CLOSE-UP: EXAMINING KITE VALUES

“Values are not absolute truths. They are not attempts to reduce the complexity the life to a word or slogan. Their usefulness is in creative tension they provide, between what we are and what are trying to grow into.”

We continue this series of four explorations of the values that ground the work of KITE. Your comments and thoughts are welcome: This is not a solo journey or a one-way prescription for others, but rather an invitation for all of us to walk together.

VALUE #3: PARTICIPATORY CHANGE.

We admire brilliant individual leadership, but profound and enduring change and growth is inherently a participatory process.

We believe that people support what they help create and that the voices of all critical stakeholders must be acknowledged and honored for change to be achieved and sustained. It is the flaw of “heroic leadership” to believe otherwise.

In our work with teams, the value of #participatorychange expresses itself in the process of team design. We urge leaders to identify the areas of work that demand collaboration, the decisions that can only be made through consultation vs individual authority, and the voices within the system that must be included and amplified.

In the internal work of our company, it expresses itself as the reminder to draw on the power of consultation, to hold the tension between divergent perspectives rather to force decisions through, the ongoing practice of clarifying and refining our decision-making process, and to constantly strive for alignment, even though it may not be fully achieved at times.