If we're going to get anywhere, we're going to have to risk venturing into the unknown. Life is about adventure, not maintenance.

- John C. Maxwell

Maintaining Balance

I just got back from my yoga class. A few months ago I joined up for Hot Bikram Yoga. I am not quite sure why, as I had never done yoga before and it seems a bit extreme to spend 90 mins in 40 degree heat trying to manipulate myself into a range of extraordinary poses.

The instructor today was particularly good and put considerable emphasis on the battle of the will that comes with the intensity of this kind of yoga. In the west, we often have things relatively easy. Engaging with something as difficult as Bikram yoga helps build our mental strengthen to prove to ourselves we can handle more than we think. When you panic is when it all becomes unmanageable as all our energy is used up panicing.

The instructor also said that the yoga is more difficult when we are out of balance. This must be true about leadership.

Over the last few weeks I have started to build in a rhythm to my life, and I feel like I am able to achieve so much more. I am clearer about what is a good use of my time. I am happier to say no to the bad.

I am starting to learn that although I am feeling a bit like I should be busier right now, I am steadily moving my work in the right direction. There is a right time for everything. There is a time for craziness but this isn't it. There is also a time for restoration. It is not wasted time.

As I go on holiday next week, I need to keep an eye on maintaining that balance of heart, soul, mind and spirit. Maybe I will get better at the yoga too!

How to change a culture?

As mentioned in previous postings, we have quite a flat management structure across the Africa division but this mainly relates to our Country Manager posts and our Leadership team. We have also done a lot of work over the last few years to build a culture of trust, empowerment and mutual accountability.

While I feel quite confident that we have made significant progress with these managers. The next step is to make sure that this culture permeates through all of our teams in Africa. I truly believe that as an organisation that promotes values of justice and empowerment, we need to practice what we preach.

It makes good business sense too. We are a relatively small organisation with a massive vision. We will only succeed in making this happen if we have self directed indviduals who are making excellent decisions on a day-to-day basis. We need managers to enable this and not squash it.

So as the person charged with leading this change, how do I become the catalyst? How can I use my limited time and abilities to lead a culture change that reaches across our teams in Africa and hopefully beyond?

Most of the change I am interested in is behavioural. While systems such as appraisals and reviews support good line management, they are not what makes the difference. The real potential for change lies in the attitude and approach of our managers to the people they manage.

We are getting closer to articulating on paper what good line managment looks like through a management charter and a clear articulation of the line management deal (i.e. what kind of line management should you expect to see within our organisaton).

Once these are in place, I want to see how we develop these behaviours across our teams but behaviours are almost always based on beliefs. If we just run a whole load of training courses that look at shaping behaviour, we run the risk of changing that behaviour only for a short time. After a few weeks slip by, the person is likely to slip back into the old patterns of behaviour based on their old beliefs.

So the real question is how do we appropriaitely shape and challenge beliefs?

My main idea at the moment is to identify a smaller group of change makers, people who are not my usual allies, and work with them to shape their thinking. By introducing them to practical situations and presenting them with new ways of thinking, I can challenge them to change their own status quo. And they can go on to challenge those around them.

Ultimately change only happens one individual at a time.

One step at a time

Last week I cycled the 307 miles from London to Paris over 4 days. There was plenty of thinking time and I spent quite some time making connections between leadership and our rather long bike ride.

In the Common Purpose programme, we have been thinking a lot about passion and courage.  There is no doubt that passion is a catalyst for change but while it may be the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, it may not be the thing that keeps you going when it gets tough. While I was 100% passionate about getting to Paris with the rest of the group, there were a number of hills that initially just seemed too long or steep to make. However (with the exception of one), I kept going up every hill.

I found that one strategy that really worked for me was working out whether I could make the next metre. Once I had made metre, I worked out if I could make the next and so on.  Before long, the end didn't seem quite so far.

So often I try to work out whether I can change the world and it just seems to big. In reality, all I really need to do is take the next step towards that change. If I can do that, I am moving in the right direction. It's amazing how quickly we make progress just by taking small but significant steps in the right direction.

Arriving in Paris was quite indescribable. The feeling of achievement was absolutley huge and as we cycled down the Champs-Elysees together all the pain, muscle aches and saddle sore were completely forgotten.

The parallels with my own leadership seem obvious but it is interesting to reflect on what mental or emotional muscles I need to flex, what structural barriers do I need to push through to achieve the goals I am aiming for?  But then how will it feel to achieve what I really feel passionate about.

www.justgiving.com/estherstevenson

Where next?

Yesterday morning I was still in Zambia, packing up from a fantastic 10-day event with 40 Africa based managers.  It's impossible to understand how particularly incredible the event without acknowledging the pain, confusion and the sheer uphill slog of the last 3 years.  But finally, we can say that we have succeeded in leading a significant internal culture change.  A shift away from a stifling hierarchy characterised by "command and control", to a dynamic, trust-based creative network, characterised by "Yes and...." not "Yes but....".  

In my experience, mountain-top moments like this are few and far between.  Day-to-day life often feels confusing and unclear.  At the beginning, not everyone was excited about what we were doing and there were many days when it all felt like it was going to collapse or that we didn't know what we were doing. This week finally proved we had succeeded.  It was fantastic to watch a creative, dynamic and disciplined group of managers making creative and strategic decisions together.   

Over a beer one night, my boss and I were reflecting on what key thing helped us get to this place. I suspect it has something to do with a steady plod.  To staying true to our principles of empowerment and networking, always looking for win-win solutions, and ultimately trusting that if you have the right people supported in the right way, they can change the world!  It was all about leading beyond authority.

The big question for me now is what next?  When challenged to lead, it seems important to work out where you want to go...  There are so many worthwhile causes and interesting ideas out there but what am I really committed to?  What am I passionate enough about to keep striving for when the going gets tough?

As a manager in an international development agency, it would be understandable for people to assume my passion is to end world poverty or the fight for global justice. In fact, this is not what gets me out of bed in the morning.  My true passion is to shape and create working environments that allow self-directing individuals to flourish.  I am so fed up of seeing fantastic people crushed by their working environments; highly competent people squashed by someone else's ego. I wonder how many people in our world do a good job in-spite of their management support, not because of it?

This is not about soft and fluffy stuff.  This is about focused and dedicated commitment to shaping a new way of thinking.  To support managers in their day-to-day decisions so that they create an environment that unleashes potential and enables shared purpose.  How much more could we achieve if everyone was able to work together to give their best?

Now how can I get on that soapbox?

New to all this

So this is just a test really.  Historically I have been a bit dubious about the idea of blogs as I thought they were for people who thought everyone was interested in everything they have to say.  I have now been reliably informed that this is not the case and they are more like an online journal that people can access if they want.  I am quite a fan of journalling and find it useful to distil my sometimes jumbled thoughts into something that makes a little more sense.

I have joined the Common Purpose programme at a point when I wanted to explore what leadership looks like for me.  I have something of a vision and have a fantastic opportunity to take it forward in my organisation.  I am finding however that taking the bull by the horns and triumphantly saying "I am going to lead this" is proving more of a challenge than I thought.  I have loads of ideas and lots of encouragement but it's just making stuff happen that is difficult.  This is especially true when there are only limited parameters.

For me, I find that is usually me that is my biggest barrier to success and I am guessing I am probably not alone in this.

Through this programme I want to work out how I can unblock myself and really lead a change process in my organisation that unleashes individual potential across the teams I support.  More on this later...