4THMovement: Bridge to the Emergent Future
The point of living and of being in business is to solve real world problems, and in so doing, change the world. The point is that you need to achieve the outcomes you desire. Thinking Differently, Thinking Together, and Seeing Beyond bring us to the point of action. It is in the fourth movement that action is taken, to realize, and sustain the transformative changes made possible by the first three movements. Freed from the distorted understandings of being in the world, you and your organization can now respond more creatively and appropriately to whatever circumstances may arise. However, as important as it is that action is taken to realize the changes, it is equally important that the means by which the changes are produced are ethical.
Our practice of leadership and change is informed by Joseph C. Rost’s definition: “Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes”. These principles of ethical leadership are embedded in and are an integral part of our approach to transformational learning and change. By learning how to temporarily suspend your habits of mind, you have entered into relationships based on collaborative-influence, you now are allowing others to communicate something truly new to you. Because you are Thinking Together and Thinking Differently, the changes you intend are an outcome of what all involved can embrace as consensus, rather than concessions or compromises. In this Movement, you now apply the same principles to the implementation of the intended changes in order to realize your desired and preferred future state.
Because change is the most distinguishing element of leadership, it is distinctly different from management. Change, especially transformative change, cannot be controlled. Instead, transformative change must be allowed to unfold and emerge. Change management programs often fail to produce the desired outcomes, or if the outcomes are produced, they are often not sustained. Transformational change is most often successfully achieved through leadership but only rarely through management predicated on command and control.
Through the Fisher Israel approach to leadership, the real and substantive changes you intend will not only be made real but sustainable and ethical.
