Uplifting Leadership
Andy Hargreaves
Presentation by Siobohn Catalano and Ailynne Sobec
"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark."
Minds On!
Andy Hargreaves - Uplifting Leadership
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1: Dreaming with Determination
The journey of uplifting leadership begins with a clear and compelling dream and how we will get there.
- Develop and articulate an inspiring dream that you all share
- Bring the dream alive through great and inspiring storytelling by you and those around you
- Celebrate successes as you keeping striving forward
- Encourage your colleagues ceaselessly
- Communicate incessantly
- Learn from setbacks and redouble our efforts in response
- Whenever you feel tired take a breather and cool down
Chapter 2: Creativity and Counter-Flow
Uplifting leadership forges creative pathways to reach the desired destination that may not be the easiest or most obvious path. Uplifting leaders are prepared to run against the mainstream, and to move ahead not by going with the flow but against or around it.
- Try to outthink
- Try something different, urge people to experiment, to innovate
- Invite skeptics to join your team and learn from them
- Recognize that disagreement is the lifeblood of creativity
- Tap into the diverse talents if the group
- Trial and error is an option, but learn from your mistakes and refine things
Chapter 3: Collaboration and Competition
A counterintuitive approach to uplifting leadership is to collaborate and combine with actual and potential competitors.
- Give away your best ideas so that you are forced to constantly invent new ones
- Encourage other people when they have fallen, as it helps to raise the standard of performance for everyone
- Respect your rivals as it will spur your own growth
- Send people out to learn from others and challenge yourself to create superior solutions
- Find ways to collaborate with others outside the organization
Chapter 4: Pushing and Pulling
Uplifting leadership harnesses the power of the group to push and pull the team to complete their challenging journey together.
- Know your people and be more concerned about their welfare than yours
- Be visible
- Know names and learn about their lives
- Get into all physical spaces where people are
- Walk in others shoes for a day...roll up your sleeves
- Take responsibilty to help others learn and improve
- Encourage others and yourself to change roles
- Invest time to build trust
- Have faith in others to watch your back
- Stay grounded, show humility, acknowledge your weaknesses
- Never allow favouritism or nepotism to influence your behaviour
- Create mentoring relationships
- Conduct difficult conversations with divinity
Chapter 5: Measuring and Meaning
Uplifting leadership extensively uses data to manage and monitor progress , as well as, uses data intelligently in ways that fit the values of the organization and that are meaningful to and genuinely owned by the people who work there.
- Measure what you value instead of valuing only what you can measure
- Avoid chasing other people's goals
- Use data for ascertaining how far an organization or system has come - and still has to go
- Share your targets and success criteria
- Be transparent
- Don't be discouraged by unfavourable results
- Use data for evidence-based inquiry
- Set goals based on want you want to do next or how you want to be , not on whom you want to beat
Chapter 6: Sustainable Success
Uplifting leaders plan and prepare for sustainability from the beginning - not after.
- Acknowledge the work of your predecessors
- Appreciate your assets and combine external ideas with internal capacities and loyalties
- Invest in long term and sustainability
- Grow at a rate you can manage
- Connect the various pieces into comprehensive solution or big picture
The Process of Uplifting Leadership
The Uplifting Leader
- Know how to convert dreams into action
- Believe that innovation must be disciplined if it is to be effective
- Value creative engagement and enjoyment
- Counterbalance "soft skills" such as risk taking and creativity with virtues of honesty, integrity and hard work
- Build leadership in others
Become an Uplifting Leader
- Pursue an improbable dream, and bring that dream alive
- Be prepared to fight for what is right - struggle is a part of leadership, so overcome it with positive action
- Acknowledge others' fears
- Use your creativity. E.g., Chart unlikely courses that others have overlooked or avoided
- Use opposing forces to your advantage - disagreement and resistance promote creativity
- Make allies of enemies and collaborate with competitors
- Measure what you value - employ data and indicators intelligently and in ways that involve the community, and measure progress towards achieving their goals as a matter of collective responsibility
- Push and pull teams to fulfill their dreams - share opportunities that stimulate innovation and creative autonomy
- Commit to sustainable growth