NICK WRIGHT
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • Articles
    • Organisations and leadership
    • Learning and development
    • Coaching and counselling
  • Blog
  • e-Resources
  • News
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • Articles
    • Organisations and leadership
    • Learning and development
    • Coaching and counselling
  • Blog
  • e-Resources
  • News
  • Contact

Bleeding edge

6/3/2021

18 Comments

 
Picture
Better to be on the edge than on the fence? There are times and places where diplomacy is the best option. There are, too, roles and situations in which a degree of neutrality is essential to enable a successful outcome. Coaching, mediation, group facilitation and process consultation are good examples. To become too embedded or embroiled is to lose the value that relative independence can bring. Yet, in spite of this, the most radical change often takes place at the bleeding edge.

What does that mean? At times it’s about leadership, taking a firm stance based on our beliefs and values, no matter how unpopular that may be or make us. This sometimes involves taking a counter-stance to prevailing received-wisdom, culture and norms. We associate various graphic metaphors with this approach, e.g. cutting edge; cut-through. The bleeding can result from the reaction, the push-back, the potential personal and professional cost. To take a stance can be and feel bruising.

At times it’s about being authentic, congruent and revealing our proverbial cards. ‘This is my stance on this issue. Let’s discuss how we can manage the boundary together so that it works positively for our relationship’ is very different to, ‘I don’t have a view on this’ or, ‘I don’t want to reveal my stance in case it impacts negatively on our relationship.’ The former can build trust; the latter may leave a person or a group suspicious or unsure. In my experience, this can be a sharp edge to negotiate.

How do you handle disclosure and stance in your professional relationships? How close do you get to the bleeding edge?
18 Comments
Sudeshna Chakraborty
10/3/2021 11:12:20 am

Cannot agree more to this, it is important to be authentic and taking that stance. Yes that’s not appropriate at all times and one may loose their value if its used as a default. But to me true leadership is about knowing the right time and the moment when it is needed to take that stance and one who can take that. It may seem unpopular initially but that’s what will demand respect in the long term. It’s important to have the confidence and courage!

Love this article 👏🏻

Reply
Nick Wright
10/3/2021 11:18:05 am

Hi Sudeshna and thank you for such encouraging feedback. 'Knowing the right time and right moment to take a stance.' I like that. I spoke with a Chinese friend this week, now living in the UK, and she commented that she's noticed UK people are sometimes too polite to take a stance in case it feels excluding or offensive to others. I found that intriguing. It my experience, staking a stance in the right spirit calls for humility and courage.

Reply
Sudeshna Chakraborty
10/3/2021 08:11:41 pm

Nick, thank you for your appreciation. That is such an interesting observation or comment from your friend. I do agree partly to that but equally believe culture is such a complex and multi-layered thing. As the work ethos or culture completely differ in other countries. Whilst I agree there is the politeness which sometime may restrict this. But it also comes with other elements which I appreciate. I know in India its different and for me I have got too much of the britishness in me since living here for almost my adult life. However, such interesting conversations to have :)

Nick Wright
10/3/2021 08:17:07 pm

Hi Sudeshna. Yes, culture is complex and multi-layered. It's one of the reasons I enjoy working cross-culturally. I find it fascinating to learn what people from different cultural backgrounds find, say, 'normal' and 'appropriate'. I'm intrigued by your experience. What do you notice now if you visit India...and what do people there notice as different in you?

Sudeshna Chakraborty
10/3/2021 09:40:30 pm

Ooh you got me into the things of my interests too. :) I haven't had the opportunity to 'work' in the multi-culture arena but I experience that in my everyday live and I find it fascinating and can never stop to evaluate these things further. Yes, things mean so different things in different cultures and even the tone vary. Would love to share thoughts and possibly we can talk about this in more depth when we catch up. Certainly 'fuels' for our conversation.

Nick Wright
10/3/2021 09:42:16 pm

Hi Sudeshna. On the cross-cultural theme, you may find this short related piece interesting? It received some fascinating responses! https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/cross-cultural-coaching

Adrian Newbery
10/3/2021 03:50:15 pm

Hi Nick, really interesting and concise read, I found the dichotomy between disclosure and stance thought provoking, appreciate the article.

Reply
Nick Wright
10/3/2021 03:50:56 pm

Hi Adrian. Thank you for such affirming feedback!

Reply
Catherine Sherlock
11/3/2021 09:19:02 am

So true about change at the bleeding edge. And yes, so important for leaders to explore this within themselves. Especially those who want innovation. It's all too easy to fall into the status quo.

Reply
Nick Wright
11/3/2021 09:24:35 am

Thank you, Catherine. I like the link you draw between leadership and innovation. It reminded me of Ralph Stacey's comment that: '(an) organisation... faces the paradox of needing consistency and stability in order to conduct its existing business in an efficient day-to-day manner, and also needing to shatter that consistency and stability in order to generate creative new moves... Success…is [therefore] a creative, innovative process that requires exposure to and management of contradiction.’

Reply
Catherine Sherlock
11/3/2021 08:57:04 pm

That's a good comment. For me, it emphasizes the need for inside-out leadership, to grow within the self, be able to access more capabilities, and feel more fulfilled in doing it all.

Nick Wright
11/3/2021 09:00:50 pm

Hi Catherine. Can you say a bit more about inside-out leadership, perhaps with an example from experience to illustrate it? In my experience, leaders often become more resourceful by looking outwards. Here's a short, recent idea of what this could look like at an organisational level: https://www.nick-wright.com/outside-in.html. Let me know what you think?

Catherine Sherlock
12/3/2021 12:31:43 am

What you're talking about is the action part.

But we all start with the self. If we want to have more impact, develop our potential capacities and ensure we're having connected success and feeling fulfilled we have to start there.

As you grow as a leader, so will the challenges. You can smack up against them or you can grow yourself so those challenges become mangeable.

We can take the example of innovation. For innovation, you need to creativity. That's an inside-out thing. It requires you to be able to think differently, challenge assumptions and the status quo, use your whole brain.

It's enhanced by changing the relationship to self, creating more peace where there's turmoil, opening up that space to focus on what you want rather than where you're getting struggling. It means relating to yourself as ally rather than the society default as enemy. It means more inspired action, more tapping and growing your potential.

Inside-out leadership development is enormously different from the usual attempt to adopt someone's idea of must-have leadership attributes.

Nick Wright
12/3/2021 12:40:00 am

Thanks, Catherine, for presenting such a stimulating argument. I really appreciate it. I agree that there is an inner dimension to leadership, and that the inner dimension is very significant. (There are resonances here with, for instance, Timothy Gallwey's Inner Game).

I also believe relational, cultural and contextual factors are highly significant in leadership too. For instance, creativity often arises out of interaction with others who are different, and leadership in its fullest sense only makes sense in relation to other people and situations too.

On that point, I would love to hear what you think of this short 'thinking out loud' piece that I wrote for About Leaders: https://www.nick-wright.com/leadership-as-a-relational-dynamic.html

Catherine Sherlock
12/3/2021 11:12:06 am

Leadership competencies and all those personality tests leave me cold. As you say, they're reductionist. You can be so busy trying to fit people into little boxes that you lose the essence. Plus, we know that once we've labeled something, we stop learning.

Same with leadership traits. I just put out a post on that yesterday. There are 100's, maybe 1000's of different must-have traits that have been identified. Often contractictory. What they do is focus us outward rather than toward our own geniuses. They make us feel like imposters and failures as we can never measure up to these ideal states.

As a leader, we have to be able to lead ourselves first. Our relationship to ourself is our first relationship and where everything springs from. The more we know ourselves, the more freedom and choice we experience.

It's where we can develop super human capacities. Build a rock solid foundation.

The self is also where you connect to consciousness that greater than you.

Nick Wright
12/3/2021 11:19:40 am

Thanks Catherine. It sounds like you are describing personal development for leaders - which is incredibly important. A couple of texts come to mind: the Arbinger Institute's Leadership and Self-Deception, and Simon Walker's Leading Out of Who You Are.

I'm describing leadership development, in the sense of leadership as a relational and cultural dynamic. We could say the latter is about the leader, but not only about the leader. That's where I find Alex Swarbrick's reflections so profound and interesting:

'I wonder if leadership isn't always recognised at the time but is construed as leadership after the event, particularly by the follower more than the leader. As a follower, I am the only one who can legitimately apply the label leadership to what I experienced as a result of what you the leader did, how you were, what happened between us etc. If you the leader use the term leadership, all you can apply to it is a set of behaviours or competencies which may not have landed with me as leadership.'

Catherine Sherlock
13/3/2021 11:32:16 pm

I am describing personal growth for sure, Nick. But it doesn't end there. When you change the self, change your thinking, for example, from linear to holistic, the changes radiate out naturally. You're not having to put effort into effecting outer change, using will power and all that. It flows easily.

Nick Wright
13/3/2021 11:35:00 pm

Hi Catherine. I like that way of expressing it: 'the changes radiate out naturally.' The best example of truly radiant leadership I have encountered is in and through the life of this extraordinary woman among the poor in the Philippines: https://www.nick-wright.com/a-radical-heart.html




Leave a Reply.

    ​Nick Wright

    ​I'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? ​Get in touch!

    Picture
    Like what you read? Simply enter your email address below to receive regular blog updates!
    Subscribe to Blog
    Picture
    Picture


    ​Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abc
    Ability
    Accountability
    Achievement
    Act
    Action
    Action Learning
    Activism
    Adaptability
    Adaptive
    Advent
    Adventure
    Africa
    Agency
    Agile
    Ambiguity
    Angle
    Anticipation
    Anxiety
    Appraisal
    Appreciation
    Appreciative
    Appreciative Inquiry
    Approach
    Argyris
    Asia
    Assumption
    Assumptions
    Asylum
    Attachment
    Attention
    Attitude
    Audience
    Authenticity
    Authority
    Autonomy
    Avoidance
    Awareness
    Behaviour
    Being
    Belief
    Beliefs
    Bias
    Bible
    Body Language
    Boundaries
    Brainstorming
    Brand
    Calling
    Care
    Career
    Censorship
    Challenge
    Change
    Character
    Charity
    Child
    Choice
    Choose
    Christ
    Christian
    Christmas
    Clarity
    Client
    Climate
    Coach
    Coaching
    Coactive
    Cognition
    Cognitive
    Cognitive Behavioural
    Commitment
    Communication
    Community
    Compassion
    Competence
    Competencies
    Complexity
    Concepts
    Conflict
    Confluence
    Congruence
    Consciousness
    Construct
    Constructs
    Construe
    Consultancy
    Contact
    Content
    Context
    Contracting
    Contribution
    Control
    Conversation
    Corruption
    Counselling
    Counterintiution
    Counterintuition
    Countertransference
    Courage
    Craziness
    Creativity
    Credibility
    Crisis
    Critical Consciousness
    Critical Reflection
    Critical Reflective Practice
    Critical Reflexivity
    Critical Thinking
    Critique
    Cross
    Cross Culture
    Cross-culture
    Culture
    Curiosity
    Customer Care
    Customers
    Customer Service
    Death
    Deception
    Decision
    Deconstruction
    Defence
    Defences
    Deferred Gratification
    Definition
    Delusion
    Democracy
    Depression
    Determination
    Development
    Deviance
    Deviant
    Diagnosis
    Disaster
    Discernment
    Disclosure
    Discovery
    Discrimination
    Disruptive
    Dissent
    Dissident
    Dissonance
    Distinctiveness
    Distortion
    Diversity
    Dream
    Dynamic
    Dynamics
    Easter
    Ecology
    Edge
    Edi
    Education
    Effectiveness
    Efficiency
    Ego State
    Eliciting
    Emergence
    Emotion
    Emotional
    Emotional Intelligence
    Empathy
    Empowerment
    Encouragement
    Energy
    Engagement
    Environment
    Equality
    Eternity
    Ethics
    Ethiopia
    Evaluation
    Evidence
    Evocative
    Existential
    Existentialism
    Expectation
    Expectations
    Experience
    Experiment
    Experimentation
    Exploration
    Explore
    Exposure
    Facilitation
    Faith
    Fear
    Feedback
    Feeling
    Feminism
    Figure
    Filter
    Fit
    Flashback
    Focus
    Forgiveness
    Framework
    Freedom
    Freud
    Fun
    Future
    Gender
    Geopolitical
    Geopolitics
    Gestalt
    Global
    Goal
    Goals
    God
    Gospel
    Grace
    Grief
    Grit
    Ground
    Group
    Guidance
    Healing
    Health
    Hear
    Heidegger
    Hero
    Hope
    Human
    Human Givens
    Humanity
    Human Resources
    Human Rights
    Humility
    Humour
    Hybrid
    Hypotheses
    Hypothesis
    Icon
    Ideation
    Identity
    Image
    Imagination
    Impact
    Impostor
    Inclusion
    Independence
    Influence
    INGO
    Initiative
    Injustice
    Innovation
    Inquiry
    Insecurity
    Insight
    Inspiration
    Instinct
    Integrity
    Intention
    Interdependence
    Interference
    International
    Interpretation
    Intimacy
    Introversion
    Intuition
    Invisible
    Jargon
    Jesus
    Journey
    Jungle
    Justice
    Keys
    Knowing
    Knowledge
    Labels
    Language
    Lateral Thinking
    Leader
    Leadership
    Learner
    Learning
    Lesson
    Liberal
    Life
    Light
    Listening
    Logic
    Loss
    Love
    Management
    Manager
    Marathon
    Matrix
    Mbti
    Meaning
    Media
    Mediation
    Meetings
    Memory
    Mentoring
    Merit
    Metaphor
    Metaphysic
    Mindfulness
    Miracle
    Mirroring
    Misfit
    Mission
    Mode
    Morality
    Motivation
    Mystery
    Narrative
    Nazis
    Need
    Negotiation
    Neo-Nazi
    Networking
    News
    New Year
    Norm
    Norms
    Noticing
    Online
    Operations
    Opportunity
    Oppression
    Organisation
    Organisation Develoment
    Organisation Development
    Origin
    Pace
    Panic
    Paradigm
    Paradox
    Partnership
    Passion
    Pastoral
    Pattern Matching
    Peace
    People
    Perception
    Perfectionism
    Performance
    Perseverance
    Personal Constructs
    Personal Leadership
    Person Centred
    Perspective
    Phenomenology
    Phenomenon
    Philippines
    Philosophy
    Physicality
    Plan
    Plans
    Plato
    Play
    Plot
    Polarity
    Policy
    Politics
    Poor
    Positive
    Positive Psychology
    Posture
    Potential
    Potential#
    Poverty
    Power
    Practice
    Pragmatism
    Praxis
    Prayer
    Preference
    Preferences
    Prepare
    Presence
    Principles
    Priorities
    Priority
    Privilege
    Proactivity
    Problem Solving
    Process
    Professional
    Progressive
    Projection
    Projects
    Prompt
    Propaganda
    Protection
    Protest
    Providence
    Provocative
    Psychoanalysis
    Psychodynamic
    Psychodynamics
    Psychology
    Psychometrics
    Psychotherapy
    Purpose
    Quality
    Questions
    Race
    Radical
    Rational
    Rationale
    Rationalisation
    Rationality
    Reality
    Reason
    Reasoning
    Reconciliation
    Recruitment
    Reflect
    Reflection
    Reflective Practice
    Reflexivity
    Reframing
    Refugee
    Refugees
    Relationship
    Relationships
    Release
    Religion
    Representation
    Rescue
    Research
    Resilience
    Resonance
    Resourcefulness
    Responsibility
    Responsive
    Responsiveness
    Revelation
    Reward
    Rights
    Risk
    Role
    Role Model
    Rosabeth Moss-kanter
    Rules
    Sabbath
    Satire
    Satnav
    Saviour
    Schemata
    School
    Science
    Secure Base
    Security
    See
    Selection
    Selective Attention
    Self
    Sense Making
    Senses
    Sensitivity
    Serendipity
    Servant
    Shadow
    Significance
    Silence
    Sin
    Skills
    Social Construct
    Social Construction
    Social Constructionism
    Social Media
    Social Psychology
    Socrates
    Solution Focused
    Solutions
    Solutions Focus
    Solutions-focus
    Space
    Speed
    Spirit
    Spirituality
    Stance
    Stealth
    Stereotype
    Stereotypes
    Story
    Strategic
    Strategy
    Strengths
    Stress
    Stretch
    Structure
    Struggle
    Stuck
    Style
    Subconscious
    Subjectivity
    Success
    Suffering
    Supervision
    Support
    Survival
    Sustainability
    Symbol
    Symbolism
    Systems
    Systems Thinking
    TA
    Tactical
    Tactics
    Talent
    Teacher
    Teaching
    Team
    Teamwork
    Teenage
    Theology
    Theory
    Therapy
    Thinking
    Thought
    Time
    Touch
    Toys
    Traction
    Trade
    Tradition
    Training
    Transactional Analysis
    Transference
    Transformation
    Transition
    Transitional Object
    Trauma
    Trust
    Truth
    Uncertainty
    Unexpected
    Vallues
    Value
    Values
    Violence
    Visibility
    Vision
    Voice
    VUCA
    Vulnerability
    Vulnerable
    Waiting
    War
    Wealth
    Weird
    Wellbeing
    Will
    Willingness
    Window
    Wisdom
    Wonder
    Words
    World
    Worth
    Youth
    Zoom

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • Articles
    • Organisations and leadership
    • Learning and development
    • Coaching and counselling
  • Blog
  • e-Resources
  • News
  • Contact