Margaret Wheatley defines Leaders As Hosts as, "leaders who know that problems are complex; who know that in order to understand the full complexity of any issue, all parts of the system need to be invited to participate and contribute."
Hosting leaders must:
Hosting leaders must:
- Provide conditions and good group processes for people to work together;
- Provide resources of time, the scarcest commodity of all;
- Insist that people and the system learn from experience, frequently;
- Offer unequivocal support- people know that the leader is there for them;
- Keep the bureaucracy at bay, creating oases (or bunkers) where people are less encumbered by senseless demands for reports and administrivia;
- Play defense with other leaders who want to take back control, who are critical that people have been given too much freedom;
- Reflect back to people on a regular basis how they're doing, what they're accomplishing, how far they've journeyed;
- Work with people to develop relevant measures of progress to make their achievements visible;
- Value conviviality and esprit de corps- not false "rah rah" activities, but the spirit that arises in any group that accomplishes difficult work together.
Read more about Leaders As Hosts in Margaret Wheatley's essay - Leadership in the Age of Complexity: From Hero to Host