LEADERSHIP MINDSET.

Icebergs mirror leadership situations - only about 10% of what is actually going on is obvious. Inexperienced leaders consider events, people and personalities; seasoned leaders look at patterns and structures; but the most effective leaders consider mindsets and mental models... they ask "what are the necessary goals, roles, processes, and practices to achieve the desired institutional outcome(s)?" While events are visible ‘text,’ everything else (patterns, structures and mental models) is invisible ‘context’ and ‘subtext.’ At the event level, a leader asks “what’s happening?”; at the level of patterns and structures leaders ask “what has been happening over time?” and “what’s influencing that trend?”; optimal leadership asks “what is it about ‘our thinking’ and ‘beliefs’ that allows these patterns and structures to persist. (Iceberg Model for System Thinking) Understanding the assumptions that keep a particular system in place doesn't mean a leader can abdicate responsibility for responding to events (that would be unwise), but a leader who understands mental models will be more effective because they are able to deal with root causes rather than only addressing symptoms. #LeadWithMindset