Leadership is a Process

Leadership is not a static entity.

Another way to define leadership is to focus on the process. In reality, leaders, followers, and elements of the situation or context come together to create something that we call “leadership.” This is important because we naively tend to think of leadership as residing in the leader, or we think of it as an interaction between leader and follower, but it is much more complex than that.

What this means is that we should strive to build the collective leadership capacity — choosing and developing persons in leader roles who are skilled, empowering followers to participate in the leadership process, and creating a culture in a team or organization that allows leadership to flourish.

For Development: Think of the last one or two memorable and important leadership situations you’ve experienced, such as making a major decision or achieving an extraordinary goal. Focus on analyzing the process. Who was involved in co-creating the leadership? How did the situation come into play? What lessons can you extract for future leadership situations?