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Case-Study. Dialogical Leadership and Teamwork

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Creating Organizational Value through Dialogical Leadership

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Abstract

In 2015 and 2016 we conducted a leadership and innovation project with Océ, entitled ‘Leading Innovation to Grow’ with a team of two Boardmembers (CEO and CFO) and 11 (Senior) Vice Presidents (SVP).

Leadership is the ability to act and to enable others to act

M. Asscher (De Gids 2016/3, 5)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Océ is part of the Canon group. Océ is a global leader in digital imaging, industrial printing and collaborative business services. The organization operates as a global network of R&D centers to connect emerging digital print technologies to future markets. Océ is headquartered in the Netherlands and has locations throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia, employing about 12.000 people.

  2. 2.

    The interviews with the participants about their experiences and the impact of the process are done by Martijn van Hal, who co-authored this chapter.

  3. 3.

    This is a self-score, given during the conversation. We invite our partner in dialogue to validate the score (as an intuitive assessment) after the session by asking for feedback and discuss it with colleagues. The highest scores in the I-position are marked. This is an illustration of a method to (self-)assess leadership styles and sources, by dividing 100% amongst ‘vision’—‘push’—‘pull’. And 100% for ‘rationality’—‘intuition’—‘non-verbal’. By exploring your styles and sources in different I-positions, you develop an increased awareness of patterns in thinking, feeling, and acting. In this leadership journey a conversation about these insights is part of the agenda in the preparation. For details: Van Loon 2006.

  4. 4.

    After they had worked in sub teams on specific topics, the assignment was to report back to a blindfolded group. Aim of the exercise is to practice listening, without being distracted by what you see (non-verbal behavior) in the audience. For the presenter (not blindfolded) the challenge was to make an impact without getting non-verbal (and verbal) feedback from the group. The impact of a simple exercise like this can be massive, supposed the level on trust is well set. We could not have done this in one of the first two/three phases of the journey.

  5. 5.

    To inspire literally means to take breathe in, to fill with spirit. Inspiring is the capacity to move people by reaching into their hearts from deeper sources of meaning. Heifetz et al. 2009.

  6. 6.

    John Hagel—Deloitte Center for The Edge. http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2014/04/personal-narratives-insight-and-impact.html.

  7. 7.

    Bohm 1996.

  8. 8.

    One of the participants made the acronym: PROCESS. Propose, Reformulate/Reposition, Observe, Communicate, Enhance/Enrich, Solve, and Suspend—starting a new cycle.

  9. 9.

    Lencioni 2002.

  10. 10.

    See figure: overview of Team Values, Team Purpose, and Behavioral Indicators (Figs. 7.6 and 7.7).

  11. 11.

    Isaacs 1993; Isaacs 1999.

  12. 12.

    Hickman 2016.

  13. 13.

    Some authors use the term social capitalism with roughly the same meaning as social market economy, Rhine capitalism, typically when contrasting it with the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism. Rather than seeing it as an antithesis, some authors describe Rhine capitalism as successful synthesis of the Anglo-American model with social democracy. (source: Wikipedia).

  14. 14.

    How this works exactly in detail is out of scope for this book. It could be a topic for further (Ph.D.) research.

  15. 15.

    Conversation August 24 2016.

  16. 16.

    Collings 1996. Remember Hickman’s view on purpose as directing the process of relational responsibility in the organization. (Hickman 2016).

  17. 17.

    Morioka 2012; Morioka 2008; Morioka 2015.

  18. 18.

    Van Loon and Van Dijk 2015, 73.

  19. 19.

    Sharon Schweitzer, CEO of Protocol and Etiquette Worldwide, and an expert on how managers can assimilate in foreign countries. Eric Barton in an online article: In Japanese workplaces, positive feedback is rarely given—accolades can cause you to lose face: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20160822-why-you-dont-give-praise-in-japan. (2016).

  20. 20.

    Lavie 2006.

  21. 21.

    Schaubroeck et al. 2011.

  22. 22.

    Swift and Hwang 2013.

  23. 23.

    The quotes were taken during the sessions by Martijn van Hal, who observed and described the entire process.

  24. 24.

    Eisenhardt and Martin 2000.

  25. 25.

    Hermans 2006, 53.

  26. 26.

    Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 2004.

  27. 27.

    March 1991; Duncan 1976; Tushman and O’Reilly 1996.

  28. 28.

    Meyer and Meijers 2010, 4.

  29. 29.

    Remind the confusion between value as financial and moral. Our language uses the same word with two completely different connoted meanings.

  30. 30.

    Whelan et al. 2011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Humanities, Dialogical Leadership, Tilburg University, AB Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Rens van Loon

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  1. Rens van Loon
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van Loon, R. (2017). Case-Study. Dialogical Leadership and Teamwork. In: Creating Organizational Value through Dialogical Leadership . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58889-6_7

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