One of the purposes of this blog is to encourage fresh thinking with respect to how we can most effectively collaborate to achieve worthy goals. According to leadership gurus, James Kouzes and Barry Posner, getting extraordinary things done in organizations in the current age (often called the “innovation age”) requires leaders who can:
- Articulate a vision of the future when things are so unpredictable […]
- Inspire others toward a common purpose […]
- Create an environment that promotes innovation and risk […]
- Build a cohesive and spirited team […]
- Share power and information, and still maintain accountability […]
- Put more joy and celebration into our efforts […] (Kouzes & Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 4th ed., 2008)
Leaders and organizations that are deeply rooted in “industrial age” models leadership and organization, based on metaphors such as the “organization as machine,” often struggle to achieve the capacities needed to meet current challenges. In the next few posts, we’ll discuss why this is the case and why coaching is such an effective strategy for organizational transformation and change.
First, we’ll talk about the goals of traditional bureaucratic organizations, the assumptions that underlie this strategy, and the conditions under which those assumptions might be appropriate.
Second, we’ll talk about common organizational problems, and why they are so difficult to solve, using industrial-age models of leadership and organization.
Third, we’ll talk about some emerging paradigms of leadership, and how they support leaders in building needed organizational capabilities.
Finally, we’ll talk about how leadership and organizational coaching can support leaders in transforming their organizations to develop the needed capabilities.
Does that sound good?
Leave a Reply