Complex Adaptive Leadership argues leadership should not be something only exercised by nominated leaders. It is a complex dynamic process involving all those engaged in a particular enterprise. The ...theoretical background to this lies in complexity science and chaos theory - spoken and written about in the context of leadership for the last 20 years, but still little understood. We all seem intuitively to know leadership 'isn't what it used to be' but we still cling to old assumptions which look anachronistic in changing and challenging times. Organisations and their contexts are increasingly paradoxical and uncertain. A broader approach to leadership is needed. Nick Obolensky has practised leadership in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He has also researched it, and taught it over many years in leading business schools. In this exciting book he brings together his knowledge of theory, his own experience, and the results of 15 years of research involving 1,500 executives in 40 countries around the world. The main conclusion from that research is that the more complex things become, the less traditional directive leadership is needed. Those operating in the real world, nonetheless, need ways of coping. The book is focused on helping practitioners struggling to interpret and react to increasingly complex events. Arranged in four parts, it provides a number of exercises, tools and models that will help the reader to understand: - why the context for leadership has changed, and why complexities in organisations have emerged - what complexity is and what lessons can be drawn from this emergent area of scientific study - how Complex Adaptive Leadership can be exercised in a very practical way at two levels: organisationally and individually, and how to get more for less - the actions that can be taken when Complex Adaptive Leadership is applied. The book will particularly appeal to practitioners wishing to add to their knowledge of leadership theory.
Contents: Preface: what's this all about?; Part I The Context: A journey of discovery; The world wide context - a flow towards polyarchy; The organisational context - evolve or die; Finita la comedia - stop playing charades; A quick breather between Parts I and II. Part II Chaos and Complexity: Order in chaos, simplicity in complexity - the deeper paradox; Getting to grips with chaos and complexity; Getting chaos and complexity to work; A quick breather between Parts II and III. Part III The Leadership Angle: What is leadership anyway?; What about the followers?; Complex adaptive leadership in action; A final breather between Parts III and IV. Part IV Looking Forward and Other Interests: Beyond this book - the choices you have...; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
Nick Obolensky has enjoyed a successful career in a number of roles, in the military, third sector, academia and in business, including those of Associate Director of a FTSE 100 firm, MBA Professor of the Year more than once, and CEO and Chairman of entrepreneurial start-ups. He is a Chartered Management Consultant and was an Executive Strategy Consultant at Ernst and Young, where he also led the Research Associate Practice. He has been a Fellow at the London Business School and was a Founder Fellow at The Centre for Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, Professor of Leadership at Nyenrode University in the Netherlands and a Visiting Professor at INSEAD in France. His work has been published by in several languages around the world as well as under the auspices of the University of Exeter Centre for Leadership Studies and the RSA.
So those who see Complex Adaptive Leadership and polyarchy as a revolutionary idea
designed to overthrow completely the assumptions of oligarchy, will be sadly disappointed.
One can take the view ...that this is a Darwinian type of evolution, and only those leaders
who understand polyarchy will survive – the survival of the fittest.4 One could also see
it as a Hegelian dialectic with polyarchy as the natural synthesis of anarchy (‘thesis’)
and its opposite oligarchy (‘antithesis’). Worth noting here is that one of the fundamentals
of Tao is to be able to understand the dynamic of opposites and paradox. One could even
see polyarchy in terms of dialectic materialism (although Engels and Marx are hardly
the vogue any more). Whatever metaphorical or theoretical viewpoint one may choose,
polyarchy is fast emerging and represents a deeper and hitherto hidden shift of change in
the world. Leadership in a polyarchy is more complex than in an oligarchy.
The distinction between ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ owes more to oligarchic
assumption than to current polyarchic realities. But the distinction can serve a useful
purpose, as each without the ...other is unsustainable. So one could say that ‘leadership’
and ‘management’ are on the same continuum, and it is all about leadership.
However, whilst we could roll ‘management’ into being part of ‘leadership’ the
distinctions that each category assumed still exist. They can be re-categorised to
action/focus needed for the people, and action/focus needed for the goal. Under this
assumption, leadership is about developing people and ensuring goals are achieved.
This conclusion is similar to the Situational Leadership model, which sees leadership
behaviour consisting of structuring and developing action aimed at task and
relationship. A study of the results of the Situational Leadership questionnaire shows
that leaders today are less than effective. Too much emphasis seems to be on ‘Selling’,
and not enough on ‘Delegating’.
A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT TO OPEN UP YOUR MIND TO WHAT
MANY ARE FACING
Research looked at organisations which had achieved ‘step-change’.1 These changes were
sweeping and included strategy, culture and ...re-organisation, and delivered great results. Such
changes do not happen overnight and the typical period of time to achieve such change
would be between two to five years. So we are talking about big organisational changes, and a
myriad of solutions achieved the changes.
Imagine that you are from another planet – for some that may not be too hard to do…. Anyway,
your current employment is with the Inter-Galactic Reference House and your job is to update
the ...inter-galactic report on the state of a variety of planets. Earth is one of the many planets that
you report on within your portfolio. You visit every 200 years or so of Earth time, and send an
updated report to inter-galactic headquarters of the changes that you see. You have visited Earth
for around ,000 years of Earth time.
