Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
List of Tables, Figures, and Exhibits
Preface
Chapter 1: The Heart of Leadership for Sustainable Change: Meaningful Work to Serve a Greater Good
Wisdom and the Pursuit of the Greater Good
The Greater Good in Action
Passion and Purpose Meet Opportunity
Chapter 2: The Renewal Coaching Leadership Framework: Seven Choices of Leaders of Sustainable Change
Sustainable Change
The Seven Choices of Renewal
Chapter 3: Renewal: Choose to Take Care of Yourself
Renewal: Creating and Sustaining Energy to Do Meaningful Work
How Leaders of Sustainable Change Choose Renewal
Daily Renewal
Renewal to Build the Future
From Renewed Leaders to Renewed Organizations
Chapter 4: Resilience: Choose to Bounce Forward from Challenges and Loss
Happy Leaders Doing Meaningful Work
How Leaders of Sustainable Change Choose Resilience
Resilience Risk Survey
Toward Resilience
Powerful Thought Leadership Questions to Activate Resilience
Chapter 5: Resonance: Choose to Create Force Fields of Positive Energy
Resonance Is a Force Field of Positive Energy
Happy Leaders Doing Meaningful Work
How Leaders of Sustainable Change Use Resonance
Powerful Thought Leadership Questions to Activate Resonance
Chapter 6: Relationship: Choose to Create and Sustain Networks of People
Relationship: Leading with a Little Help from Your Friends
Essential Networks for Meaningful Work
Happy Leaders Doing Meaningful Work
Networks of Relationships
How Leaders of Sustainable Change Build Networks of Relationships
What's So Big About the First Hundred Days?
Harsh Realities and Clear Visions
Powerful Thought Leadership Questions to Activate Relationship
Chapter 7: Reciprocity: Choose to Initiate Learning and Give More Than You Take
Reciprocity Is a Mutually Beneficial Exchange of Energy
Happy Leaders Doing Meaningful Work
How Leaders of Sustainable Change Use Reciprocity
Powerful Thought Leadership Questions to Activate Reciprocity
Chapter 8: Reality: Choose to Be Optimistic and a Little Naive in the Face of Harsh Realities
Reality Is Facing Harsh Realities with Optimism
Happy Leaders Doing Meaningful Work
How Leaders of Sustainable Change Use Reality
Powerful Thought Leadership Questions to Activate Reality
Chapter 9: Recognition: Choose to Use Patterns to Make Wise and Timely Decisions
Recognition Is Using Patterns to Make Wise and Timely Decisions
Happy Leaders Doing Meaningful Work
Patterns Leading to Wise and Timely Decisions
A Checklist for Making Wise Decisions
Powerful Renewal Thought Leadership Questions to Activate Recognition
Chapter 10: Greater Good from the Next Generation
From Students at Roosevelt Middle School in Tijeras, New Mexico
References
Index
Copyright © 2012 by Elle Allison and Douglas B. Reeves. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Allison, Elle, 1960-
Renewal coaching fieldbook : how effective leaders sustain meaningful change / Elle Allison, Douglas B. Reeves.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-41498-9 (pbk.)
1.Leadership. 2.Organizational change. 3.Employees—Coaching of. 4.Personal coaching. 5.Change (Psychology) I. Reeves, Douglas B., 1953- II. Title.
HD57.7.A427 2011
658.3′124—dc23
2011039776
From Elle:
For Len and Ole', who make me happy
In memory of Trudi Spierling
Acknowledgments
This book would have been impossible without the generosity of many people who gave us their skills, support, resources, time, and energy. First, we thank literary agent Esmond Harmsworth for encouraging us to put forth these ideas. In addition, many individuals from Jossey-Bass shepherded this book from concept to publication, including Lesley Iura, editorial director; Marjorie McAneny, senior editor; Tracy Gallagher, senior editorial assistant; Pamela Berkman, production editor; and Alice Rowan, copyeditor.
In addition, Elle thanks Carolyn Napolitano, independent editor and writing fellow at Brown University, who served as the first editor of the book. Her keen eye and love of putting sentences together like “beads on a necklace” have made each chapter more delightful to read.
Elle also thanks Becky Wagley, graphic artist extraordinaire, who captured the essence of each of the seven Renewal Coaching choices in conceptual images that create powerful memories for the leaders who attend my workshops; Margaret Rode, our Web site specialist, who does more than people would suspect to deliver service to the Renewal Coaching community; and Helen Ludvigson, operations manager, who has expertly taken on important work in the Renewal Coaching office, which allows Elle to spend more time writing and working with leaders.
None of the stories in this book would be possible without the gracious agreement of the many leaders who told them to Elle. First, back in 2010, she was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview Trudi Spierling, in whose memory this book is written, before she lost her battle with cancer. Elle feels extraordinarily blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from her. Elle also thanks Ann McCollum, Carroll Garland, Tara McAuliffe, Karen Friedman, Jesse Torres, Kim Klein, Margaret Rode, Kyle Zimmerman, Mark Cerney, Jonathan Sperling, John Simpkins, Keith Beck, Catherine Munson, Jock Brandis, Mark Cerney, Caren Miranda, Chief Dan Turner, Tracee Grigsby, Janine Hoke, Maria Venegas, Officer Greg Coleman, Officer Karen Coleman, Sharon Rohrbach, Catalino Tapia, Debbie Lee, Wallace Howard, Marty Gothberg, Bruce Klafter, Eva Wong, Catherine Scott, Lisa Foley, Cathy Lassiter, Amber Young, and Mary Anne Bronson.
Last but certainly not least, my gratitude goes to Len, to whom (along with my dog Ole') this book is dedicated. Both Len and Ole' listen tirelessly to my stories from the field—but only Len is allowed into nice restaurants in San Francisco where we sit for hours drinking wine and diagramming ideas about leadership and renewal on tablecloths.
About the Authors
Elle Allison is cofounder and president of Renewal Coaching. She is coauthor with Douglas Reeves of the three-book series on Renewal Coaching: Renewal Coaching: Sustainable Change for Individuals and Organizations (2009); the Renewal Coaching Workbook (2010); and now the Renewal Coaching Fieldbook (2012). She is also founder of Wisdom Out, a hub of research on and ideas about contemporary wisdom in individuals and couples. She has worked with clients in health care, business, education, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies, and has been a school principal and school district assistant superintendent. Elle is a member of the National Speakers Association and a graduate of the National Staff Development Academy. She reaches a diverse audience by delivering engaging and informative keynote addresses and seminars on Renewal Coaching, wisdom, and leadership. She earned her doctorate in organizational learning at the University of New Mexico, her master's degree at Northeastern Illinois University, and her bachelor's degree at Illinois State University. She is available for keynotes and workshops on leadership, renewal, wisdom, and coaching. She can be reached at eallison@renewalcoaching.com.
Douglas B. Reeves is coauthor of more than twenty books, including, with Elle Allison, the three-book series on Renewal Coaching: Renewal Coaching: Sustainable Change for Individuals and Organizations (2009); the Renewal Coaching Workbook (2010); and now the Renewal Coaching Fieldbook (2012). An internationally recognized expert on educational leadership, he was twice named to the Harvard Distinguished Authors Series and was recently named Brock International Laureate for his pioneering research. His work appears in national journals, magazines, and newspapers and has been translated into six languages. He can be reached at dreeves@renewalcoaching.com.
List of Tables, Figures, and Exhibits
| Table |
| 6.1 |
What Leaders of New Initiatives Can Request from Their Networks |
| Figures |
| 2.1 |
The Renewal Coaching Leadership Model |
| 2.2 |
Renewal as the Antidote to Decline |
| 8.1 |
The Ladder of Inference |
| Exhibits |
| 3.1 |
The Renewal Coaching Renewal Scale |
| 4.1 |
The Renewal Coaching Resilience Scale |
| 5.1 |
The Renewal Coaching Resonance Scale |
| 5.2 |
Resonance Journal |
| 6.1 |
The Renewal Coaching Relationship Scale |
| 7.1 |
The Renewal Coaching Reciprocity Scale |
| 8.1 |
The Renewal Coaching Reality Scale |
| 8.2 |
Definitions of Change Killers: Snakes, Wasps, and Mosquitoes |
| 9.1 |
The Renewal Coaching Recognition Scale |
| 9.2 |
Wise and Timely Decision-Making Checklist |
Preface
As the world economy endures the throes of an era characterized by quick and unsustainable gains for the few and the privileged, the purpose of this book may seem fanciful: to create a movement, a groundswell of individuals who accept nothing less of themselves than engagement in meaningful work—not only to earn a good living, but also to experience happiness—and use the resulting energy to manifest and sustain a greater good.
We began the research for this book in 2009 with this assumption: a sense of overall happiness combined with the pursuit of meaningful work fuels leaders who use the subsequent energy to achieve results efficiently. Most people understand why we include meaningful work in the sustainable change equation—but why happiness? Could not unhappy leaders engage in meaningful work? Our answers to these questions come from years of working as consultants on and facilitators of leadership development and organizational change. Over the years, we've observed that some leaders thrive and express joy as they go about their work, whereas others display frustration and boredom. The most discouraged leaders are so burned out that despair, the extreme opposite of happiness, envelops them in a dense fog.
Curiosity about the difference between these two types of leaders led us to discover that the happy leaders make personal choices that produce energy for their work and lives. They have ample energy and passion to take on innovative projects that sustain the best work in their organizations. Unhappy leaders, on the other hand, may start meaningful work but they run out of steam before they can make a real difference. Moreover, to the extent that leaders are either happy or unhappy, so goes the overall happiness of the organization. As Tara McAuliffe, a school principal in Rhode Island, put it, “Happiness is an infectious choice that leaders can make. If you are a happy person, you take small setbacks and obstacles in stride—and that carries over to others. Unfortunately, unhappiness is infectious too.” For effective leaders, happiness is directly connected to the energy they have to give to meaningful work. Jesse Torres, president of the Pan American Bank located in East Los Angeles, explains it this way: “When you are happy, it is easier to get a job done.” And Carroll Garland, an instructional coach in Rhode Island, says, “When you are unhappy, you are preoccupied with your own issues and you cannot focus on the important work in front of you.” In the long run, meaningful work without personal happiness is unsustainable.
To our minds, the combination of happiness and meaningful work is essential to sustainable change. But perhaps the simplest yet most significant discovery we've made in our research and fieldwork is that meaningful work is the greatest source of energy for happy and effective leaders. At times, conversation on this topic sounds like a chicken and egg puzzle: Which comes first? Is it that happy leaders naturally create meaningful work? Or is it that meaningful work produces happiness? Instead of seeking a definitive answer to this quandary, we choose to accept the complex synergy between these two concepts and instead focus on the choices that leaders can make each and every day to create and sustain energy for meaningful work that has an impact. The value of this approach is that human beings can learn to make better choices—including the choice to be happy (Foster and Hicks, 1999). And with a little support—like the support provided by a great leadership coach who also understands what it takes to make better choices—more leaders will be happy and engaged in meaningful work.
The seeds of this book were planted during a dinner conversation between us (Elle and Doug) in 2006. Elle was just completing her dissertation research on the nature of wisdom in nurses. At dinner she told Doug that the most significant finding so far was that the nurses in her study, who were nominated by their colleagues for being wise in their work, all spoke of transforming challenges and loss, in their work and in their personal life, into energy for work that creates what many of the study subjects called a “greater good.” Elle's initial interest in wisdom was sparked in 2000 when she read in a book, “Wisdom is the pinnacle of adult thought” (Merriam and Caffarella, 1999). As a student of organizational learning, she was intrigued. If it were true that wisdom is the pinnacle of adult thought, then wouldn't we want to understand how to encourage wisdom in leaders, who presumably would then create organizations where wisdom could flourish?
Further discussions led us to recognize that even wise leaders can't make a difference if they aren't engaged in meaningful work, or if they lack energy to follow through. Believing that every person (except perhaps the chronically narcissistic) possesses the capacity for wisdom, we decided to focus our research on the choices that effective leaders make that allow them to sustain their energy to do meaningful work.
We believe that happy leaders doing meaningful work will change the world. This book is full of stories—stories of real leaders from various fields and industries about what they do to renew their personal energy in order to spend it doing good work that makes a difference for others, and meets the goals of the organization. The stories in this book describe how focusing on the greater good fuels a deep and sustaining happiness that in turn defeats despair, boredom, and frustration.
Leaders are not necessarily born with the ability to engage in sustainable personal change or to inspire sustainable organizational change. In fact, much of what we know from the fields of neurology and psychology and from behavioral economists such as Dan Ariely (2010), who writes about the many ways our biases alter our perceptions, points to myriad human impulses that cause us to get in our own way. Thankfully, the seven choices in the Renewal Coaching model comprise practices that can be learned and developed. Best of all, these practices are highly coachable, which means that leaders can learn and use a coaching approach to support colleagues, team members, and the employees they supervise in their organization in choosing energy and happiness over frustration, boredom, and despair. Here are the seven choices in a nutshell:
1. Choose to engage in personal renewal, every day.
2. Choose to bounce forward in the face of loss.
3. Choose to resonate a positive force field of emotional energy.
4. Choose to create networks of support.
5. Choose to initiate cycles of learning—give more than you take.
6. Choose to face harsh realities with optimism and a “can do” attitude.
7. Choose to make wise and timely decisions.
Ongoing participation in leadership development is crucial for anyone who is in the position of influencing others. We therefore hope that the leaders you meet in the pages that follow will mentor you each time you read this book. The field stories woven throughout will immerse you in the seven choices of renewal and in the practices that leaders employ to activate those practices mindfully during the workday. Making the seven choices is not always easy, but as choices they all are possible. These are stories about leaders like you who have overcome the challenges that have sought to diminish and overwhelm them. In the end, this book provides personal leadership development in order to inspire you to do meaningful work for a greater good, to maintain your energy to create sustainable change, and to leave you with a heightened sense of compassion for others who wish to do the same.
Chapter 1
The Heart of Leadership for Sustainable Change
Meaningful Work to Serve a Greater Good
And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end to this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.
—Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
Happy leaders doing meaningful work will change the world. There is something enormously hopeful about knowing this. For one needs only to watch past the lead stories of the nightly news and to read beyond the headlines of the newspaper to realize that in every community a trove of leaders works steadily on behalf of the greater good. These are small business owners, school administrators, corporate managers, and nonprofit founders who earn a good living while challenging themselves to extend the effect of their work to benefiting something bigger than quarterly business outcomes. These leaders take care to make strategic and tactical decisions that at the very least take a systems perspective that either enhances operations for the benefit of others or mitigates and minimizes negative effects. When these leaders extend their reach for the greater good even further, they consider the well-being of future generations of employees, stakeholders, and clients, especially the most vulnerable and those for whom the stakes are highest.
Ann McCollum, who runs a small business that specializes in wilderness experiential program designs, recently sent Elle an e-mail that ended with this quote: “Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says, ‘Oh crap, she's up!’” These words of wisdom imply that the greater good is not just an abstract principle, even if at first it may be challenging to apprehend. Leaders who work to serve a greater good embody Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, who said, “And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end to this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.”
In practical terms, work initiatives gain meaning when leaders ask themselves and others these questions:
- How can this project or initiative grow leaders and offer leadership opportunities to stakeholders, clients, partners, and alliances?
- How will we share what we learn from doing this work so that others can benefit from what we know and so we can advance the prosperity of our field and the people in it?
- How can this project or initiative include and positively benefit more people and other divisions or departments in the system?
- How do our decisions ensure consideration for the needs of all involved, especially those who are most vulnerable and for whom the stakes are highest?
- How will we accurately report our performance results and the liabilities of this work?
- How will we safeguard against discrimination and exploitation of any group of people impacted by this project or initiative?
- What future will this project or initiative likely create for generations to come?
- How do the processes we use while carrying out this project or initiative care for the environment within which we work?
- How will we ensure that our business practices are good for the reputation of our enterprise and for the rest of society?
- How do our gains from this project or initiative extend to the people who work with us, including our supply chains?
- How does the way we do our work ensure that more people benefit, for longer periods of time?
- How does this work solve a pervasive problem and not just contain a crisis?
The greater good defines outcomes beyond obvious short-term gains and financial rewards for just a few—usually those who are privileged and in a position to make decisions for their personal advantage. For example, the global economic recession that began in the first decade of the 2000s was arguably brought about by bankers and mortgage lenders who made self-serving decisions to create quick wins for themselves and their cronies. Another all too familiar example of people not working on behalf of the greater good is seen in organizations when individuals resist change because they want to maintain a comfortable status quo that favors what preserves their personal level of comfort.
To be sure, the greater good includes increases in profit and favorable indicators for the enterprise. However, it also takes a wider view that rejects decisions, programs, products, relationships, and processes favoring one group of people to the exclusion of other groups of people, or that diminishes the health of the planet.
Wisdom and the Pursuit of the Greater Good
Working for the greater good is a contemporary movement that draws on wisdom, one of mankind's most ancient concepts. In their new book, Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing, professors Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe (2010) call for a revitalization of the Aristotelian notion of practical wisdom, as applied in modern professional ethics. Aristotle maintained that practical wisdom is highly contextual, showing up as good judgment that draws on virtues such as courage, fairness, generosity, gentleness, integrity, and kindness. Compare Aristotle's reflections on wisdom with the oath authored by the 2009 class of Harvard MBA students and their professors, a group of thoughtful individuals who want to regain the trust of a skeptical public burned by the bad behavior of influential business managers and financiers. The introduction to the oath reads as follows (Anderson & Escher, 2010):
According to MacDonald (1996), in order for our planet to survive, large numbers of people must become wise. What if a large number of people who populated an organization practiced the commitments expressed by the Harvard MBA Oath? Joseph Jaworski, author of Synchronicity (1998), writes about a conversation he had in 1980 with quantum physicist David Bohm. Even though people retain their individuality, Bohm said, “it's actually a single intelligence that works with people who are moving in relationship with one another.” He goes on to say, “If you had a number of people who really pulled together and worked together in this way, it would be remarkable” (p. 81).
No doubt Aristotle, with his views on practical wisdom, would find the dilemmas of today's world bewildering in both complexity and scope. He might be pleased to learn, however, that his template for applying virtues within idiosyncratic contexts endures as a prevailing vision for leaders who choose to play a bigger game.
The Greater Good in Action
When it comes to sustainable change, every organization—whether a nonprofit seeking charitable donations, a government entity employing public funds, or a business selling a product or service—is concerned with money. No organization survives without operating funds. Each and every one of the enterprises featured in this book is sustainable in part because they make money, raise funds, and otherwise create value for their stakeholders and shareholders that keeps funds flowing in their direction. As Margaret Rode, founder and president of Web Sites for Good, puts it, “If the work you do is not profitable, you can't sustain; you can't live.” To Rode, a small-business owner who is determined to do work she loves, profitability is essential to encourage her own heart and to set an example for the naysayers out there who don't believe that people can follow their dreams and earn a living at the same time.
Where has it ever been written that organizations and businesses can't do well financially and do good in the world? For many people, doing good is the secret to doing well. In the fall 2010 MIT Sloan Management Review, Rosabeth Moss-Kanter writes, “In reality, any company is better off creating both bottom-line and societal benefits—and creating synergies between them” (p. 12). In her book on this topic, Moss-Kanter (2009) suggests that savvy and successful organizations find ways to add value through social responsibility initiatives that align with their mission.
Examples of companies that do this terrifically include Kyle Zimmerman Photography, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Pan American Bank (located in both East Los Angeles and Santa Ana, California), which was founded by former U.S. treasurer Romana Acosta Bañuelos and is now led by Jesse Torres, president.
In 2008, when the scope and gravity of the failing global economy struck every community, families cut portrait photography from their personal budgets. Zimmerman found herself with a steep reduction in new and returning clients. Portrait photography had become an unaffordable luxury. Around the same time, Zimmerman made the decision to move her studio from a more commercial area of Albuquerque to an up-and-coming artistic area of town, where she set her sights on becoming a vibrant member of the creative community. The move to the artistic neighborhood is consistent with Zimmerman's personal and business mission, “to create fresh and enduring proof that all of our lives are art.”
Thinking of her desire to bridge the community and art through her photography, and finding herself with more free time than she would prefer, Zimmerman networked with friends who put her in touch with several nonprofit agencies that could benefit from her passion and talent. On a pro-bono basis, she photographed the inner workings and impact of eleven nonprofit agencies and created beautiful displays for a community celebration. She also gave each agency royalty-free rights to use the photographs in their own donor development and marketing strategies.
Pan American Bank president Jesse Torres grew up in East Los Angeles, where he now works tirelessly to ensure the financial success of the bank while simultaneously providing opportunities for his customers and community. In fact, the mission of Pan American Bank is “to transform and empower Latino communities through banking relationships built on trust, service, respect, communication, and guidance.” Whereas the national, big-name banks won't open local branches in Torres's community (one financial specialist from Merrill Lynch asked Torres, “Why do you bother with poor, unprofitable customers?”), Pan American Bank, led by Torres, works every day to establish organizational initiatives that bolster the financial acuity of the individuals who live in the community.
One such initiative is the Financial Literacy Ambassador Program for elementary school students that Torres started with local KIPP Raíces Academy principal Amber Young. Torres told Elle that the Financial Literacy Ambassador Program is the logical answer to one of the bank's goals: to “create a generation of asset builders who possess the knowledge to prevent another financial crisis.” Torres said, “If we want customers in twenty years, we have to start now with the kindergartners.”
Torres describes his community as remarkably unbanked and underbanked. In fact, about 40 percent of the mostly blue-collar residents of East Los Angeles do not have a savings or checking account. Because many adults in the community mistrust banks, the Financial Literacy Ambassador Program educates the children, who in turn show their parents that saving their money in the bank is less complex and more trustworthy than they have imagined. In addition to providing curriculum and instruction support for the young students at the KIPP Raíces Academy, Pan American Bank opens a bank account for each student, deposits the first five dollars, and waives all fees. Ever devoted to building the capacity of people in the community, the Financial Literacy Ambassador Program is led by “ambassadors”—the first students who went through the program, who can now mentor other students through the same process.
Both Zimmerman and Torres demonstrate generous support of their communities, but what makes them stand out as even more remarkable examples of leadership for sustainable change is that they gave that support during a recession. As many companies hunkered down, circled the wagons, and became less generous and less innovative, Zimmerman and Torres continued to ask themselves to play a bigger game. In doing so, they joined an elite group of forward thinkers who understand that business performance and social responsibility are inextricably linked.
On the heels of a global financial crisis in which greed and concern only for personal comfort and profit on the part of some are to blame, many of today's consumers will tolerate nothing less than the partnerships illustrated in the leadership approaches of Zimmerman and Torres.
Passion and Purpose Meet Opportunity
In 2009, Elle attended the First World Congress on Positive Psychology in Philadelphia, where she had the opportunity to listen to Robert J. Vallerand, professor of psychology at the University of Quebec at Montreal, discuss passion as it relates to work. Vallerand distinguishes between two types of passion—harmonious passion and obsessive passion—each of which is associated with different outcomes and experiences.
Vallerand (2008) defines passion as “a strong inclination toward an activity that people like, find important, and in which they invest time and energy.” Harmonious passion originates autonomously within the individual and leads people to engage in activities that they love and that create “adaptive outcomes” such as improved psychological well-being, health, relationships, and performance. The motivation that drives harmonious passion is self-generated: no one holds a carrot on a stick in front of a person engaged in this way.
Obsessive passion, on the other hand, is a need to persist rigidly in an activity out of an ego-driven urge to gain the benefits it offers. Obsessive passion, according to Vallerand, often leads to stress and burnout and, ironically, less than optimal performance.
eallison@renewalcoaching.com