Our work is typically complex and often crazy and disorientating, but that's the nature of working with systems and it does all link together. This is what we're currently involved in and how we think we see the links.
Click on parts of the map to find out more (unfortunately not available on mobiles).
Our work is typically complex and often crazy and disorientating, but that's the nature of working with systems and it does all link together. This is what we're currently involved in and how we think we see the links.
Click on parts of the map to find out more (unfortunately not available on mobiles).
Anti-Leadership Training
There are many leadership development programmes out there. Traditionally they focus on developing the skills and competencies of a single individual, who is either already in a position of authority or wants to be.
For us, ‘leadership’ is about enabling a group to achieve a shared purpose, and that by focusing on the individual, rather than the group, leadership development programmes get it the wrong way round.
So, we developed something different.
We don’t even call it a leadership programme. Most of the accepted practices of leaders are recipes for dependency and mediocrity. We want to help overhaul these practices, so we call what we do ‘anti-leadership.’ Our training does not focus on ‘the person at the top’. Instead, it focuses on helping entire groups (teams, organisations) become more effective at achieving their shared purpose. We help organisations to develop cultures that promote and enable continuous learning, transforming the organisation to deliver better outcomes..
How is Anti-Leadership Training different?
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We work with groups rather than individuals.
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Our training is fundamentally about ‘the doing’ - it is about the what, where, when, how, and most importantly why. Anti-leadership is less about helping individuals to exert their power, and more about collective action and shared processes.
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Our training is driven by context – it is about this group, what they are trying to achieve, and the environment in which they operate. We don't believe there is a fixed way to lead, all people are unique with unique things to contribute.
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Our training places high value on social interactions and connectedness. Collective action can only emerge from discussion, disagreement, and honesty. Anti-leadership is, at its heart, about relationships.
As practical as it is theoretical, we teach the tools to:
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Put human flourishing at the heart of what you believe and do
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Build deep, trusting relationships
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Support and challenge one another to learn and grow
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Identify what people do best and how to help them do that
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Have the courage to think differently and work differently
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Create the conditions for people to feel motivated by their work
FAQs
Who is Anti-Leadership Training for?
Our Anti-Leadership Training is available to any organisation, no matter how large or small. The training is aimed at organisations with a strong social purpose. Up to 12 members from an organisation can be part of the cohort, and we strongly recommend this be a mixture of junior and senior staff. Our training is suitable for people who are prepared to be challenged and to leave their egos at the door.
How does it work?
The programme runs over a total of four days broken down into three sections. The programme begins withtwo days’ worth of formal training, which include your team setting itself a plan for how to embed what it’s learned. That formal training can either be run as two full days or four half days.
Two or three months later, we come together again to reflect on how the team has developed that plan, and develop its next phase. We repeat that process again another two or three months after that. There is an option to add further reflection and adaptation cycles on after if desired.
What research is it based on?
Our methodology draws on a wide range of sources – community organising principles drawn from Industrial Areas Foundation and the Sydney Alliance; research into the psychology of motivation, especially the work of Jonathan Haidt; the Human Learning Systems approach developed by Dr Toby Lowe; and our own experience of being human.