Co-Active Leadership

Cultivating agility through connection

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Cultivating agility through connection

Co-active leadership is a leadership approach built on the understanding that organizations are at their best when the full strength of every member is brought forward. It’s an approach that moves beyond the traditional model of leader and follower, creating instead a relationship closer to that of coach and team. 

In a co-active leadership model, leaders and executives put themselves at the heart of the action, continually striving to raise up the people around them and keep everyone aligned toward a shared purpose.

What is a Co-Active Approach?

The phrase ‘co-active’ comes from ‘co’ – meaning a state of being – and ‘active’ – meaning, of course, a state of action. Combined, it means being together in a state of action. It’s a different way of saying ‘working well together’. 

In practice, the co-active approach draws resources from all levels of an organization. It’s a collaborative approach that makes teams and organizations more agile, faster to pivot, and better able to meet challenges head-on. With a co-active approach, decisions are not reactive, which tends to create a hamster wheel effect. Instead, they are responsive, meaning they’re made in alignment with where the company wants to be.

Contrary to traditional top-down approaches, co-active leadership recognizes the value of different perspectives, is inherently curious about new ways of doing things, and sees leaders and executives as guides, facilitators and collaborators, rather than dictators.

Central to co-active leadership is the understanding that leaders accept unconditional responsibility for their world, meaning the onus is on them to fully accept their own strengths and areas for growth, and to take 100% responsibility for how they show up, no matter the situation around them.

Would you like more information about Co-Active Leadership?

Would you like more information about Co-Active Leadership?

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What is a Co-Active Model?

The co-active model is a spectrum of 5 complementary styles, which empowers leaders and executives to adapt their approach to in-the-moment circumstances, without losing focus on the big picture.

One way to understand it would be to imagine water flowing through a river. The water continually shifts and adapts to move over, around and through its terrain, but it never loses its essence or strays from its goal of reaching the ocean.  

Much like a river, co-active leadership is agile, adaptive, and always making progress towards the big picture vision. It works with the surrounding terrain, instead of fighting against it.

The model is most often illustrated as a diagram of four spheres of leadership styles meeting in the middle to create the fifth style.

Those styles include:

  1. Leader in front: The visionary leader in front stands firmly for clear direction and purpose, embracing connection as the foundation of forward progress. They are unencumbered by ego and understand that they need others in order to make things happen. They put themselves at the forefront of both progress and challenges, also knowing when to sit back and let others shine and grow.
  2. Leader beside: To lead from beside is to partner with another leader, with a 100/100 view of teamwork. The leader beside strives to cultivate partnership around a shared vision, with an approach that leverages each co-leader’s strengths to create synergy. By balancing openness and curiosity with standing true to who they are, leaders beside create from each other.
  3. Leader behind: The serving and supporting leader behind is the backbone of the organization. They call for the brilliance of others, lean into recognition and acknowledgement, and strive to provide everything needed for others to succeed. They work hard to help others identify their blindspots and areas for growth, support them in creating and implementing plans of action, and are the ultimate cheerleaders.
  4. Leader in the field: The intuitive leader in the field maintains a global awareness of the larger system, and tunes into the unsaid and unexplainable. They trust their instinct and intuition and tap into it by slowing down to better observe deeper implications, notice the energy of what’s happening around them, and share what they are noticing without attachment to being right.
  5. Leader within: The purpose-led leader within has a deep sense of integrity and authenticity. They take 100% responsibility by accepting themselves fully, and leading themselves in accordance with their values and purpose. Leadership within is the foundation of the whole model.

Each style has different strengths and applications, allowing agile, co-active leaders to adapt their approach as circumstances demand. In all styles, connection is key, as is leading with full self-acceptance and self-authority.

Source: https://learn.coactive.com/your-leadership-approach

40%

Of all internal promotions involving ‘high potential’ talent, almost 40% ultimately fail (Martin & Schmidt, 2010)

50%

About 50% of all managers fail (Hogan, Hogan & Kaiser, 2011)

18 Months

½ of all senior hires don’t make it past 18 months (Bauer, 2011)

What Are the Four Cornerstones of Co-Active Coaching?

Within CTI, the co-active model has 4 cornerstones:

  • Everyone is naturally creative, resourceful and whole.

    We trust that people are capable of facing challenges, and have the drive to do so. If you believe people are broken or incapable, that’s what you’ll find and that’s what you’ll respond to. If you start from the belief that they are creative, resourceful and whole, that’s what you’ll find, inspire and respond to.

    Respect in this way goes hand in hand with accountability. Respect doesn’t mean we never hold people accountable. It means we assume they’re up to the task of accountability.

  • Dance in the moment.

    Whatever comes up, there’s a way to work with it, if we’re open to “dancing” – moving, stepping and swaying with the “music” smoothly, creatively and courageously.

    This is what it means to be truly agile. We can learn from the past and plan for the future, but the present is where we put our learnings into action and create the future.

  • Honor the whole person.

    There is no such thing as a “work self” and “home self”. The self is one whole and indivisible thing. That means, what’s going on in our professional spheres will impact our personal spheres and vice versa.

    We are all more than our role or title. We deserve to accept and respect all aspects of who we are, and all aspects of others, even the parts we may not like. When we do so, we are truly able to work together in full cooperation.

  • Evoke transformation.

    We don’t inspire transformation by aiming to control. We inspire by showing up as our whole selves and actively accepting the wholeness of others. We do so when we speak our truth without attachment, ask questions with full curiosity, accept the responses we receive, and so on.

    Strive to inspire and support transformation where it’s needed, especially within yourself. Trust that people (yourself included) know what’s right for them and support that.

At CEO of Your Life, Melissa includes a fifth cornerstone:

  • Tune into the body.

    Especially in corporate environments, we have a tendency to lead only with our minds, but that fails to take advantage of our full knowledge and experience. Tune into the messages of your body that help inform you about what’s happening within and around you, from moment to moment.

    Truly accepting the wholeness of another person takes work. It demands we remain open and that we remain respectful of our own boundaries simultaneously. Your body is a powerful messenger to tap into in doing this.

When you go through co-active leadership coaching with Melissa, these are the five cornerstones you will be held to, guided to understand, and empowered to bring forward.

Interested in co-active coaching?

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What Are the Benefits of Co-Active Leadership?

We’ve all seen the headlines about burnout, quiet quitting, and other worrisome workplace trends. There’s much discussion around that, but one thing is clear: workplace environments have a significant impact on well being, and that has a significant impact on organizational success.

It’s in everyone’s best interests that the people within an organization are engaged, empowered and inspired at work. It matters that people feel good about their contribution and are motivated to continually explore their own development.

It matters because we’re human beings and we all deserve to enjoy the one life we’re given and, at a more practical level, it matters because organizations don’t thrive if the people within them aren’t thriving.

Co-active leadership takes the whole person into consideration. Their wholeness is respected and their wellness is empowered. Some of the many benefits of this approach include:

  • Environments with fewer impediments to employee well being
  • Enriched interpersonal relationships
  • Greater collaboration and sharing of success
  • Greater trust and loyalty at all levels
  • Increased willingness among employees to cooperate and problem solve as a team
  • Greater willingness to step outside comfort zones and explore different avenues for success
  • Increased self-motivation among employees
  • Higher engagement
  • Greater respect for others and for one’s self

In a co-active environment, everyone is willing to offer support and collaboration when needed, and knows that support and collaboration – without judgment or negative repercussions – is readily available to them if and when they need it. That’s how we fight burnout, eliminate the need for tactics such as quiet quitting, and create workplaces that inspire and empower.

Who Created the Co-Active Model?

The co-active coaching model was first illustrated by Laura Whitworth, Karen and Henry Kimsey-House and Phillip Sandahl, in their 1998 book, Co-Active Coaching: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and Life. The Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) – founded by three of the book’s authors – has been in operation since 1992.

At that time, CTI was known as the Coaches Training Institute, with its founders pioneering the field of coaching that we know today. As the organization grew and the field of coaching evolved, the organization evolved as well to become a leadership development company, which is how the co-active coaching model became a renowned leadership model.

What is Co-Active Persuasion?

The concept of “co-active persuasion” comes up occasionally in leadership discussions, especially around negotiation and difficult conversations. It isn’t a term or concept exclusive to the Co-Active Institute or its model, but it does fit within the co-active approach.

Firstly, co-active persuasion is not a form of manipulation. Manipulation, by definition, is self-serving and often employs unfair or even unethical tactics.

Persuasion, however, is about trying to convince or sway someone to your understanding.

Co-active persuasion is focused on the good of the group. In a leadership sense, the group would be the team, organization, or even a “group” of just two people, for example, a leader and team member working to solve a problem. As an approach, it relies on methods of positive influence and working to understand each other’s mental models.

In a leadership or coaching relationship, co-active persuasion can be an important tool in helping others (and ourselves) consider new perspectives and ways of doing things.

Co-Active Leadership Coaching With Melissa

Among her many coaching and leadership development certifications, Melissa is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach. As such, her personal approach to coaching and leadership development is co-active, and she is experienced in coaching and guiding others to develop this powerful leadership approach in themselves and their organizations.

If you are interested in Co-Active leadership coaching for yourself, your team or your organization, connect with Melissa.

Connect with Melissa

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How Melissa Dawn is inspiring thousands

Melissa Dawn guides executives and high-level leaders to step into their full power and become the leaders they know they are meant to be. She is a renowned executive & leadership coach, keynote speaker, workshop leader, bestselling author, master practitioner of energy medicine and the founder of CEO of Your Life. Having transitioned from two decades of corporate experience to building her own business, Melissa has a strong understanding of what it means to truly thrive in our professional lives in a way that not only complements our personal lives, but lifts up our full life experience and that of the people around us. As a Master Certified Coach, Melissa takes a holistic, values-led approach to guiding executives and high-level leaders to become agents of positive change by connecting with their inner leaders. Through innovative workshops & coaching programs, Melissa works with individuals, teams and organizations and has helped thousands become the CEOs of their personal and professional lives with confidence, success and joy.

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