Leadership Challenge #5

Module 9 Ldc reflection on provocative question #5

Provocative Question (LdC)

As related to your job, how is change initiated in your organization? Do CoP's matter in the process of initiating change? ...of operationalizing change efforts? ...of institutionalizing change?

Change is initiated two ways in my organization. First there are changes that we are told about from our administration. This includes our dean, associate deans, and departmental managers. These are often given without any discussion or option for negotiations. We are currently going through major reorganization within our school. Some people will be staying with our school, others will be moved to another college, and one, me, will be moved to a different department. It is unclear how the changes will be implemented or when; however, we were told it will be happening. This lack of communication and input has made many of us feel powerless and not engaged.

The other way that change may be initiated is on a small scale from the faculty themselves. This normally occurs on an individual level. We may see a need within our classrooms and then we talk to our immediate supervisors for approval to make a change. Occasionally, these changes may be discussed at our school meetings for either input or sharing the knowledge. There is a lot more flexibility and freedom in the development and initiation of these types of changes.

Reflect on Module 9 LdC Step 1 – Prepare for an online conversation

Copy and paste the matrix of quotes/ideas that you developed for the Module 7 LdC and upon which you implemented your Leadership Challenge (LdC).

Quote/ideas from the book; applications/instances from your workplace setting (from last week)	Page number
The fields of identification and negotiability are not necessarily congruent. In organizations, many people below where they have little say and many have a say where they do not belong. Yet the two fields are related. The field of negotiability will affect how communities of practice direct their allegiance. It will affect how their members perceive the scope of their influence and the purview of their contributions…Most of all the field of negotiability will affect what they care about because they can have an effect on it.	page 248
Often change comes from the administration. They are given without any discussion or option for negotiations. We are currently going through major reorganization within our school. This lack of communication and input has made many of us feel powerless and not engaged.	Workplace
I formed the Public Health Student Association as I saw a need for the public health students have a community within our school/college. This change was supported with my boss and she literally told me to run with it.	Workplace
Once something has become negotiable, it expands our identities because it enters the realm of what we can do something about.	page 248
...a joint enterprise does not mean agreement in any simple sense. In fact, in some communities, disagreement can be viewed as a productive part of the enterprise. The enterprise is joint not in that everybody believes the same thing or agrees with everything, but in that it is communally negotiated.	page 78
The repertoire of a practice combines two characteristics that allow it to become a resource of the negotiation of meaning: 1) it reflects a history of mutual engagement 2) it remains inherently ambiguous.	page 83
I have insisted that shared practice does not itself imply harmony or collaboration.	page 85
Through mutual engagement, participation and reification can be seamlessly interwoven. A joint enterprise can create relations of mutual accountability without ever being reified, discussed, or stated as an enterprise.	page 84

Reflect on Module 9 LdC Step 2 – hold an online conversation

Copy and paste your notes from your on-line conversation from Module 7 LdC and upon which you implemented your Leadership Challenge (LdC).

It is our group's turn for the fishbowl. 

My quote: Page 248 – The fields of identification and negotiability are not necessarily congruent. In organizations, many people below where they have little say and many have a say where they do not belong. Yet the two fields are related. The field of negotiability will affect how communities of practice direct their allegiance. It will affect how their members perceive the scope of their influence and the purview of their contributions…Most of all the field of negotiability will affect what they care about because they can have an effect on it.

Deborah's quote page 94 - Constant change is so much a part of day-to-day engagement in practices that it largely goes unnoticed...There is a stake in continuity - at the level of the institution, and at the level of the community of practice as well.

Eric's quote page 214 - ...A well-functioning CoP is a good context to explore radically new insights without becoming fools or stuck in some dead end... when these conditions are in place, CoP are a privileged locus for the creation of knowledge.

Rachel's quote pages 73-74 - being included in what matters is a requirement for being engaged in a COP, engagement is what defines belonging.

Jose's quote page 209 - A community of practice is at once both a community and an economy of meaning. The definition of a joint enterprise bring the community together through the collective development of a shared practice.

Reflect on Module 9 LDC Step 3 – determine your leadership challenge

What behavior did you experiment with/try out for your leadership challenge last week?
(Write one sentence.) 

I would like to carry on with my previous leadership challenge and reach out to my group I created last time, trying to establish ideas of socially shared regulation (define a vision and mission).  

What did you end up doing for your leadership challenge last week?
(Write one sentence.)

I have proposed to my group (CoP) that we form some goals about the purpose of our virtual conversations and informal meetings. 

Reflect on Module 9 ldc Step 4 – assess and reflect on your leadership challenge

How did your change in behavior affect others in your Community of Practice? Tell the story of what happened.  
(Be brief.  Write 2-4 sentences.)

I tried to engage and start conversations within my Community of Practice. I found that there was a delay of reaction from the others in the community. One person is not engaging at all.

Reflect on your experience with the Leadership Challenge for this module. 
(Be verbose.  Write 2-3 paragraphs.)

I found that by me initiating the conversations, it was more exhausting for me compared to others. I put quite a bit more effort in comparison. This actually made me a bit disillusioned and discouraged. I felt like I was the only one invested. I do not feel like there is a socially shared responsibility, but rather my responsibility. I do not feel like we have a shared identity. I know that these things take time to develop and I am hopeful that with continued conversations, we can develop a sense of connection.

This was not exactly a huge change for me. I find that I tend to take the lead on things more often than not in an effort to build and keep momentum. Again, I am hopeful that this is something that I can step back on and allow for others to take more of the lead.

Based on your own quotes/ideas from Wenger, your workplace experiences, and new insights you developed as you reflected on your peers’ work, what behavior do you want to experiment with/try out for your leadership challenge in the next few days?
(Write one sentence.)

I am thinking that I want to give out "assignments" as a challenge to my CoP.