{"id":15672,"date":"2017-12-07T18:50:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T02:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=15672"},"modified":"2017-12-07T18:58:12","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T02:58:12","slug":"integrative-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/integrative-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Integrative leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

The weighty tome of the Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice,<\/em> edited by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, weighed down my bag as I boarded my flight to Toronto for my last work trip of the year.\u00a0 Grazing through the articles, I quickly realized my last blog post this year must necessarily focus on a specific theme. I am married to a woman who grinded through her MA in Leadership by focusing on the Project GLOBE study (chapter 13) and applying it to contextual leadership development for women NGO leaders in Cambodia. This meant I already had vicariously experienced and assimilated this chapter; I quickly jumped ahead ignoring that trauma.<\/p>\n

Prolific leadership guru Rosabeth Moss Kanter\u2019s article (chapter 20) on \u201cLeadership in a Globalizing World\u201d arrested me.\u00a0 Harvard professor Kanter\u2019s lifetime of writing on leadership from the 1960s to the 2010s meant her article would consolidate current thoughts in the complex context of globalization. Largely based on her book, Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good<\/em>, the sociologist Kanter\u2019s article naturally examines context as the driver for change in leadership approaches and strategies. Among them are the challenges of uncertainty, complexity, and diversity. \u00a0How should one lead amid these variables?\u00a0 This post takes one variable \u2013 the complexity \u2013 and explores how the professor suggests adaptations for productive leadership when so much data and the deluge and intensity of multiple voices overwhelm us.<\/p>\n

Globalization means that complexity is only increasing.\u00a0 The task of a leader is to bring integration to the complexities to allow for greater productivity and mission fulfillment.\u00a0 In the past we had stability with clear boundaries, structure with clear chains of authority, homogeneity with dominant majorities, and control over information resulting in privacy and secrecy.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 As our societies globalize, we experience instability with fuzzy edges, confusing matrices of relationship, diversity with no clear majority, and the diffusion of information and increasing transparency.<\/p>\n

Stefan Stern interprets Kanter in the Financial Times<\/em>: \u201cVanguard companies understand that the early 21st century is characterised by uncertainty, volatility and complexity, Kanter says. They have grasped the need for diversity in their organisations\u2026.”Humanistic values and attention to societal needs are a starting point for smart strategy in the global information age,” Kanter says.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Kanter counters this overwhelming environment by simply stating, \u201cTo deal with complexity, we need integrative work.\u201d[3]<\/a> She suggests that to begin the process of integration, we must consider letting go. In typical leadership paradigms, we command-and-control our way to getting the job done. The author, in contrast, suggests surrendering power and energizing others to advance an agenda.\u00a0 She states, \u201cInformal, self-organizing, shape-changing, and temporary networks are more flexible and can make connections or connect bundles of resources more quickly.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 She continues, \u201cThey must enable more people to make more connections\u2026 As they do so, they must let go of full control \u2013 so that self-organizing can take place, or decisions can be made by integrators connecting across boundaries.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Professor Kanter was describing my work. One term for what I do could be \u201cministry broker\u201d \u2013 I am a connector between viable ministries and the resources from my philanthropic clients. And yet in my work, I must make the connection, then get out of the way for transformation to occur.\u00a0 Once this happens, we discern a beautiful outcome: \u201cThe driving force for self-organized groups is curiosity and interest on the part of the people themselves, if left free to conduct the dialogue.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This week we launched our latest round of grants<\/a> focused on bringing together various stakeholders in a complex network of relationship, for the purpose of empowering next generation leaders to create and implement projects for social good for the marginalized and most vulnerable. The Spark Initiative<\/a> connects two denominations (Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, and Be in Christ Canada), a university (St Stephen\u2019s University), and eight funding partners (from British Columbia to New Brunswick) to support Canadian millennial social innovators to advance their ministry dreams of having a relevant impact in their communities.<\/p>\n

The uniqueness of this round is a risky and unusual endeavour \u2013 I want to raise the money from millennial givers who are typically second-generation inheritors from wealthy families. The plan is to bring together millennial givers together with millennial social innovators into one learning cohort. The us\/them distinctives will be erased between givers\/receivers; we are gathered around one mission of social change in Jesus\u2019 name, and will learn together through three retreats over the course of 2018-19. This is the path of integration.<\/p>\n

The Canadian context is markedly distinct from the American. We are a small country (in population) though with immense geography, strung along the northern US border like pearls, in distinct regions that are only tenuously connected. Evangelicals (and we all are looking for a better descriptor) represent perhaps 8% of the population. One of our realities is we have learned (and continue to learn as a marginalized group) is that we must work together if we want to have impact. Our context has determined collaboration is the only way to influence for Christian life and light. Barriers, even between the so-called haves and have nots, must disintegrate if we are to bear fruit.<\/p>\n

To bring these diverse and multiple players to the table, and to advance an integrated model, Kanter dropped the mic. She stated, \u201cThe money often comes from multiple budgets and the people from many different groups,\u2026 so leaders must be beggars and borrowers.\u00a0 Project leaders knock on doors for resources, stop to see many people, \u2026. In general, integrative efforts get support because they meet two tests: they are strategic to the business (which attracts capital) and motivational to the individual (which attracts talent).\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

For this new round of the Spark Initiative, we believe the business strategy of combining resources to advance social good is attractive to donors. Eight millennial givers have already signed up, and there are several more asks in the hopper but only four more available positions. But talent is necessary for the project to flourish. We attract talent to this project through offering millennials solid mentoring by Christian business leaders and community-building retreats over the year.<\/p>\n

P.D. Tolchinsky reviews Kanter\u2019s approach in the Organizational Development Journal<\/em>, and points us toward this flattening context: \u201cKanter argues for fewer rules, regulations, and bureaucracy\u2026. [We need] simple and yet powerful guidelines and allow for individual freedom and flexibility in operationalizing these visions, principle and values.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Surely this includes coming together in unity despite diversity for the advance of God\u2019s kingdom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

_____________________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Moss Kanter, Rosabeth. \u201cLeadership in a Globalizing World\u201d in Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice. <\/em>Edited by Nitin Nohria, and Rakesh Khurana. \u00a0(Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2010), 573.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Stern, Stefan. “Taking the responsible route to success.” Financial Times<\/em>, August 27, 2009, 12. Academic OneFile<\/em> (accessed December 7, 2017). http:\/\/link.galegroup.com.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/apps\/doc\/A206648177\/AONE?u=newb64238&sid=AONE&xid=d048d699.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Moss Kanter, 575.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Moss Kanter, 588.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Moss Kanter, 588.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Moss Kanter, 591.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Moss Kanter, 595.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Tolchinsky, P. D., PhD. (2015). Accelerating change: New ways of thinking about engaging the whole system.\u00a0Organization Development Journal,\u00a033<\/em>(4), 45-63. Retrieved from https:\/\/georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/login?url=https:\/\/search-proquest-com.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/docview\/1792210809?accountid=11085<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The weighty tome of the Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, edited by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, weighed down my bag as I boarded my flight to Toronto for my last work trip of the year.\u00a0 Grazing through the articles, I quickly realized my last blog post this year must necessarily focus on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1037,1099,414,195],"class_list":["post-15672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp8","tag-kanter","tag-khurana","tag-nohria","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15672"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15678,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15672\/revisions\/15678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}