Culture Risk in Practice: How to Discern What is Controllable

Q2: Do you have any suggestions or processes as to how you recommend leaders discern between what they can control/what they cannot control to drive results?

Leaders influence the conditions that shape how people and the organisation respond. They rarely control outcomes directly. Two capabilities are particularly important for discerning what they own and what to let go of:

Listening to the System (informed by the work of Otto Scharmer and Adaptive Leadership): This involves looking beyond surface issues to understand patterns, tensions and what may be emerging. This helps leaders see where they can have impact and where outcomes are being shaped by dynamics outside their control. Otto Scharmers work on the Four Levels of Listening provides a useful lens for developing this capability: Listening Assessment | u-school for Transformation by Presencing Institute‍ ‍

Balcony and Dance (Adaptive Leadership – Heifetz, Linsky & Grashow): Adaptive leadership highlights the importance of moving between the “dance floor” (where action is happening) and the “balcony” (where you observe patterns and dynamics). Developing the capacity to pause and shift perspective enables leaders to make more deliberate choices about when to act and when to let go. This kind of discernment is developed over time, often with the support of a coach, working through real business challenges.