‘The Perils of Accentuating the Positive’ edited by Robert Kaiser. By Robert Burke
Strategic effectiveness is a communication challenge. 'The perils of accentuating the positive'is a book worth reading in helping become a more effective leader. I have added some of my own thoughts as to how futures methods and tools are effective for leadership.
Being adept at futures thinking is a leadership quality. It is a leadership quality because essentially a leader’s role is to achieve a preferred outcome, a preferred future, be it for nations, governments or organisations. That outcome is always sometime in the future near or far. Futures methods and tools are powerful ways of communicating, particularly in helping overcome resistance to change caused through the anxiety that usually accompanies change.
Strategic effectiveness is a communication challenge which futures methods and tools enhance. Communication is concerned with the reduction of uncertainty and therefore is inevitable. Communication effectiveness, however, is largely related to how well we can co-ordinate our meanings with those who interact with us, hence the high degree of ambiguity that exist in communicating with others, which futures methods and tools effectively address.
We are taught that communication is a process, especially a cognitive process with a social context. In my view this is only partly correct. This view supports the intellect as the main basis of communication and does not take into consideration the other ways of knowing and communicating such as intuition, ambiguity, instincts and relationships.
As I have previously stated in other articles we are taught that communication is about the way we construct meanings from encounters with others. This suggests reason, philosophy, and rationality, but also suggests a sense experience from the evidence gained from the encounter with others. The meaning also includes intuition, which could involve a connection to spirituality, which gives us a direct perception of knowledge.
Another research premise is that the most important things we do can’t be measured. These are open ended conversations around identity of ‘who are we?’ or ‘What are we doing together?’ This is the actual inner and outer strategy we are involved in and is emergent strategy where we are endlessly searching for enough agreement to take the next steps. The next steps are iterative temporal processes, which are basic patterns of interactions moving recursively through time, of what we are doing together. After all strategy is what we actually do and often this is not what the strategic plan espoused we do.
Another strategic, and hence communication, error is the mantra "It's a mistake to try to fix weaknesses; instead, play to your strengths." This is the thinking behind a popular fad in management development. But there are certain half-truths and hidden dangers in this seductively appealing philosophy are the claims made in the book ‘The Perils of Accentuating the Positive’ edited by Robert Kaiser.
The back cover states “This edited volume features a collection of chapters from pioneers who helped create the modern field of management development who explain these concerns and provide sound advice for capitalizing on strengths without resorting to hyped-up, dumbed-down, or naively simplistic prescriptions. They claim that:
- · Most managers don t have the leadership strengths their companies need to be competitive
- · Mastering the art of leadership requires learning to do what may not come naturally
- · A focus on strengths can promote stagnation and inhibit learning and development
- · Strengths can, ironically, become weaknesses through overuse and overreliance
- · Ignoring weaknesses is a fatal strategy for managing careers and managing talent
- · You can reap the benefits of talented-but-troubling managers while containing their dark sides.”
Sounds like very good advice to me.