Distributed Leadership for a Distributed Age: Inviting Improvisation

Frank J. BarrettProfessor of ManagementNaval Postgraduate School

Monterey, California

• Move away from traditional bureaucracies to flatter, more participative forms

• New leadership practices that rely less on star individuals or “great men” and more on collective efficacy and networks– Boris Groysberg’s research on Wall Street

investment analysts • “What if talent is more like an orchid, thriving in certain

environments and dying in others?” (Fast Company)

Distributed Leadership• Shared, collective, complexity• Pushing leadership to others• Mobilizing initiative and freedom to contribute throughout an

organization or wider system• Engaging wide participation• Inspires innovation• Calls attention to leadership activity rather than “great man” theories

• Related to– Activity Theory– Distributed Cognition– Situational Learning

• Leadership practices and activity can be spread across individuals and teams, including those outside the firm

• Innovative activity can be initiated by those not in formal leadership positions

• Change can be initiated from bottom-up and outside-in– Inviting ideas and innovations from outside the company

(P&G)– Cisco’s cross-functional boards and councils to make

strategic decisions

Collective Intelligence in action

• Large, loosely organized groups of people can work together in effective ways.

• No centralized control– Google – Top Coder– Crowdsourcing– Wikipedia – Unbuilding the World Trade Center

• How is this possible?

Groups and Extremism

• Going to Extremes – “When people find themselves in groups of like-minded types, they are especially likely to move to extremes.” – Members of a deliberating group usually end up at

a more extreme position in the same general direction as their inclinations before deliberation began.

– Separation creates polarization

Jazz Jams – overcoming extremism

• Overcoming Group Polarization: “hanging out” in diverse groups.

• Jam sessions common space where different types of people can mingle– Sensitivity to other members– Equality of distribution in conversational turn-

taking– High diversity

• Architecture of serendipity

Leaderless, non-hierarchical movements

• Wiki-pedia• Tea Party• Occupy Wall Street• Arab Spring

Motivations and the Distributed Age

• Distributed work allows for more autonomy (can work anytime, anywhere, on any tasks you want)

• People are free to seek challenge and play• This can lead to higher creativity

MotivationDaniel Pink: “monetary rewards motivate as they should for low-level mechanical tasks, but they have the opposite effect on high-level cognitive tasks” Pay people enough to get the money issue of the table to do transcendent / purpose-driven, more inspired work Leaders need to inspire

What kind of leadership is needed to distribute leadership?

• Facilitative: Knowledge Intensive• Inspiring: Higher higher purpose.• Network minded

• Leads to:– Leadership mindset that invites improvisation

Distributed Leading that invites improvisation

• 1. Emphasis on continuous, emergent change over episodic change

• 2. Emphasis on design over decision making• 3. Emphasis on strength-appreciation over

deficit based theory of development

1. Continuous vs. Episodic Change

Episodic Change• Created by intension. Lewinian: inertial,

progressive, goal seeking, motivated by disequilibrium, requires outsider intervention

• Unfreeze-transition-refreeze

Continuous change• Redirection of what

is underway. Confucian: cyclical, processional, without end state, equilibrium seeking, eternal

• Freeze-rebalance -unfreeze

• Episodic change assumes organizations are inertial.– Change is infrequent– Change is discontinuous– Occasional, dramatic,

externally driven– Perspective is macro

and distant– Emphasis on short run

adaptation

• Continuous change – organizations are emergent and self-organizing– Change is constant,

evolving, cumulative– Endless modifications

driven by instability and alert responsiveness

– Perspective is micro, local– Emphasis tends to be long

run adaptation– Emphasis is improvisation,

recurrent reactions, emergent patterns.

Role of change agent

Radical, Episodic change

• Prime mover- creates change• Process: focus on inertia, seeks central

leverage points

Continuous change

• Sense maker- redirects change• Process: reorganizes, makes salient, reframes

current patterns• Shows that change can be made at margins– Alters meaning by new language, enriched

dialogue, new identity– Unblocks improvisation, translation, learning

2. Design over Decision making• Decision attitude

– Rational analysis– Detachment– Minimize risk– Select among pre-

determined alternatives– Best managers are good

problem solvers– Knowledge (based on past)

precedes action– Identity linked to images of

control

• Design attitude– Immersion and

engagement: intense practical involvement

– Experimentation– Rapid prototyping– “As if” imagination– Future orientation– Act first, discover later– Identity tied to images of

experimentation

3. Appreciation of strengths and Positive Affect

• Widens scope of attention• Broadens behavioral repertoires• Nurtures intuition and creativity• Speeds recovery• Positivity prompts curiosity and exploration. (Negativity

prompts avoidance). • Positivity broadens thought-action repertoires;

negativity narrows. – People are less predictable in positive states.

• Positivity ratio of 2.9 to 1 predicts human flourishing

Peter Drucker…in his last book “The Next Society”

“The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths, making our weaknesses irrelevant”.

Vietnam village and nutrition

Choose comparisons wisely

• Amplifying positive deviance

US Navy in 2001

• Low morale• High turnover

• Several senior leaders said: “It has never been this bad in the Navy. People are scrambling to get out.”

The Title and sub topics

• Bold and Enlightened Leaders at Every Level: Forging an Empowered Culture of Excellence.

Summit Design

• Day 1: Map the positive Core• Day 2: Articulate the ideal future vision • Day 3: Brainstorm ideas and actions to realize

ideal vision• Day 4: Form volunteer groups to move

forward with pilot groups.

The Summit Design• 265 sailors. • 16 admirals; 10 three stars. • Strong veins: 2 ships• Every rank• Every community.• External stakeholders: Roadway, Ford Motor, Shell,

Learning Circle, Cisco• Tables of 8 Max mix.• Posting high point stories throughout the room.

AI Summit “4D” Cycle

Bold and EnlightenedLeaders at Every LevelForging an Empowered

Culture of Excellence

Discovery¨ Opportunity Context

¨ Positive Core

Dream¨ Purpose¨ Vision

Design¨ Principles &

PropositionsOrganization Ideal Design

Destiny¨ Pilots

¨ P-C Learning Net¨ Improvisation

• First initiated at CNO Leadership Summit, December 2001• Solicits Feedback at multiple levels• Professional development tool, not an evaluation tool• 11 commands, 1480 assessments completed• Each participant had team of 3 to 12 assessors (supervisors, direct reports,

peers) who acted as “feedback providers.” • Developmental, not evaluation.• 98% felt feedback was valuable and believable and recommended this be

extended to other Navy commands• SWO Community began new pilot (started October, 2004)• Pilot will eventually include 15 ships and 4 shore commands for all officers

(O-1 thru O-5)• 360 will be exclusively as a constructive feedback tool – not to be used in

admin boards, promotion boards, or FitReps

CNO Leadership Summit:360 Degree Feedback

Comments on 360

• “It’s an excellent tool for leaders to gauge how subordinates interact with peers and their own subordinates.”

• “Provides honest feedback that participants don’t normally receive in the typical counseling, evaluation cycle.”

• “Provides participants a feeling of empowerment by being part of the feedback process.”

Distributed Leading that invites improvisation

• 1. Emphasis on continuous, emergent change over episodic change

• 2. Emphasis on design over decision making• 3. Emphasis on strength-appreciation over

deficit based theory of development

Provocative Competence§ Explore and monitor the perimeter of comfort and the edge

of the unknown.§ Create incremental disruptions that dislodge habit and

demand openness to what unfolds.§ Nurture an affirmative image of what’s possible.§ Create situations that demand action: passivity is not an

option. § Open and support alternative pathways.