What Can Leaders Learn
From Facilitators?
People in leadership roles can learn a lot from people who are great at facilitating co-creation.
When you’re in a position of authority, you often balance two sets of expectations. You need to meet the expectations of those who put you in that role, usually higher-ups with the power to appoint you. But you also need to live up to the expectations of the people you’re leading, so they’ll follow your lead. One set is about delivering targeted results, and the other is about motivation. This can create a conflict between the kind of leader you need to be to deliver results and the kind of leader you need to be to motivate people. If you fail to translate targeted results into meaningful goals that inspire your team, you may resort to a controlling form of leadership that erodes trust from both sides.
Facilitators and leaders both aim to get the best out of the people they lead, but facilitators never try to control people to achieve the best outcomes.
There are five key traits that leaders can learn from facilitators to inspire desired behavior instead of trying to control it. These traits can be adopted by anyone in a leadership position, even if they don’t have a formal leadership role or title.
The leadership act
I want to believe that we’re evolving our understanding of leadership from perceiving leadership as a person to perceiving it as an act. The leadership act happens when someone enables progress with a collective of people. The act of leadership exists on its own, whether it’s performed by someone with authority or not. The character of a leader is defined by their leadership act, not by their past achievements or title. The act of leadership is always a moment and should always be carried out with full dedication. A good leadership act can’t be assumed to happen because of past successes. Therefore, no one can claim leadership with a title because it would deprive others of the opportunity to perform the leadership act when necessary.
That doesn’t mean there can’t be different roles and responsibilities. It means that we shouldn’t always see those with the most responsibility and decision power as the only ones who can claim the act of leadership. A collective doesn’t thrive when it’s controlled, nor does it thrive naturally by itself. It thrives when someone can facilitate the best out of a unique constellation of people fueled by shared purpose and shared risks.
Five key traits of the leadership act
The five key traits are essential for effectively guiding a group of people to make progress towards their shared goals. The leadership act occurs during moments of interaction when people work together towards a common objective. For a facilitator, these moments of interaction occur during co-creation sessions, such as meetings or workshops. As for someone in a leadership role, there are many more opportunities for these moments of interaction to take place, such as one-on-one meetings, informal conversations, and coaching sessions.
The five traits of the leadership act promote coherence and unity among the participants in the collective, helping to merge individuals into a cohesive group that can work towards desired outcomes. The leadership act can be carried out by an installed leader in collaboration with anyone from the collective who acts as a facilitator during moments of co-creation. It is a collaborative act of leadership that unites the collective for as long as necessary to achieve their shared goals.
The five key traits of the leadership act are based on the following principles:
1 - CREATE SPACE
A collective can only exist if every participant is allowed to exist.
2 - MODEL AGILITY
A collective can only be agile if every participant is agile.
3 - LEVERAGE DIVERSITY FOR SYNERGY
A collective can only connect if every participant engages.
4 - START WITH ACCEPTANCE
A collective can only create if every participant is aligned with purpose.
5 - BE AN AMBASSADOR
A collective can only move forward if every participant invests.
