Are you a generative leader? A generative leader is someone who creates and fosters creativity wherever they go. Generative leaders are purpose-driven people who have spent time clarifying their highest goal and aligning their personal and professional visions with the mission of the organizations they serve. They are clear about who they are and what they believe, and they have the capabilities and skill sets to accomplish what they desire in the environments in which they find themselves.
Generative leaders are solution-focused and outcome-oriented, and they excel in framing and reframing challenges, situations and the meaning of facts. Generative leaders encourage appreciative and cooperative strategies among agents in a system. Generative leaders challenge people in systems where they work to think in new ways and generate creative solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Generative leaders ask the question, “What do I want to create for myself and the people I care about?” They also consistently reflect on the question, “How am I responsible for what is happening to me?”
Is there a secret to such generative leadership? Michael Ray believes clarification of one’s highest goal is that secret. The author of a book by that name, Highest Goal: The Secret That Sustains You in Every Moment, Ray’s essential message is that connection with one’s highest goal serves to develop capacity for generative leadership. He explains:
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don’t, was a student of Ray’s and certainly benefited from his teaching. Read what Collins has to say about discovery of his highest goal.
I believe every member of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International is a generative leader. In times of stress and turbulence, each of us is likely to benefit from clarifying our highest goal. After all, if our highest goal is the secret that sustains us in every moment, then it is worthwhile to know and consistently remind ourselves what that highest goal is. So—no pressure here—are you willing to engage in an exercise suggested by Michael Ray?
It goes something like this: Ask yourself, what was the most meaningful thing you did last week? As you contemplate that question and “download” your answer, consider the next question: Why was that experience so meaningful and important? When you have your answer, take the next step and ask yourself the next why question: Why is that important to you? The idea is to keep interrogating yourself with why questions, drilling down and downloading your answers, until you are able to identify in one, two or three words the real reason why that experience you had last week was so meaningful to you. (This is similar to the “Five Whys” exercise associated with quality improvement efforts.) The final answer you come up with in this exercise may or may not be your highest goal, but perhaps it is the secret that sustains you in every moment, the motivation and drive that keeps you going.
It is useful to periodically make tacit motivations more explicit so they can serve us more effectively as North Star or navigation points. Who are the generative leaders you admire in your organization or social network? Can you discern the secret that sustains them in every moment? How will you use this information to structure your own reflections on your generative leadership skill set?
For Reflections on Nursing Leadership, published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.
No comments:
Post a Comment