1. Leadership A Dialog on Understanding and Application
Kelvin K. Droegemeier
University of Oklahoma
OK Math and OK Science Leadership Program
4 March 2016

2. From the Web Site
The OKMath/OKSci Leadership Program, sponsored by the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), goes beyond professional development and helps teachers enhance their leadership capacity.
Teachers from K-12 and CareerTech collaborate to solve problems they encounter in their classrooms, schools and districts.

3. Challenges You Face Not feeling (or being) empowered as change agents
Understanding your role in your sphere(s) of influence
Effectuating change within complex systems
Sorting out complexity and dealing with people who don’t understand you or what you do
Thinking about the long haul when the world operates on the next budget cycle

4. We’re Bombarded with Material on Leadership but do we Really Understand It? Or US??
Are you naming characteristics of leaders or the work of leadership itself?
Do people mention values, positive outcomes, etc?

5. Established in 2015
Are you naming characteristics of leaders or the work of leadership itself?
Do people mention values, positive outcomes, etc?

6. What OU Faculty Have Shared...
I am very fearful, especially of rocking the boat and harming my future
No one is interested in what I have to say
I’m not a department chair, dean, or associate dean so I have no power or authority
I have a too limited perspective and don’t have access to needed information
I don’t have any opportunity to move into a position of leadership where I can make a difference

7. What Does the Word “Leadership” Mean to You?
Do You See Yourself as a Leader? If so, in What Ways?
Are you naming characteristics of leaders or the work of leadership itself?
Do people mention values, positive outcomes, etc?
What Individuals Have Been Important Leaders in Your Life? Why?

8. My Definition of Leadership
Empowering and directing people to achieve a common goal, solve problems, or effectuate positive change when pathways to progress are unclear or do not exist

9. My Definition of Leadership
Empowering and directing people to achieve a common goal, solve problems, or effectuate positive change when pathways to progress are unclear or do not exist -- and do so by having the big picture, clarifying and contextualizing issues, managing stress and disequilibrium, and giving the work to the people impacted.

10. Leadership: Searching for a Definition
               
               
Ask them to comment on these people as leaders – to identify their leadership traits.

11. Leadership: Searching for a Definition
Powerful/influential
Intelligent
Mobilize people and resources to work toward a common goal
Effectuate positive change
People of high values/standards/ethics – role models
Well known/famous – leave a legacy
Operate with a mixture of formal and informal authority
               
               
Ask them to comment on these people as leaders – to identify their leadership traits.

12. But What Makes Them Leaders?
Money?
Pedigree/education?
Beliefs?
Actions?
Personalities?
Looks?
Connections?
Work ethic?
Chance?
Which of these do you feel is THE most important?

13. "Leadership is a combination of strategy and character
"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Which of these do you feel is THE most important?

14. Leadership: Searching for a Definition

15. Leadership: Searching for a Definition
Powerful/influential
Intelligent
Mobilize people and resources to work toward a common goal
Effectuate positive change
Role models
People of high values/standards/ethics
Well known/famous
Operate exclusively with formal authority, usually by coercion

16. Key Facts About Leadership
Leadership seeks positive outcomes to benefit others – a servant viewpoint

17. “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. "
“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." Winston Churchill

18. LIFE: Is Difficult!! LEADERSHIP: Is Difficult!!
“This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”
- M. Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)

19. The Good News
…It is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom.”
- M. Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)

20. Leadership In a nutshell, that’s what leaders do – they solve problems
But they do so in a way fundamentally different than what you might imagine

21. Two Words that Often are Confused: Leadership and Management
Leadership and Management are very different, though some confuse them as being nearly synonymous
Few people are effective leaders and managers

22. Leadership and Management
is about coping with complexity
brings order and consistency out of potential chaos
applies known solutions and strategies in creative ways

23. “Leader” of a Baseball Team??

24. Leadership and Management
is about coping with or planning change, especially if it’s sudden

25. "Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." Stephen R. Covey
Which of these do you feel is THE most important?

26. "Management is doing things right… Leadership is doing the right things." - Peter Drucker
Which of these do you feel is THE most important?

27. Leadership and Management: Parallel but Not Equal
Creating a plan
Defining steps
Establishing a structure
Allocating resources
Executing the plan
Controlling situations and solving problems
Which of these do you feel is THE most important?

28. Leadership and Management: Parallel but Not Equal
Developing a vision and setting direction
Defining strategies
Aligning, motivating, inspiring and empowering people
Testing reality
Delegating work

29. Important Facts
Management controls people by pushing them in the right direction
Leadership motivates people by drawing them in a way that satisfies the basic human needs for
achievement
recognition
self-esteem
a sense of belonging

30. Major Tenets of Leadership
Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities
Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority

31. Major Tenets of Leadership
Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities
Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority

32. Producing Useful Change
Problems -- when circumstances do not conform to the way we think things ought to be
Two solutions
Apply a known technical fix (management)
Develop solutions that previously were unknown (leadership) – known as adaptive change

33. The Strategy of Technical Fixes
Technical fixes consist of
Identifying the nature/source of the problem
Understanding which possible (existing) solutions might best apply
Implementing the technical fix and monitoring results/outcomes
Refining the approach to maximize the effectiveness of the result
Technical fixes are the easiest strategy because they require the least work and produce results quickly (survival of the leader)
Thus, they often are applied when they should not be (work avoidance)

34. Give Me Some Examples Where You’ve Seen This Take Place – and the Results Have Been Less than Desirable!
Dick Hallgren’s comments plus being intrigued about leadership. I’ve become a leader
of sorts but never intended to. It was sort of a natural talent and I was curious about
how leaders emerge….and then did the leadership academy.

35. The Strategy of Adaptive Change
Adaptive work consists of
The learning required to address conflicts in the values people hold, or to diminish the gap between the values they stand for and the reality they face
Adaptive work requires a change in values, beliefs, or behavior
It does not mean passively “giving in” to the circumstances or compromising moral stands
It does require that one clarify what matters most in balance with trade-offs
Terrorism threat in the US and issues of liberty
People want clean water but also the economic benefits of heavy industry

36. Applying (Adaptive Change) Leadership
Get on the balcony and see the big picture, from all sides. This is the singular work of the leader
Work with all stakeholders to identify the challenge: technical fix or adaptive change
Ripen the issue, regulating distress and providing direction/orientation
Ask tough questions, challenge traditional thinking – expose contradictions, orchestrate conflict, test reality
Protect the voices of everyone/provide cover to all sides
Give the work back to the people involved; get advice from those on the front lines. This is part of the buy-in. Leaders do NOT DO ALL THE WORK!!!
Adaptive Change TAKES TIME!!! But it LASTS!!

37. Give Me Some Examples Where You Believe Adaptive Change Needs to Occur
Dick Hallgren’s comments plus being intrigued about leadership. I’ve become a leader
of sorts but never intended to. It was sort of a natural talent and I was curious about
how leaders emerge….and then did the leadership academy.

38. Major Tenants of Leadership
Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities
Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority

39. Leading With Formal Authority
Conferred in exchange for protection, direction, conflict control
Based on a set of expectations or a job description
Essentially a formal contract – it can be revoked or walked away from
Pros and cons
Breadth and completeness of information
Must operate within specific bounds
Must operate at a distance from the front lines

40. Leading With Formal Authority

41. Leading With Informal Authority
Based upon trust, reputation, civility, admiration, creativity and availability
It can never be revoked, though the trust relationship can be broken and the reputation damaged
This is the most powerful type of authority
Can deviate from norms of decision making
Can focus on hard issues
Can get closer to the experiences of the stakeholders down in the trenches, where relationships are developed

42. Leading With Informal Authority

43. Some Key Points
We often look to people in authority to solve problems, and leaders operating without formal authority often assume that only authority figures have the power to effect change
The authority figures are not the only audience for action, but they CAN change their ways when the sources of their authority change their expectations
The community authorizes people in positions of formal authority, so mobilize stakeholders to drive change rather than challenge the authority directly (the people do the work, not the leader or authority)

44. In Your Current Position, Do You See Yourself Leading With Formal or Informal Authority?
Dick Hallgren’s comments plus being intrigued about leadership. I’ve become a leader
of sorts but never intended to. It was sort of a natural talent and I was curious about
how leaders emerge….and then did the leadership academy.

45. Is Leadership “A Part of Who You Are,” or Can it be Learned?
Dick Hallgren’s comments plus being intrigued about leadership. I’ve become a leader
of sorts but never intended to. It was sort of a natural talent and I was curious about
how leaders emerge….and then did the leadership academy.

46. The Key is Intelligence!
Part I: Intellect
Intellectual capacity (IQ)
Technical expertise
Knowledge and experience

47. The Key is Intelligence!
Part I: Intellect
Intellectual capacity (IQ)
Technical expertise
Knowledge and experience
Part II: Emotions
90% of the difference between outstanding and average leaders is due to emotional intelligence (EI)
It’s twice as important as IQ and technical expertise combined
It is THE differentiating factor in leadership

48. You’ve Experienced This!
Have you been around people that don’t have a clue when they offend others?
What instructors did you enjoy or value the most in college?
The really brilliant one who cared nothing about you individually? or …
The one who was really smart (can’t be a professor otherwise) but made an effort to learn about your plans and dreams?

49. People are persuaded by reason, but moved by emotion; [the leader] must both persuade them and move them." Richard M. Nixon

50. Emotional Intelligence (EI)
The capacity for recognizing our feelings and those of others; for motivating ourselves and others; for managing emotions in ourselves and in our relationships
Understanding yourself (self-awareness)
Managing yourself (self-regulation)
Understanding others (empathy)
Managing others (motivation, social skills)

51. Key Characteristics of Leaders
A true leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position of leadership by the press of the external situation.
I believe it might be accepted as a fairly reliable rule of thumb that the man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader. (A.W. Tozer)
The true leader will be as ready to follow as to lead, and when a wiser and more gifted man than himself appears, he will step aside.

53. System/
Environment
Self

54. Diagnose
Action

55. Diagnosis of the System/Environment Action on the System/Environment
Diagnosis of Self
Action on the System/Environment
Action on Self

56. Adaptive Leadership Framework System Self Diagnose Diagnose Action
See Yourself as a System
Identify your loyalties
Prioritize your loyalties
Name your unspeakable loyalties
Self
Diagnose the Political Landscape
Who are the stakeholders
What are the values driving behavior
Where are the existing loyalties
Who will perceive a sense of loss
Are there any hidden alliances
Know Your Tuning
Know your triggers
Think Systemically
What is the status quo
What are the cultural norms and forces
What are the structural implications
What are the default interpretations & benchmarks
Diagnose
Broaden Your Bandwidth
Discover your tolerances
Diagnose
Understand Your Roles
What roles do you play
Identify your “scope of authority”
Diagnose the Adaptive Challenge
Determine the technical & adaptive components
Is there a gap between espoused values and current reality
Are their competing commitments
What are the risks of speaking the “unspeakable”
What are the work-avoidance patterns
Articulate your Purposes
Prioritize your purposes
What is the story you tell yourself
Adaptive
Leadership
Framework
Use Interpretations Experimentally
Technical vs. Adaptive
Benign vs. Conflictual
Individual vs. Systemic
Reframe the groups default interpretations
Generate multiple interpretations
Audition (don’t advocate) your own idea
Generate diverse interpretations
Stay Connected to Your Purpose
Keep purposes alive
Integrate your ambitions & aspirations
Avoid common traps
Engage Courageously
Lean into your incompetence
Give yourself permission to fail
Build the stomach for the journey
Act Politically
Expand your informal authority
Find allies
Stay connected to the opposition
Manage authority figures
Take responsibilities for casualties
Protect and engage the voices of dissent
Thrive
Anchor yourself in multiple communities
Grow your personal network
Create a personal holding environment
Find confidants
Renew yourself
Action
Action
Run Experiments
Own your piece of the mess
Take more risks
Exceed your authority
Allow for silence
Orchestrate Conflict
Create a holding environment
Select participants
Regulate the heat
Give the work back to the people
Inspire People
Listen with curiosity & compassion, beyond judgment
Hold yourself and others through the emotion
Speak from the heart
Allow for silence
System
Self
Adapted from “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership” by Heifetz, Lensky & Grashow

57. Summary: Being A Leader...
Is truly DIFFICULT work!!
Is not about a title, position or role of authority, but about leadING – and YOU are LEADERS!
Is about what matters for others, not about what is best for you
Is about driving positive change for those impacted
Is about knowing yourself and your role
Is about empowering others
Is not an activity you DO but a way you live