Case Study - A Study of Great Minds Working Together - Day 8 - 6.25.2010

Over the past few years we have been taught to critically analyze what good leadership means. One of the components that continually reoccurs is that great leaders listen to people. No...really listen. In our brief introduction to Theory U (2009) we discussed the four levels of listening as:

• Level 1 - Downloading
• Level 2 - Factual listening
• Level 3 - Empathic listening
• Level 4 - Generative listening

In reflection, there are only a few times and certain people that I get to generative listening with. My study team is one of them. 

Watching our interactions "from the balcony", as described by Heifetz & Linsky (200x), it was interesting to see how our conversations evolved in our discussion of the case study. 

Zambia, Africa and the secondhand clothes industry was the issue. The lens to which we were to study it, political. Now our group decided to pick the political lens as a favor to another group, but also understanding that one of our group members, Dan, was very politically savvy. He would help us walk through this process for sure. When Dan was unexpectedly called away, the 5 of us remaining walked on a venture that was very unexpected and interesting.

In the lack of knowledge, most of us immediately pulled out the laptops and searched for answers. That really describes who we are. We are all in schools and typically how we handle problems is in finding solutions. We are known in our profession all as people with a great deal of knowledge and we have come to find a comfort in that. Not knowing much about politics in general, but also not knowing anything about the politics of Zambia created quite an uncomfortable dissonance for us. To top it off, I couldn't get my computer to work.

What I had left to do was to rely on others through listening. Really listening. I had no screen to view, I had no other information in front of me. This was such a surreal experience because it forced me into a place of relying on others understandings and information to create the future conversation. The lack of understanding from all of us created a situation where we had to connect in a way that created an emerging whole (or idea that came together). We wrestled with ideas, listened to one another, learned from one another, and before my eyes I saw attitudes of others unfolding, emerging. I felt my own understanding being challenged and could almost feel the new neural networks being formed. Different ideas about immigration were discussed, different ideas around politics, what is right, what is wrong. It just kept unfolding. Scharmer (2009) tells us that you know you have entered generative listening when you are no longer the same person when you started the conversation. I believe that happened to us as a study team that day.

The next day when we were able to meet with Dan and ask for his understandings, it was interesting that he did fill in some gaps, but that the five of us together were able to come up with many of the same ideas even with our lack of prior knowledge. We were both surprised and comforted by the fact that we could create a similar meaning without Dan there, but also happy we had him back to provide another context and understanding. This was a true study of great minds working together...

Heifetz, R. A. & Linsky, M. (2002). Leadership on the line: Staying alive through the dangers of leading. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Scharmer, C. O. (2009). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.