Leadership Through Covid-19 and Beyond: How to create an integrated 21st century organisation - Paperback

by Anne Stenbom (Author), Helen Battersby (Author)

In Leadership Through COVID-19 and Beyond the authors present a simple yet insightful framework, the Discovery Prism^(c) to support all of us in the turbulent times we are in. This is a guide to reconnecting the positive human energy in organisations toward shared purpose and extraordinary possibility.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruption on an unprecedented scale and calls for people in organisations to operate at a new level of consciousness in order to survive and re-emerge stronger. A different kind of leadership is urgently required that invites everyone to play a part in creating the kind of organisations where people and the planet thrive.

The Discovery Prism^(c) framework serves as a guide to organisational alignment and renewal, by mapping out what is and is not connected. These broken connections cause confusion, disengagement and waste the precious human resource at the heart of any organisation. The exploration of the Discovery Prism^(c) helps create shared meaning, a clear direction and engaged stakeholders.

The Discovery Prism^(c) describes a set of six lenses, which, when aligned, create an energy greater than the sum of the parts. Some lenses are familiar and already at the core of all business practice and others are often given little consideration but are key to creating an integrated organisation: resilient, sustainable and better placed to navigate the uncertainties of the 21^st century environment.

The three core lenses ask the questions: Why, How, What, Who and Where and When. They are:

1 Bigger Purpose & Core Values: Why are we here, and how are we together

2. Mission & Stakeholders: What do we do and who do we serve

3. Vision: Where are we going and when will we get there

Their intersections form three further overlap lenses:

4. Legacy: what we consciously create for future generations

5. Promises: that we make internally and externally (i.e. culture and brand)

6. Strategy: how we deliver the vision

At the centre where everything overlaps is the Prism itself. This is a metaphor for the concentrated, directed energy (the single white light) coming from the diverse colours of the various lenses as well as from wide collaboration across the organisation and externally from all stakeholders.

The book describes the rationale behind the framework: the challenges for organisations currently dealing with the impact of the global pandemic and how working with the Discovery Prism^(c) framework helps reimagine a sustainable future. It describes who the book is for and introduces the concepts of being versus doing, organisational presence, human and systemic sustainability.