COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP —THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE—

I realized something recently that I not realize when I wrote the book on The Collaborative Leader. The realization occurred during the two-day Pre-Conference Workshop on Collaborative Leadership in Cuiaba Brazil for the PNL Conference in May. I realized that the modifying leadership with the idea of collaboration is another way of talking about real leadership. After all, could you even be a leader and not collaborative?

Interesting question. Could you be a leader and not collaborative? If you are not “telling” people things—what to think, what to do, or giving orders, or delegating—are you leading or bossing? Sounds like bossing to me. If you are leading, you are leading what? Certainly not the mind because you are imposing rather than questioning or facilitating. Certainly not the heart, because it seems more about getting things done rather than taking care of the people you are leading.

What is a leader? Is he or she not someone who wins the minds and hearts of people? He wins their thinking and caring to the vision of what can be done together. She wins their inner spirit so that they are ready to put their heart and soul into something. A person who talks in monologues, who lectures, who tells, who orders, who operates by “command and control” is actually not leading anyone anywhere.

It was this that led me to realize that collaborative leadership is actually the only kind of true leadership; everything else is unreal and inauthentic. We may use the word “leader” while describing a military “command and control” approach. Yet our misuse of the word does not endow the person with leadership, it is a word, not reality. It is a map, not the territory.

Now in terms of “collaborative leadership,” we have two references. First, leading people to collaborate, that is, enabling and empowering the collaborative processes for those who follow. Second, collaborating with people in leading and in the leadership processes. That is, co-leading with other leaders.

The first meaning of collaborative leadership is the easiest of the two even though it is not easy at all. It seems especially not easy when you have followers who are independent souls who have their own minds and who are active players focused on getting things done. Leading them is like “herding cats.” Paradoxically, we want independent thinkers and people with an entrepreneurial spirit, do we not? After all, they are self-motivated, can work independently, and take responsibility. They are unlike passive followers who wait to be told what to do and who skillfully avoid responsibility.

What’s challenging is getting such people to not merely cooperate with each other, but to

collaborate in thinking, learning, and deciding. That means getting them to think together, learn together, and decide together. What’s so challenging about that? It takes time. It takes patience. It takes personal development. You can’t command these. You have to show the way; you have to be collaborative yourself.

Most difficult is collaborative leadership when it involves co-leading with other leaders. The reason is pretty obvious—ego. Here the leader’s ego gets in the way because now the leadership is not about the leader at all, it is through the leader. Now it is about the success of everyone and of the team. Co-leadership means that there will be times when the other co-leaders outvote you. Nothing will challenge your motives and ego-strength as this. Will you go along with the others and support the decision? This will challenge whether you are in it for the glory, the self- promotion, or for the vision.

Why is any of this important? Because today, as never before, companies do not need a single, independent leader; they need a robust leadership team. And the trend that feeds this is growing stronger every month, thereby making collaborative leadership the way of the future.

Are most leaders ready for this? No, not at all. Most leaders in most companies still operate by many of the worse traits of the 19th and 20th centuries. For many, they don’t even know that “command and control” is a strategy for generating resistence and dis-engagement, not leading. They don’t even know that group and team coaching has become an essential for all teams, especially with the leadership team.

For more: See The Collaborative Leader. Unleashing Leadership: Self-Actualizing Leaders and Companies.