Raelin (2014) asked his readers to envision leadership through the lens of collaborative agency. It is hard for me, a Boomer, who has grown up with such quaint sayings as:
‘If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.’
‘Lead from the front.’
‘Be strong and decisive.’
‘You are a born leader.’
Raelin’s vision rejects individual agency, where the leader is autonomous in their mission to set the operation agenda. Instead, he asserts that collaborative engagement, leaning into reflexivity, is the path to successful collaborative efforts. Imagine the difference for the team, group, unit, division, or firm members that engage in collaborative efforts where their voice is not just heard but critical to the process.
Butler (2006) finds that collaborative attitudes necessary for success are so vital that his first critical of 15 critical principles states that trust, reciprocal concern, and open communications are central collaborative behaviors. This collaborative principle leans heavily on individual voice and value as recognized in the collaborative agency. Rather than ‘if it’s going to be, it’s up to me,’ this frame insists that collaborative partners need to feel and be in the same boat, fighting the same storm, with the same risk, goal, and reward. That is not to say that team members are all the same. Collaboration between identical team members is impossible. Each team member brings their knowledge, expertise, experience, and ability into the boat, and then you sail, knowing there is no single leader. Only the team agrees at each step on who and what can best work through mutual agreement.
For example, one of the team members at MAK, my family’s business, is an expert and cultural alignment. That means she makes sure the management team’s decisions are rooted in and support the culture the organization adopted 35 years and a generation of ownership ago. I am a subject matter expert on organizational behavior, culture, and leadership, but she is a practice expert. By mutual agreement, she leads the team in our collaborative strategic efforts in product, service, and human resource planning. We all have a voice, but we do not have equal abilities in every domain. Nevertheless, we assume that we have collaborative agency. We act together, and no one acts unilaterally.
Butler, P. (2006). Well connected: Releasing power and restoring hope. Authentic.
Raelin, J. A. (2016;2014;). Imagine there are no leaders: Reframing leadership as collaborative agency. Leadership (London, England), 12(2), 131-158. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715014558076
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