PEOPLE WISDOM AND STRATEGIC MANAGMENT

PEOPLE WISDOM AND STRATEGIC MANAGMENT

Senge (1996: 45) suggests that: ‘We are coming to believe that leaders are the people who ‘walk ahead’, people who are genuinely committed to deep change in themselves and their organizations. They lead through developing new skills, capabilities and understandings. And they come from many places within their organization.’ There is little purpose in having a future view for a organization or setting priorities which require action, if these are not shared. As Korac-Kakabadse and Kakabadse (1998: 1) suggest: ‘It could be argued that executives always had visions for their organizations, but whether these visions were shared is another matter.’ If it does not affect the people within the organization, it will not be implemented. Having people wisdom to involve and energize staff to deliver the strategy is crucially important.

Visioning, or foresight, as a process requires an interpersonal intelligence (Gardner, 1999). The strategic leader must identify the concerns and feelings of the people in the organization; involving those people and enabling them to participate is key to the strategic process. People wisdom is essential in order to understand what motivates people and how to work co-operatively with them. As Mintzberg (1994) suggested, strategic planning by the top of an organization can ignore the realities of planning experienced by those doing the job. Many of these ideas are, it seems, influenced by the context and the culture of the organization and by the experiences of the strategic leader, which is why ‘people’ is one of the three wisdoms at the centre of the model.

All the leaders necessity of involving others in the strategic process, in both the creation of ideas and in the decision-making process. While people would be involved at different levels and to different degrees, it is important that all in the organization employee effectively involve for organization goals. De Pree (1993: 99) argues for ‘lavish communication’, which can occur in an organizational culture which promotes truth and which does not limit the distribution of information, an organization where people are the centre of all that happens. This capacity is seen through the empowerment of the people and their ability to take part in strategic thinking and action.

People wisdom Participation Creative thinking Shared information Motivation Capability Competencies

 Figure 1 The people wisdom element of the model

Contextual wisdom                                                                                                                               Strategic leader must understand both the history and the current living experiences of those in the organization. Strategic intelligence needs to have what Davies, B.J. (2004) calls a contextual wisdom  the capacity to see the organization in relationship to the wider community and the educational world in which it belongs. This wisdom is a response to new ideas and events, the ability to listen to others; it is an understanding of the uniqueness of a particular organization environment. This means that there can be no quick fixes, no transferable blueprints for a strategic leader to take from one successful organization to create a similarly successful organization. Solutions have to come from within the unique context, through understanding the culture, and sharing beliefs and values. The relentless pace of life in company often prevents strategic leaders from being reflective, which is one reason why networking is important. Similarly, isolation may prevent school leaders from being exposed to new ideas. Long-term aims for school improvement should be kept under review and revised in the light of new contextual information. Strategic intelligence uses the knowledge of the environment. It is about seeing the big picture, about being able to create the right agenda for the school by knowing what examples of excellence exist and what is appropriate for their unique environment. 

  

 

 

Contextual wisdom  Understanding and developing culture  Sharing values  Sharing beliefs  Developing networks  Understanding the external environment

Figure 2 The contextual wisdom element of the model
 

Procedural wisdom                                                                                                                                  Procedural wisdom focuses on a strategic learning cycle, which enables the appropriate choice of strategic approach and appropriate choice of strategic processes. The strategic learning cycle part of the model highlights strategic leaders having the ability to harness the abilities of others; to have the inner courage to drive the organization forward to the desired future. The model highlights the need to have the people heading in the same direction sharing the same values, beliefs and future view. The motion forward is driven by the restless cycle of learning, aligning, timing and acting. The learning cycle is driven by dissatisfaction, by leaders thinking that different and better scenarios are possible, and by leaders encouraging others to think in different ways.

References

De Pree, M. (1993) Leadership Jazz. New York: Dell.

Davies, B.J. and Davies, B. (2004) ‘The nature of strategic leadership’, School Leadership and Management, 4(1): 29–38.

Gardner, H. (1999) Intelligence Reframed – Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic Books.

Senge, P. (1996) ‘Leading learning organisations’, in F. Hesselbein, M. Goldsmith and R. Beckhard (eds), The Leader of the Future. New York: Drucker Foundation.

Davies, B. (2003) ‘Rethinking strategy and strategic leadership in schools’, Educational Management and Administration, 31(3): 295–312.

Mintzberg, H. (1994) The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall.