THE LEADERSHIP MODEL THAT CHANGED MY CONCEPT OF LEADERSHIP
For many years, when I thought of leadership I thought of the leader at the head of the table, the one making the speech at the podium, the one with the final say on important decisions.
When, in 2017, I was introduced to the Co-active Leadership Model, it challenged what I fundamentally believed about leadership. The leader was no longer only the person at the front of the room, leadership came in many different forms, and ultimately, everyone was a leader.
The Co-active Leadership Model includes 5 dimensions of leadership - the leader in front, the leader within, the leader behind, the leader beside and the leader in the field.
The leader in front is the more widely accepted idea of a leader. The leader that has a compelling vision for the future and engages others to follow them to create it. It's about harnessing an environment that is collaborative, open and safe - an environment that is able to handle conflict and difficult conversations in a constructive and productive way. It's about connection and direction.
The leader within is the leader that lives within each of us. It's the leader that operates from the inside out with integrity, according to personal values and with full acceptance of who we are. The leader within operates from a place of self-love and self-authorship, knowing that we will make mistakes and that we will also handle them. It operates from a place that knows that we have the power to create our lives and our careers.
The leader beside is the leader that co-creates with a partner. It's a partnership characterized by individuals that believe that together they can create something greater than they would on their own. It's a partnership built on playing full out - 100%/100% - in a way that is connected, vulnerable, authentic and raw. The belief being that strong partnerships and powerful co-creations occur when we are honest, open and transparent. When we hold back, attempt to be polite or proper we lose an opportunity to explore, discover and build deep connection. The sense here is that we're in it together.
The leader behind is the leader that supports another. It's servant leadership at its best. It's not about fixing, solving or pleasing. It's about asking ourselves, what would serve this person, project and/or cause most powerfully and then doing that. It's about fostering creativity and brilliance in others. This is what coaches do - they are leaders behind for the clients they serve. It's not about following blindly. The leader behind has a responsibility to follow what they believe in wholeheartedly and asking questions when things seem off. When the leaders behind follow in this way, they generate a powerful sense of togetherness.
The leader in the field is the input and signals we collect from the energetic field around us. It's the use of our imagination, instincts and intuition. It's reading the intangibles - the mood in the air, what is needed or what is missing, what is wanting to happen or what is NOT being said and needs to be voiced. You must slow down, use your senses and then report on what you're feeling with courage. You will surely be wrong sometimes, that's ok. We can create from what it's not, to discover what it is. To do this, we must detach slightly from the specifics of what is happening in the moment, take a few deep breaths and see what we sense - allow our intuition to lead us.
When an organization adopts the co-active leadership model it understands that we each have a role to play in leadership. We each have an opportunity to embody a different dimension. At times, we'll be the leader in front and share our vision for the future and engage others to follow. Other times, we'll be a leader beside when we co-create with a colleague and other times a leader behind when we support and serve another. We all embody the leader within in how we show up and have the chance to tune into the leader in the field to deploy our intuition and imagination.
The co-active model offers everyone multiple leadership roles to embody, a way of being in these roles and a way of interacting with others and ourselves. We each have responsibilities and opportunities within each of the dimensions - no longer can we point to someone else to take action or "fix things" - it's everyone's responsibility. Whether you're the leader in front, the leader behind or the leader beside at any given moment, it comes with its unique set of accountabilities. No one can tap out of not engage. It's a powerful model that celebrates the many leadership dimensions we have in our lives and in our careers and clearly demonstrates that we are all truly leaders.
Warmly,
Lisa
Lisa is an Executive Coach, Founder & CEO of LDR Leadership Labs. For more from Lisa, join the LDR Leadership Community on LinkedIn at: www.linkedin.com/company/ldrleadershiplabs and sign up for the LDR Insiders Newsletter here.