This is a piece that I wrote for Compass For Life. Link to original post here:

How to discover the stars in your organisation - Compass For Life

Just like many of you, the Compass For Life team enjoy reading anything we feel we can get value from, listen to anyone and anything that can make a positive impact on us, and also find ways to challenge our own ideas of what leadership is and looks like. Recently, I lost myself in deep thought whilst listening to a podcast by Simon Sinek (A Bit of Optimism) where he interviewed and amazing leader named Matthew Barzum (former US ambassador to the UK). As Simon says in the podcast, “it is rare to meet someone who just thinks differently for all the right reasons.” This blog post is inspired by this podcast and aims to make other leaders more aware of the concepts discussed in the podcast, as well as promote yet another amazing resource for all leaders looking to challenge the way they lead.

Most leaders are aware of the traditional pyramid structure of organisations and understand the hierarchies involved. In addition, most leaders reading this will be aware of the buzzwords that accompany such a structure, including the challenge of turning the pyramid on its head in order to get more buy in from ‘lower down’ in the pyramid: AKA bottom up thinking. No matter the industry, the classic arguments about which model is best are being had in all board rooms and around all the common staff areas in all organisations. It’s not a new argument, the argument still isn’t settled, and ultimately, despite the toing and froing, most organisations will not change their modus operandi. The change will not come because someone is right or wrong, it is because they are unable to see the world in a different way. When asked what colour the world is from a business point of view, most leaders will answer black or white, or grey. This mindset almost entirely explains why they struggle to see outside of the pyramid structure of an organisation. They have forgotten that the world is not black, white, nor grey. It is multi-colored.

Be an Astronomer

A question that Matthew often asks leaders that he speaks to is, ‘the world is not black and what. What colour is it?' Astonishingly, 9 out of 10 people that are asked the question say grey; which is fundamentally wrong. In fact, the answer to the question is that the world is multicoloured and multi-faceted. As such, leaders in organisations need to adopt this mindset. They need to look past the trodden path of top down or bottom up organisational models and start to embrace a whole new idea of how companies are built. Leaders should to look to the stars and see the beautiful patterns that emerge called constellations and model their organisations in a similar way. Constellations have many stars with infinite ways to spot and create patterns between them. However, if all we see is starts with no discernable patterns, then we cannot see the constellations that exist. It takes a brave leader, one with a strong Warrior spirit, to begin to see these patterns, teach others how to see the patterns, to then develop the constellations in their organisations. Do you remember the first time someone taught you about Orion’s belt? Or, the first time someone showed you how to identify Sagitarius in the stars? It is a breathtaking experience and one that you then continue to teach to others that have never been able to see the patterns for themselves. This is no different in business. As a leader in an organisation, it is vital to learn from those that see the organisation in this way so that you can then teach it to others. As this ripple continues, more and more people in the organisation begin to see what they weren’t able to see before. That each star (person) in the company has a purpose, is inextricably connected to others, and without them, the constellation is incomplete. For this to work, leaders need to be able to listen, be able to teach, and be able to let go of control by putting trust in the other starts. Once everyone understands that they are a star in the constellation, they can than be free to connect with other starts to create a pattern which is interleaved with each other star in a unique way. Each requiring the other in equal measure. Thus, creating a beautiful sky with endless potential for further connection and possibility. An example of this kind of leadership was demonstrated at a low-key political fundraising event in Louisville, Kentucky for then presidential candidate, Barack Obama in 2006.

During the trip, Obama had an extra hour to kill so asked Matthew to organise a meeting with Obama and local republican politicians to discuss various things about local politics. During the meeting, Obama said very little. He listened nearly the whole hour apart from when he was asking questions. After the meeting, those present spoke very highly of how the meeting went and how engaging it was, despite Obama saying very little. This story highlights very clearly the power of giving away power through listening, instead of pontificating. Good leaders do not need to ‘own the room’ to be effective. The best leaders have an ability to walk into a room and make everyone present feel valued and heard, which goes in the face of they pyramid style of leadership (either up or down looking). By sitting back and listening, you start to see people for what they are, stars within your constellation. Stars that are as vital to the constellation as every other star, including the brightest star and starts that you initially thought didn’t quite fit in the pattern. The challenge for all leaders is to uncover the hidden connections and hidden stars so as to build a more connected and more detailed constellation.

In our 5 day Compass For Life programme, we challenge our participants to think differently in a number of ways. The biggest barrier that we face when working with clients is the inability to escape what has always happened. We sometimes struggle to help people break the status quo of organisations that have been built under the pyramid style (top down or bottom up) of leadership. The clients that achieve the most success following our programmes are those who look to embrace change, those who see through the management structures that can sometimes turn us blind to the human potential that surrounds us. Those that make the most progress, see their organisations as constellations and leave our training with a Super North Star to ensure that the people they lead also see their organisations in this way.

So, the next time you look into the night sky, try to find new patterns. Find new constellations by asking someone to point some out to you. Then, show them to someone else so they too can see what you see. Finally, once you’ve done this with the stars in the sky, do the same exercise with the stars in your teams and in your organisations. Then, teach those in your teams how to see what you see.