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© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Ben Bryant PhD Professor of Leadership
Director, IMD CEO Learning Centre
The Learning ExecutiveEmbracing Complexity in the Business World
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Agenda
1. The Executive Learning Agenda2. Learning Dialogues Toolbox3. Inner Dialogue - Developing Self-Awareness
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
70 20 10How do Executives Learn?
70% from experience & challenging assignments
20% from developmental relationships
10% from coursework and training
Dissonant Experiences are the major source of Executive learning
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Musical Dissonance
Our tolerance for aural dissonance can increase
c.1800
c.1865
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Executive Learning: Dissonance, Disabilities and Enablers
Sources ofDissonantExperience Learning Disablers
Learning Enablers
Unfamiliar Contexts
Unanticipated Outcomes
Divergent Teams & Antagonistic Individuals
Unexpected Events
Confusion
Anxiety
Conflict
Vulnerability
Experimental Action
Dialogue
Reflection & Narrative
Deflection & Distortion
Defensiveness
DissonantEmotions
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Dissonant Experience
New RolesNew Contexts
Unanticipated Outcomes
Life Changing EventsDivergent Teams & Antagonists
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Executive Learning Disabilities
2. Excessive Conviction & Dependency
3. Fear of Vulnerability
Vulnerability is our most accurate measure
of courage
1. Cognitive Limits and Biases
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Replication The need for continuous success
Avoidance The need to avoid failure
4. Accumulating success….
As we accumulate success….we tend to get stuck
PLAY NOT TO LOSE WHAT WE HAVE
…and so we
Adaptation Exploration, Curiosity, Sensemaking
Executive Learning Disabilities
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
A tragedy in Tenerife March 27, 1977
Learning:
-KLM Simulator Routine – No response to getting final clearance for takeoff.
-Fixation – take off as soon as possible (get out of this fog - crew regulations)
-Relaxation – the difficult part was turning around a 747 on a 45m runway…
-Fatigue & Overload – too much going on and limited information processing capacity
Miscommunications?
Authority in the cockpit?
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
2. Excessive Conviction
An analysis of 300 CEOs (Kets de Vries, 2002)
• A sense of superiority• A sense of uniqueness• An exaggeration of talents• Boastful and pretentious behaviour• Grandiose fantasies• Self centred and self referential• Need for attention and admiration• Arrogant behaviour
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Dependency (Parent-Child) is common in executive teams
President LV 1990-2013
Interdependency (Adult to Adult)is not easy in an executive team
Excessive conviction is amplified by team dynamics as “dependency”
leader
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
3. Fear of Vulnerability
What is vulnerability?
InitiatingRisking failureSaying “sorry”Saying “no”Saying “yes”Revealing your inner selfBeing open to rejection
TEDx: Brene Brown: The Power of Vulnerability
Vulnerability is our most
accurate measure
of courage
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCES
FAILED EXPERIENCES
InternalLocus of control
External Locus of Control
HOW DO WE EXPLAIN SUCCESS AND FAILURE?
What part belongs to me?
What part does not
belong to me?
• Luck • Complaining to friends• Being a victim• Waits for the world to
come to them
Takes actionAccepts responsibility
Wants to learn & change
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
How do we protect ourselves?
Suppression
Rationalization
Projection
Denial
Representation
Displacement
Humour
Answer:By distortingOur reality
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
WHY ARE YOU HERE?Defensive Person
• Gives certainty, conviction & clarity• Withholds vulnerability• Socially “distant”• Occupied with own thoughts and feelings• Protects own autonomy and control
Learning Person• Explores own anxieties & fears• Explores confusion• Explores own vulnerabilities• Closes “Social Distance”• Occupied with others’ thoughts and feelings
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
DICKERSON: Mr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them?
TRUMP: Well, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen.
[Audience Laughter]
DICKERSON: About what?
TRUMP: Oh, let me just say -- look, I am very open -- I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent -- like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1.
Source: CBS February 2016
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Please read Francois le Blanc:
What did Francois Learn from his experience?
What could Francois learn?
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Part B Francois le Blanc: Locus of Control
“I put down my failure at that time to a passionate confidence and belief in myself that literally bull-dozed through objections. I took far too much on myself. I didn’t seek opposite views or consider another path – I was fixed on the pre-decided original plan. I didn’t listen to others or consider contingency planning. There was no sensitivity analysis. All of the issues that became the major elements of the fiasco were there on the day the deal was closed, but no final review was done to see if the original logic still existed – it did not.”
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Part CFrancois le Blanc: Recovery
• After 4 years, Francois reflected on the incident and reported the following in an interview
I paid a huge personal price for this disaster. I was diagnosed as suffering from depression and anxiety. This continued for four years. Thankfully my wife and family stood by me for I was very low. After four years I picked myself up and resumed my career within the business, becoming managing director two years later and driving the company to become the leading national food processor with a 15% market share.
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Truth and Trust
Two elements of truth
Self-Disclosure
SHARING what I know about myself
(& you don’t know about me)
Perceptions of Others
SHARING how I experience you
(& that you are unaware of)
Truth
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
MAKING TRUTH TRANSPARENT
BELIEFS& ASSUMPTIONS
EMOTIONS & THOUGHTS
FACTS DATA
INFORMATION & KNOWLEDGE
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Why is “truth” is hard to find?
• Being open (disclosing) might make us vulnerable, and so weaken our authority
• If we tell people how we perceive them, it might be painful for them
…but why don’t we like to offend other people?
Because if we offend another person, they may feel rejected and get defensive.…
….and in turn they might reject us
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Putting it to Practice: Learning Dialogue
Reflect on a personal experience of dissonance
• Think about an experience in the last 5 years where you felt or experienced dissonance
• Examples might include- taking up a new role or new responsibilities- confused by a performance outcome you weren’t expecting- being told things that may not be pleasant to hear- experiencing a life changing event and not knowing what to make of it
Emotion is the best guide in terms of where to start. So start with when you felt confused, angry, frustrated or irritated.
Prepare a 3- 5 minute verbal narrative that describes the experience and what you learnt from it.
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
RolesNarrator (explore own learning)
Be as open as you wishNotice when you get defensiveExplore your own feelings, emotions, assumptions and biases
Enquirer (lowers defences to help narrator learn)• Questioning: Who, what, when, how and why• Ask questions that lower defences: • Hypothesising:” I’m wondering”….”perhaps”…..”maybe”……• Probing: Say a bit more about that…• Don’t expect complete answers• Stay with the person, like an interview: It’s not a dialogue, and its not
about you. Your role is to help learning.• Summarising: Restating/rephrasing what you’ve heard
Observers:• Noticing the dynamic • Feel the openness• Discuss with each other
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
What is Learning in Depth?
FEEDBACK -> CHANGE, SELF REGULATIONFix it; Change it; Stop it
Rules of Thumb, Generalised Knowledge
ExplorationLocalised, Personalised Specific Knowledge
MINDFUL -> CURIOSITY
In – Depth Learning
Surface Learning
https://vimeo.com/97370236
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Learning Narrative
1. Narrator shares his/her learning narrative (3-5 mins)
2. Enquirer and Narrator explore what more the narrator could learn from these experiences (10 mins)Observer does not talk during this phase–
3. The Observer then discusses the dialogue – what they felt or observed was really going on in the dialogue – (5 mins)Narrator and peer coach cannot talk during this phase–
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Team Dynamics GET STUCK
http://joesfishpond.com/images/AquariumAnimated.gif
The “stuckness” of teams is inevitable
Entrenched conflict
Permanentalliances
RepeatedCompetition
Lack of Safety
Centralised, or Polarised authority
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Dialogue 1: “Team Clinic”• Draw a sociogram – a single visual representation or image of you, a
team you lead or are a member of. Minimum 5 people. Maximum 15 people
• The image should reflect the deeper underlying dynamics in your team, reflecting dynamics. The image should capture what is really going on in your team, from your perspective, at a deeper level.
• You should use colours, shapes, lines to represent any or all of the following:
- Authority- taken up, not taken up, excessively taken up;- Coalitions, competition and conflicts (pairs, triads, scapegoats);
• Identify individual people by names, initials, function, or if you need to disguise them, use a letter.
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Dialogue: “The Bus”Resources: A large sheet of paper (A3-A1); A space to draw in; Different coloured marker pens.
Task: Use the metaphor of a bus and its surroundings to create an image that represents a team you lead or are a member of.
Preparation:1. Draw an image of a bus.2. Place members of the team on the page and identify them by name, initials or job
function. 3. Include all the people in the team, but feel free to add other people who affect the
team, or who are affected by your team.4. Include yourself on the page5. Add other objects associated with the bus metaphor to your image, such as:
• Bus stops• The destination or route number of the bus• Bus depot or garage• Surrounding landscape• Any other objects that come to mind
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Inner Dialogue
Building Self Awareness
Ben BryantProfessor of Leadership
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
What makes you feel most satisfied, happy, proud, and fulfilled?
Values Points(total = 600)
1. Money, Comfort, “no worries”
2. Structure, certainty, “no surprises”
3. Belonging, connection, not alone
4. Recognition, status (also money)
5. Power, control over resources
6. Autonomy, personal development & growth
600
Allocate a total of 600 points between these 6 “values”
100
100
100
100
100
100
80
120
80
150
50
120
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
48 46
5964
7677
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Comfort/Lifestyle Structure Relationships Recognition Power Autonomy/Growth
Average Management Profile - Main Goals - 2008
Main Goals
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
outer journey
inner journey
1955
2015
Father: 1927 - 2004
1965
1975
1985
1995
2005
Enters family
business
Vancouver Office
London Office
Commercial Director
CEO & Chairman
Wanted to be a doctor
Divorced
Married 3 children
Ongoing Personal Learning &
Growth
IdentifyingSuccessor
RejectionSuppression
Isolation
Resentment
Catharsis
Discovered self in CEO
Role
ReluctanceAmbivalence
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
British Museum: History of the World in 100 Objects
Objects
Narratives, StoriesChapters in history
Identity
© Ben Bryant 2017Leadership Conference
Which three objects would you choose to represent 5 chapters
of the 20th Century
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/a_history_of_the_world/objects.aspx#99