Where Are the Leaders? Changing Organizations From the Inside Out

Where are the Leaders? 
Jennifer Moss, PhD 
Director
 
Bellevue University’s 
 
Human Capital Lab

  Becoming a strategic partner within your 
organization takes more than knowledge of 
the business, understanding education or even 
possessing great communication skills.  
  Dialogue with other learning leaders about 
leadership qualities that move them from 
“order taker” to “strategic partner”.   

www.humancapitallab.org

  What is required of learning leaders today is 
the knowledge, skills, abilities that allow them 
to direct the activities of the learning 
organization and push those activities across 
organizational boundaries in a purposeful way.

Bellevue University’s 
Human Capital Lab  
  Dedicated to creating the body of knowledge 
around human capital management 
  Engaged with learning leaders on a daily basis 
  Dedicated to advancing the field of learning 
  Focused on helping organizations measure the 
business impact of learning 


Let’s talk….
 

What’s stopping leaders from 
 
becoming strategic?  


What Stops Learning Leaders from 
Measuring Business Impact  
  Grounded Theory Study 
  Interviewed 25 Learning Leaders – Top in 
their field 
  Results: Primary factors – Learning Leader 
  Results: Secondary factors ‐ Organization 


Focus for Today 
  Leadership  
–  What is it? 
–  How do you know it when you see it? 
–  Why is it so difficult? 


Who are you as a leader? 
  What makes a successful 
leader? 
  What behaviors elicit 
optimal performance? 
  What leadership styles 
work in specific contexts? 
  What is Servant Leadership 
and Does it exist? 


Questions? 
  Leadership and Management…are they the 
same? 
  What is your definition of the “ideal” leader?  


Why did you go into learning? – Your Job 
  Service? 
  Science? 
  Passion for field? 
  Are you getting and giving what you want? 


Servant leadership – Your Learners
 
  Serve others first – Gandhi, Mother Theresa 
  Let followers determine goals 
  Comprised of the following 
–  Altruistic Calling 
–  Emotional Healing 
–  Stewardship 
–  Building Community 
–  Perceptual Mapping 

Characteristics:  Strong, Capable, Energetic, Powerful, 
Strategic… yet driven to serve others.  Been proven to 
be the most effective at meeting followers goals 


What makes an effective leader? 
  Service and Altruism – effectively 
meeting the needs of others 
through service 
  But…. These leaders are NOT 
necessarily Successful. 
  Why? 


Hate Organizational Politics? 
  Why is it important to build your network?  
  What stops you? 
  Who do you need to align with to achieve your 
goals? 
  Who loses out if you don’t build your network?  
  Who loses out if you don’t use political skills?  


What makes a Successful Leader? – 
Your Organization  
  Traditional Definition of Success ‐‐ promotability/
influence/formal power 
  Research Results – Interpersonal Political Skills 
(Ferris, Davidson, and Perrewe, 2005) 
  Networking – who do you know? 
  Social Astuteness – do you know how to act? 
  Apparent Sincerity – do they believe you? 
  Interpersonal Influence – do they follow your lead? 


A Primer on Leadership – Your Team 
  Transactional ‐ management 
  Transformational Leadership – based in moral good 
–  Individualized consideration – do you know your people? 
–  Idealized Influence – do they respect you? 
–  Inspirational Motivation – do you inspire them? 
–  Intellectual Stimulation – do you keep them interested? 
Proven to be the most effective in obtaining organizational 
goals 


Imagine what would happen….
 
  If your initial Servant motivations could be 
realized through the use of incredible 
Leadership skills? 
  What if Interpersonal Political Skills enabled 
you to SERVE? 
  How would your work change? 
  How would your life change? 


WHO ARE YOU AS A LEADER? 
 What specific steps could you take to build 
your network and political skills? 
 What areas are you most inclined to serve?  
 How can you achieve those goals? 


Learning leader as change agent – 
necessary to become strategic 
  “The myth of leadership is the myth of the lone warrior: the 
solitary individual whose heroism and brilliance enable him to 
lead the way” (Heifitz, 1994). 
  This notion reinforces isolation, despair, and lack of movement 
forward 
  “How do you stomach the repercussions of the distress caused 
by change, while at the same time provoking it?” 
  How do you deal with the stress? 


How to deal with the challenge of 
leading change  
  What “factions in the community” are  Get on the balcony –  
you seeing? 
   alternate between participating          
  To which factions do you align? 
and observing 
  Which community do you want to use 
your power to impact?     Identify the true adaptive challenge, 
  What superficial issues (schedules,  from the “birds‐eye” view 
power, structure, lines of authority, 
technical, personality differences) are 
masking the true issues, represented 
by factions? 
  How can you break the cycles you see 
and move toward improvement? 


From the Balcony:   
What is causing the distress? 
  What internal contradictions does the stress 
represent? 
  What are the histories of these contradictions? 
  What perspectives have I and others come to 
represent to various segments of the community that  
are now in conflict? 
  In what ways are we in the organization mirroring the 
problem dynamics in the community? 


Regulating the distress
 
  What are the characteristic responses of the 
community to disequilibrium (confusion, sense of 
threat, confused roles and relationships, conflict)? 
  Have you ever witnessed distress reach a breaking 
point before, in any context? 
  What actions have you seen restore equilibrium? 
  What mechanisms do you have to regulate distress? 


Giving the work back to the people 
  Leaders often assume the problems are for them to solve, 
alone 
  Giving work back to people means orchestrating conflict 
  We have to know the “texture of interest” in people’s lives 
  Changes in whose values, beliefs or behaviors would allow 
progress? 
  What are the losses for all interested parties? 
  How does my role impact these parties? 


You as a leader
 
  Do you see the difference between yourself and your 
role?  
  Can you externalize the conflict? “when conflicting 
criticisms seem to damn whatever one does, the 
distinction between role and self can be life 
saving” (Heifitz, 1994, p. 265). 
  Differentiate the “message” from yourself 


Who are your partners? 
  Confidant: the person whose shoulder you can cry on.  
Holding environment for someone who is holding everyone 
else 
  Ally: the person operating across a formal line of authority or 
boundary (fellow principals, strong parent, other stakeholder 
groups) 
–  No direct authority 
–  Do not disclose everything 


Observing yourself
 
  Who do you naturally understand? 
  How do you react to criticism? 
  How do you handle conflict? 
  How do you maintain energy? 
  Who do you emulate? 
Use your partners to help you 
 
answer these questions  


Sanctuary 
  How to you re‐energize and gain perspective? 
  Have you clearly indentified your sense of purpose? 
  What is the purpose of your role? 


Lots covered….
 
  What’s next for you? 
–  Interpersonal Political Skills – external 
–  Transformational Leadership – your team 
–  Servant Leadership – yourself 
–  Getting to the Balcony? 


Questions? 
Contact Info:
 
Jennifer Moss  
Jennifer.moss@bellevue.edu  

Where Are the Leaders? Changing Organizations From the Inside Out

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