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As a life long learner I have always liked what I learned
through experiential methods because the coaches let me get involved in a
concrete experience. The learning has never been about definitions and theories
but I could actually infer meaning from my own direct experience.
Aristotle called experiential learning “learning by doing”,
and David A. Kolb, influenced by the work of John Dewey, Kurt Levin, and Jean
Piaget, expanded it to Experiential Education. In this regard, Werner Erhard author
of transformational models and ontological insights says “Coaches never tell us
what to do they tell us what to observe. They will alter what is possible for
us to observe by creating distinctions and bringing forth paradigms”.
Here is the essence of what I
learned about leadership as a learnable competence which I have always kept
close to my heart and it has consistently been relevant and applicable to my
work situations:
- Leadership is an assessment about our capacity for action in taking care of other people. Exercising power without taking care of others equals manipulation.
- Leadership is a social phenomenon and should produce teamwork. Our capacity for action to help others is dependent on our competencies and the commitments we can elicit from others. Standing in the commitment is expressing it so people can listen and possibilities are created.
- Leaders generate change and promote learning and education. They declare their vision and are able to see what others don’t see in terms of possibilities for future. The new way is to see the future as a possibility arising now in the present which explains the past. When we clear ourselves for the future’s possibility we are listening to what inspires and empowers us in the present.
- Leadership requires effective listening as a primary competence for all other competencies. Effective listeners listen less to the words being spoken and more to the concerns being addressed by the speakers. The highest level of listening is that everything anybody says is a contribution.
- Leaders are masterful at managing moods and emotions. They know that our moods are not based on grounded assessment and they should not allow themselves to be dominated by their moods. Moods are affected by our biology meaning the chemicals and the hormones in our body, they are even affected by the conversations we have with others or in our head. Right conversation in the wrong mood is the wrong conversation. In general, moods of ambition, peace, gratitude, enthusiasm, and reflection are appropriate for effective action.
- Leadership is different from management. Management is the competence to coordinate the actions of many individuals to generate and deliver the conditions of satisfaction involved in the leader’s promises. Managers are responsible for producing results with the authority delegated to them from the leadership of the organization.
I would like to close this article with words of wisdom from
David Spangler the American Philosopher who says:
“There are those who
live in the consciousness of the oneness of life and work to build and serve
the best interests of the whole, they are of the new”.
#Leadership
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