The Leaderful Fieldbook: Strategies and Activities for Developing Leadership in Everyone

Citation

Yergler, J.D. (2013), "The Leaderful Fieldbook: Strategies and Activities for Developing Leadership in Everyone", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 490-491. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-03-2013-0030

The university where I serve as assistant professor of management for undergraduate and graduate students strongly encourages all faculty to be scholars and practitioners. While we bring scholarship and research acumen to the classroom, we are also encouraged to be actively involved in organizations as, for example, leadership and management consultants. I have always valued the challenge of being a scholar‐academician and a practitioner‐consultant. This combination provides incredible in‐class conversations that stimulate incredible learning and real‐time application. Joseph Raelin's book, The Leaderful Fieldbook, stands as a valuable resource for the practitioner‐consultant who is looking for approaches and tools to apply within a variety of situation and organizational contexts. While in no way to be considered an academic text used for the study of organizational development in a post‐secondary context, it is a rock‐solid resource chalked full of ideas and tools used to address and assess individual and organizational change as well as personal and professional development.

The reader who is accustomed to the traditional professional studies literature that speaks to leadership and organizational development must come to terms with Raelin's use of the word, “leaderful.” This is not a word that I was in any way accustomed to in my years of work and research in leadership studies. I doubt that I would use the word in my work with students or consulting clients. Yet, the definition of leaderful makes clear sense. According to Raelin, “leaderful practice […] is characterized by four contrasting operating tenants known as the Four Cs. These Four C's call on leaders to be concurrent, collective, collaborative, and compassionate” (p. xv). Concurrent means that leadership can emerge simultaneously at any point and at any level in an organization (this might be called “shared leadership” in the traditional study of leadership theory). Collective leadership can emerge from a variety of individuals rather than from only a single designated leader possessing position power. Collaborative implies that leadership can emerge from any one person who can speak with authority and who can exercise a certain amount of control. These individuals at any moment “may speak for the entire organization” (p. xvii). Finally, leaderful leadership is compassionate in that it is concerned about human dignity, worth, and value regardless of formal rank or title.

The majority of the book is devoted to applying these Four Cs to five levels of change. Chapter 1 addresses individual‐level change and speaks to the importance of the individual's own journey of intentional leadership development. This chapter is excellent because it highlights the need for the individual to strategically plan for their own leadership development. It is often here, in my opinion, that leaders can easily neglect an important component of their leadership development. They can fail to do the necessary interior analysis that lays the groundwork for targeted growth, focussed involvement, and ongoing self‐examination.

Chapter 2 addresses interpersonal‐level change. The idea presented here is that coaches can assist individuals to develop their abilities to accurately perceive, understand, and connect with others. This includes increased capacity to communicate with others, questioning assumptions and perceptions about others, crafting the art of thoughtful inquiry including addressing conflict, and deepening one's competency in the area of cross‐cultural knowledge and communication. Each of these areas are critical for anyone in the organization if they intend to influence people and processes. Without relational adeptness, leaders often struggle to gain credibility among their colleagues.

Team‐level change is the focus of Chapter 3. Raelin speaks to team development in this section and emphasizes how team facilitators can help teams cultivate leadership organically or from among their own membership. Leveraging individual strengths, clarifying mission and purpose, and navigating team development processes are discussed and explored in this chapter. Again, as with the first two chapters, Raelin is discussing some of the more common traditional components of leadership development, relationship building, authentic communication, and team dynamics.

The subject of organizational process is explored in Chapter 4 which Raelin entitles organization‐level change. Since I am currently involved in a significant organizational change process with a client, the contents of this chapter came under a unique level of scrutiny. The suggestions made by the author for leaders to understand the complexity of change and to successfully navigate an organization through the change process where helpful though in some ways over simplified. Nonetheless, for a leader who is attempting to get their arms around the broader themes of organizational change opportunities and challenges, this chapter offers some helpful insights.

Chapter 5 speaks to the importance of evaluating and building social networks. The role of “weavers,” as Raelin calls them, are to help organize, strengthen, and sustain social networks. These individuals have a firm grasp of social networks and possess the ability to analyze, evaluate, and accelerate the quality and efficiency of networks involving individuals and organizations. This chapter goes into significant detail on social network development and the strategies that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of existing and emerging individual or group networks.

In summary, one of the strengths of Raelin's books is the incredible offering of assessments, questionnaires, and exercises offered to the reader. From this perspective, the book holds its value and more. Having said this, however, the book can at times overwhelm the reader with a wide range of tools and choices that can actually hinder focussed and specific action. The practical utility of the book is its role as a resource for an OD consultant who can pick‐and‐choose different components that match the needs of both individuals and organizations.

About the author

Jeffrey D. Yergler, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Management and Chair of the Undergraduate Management Department at Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California. Jeffrey D. Yergler can be contacted at: jyergler@ggu.edu