By Steven C. Burrell
Part 6: Conclusion
Our institutions are seemingly poised at the edge of chaos. We are faced with mounting uncertainties, changing demographics and markets, an exhausting pace of technological changes, and new demands in an environment of increasing competition for shrinking resources. Having spent most of their lives leading in Industrial Age models, CIO leaders now find themselves as constants in an evolving multi-dimensional quantum equation.
Many higher education leaders struggle to sort out and make sense of the significant changes occurring. Traditional leadership methods hinder the CIOs’ ability to adapt quickly and prudently to evolving human organization, relationships, and behavior as they strive to transform their institutions through technology, workforce development, and acculturation.
The pandemic has jolted leaders and institutions into action, accelerating trends already in play and triggering new ones. Concomitantly, changes in technology and innovations are occurring faster than the rate of adaptation. As soon as one change is accommodated, another occurs, requiring a new or different response (Nickerson, 2010). CIOs manage increased technological complexity, reflecting even deeper and broader complexity and evolving administrative and teaching practices in our organizations.
Quantum science provides a framework for new thinking and acting that helps us engage and lead through complexity and uncertainty. Quantum thinking demands a consciousness of connectedness that changes how we think and act. We become more empathetic and compassionate. When we see ourselves as an integral part of the natural world rather than separate from it, we become more attuned to how our actions affect people and all life.
Both passion and compassion drive quantum leaders. The path to Quantum Leadership is, above all, an experiential one. Quantum leaders develop all three dimensions (IQ, EQ, and SQ) of thinking to be complete and holistic leaders. In particular, they differentiate themselves from average leaders by utilizing their spiritual consciousness as a source of additional information and inspiration that amplifies their IQ and EQ. They know that engaging the heart, body, and spirit is the gateway to awakening new leadership paradigms for themselves and the organizations they lead.
The quantum CIO faces particularly challenging circumstances as their universe expands with more enterprise-level engagement coupled with the increasing pace of technological complexity. The CIO who engages in Quantum Leadership demonstrates that:
- Their vision is aligned with values and the enhancement of the human experience.
- Their work is holistic and a dimension beyond servant leadership in that we see our roles as a life journey that is a personal quest of fulfillment through service to others.
- They know and instill in others a strong intrinsic purposefulness to our work and a greater desire to provide service to others’ aspirations.
- Their willingness to lead can be explained by the extent to which they possess courage, passion, energy, discipline, and trust and instill such in all members of our organization.
- The pace of technological change both concerns and inspires them because the creation of good technology and service is an act of human empathy and spirituality. It is of critical importance to consider how technology impacts people and the planet.
- They are naturally curious and in awe of the unknown, respect the mystery of life, and embrace diversity to gain perspective on the complexity amplified by chaos and uncertainty.
- They are constantly building and sustaining the human context of IT service and seeking to create organizations characterized through transparent, empathetic, humble, diverse, authentic, and continuously engaged inquiry and dialogue with each other and the outside world.
- They seek to balance their IQ and EQ, and amplify them with SQ, bringing aspects of their spiritual self to elicit an organization aligned with good human outcomes, thrives in chaos, and delivers innovative thought and action to solve our most pressing problems.
- And they seek to know the interrelatedness of all things. They hold that diversity allows us to observe the greater whole of our environment through different lenses that reveal the entanglement of people, ideas, and actions.
The term “quantum leap” borrowed from quantum physicists’ vocabulary is now part of our everyday speech. It readily suggests a giant leap from one state of reality to another, shifting from one paradigm or worldview, one framework of meaning to another in leadership terms. It is a leap that requires us to rethink Newtonian mechanistic and reductionist models of thought. Indeed, we are emerging from the fog of a worldwide pandemic and realizing how deeply technology impacts the human experience – for better and for worse. Peter Drucker may have said it best when he suggested that. “we must all close the door on the Industrial Age and simply turn around” (Drucker, 2009).
While our work’s meaning as technology leaders is very personal and variable, many of us in higher education naturally embrace the attributes of quantum leadership. We share a deep intrinsic connectedness to our work and a higher purpose towards realizing a greater good. Our quantum thinking underscores and ensures that technology is a profoundly human thing that enhances lives. Quantum leadership may be a giant leap or a small personal step out of our comfort zone. Either way, it is a significant evolution and a new paradigm towards transforming ourselves and our teams, institutions, and the world for the betterment of all.
Reflective Questions
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle of quantum physics posits that our questions determine the answers we get (Busch, Heinonen, & Lahti, 2007). Quantum CIOs know this and understand that the question is the most powerful technology of all. Quantum leaders ask new questions as a way of bringing themselves to a place where thought and vision are fundamentally different. This leads us to understand that the first digital transformation stage is transforming ourselves.
Therefore, a thoughtful examination of the following questions is an excellent place to summarize your reflections on Quantum Leadership and specific actions you might take to embrace elements of quantum thinking that advance your leadership journey:
Final Thoughts: Technology, Humanity, and Quantum Thinking
The irony about technology is that its success, viability, and very existence depend on us to act in deeply human ways. We strive to integrate technology into the human experience to better the human experience. What remains to be learned is if this mutual “evolution” is a truly symbiotic relationship, or does it favor the development of a deeper consciousness that enables us to lift ourselves to a new level of understanding about what it means to be human?
It may be naive, but I do not think high levels of evolution favor the machines, for they cannot sustain a soul. Perhaps they more simply lack the ability to retrieve a memory without an external power source. Humans draw power from within, around, and through our spirituality that transcends unseen quantum dimensions between us. The real value of quantum thinking is that it leads us to a deeper introspection of our humanity and how our consciousness, positive thought, and intentions influence and shape our future. The difference is, machines think clearly. We need only free our minds of thousands of self-imposed limits.
Future Investigations Into Quantum Leadership
Future explorations and writings will examine Quantum Leadership applications around team building, change management, decision making, customer service, technology design and development, diversity-equity-inclusion, and communications training, among other topics.
Reflection
Why is it we do what we do?
The most important question is not, “what have you done” but “what difference will you make?” For quantum leaders, it is about “the why” and “the who” and the interrelated effects of our actions. Though we may not understand why a butterfly that flaps its wings in China causes a snowstorm in Arizona, as quantum leaders, we understand and appreciate the interconnectedness of all things and realize that the smallest personal action can have unforeseen and hugely positive impacts on our institutions and people.
What adjustments have you made to fostering performance and maintaining the health of teams and organizations as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic?
The quantum leader sees teams and organizations as nonlinear and nonhierarchical. They foster teams as a group of intrinsically motivated people, enhanced by diversity, empowered to solve complex problems, and bound to each other through deep intrinsic motivational alignment and purpose.
What changes are you making to your leadership style going forward? |
Embracing Quantum Leadership principles can help you answer this important question and lead you to choose aspects of your leadership you can reframe in quantum thinking.
Best wishes on your leadership journey into the quantum realm.
Share ideas and comments about Quantum Leadership and applications with me at me@steveburrell.info