The Learning Advantage: Six Practices of Learning-Directed Leadership

209 Pages·2011·1.92 MB·English

by  D. Christopher Kayes

THE LEARNING ADVANTAGE
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T
HE LEARNING ADVANTAGE
Six Practices of Learning-
Directed Leadership
Anna Kayes
Associate Professor, School of Business and Leadership,
Stevenson University, USA
and
D. Christopher Kayes
Associate Professor, School of Business, George
Washington University, USA
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© Anna Kayes & D. Christopher Kayes 2011
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issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be
liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identifi ed as the authors of this work in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
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Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978–0–230–57754–1
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Dedication
For Brad and Ben
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Contents
Preface xii
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction 1
Leadership and riding a bike 1
Challenging your thinking about leadership 3
Learning-directed leadership: A new direction for leaders 5
Six practices of learning-directed leadership 8
The learning-directed leadership cycle 9
Organization of the book 14
1 Learning in Organizations 16
Key ideas 16
A leader’s story: Geeta’s transitions from physician to consultant 16
The leadership context: “big data,” high stakes, and change 18
From solving puzzles to solving mysteries 18
Learning-directed leadership in organizations 21
Eliminating infections in critical care medicine 21
Increasing awareness 22
Learning from past experience 23
Facilitating behavior change 23
Improving judgment 25
Breaking down hierarchy 25
Failure to learn at Lehman Brothers 26
Empirical studies of the value of learning in consulting fi rms 28
Learning, leadership, and organization outcomes 31
Conclusion 32
Questions for refl ection 32
2 Leadership Learning: From the Classroom to the
Boardroom 33
Key ideas 33
A leader’s story: Leading learning teams in a
government agency 34
vii
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viii CONTENTS
From the classroom . . . 35
Behavioral approach 35
Cognitive approach 36
Social approach 37
Humanist approach 39
To the boardroom . . . 41
Practice-based learning 41
Action learning 42
Single-loop and double-loop learning 43
Learning beyond the classroom 46
Conclusion 47
Questions for refl ection 48
3 Learning from Experience 49
Key ideas 49
A leader’s story: Steve Forbes’ navigation of changes
in publishing 49
Learning from experience 51
The development of this approach: Both revival
and revolution 52
Characteristics of learning through experience 53
Jump starting the learning process through refl ection 55
Leading through experience rather than recipe: The
case of leek and potato soup 57
The four stages of learning and learning style preferences 58
Learning and the brain 61
Brain plasticity and the brains of right-handed London
taxi drivers 62
Psychological defenses and blocks to organizational learning 64
Helping others learn from their experiences 67
Conclusion 67
Questions for refl ection 68
4 Higher-Order Learning 69
Key ideas 69
A leader’s story: Captain Nate Self and the army
rangers in Afghanistan 69
Elements of higher-order learning shown in Self and his team 71
Learning from experience 71
Exploratory learning 72
Counterfactual learning 73
Improving leaders’ capacity to learn over time 75
From ill-structured problems to world construction 77
Deliberate practice 80
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(cid:2) CONTENTS ix
A framework for the deliberate practice of leadership 81
The goals of higher-order learning 84
Challenging and reformulating mental models 86
Barriers to higher-order learning: Robert E. Lee during
the Civil War 87
Conclusion 91
Questions for refl ection 91
5 Building Resilience 92
Key ideas 92
A leader’s story: Steve Job’s failure and resilience 92
The need for resilience 93
Learning resilience through experience 94
The role of self-effi cacy in learning 96
“Mary’s” efforts to overcome her fear of snakes 96
Elements of self-effi cacy: Modeling, confi dence,
and motivation 98
The limits of self-effi cacy: Feeling like you have
control—even when you don’t 99
Optimism, pessimism, and learning 101
Factors in resilience 103
Physiological factors: Stress 103
Environmental factors: Extent of job structure and fl exibility 104
Building resilience in organizations 105
Learning from culture in extreme contexts 105
Developing the “maximized vertical reconnaissance
attack profi le” 108
Building a culture of resilience 109
Using networks and appreciative inquiry to support
resilience 111
Taking the long-term view of organizational achievement 112
Conclusion 113
Questions for refl ection 113
6 Fostering Emotional Intelligence 114
Key ideas 114
A leader’s story: Carl’s risk at Morrison & Foerster law fi rm 114
The practical science of emotions 117
Emotional intelligence as learning 118
Dimensions of emotional intelligence 119
Self-awareness 121
Self-management 122
Social awareness 124
Relationship management 126
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