What does it mean to lead in a wholehearted organisation?

Posted on by Mike Burrows

For two Leading with Outcomes modules, the forthcoming Adaptive Organisation module and the next iteration of Leading with Outcomes: Foundation, I’ve been revisiting the wholehearted organisation, the one that defines Agendashift’s mission.

A wholehearted organisation is not a perfect organisation, but a transforming one:

  • An organisation characterised by the instinct to engage openly and authentically on its challenges, imbalances, and contradictions
  • An organisation committed to participation as both a catalyst for innovation and the path to integration and wholeness
  • An organisation that through the conversation, creativity, and leadership of those closest to the action renews itself purposefully from the inside

Honest about the need for change, inviting people into every dimension of that process (strategy, delivery, development), transformation energised and sustained from within.

Question:

  • When that’s working at its ideal best for us, what’s that like?

As you answer that question, consider the perspectives of different leadership roles before your own. What’s it like to be a sponsor of change in such an organisation, engaging openly and authentically, inviting participation? As a manager or team lead, what expectations are placed on you? What if your formal authority is limited – you’re some kind of practitioner or subject matter expert, for example?

Pulling all of those together, what does it mean to lead in such an organisation?

Back in your organisation, what stops you leading like that? What gets in the way? How might you do something about that?

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