A bit of theory about development Some practice and questions Why these ideas could be useful A framework for complexity Some more questions

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• A bit of theory about development

• Some practice and questions

• Why these ideas could be useful

• A framework for complexity

(3)

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One shape of adult growth

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Age

(only vaguely illustrative)

Dev

el

op

men

(5)

Another model of adult growth

Age

Dev

el

op

men

(6)

(7)

(8)

Core paradox in

developmental

(9)

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Socialised

Self-authored

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Thought experiment

Jessica is a rising star in TechCo.

The CEO is launching a big

initiative on innovation and creating

the next chapter of the company,

and has been searching for six

leaders to champion the writing of

this next chapter.

Jessica has assumed she was a

shoe-in and has been looking

forward to her role leading the

initiative.

Yesterday, the names were

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The socialised mind

Key assumptions:

• If you love/ value me, you’ll know what I’m thinking.

• If I’m not a success, who am I?

• My role is my life.

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The socialised mind

Key assumptions:

• If you love/ value me, you’ll

know what I’m thinking.

• If I’m not a success, who am

I?

• My role is my life.

• It’s important to find the

person who can (and will)

tell you whether you’re doing

it right.

Jessica is a rising star in TechCo.

The CEO is launching a big initiative on innovation and creating the next chapter of the company, and has been searching for six leaders to champion the writing of this next chapter.

Jessica has assumed she was a shoe-in and has been looking forward to her role leading the initiative.

(14)

The self-authored mind

Key assumptions:

• If I don’t live by my values/ principles, who am I?

• Others’ views are important, but ultimately the only one who

can decide what’s best for me is me.

• I am the best judge of my competence.

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The self-authored mind

Key assumptions:

• If I don’t live by my values/

principles, who am I?

• Others’ views are important,

but ultimately the only one

who can decide what’s best

for me is me.

• I am the best judge of my

competence.

• I do best when I can figure

out my own true north.

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The

self-transforming

mind

Key assumptions:

• I am made up of so many

threads of other things—

people, value, cultures—

like a living tapestry.

• While I enjoy positive

emotions and events

more than negative ones,

there is richness and

learning in everything.

• My shadow—which I

used to hate—I now see

as a gift.

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The self-transforming mind

Key assumptions:

• I am made up of so many threads of

other things—people, value,

cultures—like a living tapestry.

• While I enjoy positive emotions and

events more than negative ones,

there is richness and learning in

everything.

• My shadow—which I used to hate—I

now see as a gift.

• We are all partial.

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Highly Effective Neutral/ mixed Ineffective Highly ineffective Effective

Effectiveness

Not yet Socialized

Socialized Midzone Self-authored

Beyond Self-authored

Form of mind

From K Eigel (1998) in Kegan and Lahey

Relationship between Leadership

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Socialised

Self-authored

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“Are there perhaps

colleges for

forty-year-olds which

prepare them for

their coming life

and its demands as

the ordinary

colleges introduce

our young people

to a knowledge of

the world?

No, thoroughly unprepared we take the step into the afternoon

of life; worse still, we take this step with the false assumption

that our truths and ideals will serve us as hitherto.

But we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the

(22)

Potential adult development

Age

Dev

el

op

men

(23)

“Leadership and learning are

indispensable to each other.”

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“Faced with the

choice between

changing one's mind

and proving that

there is no need to

do so, almost

everyone gets busy

on the proof.”

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Our capacity to deal with

complexity, ambiguity, and change

grows over time—

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“If I am right, the whole of our thinking about who

we are and what other people are has got to be

restructured. The most important task of today is to

learn to think in a new way

.”

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Two kinds of learning

Informational learning:

increases the amount

you know

Transformational learning

(28)

Learning that transforms

Transformational

(29)

Seeing

systems

(30)

“I have no

special

talents. I am

only

passionately

curious.”

(31)

“Being willing to

change allows you

to move from a

point of view

to a

viewing point

—a

higher, more

expansive place,

from which you can

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Google Confidential & Proprietary

“In times of rapid change,

experience could be your

worst enemy.”

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Cynefin framework

The cause and effect relationship does not repeat and is

unpredictable Emergent practice

Complex

Cause and effect are

separated in time and space; relationship can be

researched and known Good practice

Complicated

Obvious

The cause-effect relationship is

repeatable & predictable Best practice

Chaotic

No cause-effect relationship can be perceived Novel practice

Pr

edi

ct

abl

e

w

or

ld

Un

pr

edict

able

w

or

ld

(35)

Cynefin framework

Complicated

• Experts might disagree

• An intervention that works in one place will mostly work elsewhere

• Experts are expected to reliably predict outcomes that flow from advice

Obvious

• Everyone agrees about what needs to be done

• Flick a switch to implement

• Can fall over the edge to chaos if something goes wrong or the context changes

Complex

• New ways of thinking, acting, and collaborating

• Sophisticated and flexible thinking and actions

• Safe-to-fail experiments

• Shift system dispositions

rather than promise outcomes

Chaotic

• Novel

• Unless entered into on purpose—to be avoided

• Act to stabilise system

• Recovery expensive

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In which domains does your work fall?

What questions might you ask as a coach?

Complicated

• Experts might disagree

• An intervention that works in one place will mostly work elsewhere

• Experts are expected to reliably predict outcomes that flow from advice

Obvious

• Everyone agrees about what needs to be done

• Flick a switch to implement

• Can fall over the edge to chaos if something goes wrong or the context changes

Complex

• New ways of thinking, acting, and collaborating

• Sophisticated and flexible thinking and actions

• Safe-to-fail experiments

• Shift system dispositions

rather than promise outcomes

Chaotic

• Novel

• Unless entered into on purpose—to be avoided

• Act to stabilise system

• Recovery expensive

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“We have learned that…the past will be a poor guide to

the future and that we shall forever be dealing with

unanticipated events. Given that scenario,

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Socialised

Self-authored

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Old Man Eating Alone in a Chinese Restaurant

Billy Collins

I am glad I resisted the temptation,

if it was a temptation when I was young,

to write a poem about an old man

eating alone at a corner table in a Chinese restaurant.

I would have gotten it all wrong

thinking: the poor bastard, not a friend in the world

and with only a book for a companion.

He'll probably pay the bill out of a change purse.

So glad I waited all these decades

to record how hot and sour the hot and sour soup is

here at Chang's this afternoon

(40)

Old Man Eating Alone in a Chinese Restaurant

Billy Collins

And my book - Jose Saramango's

Blindness

as it turns out - is so absorbing that I look up

from its escalating horrors only

when I am stunned by one of his arresting sentences.

And I should mention the light

which falls through the big windows this time of day

italicizing everything it touches

-the plates and teapots, -the immaculate tablecloths,

as well as the soft brown hair of the waitress

in the white blouse and short black skirt,

the one who is smiling now as she bears a cup of rice

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Think and write:

• What is your core vision?

• What are the core theories you rely on?

• What are your core practices?

• What are your core beliefs about humans?

• What is on your leading edge as a coach?

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