Shared Leadership

Effective teamwork is both profoundly simple and difficult at the same time and the success of a particular team is also tied in closely with the culture of the organisation. Some organisational cultures support teamwork, others don't. This is why so many teams struggle to get the relationships, the interaction, and the task execution right.

It's important to sit down and share ideas, share life, and talk about problems to come up with solutions as a team. Leadership? It's just a crazy quilt of shared responsibilities at various levels based on the knowledge of knowing your people, knowing the culture and knowing your visions.

A true tribal leader has vision, knows traditional ways, shares and develops leadership, serves and protects their community, develops trust, and shows respect for everyone in their tribe. They are chosen in time of need because they have vision for the future. A true leader assumes a leadership role, not because he or she has chosen that leadership position, but because that leadership role has chosen him or her.

Wigwam tribal leadership is about role and relationships, the clan system, elders, women, families, children, moms and dads, chokas (grandpas), kakas (grandmas), aunts, and uncles coming together to solve issues. All have a role in the leadership of the tribe. All are part of the sacred circle. It is this shared role that binds the people as one and provides a role model for leadership.

Tribal leadership is a SHARED LEADERSHIP, organised by the clan system, guided and sustained by elders through the teaching of language and telling of stories.

So next time you have meeting, don't try smoking each other off, ordering everyone around and letting your egos get in the way, be a Wigwam Thinker instead.

#WigwamThinking