Leadership Development and Education for Sustainability

Leadership Development and Education for Sustainability Katherine Dew, Toni Greif, and Shelley Robbins Sustainability in Business: Vision, Practice, ...
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Leadership Development and Education for Sustainability Katherine Dew, Toni Greif, and Shelley Robbins

Sustainability in Business: Vision, Practice, and Education Conference Argosy University- Twin Cities January 8- 9, 2010

Katherine Dew

Toni Greif

Shelley Robbins 2

Overview • Capella University designed and developed an MSLeadership launched in Fall 2009 • Emphasis: Developing the 21st Century leader as an evolving, responsible, and strategic force within organizations utilizing the concepts of: • Sustainable Leadership informed program development • Creativity, innovation, adaptation, and personal development are ingredients for leading in the future

• Practices used to develop the curriculum grounded in sustainable leadership principles

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Sustainable Leadership Defined “Sustainable leadership matters, spreads and lasts. It is a shared responsibility, that does not unduly deplete human or financial resources, and that cares for and avoids exerting negative damage on the surrounding educational and community environment. Sustainable leadership has an activist engagement with the forces that affect it, and builds an educational environment of organizational diversity that promotes cross-fertilization of good ideas and successful practices in communities of shared learning and development.” (Hargreaves & Fink, 2003) 4

The Sustainable Mindset • Emerged from the cost to our physical, as well as social environment, of unfettered business decisions which paid little attention to the environment (Harden, 1968); • Perceives the environment as part of lived experiences impacted by ways of relating and being (Carson, 1962); • Integrates the generative philosophy of evolution and ecology (Senge, Schmarmer, Jaworski & Flowers, 2008; Wilbur, 2001); • Triple bottom line (Savitz & Weber, 2006) guides decisions, integrating holistic view of profits, people and planet to ensure adaptable future; • Assumes volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (Johansen, 2007) will increase as pressure, chaos and complexity build. 5

Leading in a Sustainable Paradigm • Leaders must understand and foster the new ways of thinking where: • Individuals each have intrinsic value and purpose • Individuals together co-create meaning and purpose • Creativity is collaborative and cooperative as it evolves in the culture, climate and structure of organizations • Shift in conceptualization of time as a planning variable • Change creates new frontiers that are in flux and incomplete without the synergies of human interactions • Each holon is necessary to the wellbeing of holons in general (Wilbur, 2001) • The sustainability of the organization is derived from the wellbeing created with the greater good in mind 6

Leaders in the Sustainable Dialogue • The imperative for leaders is that we must: • • • • • • • •

Change ourselves Embrace relationships Change our culture and climate Change our organizations by evolving continuously Integrate to create synergy and inspiration Understand that there are no definitive guaranteed results Realize unpredictable results do not stop experimentation Recognize that mistakes are opportunities to learn and to grow • Write the future as we co-create it (Scharmer, 2009)

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Principles of Sustainable Leadership 1. Sustainable leadership creates and preserves sustaining learning in ourselves and our organizations; 2. Sustainable leadership secures success over time; 3. Sustainable leadership sustains the leadership of others; 4. Sustainable leadership addresses issues of social justice internal and external to organizations; 5. Sustainable leadership develops rather than depletes human and material resources; 6. Sustainable leadership develops organizational and environmental diversity and capacity; 7. Sustainable leadership emphasizes the principles of codependence, interdependence, and co-creation (Adapted from Hargreaves & Fink, 2003) 8

Leadership Development for Sustainability • Future leadership development incorporates: • Developing talent and relationships • Managing and leading in complex and dynamic environments • Leading in collaborative and virtual environments • Leading in a non- hierarchical construct • Building adaptive organizational systems in sustainable and responsible ways • Creating sustainable personal practices, including personal and professional development as well as coaching and mentoring activities • Enabling organizational innovation, creativity, change • Emphasizing ethics and social responsibility • Developing a sense of authenticity • Preparing for longevity and continuity of the leadership process 9

Designing Leadership Education for Sustainability • Our plan was to integrate our vision, practice, and learning, as we lived what we were teaching, creating a sustainable yet organic program • Intent: • Enable organizational innovation, creativity, change, ethics and social responsibility • Develop future authentic and purposeful leaders • Identify that volatility, uncertainty, complexity and agility are components of leading in the future • Curriculum based in a mindset of sustainability • Our work together was mindful and conscious of approach, synergies, language, and process • Seven themes and competencies evolved, informing our curriculum, course development content and processes • Our philosophy became embedded as it supported and nurtured our on-going sustainable leadership education practices 10

Co-creation, Dialogical Design and Andragogy • Capella’s programs and courses are developed and taught in an online asynchronous environment. • Learning at Capella is focused on adult learners. • Courses are designed by members of the faculty community (SME) who: choose books, develop course activities, create weekly discussions, and develop assessments. • Activities are designed to maximize interaction and collaborative learning, yet, at the same time require individual responsibility, and assessment at the individual level. • Each program within Capella includes a capstone course which measures completion of program learning outcomes. • Capella is committed to learning outcome transparency, and publishes the results on its public website. • The practice of learning outcomes transparency reinforces sustainability and responsibility. 11

Program Themes Theme 1: Leading for the future, creating the future. • Our vision sees leaders as those who create the future (Johansen, 2009) with their organizations, and for the broader society. • We included the work of Johansen (2007), who emphasizes a set of new leadership skills required for creating a future which is new and innovative. • Students (who we call learners) also look at other models for thinking about leadership and organizations of the future, including Howard Gardner’s (2007) Five Minds for the Future.

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Program Themes (cont) Theme 2: Leading in collaborative and virtual environments • Collaboration includes leading collaboratively within and between organizations, in both co-located and virtual environments; • Within the future global organization, leaders must learn skills of leading and working virtually (Nemiro, Beyerlein & Beyerlein, 2008) across and between boundaries.

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Program Themes (cont) Theme 3: Innovation, adaptation, creativity, and change • Emphasizes leaders as builders and architects of organizations which are adaptive, flexible, and can respond to continual change, flow (Csikszentmihalki, 1990), and flux in dynamic environments; • Leaders must gain the knowledge and skills for leading future organizations (Wheatley, 2006; Scharmer, 2009), and developing creative tools for doing so; • Building and developing organizational environments which support and empower employees (Kegan, 2005) through high performance adaptive workplaces (Heifitz, Linsky & Grashow, 2009) where positive leadership (Cameron, 2008), and innovation (Estrin, 2008; Prahalad & Krishnan, 2008) are endorsed and fostered. 14

Program Themes (cont) Theme 4: Ethics and social responsibility • Sustainable leadership requires leaders who act courageously, as they make decisions steeped in sustainable practices. • Leaders behave in an ethical manner, and engage in socially responsible practices • The relationship between leaders and followers has prominence and is based on: • Moral courage (Kidder, 2005) • Moral leadership (Trevino, Weaver, Gibson & Toffler, 1999) • Authentic choices leaders and followers must make in order to be effective and act responsibly in complex environments (Heifetz, Linsky & Grashow, 2009). 15

Program Themes (cont.) Theme 5: Leading in a global and diverse world • Diversity includes: • Cultural intelligence • Working in multiple cultures and countries (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2004) • Gender differences (Eagly & Carli, 2007) • Ethnic diversity (Cox, 2004). • Interpersonal skills for building and developing relationships • Students participate in leadership coaching and development • The intention of the program is to help students develop an awareness of diversity and skills in reflection (Brookfield, 1991), and communication across multiple media

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Program Themes (cont.) Theme 6: Developing Sustainable personal practices • Sustainable leadership requires a life-long commitment to personal growth and development. • Program emphasis on leadership development, including tools and models for personal growth. • Emphasis on Positive Psychology (Peterson, 2006; Synder & Lopez, 2006) and appreciative sustainable practices. • Leaders are taught ways to develop and engage others, build relationships, and develop leaderful relationships (Raelin, 2003) as important leadership competencies. • Sustainable leaders will sustain leadership in others (Hargreaves & Fink, 2003). 17

Program Themes (cont.) Theme 7: Organization and Leadership Longevity • Coursework emphasizes the importance of creative and wise decision making, systems thinking, and consideration of the organizational system as an organic and evolutionary process (Ackoff & Gharajedaghi, 1996). • By emphasizing the holistic nature of an organization (Capra, 1997), and the ways in which leaders contribute to the organizational system, students perpetuate sustainable leadership and continue to develop as resources planting seeds for future growth and development that is both intentional and purposeful.

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Food for Thought

…every act you make on the leading edge becomes a groove that subsequent human beings will follow. Therefore, you want to do your best with every single breath you take… That’s what we call the evolutionary ethical imperative… Therefore, please act as if everything you do is creating that groove; please be the most ethical, the most responsible, and the most authentic you can be with every breath you take, because you are cutting a path into tomorrow that others will follow. (Wilbur, 2005, p. 59). 19

Parting Thoughts • Be intentional • Be aware that you’re on the leading edge • Be conscious that whatever you do will be adopted by others • Be assured that the leading edge will continue to evolve • Be purposeful in expressing the highest ethical and authentic expression on that edge • Be connected and flexible • Be humble in recognizing we are all in this together • Be inclusive and willing to share and co-create leadership

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References: • • •

• • • • •

Ackoff, R. L., & Gharajedaghi, J. (1996). Reflections on systems and their models. Systems Research, 13(1), 13-23. Brookfield, S. R. (1991). Developing critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Carson, R. (1962) The Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Harden, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162(3859), 1243-1248. reprinted (http://www.scribd.com/doc/20864116/Tragedy-of-the-Commonsby-Garrett-Harden-Social-Contract) Cameron, K. (2008) Positive Leadership: Strategies for Extraordinary Performance. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Capra, F. (1997). The Web of Life: A new synthesis of mind and matter. London: Harper Collins. Csikszentmihalki, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: HarperCollins. Cox, T. H., Jr. (2004). Problems with research by organizational scholars on issues of race and ethnicity. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 40, 124– 145. Eagly, A., & Carli, L. L. (2007, September). Women and the labyrinth of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 85(9), 63–71.Estrin, J. (2008). Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the spark of creativity in a global economy. New York: McGraw-Hill. 21

References- Continued • • • • • • • • • •

Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Hargreaves, A., & Fink, D. (2003). The Seven Principles of Sustainable Leadership. (http://www2.bc.edu/~hargrean/docs/seven_principles.pdf) Heifetz, R. A., Linsky, M., & Grashow, A. (2009). The Practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Boston: Harvard Business Press. Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G-J. (2004). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. New York: McGraw-Hill. Johansen, B. (2009). Leaders make the future: Ten leadership skills for an uncertain world. San Francisco, CA: Berrett Koehler. Johansen, B. (2007). Get there early: Sensing the future to compete in the present. San Francisco, CA: Berrett Koehler. Kegan, R. (2005). Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Kidder, R.M. (2005). Moral courage. New York: William Morrow. Nemiro, J., Beyerlein, M. M., Bradley, L., & Beyerlein, S. (2008). The handbook of high performance virtual Teams: A toolkit for collaborating across boundaries. San Francisco: Wiley. Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in positive psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. 22

References- Continued • • •

• • • •

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Prahalad, C.K., & Krishnan, M.S. (2008). The new age of innovation: Driving co-created value through global networks. New York, NY: McGrawHill Raelin, J. E. (2003). Creating leaderful organizations: How to bring out leadership in everyone. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Savitz, A. W., & Weber, K. (2006). The Triple bottom line: How today’s best run companies are achieving economic, social, and environmental success— and how you can too. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Scharmer, C.O. (2009). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Senge, P.M., Schmarmer, C.O., Jaworski, J., & Flowers, B. S. (2008). Alternative Future. Leadership Excellence, 25(4), 3-4. Synder, C. R., & Lopez, S. J. (2006). Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Trevino, L. K., Weaver, G. R., Gibson, D. G. & Toffler, B. L. (1999). Managing ethics and legal compliance: What works and what hurts. California Management Review, 41, 2, 131-151. Wheatley, M. (2006). Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world. (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Wilbur, K. (2001). Sex, ecology and spirituality (2nd ed.). Boston: Shambhala. 23