Moving from Reactive to Creative is half the story

When leaders and organizations start down the path to Creative Leadership, they typically focus on reducing Reactive tendencies. This is a good place to begin. Reactive patterns can cancel out our best efforts and limit our impact - but this is only half the story.

As leaders build awareness and agency, their highest leverage move is expanding their Creative leadership - not simply continuing to reduce the Reactive.

Two Creative competencies, in particular, serve as the engine of leadership effectiveness - Relating and Achieving.

I'll often use the metaphor of a rower (or sculler, to be accurate) to visualize the power of Relating and Achieving and why keeping the two in balance is critical.

Referencing the image below, I think of Authenticity as the rower being firmly grounded in their seat. The first step of rowing (or leading) is to get in the boat. You must know why you’re there, be centered, and have a fair bit of courage to attempt either.

Self-Awareness represents the rower's ability to attend to their inner state and physiology. Are they rowing a short, intense sprint or an extended endurance race? How is their breath, heart rate, and muscle fatigue? Are they pacing themselves and listening to their body and mind?

Systems Awareness is the capacity to take in external and environmental conditions. Are they rowing on a river, lake, or open ocean? What winds, currents, or obstacles must be taken into account? Can the rower synthesize all this information and adjust their stroke accordingly?

Relating and Achieving serve as the oars where the rower's energy and effort contact the water to create forward motion. Authenticity, Self-Awareness, and Systems Awareness are essential, but keeping Relating and Achieving balanced and engaged is where intention translates to impact.

Lessening Reactive tendencies will undoubtedly reduce the drag on your boat - but the power (and forward motion) comes from pulling on the oars with balanced force. This is the engine of Creative Leadership

I’ll link to a lovely (30-second) video in the comments of a sculler at Henley to bing the metaphor some life.