The different shapes of leading
What on earth do we mean by shape and leading?
Well, we are not talking about the shape of our wallets, or the shape of our bodies!
We are not even talking about Shape the organisation in London that works with disabled people and the arts!
Here we are talking about the different shapes our leading can take.
Think about where people live. People live in different places - houses, flats, mansions, castles, tents or even cardboard boxes if things are very bad.
As humans, we seem to want to build bigger and bigger places to live in all the time.
But is bigger, best? Is it really safer? And is ‘safer’ actually what we want or get?
As disabled people we sometimes have less choice - we have to live where we are told to. But do we really? Or do we just think we do?
Do the first thing to do is to think about what 'shape' you really want your leading to have. Don't just do what is expected of you, or what other people want - what do you want?
Does bigger mean safer?
Years ago, when people build castles on top of hills, the castles were safe. No one could attack them.
Now the castles wouldn't be safe, as the weapons we have are different.
Its important to remember that things change. And when things change, we have to be flexible and change too.
Sometimes things come along which change all the rules – Facebook on the computer, for example, has only been around since 2006. Yet Facebook has changed the way in which lots of people link up with each other worldwide.
What else has changed? Did you ever think that Woolworths would stop being a high street shop, for example?
And this year the Arts Council of England is changing again - we may only have four regions in a year or so - now thats a big change.
Your journey in leading shouldn't just be about getting more powerful or getting higher up.
If you sat in a castle now - that wouldn't make you safe! You might also be too far away from where things were actually happening - and that could be a problem.
As a leader, you should want to be at the centre of where things are - and where things are changing. Todays leaders are great at managing change, dealing with change and even creating change.
So think about the ways you lead, and the ways you want to lead - do they just give you a good job and nice title and more money, or are they about making change happen and helping people through change?
That tells you a lot about the kind of leader you want to be.
Jo Verrent
Sync project manager
