What is CoCreative Leadership?

The current state of leadership really concerns me - given just how fundamental it is and the increasing evidence of the negative impact of bad leadership. Traditional leadership sees the people at the top of the tree directing and controlling those beneath them to get stuff done. With scandals like the Post Office (where sub-postmaster were wrongly convicted), Countess of Chester Hospital (where it seemed management ignored warnings) it can feel like leadership is considered a game amongst those ‘in power’ - the ‘winners’ often lack accountability. We seem to be obsessed with output, growth and power and the people working in this system are more stressed, burnout and disillusioned than ever.

On the other hand we also know how impactful a person’s experience of leadership is.  People leave their bosses, not their jobs (60%-75% of employees report that their immediate boss was the most stressful part of their job). We know that high levels of employee wellbeing improves productivity, retention AND financial performance. And this Gallup 2022 statistic tells us that employees who are engaged perform 18% better than disengaged ones... AND absenteeism is a whopping 81% less!

So what needs to change?  

We need a BIG SHIFT.  A shift that creates leaders who are about service rather than status. Leaders who play to people’s strengths and create teams who are passionate about, and have common values with what they are achieving.  We need leaders who bring their innate human-ness and creativity to leading. 

In short, leadership needs to be more about collaboration, co-creation, the wellness of everyone, holding the ego lightly (not about power or domination) in order to create and hold the space for teams and followers to step into their potential and be their best selves. 

We also need businesses to bring a focus on the way in which we achieve our goals as much as achieving the goal itself and who want to make creating a positive impact as important as profit and productivity.

So I’m committed to my work being part of creating the shift to a more human, more creative-style of leadership. 

What do I mean by CoCreative?

Let’s start with creative bit.  Historically research has been about exploring the elite and being intellectual but now research is telling us that we are all creative. We can think of creativity as a ‘way of being’ rather than a fancy product like a painting, sculpture or song.  

To be human is to be creative and it’s simply about responding to daily tasks in an original and meaningful way (it doesn’t even matter about the end product - it’s the journey). 

Creativity is great for our wellbeing in many ways meaning that we are able to handle stress better and have more resilience and as AI evolves, there has never been a more important time to harness our creative uniqueness as humans.

The ‘co’ part in CoCreative means collaboration and an in-service (or coaching) style of leadership. Think Ted Lasso! When we collaborate and coach our teams along the journey we create engaged, committed teams.

Put simply, CoCreative Leadership is about fostering a safe space that encourages bravery and experimentation, a space conducive to everyday creative behaviours. CoCreative leaders encourage themselves and others to explore their uniqueness, innovative thinking and agility.

The result? Outstanding outputs and a thriving team.

Imagine if:

• you had positively engaged teams focussed on delivering outstanding outputs (rather than fire-fighting with recruitment and training to replace lost & sick employees)?
• your people and leaders create an OUTSTANDING CULTURE where people can be their best.  We celebrate our achievements and the people we have in the business are passionate about what we do.
• productivity is exactly where you want it to be in order to hit your financial goals but you also prioritise a culture where employees wellbeing is paramount and it’s a place where people love to work.
• there is two way trust in the organisation between leaders and teams - everyone at every is aligned about the purpose/direction we are all going with and know, understand and are committed to outstanding service This means that customer service knows that the operation of the business will deliver on the promises to customers.  

Let’s make leadership personal and open the floodgates to change

Let’s be part of creating leaders with authenticity, creativity and purpose

Let’s support leaders (and ourselves) to become the leaders we want (and need) to see in the world

Want to get involved in the shift?..  There are 3 ways I’d love your support.

1. If you want to find out more then please sign up HERE to my Masterclass and secure your space… it’s coming soon.
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