Integral Leadership Review
Special Issue: The Return of ILR - April 2004
Table of Contents
- Leadership Quote
- Mission
- Article: The Integral Leadership Workshop
- A Leadership Coaching Tip
- Summary (publications worth noting)
- Coda
It Must Be That Time
Actually, this issue of Integral Leadership Review is long overdue. It doesn't contain what I had wanted to include in the restart – an interview – but I don't want to wait any longer. It has been a good year since the last issue. I hope you are still out there and interested.
And I want this to be a renewal of effort on my part. Who knows what the next issue might bring. Stay tuned! And I would be delighted to hear your comments about this issue. Thanks!
Russ
Leadership Quote
".seeking for personal salvation is anyway the wrong road to personal salvation. The only real path.was the path set forth in the Japanese movie "Ikiru," i.e., salvation via hard work and total commitment to doing well the job that fate or personal destiny calls you to do, or any important job that 'calls for' doing."
–– Abraham H. Maslow, Eupsychian Management
Mission
I am grateful to the more than 600 subscribers to Integral Leadership Review . Your continuing support means that we can move closer to a way of viewing and being in the world that is integrative, generative and supportive of our evolving integrity––learning to align our theory and our action, our values and assumptions with achieving what is important to us. Also, I am grateful to the many kindnesses, suggestions and offers of support we have received.
The mission of this epublication is to be a practical guide to the application of an integral perspective to the challenges of leadership in business and life and to the effective relationship between executive/business coaches and their clients. My vision includes that this will be a place where others, as well as myself, can continue to develop and share ideas about integral leadership and integral coaching.
Russ Volckmann
The Integral Leadership Workshop - 2
Every year my daughter-in-law gives me a Zen Calendar for my desk. I love these calendars for the daily messages that they bring to me, even those that seem a little obscure. After all, they test one's wits and often stimulate some new synaptic connections.
On Sunday, March 28, 2004 the message was from Hakuin, about whom one website, http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/Hakuin.html, notes:
HAKUIN Ekaku, also known as Kokurin, Byakuin, Sugiyama Iwagiro, Iwajiro, Jinki Dokumyo, Shoji Kokushi (C. Pai-yin, Po-yin) (19 Jan 1686 - 18 Jan 1769)
[Dharma heir of the Rinzai master Shoju Rojin (Dokyo Etan, Keitan Dokyo) (1642-1721), and ??th Rinzai teacher since Lin-chi I'hsuan (J. Rinzai Gigen) (?-866).]
Since there is a school of Zen Buddhism named after this teacher, he no doubt was a master in considerable standing. Rather than pursue that line of thought (I leave you to your own devices and the webpage link above) I offer you the quotation:
What is this true meditation? It is to make everything: coughing, swallowing, waving the arms, motion, stillness, words, actions, the evil and the good, prosperity and shame, gain and loss into one single koan.with the principle of pure, undiluted, undistracted meditation before your eyes, attain a state of mind in which, even though surrounded by crowds of people, it is as if you were alone in a field extending tens of thousands of miles.if at this time you struggle forward without losing any ground, it will be as though a sheet of ice has cracked, as though a tower of jade has fallen, and you will experience a great feeling of joy.
What is clear is that the product of successful meditation is an altered state that fosters an experience of joy.
The subject of meditation is central to THE Integral Leadership Workshop – the second workshop held in early March in Westminister, Colorado. Not only did Fred Kofmann introduce participants to The Centerpointe Research Institute's holosync technology for meditation -- http://www.centerpointe.com/index.php-- and Roger Walsh's meditative approach to spirituality – Essential Spirituality, John wiley & Sons, 1999 – but in the several panel discussions that Ken Wilber participated in he made the point several times that meditation is the only demonstrated means for heightening consciousness. And heightened consciousness is central to integral development.
This was clearly the organizing principle of the workshop. As Ken stated on day 1 (I paraphrase) Integral leadership is any leadership that comes from your higher self. It is leadership that springs from an integral consciousness and is based on cognitive development that leads to the capacity to see the world, i.e., consciousness. It is about going beyond consciousness development to the application of consciousness in the world. As such, it is action that generates inspiration and awe in others to move to action while using skillful means to connect with people the way they are, thus involving multiple lines.
Ken also indicated that to develop integrally means to develop 1st tier (in Spiral Dynamics and SDi terms) and allowing 2 nd tier to emerge. By applying one's development in the world integrally we become leaders who provide space for other people to grow.
Moving up levels in the holarchy that is the spiral involves transcending and including earlier stages and taking on new ones. Thus, development requires making healthy the sub-personalities while getting rid of the worldview at each level. In fact, health involves stripping away of limiting worldviews.
Thus, the focus of THE Integral Leadership Workshop was on the individual and their integral development. And this was approached integrally, of course. Yoga, meditation, hikes in nature, individual reflection, interactive processes punctuated by panel discussions with Ken Wilber and others resulted in a very deep learning experience for those who participated.
As I stated in one of the closing activities, I did not get anything I came for and that was okay. I got a very rich intra- and interpersonal experience. Was it worth $3000? Well, it was if for no other reason than to be part of a process whereby Ken Wilber is meeting his public and investing many hours being with them.
Fred Kofman was a masterful trainer for the awareness raising activities. He modeled what he was leading us through in a truly inspirational fashion. He was truly modeling being an integral leader in that context. If you don't know Fred's work, check out his CD set Conscious Business. It is well worth the investment. There you will find the spirit of what was taking place in the workshop. Fred masterfully combines the integral perspective with activities modeled after workshops in the human potential movement and organization development/learning.
If, as you read this, you sense that there is another shoe still to fall, you are right. While what I received was a beautiful gift and an opportunity I deeply value, I did not get what I went for. I was seeking an opportunity to dig deeper into integral models and concepts, specifically in their application to leadership. True, there was some of that, but most of the discussions were about individual consciousness and spirituality.
I did ask a couple of questions of Ken. The first was that I asked him to discuss the relationships among the quadrants in the holon. This is an important and interesting question to me because it is in this interaction that the holon comes alive, is energized. Otherwise, the holon is just a four cell matrix of classification.
His answer to my question was to indicate that there were two chapters in his new book on this subject and this was too complex and high a level question to address in that workshop. Again, I am paraphrasing.
So I followed up with a question focused just on the relationship between upper left and upper right, the internal and external individual quadrants. In my mind, the first has to do with beliefs, assumptions, mental models, values, etc. The second is about behavior and biology.
I wish I had a transcription to the response I got to that question. I hope I can get a transcription. I am even going to ask if someone could send me the answer as a .wav file. But for now, I will minimally reconstruct the message that I got. I am not sure it is accurate:
We operate in all quadrants and domains all of the time. We light up particular aspects with out attention and create a community in the world that we vibrate with. (Again, my paraphrase.)
If there was more, I am afraid I lost it. I know Ken answered at more length than this and even checked in with me to see if his answer was satisfactory. I stated that it was a good beginning. I must confess that I discovered that I had totally lost his point a short time later. I take total responsibility for my confusion. I guess I may have to wait for the book.
In the meanwhile, I have two competing ideas bouncing around for me on the relationships among the quadrants. Ken states such a relationship exists in the last chapter of Integral Psychology. In the work I have been doing on integral leadership I have suggested that at the level of any holon the relationships be characterized as
UL-UR: self-management
UL-LL: attunement
UR-LR: engagement
LL-LR: system evolution
I have written about this in earlier issues of Integral Leadership Review. Please check them out at http://www.leadcoach.com/archives.html .
The second idea, one that Ken noted, is that we operate in all quadrants at the same time. In other words, they are all operating simultaneously and "light up" when we focus our attention, our awareness on them. While this seems perfectly reasonable to me, it does little to bring the dynamic, developmental perspective to the holon that the former explanation offers.
Why is this important? If the holon (and integral theory) is to guide us in application, in developmental activity then the relationships among the quadrants offer us ideas about how we develop. In spiral terms, how do we engage in horizontal and vertical development? We cannot engage in development purely by focusing on one quadrant, that which lights up, unless we relate that to other quadrants.
If all four quadrants are relevant to all situations and life experiences, then we need to attend, not just to the personal side of development, but to the relationships between the individual and life conditions – culture and systems – that must be considered. Certainly, from a gestalt psychology perspective, we can only focus on that which we light up. One at a time. But we can also focus on the relationships among the factors represented by the quadrants.
By implication it is not just the quadrants that have stages of development, but the relationships among the quadrants as well. These relationships also have stages of development.
There are many questions to be considered here. Can the stage of development of the relationship be any higher than the stage of development of the quadrants? Probably not. What does it mean to develop the relationships? How can we describe the stages through a spiral lens? No doubt the answers to these and other questions are already evident in the literature and would bear explication. No doubt, the two chapters in Ken's new book will help us here and set us off on new paths of exploration.
I deeply appreciate the connection that Ken, Fred and Roger made between meditation and action. I suspect the aspiration to joy, however, is really about a redefinition of joy. Rather than a spaced out state of bliss or supreme happiness, joy may just be about being connected and making a difference in one's own life while serving others.
And, in case there is any doubt left in anyone's mind, it was well worth the $3k.It is obvious that when coaching leaders from an integral perspective it is important to surface relevant work that is related to the cognitive, emotional, values, relationships, health, moral and spiritual aspects of the individual. Keep in mind, however, it is their perspective on all of this that is the starting point, not the coach's.
1 Phoenix Rising
by
Russ Volckmann, PhD
is now available
A new book with an integrated method for confronting issues that keep us stuck and moving toward what is truly important to us.
An effective tool for coaches and for clients whether coaching leaders in business or in life.
“I always thought of myself as a winner, not a failure... I've always been afraid of taking a risk...and failing! 1 Phoenix Rising gave me the opportunity to face my fears in an absolutely safe environment and to admit my fragility...To my surprise, what I found was a renewed sense of force and creative drive that is now overriding the fear!”
Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., Therapist Coach Institute
"The material in 1 Phoenix Rising is genuine and helpful. I've known Russ for sometime and not only can he help you with issues around failure, but if you work through this material, it will help you become more aware of a life worth living big!”
Mike Jay, B\Coach Systems
Chris Ashton and Andrew Lambert, High Performance Leadership: Leaders Who Inspire and Deliver, CRF Publishing, London, 2003.
First, I must apologize. It has taken me a year to let people know about this very valuable work after the authors arranged for me to get a complementary copy. Certainly, I never would have had the chance to read this without their kindness since it was published with a corporate audience in mind and is priced well beyond the typical budget for such information. Perhaps in the year that has elapsed they have found some more affordable ways to share their information.
And a lot of information there is, indeed. Using a wide variety of sources, including original research and input from management gurus, the authors have assembled a study of what is required of leadership in turbulent times.
They define leadership as "a role whereby an individual or team takes responsibility for ensuring that direction is provided and decisions are taken and implemented. [And].the particular skills, characteristics and behaviors that support the assumption of that responsibility, especially leading people rather than just managing tasks and resources.
Some key points taken directly from the report are:
Conceptually-sound leadership philosophies are as rare as great leaders.
Leadership assessment, selection, development, succession and performance management needs new assumptions and some fresh thinking.
Many organizations cannot differentiate between leader success and failure.
Few have a coherent vision of what future leaders should be, and should do.
Organizational enablers of leadership effectiveness are easily deflected by beliefs about competency models or organizational politics.
There is widespread lack of "leadership IQ" –– the intuitive reasoning behind any quest for improved leadership.
Leaders who inspire and deliver, despite hostile environments can be found and are enabled by a high corporate and leadership IQ.
I find the acknowledgement of team, as well as individual, leadership to be particularly refreshing in that the level of complexity in organizations increasingly demands a team approach. I also like the fact that the authors acknowledge the requirements for leadership at many levels of the organization. They note, ".the leadership brief is becoming too complex for current leader cadres, however strong efforts might be at extending the top team, distributing leadership further into the enterprise or preparing leaders for their own new challenges."
This report is a valuable compendium of original research and input from leading thinkerss on the subject of business leadership. The authors conclude:
"Ignore leadership and it is likely to be an expensive mistake.The reality is that with increasing frequency, there is clear evidence of leadership failure and, in producing this report, weak practice was found as much as good practice. Moreover, gaining agreement to the problem is straightforward. Getting agreement on the remedy is less obvious, and a whole 'leadership industry' has emerged, the benefits of which are not always tangible."
The report adds five appendices on leadership types, leadership development, leadership competency, a leadership scorecard and audit and – of particular interest to me – "Coaching at the Top." There is a balanced and broad treatment of the subject and they state,
"Coaching has become established as a primary technique to address capability issues for individuals and teams – especially at senior level, since it can be applied flexibly to suit particular needs and also permits discretion about any shortcomings. However, like any other development method, it is important to understand what is involved, and to know how to apply it well and cost-effectively. Otherwise, there is as much scope to waste as save time and money."
They quite appropriately differentiate coaching from managing and mentoring and note the potential for using external or internal coaches. They indicate that in the U.S. "life coaching tends to be a mix of mentoring and counseling. It typically centres on addressing the individual's personal needs rather than role performance and organizational benefits." Generally they are supportive of effective performance and development-oriented coaching provided by individuals who can work effectively at high levels of the company.
Contact Information
CRF Publishing Ltd
CountyMark House
50 Regent Street
London W1B 5RD
info@crfpublishing.com
www.crfpublishing.com
David Gergen, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow," COMPASS: A Journal of Leadership," Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Volume I, Number 1, Fall 2003.
In this article by a well-informed companion of many presidents, comes from the pen of the Director of the center for Public Leadership. Note that the article was published in the Fall of 2003. It may be that Gergen will prove to be a most astute prognosticator. He makes the following observations about George Bush's leadership:
- "He has embraced a command-and-control style that sharply challenges much of today's conventional wisdom about leadership and indeed is a marked departure from other recent presidents..
- "Despite his unorthodox style, Bush as been far more daring in setting a national agenda –– and achieving it –– than any expert thought possible three years ago.
- "Even as a backlash grows against him, the qualities of leadership Bush has demonstrated –– yes, the qualities of his leadership –– have attracted a following that is large, loyal, and intense.
- "Even as it has strengthened his political base, Bush's brand of top-down assertive leadership also runs clear, deep, and dangerous risks. Over the past year, the dangers have become ever more visible and could eventually be fatal for his presidency."
A Request
If you are finding the Integral Leadership Review to be bringing useful, fresh perspectives to the subject of leadership, please think of the leaders in business and life that might be able to benefit from subscribing to this epublication. Please send them a copy or a link to the web site, www.leadcoach.com so that they may explore it. In this time of intense internet communication, we all need to manage our time and read those things which are most relevant for our work, our thinking and our values. It is my hope that many people will find the evolving Integral Leadership Review does just that. Your help is deeply appreciated.
Dedication
Dedicated to Chris Newham with deep appreciation.
Feedback
Got any?
russ@leadcoach.com
Thanks for taking the time to consider this epublication in a world of data overload. For leaders, collaborators, consultants, academics and coaches alike, I welcome you to some ideas and a dialogue that may benefit us all. I hope you will contact me soon with your idea, reference or article. Suggestions on improvement are welcome.
Russ Volckmann, PhD
Coaching Leaders in Business and Life
Email: russ@leadcoach.com
Web: www.leadcoach.com, Tel: 831.333-9200, FAX: 831.656-0110
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