Leadership, Learning, and Change

By Laureen Golden

Happy Friday! This week we delved into the topic of leadership. Not leadership per se, but more particularly, the ecotone between leadership and learning. Why? Because in our new world these two concepts are becoming increasingly interrelated.

Anyone who is leading now, is leading through a time of great change ~ exponential change, to be specific. 

To survive and thrive in exponential change, organizations ~ and the people within them ~ need to change…exponentially. (Feel free to insert these other words for “change”: Adapt. Evolve. Develop. Learn.) 

Regardless of the term you prefer, our ability to understand and work with the underlying concept is critical. Why?

Because most of the challenges we are facing ~ “especially those we know we must accomplish but still cannot ~ require that we ourselves ‘get bigger’; that is, we must adapt in order to accomplish them.“[1]

That means our most urgent challenges require us to evolve. develop. learn. change.

What if, instead of relying on force and willpower, we could create the conditions for change (development, learning, etc) by cultivating curiosity, safety, and community support?

Skeptical? Check it out for yourself! The Developmental Edge (whose founders include Kegan and Lahey) offer Invitational Sprints (the next one is in July). Investing only 8 ½ hours over a 4 week span of time, enables you to experience this unique approach firsthand (as well as make real progress on a goal that matters to you and gain key insights on how we “get better at getting better”).[2]

[FYI: I’ve done the sprint once and am currently in doing it for the second time. It’s one of the most promising frameworks I’ve encountered for empowering people to reclaim agency over their own learning and development. A small group of us are planning on doing the July sprint. Email me if you’d like to join us!]

[1] Kegan & Lahey, Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock Potential in Yourself and Your Organization

[2] I love this phrase shared by The Developmental Edge