Nine qualities of values-driven leadership in sustainable alliances

In values-driven alliances, people work together towards a common ambition. The world in which leaders operate today is complex, confusing, and constantly changing. To understand this complexity, we need leaders with different perspectives and qualities, ready to create and develop values-driven alliances to contribute to a better world. In this article, I describe nine qualities of leaders in values-driven alliances.  

Giving meaning to events  

Values-driven leaders are of great significance. Sense-making is based on the interactions in the relationships between the members of the alliance and between the alliance and its environment. People create meaning from the events they experience and from the values and beliefs they share. These values and beliefs arise from past events and distort our view of present events. Our values and beliefs are fueled by history, stories and past events and are sustained by people's expectations of how they should behave.  

Dare to question patterns  

Values-driven leaders look for opportunities to break through patterns of entrenched thinking. This requires knowledge of the motives and starting points of the members uniting in the alliance. Only if the members know each other's values and beliefs can they create space for new ways of working together. These new working methods create additional images of reality. Stories about the history of the alliance add something to everyday language and give way to new meanings. The patterns of cooperation change with daily routines and people act collectively. With their actions, they add to the flow of events and contribute to changes in the alliance and the world around them.  

Global view 

A global view is needed to give meaning to complexity: being open to what is going on in the world with an eye for the many events and variations therein. From this perspective, it is not enough to know what is going on globally. It is also about having an eye for unique local events and attention to differences, precisely to be able to respond to them. The global vision goes hand in hand with attention to what is happening locally, where tensions and new opportunities arise. A shared awareness of the local situation in relation to global developments requires exchange by the members of the alliance with an open mind and a willingness to face tensions and discuss them with each other. Leadership in alliances is, therefore, a form of shared leadership.  

Analytical view  

An analytical view is needed to unravel complexity, understand the dynamics behind it, and examine how those dynamics can be tackled. A good analysis is usually half the battle and already a considerable step forward. Analyzing what is going on together with others, and sharing the results of this analysis with others in the alliance creates a certain peace of mind and a mutual understanding and starting point to tackle problems in a continuous learning process. To arrive at a full-fledged analysis, conversations must be held between all members of the alliance and the people outside it, such as customers, suppliers, and regulators. An analytical view contributes to being able to handle ambiguity and uncertainty.  

Eye for relationships  

Values-driven leaders have an eye for relationships and collaboration. In alliances, cooperation between members and partners is essential. This requires values-driven leaders in alliances to bring people together, organize cooperation, identify tensions, and discuss conflicts. Collaboration in alliances is about collegiality and dealing with differences based on mutual trust. It's more about listening than talking. Organizing cooperation requires social awareness and the ability to establish social relationships and build networks. Community and social awareness contribute to mutual trust and to the development of the people, teams, and organizations that are part of an alliance.  

Develop resilience  

In our dynamic, turbulent, and ambiguous world with a lot of turbulence, all alliances face a crisis at some point that puts pressure on their survival. This requires resilience and skillful balancing. The transformation of an alliance involves a double task: stabilizing the execution of the work while developing new working methods. The first step is to bring peace and order to the work by stabilizing the situation. This buys time to take new paths and start the transformation process. It is about strengthening the identity of the alliance, articulating the values, confirming the ambition and adjusting it if necessary, and working from strength with realistic actions for the short term.  

Strengthen change awareness  

A conscious view of change means consciously dealing with the life phases of the alliance and deliberately initiating change if necessary. This means bringing members together to evaluate the ambition of the alliance and discussing the drivers for change. This involves mobilizing the ambitions and motivations of people in the alliance, assessing the nature and impact of the change, looking for the desired direction, choosing the most appropriate change strategy, taking concrete actions, and bringing together stakeholders. This is about strengthening change awareness. Change awareness contributes to sensitivity about what moves people and to the involvement and self-confidence of people in the change process.  

Dealing with paradoxes  

Most values-driven alliances are multi-party alliances, many of which have evolved into global alliances to increase societal impact. The differences between the participating parties make the management of values-driven alliances quite complex. The trick is to embrace paradoxes and tensions in creating and developing alliances. A paradox consists of two opposing perspectives and related actions, each of which is meaningful and defensible. Managers and leaders must position themselves in the field of tension between the two perspectives and deal with the paradox by continuously balancing between these two extremes. Recognizing paradoxes in creating and developing alliances can help members of the alliance deal with problems, tensions, and strategic choices.  

Reflective ability 

The final perspective is a reflective view of what is happening, including considering your own role as a leader and professional. This requires a certain tranquility and some distance that enables you to look back on your experiences and your own behavior. Thoughtful reflection means looking at current experiences and the patterns that can be discovered in them. An apt question here might be why you end up in a certain kind of awkward situation over and over again. Or what were the driving forces behind the successes achieved? This is a matter of self-awareness. Self-awareness is the art of understanding your own moods, emotions, and energy, understanding your own behavior and behavioral patterns, and considering the effects of your behavior on others. A reflective view increases self-awareness and contributes to self-confidence and learning ability. 

This article is based on Jaap Boonstra's recent book, written together with Marcos Eguiguren: Alliances for Sustainable Futures (Edward Elgar, 2023)