Senior leaders today are required to navigate disruption on multiple fronts – technical, competitive, environmental, and political. There is so much noise, so many demands on their time and so many people trying to get to them that there is a real risk of feeling suffocated. To preserve health and ensure efficiency and effective action it’s increasingly essential for them to take a breather and change energy.
Seeking the best way to yank ourselves out of the fog and into the clearing can be just as time-consuming so it’s helpful to have specific guidance on what you’ll be investing in. First of all you should be looking far beyond the sanctuary or retreat experience. You should be signing up to an environment in which an intense knowledge exchange takes place across a very diverse peer group. Conversations with unique clusters of people that will not assemble anywhere else should occupy a large part of your time.
The knowledge exchange will come, in part, from teachers and presenters bringing new ideas into the learning space. But here in Oxford, a lot should come from peers' experience, insights, and reflections. All this knowledge pours into a "space" where we explore it, test it, and put new ideas together. On some levels it might start with a more focused understanding of what you are navigating across the global context, interpreting how the ripples caused by different events interact and produce new ripples in other directions. But then you get to take a finer look at which part is most relevant for you and the pathways you might choose, before shifting focus to see how your ripple might be influencing others.
This can prompt some serious and sometimes difficult questions. For example, when does an algorithm mean opportunity or disruption within our workplace? Does emphasis on analytics cause entrepreneurial paralysis or a more successful outcome? Could a robot address the challenges of an increasingly complex environment? Is it right to be focused on strategic purpose rather than profit given the social challenges and shareholder demands we must address? Are these binary? All questions that a collaborative learning environment gives you time and space to explore.
And then, the ideas begin to really take off. A multitude of conversations begin to open up doors and expand possibilities. Exploring pathways with other participants can sometimes construct a unified vision, making the previously unthinkable, very possible to achieve.
The thing to remember is that a good open programme will not immerse you within a single reality, its job is to blend together multiple realities around you in which you can reflect, learn, and challenge yourself to lead purposefully and mindfully. A time to be fully conscious of both the consequences of your choices and the impact they can have in your organisation, on your peers, and across those communities indirectly and directly benefiting from your decisions.
Caroline Williams
Director, Open Programmes
University of Oxford
www.adventgroup.net