We live in a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous), and let's face it, it's not exactly a walk in the park. Luckily, we have the ability to navigate these choppy waters if we meet the moment with a new approach. Doing so requires us to evolve our leadership style to less command/demand and more coordinate/co-create, a.k.a., Facilitative Leadership.

Facilitative leadership is a style that emphasizes collaboration, open communication, and empowering team members to take ownership of their work. Think of it as being a teacher who supports the students design the course.

The benefits of facilitative leadership are many, including fostering a culture of trust and transparency, promoting innovation and creativity, and developing the skills and capabilities of team members. The tactical effects are more impactful, and the experience of being on a team that operates accordingly creates cultures of belonging, loyalty and accountability.

So, how do you become a facilitative leader? It starts with building relationships, elevating and empowering team members, encouraging collaboration, and listening (like, really listening). These skills are essential in today's business environment where we are all building the plane as we are flying them. A few tips and tricks below to support you evolve your leadership style:

Build Relationships: Trust is the foundation of communication, and strong relationships. Without trust, effectively and sustainably leading your team is impossible. Take time to get to know your team members as individuals, not as roles or title. Invest time in learning their hopes, fears, strengths and weaknesses; over time, you will build trust through this demonstration of care, competence, consistency and two-way communication.
Elevate & Empower Team Members: One of the key elements of facilitative leadership is empowering team members to take ownership of their work - to make strategic decisions, to define their processes, and to organize their tasks. Giving team members the tools and resources they need to be successful, and provide guidance and support when needed will increase the sense of autonomy individual team members have. This will have a positive effect on employees’ sense of belonging, value and work satisfaction.
Encourage Collaboration: Collaboration is at the heart of facilitative leadership. Encourage team members to work together and share ideas, solve one anothers’ problems and create opportunities for cross-functional collaboration and teamwork. Increased collaboration will boost innovation, forge social ties that increase retention, and elevate the sense of ownership the team has for the results they deliver.
Listen, Listen, Listen: Follow the 80/20 rule, and make sure you are listening more than talking; Listening to the context, the subtext and the no-verbals, not simply the words. If your team is not used to expressing so much, you can help them build this muscle by asking powerful questions (e.g. open ended, strength-based and future focused inquiry) to elicit deeper thinking and more input from your folks.

Let's face it, we can't go back to a time when black swans were rare birds, but we can evolve our leadership models to be more effective, nimble, and distributed in the face of increasing flux. By becoming a facilitative leader, you can help your organization thrive in these dynamic times, while creating a positive and engaging work environment.