XP 2024 presentation: A New Look to Leadership

Presentation slides from XP2024 conference, Bolzano IT. The slides describe a new view to leadership and combines it with anthro-complexity (aka cynefin).

1. A New Look to
Leadership
XP4245?AA?A?AYAQA?AIA&A?
What psychology tells us about
leadership in complex world
Sami Lilja
Agile Coach, Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)
Reaktor

2. Hello! We are
Reaktor

3. €113M
ABOUT
We help today ?s forward
thinking companies become
tomorrow ?s digital leaders ?
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5. A New Look to
Leadership
XP4246?BA?A?A&A?A?
What psychology tells us about
leadership in complex world
XP2024, Bolzano
Sami Lilja
Agile Coach, Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)
Reaktor

6. Who am I ?
Sami Lilja
Agile Coach ? Certi ?ed Scrum Trainer ?
Working for Reaktor in Helsinki ? Finland ?
Hobbies include reading ? football ? ? ? tennis ? ? ? ?
snooker ? ? ? and travelling ?
Passionate about Teamwork ? Leadership ?
Motto ? Make your work work ?
? ? Kids are playing ? I am watching ?
? ? ? Not playing ? just watching on TV

7. A New Look to Leadership ? Topics today
? ?Set the stage ? Current models about leadership are wrong ?
? ?What is the New psychology of Leadership
? ?Anthro ?complexity and leadership
? ?What does this mean for us ?

8. ?de ?ne Leadership
❞
Leadership is not about getting people to do things ?
It is about getting them to want to do things ? Leadership ?
then ? is about shaping beliefs ? desires ? and priorities ? It is
about achieving in ?uence ? not securing compliance ?
S ? A ? Haslam ? S ? D ? Reicher and M ? J ? Platow ? The
New Psychology of Leadership ? Identity ? In ?uence
and Power ?
Power over
Power with

9. What makes a leader ?
?Self ?Awareness
?Respect
?Compassion
?Vision
?Communication
?Learning Agility
?Collaboration
?In ?uence
?Integrity
?Courage
?Gratitude
?Resilience
?Integrity
?Self ?Awareness
?Empathy
?Communication
?Active Listening
?Growth Mindset
?Patience
?Visionary Thinking
?Integrity
?Communication
Skills
?Empathy
?Decisiveness
?Adaptability
?Inspiration
?Accountability
?Resilience

10. What makes a leader ?
?Self?Awareness
?Respect
?Compassion
?Vision
?Communication
?Learning Agility
?Collaboration
?In?uence
?Integrity
?Courage
?Gratitude
?Resilience
?Integrity
?Self?Awareness
?Empathy
?Communication
?Active Listening
?Growth Mindset
?Patience
?Visionary Thinking
?Integrity
?Communication
Skills
?Empathy
?Decisiveness
?Adaptability
?Inspiration
?Accountability
?Resilience
These are useful skills? but there is something
else behind leadership.
There is no leadership without followers.
Leadership emerges from a dynamic
relationship between the leader and the
followers. There is no leader when there is no
us ?
Social identity is a key to understand
leadership.

11. Failures in the current view on Leadership
Many people are denied
leadership positions
because they ?do not have
leadership character ?
Leadership development
programs fail? because they
focus on individual skills ?
separated from the social
context.
Myth ? ? ? Leadership is individualistic
?Actually? leadership is social
?Ignoring followers leaves a big? unanswered gap in our
understanding of leadership
?The social nature of leadership helps to explain phenomena that
are otherwise di?cult to understand

Myth ? ? ? ?The Great Man ?
?Literature tries to ?nd characteristics or personality traits that
explain leadership
?Unfortunately? research does not support this. There is very weak
correlation between ?great man traits ? and success as a leader

12. The secrets of Leadership ?
? ?Airport ? Books about leadership
qualities are very confusing
?Dead people have ?x more leadership
secrets than people alive
?Men have more leadership secrets than
women
?Did Jesus have ? ? secrets or only ? ?

13. The Great Man ?
Sir Winston Churchill
?Historians widely attribute Churchill with being ?the greatest statesman of
the ? ?th century ? ?
?In ? ? ? ? the BBC broadcast a series called ? ? ? Greatest Britons ? A ?er each
programme in which particular ?gures were proposed and examined ? ? ? ? ? viewers
were invited to vote ? In the end ? there was no doubt about their verdict ? Sir Winston
Churchill was the greatest Briton ?
How did such a Great Man lose the elections ? ? ? ? ?
?Just few months a ?er peaking with his greatness
? ?It was one of the biggest electoral swings of the twentieth century ?
https ? ? ?winstonchurchill ?org ?the ?life ?of ?churchill ?life ?churchill ?leader ?and ?statesman ?
https ? ? ?www ?bbc ?com ?news ?magazine ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
https ? ? ?www ?iwm ?org ?uk ?history ?how ?winston ?churchill ?and ?the ?conservative ?party ?lost ?the ? ? ? ? ? ?elect
ion
Both the Conservatives and the
Labour Party we driving social
reform ? but the Labour Party ?s
emphasis clearly appealed to
many voters ?

14. Leadership and Agile ?
Agile movement is surprisingly quiet about Leadership
?Agile Manifesto has zero mentions about leadership? leader or
leading
Scrum?
?Scrum Guide ? ?Scrum Masters are true leaders who serve the Scrum
Team and the larger organization ?? and
? ?The Scrum Master serves the organization ? ? ? ? ? Leading ? training ? and
coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption ?
So what?
?Misunderstanding? diminishing or ignoring leadership paves ways
to all kinds of ?snake oil ? solutions

15. Leadership vs Management
From https://locelle.com/leadership-vs-management/, based on Three Differences Between
Managers and Leaders at https://hbr.org/2013/08/tests-of-a-leadership-transiti
Dave Snowden ? Rewilding leadership ?
https ? ? ?thecyne ?n ?co ?rewilding ?leadership ? ? ?of ? ? ?
The constant promulgation of two ?column tables ?o ?en with pretty pictures ? in which
the evil past is set out on ?one side ? and the idealised future on the ?other ? ? Aside from
the fact that most leadership involves ? in di ?erent contexts ? both the le ? and the right ?
this type of Manichæism creates a lack of pragmatism and an impossible tension
between reality and the ideal ?

16. We need a new view to Leadership
?Most of leadership research and theories are leader ?based
?We must start taking followers into account
?New view must avoid idealism ? wishful thinking ? and biases
In complexity connections and context matter more than things or actions ? which
is not to mean the actor does not have power ? but they only have power insofar as
the a ?ordances of the system permit it ?
? ? ? ? ? The context remains critical in everything ? It ? therefore ? follows that creating
a process and interaction ?based context is more important than leadership
development per se ?
Dave Snowden ? An apophatic view of leadership ? https ? ? ?thecyne ?n ?co ?an ?apophatic ?view ?of ?leadership ?

17. New Psychology of
Leadership
What makes a leader?
Social Identity (Tajfel, Turner 1979)
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18. Key concepts
?Social identity ? Our sense of self can be derived from the group we
belong to and the meaning we associate with that belonging
?Who we are depends on the group we belong to
?Self ?categorization ? Cognitive process where we classify ourselves into
a group
?Depersonalisation ? We de ?ne ourselves according to the group ?s social
identity
?We see other people as representatives of their group ?both for ingroup and
outgroup members? rather than individuals
?Not loss of self ? but re ?de ?ning self as a member of group
?This is essential for coordinating action with?in? a group

19. Key concepts
?Social stereotyping ? Group has a shared social identity
?We assume ingroup members agree on important topics
?We actively seek agreement among ingroup members
?We also assume that outgroup members disagree with us on important
issues
?Shared social identity and social stereotyping allow coordination
?Shared social identity is the source of collective social power
DEPERSONALISATION
US

20. Power Dynamics
?Power is a key element in order to understand leadership
?The fundamental concept in social science is Power ? in the same sense in which
Energy is the fundamental concept in physics ? ?B Russell ? ? ? ? ? ?
?Power is not taken ? it is given ?
?The same applies to Leadership ? We choose to be lead by someone and
we project our group prototypical behavior in that leader
?Power bases ?by French and Raven ?
?Coercive ? Reward ? Legitimate ? Referent ? Expert

21. Power Dynamics
?Power over ? Leader ?s power is based on the resources they have
?For example rewards and punishments
?Resource ?based power decreases over time
?Power with ? Leader ?s power is based on shared identity
?Leader creates a shared social identity and are embodiments of this
identity
?Followers internalize the identity and create a coherent social force
Decreasing feeling
of shared identity
between the leader
and the followers
Increasing feeling of
shared identity
between the leader
and the followers
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22. Ingroup ? Outgroup
?Ingroup ? My current social identity ? result of self ?categorization
?Outgroup ? Everyone else
?We constantly compare ourselves to our surroundings
?Our current social identity is situational
?Leaders shape social identity for their ingroup
?Leaders can use power with only in their ingroup
?For outgroup ? power over is the only alternative

23. Antro-complexity and
Social identity
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24. Characteristics of a complex system
?It involves large numbers of interacting elements ?
?The interactions are nonlinear. Minor changes can produce
disproportionately major consequences ?
?The system is dynamic? the whole is greater than the sum of its parts? and
solutions can?t be imposed. rather? they arise from the circumstances.
?The system has a history? and the past is integrated with the present? the
elements evolve with one another and with the environment? and evolution
is irreversible.
?Unlike in ordered systems ?where the system constrains the agents ? ? or
chaotic systems ?where there are no constraints ? ? in a complex system the
agents and the system constrain one another? especially over time. This
means that we cannot forecast or predict what will happen.
Based on article A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making
by David J. Snowden and Mary E. Boone
https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making

25. Add human beings
?They have multiple identities and can ?uidly switch between
them without conscious thought? For example ? ? a person can
be
?fan of Venezia FC ?
?Member of the Labour Party ?
?Project Manager at British Airways ?
?mother?
?voluntary worker for homeless shelter?
?..and much more..
? ? Original text ? For example ? a person can be a respected member of the
community as well as a terrorist? Original text highlights external
evaluation for identity? whereas social identity is intrinsic and
without evaluation.
Social identity is ?uid and
we can belong to many
groups simultaneously.
Social context ?our
current ingroup ? a ?ects
our decisions.
Based on article A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making
by David J. Snowden and Mary E. Boone
https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making
?They make decisions based on past patterns of success and
failure? rather than on logical? de?nable rules?

26. https://thecynefin.co/kataphatic-aspects-of-leadership/
Leadership in complex domain
?Create safe ?to ?fail experiments
?Device experiments that could lead to a desired outcome
?Identify patterns
?Distribute decision making ? centralise coordination
?Disintermediation ? Remove interpretative layers between the
decision maker and the raw or ?nely ?grained data on which a
decision is based ?
?Distributed cognition ? Allow weak signals to emerge locally ?
?Leadership is collective
? ?Group ? has more cognitive capacity than individuals and can
delegate authority without loss of status and are better at sharing
failure

27. Complexity and social identity
?Create safe ?to ?fail experiments
?Device experiments that could lead to a desired outcome
?Identify patterns
?Distribute decision making ? centralise coordination
?Disintermediation ? Remove interpretative layers between the
decision maker and the raw ? ?nely ?grained data on which a
decision is based.
?Distributed cognition? Allow weak signals to emerge locally.
?Leadership is collective
? ?Group ? has more cognitive capacity than individuals and can
delegate authority without loss of status and are better at sharing
failure
This requires that people
want to do things. Power with
rather than Power over ?
Device experiments and
also for Social Identity.
Shared social identity acts
as a basis for interpretation
and emergence

28. What makes a leader?

29. BAQ?one of us
Leader is prototypical
representative of the
group
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Leader acts in ways
that promote group ?s
bene ?t
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sense of us
Leaders are
entrepreneurs of
identity
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Leaders are
engineers of identity

30. ?. Be one of us
?Leader is prototypical representative of the group
?Prototypical ? Represents what the group is or desires to be
?Prototypical characteristics for leader are not individual ?
leader represents what is important for the group
aQ?one of us
Leader is prototypical
representative of the
group
?Leadership e ?ectiveness decreases if leader is not part of ingroup
?Top management remuneration or selection process for leader could place
the selected leaders to outgroup

31. Be one of us
BAQ?one of us
Leader is prototypical
representative of the
group
?Who is prototypical ? Meta ?contrast ratio
AVG (similarity of the individual to outgroup
members)
AVG (similarity of the individual to ingroup
members)
?Prototypicality depends on the situation ? Introducing an extreme
?opposite ? outgroup means that more extreme ingroup members
become prototypical
?For example ? Peaceful protest may turn violent if an outgroup ?e ?g ? police ? behaves
in a way that highlight di ?erences between groups
Extreme Moderate Extreme Extreme Moderate Extreme

32. Who is one of us ?
?Example ? Football Euro ? ? ? ? ?Portugal ?
?Police behavior was changed from zero tolerance ? threatening
presence to considerate behavior ? ful ?lling fans ? needs
?As a result ? moderate fans started to self ?regulate hooligans
?Ingroup prototype was a football fan ? not a hooligan
Crowd dynamics, policing and ‘hooliganism’ at ‘Euro2004’ (Dr. Clifford Stott, Prof. Dr. Otto Adang)
https://doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/5300/mrdoc/pdf/5300userguide.pdf

33. ? ? Do it for us
?Leader ?s behavior and actions must promote group ?s bene ?t
?Especially when compared to outgroup
?Bene ?t is always contextual ? not always money or resources
DA??AxAY?for us
Leader acts in ways
that promote group ?s
bene ?t
?Example ? Fairness ? one of the most important characteristic of a great
leader and the foundational principle in social and economical thinking
?Leader ?s perceived fairness is ingroup opinion ? not leader ?s personal
characteristics ?
?The same principle can be applied to any other characteristic of a leader
?SCARF as an example

34. ? ? Do it for us ? Leadership and SCARF
?Our survival mechanism is approach ?avoid response to stimuli
?Response is equally strong for both physical and social situations
?SCARF model is widely used in organisational and leadership context
?Avoid threats ? provide rewards A? Create a con ?ict ?friendly environment
SCARF ? a model
to understand
our social brain
BUT
?We need to take into consideration social context ? ingroup and
outgroup
?SCARF rewards have stronger impact with ingroup members and SCARF
violations are stronger from outgroup members
?SCARF reward to outgroup member can be perceived as a SCARF violation for
ingroup
?SCARF rewards and violations de ?nes who belongs to ingroup

35. ? ? Cra ? the ?sense of us ?
?Only when we can draw a boundary ? we can institute
a culture and a common mobilization ?
?Leaders de ?ne and adjust boundaries for the group
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sense of us
Leaders are
entrepreneurs of
identity
?Leader must be a representative of the ingroup
?Language ? actions or even clothing is signal if leader is part of the ingroup or not
?In extreme cases ? boundaries can mean life or
death
?Germany ? ? ? ?s ? Nationhood belongs to ?ethnic
comrades ? A? minorities are a threat to ?us ?
?Bulgaria ? ? ? ?s ? Extended citizenship included Jews A?
Attacking minorities was considered an attack against
?us ?

36. ? ? Make us matter
?Who we are and who do we want to be
?Leaders are identity ?artists and identity ?engineers
?Artist ? Eloquent speak and storytelling is useful ? ?
?Engineer ? Parades ? events ? uniforms ? naming conventions
?Leaders as identity ?engineers create structures
?Structures represent norms ? values and beliefs of the ingroup
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Leaders are
engineers of identity
?Twist ? Majority of intra ?group con ?icts are a result of an ingroup internal
con ?ict
?Weak leaders use external con ?ict to gain support in their ingroup
?Identity ?artistry and identity ?engineering are targeted against outgroup
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37. Closing thoughts
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38. Ingroup ? outgroup and dark patterns
?New Psychology of Leadership by Haslam et ?al does not evaluate if leadership
in a situation is good or bad
?It only describes what it takes to become leader
?Some of the examples in the book are from dictators or otherwise not?democratic
leaders
?Should we have moral considerations about leadership ?
?Social identity is tightly related to division between ingroup and outgroup
?Could this lead to stronger polarization between us and them
?Current politics ? at least viewed from Europe ? seem to support this
?Social manipulation to acquire power ? Demonizing outgroup to support leader ?s
agenda?

39. Key takeaways
?Leadership truly is about us ? not about me
?We must look both at leaders and followers to understand and develop
leadership
?Social identity ? ie ? belonging to a group ? is a signi ?cant factor in leadership
?
?To understand leadership ? we must understand the underlying social
processes
?Combining anthro ?complexity with social view of leadership gives deeper
understanding of what a leader can do
?Just as politics is too important to leave only to politicians ? so too leadership is
far too important a matter to be le ? only to leaders ?
?Everyone must understand sociology of leadership to protect us from
manipulation and dark patterns of leadership

40. A6A6
Thank you ?
Sami Lilja
Agile Coach
Certified Scrum Trainer
[email protected]
(FIN) [phone]

41. S ? A ? Haslam ? S ? D ? Reicher and M ? J ? Platow ? The New Psychology of
Leadership ? Identity ? In ?uence and Power ? ?Psychology Press ? ? ? ? ?
David J ? Snowden and Mary E ? Boone ? A Leader ?s Framework for
Decision Making ?Harvard Business Review Nov ? ? ? ? ?
David Rock ? Managing with the Brain in Mind ?strategyAnbusiness
Magazine ? issue ? ? ? Autumn ? ? ? ? ? ? SCARF model explained
Background material
XP4245?AA?A?AYAQA?AIA&A?