Horizontal  Leadership  –  Mastering  Change  and  Complexity                Gunnar  Westling,  Ph  D,  Center  for  Advanced  Studies  in  Leadership  at  the  Stockholm  School  of  Economics      

•  Important  Business  Challenges  -­‐  more  and  more  oBen  found  between  rather  than  in  the  organizaFonal  boxes?    

• How to lead horizontally across organizational boundaries without a formal authority and mandate?

The  Challenge  

Overall, research and 2000 years of change experience suggests:

70 % of all change initiatives fail

Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria 2000

The  Challenge  

Johns Hopkins Rule of Change:

90% of all terminally ill patients will not make lifestyle changes necessary to save their life.

Interpersonal  Mush  -­‐  an  interac;on  by  two  or  more  

people  based  on  stories  they  have  made  up  about  each  other  that  

they  haven’t  checked  out        

By  necessity,  horizontal  interac;on  and  interdependencies  creates  interpersonal  mush  

How  to  create  value  out  of  mush?      

Help  each  other  to  create  interpersonal  clarity  =  Know  what  my  experience  is,  know  what  your  

experience  is,  and  know  the  difference  between  them

       

By necessity, horizontal collaborations creates interpersonal much

Experience  Cube  

• The  informaFon  you  get  from  your  senses.  

• What  you  see  and  hear,  mainly.  • No  interpretaFons,  thoughts  or  feelings.  

• SelecFve  percepFon  -­‐  check  -­‐receipt.  

Observa;ons  • What  happens  in  your  mind  • Thoughts,  interpretaFons,  fantasies...  

• Share  by  describing  your  view,  no  truths  

• SelecFve  percepFon  -­‐  check  -­‐receipt.  

• You  own  your  reflecFons.  

Thoughts  

• What  happens  in  your  body  • Feelings,  sensaFons,  reacFons  • Share  by  describing  your  view,  no  truths  

• SelecFve  percepFon  -­‐  check  -­‐receipt.  

• You  own  your  feelings.  

Feelings  

• The  needs  you  get  in  contact  with  • What  you  wish    • What  you  want  to  do  • What  acFons  you  want  to  take    

Will/wants  

Challenges  during  the  ”Good  ol’  Fmes”  

”I  believe  that  this  na;on  should  commit  itself  to  achieving  the  goal,  before  this  decade  is  out,  of  landing  a  man  on  the  Moon  and  returning  him  safely  to  the  Earth”  

President  John  F.  Kennedy's  A  Special  Address  to  Congress  On  The  Importance  of  Space  May  25,  1961      

Eight  years  later…  

⇒ In  the  new  era  of  exploring  space,  the  biggest  challenge  is  on  ground  rather  than  in  space.    

“In  some  ways  it  was  easier  to  go  to  the  moon,  because  we  had  total  control,”  Cabana  (Astronaut)  said.    “We  didn’t  have  to  ask,  ’What  is  your  opinion  on  this?  How  do  you  want  to  do  it?  You  know,  we  just  dictated  to  ourselves  how  we  are  going  to  do  it.’  But  those  days  are  gone.  (O’Brien,  M.  “Earthly  Woes  Mount  for  InternaFonal  Space  StaFon”  CNN.com,  May  29,  2000.)  

InternaFonal  space  staFon  –  cooperaFon  between  15  naFons  

1  

2  

3  

4   5  

1.5  

1  

2  

3  

4   5  

1.5  

1  

2  

3  

4   5  

1.5  

1  

2  

3  

4   5  

1.5  

To  Master  Challenge  –  Understand  Your  Network  

“Ver;cal  leadership”  Manage  a  group,  unit,  or  funcFon  Defined  responsibility  -­‐  authorizaFon  Allocated  resources  Rou$nes  +  processes  +  problem  solving  

“Horizontal  leadership”  Manage  tasks  laterally  across  the  organizaFon  OBen  challenges  of  great  importance  –  unclear  who  is  responsible  Resource  allocaFon  based  on  negoFaFon/consent  of  others  Sencemaking+  network  +  prototypes    

CooperaFon  and  leadership  across  organizaFonal  barriers.    Is  it  a  good  idea?  

 

•  Overall,  research  recommends:  

”Don’t  do  it,  unless  you  have  to”  

(Huxham  och  Vangen,  2005)  

More  ”wicked”  problems?  

Crisis  Extraordinary  situa$on  

”Tame”  

”Wicked”  

Type  of  problem  •  The  problem  itself  appears  as  fragmented  •  The  problem  cannot  be  understood  before  soluFons  are  tried  out  in  pracFce  •  SoluFons  oBen  create  new  problems  •  The  problem  can  not  reach  its  final  soluFon,  There  is  not  “stop  rule”  •  Different  stakeholder  have  different  views  and  ways  to  understand  the  problem  

•  Sound  soluFons  can  be  worked  out  through  analysis  •  Couse-­‐effect  relaFonships  hang  together  •  It  is  possible  to  organize  ways  to  solve  the  problem  

•  Act  fast  and  bring  more  resources  

Problem  

Solu;on  

Time  

Linear  ”tame”  problem  solving  Working  on  ”wicked”  problems  

Gather  data  

Analyze  data  

Formulate  solu;on  

Implement  solu;on  

AdopFon  curve  Number  of  ”supporters”  

Time  

Typically    expected  

 

Typically  experienced  (S-­‐kurva)  

Source:  Bresman,  INSEAD  

The  ant  perspecFve  When  we’re  totally  absorbed  by  the  challenge  

SoluFon  1:  Zoom  out  

SoluFon  2  Change  perspecFve  

SoluFon  3  VariaFon  

Conclusion  -­‐  The  leadership  challenge        Challenges  faced  by  organizaFons  are  foremost  found  in  the  hinterland  between  units  and  organizaFons  (rather  than  falling  neatly  into  boxes  in  the  organizaFon  ready  to  deal  with  them)     It  is  thus  as  important,  or  more  important,  to  understand  and  manage  the  social  complexity  of  a  problem  as  it  is  to  solve  the  problem  operaFvely/technically  

Conclusion: How to lead horizontally? 1.  Big enough idea or vision and yet focused enough

to create action 2.  Understand links between the challenge and the

organization’s mission and competitiveness 3.  Carefully map stakeholders and their interests 4.  Find a sponsor (insurance in bad times) 5.  To be influenced is the best method to influence

others. 6.  Variation, innovation and “language games” 7.  Respectful collaboration in small groups (create a

“fellowship” 8.  Early, hands-on prototypes! 9.  Dare to confront 10.  Endurance (”S-curve”)