Restorative Leadership

I love the term Peter Block uses for how leaders create the conditions for civic engagement: Restorative Leadership.  His description of this type of leadership feels radical – really calling us to question the way we think of leaders and leadership – and it captures the essence of the kind of leadership Envision Halifax is focused on in pursuit of its mission of igniting a culture of civic engagement.

Block says conventional thinking holds the leader responsible for assuring the perpetuation of the default culture, belief systems or ways of doing things, like: leader and top are essential, the future destination can be blueprinted, the work is to bring others “on board”, rewards are related to outcomes and more measurement produces better results. Most of us in leadership roles and advocating leadership skills are probably nodding our heads at this list.  But what if this is no longer the role of a leader?  What if the times are calling us to both be bolder and be less in charge or leading the way?  What if, as leaders, we really do need to show up in a different way?  What would that look like?

In restorative leadership, the task of the leader is to care more about the experience of citizens than the vision or behaviour of leaders – to care more about the experience of citizens (employees, volunteers, others who gather) than the vision!  Imagine!

Block holds that the tasks of restorative leadership are to create a context that nurtures an alternative future, based on inclusiveness and hospitality, and to initiate conversations that shift our experience – which occurs through the way we bring people together and the nature of the questions we use to engage them.  This requires a completely different way of leading and a reconceptualization of how we think about leadership.

In Block’s view, engagement is the means through which there can be a shift in caring for the well being of the whole.  Engagement becomes powerful through conversations that create ownership of this place, even though another is in charge.  These are conversations that evoke commitment without barter, ones that acknowledge the primacy of relatedness, are about the larger communal possibility where dissent is valued as a key component of the conversation and experience.  It is an approach to creating and co-creating the world through invitation rather than mandate.

This leadership is restorative by producing rather than consuming energy, by inviting rather than telling and it creates accountability as it confronts people with their freedom and their power of choice.

Restorative leadership really challenges us to rethink our concept of leadership and invites us to step into new ways of leading where people are invited into their own experience and co-creation rather than persuaded to “buy-in” to one person’s vision.  I wonder if Halifax is ready for a notion which really might be a bit radical? Envision Halifax is ready to hold the space for this type of inquiry, curiosity and exploration.