A leader may learn their best lessons by watching a sheepdog. Sheepdogs are bright, full of unbridled energy, and loyal. They are, above all, goal oriented and intensely focused on rounding up the sheep for which they are responsible and herding them in the right direction. In this same way, the visionary sheepdog guides the group in the right strategic direction. But how can we take the lessons learned from the sheepdog and apply them to the business world? A modern business fable, The Visionary Sheepdog was developed by Susan J. Lindahl and Paul A. Lindahl Jr. The successful leader is often the one who says less and directs less, instead gaining more in goal attainment and cultural equilibrium by remaining focused on the task. The fable helps to put in perspective the role of a leader in an organizational intervention. The concept is straightforward. We start by leading one or two people as we try to herd them to the location of the tools, materials and knowledge they need, with the hope that they will pick those things up and begin to learn how to use them effectively. We then continue herding them to join with more people by circling around and around to keep the stragglers in the group as a sheepdog would do with his or her herd. As the knowledge grows and the group is brought to clear goals by the sheepdog (leader), the goal-oriented, empowered and enabled team processes emerge.
THE VISIONARY SHEEPDOG
A Leadership BookBy Susan J. Lindahl Paul A. Lindahl Jr.iUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2012 Susan J. Lindahl & Paul A. Lindahl Jr.
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4759-5523-1Contents
Introduction.............................................1Lesson in Leadership.....................................2Translating the Analogy..................................20Understanding True North.................................21Picking the Team.........................................27Understanding the Gaps...................................29Defining "Critical Mass".................................30Planning to Get There....................................32Learning and Translating "the Story".....................34Leadership Context.......................................36Facilitating Conversations...............................37Setting the Compass......................................39Providing That Compass...................................43Sheepdogs Don't Rest Much................................45Conceptual Grounding.....................................47Reading List.............................................49About the Authors........................................51
Chapter One
Lesson in Leadership
This analogy illustrates a lesson in leadership that remains elusive to many.
Picture a fairly large island.
From only one point, on the very tip of the island, you can just barely see the mainland.
There is a group of people who have ended up wandering around the island and have no idea where they are.
On the island, there are enough tools, materials, and even books on boatbuilding and sailing to build a boat and sail to the mainland.
There isn't enough food to last long.
You are the only one on the island who knows where the mainland is and that everything is there on the island to build a boat and get everyone safely to the mainland.
The challenge is that you are a sheepdog.
Since you need to be the leader, you must be a very bright and visionary sheepdog.
But you are a sheepdog, and you can't tell anyone what to do.
So you do what a sheepdog does.
You start with one or two people and try to herd them. You herd them to the places where the tools, materials, and books are, and you hope they will pick those things up and begin to learn.
If you are lucky, some of the people are already carrying tools or books they've found, so you start with them.
If you are really lucky, some of them might even know something about boatbuilding or sailing.
You keep herding the people into more people and past more tools, materials, and books, circling around and around to keep the stragglers in the group.
Since you are a very visionary sheepdog, you know that sooner or later, these people are going to start talking to each other.
You know that as soon as you have enough of them, and they have enough of the tools, materials, and knowledge ...
... they are going to figure out that they can build a boat and sail it.
Now, if they do that when they're on the wrong part of the island, they will have achieved a process of boatbuilding and sailing, but you could all end up anywhere ...
As a visionary sheepdog, you know that if you plan your herding well enough, you can have that critical mass of people, tools, materials, and knowledge come together at that one point on the island where the goal is clearly in sight.
Then what does the process become, and whose process will it be?
A remaining but important question for the visionary sheepdog is whether, after all the herding around, they will take you with them.
If you are a very good and visionary sheepdog, they will hardly even notice you are there.
TRANSLATING THE ANALOGY
Putting the sheepdog to work begins with the following steps:
• Understanding True North
• Picking the Team
• Understanding the Gaps
• Defining "Critical Mass"
• Planning to Get There
• Learning and Translating "the Story"
UNDERSTANDING TRUE NORTH
Getting to the one point on the island ...
What is "true north"?
Just as with a compass, what the instrument (or facts) seem to show may not be the whole story.
The needle on a compass points to the magnetic North Pole, which isn't located at the same point as the geographic North Pole. The geographic North Pole is on the axis the earth rotates around. The geographic pole is used on maps. The difference is the origin of the expression "true north."
The offset between magnetic north and true north is a variable that our ancestors learned the hard way some time ago. Navigators use reference values to correct to true north based on facts about where they are on the earth. It is still more interesting to note that the magnetic pole moves around over the years, so the correction for one point in time is not the same as for another. Just as with organizations, "true north" is literally a moving target.
Truenorth is not a destination; it's a frame of reference that enables use of a compass with a map. The correction must be based on time-appropriate information to get to true north with a compass. In much the same way, the leader must bring the group to a "true north" that frequently changes, requiring adjustments to strategic plans, team goals, and communications as the understanding of true north evolves.
In the analogy, a "true north" piece of information known only by the sheepdog is that there is a point on the island where the desired destination can be seen.
For a leader, it is important, before starting with the team, to find as many of such pieces of information as possible.
Examples might be the following:
• approaches to processes
• goal elaboration/definition of criteria for a goal
• mission/vision/values-driven criteria, such as greater good for the community in the big-picture perspective
Getting to the "true north" frame of reference is a journey that is ongoing. New information affecting the goal or approaches to the goal are likely to be discovered in the "herding" and team processes. The leader must be aware of the learning taking place by the team and must be prepared not only to learn and adapt, but also to herd toward the true-north-based goal.
"True north" is what the leader knows about getting to the goal and what the goal should include. It is analogous to being on the one point of the island where the mainland can be seen.
PICKING THE TEAM
Who do you herd?
Team members are key influencers and holders of key knowledge or skills, whether the scope of the team is big or small.
Team composition is a significant-enough subject to have been the basis of multiple books. Some factors for the context of this work are as follows:
• Homogenous groups may quickly become stale or dysfunctional.
• Whether you utilize the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or other personality sorting, a constructive mix of types is a valuable organizational tool for the leader.
• The smaller the team and the more high-performance-oriented, the more significant the mix and balance of types becomes, as well as the composite personality type of the team as a whole.
The size of the team depends on what the team needs to accomplish (goals) and the time frame required. Stakeholders may be needed based on organizational entities as well as institutional or cultural constituencies.
UNDERSTANDING THE GAPS
Where do you herd...
