Leadership Lens: Three key capabilities for a complex new world
Dr Josie McLean asks if exercising leadership is really about the outcomes you and a group of people can influence, then what else is required today?
When I ask leadership program participants, “What makes a good leader?” they describe someone who develops strong relationships, is trustworthy and authentic – someone they can feel comfortable following. Participants unconsciously seek direction and protection, never mentioning specific outcomes, and they assume leaders are people in positions of power who make things happen.
Roles of authority, like our parents when we were born, provide us with services; order, protection, and direction. But this is more akin to management than leadership as we might understand it today.
Authority vs. Leadership
Ronald Heifetz at Harvard’s Kennedy School developed the adaptive leadership framework, which distinguishes between authority and leadership as a verb rather than a position. Here, leadership is taught as the art of mobilising a group to challenge their existing beliefs and improve the greater good – either with a role of authority of not. This different definition of leadership emerges from a distinct worldview that helps us recognise ourselves, our organisations, and our communities as complex adaptive systems (CAS). We discover that we are part of these systems and therefore are always influencing them. We don’t need a high-level role to make a difference and be considered a ‘leader’. This realisation is empowering – we can choose to influence without formal authority or even permission.
Two Contrasting Types of Systems
But how do we influence? To answer, we must understand the nature of the system we are operating in.
We’re most familiar with simple systems and problems, like fixing a flat tyre on a bike. A flat tyre can be identified and fixed, returning the bike to its pre-flat-tire state. Change is ‘done to’ the bike by someone in control of the bike. This approach doesn’t work in complex systems because of their interconnectedness and information sharing across multiple relationships between parts over space and time. CAS are composed of many interacting, dynamic parts that naturally adapt to their environment, meaning the entire system displays emergent properties distinct from the behaviours of its individual parts. Change in this environment becomes “messy” rather than a straightforward, step-by-step process.
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Our organisations can be thought of as complex systems that, due to deep unconscious assumptions rooted in the mechanistic paradigm developed nearly 300 years ago, believe they are more like machines than complex systems. Just notice some of the language we use to describe our organisations that seek well-oiled cogs, 100 per cent efficiency and to run like clockwork.
Acting unconsciously, as if their organisations are machines, authority figures usually direct changes to organisational parts; however, these directions rarely deliver the pre-planned outcomes.
The way to influence the complexity of organisational change is through as much participation from the system involved as possible, rather than assuming the authority figure with only one perspective can know ‘the answer’. Other perspectives are needed to understand both the challenge and the system before jointly deciding what to try out to learn how to influence for the greater good. Additionally, other people need to weigh up the old and new ways of doing things, in their context, to implement appropriate changes.
Already, we have revealed some unconscious assumptions about control or influence, authority or leadership, and how change happens. If exercising leadership is really about the outcomes you and a group of people can influence, then what else is required today?
Today’s Escalating Disruption
Since 2019 in SA, we have experienced at least three devastating bushfires, a global pandemic, a major river flood, more fires, a drought, and an unprecedented algal bloom – as our natural environment alters around us. And yet climate change alone guarantees even more disruption in the pipeline – it’s just begun.
In addition, the web of life, upon which we depend for food and water, is becoming more fragile as crucial species become extinct and the web disintegrates. ‘Country’ is entwined with our social systems, shaping food and living costs and political discourse. Globally, we have witnessed the USA attack a sovereign state without provocation – this may have significant repercussions in the future. Add in AI, and the whole human and more-than-human world is a complex system that is increasingly volatile and uncertain.
No matter if your role is within a state government department trying to affect educational, health or child welfare outcomes, or local council manager, or a manager within a smaller business trying to ensure survival, the escalating levels of disruption are affecting you, your team members and the people you serve. We are all part of these systems, both as part of the problem and as part of the solution.
Stay informed, daily
Building on my previous observations, below are three capabilities that are increasingly important now.
Seeing Clearly
If we don’t know where we are, how can we move in the direction we desire? Humans are biased in many ways because we evolved to conserve energy by not ‘rewiring the brain’ – we want to use what we already think we know. This means we usually see what we expect and want to see. It makes seeing ‘reality’ difficult at a time we really need to understand what is and what that might mean for the future. Notice this human predisposition within yourself and nurture self-awareness and systemic awareness to learn to see what is and recognise the patterns that contribute significantly to systemic outcomes.
Speaking Truthfully
Speak your truth with courage, even when it sets you apart. Speak with compassion, remaining mindful of those unaware and potentially resistant to loss. Speak to the things people care about and value. Being creative and persistent will help raise awareness and engage others in challenging conversations.
Acting Wisely
Invest in time and spaces where dialogue can flourish, encouraging respectful communication and emotional processing. Collaborate with those within the system to understand current realities and potential futures. Don’t attempt to predict ‘the future’ but rather agree on the direction in which you want to move. Experiment and learn together, nurturing a shared journey toward impactful systemic change. As people engage, notice the vitality that resurfaces as participants appreciate their role in meaningful change.
Summing up
Our times demand a new way of understanding leadership in our increasingly complex world. If we really want different outcomes, we need to try out other ways of thinking and doing.
Consciously working in complexity takes courage because it challenges many of the beliefs we hold about how the world and our organisations work. Working in complexity also requires nurturing different leadership qualities – humility, systemic and self-awareness, patience, persistence, compassion, and detachment from specific goals. These will develop as the leadership focus moves from providing answers to collaborating with people in the system, who are the problem and the solution, to make a difference to the things that matter most.
After an early career in corporate strategic planning, Dr Josie McLean now collaborates with executives, teams and communities to work with the complexity of their challenges and their roles within them. Josie has worked with clients ranging from small businesses to universities, to major blue-chip corporations. In 2009 Josie became recognised internationally as a pioneer of the professional coaching in Australia and in 2025, one of 12 global pioneers of regenerative systemic coaching. She is sought after as a speaker and has authored two books, Big Little Shifts (2020), Purposeful Cultures (2024); and co-edited Ecological and Climate Conscious Coaching (2023). Her PhD thesis, Embedding sustainability into organisational DNA (2017, University of Adelaide) received the Dean’s Commendation for Research Excellence.
Leadership Lens is a monthly column produced alongside the Leaders Institute of South Australia. Click here to read the series.
