Books and articles by Dr Josie McLean
Purposeful Cultures: A Practical Self-Leadership Guide
Humanity stands at a crossroads. In a world full of systemic challenges—from the ecological crisis to the uncertain future of artificial intelligence intersecting with the defence systems of nations to the challenges of an ever more densely populated world. Will we prevail, or will we falter? The call to action is clear: our leadership is needed. Drawing inspiration from the prophetic words of the Hopi elders—"we are the ones we have been waiting for"—this book shares a paradigm shift in leadership, moving away from traditional hierarchical authority to a collective responsibility we all can embrace.
Offering a unique blend of systemic perspectives and insights from positive psychology, Dr Josie McLean equips you to navigate the tumultuous nature of our time with resilience and purpose. Embracing the challenge to contribute your utmost isn't just what’s best for the world; it’s also a path to personal fulfillment and well-being. Through self-awareness and self-management, you'll learn to navigate interpersonal dynamics gracefully and effectively. Collaboration becomes a catalyst for unleashing collective creativity and innovation. And with a little courage, you'll venture beyond the confines of comfort, tapping into your unique strengths for the greater good.
This journey isn't solitary. It's a collective endeavour, undertaken alongside colleagues and fellow travellers. This book isn’t just a guide—it's an invitation to engage meaningfully with the world's most pressing challenges.
Big Little Shifts: A Practitioner’s Guide to Complexity for Organisational Change and Adaptation
Adaptation has never been so important as it is now, in the disruptive wake of the COVID-19 onset. We are undergoing a whole systems change. The far-reaching impacts on our complex, uncertain world pose questions that individual leaders are unable to answer on their own.
We need a different approach.
The term adaptation comes from the study of natural ecologies, and a complexity (or living systems) approach enables organisations to respond to external changes and evolve their internal culture in ways that support relevance and survival into the future. Engaging with change in this way also nurtures people - it liberates possibilities, creativity, productivity and satisfaction. The lens of complexity alters the way we think about the role of leadership and even how we understand the term 'change'.
This book is for leaders who want to hold the space for change, people who see themselves as agents of change, and government teams working in complex policy areas like sustainability, education and health. Drawing on 15 years of practical experience, this 'how-to' book offers a comprehensive approach to facilitating emergent change and transformation.
Systemic Coaching: A Shift in Organisational Coaching
Current coaching practices in organisations assist one individual or one team at a time. The underlying assumption of this approach for coaches is that if you affect enough parts of the whole, the whole will be transformed. Perhaps, instead, consider that it is the interactions between people, teams and divisions that contribute to the emergence of what we term organisational culture.
Recent books and training programs have introduced the concept of systems thinking to coaching. Thomas Kuhn observes in ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ that scientists often cling to old paradigms while only making small changes at the margins to accommodate the new information. So it is with organisational coaching methodologies. Changes in the industry now recognise that an organisation may be better viewed as a living system…..
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Liberating the Change Within (by Dr Josie McLean and Dr Sam Wells)
It has become increasingly clear over recent decades that business organisations cannot operate in a vacuum, ignoring the complex economic, social and natural systems in which they are embedded. How they engage with their social ‘ecology’ is fundamentally important if they are to succeed ‘sustainably’ in a dynamic and increasingly interconnected world.…..
While organisations look to ‘change management’ as a way forward, organisational change management initiatives are generally spectacularly and comprehensively unsuccessful. Sustaining cultural change and its fruits – improvements in productivity and performance, employee development and satisfaction, relationships, decision making, action taking and innovation – are seldom achieved…..
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Learning to ‘see’ systems
Exercising leadership effectively requires a broader perspective – a systemic perspective. Whether it is in relation to people issues or shaping a strategic response.
But most managers have not been taught how to develop this capacity – in fact the way we have been taught to solve problems “chunk it down to the smallest part” actually works against developing a systemic perspective….
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Coaching in Complexity for Sustaining Outcomes
‘I believe you understand how leading change, sustainability and complexity are connected? Could you help us review our work to be more effective and find new ways for us to work more effectively?’ This was the beginning of a conversation with the team responsible for urban sustainability in Adelaide, South Australia.
Over the past five months we have explored an alternative way of ‘perceiving’, because that is how we might best understand both the terms sustainability and living systems (or complexity). Before explaining what I mean by this, and how I am working with the urban sustainability team, first we need to look at how living systems behave.….
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