"The days of command and control leadership have evaporated." ~David Gergen, Director, Harvard University Center for Public Leadership
In this world of rapid, complex change, no one can really know the future and lead others there. An individual leader can’t neatly choose the right outcome and chart a course alone, because there are too many unpredictable variables in the mix. We need a new model of leadership, which we call Whole Systems Leadership.
From a Whole Systems Leadership perspective, change doesn’t take place one person at a time. Instead, as Margaret Wheatley notes, it happens “as networks of relationships form among people who discover they share a common cause and vision of what’s possible”
Drawing from the lessons of complexity science, Whole Systems Leadership recognizes that when many interconnected individuals and groups take many small actions, a shift happens in the larger patterns of communities, organizations, and societies.
Anyone and everyone, individuals or groups—all can practice Whole Systems Leadership!
In this new model, leadership is not a position, but a behavior that can show up anywhere within a community, an organization, or other human system. Leadership is not tied to having roles with authority. It is just what happens when people step forward to make a difference for the issues they care about—whether or not they have positional power and expertise.
“The leaders we need are already here, emerging everywhere.” ~Margaret Wheatley
Inspiring Examples
Lecia Grossman was an organizational trainer who wanted to do something about homelessness.
“Every time I saw someone on the street… I knew nobody was looking at them like a human being! That was 20 years of feeling like this, you know, real intense, just hurting.”
Although Lecia was not a theater artist, she gathered people together to create zAmya Theater, a forum where housed and homeless performers collaborate to tell stories.
“I didn’t want to do something for homeless people; I wanted to do something with them.” Through performances and dialogue zAmya generates awareness and understanding of homelessness.
How did Lecia come up with a theater company as a social change strategy?
She states: “If you ever start thinking about how you want to change the world, don’t forget to ask this one question: What would make it fun?”
Another inspiring example is the story of Vinoba Bhave and the Bhoodan Land Gift Movement.
Why Now?
We live in a world full of challenges that are unprecedented in complexity and interdependence. Indeed as Eamonn Kelly says, “We do not just live in an age of change, we live in a change of ages.”
The factors that contribute to these rapidly changing times include:
Instantaneous global and local communication
Accelerating rate of technological innovation that now comes from anywhere in the world
Increased diversity (by 2050 whites will be in the minority in the U.S.)
Shifting demographics (50% of the global population is younger than 25 and resides in developing nations, while the population in industrialized nations is aging and declining below the replacement rate)
Awareness of global threats, such as climate change, as well as global opportunities
These and other changes contribute to what Peter Vaill calls “permanent whitewater,” where we are constantly navigating a complex, turbulent, and changing environment. This means we are consistently living outside our comfortable zone.
Listen to Lecia Grossman talk about putting whole systems leadership into practice.
According to Adam Kahane, author of Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities, these conditions demand leadership that is:
Systemic - not piecemeal or divided into isolated silos
Participative - involving many people’s ideas, energy, talent, and expertise
Emergent - able to move and adapt nimbly in a minefield of uncertainty
Whole Systems Leadership addresses all of these requirements.
Characteristics of Whole Systems Leadership
Whole Systems Leadership means:
Behaviors, values, attitudes, abilities, and skills that further collective work and enable the conditions for a preferred future.
A way of being and doing that applies at every level of leadership—individual, organizational, and societal.
There are six core characteristics:
Deep listening: Conversations have the power to transform our understanding and generate innovative options for action. A key component of successful conversations is deep listening, which means listening to learn and temporarily suspending judgment.
Awareness of systems: Whole Systems Leadership understands communities, organizations, and groups as adaptive, changing systems. With an awareness of systems, you get a fuller perspective of the situation, which expands and refines your options for action.
Awareness of self: Developing self-awareness is the necessary beginning to developing skillful ways to respond to situations. If you are not aware of your motivations, feelings, and beliefs, you cannot make effective decisions about how to behave.
Seeking diverse perspectives: A whole systems approach thrives on the respectful inclusion of all voices. From this viewpoint, conflicting opinions do not present a problem; rather, they present a potential resource that can sharpen thinking and lead to innovative options for action.
Suspending certainty, embracing uncertainty: Suspending certainty enables you to see beyond your habitual lenses to get a broader and potentially more accurate view of what is going on. It also creates room for diverse views so that new or different knowledge can come forth.
Taking adaptive action: Adaptive action means learning from everything you do. It means taking time to recognize patterns and reflect on their meaning before jumping to a solution. It balances an inclusive, deep listening approach with a bias towards action.
These six characteristics often overlap one another. It is easier to listen deeply if you are able to suspend certainty and embrace uncertainty.
Whole Systems Leadership uses these characteristics to generate appropriate and effective responses to complex situations.
How Whole Systems Leadership Differs from Conventional Views of Leadership
“Most of the time we use leadership as a synonym for boss or boss-ship. We confuse leadership with leadership position. Leadership is a capacity of a human community to shape its future. Leadership is a collective. Leadership is everywhere.” ~Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Conventional View of Leadership
Whole Systems Leadership
Leadership is...
a position or role of authority
an activity or behavior that can arise anywhere in a human system
Leadership flows...
in one direction: from the top-down
in all directions
Leadership is exercised…
by individuals with special leadership traits
collectively by groups and/or by individuals informed by the collective
Effective leadership comes from…
accurately anticipating a predictable path to a predetermined outcome
recognizing and influencing patterns that are present in human systems at all levels
Leadership requires…
certainty, clear vision, and the power of persuasion and control
willingness to embrace uncertainty, listen to all voices and take adaptive action, often in collaboration with others
Leadership creates…
harmony and stability
conditions that are conducive to groups moving forward -- which sometimes means disrupting the habitual patterns of engagement so that groups, communities, or organizations can set the conditions for a preferred future
The purpose of leadership is to…
fix problems and leverage opportunities to achieve goals
enable adaptability, learning, and innovation so that groups make progress on the issues they care about –even in unpredictable and changing conditions
Leadership can make a difference through…
one large strategic intervention designed to fix a problem or achieve a goal
recognizing emerging patterns in human systems and making meaning out of many small changes
“In these troubled, uncertain times, we don't need more command and control; we need better means to engage everyone's intelligence in solving challenges and crises as they arise.” ~Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science
Practice to Learn
One cannot really learn to swim by reading a book about swimming. At some point, you need to be in the water. Similarly, the characteristics of Whole Systems Leadership need to be practiced to be learned.
What helps most is to turn your life into a learning laboratory. To play with these ideas:
Keep on the lookout for opportunities to practice and experiment
Use adaptive action as a learning strategy
Cultivate comfort with ambiguity and not-knowing. For example: the next time you find yourself confused (about anything) before you jump to “fixing” the moment with more information, ask yourself, “How can I relax into this confusion? Can I be okay with ‘not-knowing’ right now?”
Keep a log of your experiments, challenges, discoveries and triumphs
As you start to cultivate characteristics of Whole Systems Leadership, you may notice how they overlap and support each other.
Good luck – and happy pattern seeking!
Read More
For more information about Whole Systems Leadership, click on the links below. In addition, see the Exercises and Explorations below.
“Every time I saw someone on the street… I knew nobody was looking at them like a human being! That was 20 years of feeling like this, you know, real intense, just hurting.” 
