How do we transform?

Colleagues,
 
As we close out summer on this Friday, it is a great time to reflect. Think about the types of messages you’ve gotten from me for however long you’ve been a part of this journey. For the most part, I try and provide small tidbits that can provide immediate value. It is an incremental approach.
 
However, at the point that you truly become a strategic leader, you will have transformed your leadership. A transformation means that you have fundamentally become a different kind of leader. I think we have this idea that transformations are magical events that happen all at once, like a light switch flipping on, but this isn’t usually true. Transformation happens one small step at a time, just like any meaningful change.
 
In the late 1990’s Jack Mezirow and others actually developed a theory about the process by which people experience transformative change, a theory I fully subscribe to. For leaders, my interpretation goes something like this:

1. Something isn’t working. It could be an insurmountable problem, an ethical dilemma, or we find our old ways of doing things aren’t working anymore.
2. We become exposed to new knowledge, new skills, or new ways of thinking.
3. We begin trying out those new things.
4. We are able to process our experiences and obtain support from a group of peers and perhaps a mentor or teacher.
5. We reflect on our experiences.
6. We transform.

 
If you go back to the series of posts on the Cube of Development, you will notice some connections.
 
Do good and be well,
​
Frederick