Contextual Leadership (4) - Change Agents (part A)

January 2, 2012 by Bert Verbeeke

Increased professionalism

“You are the leader of a small residential area. There have been some problems with dogs and cats in the neighborhood. You are summoned by the mayor of your city to let people kill their dogs and cats. If they are not killed, you will be put in prison. What would you do?”

Ethical decisions for the leader

For our study in contextual leadership, it’s not so much the thing you would do that is interesting. The issue at stake is ‘why would you do it’. And different cultures have different reasons. Of course you might hate dogs and therefore have no issue ordering to kill them all (and take for granted the cats you spouse so much likes). But in a shame-culture, where going to prison is not your soul-own responsibility, there is a different motivation to kill. Your family will be in trouble and looked-down upon forever. You bring down your entire family! And moreover, who would look after your family members when you are in prison. You are the head of the family and therefore there is no hope.

I, with my Dutch background, value animal-rights to a certain degree and would not kill (or command to kill). Though I do think people are more important than animals, we still have to take care for animals in an appropriate way. I know that in some countries the live of animals is valued above human live (also in western countries). So, basically, I guess I would go to jail and not listen to the mayor. I would try to communicate but not try to manipulate.

Contemporary challenges: test or reality

Though the example above sounds maybe unrealistic, there are many times people need to make hard choices. Often difficult because there is money or reputation involved. Recently I saw the movie courageous. A boss challenged a possible new employee with a case. It was unclear what the boss really wanted: was it a test or reality? The guy didn’t know. What you gon’ne do? To him it was reality! As leader you need to have understanding of your own principles and ethics.

And so the previous topic - integrity - comes back again. Do you say ‘yes’ when you feel and think ‘no’ and then perform a lousy job? Or do you get to the bottom of an important topic and finally know the issue at stake. You might need to disagree but because it isn’t a principle decision you can move forward and live with it. But sometimes you need conclude you don’t fit the job’ and move out to another serving opportunity. I remember as a teenager I was involved in some local radio broadcasting. It was all voluntary work and I liked it a lot! But it happened to be that I had to do recordings I couldn’t do as they were against my values. They made me do it and afterwards I had to leave my passion. Hard decisions are worthy it after good reflection.

Why people don’t like change

This all is important because the people you are leading, all have their reasons to reject your suggested change. Understanding yourself and how you respond to change or challenges, helps understanding people. In his book ‘Developing the Leader within you’, John C. Maxwell list some of the common issues why people resist change. As a leader it is good to go over this list. It will help you to understand if the change is really worth the effort.

But also important according to John C. Maxwell is the change in the leader. If the leader feels everybody but him need to change, no real change will happen. Therefore he suggest for the leader to be introspect and search where change is needed. In our cultural context we went over the list with ‘leaders in trouble’. And we all good identify with a few of the issues at stake:

• Poor understanding of people

• Lack imagination

• Has personal problems

• Passes the buck

• Feels secure and satisfied

• Is not organised

• Flies into rages

• Will not take a risk

• Is insecrure and defensive

• Stays inflexible

• Has no team spirit

• Fights change

Perspectives - upside down!

Are you willing to change? How did you change recently? Reflect on people you know and see how they have changes (or not) Who did you respect 10 years ago as a leader but now don’t? Why?

I live here on the Tibetan plateau. Sometimes a plateau is seen as the highest level one can go. Others might say that the limit is reached or ceiling is hit'. But my experience so far is that when you move on, by taking a few corners and climbing a higher mountain, there is another, higher plateau! Will we ever reach a plateau that you cannot move forward from anymore? I don’t think so in this life, but feel free to challenge it!

Other information

This is the fourth blog post related to contextual leadership. To see all posts relating to contextual leadership, click here. Or select an article from below:

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