadership development moves from the
outside in:You identify a leader’s external challenges and then deter-
mine the competencies required to meet these challenges effectively.
v
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vi INTRODUCTION
An inside-out approach has also emerged in recent years,focusing on
the mental and emotional capacities needed for effective leadership.3
Leadership Agilityis based on an integral perspective that approaches
leadership development from the outside in andfrom the inside out.4
From an outside-in perspective it highlights the skills needed for agile
leadership in complex,rapidly changing environments.More specif-
ically,it identifies agile leadership competencies in three distinct action
arenas:
•Pivotal conversations:Direct person-to-person discussions where
important outcomes are at stake.
•Team initiatives:Initiatives intended to improve a team and/or
its relationship with its larger environment.
•Organizational initiatives:Initiatives designed to change an orga-
nization and/or its relationship with its larger environment.
This book also approaches leadership agility from the inside out:
It identifies the mental and emotional capacities that work together
to enable agile leadership in all three action arenas.These capacities,
which we describe in Chapter Three,make you more agile in antici-
pating and initiating change,working with stakeholders,solving chal-
lenging problems,and learning from your experience.
STAGES OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
From an inside-out perspective,this book reveals a significant set of
findings about the relationship between personal development and
leadership effectiveness:As adults grow toward realizing their poten-
tial,they develop a constellation of mental and emotional capacities
that happen to be the very capacities needed for agile leadership.For
example, as adults develop, they get better at understanding and
appreciating viewpoints that conflict with their own.This capacity is
an essential ingredient in what we call “stakeholder agility,”the abil-
ity to lead successfully in situations where stakeholders have views and
interests that conflict with your own.
Our understanding ofthe capacities that emerge as human beings
develop is so central to leadership agility that we want to explain where
it comes from.At the beginning ofour careers,we studied and trained
in a range ofdisciplines,both Eastern and Western,that enabled us to
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The Master Competency vii
help managers develop both as human beings and as leaders.We also
had the good fortune to discover a field called stage-development psy-
chology,which shows that,as people develop,they evolve through a
series ofrecognizable stages.
Take a moment to imagine the full spectrum of human growth,
from humans at their most infantile to those who are the wisest,most
mature,most fully developed on the planet.For more than eight
decades,stage-development psychologists have researched and clari-
fied this continuum.Studying this field and testing it against our real-
world experience,we found that it provides an exceptionally useful
map for understanding the journey ofhuman development.The fol-
lowing sections present a briefoverview ofthis map.5
The Pre-Conventional and Conventional Stages
By the end ofthe 1950s,psychologists including Jean Piaget and Erik
Erikson had mapped the stages through which infants evolve into
adults.These begin with the so-called pre-conventional stages,which
mark the process ofgrowth from infancy through the end ofthe grade
school years.6Then come the three conventional stages,which we call
Conformer,Expert,and Achiever,respectively.7
Most children enter the Conformer stage about the time they start
middle school.At this stage,preadolescents develop the ability to
engage in the most basic level of abstract thought and the ability
to vividly imagine how they’re seen by others.They have a keen desire to
be accepted as members ofgroups to which they’re attracted.Conse-
quently,they are strongly motivated to conform to the social conven-
tions that govern these groups.8
Some people remain in the Conformer stage for the rest of their
lives.However,what we might consider true adult development—
becoming an independent individual—begins with the Expert stage.
At this stage people develop a strong problem-solving orientation.
They want to differentiate themselves from others by developing their
own opinions and areas ofexpertise.The great majority ofthose who
finish high school and go on to college begin to grow into this stage
during their late teens or early twenties.9
A smaller but still sizable percentage ofpeople then grow into the
Achiever stage.Adults at this stage develop a strong individual iden-
tity and work out a consciously examined system of values,beliefs,
and goals to live by.By conventional standards,the Achiever stage
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viii INTRODUCTION
represents full adult development.Most top executives and adminis-
trators,state and national politicians,influential scientists,and other
highly successful professionals have stabilized their development at
this stage.Even in the world’s most economically advanced societies,
few adults grow beyond it.
The Post-Conventional Stages
Over the past thirty years,researchers have identified further stages of
adult development,sometimes called post-conventionalstages,reached
by only a small percentage ofpeople.10Research has shown that peo-
ple at these post-conventional stages are more deeply purposeful,more
visionary in their thinking,and more resilient in responding to change
and uncertainty.They’re more welcoming ofdiverse perspectives and
have a greater capacity for resolving differences with other people.
They’re also more self-aware,more attuned to their experience,more
interested in feedback from others,and better at working through
inner conflicts.
Some ofthe people who’ve identified and described these stages are
beginning to become known in leadership circles:William R.Torbert,
author ofAction Inquiryand other books;Robert Kegan,author ofThe
Evolving Selfand In Over Our Heads;Don Beck and Chris Cowan,
authors ofSpiral Dynamics;and Ken Wilber,author ofover a dozen
books based on a stage-development framework.11Wilber’s ideas,in
particular,have become popular among a growing global network of
leading-edge thinkers and change agents.12
Levels of Leadership Agility
During the early 1980s,a series ofacademic studies produced statis-
tically significant correlations,showing that the capacities managers
develop at the more advanced stages carry over into the way they exer-
cise leadership.These studies also found that,in the great majority of
cases,post-conventional managers are more effective than conven-
tional managers.Why? Because they are more strategic in their think-
ing,more collaborative,more proactive in seeking feedback,more
effective in resolving conflicts,more active in developing subordinates,
and more likely to redefine problems to capitalize on the connections
between them.13