What is Generative Leadership? February 7, 2022 by Belinda EganI distinctly remember the day I realized that the most commonly understood view of “leadership” (and, therefore, the method of being a leader) is totally wrong for most organizations. It was after yet another incredibly frustrating experience with my own leader in a corporate setting. As a standard, she was a poor communicator, had a hard time making decisions for her team, and caused more fires than she put out on a daily basis. And she wasn’t the only one. The entire leadership structure of this organization was made up of individuals in roles they simply weren’t suited for – leadership roles. Like a clear bell on a windless day, it was impossible to ignore once I heard it echoing inside me: we’ve been doing “leadership” all wrong. I left that organization shortly after this realization…I mean, how could I stay? How can anyone stay in a work environment once they see that their leader is the problem? Like an obsessed sleuth working overtime hours, I began to pour my personal time digging into leadership practices. I knew I was on to something. I saw that things could be different, had to be different, but I wasn’t quite sure how just yet. I had to know. Was this the “traditional” leadership model that I saw failing so effortlessly, or were there different, more effective models that just hadn’t reached the mainstream yet? Finding Generative Leadership and My Own “Why.” A common issue among the leaders I work with is that they haven’t defined their “Why” for being a leader – that is, the reason they wanted to be a leader in the first place. And on the flip side of that, leaders are often chosen for their credentials, breadth of experience, and past achievements. While these are all good things to measure for, they don’t say anything in particular about who the leader is: how they treat people, what they value, and their inner beliefs about people, work, and success. These things – the “Why” for leadership and a leader’s inner workings – are just as important when it comes to being a truly effective leader. When leaders don’t understand themselves well, they’re bound to hit a lot of turbulence, impatience, and frustration when attempting to communicate with, delegate, and lead others. I had also noticed that a lot of the leadership skills that are most vital for guiding a team to progress (conflict resolution and effective communication, delegation and resource guidance, and time management and prioritizing top-order tasks) were not being appropriately trained into many of the leaders I had worked with. Being a good leader requires a well-trained set of skills and a leader who knows themselves really, really well. But where was the framework to grow this type of leader? When I learned about the concept of “Generative Leadership,” I knew I was on the right track. I’d attended a workshop put on by the Institute For Generative Leadership and immediately knew I’d met people who were speaking my language. Generative Leadership is the practice of embodying, through daily practice, the skills of leadership. Understanding what a good leader is, or knows, or does, is not the same as being that good leader – and Generative Leadership turns knowledge into practice. Along with the Generative Leadership framework, I’ve developed a series of workshops, tools, and practices to get leaders-in-training and current leaders deeply in touch with themselves – to find their “Why” – and align their values with their mission. When leaders get their “Why” straight and have a daily practice of tools to refine their leadership skills, they become the type of leader that’s priceless for an organization and its teams. Courageous Leadership is an intensive training program created for all types of leaders (from Team Leads to the C-Suite) that positively transforms the way they lead. I developed this program to fill a desperate need for a new leadership framework: effective, altruistic, courageous agents of lasting change. For more information on this exclusive program and to join the waitlist, click here! –Belinda