PARC and Gore "...'leadership' should rest with whoever is best positioned to exercise it, regardless of title".
Typical qualities:
- Self-confidence and a willingness to act
- A strategic mindset (deep understanding of org/business unit goals)
- Ability to attract others - persuasiveness, confidence & a track record.
Qualities / experience
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Coaching culture
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Connecting / collaborative - people with far-reaching view across the organisation who can bring others together & spot holes
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Communicating (the strategy / values)
Organisation makes lots of litle bets and provides 'just-in-time resources'
Guidance to enabling leaders on which bets to place:
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Are the product/market real?
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Can the product/company win in the market?
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Is the investment worth it / good strategy?
The above leadership types are of course preferences, and it is normal for leaders to embody characteristics from each of the 3 types.
Processes to support distributed leadership:
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Soliciting and responding to early feedback (because people have to be persuaded to participate, not forced)
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Company values / strategic priorities are visible, ensuring congruence of employee behaviours
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Lots of small bets reduces the risk of all eggs in one basket.
Focus on delivering as an individual contributor (e.g. coding) and surrounding oneself with people who complement your own strengths.
An emerging style of leadership which MIT had observed. Such leaders have no expectation that they will attract 'followers' through status, access to resources or charisma. Rather, they on their ability to get others excited about a novel solution to a problem (Isn't that charisma?).
Such leaders pursue a depth of expertise but rely on familiarity with other knowledge realms to make connections (i.e. T-shaped people). These people have no expectation of permanance for teams they operate in / assemble, rather expecting resources and people to converge and disassemble based on problems to be solved. (This sounds similar to "Adaptive Landscapes" from 'The Soul at Work.
Leaders who are proposeed to solve problems / meet challenges creatively. Not motivated by authority, status or showmanship. Excel at choreographing / directing others' work. Contrast directly with those who may be perceived as "...jockeying for leadership roles [...] ambitious, self-promoting, political and power-hungry."
Prestige and satisfaction derive from solving problems. A clear appetite for challenge, unawed by low likelihood of success. A willingness to 'dive in.
"The real opponent is the previous level of capability someone brought to bear on a similar problem."
Keep an inventory of the best people you / your teams have ever worked with. Then, entice these people with the problems you face.
Value resourcefulness, appetite for problem-solving.
Invite people to put themselves forward for the challenges that inspire them most.
Assemble teams of contributors.
Abilities of appropriate team members / leaders:
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Recognise when a previously intractable problem can be tackled.
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Communicate that vision.
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Size up and convene the right people to solve the problem. ("Self-organising collaboration")
Re: self-organising teams, the famous Valve Employee Handbook seems relevant.
Step 1: self-assess (as a company) and understand what kind of leader typically emerges from your ranks. Pay attention to who gets hired / fired, as this is a strong signal of which skills matter most.
"The most important work, then, of what we would call the 'leader' in a situation is to seize on some intriguing, inspiring, barely-solvable problem, and frame it in a way that draws other smart and skilled people toward it."
The rest of the article seems to overlap with concepts already covered in these notes.
Psychologists and political scientits have shown that in uncertain times, we often gravitate towards demagogues.
Faced with a demand for innovation, stress and threat can make us rigid and fearful of stepping up to the challenge.
The antidote is "distributed leadership".
- Free-flowing information
- Entrepreneurial spirit
- Resist the desire for certainty