Encyclopedia of Leadership

HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL

“...most of the problems faced by mankind concern ...our inability to grasp

and manage the increasingly complex systems of our world.”

—Peter Senge, THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

Every organizational subsystem is part of a larger system. Any organization’s success depends

on the success of its subsystems. A pertinent example is the design of a leadership development

system. Let’s assume you want to design or redesign your leadership development system so it

is 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 probably
   best done iteratively:
   ➠Diagram the Leadership Development system, drawing a boundary around it, in
   order to get the results you need. This closed-system diagram would include the
   major subsystems and processes needed to increase leadership effectiveness; for
   example, a needs assessment process, an administrative subsystem, an evaluation
   and feedback subsystem, a delivery subsystem, and so forth. Don’t go too far down
   this road before you look at the larger system.
   ➠Next, diagram the Leadership Development system in terms of how it fits with other
   subsystems and with the organizational system as a whole.

One partial and simpleillustration of external connections is shown here:

3. 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 some
   of these systemic reasons:
   
   
   • There’s no point in designing a closed leadership development system that is not
     supported by, and does not support, other organizational systems. However, leader-
     ship development professionals, in response to other systems’ resistance, often try to
     design even more elegant leadership development systems, thereby increasing resis-
   
   
   
   

42 SECTION 2 TOOLS FORBIG-PICTURETHINKING

Compensation

Program

Rewards and

Recognition

On-Job Support and

Coaching

Organizational

Strategy

Other Subsystems

Leadership Development

System

Succession

Planning

Recruitment

Process

Career

Development