23 March 2009
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Time for you to think about sex and leadership!
Not that leadership might be sexy. But who gets to lead still depends on sex or rather, gender. Of course we recognize individual gender differences. But WMP (white male power) is simply the way commercial activity has always been done! Like the little fish asking the big fish "where do I find this thing called the ocean?" It's everything that sustains us but we don't notice it. So what's to change?
Talking about a "glass ceiling" seems to make the gender/power dynamic more transparent, but it really creates an adversarial ‘us and them' debate triggering superficial compliance strategies. What's needed is a new language of leadership and power for both men and women.
The Yin and Yang of Workplace Politics
In the first place, organizations are processes not things. Focusing on the "things" we do and the "tools" we use to do them leads to the belief that their function is to control actions. Leadership becomes "power over" things and people - synonymous with fundamental masculine traits such as individualism, control, assertiveness, and domination.
But now that knowledge contributes significantly to the bottom line of most commercial enterprises, the focus is on relationships to build and sustain intellectual value. Leadership becomes "power with" things and people - incorporating traditionally feminine principles such as empathy, community, relational skills, and skills of inquiry and collaboration.
Yet these traits have historically been associated with "powerlessness". Those in power generally make the decisions and leave the "nurturing" of relationships to those with less power.
Retaining Talent
As companies struggle to attract and retain talent they find themselves forced to enter into a new contract with knowledge workers who:
- Need to see their work as useful and interesting,
- Want to align their personal values with their work,
- Question process and procedure,
- Work hard if they are intellectually engaged but withdraw if they're not,
- Resist working for goals they don't believe in,
- Recognize organizations as an enormously powerful part of society,
- Look for a renewed sense of community,
- Seek meaning more than promotion, and
- Refuse to offer themselves body and soul to the corporation.
Managing such a work force by "talking tough" and assuming everyone is motivated to make Partner or CEO just doesn't work anymore. Leaders must increasingly appeal to values and relational strengths and move away from the "myth of individual achievement" if they are to realize team-focused productivity gains.
7 key practices of power and influence
In many ways leadership is like good parenting. It's universally accepted. But bad leadership is specific to the person, the organization, and the culture. So how do you cultivate intentional leadership across the gender/power dynamic? By focusing on 7 key practices of power and influence:
- Think more in terms of both/and complementarities rather that either/or.
- Engage in the "art of dialogue" for more meaningful and resourceful conversations.
- Negotiate for resources through claiming authority based on personal value.
- Confront inappropriate "power over" behaviour.
- Encourage higher levels of "connectedness" and "co-created understanding".
- Build valuable and sustainable networks.
- Practice the "art of deep power".
Corporations that value good leadership are more open to learning and more likely to give recognition to the motives and values driving the creative furnace inside each human being, no matter what their gender.
, take a look at the Intentional Leadership Forum Program - 2 (ILF-2) for ideas on how to implement gender/power training for your organisation.
In the next edition of Successful Intentions Newsletter find out about the death of EQ!
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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