Description
Anna Eliatamby (Editor)
What is the motivation for this book?
‘Growth is not a battle to be hurried, but a slow walk down the road from home.’
Rithihi
All of us, as leaders, often do our very best to be positive in our various roles and use golden behaviours to fulfil our functions. Similarly, most organisations will try to be ethical and value-based in how they function, what they expect from employees, and the cultures they create and maintain. Most interventions in leadership, organisational change, and development also focus on building and enhancing the positive. These include leadership programmes, well-being initiatives, training, etc. And some of these are effective.
However, what we should acknowledge is that, alongside the golden, lies the shadow side of ourselves and organisations. All of us, regardless of how ethical and value-based we are, have shadow behaviours we can use, hopefully, rarely. Similarly, organisational roles, cultures, and structures can possess shadow elements.
The core of unhealthy shadow aspects is sometimes known, or recognised but is usually not named, acknowledged, or addressed. Typically, we skirt around the concerns. A common intervention is to move the person who bullies or harasses to a new location rather than working with them to help them address the shadow and negative. A policy for dealing with inappropriate actions may be recognised as ineffective but steps to rectify this may not be taken.
The lack of acknowledgement has often led to some interventions to enhance positivity having a very limited impact or being torpedoed by the underlying shadow elements in either leaders or organisations. These shadow actions are also the ones that can have a significant and detrimental impact on overall health and deter the work of the organisation. Using these behaviours takes up energy and people’s time that could be utilised in a much healthier way.
We suggest that, for leaders and organisations to operate healthily, we need to look at both aspects – the golden and shadow sides – and think about how we can enhance the positive and golden while addressing the shadow side and incorporating it, so it does not overwhelm the leader in their role or the organisation in its function.
Our book offers you two models, one for leaders and the other for organisations, to explore the golden and shadow aspects and how they are part of us as individual leaders and as organisations. First, we begin with a description of our models and explain the separate parts of them with many examples – both positive and negative. Second, we provide you with a description of the shadow behaviours and the golden ones (giving respect, being compassionate) and attempt to understand them from a psychological standpoint.
Finally, we provide you with some exercises and suggestions for you (individually or collectively) to explore your own identity/role as a leader or organisation and bring about change to address the shadow and negative while enhancing and building the positive. We also have a chapter of expert voices for us all to learn from their experience.
It is time for all of us to do what we commonly fail to do, as we are fallible human beings who rarely stop and reflect. To explore so that we can grow as individuals, as organisations and become more wholesome so our contribution to the world is healing and long lasting. We deserve it for ourselves and for those who will lead the world after we have finished our work.
