1.5 - About University

H OW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL“… most of the problems faced by mankind concern … our inability to graspand manage the increasingly complex systems of our world.”—Peter Senge, THE FIFTH DISCIPLINEEvery organizational subsystem is part of a larger system. Any organization’s success dependson the success of its subsystems. A pertinent example is the design of a leadership developmentsystem. Let’s assume you want to design or redesign your leadership development system so itis more effective.1. The first step is to set a clear purpose and goals for the system.2. Since there is no one best way to illustrate a system, the next two steps are probablybest done iteratively:➠ Diagram the Leadership Development system, drawing a boundary around it, inorder to get the results you need. This closed-system diagram would include themajor subsystems and processes needed to increase leadership effectiveness; forexample, a needs assessment process, an administrative subsystem, an evaluationand feedback subsystem, a delivery subsystem, and so forth. Don’t go too far downthis road before you look at the larger system.➠ Next, diagram the Leadership Development system in terms of how it fits with othersubsystems and with the organizational system as a whole.One partial and simple illustration of external connections is shown here:CompensationProgramOrganizationalStrategyCareerDevelopmentRewards andRecognitionLeadership DevelopmentSystemSuccessionPlanningOn-Job Support andCoachingOther SubsystemsRecruitmentProcess3. Now, analyze the system diagrams for bottlenecks, breakdowns, and leverage points.For example, much leadership training is not nearly as effective as it could be, for someof these systemic reasons:• There’s no point in designing a closed leadership development system that is notsupported by, and does not support, other organizational systems. However, leadershipdevelopment professionals, in response to other systems’ resistance, often try todesign even more elegant leadership development systems, thereby increasing resis-42 SECTION 2 TOOLS FOR BIG-PICTURE THINKING