Conversational leadership involves convening conversations that go beyond traditional information exchange and focus on self-awareness, community ship, empathy, active listening, and continuous self-improvement.
Conversational depth is an important aspect of conversational leadership, allowing for emotional expression, bringing the full self into conversations, and fostering a sense of shared identity.
Deep dives
The Framework of Conversational Leadership
Conversational leadership is a new concept that aims to redefine leadership as a process of convening conversations that otherwise wouldn't have happened. It encompasses the mindset, skillset, toolset, habit set, heart set, and spirit set. The focus is on self-awareness, community ship, empathy, active listening, designing powerful questions, and continuous self-improvement.
Redefining Conversation
Conversational leadership challenges the traditional definition of conversation as a simple exchange of information between two people. According to John Hovall, a key element of conversation is the interaction of senses across time and space, extending beyond spoken words. This expands the scope of conversation to include experiences with music, art, and even non-verbal interactions like kissing.
Depth in Conversations
Hovall introduces the concept of conversational depth, which involves moving beyond transactional conversations to deeper levels of emotional expression and shared identity. This includes being aware of one's emotions and bringing the full self into conversations, as well as fostering a sense of shared identity where individuals are speaking from their souls.
Practicing Conversational Leadership
While conversational leadership is still in its early stages of adoption within organizations and communities, Hovall encourages individuals to cultivate self-awareness, expand their range of conversational skills, and continuously improve through feedback and reflection. Additionally, he emphasizes the importance of recognizing each moment as extraordinary and seeking opportunities to convene conversations that create value and spark new possibilities.
The convergence of knowledge management and organizational development with conversational leadership and ‘communityship’ As a leader in the convergence of Knowledge Management (KM) and Organization Development (OD), John Hovell is the Managing Director and co-founder of STRATactical. He is a practitioner, speaker, and author of OD/KM strategies and their application to current challenges. More specifically, John is the author of Creating Conversational Leadership: Combining and Expanding Knowledge Management, Organization Development, and Diversity & Inclusion. Lauren met John through one of our podcast’s previous guests, Dr. Sharon Varney, as I attended their “Advancing your change and organizational development practice” course. - Welcome, John! KEY resource from this episode: by John Hovell Books from this episode: , an online book by David Gurteen by Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein by Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein , published by De Gruyter Saur, Edited by Guy St. Clair by Henry Mintzberg by Stephen R. Covey by Dan Millman Other resources from this episode: by Patricia Shaw by John Hagel by John Hagel by Dr. Mee Yan Cheung-Judge Where to find John: LinkedIn: : “Advancing your change and organisational development practice” course
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