Ora Setter is one of the leading OD consultants in Israel. When asked, "How would you describe yourself to people who will be reading this blog?", Ora's answer paints a clear picture in a few words: "I am a mother and a grandmother. My goal is to bring more light to the world and more spirituality and mindfulness to business leaders. I am a kind of Jewish Buddhist. My current context, being a citizen of a traumatised country after a terrible massacre of innocents, involved in a terrible and unnecessary war, makes my personal and professional mission even more urgent".
Bringing brightness?
(The word brightness, at least in the original English version of this blog, can be understood either as 'clear' or as 'smart').
Ora: "In addition to my work as a consultant, I have taught at universities. Former students approach me with their tough career and life questions. I usually invite them to my home and listen carefully, also to what they are not saying. My personal experience of living with cancer helps me to understand and give them an extra push to make brave decisions".
Your Connective Leadership Profile is very close to what we like to call 'ideal':
"Years ago I did the official Spiral Dynamics assessment in a workshop with Don Beck. Although my profile now seems quite similar, I may have had a bit more Green and Orange then. I seem to have evolved since then, from the I-systems to the We-systems. Which, by the way, still leaves room for more We-orientation. Unfortunately, I encounter a lot of (too much) red and blue in the behaviour of most managers. Oh, if only managers could bring more compassion and caring into their organisations. The majority of younger middle managers are naturally green. I'm not asking them to do less. I am asking them to do more. To listen more. To show more care.
Connective leadership in practice?
"To illustrate, for almost ten years now, I and a group of fellow consultants have been accompanying the leaders and managers of a large parastatal organisation. In general, the desired situation is to achieve more equality between what I call upstairs and downstairs (what we often call white collar and blue collar in more industrial organisations). There is so much knowledge on the shop floor that doesn't seem to reach the higher levels that we can only conclude that the whole system can work much better with interconnected levels. A recent review of the programme showed that our consultancy had made a real difference. This was achieved through personal leadership coaching, team development interventions and, most importantly, by promoting the art of networking to build internal and external communities. This is to be taken literally: over time, employees really did help to create local communities in the public sphere, as well as professional communities within the organisation. The fact that this programme has lasted so long and is still going strong has everything to do with strong support from the senior leadership team. The fact that this support is so sustainable and enduring is due to the fact that new leaders are constantly being recruited from within the organisation and therefore automatically take the new culture with them into their new positions. Although I will probably never be fully detached from this rewarding project, I am stepping back with the great feeling that Connective Leadership has become self-sustaining".
Does Connective Leadership have a future?
"Let me start by saying that, in my experience, the word 'caring' is no longer exotic in middle management circles. It is being incorporated into the idea of what management is about. It fills me with a sense of hope that is reinforced by the fact that caring middle managers are the majority. The question we should be asking ourselves as leaders and leadership consultants is how we can empower connective managers and give them more of a voice.
