LEADING WITH INTENT - Part 2

Manifestation of leadership intent transpires through the actions taken by the leader to resolve the challenges confronted. Leadership essentially is an evolutionary journey and each leader charts his own path. A Leader’s intent is a matter of his choice and every moment offers the opportunity to explore his conscience and alter this choice. By paying attention to new areas the awareness level of a leader evolves and this evolved awareness helps the leader to modify the intent with which he is approaching a particular mission. There are essentially four levels of evolution of INTENT from which leadership action emanate

1)     RESTRICTIVE

2)     PERCEPTIVE

3)     EFFECTIVE

4)     TRANSFORMATIVE

Each of these four levels yields unique outcomes but leadership action is most potent when propelled by TRANSFORMATIVE intent, which enables creation of a future, which is conspicuously different from the present. As leaders evolve so do the quality of the solutions they offer. Every challenge mandates the leader to curve his journey through the three levels of Intent before he is able to initiate action from TRANSFORMATIVE intent for that particular challenge. Experience and personal evolution of a leader acts as catalyst and helps him to evolve quickly into initiating action inspired by TRANSFORMATIVE intent for a new project.

RESTRICTIVE:

This is the default level before a person has actually made any effort to evolve as a leader and at this level the intent of any action is one-dimensional (i.e. ME). All actions are directed towards protecting and furthering personal interest of the leader. The leader continues to be his habitual self and only focuses attention on his own past pattern of thinking. His mind is preconditioned to resist any new thinking or concepts and hence finds it extremely tough to deal with emerging challenges. People operating at this level are yet to begin their leadership journey inspite of the position they are in their respective organizations.

People operating at this level are extremely poor listeners since the intent behind listening is to reconfirm their habitual judgments and past patterns. They listen from an “I already know” frame of reference and their teams also generally express what the boss wants to hear rather than actual facts. They are known to create centralized bureaucratic systems where the chain of command flows through pre-defined hierarchy. The boss generally does all the thinking and people down below are expected to execute orders only. Hence employee energy and moral is generally low.

The continuum of behaviors of these people generally swings between two extremes of being a “Victim” of the system or situation to experiencing “Conflict” in every interaction.

Driven by victim-oriented intent, team members experience sense of apathy in these leaders, which leads to non-action and extreme lethargy. They are always dealing with problems; always reacting; they have no real plan to which they are working. They are emotionally disconnected; have no passion or commitment towards the work they are doing. Victim- oriented bosses blame themselves and focus their energy on the past; they are unproductive and bring down everyone’s energy levels; in any given situation they only see problems and impediments. The Intent-Action chain for such bosses who radiate low energy, is

Intent – I am a Victim

Attention- Familiar Patterns of the past

Awareness- Past experiences

Thought – Helpless

Emotions – Apathy

Action – Lethargy

For behavior born out of Conflict-oriented intent the central focus remains on control. All actions are focused towards controlling others and ensuring they conform to what the leader thinks or says. They have very defined right/wrong view of the world and their super inflated ego nudges them to believe that they are always right. Their bipolar worldview mandates that for them to win others must lose. They have poor listening skills; instead of hearing what others are saying they tend to think what their “intelligent “response should be. These bosses are known to be extremely judgmental; micromanage teams (since they only trust themselves) and suffer from a sense of entitlement. Because they manage to install fear in people they apparently seems to get a lot done in their tenure, however such results are short-lived at the best. These bosses are like the Big Banyan tree; while their presence and impact can be felt by all but under them nothing new grows.  The Intent-Action chain for such bosses, who radiate low energy, are

Intent – Conflict (I am OK & you are not OK)

Attention- Familiar Patterns of the past  

Awareness- Past experiences

Thought – Win-Loose

Emotions – Anger

Action – Control (when in power) / Rebel (when in opposition)

In RESTRICTIVE zone we also encounter bosses who are completely self-absorbed and deeply entrenched in their past patterns of thinking but speak the language of humility. Often the biggest egoist, humility is their defense mechanism. Aggression can get people into trouble and hence some of them disguise their intent with humility, which helps them to secure, protect and insure their ego. But the moment we focus on their action, the fa?ade wanes off and they stand exposed. The Intent-Action chain of these bosses manifest similarly as others in this zone, only a little subtler.

The self-image of those who operate with RESTRICTIVE INTENT compels them to justify their actions in some context or the other. While they talk about innovation and inclusive growth, but almost never accomplish them in reality.  Most of today’s “alpha leaders” operate from this frame; hence we see so much of disengagement, anger and hatred around us.

PERCEPTIVE:

At this stage people make a conscious effort to move out of their default stage of being and start evolving as a leader and the intent behind leadership action is two-dimensional (Me + You). Leader’s starts suspending their own judgments and start paying attention to what the others have to say, hence giving importance to others thoughts and feeling. The biggest conflicts of today have roots in our failure to appreciate diversity and create inclusive solutions by converging diverse groups. To do so in the most effective manner the leader needs to evolve to act from PERCEPTIVE intent. AT this stage leadership action starts becoming inclusive in nature and leaders are committed to construct the third alternative which blends and synergies “my-way” and “you-way” to create “our-way”.

Leaders who evolved to this level have the maturity to appreciate interdependency as a reality of life and hence make an effort to understand his stakeholder’s frame of reference. This requires a leader to suspend his judgment, listen with rapt attention and use appreciative enquiry to clarify doubts and build acumen about other’s notions. The leader has to suspend his agenda and ego and create an environment where people feel safe to share and truly attend to each other. Compared to the RESTRICITVE zone approach of “win-lose”, we experience an abundance mind-set of “win-win” and an endeavor to create synergy.

They spend a lot of time understanding and clarifying expectations and engaging in meaningful conversations focused on creating a solution. Leaders at this level have a nurturing approach and have deep association with their teams; people respect them and perceive them as trust worthy. They exhibit high emotionally intelligence and manage their own emotions and that of others effectively.

These leaders believe in a decentralized chain of command and give significant authority to their teams to take decisions. They are well connected with the market and to changing realities and hence they create organizations, which are intrinsically agile and externally focused. Under these leaders divergent and conflicting perspectives co-exist and people trust each other. These leaders are able to bring different diverse groups together and through dialogue create a win-win situation that is acceptable to all stakeholders.

The Intent-Action chain for such leaders, who emanate medium energy

Intent – Creating “our way”- the superior middle path

Attention- Understanding other’s context

Awareness- Diverse viewpoints  

Thought – Concern

Emotions – Compassion

Action – Cooperation and synergy

While leadership action initiated with PERCEPTIVE intent helps in conjuring opposite point of views to create a solution, it sometimes misses the larger picture since they might get caught up too much in the drama of perspectives. The data driven hard-core reality sometimes takes a back sit in this maze of perspectives, since driven by their intent to create an amiable solution they at times circumvent the tough questions and an objective inquiry into others perspective. Hence sometimes the solutions created from PERCEPTIVE intent though acceptable to all might not be effective in reality.

EFFECTIVE:

As leaders evolve to this level, the intent of leadership action becomes three-dimensional (ME + You + Current Reality). The third dimension originates from complete attention and awareness which the leader offers to the collective whole of his eco-system and hence he is able to concurrently focus on “subjective-reality” of different perspectives and also “objective–reality” of data and facts. At this level the leader needs to rise above the ego of perspectives and accept data and reality as it is.

Leadership action at this stage mandate the leader to be an intense listener, sincerely consider the apprehensions of all participants involved, take time to reflect on learning and remain flexible to adopt and imbibe depending upon the emerging understanding of reality.  Ability to look beyond the linear perspective of right/wrong enables these leaders to effectively deal with the paradoxes of life.

At this stage of evolution leaders have a heightened sense of awareness and are able to craft effective solutions by blending together diverse perspectives and factual data. Ability to objectively evaluate a problem emerges out of their ability to observer keenly and diagnoses clear cause-effect relationships among various components of the problem in hand. This acute sense of inquiry and holistic understanding are the two keys qualities of leaders who have evolved to operate out of this level.

These leaders are highly active, enormously influential but unpretentious; they always walk the talk and are role models recognized for being wise, kind and fair. They realize everyone is gifted and with missionary zeal help others realize their true potential. These leaders deep dive and immerse themselves into actual specifics of the problem in hand and hence are cognizant of changing realities as and when they emerge. They can change “tyres on the go “and make apposite changes which facilitate creation of effective solutions.

These leaders apply the objective reality of data and facts to move the debate of subjective realities to a dialogue focused on solution formation. Their holistic perspective capacitates these leaders to locate an opportunity in every challenge. They develop solutions in order to seize these opportunities and thus continue to be affirmative and highly energized even when faced with complicated challenges.

They celebrate knowledge and trust that learning happens from everywhere and hence are known to have little admiration for traditional power hierarchies. Leadership action inspires and motivates people across levels to generate and share ideas freely and get involved in objective dialogue, thus making crowd sourcing for ideas an imperative. To facilitate the same such leaders deliberately encourage highly networked, matrix and flat organizations. Under their leadership organizations are effectively able to respond to any challenge and are also know to experience balanced growth in a wide range of areas.

The Intent-Action chain for such leaders, who emanate high energy

Intent – Being Effective

Attention- Investigation and Examination

Awareness- In the NOW    

Thought – Understand – the whole

Emotions – Joy          

Action – Focused and Resolute Action

Even after maturing to this level of intent, the leader is at best reacting to challenges in a more efficient way then the previous two levels. Leadership action at this level is effective in context of the world as it is, but is not visionary enough to innovate destructive solutions which can completely shift the paradigm on which today’s interpretations rest.

TRANSFORMATIVE:

As leaders evolve to this stage of intent their action becomes four-dimensional (ME + You + Current Reality+ Future Possibility). The fourth dimension is about being proactive and focusing on “crafting the best possible future”. At this level of intent, leaders are no longer merely responding to challenges, they are proactively working towards creating a future where the current set of challenges will no longer be relevant. Essentially leaders at this level are not only present in their present, but they are concurrently present in the emerging future, also and thus channelize their current actions in a way so that they can shape a future where all stakeholders can accomplish their highest potential. 

At this stage of evolution leaders do exhibit a deep sense of commitment towards their work and an active sense of intuition. Their insatiable curiosity, clarity of vision, ability to comprehend trends, blend the helicopter view with the microscopic view, recognize common grounds, create a shared sense of purpose and constant focus on solutions, conspicuously differentiates them from the others and is responsible for the iconic prominence of these leaders.

Their locus of attention is collective value creation and their entire energy is engaged in bringing to life their vision of “best possible future”. People experience them as very high on energy and driven by the emerging possibilities.

As leaders evolve to this level of intent, they develop the ability to reflect objectively their own actions and thus course correct their actions on a real time basis.

Their deep understanding of the trends, devoted action and compelling vision, enable them to develop a deep understanding of the past, present and future of any situation and thus appreciate the complete picture, not only from the current but also future standpoint. They are extremely passionate and focused, and are often know to experience what is Csíkszentmihályi has referred to as “FLOW” at work.

Leaders who have evolved to this level of intent are often found to be stepping beyond personal goals and agendas and pursuing actions for greater good. For these leaders their work is the true pursuit of excellence and this quest inspires them to embrace the wisdom of uncertainty. Because of their willingness to step into the unknown and examine all possibilities, they are able to hit upon paradigm altering ideas that make destructive innovation a reality.

These leaders are known to facilitate creation of an eco-system around them where innovation thrives. They have little tolerance for hierarchy, and are known to emphasise more on agility and adaptability while building their organization structure.

Let’s understand how the Intent-Action chain works for such leaders, who emanate VERY high energy

Intent – Best Possible Future

Attention- Wisdom of Uncertainty

Awareness- Emerging Possibilities     

Thought – Pursuit of Excellence

Emotions – Absolute Passion

Action – Destructive Innovation

Organizations are living beings; they evolve and remodel themselves accordingly to the actions of their leadership. As leadership action moves though the INTENT –ACTION continuum, from RESTRICTIVE intent to TRANSFORMATIVE intent, the organization fundamentally experiences four paradigm shifts

1)     Moving from an environment of Mistrust to Trust

2)     From management based on Rules and hidden agendas to management based on Shared Vision

3)     From Misalignment between components to Alignment where they come together and synergize as a whole

4)     Control based approach to Empowerment based approach of polices and processes

The world is changing and at an unprecedented rate, yesterday’s paradigm has overnight become invalid and today’s context is already on its way out. It is increasingly becoming important to make sense of these changes on the go, and device solutions which will not only help resolve challenges of today but also create an ecosystem where future can realize its best potential. Leaders who are busy nursing their own egos and refuses to look beyond their own mental myopia can’t achieve this. We desperately need leaders who are willing to look into the future with the eyes of the future and that is only possible when leaders evolve to take action driven by TRANSFORMATIVE intent, with an acute sense of urgency.