Leadership and ‘holding the space’

By Michael Doneman | April 14, 2009

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Just recently I’ve been pondering some of the ideas I heard expressed and saw practiced in workshops here with my friend and colleague Paul Natorp, from the Kaos Pilots. Paul’s gigs were mainly about ‘creative leadership’, the kind of leadership that is appropriate to innovation and R&D. One of the phrases I heard him use, and one that’s cropped up elsewhere as well, is to ‘hold the space’, to indicate the idea that a leader’s role is to dynamically maintain a kind of framework or DNA in which the process can happen and which helps make it happen. This is a useful idea because the ‘creative leader’ may not know the actual destination or solution, perhaps because the code needed for the solution is not the same code used to identify the problem. There has to be structure but there also has to be elbow room - I’m thinking of a kind of suit, perhaps like Dorothy Heathcote’s ‘mantle of the expert‘.

2 Comments so far

1. by Rebecca Leigh | Smart Fresh Writing on April 15, 2009 at 7:05 pm

   Funnily enough, the last time I heard the phrase ‘holding the space’ was in relation to a women’s circle. The terminology seems to be used quite commonly in these kind of spiritual forums to mean that the lead woman invests her energy to create a safe place in which the other participants can open themselves freely to the experience knowing that they will be acknowledged, respected and protected.

   Doesn’t sound so different to what is required to facilitate true innovative and creative thinking within organisations.

2. by Josh Capelin on April 21, 2009 at 12:01 am

   What I’ve experienced in the last 10 months, is how scared and uncomfortable some people are when having ideas and being creative. Ofcourse these observations are of people not used to being creative, but even so, my point is that for any creative leader, one must know of the mental and emotional barriers around them prior to even designing the space, let alone holding it… To actually cultivate a space for ideas-and to not criticize any idea, was one of my earliest memories of Kaos Pilot teachings… Hey Michael

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