Embodied Leadership
Mayvin Associate, Pete Hamill’s new book Embodied Leadership is launched this month. Here, in a guest blog for Mayvin, he introduces how the Self can contribute to the effectiveness of Leadership Development:
How effective is leadership development? Some things to consider:
• Prior to the economic crash, many of the investment banks that indulged in dubious behaviours, were lauded for their leadership development programmes.
• Regularly we heard commentators in the media reference a lack of leadership, and with recent scandals in politics (such as the expenses scandal) or companies (banks, media, etc), one can come to the conclusion that these commentaries have some merit.
• One, of the many, recent surveys on trust in leadership in organisations, found that only 7% of employees trust their organisation’s leadership.
Expensive with the truth – a personal reflection
A guest blog post for Mayvin by Organisational Change Professional Caroline Sharley
I have been wondering whether being economical with the truth comes at too high a price. It is expensive for people, feeling uncomfortable, shifting in their seats in meetings, looking studiously at papers, and screens, and waiting for a subject to move on. I have always thought of myself as someone who would – within reason, well usually within reason – ‘speak up’, ‘challenge’ if I thought something could be improved on, was missing some facts, or I simply had a different view.
Looking Again Through the Glass Wall: Sharing the Silence
This post forms part of a collection about the Glass Wall experiment we developed with Training Journal into what the world of Social Media (SoMe) can teach the world of 21st Century Leadership and Organisational Development. The most recent run of the experiment was at the OD Network Inaugural European Conference. The iteration for ODN Europe was slightly different in its set up, and also involved different people. This collection - Looking Again Through the Glass Wall - reflects the experience of several of those involved, from their perspective.
by Tony Fraser
I recently visited an emarketing company. About 20 mostly young people sat in four rows with keyboards and screens. I was there in response to an enquiry from the CEO concerning the development of his team - he had in mind that I might run a workshop for all employees on a topic of interest to him and them.
What struck me about the workspace was the silence.
Looking Again Through the Glass Wall: Like the Noise of a Fairground on the Wind
This post forms part of a collection about the Glass Wall experiment we developed with Training Journal into what the world of Social Media (SoMe) can teach the world of 21st Century Leadership and Organisational Development. The most recent run of the experiment was at the OD Network Inaugural European Conference. The iteration for ODN Europe was slightly different in its set up, and also involved different people. This collection - Looking Again Through the Glass Wall - reflects the experience of several of those involved, from their perspective.
My Experience of the Glass Wall: Like the Noise of a Fairground on the Wind
by James Traeger
Due to family events that rather caught me by surprise, I couldn’t attend the Glass Wall session at the ODN conference in person. But that turned out to be quite fortuitous. These same events meant I had to stay at home, but that also that I could ‘follow’ the gist of the conversation via twitterfall, using the #C21L, and experience it, from afar, via the glass wall of Social Media. So at about 11.15am, which was roughly when the actual ‘Goldfish Bowl’ discussion was due to begin, I sat down at my kitchen table with my laptop.
I was searching for a metaphor of what my experience was like and then it came to me:
Looking Again Through the Glass Wall: A Facilitator’s Eye View
This post forms part of a collection about the Glass Wall experiment we developed with Training Journal into what the world of Social Media (SoMe) can teach the world of 21st Century Leadership and Organisational Development. The most recent run of the experiment was at the OD Network Inaugural European Conference. The iteration for ODN Europe was slightly different in its set up, and also involved different people. This collection - Looking Again Through the Glass Wall - reflects the experience of several of those involved, from their perspective. Click here for a link to the entire collection.
By Martin Saville
This version of the Glass Wall was a track session at the 2013 OD Network Europe Conference. We were lucky enough to have a group of sophisticated, enthusiastic and open practitioners willing to ‘have a go’ and join the experiment; an ideal participant group!
We set things up so that a group of five people in the middle of the room had a facilitated conversation about the how Organisational Development (OD) can help to
‘Functional Stupidity’ – More reasons why companies rubbish their talent
It seems we were on to something in our last posting. We read in the latest New Scientist that highly credible, peer-reviewed research backs our hunch that companies inadvertently undermine their talent.
Dealing with the Organisational Shadow: Why busy people stay busy and why talent is so often supressed
There is a scene from David Bowie’s iconic 1970s movie, the ‘Man Who Fell to Earth’. At the end of the story, the Martian (played by Bowie) is being interviewed on TV. We are shocked to see how dull this one-time supernatural being has become. He has been quite literally brought down to Earth. It is as if this delicate, talented, sophisticated super-being has been normalised by humanity, in order to make him safe. He now fits. This strikes me as a particularly poignant metaphor for what organisations do to their talent.
Suspending Judgement – of Kings and ordinary mortals
Speculation abounds as to whether the remains found buried under a Leicester City Car Park are those of the supposedly notorious English King, Richard III. Richard’s death in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field broadly coincided with the end of the internecine War of the Roses and ushered in an era of relative stability under the Tudor dynasty. It has therefore been convenient to historians and writers, including Shakespeare, to portray Richard as evil and his end as the beginning of better times. But to quote the Bard himself:
All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
The ‘Sage on the stage’ – 20,000 followers, but who’s paying attention?
Guest blogger Debbie Carter, Director of Research at Training Journal, (www.trainingjournal.com) describes using the ‘Glass Wall’ social media experiment devised with Mayvin Ltd at Training Journal’s recent ‘Social Media in Learning’ themed Winter Conference. http://bit.ly/UtSqJT, December 2012.
The TJ Winter Conference – Using Social Media in Learning #TJ12 ran last month in London and for me it seemed the ideal place to introduce the idea of the Glass Wall to a larger audience.
We kicked off the experiment in the afternoon, straight after lunch and had changed the room layout slightly to facilitate the process – pushing the tables to the edge of the room and having four chairs placed centrally in the room. The twitterfeed was displayed on the large screen at the front of the room. The audience (around 45 people) was asked to pull their chairs forward so they could hear the discussion but also to try and position themselves to see the screen too.
Leadership and Power: Lessons from Wagner’s Ring Cycle
Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera House. The Ring is a series of four operas lasting in total around 16 hours, dealing with many of humanity’s universal themes; and at least for those of us who are opera-heads, it is one of the greatest pieces of art that humanity has ever achieved. The last time I went to a complete Ring was as a student, when I pretty much stood through the whole thing, and so I felt particularly lucky to be among the audience at the Opera House with a seat this time round.
There are many stories and sub-stories within the cycle of operas, however, I was particularly struck this time by the way in which leadership and power are treated.
