Leading in Conversation

A conversation we’ve wanted to record for a long time, with our Executive Director, Dr Michel Kenmogne. We look back at nine years of conversational leadership and remember our journey together.

Rev Dr Rob Hay joins us to discuss organisations as conversations, the relationship between toxic leadership and not knowing, and why we all need to pay attention to how well we pay attention.

A conversation with Dano Perryman, about powerful questions, coaching, anxiety and change.

Anthony and Heline share about fireside chats, clan meetings and how a conversational process is like a big pot of African soup. Join us as we debrief a recent event and learn about the thinking behind the adaptations they made to participatory tools to better suit the cultural context along with their great insights about conversational leadership.

In this episode we talk with Andreas Ernst about the role of conversation in community development projects in Cameroon.

In this episode we explore the topic of leading in chaos, using Ralph Stacey’s leadership matrix as a starting point. How do you lead when you are far from agreement and far from certainty? How can we prepare ourselves and our teams to survive times of chaos, which are becoming more frequent than we would like?

Conversation with Peter van Dingenen, a medical doctor who recounts his experiences working in community health in Burkina Faso, where he learned to use conversational leadership, without knowing it even had a name. Peter talks about building latrines in Burkina Faso, involving High School students in village clinics, and training nurses in Germany and how all need to be done in a way that centres people in the process.

Kate talks with Josiah Watters about creating open conversations, unconferences and maintaining balance with other methods. They explore how do you embrace not knowing in leadership, how to model a learning attitude and how conversation and action relate to each other. Finally how does all of this work in the virtual space?

End of Season 1: Review of the journey so far, what we are learning, and what comes next when we return with Season 2 in April.

A conversation with Meera and Albert about their experiences of conversational leadership in their journey as Asian leaders - The importance of meals, relationship building and being able to say “I don’t know” - Growing a workplace culture where staff don’t always need to come to the leader for direction - Albert’s 3 Cs: competence, care and co-working - Returning full circle to community storytelling and critical thinking of the pre-colonial era.