Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2021 - 33

stakeholders (employees, customers,
etc.), multiple timelines (short-term,
long-term), and more.
⊲ They are likely to have greater selfawareness,
and allow themselves to
be more vulnerable, acknowledging
that they do not have all the answers
and need the perspectives of others
to optimize results. This allows them
to be better at developing others and
creating contexts imbued with safety
and trust that then generate better
solutions to complex problems.
Leaders who think at earlier stages of
development will over-simplify complex
problems. They will look for " one right
answer " or " who is to blame. " Their
approaches to these complex problems
are inherently limited and likely will not
know it.
For example, imagine a group of leaders
attend a workshop about collaboration.
One leader tends to see things only
in terms of his own perspective. He
assumes he knows the " right " way to
do things, believes there is " one right
answer, " has low self-awareness, and
has difficulty admitting when he is not
sure of something. Imagine how limited
his collaboration will be. He may ask
others superficial questions, mostly to
Levels of Development
PreConventional
Conventional
Post-Conventional
Catalyst
New
Expert
Standing
out
Opportunist
Own needs
Conformer
Fitting in
45%
35%
Achiever
Results
perspectives
Co-Creator
Systems and
principles
Alchemist
Flow
Increase in:
Awareness and
Reflection
System/Context
Both/And
Perspective
Taking
Perspective
Seeking
Complexity and
Integration
Multiple Factors
Stakeholders
Higher Principles
8%
5%
2%
Win/Lose
Win/Win
4%
1%
Transformative Dialogue
© 2017 Clear Impact Consulting Group
Healthy
Ownership
Agility/Versatility
Capability is Also Important
It is important to note that the ability
for a leader to actually do something
depends on more than their internal
competency and capacity. There is also
capability. For example, it also depends
on the context in which that leader is
leading: What resources are available?
What behaviors are allowed and/or
rewarded in that organization? What are
the competencies and capacities of his
or her team?
Imagine two leaders identical in their
competencies and capacity. One is in
a situation with very limited resources,
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| 33
get their buy-in to what he has already
decided, but others know better than to
question him.
Another leader knows that complex
situations require the integration of
multiple perspectives, has no problem
exhibiting vulnerability by saying
and believing they don't know all the
answers, and provides a context that
makes it clear that all perspectives
are valued and welcomed. There is
no fear that ideas will be dismissed
or discounted or ridiculed. Imagine
how rich the collaboration will be and
how much more effective in driving
sustainable organizational results.
The Basic Problem in the Field
of Leadership Development
More than half of all leaders think like
the first leader we described above, and
those leaders have little choice to think
at a more advanced level in the moment.
Only about 10 percent think like the
second leader.
Can you understand the problem? Having
talent development professionals create
a list of competencies does not mean that
most leaders have the capacity to " run "
The other problem with lists of
competencies is that all leaders
already have a day job and have
very little bandwidth for integrating
new ideas. As we wrote in a previous
article for Training Industry, Awareness
≠ Change. Change is hard and takes
repeated cycles of action and reflection
throughout the day. Even with the most
sophisticated approaches we know,
integrating advanced in neuroscience,
one or two areas of change are all we
can handle.
those competencies using a sufficiently
advanced " operating system " to actually
embody them.
And most training and development
professionals do not know how to
assist leaders in upgrading their overall
operations systems or capacity. They
can present trainings on their lists of
competencies but much of that energy
is wasted. Leaders, no matter how wellintentioned,
cannot " will " themselves to
a later-stage level of development.

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Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2021

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