Hi Dianne, you asked:
> How do others see the relationship between leadership/followership & the
> LO?
I always have to answer question beging with "seeing". And i have
learned that that has to do with my preferred style of leadership:
facilitating, enabling others to see for themselves. Seeing comes easy
with me, so i'll have a natural tendency to gain followers who also want
to see for themselves and those who want to be shown some structure and
principles. L will meet with resistance with people who want to hear
things, or want to be told what to do. Once you are familiar with this
you can adapt you're behaviour, but i prefer seeking out co-operation of
people who have preference other than mine and giving over leadership. A
kind of linking-pin principle.
I also belief that different situations require different types of
leadership and thus of different followers. Or, better, i might be a
leader in one and a follower in another situation, perhaps changing
places with people. For instance, i can do a great job in changing
organizing processes, but will step out as soon as something becomes
repetitive.
Now, in my view, everybody has leadership qualities, can develop these,
will want to develop these and these qualities work best when they are
congruent with certain situations. So people will tend to find
situations that 'fit' them. Or a capable manager will manage this. This
works fine in stable situations. One of the paradoxes of change however
(and personal development is one) is, that when your leadership (and
followers) is in tune, in harmony with the situation, it will always
create a situation which will become out of tune, disharmonious.
In my view, the only form of leadership that will not run into trouble
is a kind of 'detached' leadership (probably with no followers), that
takes into account the differences between people and the situations and
rebalance this set of people, situations and interactions, without
becoming a leader or a follower of fashion. This i see as a kind of
servant leadership, perhaps some people would call it a state of grace.
In a Learning Organization, still in my view, these preferences, these
mental models, these leadershipstyles are known, consiuously used in
creating a more complex interaction than those with the "classical"
leadership styles. This, i think, implies that we'll have to learn how
to tell new tales, perhaps a new grammar. And then to impose some new
structures and ceasars, as history is quite repetitive.
By the way, i learned that the Romans were afraid of kings, so they had
a complicated system of offices, balance and counter-balance. Julius
Ceasar was well aware of this, so he, in the process of taking control
(being secure of the popularity (!) of the legions and the people) he
said: I am not king, I am Ceasar. His adopted son had to take over soon
afterwards.
May you live in uninteresting times,
Jan Lelie
-- Drs J.C. Lelie CPIM (Jan) janlelie@wxs.nl LOGISENS - Sparring Partner in Logistical Development - + (31) 70 3243475 Fax: idem GSM: + (31) 654685114Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>