Toward Shared Leadership
At the core of this new leadership synthesis is how leaders collaborate and build a wide network of relationships in an age of emergent disruption.
By Tom Cummings, Founder, Leading Ventures and Board Member, Tällberg Foundation, The Netherlands
Frequent expressions of disappointment in leaders and demands for new ways of leading suggest the death of leadership and leading as we know it. Yet in the face of a startling array of emerging challenges across the world, some leaders choose to see these times as fertile soil for renewing and renovating our models of leadership. This exceptional way of working signals a departure from our past assumptions about how leaders get things done.
What is different? At the core of this new leadership synthesis is how leaders collaborate and build a wide network of relationships in an age of emergent disruption. There is no doubt that leaders and their institutions are often confounded by globally complex, overlapping, counter-intuitive, information-rich, disorienting dilemmas. Yet the leaders that embrace the ride seem to band together to surf, submarine and fly with each wave, turning barriers into opportunities, connecting opposites, reframing assumptions and making tough calls when most of their peers would not be able to separate signal from noise.
What doesn’t work in the wash of big data, and bigger challenges, is to believe that a single, omnipotent heroic person can know and oversee all eventualities. The days of the lone wolf are numbered. This form of leading was a useful trope and dominant myth throughout history. It worked when the aim was to ascribe power, energy and attention to a single leader, whose lucky genes came before their agenda. Collaborative leaders have chosen a different path and have still managed to achieve exceptional results. In the process of their work, they cultivate a close-knit circle of partners, co-analysts, sense makers and communicators from across disciplines and cultures. Through partnerships they enhance the reach and depth of their leadership role and abilities.
So how do they do it? The power of a conscious collective of leaders lies in their willingness to choose trust before trustworthy, to be vulnerable enough to deepen relationships, and to accept feedback and reflection as a gift.
Many of the Tallberg Foundation Global Leaders have made a virtue of their ability to flourish through this type of shared collective leadership. The evidence suggests that their ability to forge deeper relationships and foster enduring commitments over the course of their careers has not only led to success, but also to shared learning. In its multiple forms the Global Leaders did not abdicate when sharing their role, rather, they drew mutual energy, shared ideas and sustenance from peers knowing an age-old truth: people become deeply committed to what they participate in and create together.
Tom Cummings has served as global head of Learning and Organisation Effectiveness for Unilever and ABN Amro Bank; project leader/adviser on planning and learning in companies such as Shell, Compass Group, Fortis, Marakon and BUPA and others. Tom has created and co-designed business transformation and learning vehicles such as Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Center for Strategy Research, Leading Ventures and Common Purpose Netherlands.
Tom has also led the Tällberg Leader Program since 2006.
This work has involved him as a designer and catalyst in hundreds of projects and board retreats across many cultures. He works with people who wish to engage with complexity and want to learn how to move between and across different perspectives. The approach helps to integrate experience and anticipate challenges. His work encourages leaders to be present and mindful of their personal impact while sustaining a perspective on their legacy in the wider world.
