Develop and improve together: New ways to jointly lead, build and strengthen the ability to improve and innovate among entrepreneurs in the Swedish countryside

This project is about exploring the potential, as well as practically developing the ability, among entrepreneurs in the Swedish countryside to develop and improve together. Many of these entrepreneurs work and operate today in small businesses. At the same time, it is clear that learning, improvement and innovation work should ideally be carried out together in groups of individuals, and preferably with a mix of individuals who can contribute with their unique and different experiences, skills and perspectives. It can also be stated that entrepreneurs in our rural areas rarely operate in direct competition with each other. Rather, they can often be seen as parts of a movement or whole with potential synergies and common goals and visions such as developing the area and interest in the local, sustainable and small-scale.

Based on this, the diversity of entrepreneurs in the Swedish countryside can rather be described as a complex network or a living ecosystem where the relationships between them can provide vitality, development and success. However, the knowledge regarding, and the practice of, how actors can drive improvement, innovation and change in this type of ecosystem is currently undeveloped.

To lead improvement and development in complex living systems

The difference between leading in complex versus complicated contexts has received a lot of attention since, for example, Snowden and Boone (2007) emphasized that many of the traditional leadership practices and approaches can do more harm than good in complex living systems. In complex contexts, which are characterized by interdependent relationships and unpredictability, it is central to increase the level of interaction and communication in the system via, for example, large group methods and by inviting everyone's ideas and perspectives. The need for this ability is increasing, which is emphasized by, for example, Palmberg Broryd (2021), Stacey (2012) and Snowden et al. (2021), which also shows perspectives and practices for driving development in complex systems and which will inspire this project.

The shift in attitude to successfully lead in complex systems is also often emphasized as a shift from the traditionally mechanical metaphors to leading living systems, to a "living logic". This is emphasized, for example, by Laloux (2014) who studied organizations with the ability to manage complexity and by Hutchins & Storm (2019) in their manifesto for the regenerative leadership of the future.

The fundamental shift in leadership and the leadership practices that have proven successful in complex contexts are also further developed by Bushe and Marshak (2015, 2016). They introduce "Dialogic Organization Development (OD)" as something distinctly different from the "Diagnostic OD" that has traditionally dominated both within the educational system and in leadership practice. Among other things, the shift is about seeing and managing the system as a network in dialogue that constantly self-organizes based on a search for meaning as well as the conversations and questions that are asked in the system. It is also central to lead based on narratives/stories as well as generative images that provide new attractive and action-creating ways of looking at reality and what is possible. Within quality development, this is emphasized as a new paradigm, the "Emergence" paradigm (Van Kemenade & Hardjono, 2019). Central to this new paradigm is the emphasis on systems theory and self-organization.

The power of working for a higher purpose

Another important contribution to this project is the research that has shown the unifying and developing power of jointly focusing on making the world better. The phenomenon has come to be called "Mirror flourishing" and has been shown in case studies to accelerate improvement and innovation work in a very powerful way (Cooperrider & Fry, 2012). This phenomenon is also emphasized as central within Quality Development's future research agenda (Quality 2030) by Fundin et al. (2020).

The project's purpose and research questions

The purpose of the project is to generate new practical knowledge in the form of methods and tools that will improve and strengthen the capacity for improvement and innovation work among entrepreneurs in the Swedish countryside. This aim is to be achieved by answering the following research questions:

1. What new lessons and insights are there among rural entrepreneurs from the time of the Corona pandemic?
2. How can these lessons be used as a starting point to test and develop the ability and capacity of rural entrepreneurs to work on improvements and innovation together in a complex system/network?
3. How can a common higher purpose linked to creating a more sustainable world and living countryside be used to further accelerate and gather rural entrepreneurs for improvement and innovation work?

List of references for the project