Leadership For Change

Leadership is often about working for change.

It’s about striving toward a different outcome, a different way of doing things, or a different way of approaching the work at hand.

Leaders often champion or are excited about trying something new and encourage individuals, teams, organizations, and whole communities to work together towards positive change. What do you think needs to change? What ideas do you have?

And more than likely there are others in your community who are also ready to work for change with you. Part of this journey may be seeking them out. People all around you have ideas.

And working collaboratively is transformational because it will change the way things are done. My definition of Collaborative Leadership is, “Leading with the commitment to transform the way organizations and individuals work together toward a common goal.” The idea of “Building Together” is that Collaborative Leadership is about working with others towards change.

If you are working together with different people, this will lead to new ideas and new ways of doing things. Things will have to change because by working together in new ways, things will be different. And everyone will be collectively invested in the outcome. So in the end, the outcomes will be shared because the results will belong to all involved.

But change can be hard… and scary. For me the trick is to try to stay optimistic and believe that change can lead to exciting and new, and hopefully, better ways of doing things. One thing I sometimes say in meetings is, “I wonder…” or “What if” questions such as, “What if we tried this to do it this way?” And although a bit scary to do, I sometimes try to think it and say it from a place of either humor or curiosity. I find there often others in the room that like the idea or have ideas of their own that they now feel able to say. It gets us thinking and working together.

So take a risk and lead for change. Consider what needs to be improved and how to go about it. Inspire others to work collaboratively with you to champion new ways. See where it will take you.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

Barack Obama

By Fiona Stewart

Fiona is the author of Building Together: Collaborative Leadership in Early Childhood Systems (Stewart, 2019)