Overview of Bridging Leadership

Leadership for Change, Module Two, Mauritius, March 2012

(Barry Smith, L4C Facilitator)

Bridging Leadership
Bridging Leadership is a leadership style or approach to tackle
complex and systemic social inequities:
That are beyond the capacity of one sector alone to
resolve.
That need collaborative action of all sectors government,
private sector and civil society.
Around which resolve to redress social inequities must be
nurtured and shared by the multiple stakeholders.
Around which bridging leaders can convene diverse
stakeholders to own the issue and its resolution.

Bridging leadership
A paradigm shift in thinking about leadership:
FROM Leaders as

TO Leaders as

Commander and controller

Facilitator and convener

Sole owner of the problem and solution

Prime mover, but a co-owner of the problem and solution

Having all the answers

Creator of the conditions where answers emerge

A single intelligence

Focuser of collective attention and the distiller of collective intelligence

Head of one organization

Ligament between organizations and institutions across a system

Holder of power

Distributor of power, letting go to enable new things to emerge

Expert

Non-expert, mobilizing the expertise of others

Bridging leader action framework

Ownership
The Bridging Leader makes a
personal response to the issue

Co-Ownership
The Bridging Leader convenes
stakeholders to co-own the issue

Understands its systemic analysis

and recognizes the interests of
its many stakeholders

Through a process of dialogue and

engagement, the stakeholders arrive at
a shared vision and shared response.

Co-Creation
A social innovation/intervention is
adopted and carried out through new
institutional arrangements/partnerships.

Over time, the arrangements are

institutionalized into formal structures
and processes together with a policy
environment supportive to stakeholders
participation and responsive institutions.

The Bridging Leader sustains her/his

work by cultivating sources of renewal.

The vision becomes the societal

outcome aspired for by everyone.

Source: Asian Institute of Management

What do bridging leaders need to BE?

Recognition of ones character and values and how
Self-Aware of strength and inspiration can be drawn from these
Character
in facing the challenges and uncertainty that come
and Values
with complexity
Clarity of what should be done and how it can be
Strong Sense done in order to be purposive and strategic in
of Purpose
addressing complex inequities

Capacity to
Transform

Willingness to work with others, in a way that taps

their greatest potential, toward collaboratively
finding and implementing solutions to the
inequities

E Garilao

What do bridging leaders need to KNOW?

Systems
Thinking

A new perspective, a specialized language, and a

set of tools that can be used to understand reality
as a whole the relationships among the parts of a
system rather than the parts themselves

MultiStakeholder
Processes

Setting up and facilitating dialogic processes that

bring together diverse stakeholders into
constructive engagement, dialogue and collective
decision making

Creativity

Emergent processes i.e. tools and capacities to

discuss how one can sense the future as it
emerges or sense it from the pieces of the future
held by other stakeholders
E Garilao

What do bridging leaders need to DO?

Strengthen
will to lead
through selfawareness

Articulation of the leaders set of values and

capital as well as the leaders understanding of the
inequities being faced as input for verbalizing and
concretizing the personal response that the leader
commits to

Convene a
multistakeholder
group that is
built on trust

Engaging diverse stakeholders and building trust

among them toward reaching a shared vision on
how to address the current reality of inequities

Leading the collaborative implementation of

innovative programs that will result to societal
Change
institutional
equity and that are based on new institutional
arrangements arrangements that make institutions responsive
and empower citizens
E Garilao

A bridging leader:
Has a formal/ informal mandate & accountability to address a social
cause

Has necessary authority/ leadership to take independent decisions and

partner with other stakeholders
Has clearly articulated/ displayed passion to address the social cause
Can influence the system and implement the desired interventionsupwards, side-wards and downwards, with or without formal authority
Displays participatory consciousness as against top-down, expert or
interventionist approach- i.e. believes in the fact that complex social
issues cannot be addressed by just one best solution but by collaboration,
participation and ownership of community & other stakeholders

Key questions asked of the bridging leader:

What is my relationship capital? What is the social return on
my relationship capital? What assets and competencies do I
bring to the process?