Fractal Leadership

Once, many years ago, I was asked that if I was ever to write a book on leadership what would it be called. My immediate response was ‘Fractal Leadership.’ As it turns out the trilogy of leadership books I’m writing is called ‘The Leader’s Suitcase’ but I digress…

Nevertheless this idea of fractal leadership has continued to be something I have thought a lot about. But before going any further let’s have a quick lesson in fractals.

An object is said to be fractal when its parts reflects the whole. A koru is a good example. This photo I took of a koru illustrates its fractal nature perfectly.

If you look at the large spiral you will see that it contains smaller spirals that look just like itself. The technical name for this is self-similarity. You will also see that the smaller koru on the branch look exactly like the bigger one.?

Broccoli are another example of a fractal. If you take a head of broccoli and break off one of the florets, you will see that the floret is a smaller version of the head.

Fractal leadership occurs when the small parts of an organisation are identical to the whole.

What this might look like includes:

• Teachers speaking to students using the same respectful language that they use with each other
• Adults speaking to their team members in the same way they speak to their line manager
• Everyone taking a turn at emptying the dishwasher.

These are but three of many examples. Acting fractally and expecting others to do the same brings a great deal of authenticity to our leadership.

Another way fractals can do the heavy lifting in an organisation is when we use them across processes. A good example of this are organisational values. If we want them to be part of the fabric of our organisation then treat them as fractals. We could use our values as the framework for:

• Performance agreements
• Strategic planning
• Meeting protocols.

Once again, this is just three of many examples. The more things we explicitly underpin with our values, the more our values become embedded into our organisation.

Being fractal in how we manage change is also helpful. When we have a common model that we use for all change processes, it makes things feel a little less overwhelming and complicated. This is especially true in times of externally-imposed change. You may not have a choice about what you are expected to do, but you can choose how you are going to do it. Look out for my next post which is about the design thinking model I use to support organisations on their journey of change.

Finally…

I once tried introducing this idea of fractals at a workshop by placing a head of broccoli in several paper bags. I then put people in groups, gave them a bag and asked them to describe what was in the bag using its attributes rather than its name. I pretended each group had something different in their bag and that their job was to make the description so unique that people could guess their mystery object. There were many marvellous descriptions of broccoli, but no-one mentioned its fractal quality. From that time on whenever I mentioned fractal leadership someone would say “Oh that broccoli thing!”

The workshop strategy didn’t play out as I had intended, but it did serve as a clever reminder for fractal leadership.

If you are looking for a non-boring, exciting and engaging workshop experience then let’s chat . I promise not to bring broccoli, unless of course you ask for it. Tell me what you want to achieve and I will, in partnership with you, design and deliver a workshop that is energetic, and engaging. Let’s Chat (link )

My name is Carolyn. I set leaders, teams and organisations up for success by equipping them with powerful tools and strategies. Sign up for my weekly blog (https://eepurl.com/givMTn ) or message me if you’d like to know more.