5 Summary of Week 4

Approaching leadership as a process means paying attention to what people do rather than who they are. In collective views of leadership, it is assumed that process happens through the contributions of many people. Conversations are important for generating positive processes of leadership. Conversations can be enhanced though active listening. The four-player model can help build healthy, diverse and energising conversations that are balanced between different types of contributions – moving, following, opposing and bystanding. Asking stretch questions can enhance diversity and open up space for new insight.

You should now be able to:

• define leadership process as collective actions that generate new meaningful direction
• strengthen your leadership communication through effective conversations
• strengthen your leadership communication through asking effective questions.

You are now halfway through the course. The Open University would really appreciate your feedback and suggestions for future improvement in our optional end-of-course survey [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , which you will also have an opportunity to complete at the end of Session 8. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

Next week you will continue with the process focus of leadership, considering the role of storytelling.

You can now go to Week 5.