Five Practices of Exemplary Leaders: How to?

How to...

Model the Way - Clarify values by finding your voice and affirming shared ideas. Set the example by aligning actions with shared values.

Inspire a Shared Vision - Envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities. Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations.

Challenge the Process - Search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and by looking outward for innovative ways to improve. Experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from experience.

Enable Others to Act - Foster collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships. Strengthen others by increasing self-determination and developing competence.

Encourage the Heart - Recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence. Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community.

Source: Robert H. Thompson
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Five Practices of Exemplary Leaders

Your credibility matters so... Model the Way

Your voice matters so... Inspire a Shared Vision

Your action matters so... Challenge the Process

Your gift matters so... Enable Others to Act

Your gratitude matters... Encourage the Heart


Source: The Offsite, Robert H. Thompson
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More of the how later...

Curiosity and Diversity

It's more useful to cultivate curiosity rather than certainty. It's not easy to stay open, but when we listen to diversity rather than expecting agreement, we can learn that no two people see the world exactly the same.

Source: Margaret J. Wheatley
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Ability, Motivation, and Attitude

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." Raymond Chandler

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The butterfly, a transformational journey of Spirit

As we all know, butterflies start out as caterpillars, then go into a cocoon (chrysalis), only to emerge with beautiful colors, and wings to fly. What we may not know, or always remember, is what happens in the cocoon. Inside, far from curious eyes, an incredible process takes place. The caterpillar quite literally dissolves into a sort of primal ooze, a real mess. And then, following directions coded somewhere in that mess, the raw protoplasm re-aggregates, and what was once a crawling beastie now has the hardware to fly.

Put somewhat differently, and probably not in accord with the best biological thinking, the caterpillar goes to its essence (we might say Spirit) and then reforms, or better, transforms, to a totally new way of being. It is a journey from form, to nothingness, to new form. And there is no way of getting from caterpillar to butterfly except by passing through the void.



Source: Harrison Owen

Chaos and Open Space - Chaos and Learning

Chaos represents the growth point in any system. Chaos creates the Open Space in which the new can emerge. Obviously there are no guarantees here, for chaos can equally mark the end - in fact is always does. The central question is not about the ending, but rather the possibility of new beginning. Chaos may therefore be the essential precondition for all that is the truly new. No chaos, nothing new.

Gregory Bateson teaches us that the perception of difference is the essence of learning. Or in hos words, learning occurs when we notice "differences that make a difference." This deceptively simple phrase takes us in interesting directions, for it suggests, in the present context, that the function of chaos is to create the conditions in which real learning can take place.

Chaos creates the differences that make a difference, through which we learn.

Source: Harrison Owen
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Vision

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams - who looks inside, awakes.