Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond: How to create an integrated 21st century organisation

By Anne Stenbom and Helen Battersby

In Leadership Through COVID-19 and Beyond the authors present a simple yet insightful framework, the Discovery Prism© to support all of us in the turbulent times we are in. This is a guide to reconnecting the positive human energy in organisations toward shared purpose and extraordinary possibility. <

• Language: English
• Publisher: GBL Books
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781838167417

Anne Stenbom

Anne Stenbom is co-author of the Discovery Prism, (2019) to be published in 2020 as a 2nd edition under the new title: Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond. Anne is also co-founder of Global Business Leaders (GBL), a leadership development consultancy for the 21st century that supports organisations across Europe and globally. Anne's passion is to help develop thriving organisations that practice sustainability from a human as well as an environmental perspective. In all her work, whether as coach to individuals, teams or when running leadership development programmes, she takes a coach approach, encouraging active participation to help people make a positive and lasting difference to their world. As well as being an executive coach, Anne is an accomplished intercultural specialist. She has more than 30 years of international business experience working for large multi-nationals across the globe, and across functions and industries. She loves the challenge of complexity and ambiguity within organisations and feels equally comfortable working with large groups as she is with individuals. Being based in London and Stockholm, Anne lives a multicultural life both at home and work and speaks five languages (English, Swedish, French, Danish and German) fluently.

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Praise for The Discovery Prism©

"To achieve great things you must have an overarching purpose that can be easily explained and all will be compelled to serve. Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond explains the theory and rationale in very understandable language as to how an organisation could approach this - using examples of people all of us can relate to. A pragmatic, transformational leadership book."

Dr Donal Collins, GP

Clinical lead for NHS vanguard team (UK), winners of Health Service Journal System Leadership award 2019

"This update of the Discovery Prism couldn’t be more timely. As organisations currently struggle to harness resources to plot a viable future, the elegant model in this book invites leaders to work with their full range of diverse stakeholders and construct a valuable future, based on co-created purpose. Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond also helps us re-imagine the meaning of leadership, inviting leaders to think of themselves as connectors and curators, rather than being the source of all the answers. It’s a persuasive, practical and relevant resource and it will make you reflect deeply."

Dr Rob Sheffield

Visiting Fellow, University of West of England, and Director, Bluegreen Learning

I found the Discovery Prism© framework a very valuable lens through which to consider my work and my future. Anne and Helen provide clarity and a practical approach that helped me take a step-by-step approach to the complexity of thinking through my purpose, values, vision and so on. It was a great support.

Dr Emma Donaldson-Feilder

Affinity Coaching and Supervision, UK

"Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond is a book for extraordinary human times. The Discovery Prism© presents a multifaceted organisational and team development framework for growing value and connection. New worlds require new rules and the book provides this. Nicely structured, thought provoking with lots of practical tools and references and some really great reflective questions equally apt for coaching leaders and teams. ‘Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been’ (John Whittier). This book will help leaders and coaches to make their best human contribution and mitigate against the ‘might have been’."

Niamh Shiells

Fellow Association for Coaching, Leadership & Team Coach, Advance Coach Ltd, Ireland

It’s very seldom that a new idea comes along that truly has the potential to radically enhance team and organizational performance. The Discovery Prism© framework is that new idea! Anne and Helen have delivered what I believe to be a ‘best in class’ leadership tool for 21st century leaders who want to support their organisations through and beyond this global pandemic. You must have it in your leadership toolbox!

Tom Pirrone

Former Senior Vice President, World View Enterprises, Inc., USA

"Companies embrace change to survive in the market and it’s hard for employees to bridge their understanding of strategic intent against the reality of their day-to-day. Senior management speak is not always easy to interpret and in the midst of the daily routine it is hard to connect what you do, to what the company says it wants to be and how it intends to get there. The aim of Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond in providing a framework for a clear, consistent and shared understanding of how strategy is delivered is unique, novel and long overdue.

"The clarity of an individual’s purpose and that of the team has been sharply brought in to focus in adapting to cope with the pandemic and having a framework that aligns terminology to outcome for teams working remotely is a powerful aid.

Any organisation that is serious about successfully delivering in especially challenging and tumultuous times, must create the environment for their people to excel by bringing dynamism to remote team working. This book provides a proven mechanism for involvement and engagement at all levels, ensuring there is a common understanding up, down and across an organisation, encouraging people to take responsibility and thrive without fear.

Geoff Pinch

Change Environment Leader, UK

"Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond is a practical guide on how to implement coaching analysis at the organizational level. It’s a toolkit for reaching results through a concrete methodology around organizational culture. It’s permeated by concepts of dialogue and collaboration, as keys to good organizational insights. Definitely a valuable read for leaders who want to have an impact, and for people who believe in the power of personal values."

Francesca Romana Marcucci

Head of People & Culture Development, WWF International

What I really like about the Discovery Prism© is it provides the simple framework to help individuals, teams and organisations to ask those valuable questions; where they are now, what they are leaving behind and where they want to go in the future, which really helps to view the future with greater clarity and certainty. All too often these important questions are forgotten and the focus on the bigger purpose becomes secondary to the day to day task and output focused mind set. The framework really helps you evaluate what is important to your people and to remind us all about being accountable to yourself for the results you want to see.

Kirstie Loveridge

Senior Vice President, Human Resources, AEG Europe

"The understanding of leadership and organisational development is vast – and still at least one book has been missing so far. In Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond, Anne Stenbom and Helen Battersby of GBL take us on a both philosophical and practical journey into the fundamentals of leadership and organisation. This is a holistic approach into seeing the roles of individuals, teams, and organisations and into how and where they can contribute. The intersection of different lenses define the legacy, promises and strategy of the organisation, yielding to a prism where the real fundamentals emerge. By engaging, in presence, you will be guided to understanding what is really important in each state or situation for the organisation. For me, experienced in futures thinking, scenarios, and vision building, this book gives me further understanding and tools for strengthening organisations for the future. Not least in times of great turbulence and possible world disorder, do we need to understand both who we are and what possible and desired futures look like. It should be required reading for any leader who wants to develop their organisation holistically – also in the face of a pandemic."

Ulf Boman

Future Strategist and Senior Advisor, Kairos Future, Sweden

The authors present a simple framework that supports joined-up thinking. This is imperative for businesses to perform in our complex, ever-changing environment. It shows a way forward, through collaborative practices, to create workplaces where people can give their best service now and for the future. Essential reading for those who want to be part of building a powerful 21st century organisation!

Michael Rask

Director Wafer Fab, Finisar Sweden AB

"The challenge before every leader is to expand thinking and align actions in service to stakeholders. In Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond, the authors present the Discovery Prism© , a practical framework that supports expanded thinking, stakeholder alignment and collaboration as organizations navigate the VUCA world."

Mary Ellen Rogahn

Former Senior Vice President, Global Coaching, Lee Hecht Harrison

An extremely useful guide giving insights into how to enhance your organisation, your teams and every individual contributing to your overall success. A refreshing look at the power of individuals and exploring ways to get the very best outcomes, collectively and individually. This can only give positive results, with an engaged workforce with keen interest in the strategic intent of an organisation and feeling as if they play a part in the future success.

Steve Hails

Director of Business Services & HSW, Thames Tideway Tunnel, UK

"If ever there was a time of relevance for the Discovery Prism© presented in Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond, surely that time is now. 2020 has been a year when businesses, leaders and employees of organisations are all reflecting and having ‘future shock’. What do we want from work, from life, the organisations we work for, the teams we work with and from our leaders? Now more than ever leaders need to reflect on their leadership impact, and how they align their teams to an organisation purpose that benefits all stakeholders. I think the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a significant shift, not just in how we work in the future, but also how we want to be led. Purpose is more critical than ever as is the human connection, and the experience colleagues and customers have alike working with an organisation. I think leaders need to bring care and compassion as well as resilience and grit to their leadership. The Discovery Prism© is a great leadership toolkit to help leaders navigate to tomorrow."

Nicky Pattimore

Chief People & Customer Officer | Global Business Services City & Guilds Group

LEADERSHIP

THROUGH COVID-19

AND BEYOND

How to create an integrated

21st century organisation

Anne Stenbom and Helen Battersby

Copyright 2020 by Helen Battersby & Anne Stenbom

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review

Strenuous attempts have been made to credit all copyrighted materials used in this book. All such materials and trademarks, which are referenced in this book, are the full property of their respective copyright owners. Every effort has been made to obtain copyright permission for material quoted in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.

Printed in the United Kingdom

First Printing 2020

Second Edition

ISBN: 978-1-8381674-0-0 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-8381674-1-7 (eBook)

GBL Books

Gosport

Hampshire

PO12 2DA

We dedicate this book with hope to future generations represented by our children Oscar, Oliver and Eric; Thomas and Millie.

Acknowledgements

We would like to highlight authors whose work transcends seismic events. We feel we are part of a wave of organisational and leadership thought leaders who see the organisation as profoundly human: where potential can be limited or maximised by many of the same factors that derail or maximise potential in individuals. Instead of a hero CEO these thought leaders recognise and champion the capacity of collaborative, aligned working to achieve extraordinary performance. Instead of reacting to the increasing complexity of the world by creating more processes, greater hierarchies, reinforcing command and control, winners and losers, this wave of experts talk about humility, emergence, transformational learning, presence, and maximising potential. All of these are as relevant to powerful leadership and thriving organisations beyond Covid-19 as they were before.

We would like to mention a few of these prominent influencers: Frederic Laloux: Reinventing Organizations; Alan Seale: Create a World that Works; Graham Leicester and Maureen O’Hara: Dancing at the Edge: Competence, Culture and Organization in the 21st Century; Joseph Jaworski: Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership; Richard Barrett: Liberating the Corporate Soul; Jefferson Cann and Nigel Linacre: An Introduction to 3 Dimensional Leadership; Peter Hawkins: Leadership Team Coaching and Leandro Herrero: Viral Change. Along with many others all have, in their own unique ways, been supporting and inspiring change agents within the business realm and society.

Finally with love and gratitude we would like to acknowledge those whose exemplary leadership we have experienced first hand, Phil Clothier and Tor Eneroth of the Barrett Values Centre, and Dr Eliane Ubalijoro who has written the foreword.

Thanks

We would also like to thank those who kindly read chapters and whose feedback led to improvements in the book: Mike Battersby, Jenny Brett-Phare, Ken Charman, Geoff Pinch, Oscar Stenbom, Oliver Stenbom and Kerstin Wejlid. Too numerous to mention individually, thanks to all of those who have provided feedback from the original version The Discovery Prism: A fresh lens on 21st century organisations and allowed us to share stories, quotes and examples as well as those who provided testimonials. For professionalism, guidance and support we are grateful to our book mentor Karen Williams, editor Louise Lubke Cuss, designer Sam Pearce and to Steve Curtis for designing our cover.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Thanks

Foreword

About the Discovery Prism© Framework

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Discovery Prism©

Chapter 2: Bigger Purpose and Core Values

Chapter 3: Vision

Chapter 4: Stakeholders and Mission

Chapter 5: Promises

Chapter 6: Strategy

Chapter 7: Legacy

Chapter 8: The Prism

Conclusion

Glossary

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Endnotes

Foreword

Foreword

In Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond, Helen Battersby and Anne Stenbom have updated the groundbreaking first edition of The Discovery Prism: A fresh lens on 21st century organisations to support all of us in the turbulent times we are in. No one on the planet today is unaffected by Covid-19. This tiny virus with five essential genes and six accessory proteins¹ has brought humanity to its knees. Humans have on average 20,000–25,000 genes in comparison². One of the most primitive organisms in the world, a virus has humbled our genetic and material might. This time of deep humility as we reflect on the next new normal and rebuilding better is a crisis and an opportunity to pivot, but it contains many risks and uncertainty. As I write this foreword on August 9th, 2020, there have been 19,992,753 Covid-19 cases and 733,085 deaths globally³. All leaders today need to be conversant in how to flip a VUCA world from Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity to Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility. This book is an excellent guide to navigate the chaos we are facing, in ways that align values, culture, mission and strategy to benefit organizations and the wellbeing of the people they serve.

We can no longer take for granted that biodiversity is a nice to have. We live in a world today where up to one million plant and animal species are facing extinction due to human activities. Humans and livestock today represent ten times more biomass than all the wild mammals on the planet. According to UNEP’s Frontiers 2016 report⁴, diseases transmitted from animals to humans represent 60% of all infectious diseases in humans and 75% of all emerging infectious diseases. The urgency to reverse biodiversity loss, given these numbers, is urgent for humanity to thrive on earth. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted humanity in a way that will require imagining a new way forward. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.⁵

Humanity urgently needs to operate at a new level of consciousness where we value natural capital not only in terms of the human, economic and social benefits we receive from ecosystems but in ways that will allow us to bend the curve of biodiversity loss, a key factor in this and previous pandemics. Natural capital is the world’s stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Some natural capital assets provide people with free goods and services, often called ecosystem services. Two of these (clean water and fertile soil) underpin our economy and society, and thus make human life possible⁶. A recent 2020 article estimates natural capital to provide humanity with an estimated US$125 trillion of value annually⁷. Comparatively in 2019, the GDP of the US was US$21.44 trillion⁸ while