Week 6 Post

Tying into the previous weeks post where I had chronicled a difficult professional scenario I wanted to think a bit more about development in the outlined area of

Leading in Complexity

• Identify a late stage mentor both inside and outside of my current organization and ask each of them to talk through 1-2 scenarios based on current organizational situations I am experiencing from their advanced perspectives.

I wanted to use them to provide perspective on supervision and dealing with this challenge now that they are seasoned veterans to give me perspective on my situation.

The late stage mentor identified inside my organization is my current supervisor the Dean of Students. In our 1:1 I asked her the following question; 

Looking at the situation I am facing with my Associate Director X, what have you learned from supervisor numerous individuals about this situation that you think could be wise for me to keep in mind that I you have learned only through time and experience.  

We laughed and rephrased it...looking back what you current you tell younger you about this situation to provide perspective.  

I distilled her thoughts into the most salient points that really resonated with me that I believe will help me process through the situation.

• Don't focus so much on how X views you in the role 
• It's his job, and he has to improve, you can't improve for him
• How he does his job is not reflective of your ability to do your job

As I think about my personal development in this situation (with the Associate Director) and even more so in the asking this question and gather insight from someone (late stage mentor) who has been doing this in a much more diverse set of organizations than I have I been reminded of the importance of taking time and space for personal reflection and seeking the feedback of others. Whether it is a difference in age, sets of experience, or experiencing multiple supervisees (and supervisors) between this mentor and I the points that resonated with me likely illustrate some of the areas within Kegan's Adult Development framework that are "sticking" points for me that I need to move beyond in order to continue developing.  Things like being shaped by the expectations of others around you.  I think it also illustrates the late stages mentors ability to point out the growth edges that might be what gets me to advance in my development; like holding his ability to do his job and my ability to do my job as independent from each other and that mine does not depend on his, even though one part of mine is oversight of him. 

Week 4 & Week 5

For the bulk of my reflections on weeks 4 & 5 I chose to supplement this blog with a video entry.  These past two weeks have been professionally exhausting for me largely related to me leaning in heavily to leading in complex situations. 

When introduced as part of my plan I conceptualized that I would proactively focus my development of leading in complexity in the area of self-awareness by doing the following:

• Identify a late stage mentor both inside and outside of my current organization and ask each of them to talk through 1-2 scenarios based on current organizational situations I am experiencing from their advanced perspectives.
• Explore the viability of taking Susanne Cook-Greuter's Leadership Maturity Assessment (LMA) or the Leadership Agility 360 created by Bill Joiner

What has actually occurred over the previous two weeks is that I have been in a heat situation, characterized by the following:  

• I am in a first time experience (new institution, new role supervising non-entry level staff), 
• Results matter (dealing with this situation could have termination implication for a staff member), 
• It is extremely uncomfortable (no one likes consistently giving critical feedback to one person, and then on top of it having them not view any of it as a true issue with them but with others).

The video accompaniment to this blog serves to describe some of the supervision situation I have been facing and what I have learned.  I wanted to reflect on the dissonance that can be the reality when as a supervisor you are expecting a more advanced stage of development than what you are faced with in an employee. 

WATCH VOICE THREAD VIDEO 

I would have to say the staff member I am working with is between socialized mind and self-authoring.  They try to verbally entice you to believe that they are more between self-authoring and self-transforming, but are invisible to how their actions do not align with anything but socialized mind.  

In relation to my personal learning and development from leading in this complex situation I am struck by how my self evaluated different developmental stages has actually almost hindered me in being able to effectively provide him with some very basic guidance and supervision that may have set him up for success more initially. I would also say that I am trying to embrace the characteristics of an individualist by attempting at multiple points to offer the opportunity for the staff member to resolve gaps and enhance performance.  I am also seeing a disconnect because I have been able to hold and understand/validate multiple perspectives and contradictions, while being faced with a staff member who is seeking direction and only looking to prove himself right or to get out of something difficult rather than just sit with the felt impact of situations. 

Ironically enough, as I type this I get a message from my supervisor saying I know it has been a tough week but it will get better.  I guess that is the point of a heat situation, you feel it, learn and get through it and are better for it.  At least that is my approach.  

Week 3 Reflection

So this past week week I focused on gaining feedback on my plan and beginning to research options within the plan itself.

Feedback from my instructor on the plan (see second blog post) is below:

This looks great!   Turning 40 is the perfect “start time”- great timing J

Your goals are terrific and a good balance for one another.  They seem do-able and potentially transformative.  I also love the format!  Look forward to hearing about your journey…

This feedback was encouraging and affirming. I was a bit apprehensive that what I was proposing seemed a bit simple, or not involved enough to meet the assignment criteria.  I am pleased and even more eager to move forward.

My format moving forward will include revisiting the two competencies selected and giving a synopsis of progress in each area.

Conscious Engagement

• Incorporating time daily for at least one of the following: meditation, yoga stretching, or focused reflection on nutrition.  

This week I researched and enrolled in the the Noom app as a way to provide daily reflection on my nutrition practices (below are some links to provide background on Noom). I have to admit Facebook has been highlighting this app and I wanted to see what was "different" about it, so this seemed like a great reason to dig deeper.  I have to admit that I did not start off the best with following the apps instructions but am committed to getting fully immersed tomorrow. 

Noom 

https://www.facebook.com/noom/

https://people.com/health/we-tried-it-noom/

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/a21604221/what-is-noom/

Leading in Complexity

• Identify a late stage mentor both inside and outside of my current organization and ask each of them to talk through 1-2 scenarios based on current organizational situations I am experiencing from their advanced perspectives.
• Explore the viability of taking Susanne Cook-Greuter's Leadership Maturity Assessment (LMA) or the Leadership Agility 360 created by Bill Joiner

In this third week I quickly looked up the LMA and associated cost.  It is $1000 so a bit cost prohibitive, though I might be able to use it as professional development for work to get the cost offset.  In contrast Leadership Agility 360 appears at first look to be $250 per report, making it more cost effective.  I am going to reach out through email to inquire further in Week 4 about both tools.

Personal Leadership Development Plan

Just as classes started I embarked on a 10 day vacation to celebrate my 40th birthday with friends.  Our international travels took us to Palma, Mallorca in Spain and Paris France.  Amidst all of this I was managing to do some reading and posting through our class discussion board.  Now that I am back "state side" it is time to work on the official post unveiling my plan.  Per the assignment, I am going to use 5 sections to outline my plan.

Objective
To create a plan that will focus primarily on growth in the competency related to "development of self," incorporating the leadership development objectives of enhancing conscious engagement and enhancing my capabilities related to leading in complexity.

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) highlights both ownership for leadership development and focusing on vertical development as two of four trends in leadership development.  This shifts the narrative that someone above or outside of a person's organization structure is charged with the individual's leadership development.  It places the action emphasis on the individual to shape and own their personal leadership development.  CCL also lays out that research shows that less than 8% of adults have reached a cognitive development level that is self-transforming (being able to step back from developed personal ideologies and recognize the limitations and contractions that could be associated with those, without needing to focus thinking that gravitates to a polar end).  It also points out that the days of type indicators that espouse equal benefit of all types are a thing of the past, giving way to staged development assessments indicating advanced levels of complexity in thinking being more capable in more developed leadership situations.

Conscious Engagement

• Incorporating time daily for at least one of the following: meditation, yoga stretching, or focused reflection on nutrition.  

This was largely influenced by the CCL readings dealing with vertical development, primarily elevated sense-making as one of the most neglected condition for vertical leadership development and a focus on meditation, mindfulness and changing of the body as a way to re-pattern your mind.

Leading in Complexity

• Identify a late stage mentor both inside and outside of my current organization and ask each of them to talk through 1-2 scenarios based on current organizational situations I am experiencing from their advanced perspectives.
• Explore the viability of taking Susanne Cook-Greuter's Leadership Maturity Assessment (LMA) or the Leadership Agility 360 created by Bill Joiner

This was influenced by CCL readings referencing adult development combined with the conceptual move from types of leadership to stages of development related to dealing with complexity.  

Collaborators

Some collaborators will be in the form of resources like the utilization of applications for guided meditation and yoga as well as nutritional tracking and reflection. 

Other collaborators will be people I have worked and do work directly with (late stage mentors) and others will be those that can provide access to assessments and coaching related to those.  Depending on the assessment this might also be peers and those I supervise or even students for feedback. 

Documented Learning

I will continue to use this blogging medium to document my learning and share my weekly updates and reflections. 

References

Petrie, N. (2014). Future trends in leadership development. Center for Creative Leadership.

Petrie, N. (2014). The How-to of Vertical Page | 11 leadership development- Part II: 30 experts, 3 conditions and 15 approaches. Center for Creative Leadership.