In an increasingly complex environment, where digital has revolutionized all relationships within the company, how can one become a leader with a sense of purpose? How can one support their teams to integrate new work modes and turn them into levers for growth and performance?
The manager must step out of their control role to come to the aid of their teams and be a true support, leader, at their service. They must create the necessary conditions to foster the responsibility and commitment of their teams! Host Leadership is one of the practices envisaged.
What is “Host Leadership”?
The term “Host Leadership” refers to the role of host. We have all been in this situation of inviting friends for dinner. For this dinner, we must think about the invitation, select and well organize the reception venue, invite the people who make sense, introduce the people among themselves, be attentive to everyone’s well-being, and animate the event. We can easily translate these different “tasks” into project management or team management.
Today, given the disengagement of employees upon the arrival of the new generation, or even the obsolescence of skills, the employee experience is crucial. As analyzed in our article “Towards a new Employee experience!”, Management frameworks must then evolve in order to improve the employee experience. A leader gives meaning and commitment. Through his Host Leadership stance, he puts himself in the shoes of the employee. at the service of employees in the performance of their duties.
Dr Marc McKergow and Helen Bailey detail the 6 roles of the Host Leader in their book “Six new roles of engagement for teams, organizations, communities and movements”.
These new roles and positions are bringing out new leaders. But let’s be realistic: not every manager is born with the intuition to handle these new roles (and that despite all the best training in the world).
How to invest in the Host Leader position?
In a Host Leader approach, the leader has 6 roles to play depending on the situation:
- The initiating leader must start first; he is the initiator of the project.
- The organizing leader invites the teams to engage with him
- The “Space Creator” leader must create a favorable environment to foster motivation, commitment, and all the necessary conditions to help the work.
- “The Gate-keeper: the leader selects the teams, the practices he wants to use, and then the types of methodologies he wants to exploit during the project
- The connector is intended to facilitate the relationship between the teams,’improve collaboration
- The co-participant, since the leader takes part in the construction of the project beyond the mere fact of initiating it
These roles thus intersect with 4 positions:
– “On the stage”, it’s about being the center of attention
– With the contributors, he blends in with the team
– “On the balcony”, he is in an observer position and is present if necessary to guide or answer questions
– “In the kitchen”, that is to say “behind the scenes”, it is also in production; the manager gets his hands dirty
Host Leadership is organized according to a role and a position.
To evolve towards Host Leadership, the first step is to know one’s natural role and intuitive role/position composition. Indeed, by nature, the leader has a predisposition towards one or another composition. Therefore, he or she must explore other postures in order to become a truly accomplished Host Leader. The idea then is to invest the other roles and positions according to the situation in which the team is placed.
Far from making it a dynamic precept of management, Host Leadership is an inspiring approach that complements well with the Management 3.0 by Jurgen Appelo, which we particularly cherish
Management & Leadership Development
