Over the last three weeks, we have looked at what it takes to move from being a hands-on leader to a more strategic one. In part one, we saw that this is mostly a matter of vertical development, which is about changing the way we see the world itself. In part two, we looked at the stages of that development and the two difficult shifts that most of us face as our roles grow. And last week, we looked at the four capacities in Michael Cavanagh's four factor model of leadership: perspective taking capacity, mindfulness, purpose and positivity.
This week, we'll try to bring those threads together. We'll look at how the four factors work together, and why perspective taking capacity, which sits at the top of the model, depends so much on the vertical development we looked at earlier in the series.
How the four factors work together
Cavanagh describes the four factors as working together, with each one supporting and strengthening the others (Cavanagh, 2013). Here is how:
Mindfulness and perspective taking feed each other. Mindfulness softens the limits of your current way of seeing things, so that you notice information that doesn't fit, and that gives you the raw material for a bigger perspective. In turn, as your perspective taking capacity grows, you have less need to defend your position, so you find it easier to stand back and observe what is happening, in yourself and around you, without reacting to it (Cavanagh, 2013).
Purpose depends on perspective taking. A purpose that is wide enough for everybody involved to connect to can only be created by somebody who can understand and hold the different purposes and perspectives that people bring with them. Leaders need to hold purpose "at the level of complexity that is required to stimulate collaborative dialogue, development and engagement" (Cavanagh, 2013, p. 173).
Purpose holds people together. Common purpose is the foundation for people working through problems together. When people are at cross purposes, the tension and anxiety tend to pull the group apart (Cavanagh, 2013).
Positivity keeps people in the conversation. Bringing different perspectives together creates tension, and that can make people anxious. Without enough safety, people retreat into defending their own position. If leaders can promote a "good enough" holding of anxiety, that tension is highly productive and provides the energy and the information needed to develop new shared perspectives (Cavanagh, 2013).
Where the four factors come together
A place where all four factors come together in leadership is in the critical (and potentially difficult) conversations we need to have (Cavanagh, 2013; Isaacs, 1999).
Last week we looked at the first choice we face in the conversational process. This is whether to defend your view or suspend it while you listen with intention to what the other person has to say.
If you only defend your own position, you end up in debate, where somebody wins and somebody loses, or in discussion, which tends to end in compromise (both win some and both lose some). Cavanagh describes what can happen if you are willing to suspend your position instead:
1. Suspend your view. Set your own position aside for a while, so that you can understand the others, and hold your view up to be examined alongside theirs.
2. Explore the tension. You and the others look at the differences between your perspectives, and what lies behind them, without trying to win. Ask the questions that will help you properly understand their position. Cavanagh calls this the dialectic.
3. Find a bigger shared perspective. From that tension, a new perspective can emerge that takes in more of the needs and values that caused the conflict in the first place. Cavanagh distinguishes this from a compromise, where everybody wins a bit and loses a bit. Where before there was "me and you, or me vs. you", there is now "a genuine 'we'" (Cavanagh, 2013, p. 175).
4. Decide together. The conversation moves to action. Where things are uncertain, that might mean running several small safe-to-fail experiments. Where things are more predictable, it might mean a joint plan (Cavanagh, 2013).
Each of the four factors plays a part in this. Mindfulness helps you notice when you want to defend your position, and what the people around you are feeling. Purpose gives everybody a reason to keep going when the conversation gets uncomfortable. Positivity keeps it safe enough for people to stay in it. And perspective taking capacity is what allows the bigger shared perspective to emerge.
Still feeling like a bit of a fraud?
Even when we are trying to become the strategic leader that we are told we need to be, we can still feel like an imposter. Believe me it happens to most of us. That is why I created the imposter phenomenon workbook: a structured, evidence-based resource for leaders who feel like they do not quite belong, and who want to do something about it. It is available here now (or click on the image below).
Why perspective taking capacity is so important
Cavanagh puts perspective taking capacity at the top of the pyramid for a reason. In a complex organisation, nobody has the full picture. Drawing on Ralph Stacey's work, he makes the point that all perspectives on a system are partial. His examples are that the finance team may be the first to notice a problem with a supplier, and a team leader may be the first to spot a trend at a trade conference (Cavanagh, 2013).
So, a large part of the leader's job is to bring together the partial views of the people around them into something they can all act on. That is what perspective taking capacity allows you to do. As I said in my list of core qualities for modern leaders, this strikes me as absolutely fundamental to effective leadership.
Here is what the research tells us:
Rooke and Torbert studied ten CEOs whose organisations were all trying to transform themselves. The five who profiled as Strategists all led at least one successful organisational transformation over four years, and their companies' profitability, market share and reputation improved. Only two of the other five CEOs succeeded, despite consultant support (Rooke & Torbert, 2005).
In a study of 98 multidisciplinary teams, teams with a wide range of expertise were more innovative when their leaders handled competing demands well, and this worked through the team members taking each other's perspectives (Li et al., 2018).
Why perspective taking depends on vertical development
Cavanagh describes perspective taking capacity as "inextricably linked to the development of complexity of mind" (Cavanagh, 2013, p. 170). In other words, your perspective taking capacity depends on the vertical development we looked at in part two.
As we develop, our way of making sense of things also becomes more open. We take in a wider range of information and feedback, and we have less need to defend our position, so we are better able to stand back and observe what is going on (Cavanagh, 2013).
The encouraging thing is that the dialogue process we have just looked at is also one of the ways vertical development happens. So, every time you stay in that tension between your point of view and an opposing one long enough for a bigger perspective to emerge, you are solving the problem in front of you and also practising the kind of thinking that raises your perspective taking capacity.
Here are some things you can do to help ingrain this:
Stay in the tension a little longer. When a conversation gets uncomfortable, resist the urge to close it down with a quick decision or an easy compromise. Ask one more question first.
Notice when you want to defend your position. That is the moment your current perspective is being tested, and it is a chance to stretch it.
Look for the partial views you are missing. Consider who in your organisation is likely to spot an issue first, such as people on the front line or in another function, and ask them what they notice.
Get support while you stretch. As we saw in part two, development needs challenge as well as support. Somebody you trust, such as a coach or a mentor, can help you stay in the tension without feeling overwhelmed by it.
Four questions to bring it together
Here is a simple way to bring the four factors together in your day-to-day work. When you are dealing with a difficult or contested issue, ask yourself these questions:
Mindfulness: What am I noticing, in myself and around me, and what might I be closing my mind to?
Purpose: Does everybody involved understand what we are trying to achieve, and can they connect their own purpose to it?
Positivity: Is it safe for people to disagree with me, and are they doing it?
Perspective taking: Whose view of this have I not yet understood? What do I need to ask to understand that?
Why this matters
At the start of this series, we looked at the challenge of moving from hands-on to more strategic leadership as your role and your organisation grow. Over the four parts, we have seen that this is mostly a matter of vertical development, and that Cavanagh's four factors give us a practical way of leading well in a complex organisation while that development happens.
Perspective taking capacity sits at the top of the model, and it grows as we develop. The higher you can hold the torch, the more of the system you are able to see, and that puts you in a much better position to help the people around you find a way forward together.
So, this week, the next time a conversation gets difficult, try to stay in the tension a little longer than feels comfortable, and see what emerges.
I'd love to know how you have found this series. Please reply and tell me what has been most useful, and what I should cover next.
References
Cavanagh, M. J. (2013). The coaching engagement in the twenty-first century: New paradigms for complex times. In S. David, D. Clutterbuck & D. Megginson (Eds.), Beyond goals: Effective strategies for coaching and mentoring (pp. 151–183). Gower.
Isaacs, W. (1999). Dialogic leadership. The Systems Thinker, 10(1), 1–5.
Li, Q., She, Z., & Yang, B. (2018). Promoting innovative performance in multidisciplinary teams: The roles of paradoxical leadership and team perspective taking. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1083.
Rooke, D., & Torbert, W. R. (2005). Seven transformations of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 83(4), 66–76.
More leadership inspiration
What Next?
All of my posts for new leaders are here.
How I can help you
Coaching. If you want to work on your perspective taking capacity, or on any of the shifts we have looked at in this series, I can help. Working with the tension between different perspectives, with someone who can support and challenge you, is exactly what good coaching provides.
