The Four Cs of Leaderful Practice
by Joe Raelin

from Leverage Points Issue 125

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Leaderful practice stipulates that everyone can be a party to leadership. This very assertion is in contrast to the familiar traditional model, which tends to paint a single leader with heroic imagery. In contrast to the tenets of the traditional model, leaderful practice offers its own tenets known as the “Four Cs.” The first perspective, that leaders be concurrent, stipulates that there can be more than one leader operating at the same time in an organization, so leaders willingly and naturally share power with others. Indeed, power can be increased by everyone working together.

Leaderful practice is not only concurrent, but is also collective. Since a group can have more than one leader operating at a time, we can conclude that people might be functioning as leaders all together; the entity is not solely dependent on one individual to mobilize action or make decisions on behalf of others.

Leaderful practice is also collaborative. All members of the organization, not just the position leader, may speak for the entire organization. They may advocate a point of view that they believe can contribute to the common good of the organization, but they are equally sensitive to the views and feelings of others. They thus seek to engage in a public dialogue in which they willingly open their beliefs and values to scrutiny. It is through dialogue that collaborative leaders co-create the enterprise.

Finally, leaderful managers are compassionate. By demonstrating compassion, one extends unadulterated commitment to preserving the dignity of others. Each member of the organization is valued, regardless of his or her background or social standing, and all viewpoints are solicited regardless whether they conform to current thought processes. In practicing compassion, leaders take the stance of a learner who sees the adaptability of the organization as dependent upon the contribution of others.

So, we have the ingredients for establishing a leaderful culture within the organization. Unfortunately, leaderful practice is not typically the default option when it comes to exhibiting leadership. The individual heroic model still persists. So, it is a challenge to introduce leaderful practice when people and institutions aren’t ready for it.

Consequently, institutional change needs to be mobilized by internal or external change agents who can encourage the endorsement of a culture of learning and participation within the system in question. Change agency, in turn, needs to occur at multiple levels of experience: individual, interpersonal, team, organization, and network. When people learn to lead together in the world, they can shape their local communities for the better, that is, in ways that are more responsive to their mutual needs.

The Four Cs of Leaderful Practice

Copyright © by Joseph A. Raelin in Creating Leaderful Organizations: How to Bring out Leadership in Everyone (Berrett-Koehler, 2003).

Joe Raelin is an international authority in work-based learning and collaborative leadership development. He holds the Asa S. Knowles Chair of Practice-Oriented Education at Northeastern University. His research and consulting have focused on executive education through the use of action learning. Among Joe’s books are The Clash of Cultures, Work-Based Learning, Creating Leaderful Organizations, and now to accompany the latter, The Leaderful Fieldbook: Strategies for Developing Leadership in Everyone