When presenting the co-active leadership model, I usually encourage people to figure out in which of the dimensions they are least comfortable in and what do they need to practice the most and get out of their comfort zone – so as to get the juiciest learnings.

Mine has been the leader beside. Being a truly committed leader beside means being in a true partnership where both people show up fully, lean on each other and take full responsibility for every part of the initiative.

The most challenging role that I have taken as a leader beside is co-hosting workshops/trainings with various colleagues.

What I have learned is that it is crucial to not only know myself and my triggers but also know and trust the person I am co-hosing with; know each other strengths and weaknesses and discus how to use them to complement each other, that is: clear and honest communication is key.

Learned and failed by experience with the latter – one of the best ways I learned to tackle that part is to have open heart to heart communication exploring:

• What is our common goal? What is our vision?
• What is it you are afraid that I might do wrong?
• Knowing me, what do you see as a challenge working together?
• How do we communicate silently during the workshop?
• How do we support each other during the workshop?
• What is it you need from me? How would you let me know?

When co-hosting, it is important to have a great sense of intuition and situational awareness. It is not a good idea to divide the workshop into “your turn – my turn parts”; the best scenario is both hosts are responsible 100% for the content and can lean on each other 100% and can jump in and out as the situation arises.

Regrouping after the event and sharing the learnings with the same honesty and vulnerability and at the same time with honest introspection of what, where, how of what I did contributed to the whole or not is a necessary practice for all the growth and learning.

Try it out!

In our daily lives, if you are parents of a child/children – you are being the leader beside every day with your partner. How do you step up and show up for the “job”? Check in and see what needs to be adjusted!