Co-Active Leadership: Five Ways to Lead by Karen Kimsey-House & Henry Kimsey-House

Author:Karen Kimsey-House & Henry Kimsey-House
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Published: 2015-09-20T14:00:00+00:00

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Co-Active Leader Beside

One-dimensional leadership models foster the myth that it is more expedient and efficient to have just one person in each position. Power must be held by one person only so that it is clear who has the power and authority and exactly whom we should blame when things go wrong.

Also, as we become ever more action oriented and results driven, it appears that there isn’t time for all this relationship stuff. It’s faster and more efficient to just do it ourselves without bothering too much with other people.

This imbalance between active and co permeates much of our lives, with relationships and interconnectedness getting sacrificed as we push ourselves to do more, produce more, accomplish more on our own. While in the short term it might feel as if we are effective, we are shortsightedly cutting ourselves off from the creativity and synergy that are available only through partnership with other people.

Isolation and separateness are actually an illusion. In truth, everything we do occurs in relationship with someone else. Whether that relationship is nourishing or debilitating is up to us. We are by nature communal creatures, designed to live and work in partnership with others. We are most effective when we are able to lean in fully to the resource of the other people in our lives. The dimension of Co-Active Leader Beside brings awareness and responsibility to these partnerships so that we can work together more effectively, creatively, and joyfully.

What Is Co-Active Leader Beside?

Most of the time, co-leading consists of dividing responsibilities and a “your turn, my turn” way of doing things. Co-Active Leader Beside is a true partnership, with both people being fully responsible for every part of the initiative. Co-Active Leaders Beside take responsibility for their world by creating their partnership around a shared vision and intention and supporting each other’s strength to generate a powerful synergy in which the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.

Co-Active Leader Beside is like a masterful dance with both parties leaning in 100 percent and each very sensitive to the direction of the other. In this dance, both leaders balance 100 percent commitment with complete humility, being willing to take the lead or follow in each moment. So, as with any great dance pair, it is impossible to tell who is leading and who is following because each one owns the whole thing at the same time.

Co-Active Leaders Beside often finish each other’s sentences. They will enthusiastically disagree. If one is headed off in the wrong direction, the other will break in and redirect. Rather than creating with each other, Co-Active Leaders Beside create from each other. Because they are aligned around their vision and direction, they lead together in an improvisational way that is fresh, alive, and engaging.

When we choose the dimension of Co-Active Leader Beside, we are able to reach higher and risk more because we know that someone is holding our rope and we are holding his. If we fall, we won’t fall flat on our face because our partner, our co-leader, will be there to catch us.

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