Module 1: What is Leadership and who am I as Leader?

Introduction

Two weeks ago 13 leaders from a variety of roles including members of the L’Arche UK team and 9 communities in the UK met with Louise Carter and members of Animate Consulting to begin the journey of exploring and developing leadership in L’Arche UK today.

Evaluation of this first step has been very positive by both participants and the training team so it appears that the foundations are being well laid for the journey ahead.

Below is a summary of the journey taken over the three days and some of the comments and reflections raised.

The introduction of the key enquiry tool that will be used throughout the Project immediately began to inspire and unlock energy and hope for the future as instead of focusing on the challenges as problems to be solved, we began to focus on being the best that we can be through using Appreciative Inquiry.

Appreciative Inquiry

AI suggests that organisations grow in the direction of the questions they ask and what they focus their attention on. Focusing primarily on problems can lead to discouragement, fatigue, blame and resistance. Focusing instead on human ideals and achievements , peak experiences and best practices, we begin to flourish.

So try this exercise yourself:

This of a time when you/your team were performing well and you felt engaged.

Tell the story of that time: what others were doing, what did it feel like, how did people behave, what did you notice, what energised you, what surprised you?

The key learning from this approach is how to make such experiences of flourishing and achievement happen again! So now ask yourself: what conditions or factors, internal and external forces supported and enabled the story to happen? Also ask yourself: how do I feel personally as I think about such positive experiences?

The LDP participants will be collecting stories of peak experiences from across their communities between now and December.

Shaping my role and identifying my learning goals

From this positive stance we looked at the vision each of us holds and applied this to the future of L’Arche, creating together potential futures . Two examples of the fruits of this exploration are shown below:

L’Arche as a series of boats, all different sizes and shapes, linked together flexibly and travelling in the same direction. The National Leader is pictured on a jet ski!

Should L’Arche be safe in the harbour, or out in the elements, the place of risk, being a beacon to those in need? 

We began to look at the role of leader as we live it in our own particular situation and used a variety of tools and models to explore this.

Every participant also began to identify personal key learning goals that they wish to focus on during the year long programme in addition to the specific change projects that they will undertake. The learning goals chosen included:

• To have consciously chosen the places and people I wish to be present to. To establish this as a norm for future community leaders. 
• I want to apply the power of positive inquiry to wherever the community is planting me 
• I would have liked to have gained more confidence in leadership and be able to apply different models to future leadership. 

• Learn how to effectively performance manage, ( including difficult conversations)
• Identify and work with assistants who have leadership potential 

Glimpses of the future

Using Appreciative Inquiry, we explored how our communities are engaged in creating their futures and what might be the most positive signs of new life. We came up with three pages of evidence from our communities!

The group whose page is pictured opposite came to the conclusion that we “see more than glimpses everywhere. People making BRAVE decisions.”

Specific glimpses mentioned here include “diverse expressions of community. Increasing independence and person-centredness. Increasing collaboration with different groups. Some great examples of good day services. Glimpses of better national communication but need to be better. Recognising the importance of family. We are becoming more creative with our resources. Getting better at collaborating with other professionals, volunteers, groups, organisations."

Leading successful change

Leadership of change is central to the key areas of development sought by this Project and first steps were taken to explore models of change and the importance of transition in enabling successful change.

We fear change in the following four areas:

• Security 
• Relationships 
• Status 
• Control 

Participants then went on to identify their personal change projects that they will carry out ifor the benefit of their roles and their communities, with the support of regular coaching by Animate.

• Change is external. 
• Transition is internal/psychological and can take longer for some people than others. 
• It is the transition period that requires our attention and support, in order that real change can happen.

More than just a training programme

For this Project to be successful, it needs to impact across L’Arche UK rather than just provide development for the participants.

So participants have now returned to their communities with significant homework to complete before the next module in December. They will collect Appreciative Inquiry stories within their communities, attend to their own development and learning goals, draft out and begin their change project, complete a fair bit of reading arising from Module One and in preparation for Module Two. All of this requires commitment and support from their communities. In Module Two we will be preparing how the wider leadership of L’Arche UK will contribute to this shaping of our future together through regional events, surveys and continuing AI research. So watch this space!

Final note

All the tools, models and articles used in the modules will be posted on the L'Arche UK Intranet. You are invited to explore the resources there - could some of them be useful in your communities today?