Systems Leadership Tutorials

“When you are addressing really large-scale challenges, and you really are motivated by the big scale, and you want to make a big difference, then what you need are methodologies that are significantly different from current ones and even innovation methodologies that outperform the current innovation methodologies, but also different mindsets, you need different organizational behavior and above all you need a new kind of leadership and that type of leadership we are calling systems leadership and it is significantly different from business as usual”

Because of its nature, the kind of leadership needed for systems change is quite different from our traditional conception. We tend to think of leadership as a position at the top of an organization that comes with the authority to make decisions and have those executed upon by others. However, systems change is about leading across boundaries, meaning you will be leading with very little authority and possible a role that provides only minimal influence in and of itself. This is leadership as a verb not a noun. It is what we do, not the position we hold that gives us influence.d

Change has to start somewhere. Someone has to start the work of bringing the new possibilities in the system together, at the beginning, this is the work of the leaders. The leaders are the ones who step across the line, create a new space and are prepared to resist the forces that will be inevitably directed at them for challenging and threatening the existing system. Leaders illustrate how, what is, is not the only possible way that things could be, this both inspires people but also threatens the existing regime.

Change often starts with undesirable conditions, but creative system leaders help people move beyond just reacting to these problems to building positive visions for the future. This typically happens gradually as leaders help people express their deeper aspirations, build a shared language, form connections, and build trust based on tangible accomplishments realized together.

This set of video tutorials will help you learn and develop the key capacities needed to be a systems leader.

Who this course is for:

• Those interesting in a systems thinking approach to leadership