5 stages of leadership
This material was adapted from “The 5th discipline fieldbook” by Peter Senge and taught by Gary Best of the Association of Vineyard Churches in Canada during the “Vision and Planning” VLI intensive.
| degree of involvement |
Dependence on leaders capacity |
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| “tell” |
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| “sell” |
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| “test” |
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| “consult” |
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| “co-discern” |
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| Capacity for leadership in the team |
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As capacity to lead increases, talking gives way to more and more listening and there’s less of an issue if the leader is “lost” from the project. At the basic level the leader and team relate to one another in a relationship whereby the leader tells them what to do - very simple and very direct. The team is made up of helpers at this stage.
When the team need a leader to “sell” them on an idea, and get their buy-in on it but the leader is still telling they will grow resentful, with the leader needing to change their leadership style. Selling means that the leader should articulate the vision, and invite buy-in from the team. They in turn will give themselves freely to bring about the desired outcome, as determined by the leader.
As people’s capacity for leadership within the team (the shaded purple) grows, the style of leadership should also change, from selling a fixed outcome to one where the team has full buy-in and is given the ability to test the outcome and modify it in partnership with the designated leader. Obviously at this stage the team is made up from self-starters, and the leader is giving away control to the group. Leaders should refrain from attempting to manipulate the outcome - freedom should be given to their team to affect the outcome at the end.
When the leader is leading other leaders, they will need to consult where they’ll share vision and priorities and a high degree of the outcome will be determined by the team. Desired goals will be set and the leaders themselves will go back to their teams to test, sell or tell as approriate.
In a group of peers, a leader will often have to exercise leadership, as they co-discern, with a high degree of humble listening and reflecting back to the group to determine the overall vision / priorities being communicated by the group. Once vision and priorities are set, other leaders can implement it.
The interesting thing about all this is that it perfectly explains what my VLI mentor has been trying to do with me and why I feel a certain stretching going on right now, accompanied by the inevitable growing pains. You see, I am clearly and solidly in the “tell” section of the graph, making the occasional forray into the “sell” section. What David was trying to get me to do with last quarter’s leadership project was to move over to “test” and I was screaming with the unfamiliarity of it. I settled somewhere in “sell” I think (I hope). I am very comfortable in the tell/sell: to quote me, “I can lead _____ with my eyes shut” and ” just give me the roadmap, tell me what needs to be done”.
I need to grow. Growing hurts though, and I’m a wuss when it comes to pain!