Overview of Bridging Leadership Leadership for Change, Module Two, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Overview of Bridging Leadership

Leadership for Change, Module Two, Mauritius, March 2012 (Barry Smith, L4C Facilitator)

Bridging Leadership

Bridging Leadership is a leadership style or approach to tackle complex and systemic social inequities:

• That are beyond the capacity of one sector alone to

resolve.

• That need collaborative action of all sectors – government,

private sector and civil society.

• Around which resolve to redress social inequities must be

nurtured and shared by the multiple stakeholders.

• Around which bridging leaders can convene diverse

stakeholders to own the issue and its resolution.

A paradigm shift in thinking about leadership:

FROM Leaders as TO Leaders as Commander and controller Facilitator and convener Sole owner of the problem and solution Prime mover, but a co-owner of the problem and solution Having all the answers Creator of the conditions where answers emerge A single intelligence Focuser of collective attention and the distiller of collective intelligence Head of one organization Ligament between organizations and institutions across a system Holder of power Distributor of power, letting go to enable new things to emerge Expert Non-expert, mobilizing the expertise of others

Bridging leadership

Bridging leader action framework

Ownership

• The Bridging Leader makes a

personal response to the issue

• Understands its systemic analysis

and recognizes the interests of its many stakeholders Co-Ownership

• The Bridging Leader convenes

stakeholders to co-own the issue

• Through a process of dialogue and

engagement, the stakeholders arrive at a shared vision and shared response.

• The vision becomes the societal
• utcome aspired for by everyone.

Co-Creation

• A social innovation/intervention is

adopted and carried out through new institutional arrangements/partnerships.

• Over time, the arrangements are

institutionalized into formal structures and processes together with a policy environment supportive to stakeholders’ participation and responsive institutions.

• The Bridging Leader sustains her/his

work by cultivating sources of renewal.

Source: Asian Institute of Management

What do bridging leaders need to BE?

Self-Aware of Character and Values Recognition of one’s character and values and how strength and inspiration can be drawn from these in facing the challenges and uncertainty that come with complexity Strong Sense

• f Purpose

Clarity of what should be done and how it can be done in order to be purposive and strategic in addressing complex inequities Capacity to Transform Willingness to work with others, in a way that taps their greatest potential, toward collaboratively finding and implementing solutions to the inequities

E Garilao

What do bridging leaders need to KNOW?

Systems Thinking A new perspective, a specialized language, and a set of tools that can be used to understand reality as a whole – the relationships among the parts of a system – rather than the parts themselves Multi- Stakeholder Processes Setting up and facilitating dialogic processes that bring together diverse stakeholders into constructive engagement, dialogue and collective decision making Creativity ‘Emergent processes’ i.e. tools and capacities to discuss how one can sense the future as it emerges or sense it from the pieces of the future held by other stakeholders

E Garilao

What do bridging leaders need to DO?

Strengthen will to lead through self- awareness Articulation of the leader’s set of values and capital as well as the leader’s understanding of the inequities being faced as input for verbalizing and concretizing the personal response that the leader commits to Convene a multi- stakeholder group that is built on trust Engaging diverse stakeholders and building trust among them toward reaching a shared vision on how to address the current reality of inequities Change institutional arrangements Leading the collaborative implementation of innovative programs that will result to societal equity and that are based on new institutional arrangements that make institutions responsive and empower citizens

E Garilao

A bridging leader:

• Has a formal/ informal mandate & accountability to address a social

cause

• Has necessary authority/ leadership to take independent decisions and

partner with other stakeholders

• Has clearly articulated/ displayed passion to address the social cause
• Can influence the system and implement the desired interventions-

upwards, side-wards and downwards, with or without formal authority

• Displays ‘participatory consciousness’ as against ‘top-down’, ‘expert’ or

‘interventionist approach’- i.e. believes in the fact that complex social issues cannot be addressed by just one best solution but by collaboration, participation and ownership of community & other stakeholders

Key questions asked of the bridging leader: What is my relationship capital? What is the social return on my relationship capital? What assets and competencies do I bring to the process?