Responding to the “Signs of the Times”
A Call to Action
In my organization, we have historically been led by a Catholic order of Sisters. Just over 10 years ago, that group of They developed a booklet that we refer to as Hopes and Aspirations. Offered as a gift, it was a collection of guidance for future leaders. It is filled with encouragements and exhortations, and we still reference it in meetings, especially when we are facing a tough task. One of the exhortations that stays with me is to “continue to respond to the signs of the times and reach out to others.” I love that phrase for a lot of reasons. It infers a foundational attitude of service to our community. It calls us to put the needs of those around us ahead of our pet projects. Foundations like these keep me at my organization. However, there is also a practical, niggling voice in my head that says: “and just, how, exactly, are we to do that?”[1] The idea of reading these “signs” seems elusive to me. And yet, as we look at society today, it is easy to see that times are changing and our approaches need to adjust.
What We Need from Leaders Now
Last term, we read Peter Northouse’s Leadership: Theory and Practice,[2] another resource of various leadership theories. I was challenged then to find ways to practice moving from my natural areas of leadership and toward those that are unfamiliar.[3] In my blog post, I recalled the story of Joseph and marveled at how he, in times of great change, was prepared to lead a nation out of crisis. I articulated a desire to move from an instinctive approach to a mature approach. Now as I re-read that, I realize that Joseph was also “responding to the times.” Pivoting now to Annabel Beerel’s Rethinking Leadership,[4] my perspective on where I need to mature is finding a focus in better understanding of how to see those “signs.” Beerel also sees this need as she states: “Some of the essential leadership skills required to tackle these new systemic problems include establishing clarity, care for nature, and the ability to read patterns.”[5]
If leaders can “read patterns,” will they be able to “respond to the signs of the times?”
I think so.
While I am looking to grow myself, I also seek resources I can pass on to other leaders. So, I decided to scour Beerel’s work for any ideas on how to hone rational, analytic and thinking skills. As is appropriate in an overview of various theories like Rethinking Leadership, I found glimmer of ideas, but not complete frameworks. There seems to be interconnectivity between the concepts of Systemic Leadership, Pattern Recognition, Intuition Development and Vertical Learning. Below I have identified themes from Beerel and a resource to get me started on better understanding.
- Theme 1: Systemic Leadership and Systems thinking:
- BIG IDEA: “the study of a system as an integrated whole whose essential properties arise from the relationships between the parts. In essence, systems thinking focuses on the connectedness, patterns, relationships, and context of the system.”[6]
- GOING DEEPER: “The Systems View of Life a Unifying Conception of Mind, Matter, and Life” by Fritjof Capra[7]”
- Theme 2: Pattern Recognition to drive Decision-Making
- Theme 3: Developing Intuition:
- BIG IDEA: “…we can develop our capacity for intuition by having more and more patterns of behaviors available to us. Gathering these patterns results from attentiveness, curiosity, and openness to new experiences. The more patterns we have available to us…the greater our expertise and the more fodder for our intuition “[10]
- GOING DEEPER: How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer[11]
- Theme 4: Vertical Learning
- BIG IDEA:“… the transformation of how one thinks, feels and makes sense of the world. It is the development of mental, psychological and emotional complexity. It creates a new sense of identity and thus a change in ego structure.”[12]
- GOING DEEPER: “Organizational Transformation as a Function of CEO’s Developmental Stage” by Davide Rooke and William R Torbert[13]
The Challenge: Vertical Learning
In the final pages of her book, Beerel leaves us with this aspiration to Vertical Learning. Indeed, Vertical Learning seems to be an apex of leadership development though there is this subtle warning that states “vertical development in adults is a rare occurrence.”[14]
Great.
Not to be completely cowed by such an ominous claim, I will note that there is a subsequent list of activities that can help leaders in this journey. As someone who wants to help other leaders respond to those “signs of the times,” I am not yet sure how to integrate them into a professional program. However, I was pleased to recognize several of them are integrated into our program. A few that rose to the top were:
- Participating in social contexts in which diverse perspectives are represented and discussed
- Learning new values, cultures, mental models and concepts that integrate seemingly contradictory ideas
- Critical reflection on [one’s] own action logic and learning processes
- Moral reflection and principled moral reasoning
- Membership in a spiritual group or community[15]
It is a tall order. Friends, as we plow forward in the 18 months that remain in our program, let’s prayerfully develop our skills to “responding to the signs of the times.”
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[1] Last week, we all wrote about AI in our blog posts and many of us went into the rabbit hole of how far is too far in AI’s quest to provide a human-like approach to solving problems. I wonder if we can add pattern recognition for decision making to the list of potential use-cases for AI in leadership? This may be an option, but I would also like to understand the “long-hand math” of how to read these patterns.
[2] Peter G. Northouse, “Leadership: Theory and Practice” (Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019).
[3] “Challenging My Own Status Quo,” accessed January 20, 2024, https://blogs.georgefox.edu/dlgp/challenging-my-own-status-quo/.
[4] Annabel Beerel, Rethinking Leadership, 1st edition (London; New York: Routledge, 2021).
[5] Beerel, 27.
[6] Beerel, 195.
[7] Fritjof Capra, “The Systems View of Life a Unifying Conception of Mind, Matter, and Life,” Cosmos and History 11, no. 2 (2015): 242-.
[8] Beerel, 135.
[9] Jennifer Garvey Berger and Carolyn Coughlin, Unleash Your Complexity Genius: Growing Your Inner Capacity to Lead, 1st ed. (Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 2022), https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503634831.
[10] Beerel, 153.
[11] Jonah Lehrer, “How We Decide” (Boston: Mariner Books, 2010).
[12] Beerel, 379.
[13] David Rooke and William R. Torbert, “Organizational Transformation as a Function of CEO’s Developmental Stage,” Organization Development Journal 16, no. 1 (1998): 11-.
[14] Beerel, 380.
[15] Beerel, 383.
About the Author
Jennifer Vernam
5 responses to “Responding to the “Signs of the Times””
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I’m really intrigued by your explanation of recognizing patterns in order to make decisions. It reminds me of a model I once used to help evaluate one’s experience and learn from it. Here’s the connection: one of the steps asked if the experience or problem was part of a larger pattern. While I haven’t used the model itself in years, that pattern recognition stuck with me and I’ve definitely used it over and over. If we’re seeing the same pattern on repeat in an organization (or family or friendship) it’s probably worth paying attention to.
Exactly. There is so much strength in slowing down and asking questions when you see patterns emerge. Its like a magic trick… you begin to make the unseen…well… seen.
Jen, you highlighted the Vertical Learning reference Beerel ends the book with. If vertical learning “is the development of mental, psychological and emotional complexity,” I’m guessing that such learning will ready our minds for the kind of complex, ambiguous, and impossible-to-solve “wicked problems” we face today (I read Wicked Problems last week and now need to go back to refer to Beerel’s emphasis in the last chapter to help wrap my mind around how to address such problems. If you haven’t read Bentley’s book yet, just wait – ha! I’m going to preface Bentley’s definition of wicked problems in a Feb. 13 talk that I’m giving to an organization on Leadership, but I want to bring in some perspectives by Beerel, too). I appreciate you pointing out the need to clarify what it means to respond to the “signs of the times.” Putting more specificity around what those “signs” are AND, specifically, how leaders can be ready to respond…is crucial right now. Great post.
Jennifer your words and depth of knowledge are as always brilliant.
Today Stephanie Flohr age 70 arrived in Odesa (Одеса) Ukraine. She will minister to widows and seniors (Stephanie lost her husband 3 years ago). I asked her if she had purchased her body armor and she said she has Ephesians 6. Wow.
Nate Gerber leaves 9 Feb. First to GoodSports Slovakia (Prievidze) then through Poland, to Lyviv where I have asked him to attend a Ukrainian Sports Conference. Then Kharkiv to work with Redemption Church initially to deliver food (Samaritans purse) to elderly in three villages. Too old to move, these folk on the border with Russia are in survival mode. Moving however is something to hard to contemplate.
On Saturday I speak to Penuel (where Jacob wrestled with God), they have 300 children and need another field.
When I look at all of the resources you mentioned, I wonder how they could help me “lead” in these circumstances.
Моє лідерство зараз перевіряється. Батьку, дай мені мудрість. (My leadership is being tested now. Father, give me wisdom.)
Selah….
Jen,
You’re doing the work of a good teacher in your post as you summarize and point your readers to deeper reading. One question I have for you is when you see a leader practicing Systemic Thinking or Vertical Learning in context, what are they actually doing in a working context? An example would be interesting.