We Have More Freedom Than We Think Practising Conversational Leadership when our freedom is limited

I give quite a few talks, webinars, and Knowledge Cafés on Conversational Leadership, and one question comes up again and again.

“What if I work in a command-and-control culture where I don’t feel free to speak up or do things differently?”

Sometimes the concern goes further. People tell me that taking initiative could be seen as challenging authority or even put their job at risk. These are real constraints, and we should not underestimate them.

But having limited freedom is not the same as having no freedom at all. We can too easily move from “I can’t do very much” to “I can’t do anything.”

Conversational Leadership does not have to mean launching an initiative, convening a large group, or openly challenging the way things are done. It can be much quieter and more ordinary than that. We can ask a better question in a meeting, listen more carefully to a colleague, invite someone for coffee, make space for a different point of view, or introduce two people who might benefit from talking with each other.

None of this needs to be labeled Conversational Leadership. Often, we don’t need anyone’s permission. Nor does it need to threaten, undermine or bypass those with formal authority.

The question I increasingly encourage people to ask is not “What would I do if I had more freedom?” but:

“What conversational freedom do I have from where I am?”

The answer will be different for each of us. Sometimes that freedom may be quite limited. But there is usually some room to act, however small, and one conversation can sometimes open possibilities that were not visible before.

I explore this in more depth, including a story from my own time at Lotus Development when I had a great deal of responsibility but almost no formal authority, in Working with the Conversational Freedom We Have.

Midjourney

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