Pathways: Past and Future

Do not go where the path may lead,

go where there is no path and leave a trail.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Discussion:  Share an example from the past and one you imagine in your future

$ - what happens next ...

Paradigm Discussion Prompt Set 1: 

Bureaucratic Academics (only?) spend resources

Entrepreneurial Academics (often/only?) leverage resources


Paradigm Discussion Prompt Set 2:

What is our entrepreneurial identity?

What might our challenge question be?



(see discussion instructions)

How tofu leads to death and lawsuits at work

What's a Tofu Leader?  Well, not a leader.

Tofu Leaders take on the flavor of those above them in the hierarchy.  Perhaps they lack the skills, confidence, character and/or courage to be themselves.  From a distance, it may have a pleasant look .. but beware ...

What should the organization do?

1) Give the Person a Chance to be More Than Tofu
* offer them a skilled coach/mentor and allow them to become their best version of a real leader
* unlikely to happen since unhealthy bosses tend to like submissive mini-me's and that's probably how the Tofu Leader was selected in the first place ... 

2) Find a Place Where the Person has Talent to Contribute
* move them to a position where they are able to offer something rather than maintain a commitment to the status quo
* but unhealthy bosses often consciously/unconsciously use mini-me's as a front line/protective layer to warn of threats from the ranks ... so the boss is unlikely to move the tofu aside and make themselves vulnerable to rebellions

3) Replace the Tofu Leader
* find someone who can do the job now - this issue needs to be corrected
* it is expensive (not good stewardship) to keep/protect tofu leadership by paying wages with a large negative return on investment:  blocking progress with an extra layer of bureaucracy and preventing the contributions of someone else who would be capable of doing the job.

In addition to unhealthy bosses/superiors in a hierarchy contributing to individual cases of Tofu Leadership as subordinates, environments/overall cultures contribute to a management development program for Tofu Leaders through cultures of conformity or obedience.

* conformity culture
everyone is used to things as they've always been - spoken and unspoken norms reinforce the status quo
* obedience culture
fear driven with formal and informal threats of punishment for not following the leadership implicit/explicit demands

If the culture supports unhealthy "leadership" such as this, the best an organization can be is a sleepy place that remains predictable and the same (conformity) with low employee engagement, low customer satisfaction and terms like "innovation" existing only as empty buzzwords ... until change is thrust upon the organization and it is threatened with death.

Or, if it's worse than passive conformity and becomes an environment of fear, the organization is at risk of hostile workplace lawsuits before the threat of death that is probably coming, too.

Death or legal action - what most scares the ultimate leader/CEO/President and will one, the other, or both cause them to protect against these dangerous organizational phenomena?

Tofu may be able to take on any flavor, but that's not leadership.

__________________________________________________________

Can the tipping point be reached in an organization that struggles with innovation?

What if organizations advertise that they are seeking like-minded ("good fit") employees for their innovative organization and then ... they successfully hire passionate, creative people who soon find out that conformity is more the norm than innovation?  And, it even gets worse ... that behaviors welcomed as "disruptive innovation" or "entrepreneurial" in trendsetting climates are absent while control & credit, turf & toes norms swiftly punish those who step outside of the status quo.

Advice to innovators who believe in the mission/vision you were hired into:

1)  Maintain hope and remind yourself that innovation (aka change) initiatives require courage and patience when facing resistance - sometimes it will lonely.  The late majority and laggards have been in power for a very long time - they are likely to label you in unflattering ways.  Protect your well-being and be patient with others.

2)  Detangle yourself from the bureaucratic infrastructure so that you are free to move in the open space (between organizational boundaries - human to human, not role to role - this can overcome the loneliness/isolation often felt by those who push organizational limits)   Find the early adopters regardless of organizational role/status.  You can encourage each other and move toward the tipping point together.

3)  Listen and learn the perspectives of others while staying true to your commitment to innovating toward the mission/vision of the organization.  Influence works best within the mental framework of the person being influenced.  Listening to, and understanding, others will make you and your collaborators (innovators and early adopters) more influential long term.  

4)  Believe in the existence of the tipping point and persist.


________________________________________________

Want to go further?

5)  See a Peacock in the Land of Penguins (video and book - Thank you Norma and Cathy!)
Use this video and/or book to help create organizational self-awareness as a first step.

6)  Read Diffusion of Innovations by Rogers 
Understand some insights on how innovations spread throughout a social system

ISBN-13: 978-0743222099

ISBN-10: 0743222091

7)  If you are truly innovative, you have choices.  Keep your resume up to date for when you're ready to make an organizational move and/or ... become an entrepreneur !

Performance Appraisal article by Paul Falcone ... are your business practices serious about creativity and innovation?

Does your organizational language include talk of creativity and innovation?  

Do your organizational practices demonstrate and support creativity and innovation?

For example, do your evaluation processes reflect what you say you value?

This is an older article but it has some quick and easy tips to incorporate creativity and innovation into your vision of how performance appraisals function within your organization ...

if that's really what you want

and

if that's really who you are as an organization .....................

Sample Creativity and Innovation Phrases for

Performance Appraisal

by Paul Falcone

American Management Association 2014

http://playbook.amanet.org/sample-creativity-and-innovation-phrases-for-performance-appraisal/

Barbara Pierce Bush

June 8, 1925 - April 17, 2018 (age 92)

Today is a good day to wear pearls ~

Fred Fiedler - Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership

Just over 50 years ago (1967), Fred Fiedler, published his groundbreaking contingency theory of leadership that asserted effective leadership as a combination of the leader's characteristics and the type of situation faced by the leader and followers.  His theory helped us think more about how who the leader is interacts with circumstances the leader faces.  

One criticism of Fiedler's theory was the assumption that the leadership style of the individual is largely fixed/it did not take into account leader adaptability.  Yet, it was the first leadership theory that considered leader characteristics and situational factors.

We appreciate the contributions of Dr. Fiedler.  His career culminated at University of Washington (Seattle) where he held roles in both the business and psychology departments - connecting the disciplines with his contributions to Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

Dr. Fred Edward Fiedler (July 13, 1922 - June 8, 2017 / age 94)

"That's just the way it is" ... No, But, And ~

"That's just the way it is"   

No, things will change - will it be the changes you work toward or the changes that are thrust upon you?

"Change takes time"

But, without a sense of urgency and strategy, you are likely to succumb to the changes thrust upon you.

"We need to focus on our core business"

And, does your core business, as you currently conduct it, appear relevant in the present and future?

So many reasonable sounding assertions that keep organizations from self-awareness and action that could lead to survival and/or thriving.

Who will get you to go deeper than a common mantra during your next meeting?

PS - What did they say at Blockbuster meetings in 2010?

Blockbuster became a part of DISH in 2011 and while Blockbuster stores may be a thing of the past, you can still Make it a Blockbuster Night®. Sign up for DISH and get access to thousands of new releases from the comfort of your home.

Blockbuster information in blue from:  http://www.blockbuster.com/

Does one thing lead to another for your students? Passion Pathways

In addition to guided pathways, do you have passion pathways?

Do you have gateway classes where "one thing leads to another" and students are connected with "next class options", certificates and co-curriculars with unlimited possibilities for student self-directed learning and achievement?

Have you figured out how to "close the achievement gap" for any student

who may be at risk without creating waste on multiple programmatic mini-infrastructures?

If one thing leads to another for your students via their campus experience,

you have created 

engagement.

You have created Passion Pathways ~