Write the leader you want to be, then review what you learn
Put in a few sentences the kind of leader you want to be, compare that with one recent situation, and write down what the gap teaches you.
Why it works
The authors define self-leadership agility as “the capacity to clarify what kind of leader you want to be and to reflect on and learn from your experience.” The book lists it as one of four competencies, resting on self-awareness and developmental motivation. The practice uses a written version of that stated intention as the comparison point for the learning the definition describes.
How to do it
- Write one paragraph on the leader you want to be in a year, with specifics: how you run meetings, how you handle disagreement, what you delegate.
- Pick one recent situation where you acted against that paragraph, and describe what you did without judging it.
- Write what you learned from the gap, and one thing you will try next time.
- Reread the paragraph each month, and revise it if it has stopped being true.
Evidence
The definition and the two underlying capacities come from the authors’ June 2006 interview and the Reams 2007 review. Writing a standard and reviewing a situation against it is this page’s practice, not a method the sources describe. No study of it was found in the sources read. (anecdotal)
The sources read do not show how self-leadership agility develops. A self-written intention can describe the leader a person wants to appear to be, and comparing it with a specific situation helps but does not remove that risk.
Sources
- Joiner, B., & Josephs, S. (2006, June). Leadership Agility with Bill Joiner and Steve Josephs [interview]. Integral Leadership Review, Fresh Perspective.
- Reams, J. (2007). Book review: Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change, by Bill Joiner & Stephen Josephs. Integral Review, 4.
Common mistake
Writing an aspirational identity and never comparing it with what you did this week. The practice works only when the paragraph is checked against a real situation.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for Leadership Agility: The Five Levels, Explained
- Balance assertive and accommodative styles in one-on-one conversations
In a one-on-one disagreement, notice whether you are pressing your view or holding back to keep the peace, and practice moving between the two as the situation calls for.
- Share responsibility for objectives and keep the accountability
Hand real ownership of objectives and coordination to your team, and be explicit about the accountability you keep as the formal leader.
- Scan the environment before you choose and scope an initiative
Before committing to a change, look at the conditions around it, write the outcome you want, and narrow the initiative to a scope you can actually shape.
- Map each stakeholder’s perspective before you try to align them
Identify the people an initiative affects, state what each one sees, and check your own assumptions about power before you seek agreement.
- Alternate between immersion and stepping back to reflect
Work through a stretch of real tasks, then stop to write what happened and what you noticed, and repeat the cycle rather than reviewing only at the end.
- Train attention with a daily practice such as meditation
Pick one short daily attention practice, such as meditation, and carry the attention it trains into meetings and one-on-one conversations.
Related concepts
- Torbert’s Seven Action Logics of Leadership
Seven ways leaders make sense of pressure, how common each is, and how to work with your own
- Adaptive Leadership, Made Practical
Distinguishing adaptive challenges from technical problems — and leading accordingly
- Vertical Development Practices: How Adults Grow, Not Just Add Skills
Heat, colliding perspectives, and sense-making — and what the research can and cannot promise
- Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
Moving from being run by your assumptions to being able to examine them
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