The Importance of Cultural Leadership | TwoLine Studios
What is Cultural Leadership? Why is it important?
TwoLine Studios Designshop Session
Picture this: a challenging project’s mistakes snowball as the deadline closes in. The team is busy working in parallel, but the tasks are duplicated or need to be recreated. There is no clear vision for the end state of this project; the team lead is putting restrictions up to regain control, in the end, they scurry to wrap it up and the team is left feeling both defeated and undervalued.
This seems to be a common occurrence for many creative professionals.
Utilizing cultural leadership in company structures can help solve this scenario. Caroline Woolard, Director of Research and Partnerships at Open Collective Foundation, wrote an article titled, What is Cultural Leadership... And Can it Be Taught?, that breaks down this idea into a tangible map for cultural change.
Illustration by Caroline Woolard
In her work, she defines cultural leadership as, “... the use of art, design, and intellectual achievement to inspire shared vision and action in the arts and beyond.” She goes on to say, “... any strong vision and action gain its power and impact by being shaped by multiple perspectives, as each person who shapes it brings their experience and knowledge.”
This examines why collaboration in leadership is so important, specifically, cultural leadership.
When multiple people collaborate to shape a company's vision, they feel ownership and accountability toward a common goal. Additionally, a shared perspective between team members encourages passion and heightened creativity toward projects. In Annette Ferrara’s article titled, Why Workplace Culture Matters (And How To Build a Good One), she writes, “Often, people want to write culture off as a slew of perks you might find at tech companies. But really, culture is about creating an environment that makes it possible for people to work together to come up with innovative products and ideas—the same products and ideas that drive revenue.” Cultural leadership is as much an internal process as an external process because of the products and ideas that succeed it.
TwoLine Studios Designshop session
Woolard’s incredible visual description of her research and the breakdown of eight steps to create change within an organization are as follows:
Notice daily experiences: Why is this the case?
Scan the experience: Who can you learn with and from?
Commit: How do you want to show up?
Focus: How do you create experiences that excite and explore the possibility?
Timeframe: Will it be a short-term project or a multi-year platform? What practices are necessary to sustain this?
Experiment: Gather materials, resources, and platforms for the project.
Share your idea: get feedback, debate, and learn from others’ responses.
Reflect: What went well? What didn’t? What will you repeat?
This creative process can be applied to ourselves, team members, projects, deliverables, and many other company-related tasks.
This illustrated map is a process for interacting with people in their living structures. Our workforce is constantly evolving both people and businesses. As leaders, we have the opportunity to change regimented systems. This model can innovate projects and create change within workplace systems.
TwoLine Studios Digital Graphic Recording of Raul Suarez-Rodriguez Perseverance and Resilience Keynote
Now, picture this: the team lead pivots the challenging project once the team expresses a lack of a clear vision. Through a collaborative brainstorming session, the team lead reassigns tasks to team members that place the project back onto a healthy workstream status. Team members complete the reassigned tasks and feel accomplished and valued at the company.
Want to learn more about how TwoLine works with you to strengthen your cultural leadership? Click here to learn more about co-creating your Designshop session today.
Two Line Studios has been helping brands communicate virtually for years. Our facilitator-led sessions implement a Clarity Through Creativity®™ approach using visuals, storytelling, and creative inspiration — even when getting together in person is not possible. Subscribe to our newsletter below for information to unlock your creative potential.