What is your definition of a leader? Mine has become one who is clear on his or her intention or mission, and is willing to be on a journey with others.

What is the key leadership skill? Reflecting on what is going on, alone and with others.

Why? The world is changing. I am changing. You are changing. I am always making decisions based on the past on behalf of the future; my task is therefore to be in the flow.

Three ways I have been working with this in my own life and with my clients:

• Life is a discovery process
• Pay attention and breathe
• Every action is a prototype

Over the past 3 years I have been working with some great colleagues at Encompass LLC on a project with the United Nations Secretariat managers across the world. The focus of the training is on Appreciative Leadership. Our task is to help these managers expand their context from Critical Inquiry to Appreciative Inquiry, not letting go of issues or problems but adding the element of looking for what works. It has been a tremendous experience for me to work with the UN people and with great trainers and facilitators who come from a completely different context than ICA’s Technology of Participation. Every training session is a unique combination of design, the facilitation team and the group.

Life is a Discovery Process

Letting go of the image that “I have been there and done that” opens a possibility of change at every moment. In our facilitation training in Taiwan, we have been using Dialogue as a way

to help a group and a facilitator sense what is happening in a group beneath the method or questions. This has transformed the perception and spirit of our facilitation community. Some years ago, I was introduced to Otto Scharmer’s work on “Theory U” in this context. He uses the image of a “U” to illustrate a journey of moving down in deep reflection and dialogue, moving from downloading to seeing the other’s perspective, to the sensing and letting go that is necessary in order to come back up the other side, transformed by our reflection, toward insight and perhaps integration.

When I looked at this, I was so focused on dialogue that I did not see the connection with organizations and communities. Then two years ago several colleagues helped me realize that the basic image is one that ICA has used for a long time. LENS (now called Participatory Strategic Planning) is based on this process and presupposition). Scharmer’s creation now gave me a new perception and understanding in the context of leadership. Our clear task in our programs is to help create these moments of reflection.

Pay attention and breathe

As a leader, I have not been listening to myself much, let alone others; the focus has been overblown on the decisions, not the process. The “letting go” at the bottom of the “U” is until “letting come” begins - the new insights and connections that come so strongly that we can’t resist. In planning processes, it is about expanding the sense of time spent on pondering what we might do to change the rules, not just harder or better, but different. Think desktop to ipad, looking for insights that change the rules. It’s necessary to take time because the area that we are breaking through may not be what we think it is.

I was working with a group in China last year which thought the issue it was dealing with was structure. It was revealed through our dialogue that structure was a simple question but culture was where the real change was needed. Immediately insights began to flow and experiments were begun. What is the symbol of transformation in this situation? Scharmer says the key to change “prototypes” is developing options, then trying them out, knowing that none may be “it” but all lead to a new opportunity to learn.

Every action is a prototype

The context for action planning is transformed when it’s realized that the result is often less important than other factors: unintended consequences must be attended to.

Let me use ICAI as an example. The ICA has a decision making structure called a general assembly (GA). It is made up of one representative from each ICA deliberating with colleagues from around the world to determine the directions and key decisions for our global structure and global community. In October 2010, members from ten national ICAs gathered in Talegaon, India, as the representative community to make decisions. It was experientially a low point of participation from the world and a high point of dialogue for those in attendance. This was the system we had used for 20 years but it was frustrating because it was so difficult to get everyone together, and to have enough time to talk and to share around the whole community. All the solutions seemed inadequate, too costly to gather and too difficult to get out all the opinions.

So we decided to let go of our old image of the GA – all together. We began to explore how ICAs might talk with one another regularly. We explored and evaluated where and how each ICA was operating. We explored virtual facilitation methods that were being developed. We invited “The Sisters”, a group of women facilitators who were experimenting with virtual facilitation, to share what they had been doing. In collaboration with them, we developed a form of dialogue combining regional dialogues with individual conversations to make sure all the ICAs were in on the conversation.

We tried a regional conversation, then another; if people missed the call, I would try to call them on Skype to make sure they had access to the conversation. It was messy, lasted too long and was exhausting to the facilitators, yet for the first time almost all of the ICAs had been in the conversation, and heard each other’s voices.

It was December and time for the GA. We prepared everything - then the system crashed the day before we were scheduled to do the GA. That required us to relook and simplify - and it worked.

It was not perfect by any means, but another peer to peer, dialogue prototype. Getting closer to truly having all the voices heard, we held the GA with 80% participation, through virtual input in which all the ICAs participated.

The transformation is not over; we are always changing from where we are, so today begins a new prototype.

Larry Philbrook is President, ICA
International