Effective Leadership for Early Childhood Systems Change: The art and practice of adaptive leadership

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Effective Leadership for Early Childhood Systems
Change The art and practice of adaptive
leadership

• Facilitated by
• Ellen Kagen, Georgetown University
• Charlie Biss, Consultant, Georgetown University

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What are you trying to accomplish? What are your
challenges?

• Reflect on a change issue that you are in the
  midst of addressing a change which may be easier
  to tackle with improved leadership skills. The
  change can be with an individual, within your
  team, up the chain of command, within your
  organization or cross department/ cross agency.

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• DEFINING LEADERSHIP

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Leaders and Managers

• Managers Maintain Stability
• Leaders Involved in Change

Managing the Polarities and Having the Capacity
for Double Vision
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Bottom Line

• Leaders lead people managers manage things.
  Understanding the difference is the first step to
  understanding ones role as a leader.
  (unknown source)

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Leadership is a Function

• Leadership is a combination of values, skills,
  and observable behaviors that
• can be learned, improved and expanded
• can be adapted and changed to address various
  situations in a changing environment.
• result in mobilizing others towards expanding
  their capacity to learn together and take actions
  to create a vision they share.
• Source Ellen B. Kagen, Georgetown University,
  2010

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Leadership and Authority

• Leadership
• A combination of values, skills, and observable
  behaviors that result in mobilizing others toward
  expanding their capacity to learn together and
  take actions to create a vision they share.
• Authority
• A social contract used to define who or what has
  power to perform activities such as enforce laws,
  make judgments, or supervise the actions of
  others. Authority is also the power to influence
  or persuade from a solid base of knowledge or
  experience.
• Source Ellen B. Kagen, Georgetown University
  2010

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Leadership is a set of personal attributes,
qualities, and skills either intuitive and/or
acquired that rouses and motivates others.
(Northouse, 2001).
Leadership by Position
Leadership by Influence
Slide Source National Center for Cultural
Competence, 2010
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Leadership and Advocacy

• Advocacy is the act of pleading or arguing in
  favor of something such as a cause. It is the
  pursuit of influencing by putting hard issues on
  the agenda.
• Leadership is the mobilization of resources to
  bring about the change.
• Both leadership and advocacy keep people focused
  on the issuesleadership galvanizes the people to
  change their ways.

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Defining Leadership as a function

• Leadership can be seen as the process of
  envisioning and initiating change, by mobilizing
  others to alter the status quo, in response to an
  urgent challenge or a compelling opportunity.
• Leadership is a type of behavior that embraces
  relationships and has change as its essential
  goal.
• Leadership is a function in systems change.
• Source Ellen B. Kagen , Georgetown University.
  Adapted from Laufer, N., The Genesis of
  Leadership, 2008

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Altering the Status Quo

• Nature of Change - Urgent challenge or compelling
  opportunity
• Changes in Best Practices to address the needs of
  people which impacts organizations, agencies,
  workforce,
• Huge Paradigm Shifts. Family Driven, Youth
  Guided, Data Driven, Evidence Based,
  Collaborative, Integrated.etc.
• Feels Chaotic? Need a framework for how to
  address and lead change

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Leadership and Change

• The changes required will be not only in our
  organizations but in ourselves as well.
• .Only by changing how we think, can we change
  policies and practices.
• Only by changing how we interact can shared
  vision, shared understandings and new capacities
  for coordinated action be established.
• Senge, P. M. (1990) The Fifth Discipline

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Organic Organizations

• one that is responsive, acts quickly and in a
  coordinated way and can adjust and learn and
  grow.
• Quinn, R. (1996) Deep Change

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Organic Individuals

• .Only organic individuals can create organic
  organizations.
• Quinn, R. (1996) Deep Change

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• There is solid evidence that the best leaders
  are highly attuned to whats going on inside
  themselves as they are leading and to whats
  going on with others. Theyre very self-aware and
  very socially aware.
• Kouzes J. and Posner, B., The Leadership
  Challenge, 2008

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System Resistance to Change
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Personal Resistance to Change
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Understanding and Reframing our Mental Models

• Personal Values
• Culture
• Mental Models
• Views of Leadership
• Advocacy and Inquiry
• Discussion and Dialogue

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Personal Values

• Beliefs or standards
• Qualities
• Intrinsic worth
• Guiding principles
• Guides for how you behave or highly valued
  qualities that fit and support your way of life

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Values in Leadership

• Those personal, organizational, or community
  beliefs, standards, or qualities that influence
  your work and interaction with others. Personal
  values are critical in defining a personal
  vision.
• Ultimately personal values of individuals will
  shape the shared values and vision of a
  leadership group

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Personal Values Clarity

• The very first step on the journey
  to credible leadership is clarifying your own
  values
• The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes Posner, 4th
  edition, 2007
• Exercise Hierarchy of Values

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Culture

• a communities beliefs, customs, habits,
  conventions, lore, arts, sciences - its what
  makes us humans
• is shared by all or almost all members of a group
• is socially transmitted from generation to
  generation
• Structures our perceptions shapes our behaviors

Culture is the total way of life - Internal
guidance on how to behave and provides identity
source TeamWorks, 2003
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Iceberg as a Metaphor for Culture
conscious awareness
dress age
race/ethnicity language
food music gender art
eye behavior sense of self
out-of awareness
notions of modesty authority figures roles
patterns of handling emotions concept of
justice
group decision-making patterns levels of
acculturation
patterns of superior/subordinate roles sense of
power
theory of disease concept of cleanliness risk
interpretation
body language problem-solving approaches
religion spirituality
attitude toward the dependent sense of
competition/cooperation
social interaction rate patterns of visual
perception
facial expressions definitions of mental illness
concept of justice
roles in relation to status by age, sex, class
and much more
source Sockalingam, S. - TeamWorks, 2003,
adapted from source unknown
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Cultural Factors That Influence Diversity
Internal

• Ethnic/Racial/Tribal Identity
• Socioeconomic Status/Class
• Nationality
• Language
• Family Constellation
• Social History
• Health Beliefs Practices
• Perception of Disability
• Education

• Perception of Health (including mental health
• Age Life Cycle Issues
• Spatial Regional Patterns
• Gender Sexuality
• Sexual Orientation
• Religion Spiritual Views
• Political Orientation Affiliation
• Acculturation/assimilation level

Source NCCC, 2002 - modified from James Mason,
Ph.D., NCCC Senior Consultant
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Cultural Factors That Influence Diversity
External

• Institutional Biases
• Community Economics
• Intergroup Relations
• Natural Networks of Support
• Community History
• Race relations

• Political Climate
• Workforce Diversity
• Community Demographics
• Migratory Patterns
• Group Community resiliency

Source NCCC, 2002 - modified from James Mason,
Ph.D., NCCC Senior Consultant
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Impact of Cultural Values
Value Cultural Messages Impact on Actions and Behaviors
Learning Education is a way for people to become secure and successful You have to work hard for a good education Education will allow you to have impact on the world I seek opportunities for learning I learn from my interactions with all people I have a passion for new ideas and reflection I make higher education a personal goal
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Impact of Cultural Values
Value Cultural Messages Impact on Actions and Behaviors
Adventure and Risk The world is a dangerous place Always be careful Better to be secure and play it safe Airplane Travel Gilligans Island When I was 13- Send me someplace Miami Desire of out of tribe experiences South Africa Soviet Union Bahamian Mail Boat Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue
Leadership Development for System
Change Georgetown University 28
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• UNDERSTANDING MENTAL MODELS

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Mental Models

• Mental Models are
• Beliefs, assumptions, and models we have about
  every aspect of ourselves, others, our
  organizations, and how the world works
• Habits of thought
• Ancestral voices

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Attributes of Mental Models

• Everyone has them
• They affect how we perceive, relate and act in
  the world.
• They can impede or enhance our learning.
• They may be conscious, or unconscious, and they
  can get us in trouble.
• Its easier to see others mental models and
  harder to see our own.

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Mental Models

• Teenager
• Teacher
• Police
• Religion
• Family Traditions
• Silence
• President
• Hospital

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Ladder of Inference
Leadership Development for System
Change Georgetown University 33
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Managing Mental Models

• Limiting assumptions based on our mental model
  when it blocks or interferes with our ability to
  think clearly about any particular issue
• Mental Models must be tested and evaluated
• Advocacy and Inquiry as tools to support our
  understanding of the mental models impacting our
  work

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Chinese Characters To Listen
Leadership Development for Systems
Change Georgetown University 36
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Managing Mental Models to Support Common Ground
HIGH 1. High Advocacy-Low Inquiry HIGH 4. High Advocacy-High Inquiry
LOW 3. Low Inquiry-Low Advocacy LOW HIGH 2. High Inquiry-Low Advocacy
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Discussion vs. Dialogue

• Discussion - way that most people communicate.
• Ideas presented and everyone analyzes and
  dissects them.
• Purpose of discussion - to make sure you win.
• Purpose - to support your idea and stress your
  points more strongly.

• Dialogue - an exploration of ideas.
• Everyone works together contributing towards
  idea.
• More is achieved as each person adds to the
  ideas.
• No one tries to win. All are learning and
  creating.
• Everyone suspends individual assumptions and
  explores ideas and issues.

Leadership Development for Systems
Change Georgetown University 38
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Seven Views of Leadership

• The Genetic View
• The Learned View
• The Heroic View
• The Top-Only View
• The Social Script View
• The Position View
• The Calling View

source adapted from Center for Creative
Leadership, Greensboro, NC, 2008