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03 |  Collaborative Leadership Programs

Having spent some time looking at the new context and defining a new form of leadership, it is time to state the obvious; the real issue today is not how leadership is defined but how it is practiced. The role of leader has shifted from that of offering direction based on expertise to one of mindfully inspiring others and motivating them through local accountability and celebration of diversity – a role that moderates the flow of connection between all stakeholders in the service of a coherent organisational purpose. To build a collaborative culture means addressing both the capability of ‘good leadership’ and the capacity of free flowing ‘communication’ across the whole organisational network.

The “4M’s” of Collaborative Leadership.  

The CL program is systemic and designed around three levels of interventions: the whole system, the team level and the individual level.

There are four interconnected elements of the CL program – the 4 “M’s” of Membership, Mindfulness, Mobilising and Moderation. These elements consist of a suite of interventions, which together provide the container for the culture change.

Membership: The first element is the building of a common purpose/intent and objective. A shared commitment helps create a positive culture  that delivers business goals. The membership element of the CL program is the skill of telling a compelling narrative, and building excitement about a shared commitment that invites inspiration and engagement and celebrating success. The premise behind it is that unless people can link their personal aspirations with the purpose and goal of the organisation they will not have a sense of belonging and engagement. Leaders learn story-telling practices to enable this.

Mindfulness: Each employee deserves respect, trust and good leadership. The basis of good leadership is self-awareness, self-regulation and reflective practice. Awareness of ones motivations and intentions allows leaders to practice respect and trust with their teams and to learn the practices of good decision making in the face of complexity and ambiguity.

Moderation: The role of the leader is to provide the space for all voices to be heard in a situation. This is increasingly important in today’s networked and global organisations. It requires the ability to listen as well as ask powerful questions. It means putting aside one’s own expertise and closing the conversation space prematurely with opinions and easy solutions. The basis of moderation is the skills of “mediating conversations”. Through a leader demonstrating open listening and a non-judgemental attitude, people are able to trust and speak out with courage.

Mobilisation: Part of a leader’s role is to motivate people to respond to the call for action. This can require careful negotiation of impasses as well as the ability to move people forward towards solutions. Mobilisation practices include a coaching approach to conversations and meetings. If people have a common goal and purpose then it is easier to move forward in the face of difference of misalignment.

All programs are based on Collaborative Action Learning. This means they are experiential and effective. Practice is embedded through ongoing coaching and supervision. Our programs can use a variety of diagnostics but most particularly an online social network analysis. This maps the relational reciprocity across a team or organisation and identifies the leadership development gap between the current reality and the desired future state as well as being the basis for ongoing evaluation.