Previously, I started a discourse on leading in a changing world and was able to outline the liminal phases associated with the dynamic changes and also promised to explain each of them because I have observed that most of the struggles associated with leadership in many of the African societies, today, is hinged on embracing change.
Change is one constant commodity, which is a direct effect of growth and development either in the intellectual, spiritual, or physical experience of the members of the leadership cycle, hence, the pioneer leaders must understand that transformation brings about some level of conformational changes in the lives of the people being led.
The first phase of this liminality, as I pointed out in the first essay is STABILITY. So, in the rest of the particular essay, I am going explain this phase and the corresponding leadership role of the pioneer leaders.
All human systems are dedicated to maintaining stability and equilibrium. You normal response to the world involves the need for control over your environment. We need understandable maps that help us successfully navigate our lives as leader. Our expectations need to match our perceptions of how the world ought to work. This is what we mean by having frameworks. Change is manageable when it occurs developmentally, or incrementally, within our established frameworks. Significant change creates a crisis within systems and their leaders, when it becomes disconnected from the assumed roles and expectations of the system.
Stability and tradition are the primary characteristics of this phase. In this period, the life of groups and organizations is highly predictable. Routines continually connect with the past. The system, or organization, operates from the basis of an assumed and widely accepted set of practices, values and habits that have remained relatively unchanged over an extended period of time.
Change is not resisted in this phase because the change occurs within the framework of the tradition. Change does occur, but it does so through a continuous dialogue with the past. This kind of change is predictable. It is more of the same, only better. Because of these characteristics, both the organization and the people within it experience a high level of control over their environment. The world feels like it makes sense and life works. This is largely because the vast majority of people subscribe to the values and traditions of the context. Within this first phase two types of change occur.
At this liminal phase, two changes are observed:
Evolutionary Change: Changes are small and incremental at any particular point of time, but over a long period add up to significant change. The system may not recognize particular developments as change because they occur so slowly and gradually that they remain within the assumed core of traditional values. Indeed, such change may occur over generations with the appearance of no change. Ironically, this attitude is reflected in such comments as. We have always done it this way! How far back does this always really go?
Developmental Change: Change occurs as improvements are made to already existing systems and practices. In the family illustration, children grow, bed times change, conversation around the table takes on different forms, and children assume new roles, as they grow older. All this is an assumed part of the family process. It is part of a larger framework of what happens in a family.
THE ROLE OF LEADER
Within a system in this phase, the basic style of leadership is management. High value, reward and recognition are placed upon those who understand, represent and augment the traditions, values and symbols. Those who question these values and traditions during this stable phase are pushed to the edges where they cannot disrupt the equilibrium. The pioneer leader is expected to be a good manager who maintains status quo by ensuring that the system operate smoothly without hiccups.
In summary, the more-or-less stable first phase, which can last a long period of time, the primary skill set is management of the received or inherited traditions and frameworks.
Elvis C. Umez
Leadership Consultant
IDB Consult
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