Developing Leadership

Leadership is a relationship between those who commit to lead and those who decide to follow; it is not a position or place. Any consideration of leadership must attend to the dynamics of this relationship. Strategies, tactics, skills, and practices are pointless unless we understand the fundamental human aspirations that connect leaders and their constituents. If there is no underlying need for the relationship, then there is no need for leaders. Taking full advantage of the insights provided by VIEW, those who lead and manage organizations can increase their capacity to influence and inspire others. This process starts by recognizing the inherent value of diversity. Diversity is any dimension that can be used to differentiate groups and people from each other. VIEW assesses diversity in problem solving styles.

• When you work to transform any kind of organization, you must often challenge the way things are currently being done. Organizations must have the capacity for developing better approaches and exploring different approaches for challenging the process.

• When it comes to enabling change, leaders must recognize that people differ in their preferences for processing information and ideas internally and externally. This requires leaders to adjust their communication and interaction to provide for an appropriate balance of reflection and action.

• When you need to deliver results and obtain commitments for taking action, you must make good decisions and consider many options and alternatives. Leaders play a key role in establishing the climate that allows for effective decision-making. Effective leadership requires an effective balance between providing clarity and commitment for accomplishing the tasks and demonstrating concern for people.

Example

An organization's leadership has established, through its traditional practices, a clear preference for developmental change, an internal manner of processing, and a very strong task-orientation for deciding. Members of the key senior leadership are aware of these preferences in style and are working to provide skills and develop structures and systems to allow for greater openness to exploratory styles, an increased focus on improving the level of communication, and on helping the organization become a better balanced and diverse place in which to work. There is an acknowledgement that this will take time, but given their style preferences they have a detailed plan to encourage innovation, have communicated it to all involved, and are working to establish a climate that supports creativity and innovation.