Leadership as facilitation
In this session we focused on how leaders can operate as facilitators, rather than managers. What are the benefits, what are the difficulties?
The first speaker was Nick Sinclair from Community Catalysts. Nick runs the Local Area Co-ordination network, and the New Social Leaders network. He is also the ‘thought leader’ for the leadership strand of Better Way’s work.
Nick introduced our second speaker, Shelley McBride, who set up the Derby Community Parent Programme.
The final speaker was Helen Goulden, CEO of the Young Foundation. Her presentation drew on Young Foundation’s research, and the experience of its Leadership Academy, as well as her own personal experience as a leader.
Here are some of the key points made by speakers and in discussion:
A core role of established leaders can and should be to grow leadership in others. To act in this way challenges the traditional ‘command-and-control’ leadership model, and opens up space for more people.
We should remember that leaders are not all a good thing – some set out to promote vested interests or sow division. Our efforts should be directed towards leaders who are willing to work for the common good and who value inclusion.
There is far too little investment in leadership development in the informal community sector, compared to other sectors, even though community leaders are so fundamental to social change. Many community leaders feel anxiety and unworthiness in their role, and we need to build a better system of support around them.
We need to distinguish between management and leadership, and place more emphasis on the latter. Most organisations, it was suggested, are ‘over-managed and under-led’.
The term leader is an uneasy one. It implies that someone is ‘in charge’. Perhaps we need a different word.
A switch is needed, from efforts to support ‘leaders’ to support for ‘leadership’ – for example ‘how not to be a leader’ training, encouraging people to think of leadership as a group dynamic, not just about the individual.
We don’t need to start from scratch. Over the last 30 years or more there have been excellent examples of leadership training, that place high value in qualities such as curiosity, collaboration, enabling others, humility, empathy, emotional intelligence.