Strategic leadership presentation at INTASE Leadership Conference in Singapore April 2014

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INTASE Leadership Conference Singapore 2014
Chris Jansen – University of Canterbury, New Zealand
www.leadershiplab.co.nz
www.ideacreation.org
Complexity based leadership:
navigating adaptive challenges

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Chris Jansen
www.ideacreation.org

4. Overview
• a road map for leading change
• focus on adaptive challenges
• re-designing hierarchies
• strategies for engaging collective
intelligence
• organisational change processes
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Speed Complexity
Uncertainty Ambiguity
Opportunities
Paradox
Unintended consequences
Lack of Control
change is changing…..
Information overload
Interconnectedness of systems
Dissolving of traditional organisational boundaries
Disruptive technologies
Generational values and expectations
Increased globalization

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“The greatest challenge for future leaders is the pace of
change and the complexity of the challenges faced….”
….”perpetual white-water”…
“Our organisations are not equipped to cope with this
complexity…” (IBM study – 1500 CEO’s)

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BAU New BAU
Context Shifting
Context
Shifting
Context
70-80% failure
Positive and
sustainable
change?
Why? Threat?
Opportunity?
Where?
…are we heading
to?
Who?...do
we collaborate
with?
How?…do we
design our
journey?
What?…steps
do we take?
www.ideacreation.org
A road map for leading change

8. Technical challenges
“can be solved with knowledge and procedures
already at hand”
Adaptive challenges
“embedded in social complexity, require behaviour change
and are rife with unintended consequences‟
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Requires leader to identify priorities, project manage and
ensure stakeholder engagement
Requires leader to do all of the above and generate
and trial multiple solutions
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Simple,
predictable
cause and
effect
interactions
Multiple
predictable
cause and
effect
interactions
Multiple
connected but
unpredictable
interactions
Multiple
disconnected
interactions
Complex Complicated
Chaotic Simple
Cynefin Framework
Decisions are obvious
Decisions require
expert knowledge
Decisions are uncertain
and solutions only
apparent in retrospect
Decisions need to be made
quickly to dampen energy
Dave Snowdenwww.ideacreation.org
Adaptive
challenges
Technical
problems

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How does self organisation work?
• independent agents
• interactions with neighbours
• decentralised control
• an attractor - motivated by threat or opportunity
Self organisation leading to emergence
Complexity thinking, complex adaptive systems, adaptive leadership
www.ideacreation.org

14. Machine Living organism
Hybrid?
+Efficient, reliable, +innovative, responsive, nimble
-Inflexible, slow to respond -messy and spontaneous
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15. .
.
.
Leaders vs leadership?
Position of a leader vs action of leadership
Hierarchies and Networks
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16. The Starfish and the Spider…
The unstoppable power of leaderless organisations
Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
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17. “It is no longer sufficient to have one person
learning for the organisation... Its just not
possible any longer to figure it out from the
top, and have everyone else following the
order of the ‘grand strategist’. (Senge , 2002)
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18. Culture eats strategy
for lunch…
…and structure creates culture

19. Foster interaction, shared learning, and leverage
collective intelligence
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What
solution?
How to
engage?
+ Ownership,
motivation and
commitment
++ Better solutions
and innovation
Two key questions in adaptive change

20. Strategies for enabling collective intelligence…
Principles:
- fostering interaction and shared learning
- diversity and choice to contribute
Possible mechanisms:
- cross functional teams
- focus groups (vertical teams)
- interdisciplinary teams
- collaborative processes – Appreciative Inquiry, world café, open space…
- think tanks – open invitation, open agenda
- Agile methodologies – scrum etc
- innovation portal (ie you I portal)
- regular staff and student surveys
- accelerate teams - volunteer army
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22. Technical change (linear)
Need and vision
Adopt proven ideas
Train
Roll out
Scale up
Fine-tune
and embed Pre-planned
and predictable
steps
 Proven solution
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23. Need and vision
Launch multiple
experiments
Assess responses
and fine-tune
Scale up
Pilot
AI…Foster collective
intelligence
Adaptive change (cyclic)
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Technical challenges
=
Linear change
processes
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26. Organisational change processes
1. establish urgency based on provable need/gap
2. form a powerful coalition or core team
3. develop a vision and operation plan
4. launch numerous small ’safe to fail’ pilots
5. communicate the vision and develop whole school approach
6. consolidate improvements by building capacity
7. widen awareness and support
8. celebrate and embed
Based on Kotter
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27. Who has a voice in our
organisation?
What mechanisms can we
create to foster interaction
and shared learning?
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28. Keeping in contact….
chris.jansen@canterbury.ac.nz
www.ideacreation.org
www.leadershiplab.co.nz
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