At some point in time, deep and disruptive change will come a calling, be it for our civilizations, our societies, our cities, our institutions, our organizations, our systems, structures, processes and even for us individually. And most often it is both inevitable and unavoidable. The only question is whether we saw it coming or were we caught completely by surprise?
Not to be dour, but everything in this world has a shelf-life, an expiration date. And for that reason, we have to be both ready and willing to throw out the old and usher in the new when things have reached their limit of usefulness and value. The problem is that many organizations and institutions tend to stretch things far beyond their capacity to remain fresh and new.
Which often requires a complete overhaul. A tipping point. One of deep change that leads to full renovation and eventual transformation.
For those that haven’t noticed, we’ve reached that tipping point. A time of overhaul and renovation. You might say we are living in the midst of this arc of transformation. It is all around us; in society, business, education and most importantly, in leadership.
For so long leadership, while seeing incremental improvements, remained mired in stasis from its own idea of what leadership was and is. But we are beginning to see deeper, grander shifts and changes in how we perceive leaders and leadership. We are now beginning to see the effects of this transformation, this movement to reinvent and reimagine leadership from this hierarchical, structured, command and control fixture of the past into more socially cognizant, emotionally aware, intrinsically motivating influencers and architects of the future.
And while this change will not occur overnight, it is shifting and moving at a much more intense and hurried pace. It requires today’s leaders to really look at where they are on this arc of transformation and how they are mindshifting themselves, their leadership and their organization into the future.
Review some shifts below and begin to determine your point of shift, in regards to your leadership, on this arc of transformation…
- Authoritative to Collaborative
- What to Why
- I Tell to We Learn
- Siloed to Collegial
- Answers to Questions
- Stasis, Status Quo to Pivot, Agile
- Implementer to Interactive
- Disconnected to Connected
- Analog to Digital
These are just a starter, but they get us to begin to reflect on our path and how we are transitioning and progressing on the arc of transformation for reimagining and reinventing our leadership.
The arc of leadership transformation is about making deep shifts that provide the type of leadership for our organization’s that is more authentic, relevant and engaging. For this to happen, we need leaders who are transitioning from silos and command and control strategies to collegial and collaborative environments that engage the creative and innovative thinking of entire organization. This is a systems change, it is moving from parts to whole, to creating new and invigorated systems that are more dynamic and vibrant.
It is about creating relevance in a time when organizations are quickly becoming irrelevant. It is about creating engagement at a time when disengagement has become the norm.
This is a much more participatory and collaborative style of leadership. Which is indicative of the changes that are happening across society from business to education. People are looking for the opportunity to engage and work in deeper, more meaningful ways. They are looking to be part of something bigger than themselves. They are looking for the opportunity to contribute and serve. They want their work and their life to have value and leave a positive imprint on their community and the world.
Which is why we must begin this journey to reinvent and reimagine the very face of modern leadership.
To make this transition across the arc of transformation.
(This arc of transformation is just the tip of the iceberg, additions are welcomed as we work to expand our leadership into the future by building capacity and infusing new learning)
DCulberhouse 