Becoming an Agent of Change SESSION 3 Learning

Becoming an Agent of Change SESSION 3 Learning to Lead Dr. Jorrit de Jong - Harvard Kennedy School

Fall 2014 Leadership and learning are indispensible Introduction Course Overview and to each other “Crafting the Job You Want” in MLD-101 John F. Kennedy

(Brookings Press 2008) (Brookings Press 2012) (Brookings Press 2016)

CASE: Harry Spence at the MA Department of Social Services

Support Approval or Endorsement by the Authorizing environment Public Value Client Satisfaction, Better Social Outcomes, Improved Material and Immaterial Conditions Capacity Available Resources across organizational boundaries Creating Public Value, Mark Moore, 1995

Distinguishing technical problems and adaptive challenges Kind of Challenge Problem Definition Solution Who is doing the Work? Technical Clear Authority Adaptive Requires Learning Stakeholders Heifetz, Linsky and Grashow, 2010 Harvard Summer School / Cels & De Jong 6

Distinguishing technical problems and adaptive challenges Kind of Challenge Problem Definition Solution Who is doing the Work? Technical Clear Authority Technical and Adaptive Clear? Requires Learning Authority and Stakeholders Adaptive Requires Learning Stakeholders Harvard Summer School / Cels & De Jong 7

Instead of asking, “How do we get out of trouble? ” we should ask “How do we run an efficient and effective organization that focuses on long-term strategies while in trouble? In fact, how can we use ‘trouble’ to continually learn and improve our practice? ” Harry Spence Harvard Summer School / Cels & De Jong 8

Leadership is the process of putting people who need to change in the unavoidable path of learning (Linda Kaboolian, Harvard Kennedy School)

The Myth of the Broken System There is no such thing as a broken system Each system is perfectly aligned to produce the results it currently gets Heifetz, Linsky, Grashow, 2009 Harvard Summer School / Cels & De Jong 10

Adapted from Heifetz; Slides by Irwin Turbitt

Martyrdom Exercise of Leadership Formal Authority Discretionary Space The Boundaries of Authority and the Frontiers of Leadership 15

Strategy: Basic Questions • What Value Might be Produced? • What Support Needs to be Secured? • What Capacity Can be Mobilized? Leadership: Basic Challenges • How Can Value, Capacity and Support be Aligned? • Who Needs to Do the Work? • What Could Help Create and Sustain the Space for Collaborative Work?

Strategic Leadership for Change Focused on aligning value, capacity and support in a changing environment The process of putting people who need to change in the unavoidable path of learning (Moore) (Kaboolian) An organization or community that is better able to deal with important issues and/or produce public value. (Heifetz et al) What is the value proposition? Who are the stakeholders? What assets do you have and resources do you need? Who needs to change? How will you make change unavoidable? How to facilitate real learning? What does success look like? How would you know? What is gained and what is lost?