Page 159 - Harnessing the Strengths

142 ■ Servant-Leadership in the Intercultural Practice

The past several years have seen signifi cant threats to
the business world and to the learning organization, such as
the credit crisis; from the Dutch side, the crises of Ahold and
Shell are examples, not to mention Enron and WorldCom. In
the light of these affairs, servant-leaders ask relevant ques-
tions. Do we go for short-term or long-term sustainability?
Do we tackle everything at once, or piece by piece? And
how do we change the future if the most important orienta-
tion is the past? These are all contrasting options that keep
the servant-leader up at night but that he or she can solve
with creative thinking. How? By not falling into the trap of
tunnel vision or leaning to either side, but by combining the
best aspects of the different notions of time.
In this way, the synchronic and short-term-thinking
French servant-leader will develop an “emerging” strategy
by trial and error. But because he or she does this in the
framework of a vision, the long term serves the short. The
sequentially and long-term-oriented Swede prefers to think
about the long-term consequences as a “grand strategy,” in
which he or she takes short-term actions. Here the short term
serves the long. Mintzberg calls both approaches “crafting
strategy.”

Resolution
Back to Peter Webber’s problem. To begin with, we advise
Peter to do his best to gather as many ideas and as much
experience as he can and then to “sleep on it” for a night or
two. After, he will need to put the French at ease by promot-
ing the long term, while with the English, Italians, French,
and Germans he will need to discuss the separate steps that
are necessary to trace out the path to that future.
It all appears so easy if you are a servant-leader.