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Article on pull leadership

This month Harvard Business School brings an article on "pull leadership", which is emphasized as the leadership style that can inspire and create loyalty among employees both now and in the future. The leadership characteristics that are referred to in the article are identical to the characteristics of the "holistic" leaders (cf. my Danish article on the topic in Børsen Ledelseshåndbøger).

As a practical example of what "pull leaders" do there is, among other things, a reference to a number of highly successful CEOs, who in a Harvard Business School panel discussion mentioned that they were socially involved, continuously worked on becoming better leaders, and that they meditated for fifteen to twenty minutes a day.

You can read the full article on "pull leadership" here>>

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Meaningful leadership in practice - a midway account

A project that works with some of the abovementioned dimensions of leadership is the PhD action research programme Meaningful Leadership in Practice. The program is led by Bjørn Uldall, a consultant at Right Kjaer & Kjerulf, and is part of a research cooperation between Right Kjaer & Kjerulf, Learning Lab Denmark and international researchers.

So far Bjørn Uldall has had two groups of younger top leaders participating in the programme, which based on the leaders' concrete dilemmas and challenges helps them find new ways into developing a more meaningful leadership with the help of meditation, dialogue and action learning.

As a midway account Bjørn Uldall has written an article, which contains the personal story of the background for the action research programme, as well as an interesting account of how these tools have affected the participants and their leadership style.

You can read the (Danish) article here >>

Bjørn Uldall is currently in the process of recruiting new participants for the next leader team, which will start up in November 2004. So if you have an interest in learning more about the programme you can read on here >>

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Project "Keep your working ability"

Another interesting Danish initiative is taking place in West Jutland. With financial support from the coordination committee of Ringkøbing and Holmsland physiotherapist and project consultant Anni Vindnæs is in the process of completing two projects on movement learning [bevægelseslæring] in the companies Thor Fisk in Hvide Sande and Vestas in Lem.

The projects are aimed at persons in the labour force with pain problems in neck, shoulders, back and legs. The selected employees participate in a course, where they are instructed in self-treatment, self-training and in coding body intelligent movement patterns for use in their daily working routines. During the course of the project both management and employees are involved in incorporating a body policy in the company, and employee groups are taught how to transfer their new knowledge on the movement learning concept to other colleagues in the workplace.

The activities in the project programme are based on more than 10 years of development work. So far around 900 employees have participated in movement learning courses with a documented positive effect in terms of an increased sense of responsibility and group cooperation, development of "economical" movement patterns and an increased body consciousness - and not least a reduction in the number of sick days and an improved physical working environment.

The two projects are being documented with the help of on-going film recordings, midway evaluations and a written final report. The courses at Thor Fisk and Vestas are expected to be completed by the end of this year, and are available to other companies in Denmark with an interest in this type of preventive work.

You can read more about Bevægelseslæring i Virksomheden [Movement Learning in the Company] here >>

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Inspiratoriums about leadership and work life

With basis on my work with holistic leadership, learning and development Tania Ellis has developed a number of "inspiratoriums" about leadership and work life in the 21st century. The inspiratoriums are for leaders and employees in both the private and public sector, free agents, and others with an interest in new ways of working, learning and organizing.

The inspiratoriums consist of lectures, late-afternoon or morning meetings (1½-2½ hour duration), and are also available as half-day or full-day arrangements in a workshop version.

Current inspiratorium topics are:

• Holistic leadership - in the middle of a paradigm shift
• Intuition as a leadership competency and decision-making tool
• When leadership turns into self-management - about meaning in work
• The social entrepreneurs - new ways of organizing and working

The inspiratoriums can be purchased as a full "business theme package", or as a single module alone or as part of other providers' arrangements.

You can read more about the inspiratoriums here >>

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Tania Ellis :: Skt. Peders Straede 24 :: 1453 Copenhagen K :: Tel 26252295 :: te@taniaellis.dk :: www.taniaellis.dk