Leadership Practices: Challenge the Process: Seminar

Kouzes and Posner encourage leaders to challenge the process and create new ways of working. This is accomplished by searching for opportunities, seizing initiatives, and looking outward for innovative ways to improve. Leaders are encouraged to experiment and take risks, generating small wins along the way and learning from experience.

Meeting challenges with change is a leadership skill that aligns with the charge to challenge the process. The best leaders seize the initiative to change the way things are. Leaders do not wait for permission. They make something happen when they notice what is not working. They also encourage initiative in others, tapping into their hearts and minds and not just their hands. The concept of outsight, that is the awareness and openness of outside forces, is a powerful concept to see things differently and creatively. Promoting and listening to diverse perspectives is also a key mechanism for creative problem solving as ideas can originate from everybody. To seize the initiative and exercise outsight leaders should: 1. Do something to improve each day, 2. Seek experiences outside their comfort zone, 3. Always be looking for what is new, next and better, 4. Ask questions, seek advice, and listen to diverse perspectives, and be adventurous.

Leaders are encouraged to experiment and take risks, using small wins to motivate people and move forward in incremental and consistent steps. Experimentation implies that not everything will work out as intended so leaders need to build phycological hardiness – commitment and control in the face of challenge – in their team. Leaders learn from experience, using adversity to better understand ourselves. Creating a climate for learning can be achieved by offering systematic opportunities to learn, providing time to work on projects outside of formal responsibilities, and by viewing mistakes as chances to learn. Leaders make it safe for people to experiment and take risks by establishing a learning environment. They also stress how personal fulfillment result from constantly challenging oneself to improve.