I followed a lead this morning.
It was a lead shared by Stephen Downes.
Following leads from Stephen is a pattern of behaviour for me.
Today it was a link to Esko Kilpi’s blog post Pattern recognition, quantified self and big data. In his post, Esko observes:
the productivity suites of tomorrow are going to be a combination of sensors, big data and quantified-self technologies. When used together, these create totally new opportunities for live feedback, daily reflection and iterative change. And, most importantly – based on our unique context and our own unique storyline.
His post ends with an enigmatic thank you to Katri Saarikivi. Which led me to Safe Haven, Katri’s blog: “a platform for developing thought” to explore and develop “knowledge about autonomy, learning, open collaboration, creativity and productivity in work contexts”. Katri’s blog explores:
- How can learning be enhanced?
- What are the prerequisites of creativity in work contexts?
- How could business environments support learning and creativity?
- What does information intensive work require of the individual?
- How can the individual influence her own cognitive development?
Her most recent post (25 March), Transcending power and dominance: a view on leadership as interaction has some synchronicity. Yesterday I wrote about the opening of the AIS Centre for Performance Coaching and Leadership.
I liked Katri’s observation that:
A leader in today’s organization could simply be defined as someone with whom you want to work in order to develop. In this sense, the characteristics pertaining to the concept of leader vary with every learning situation. Leadership can take turns or coexist within a network, and it can be something that is never explicitly expressed, something the leader is not even aware of.
Her conclusion resonates with me and I am hopeful that my own work with coaches can support Katri’s suggestion about value creation in organisations:
The new concept of leadership defines this as a highly personal and contextual process that relies above all on good self-knowledge: who could complement my understanding in this situation, who could challenge my views, who could support my thinking? Who could help me become better?
I thought about how we can be different even though there may be an organisational tempo that impels us towards conformity.
Photo Credit
Ottawa River Pathway (Douglas Sprott, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Keith – thank you for sharing this, it certainly gives us clarity as to how we are thinking. I really enjoyed the visual on synchronisation – a powerful tool to support collaborative understanding whilst maintaining individual creativity and personality. Leadership is fascinating, as we all have the power to lead a strong and fulfilling life but most of the time we are trapped in thinking that externals have the control to our own destiny and development.
Thank you for finding the post, Denise. Like you I think we can support each other as we lead and are led.
I look forward to meeting at some point. There is a lot to share and explore.
Best wishes
Keith