Cultivate Communityship A Conversational Leadership Practice Area

Cultivate Communityship: We need to cultivate communityship. An organization is not just a collection of individuals. It is a community of relationships and shared purpose. Communityship reminds us that leadership is not about one person at the top but about people working together with care and commitment.

Cultivating communityship is not about creating systems of control. It is about shaping the environment in which people feel connected, valued, and ready to take responsibility together. Communities form through ongoing interaction, mutual respect, and a sense of purpose that is held in common. The role of leadership here is not to direct from above but to support the relationships and conditions that allow the community to thrive.

Communityship grows when people care about each other and the work they do together. It shows itself in open conversations, shared learning, and a commitment to something larger than individual ambition. A real community is not just a group of like-minded people. It is a living network of support, trust, and collaboration.

To cultivate communityship, we practice leadership with others rather than over them. We invite contributions instead of imposing direction. We create space for dialogue, listen carefully, and build understanding across differences. The strength of the community depends on the quality of these relationships and the willingness of people to engage with honesty and care.

This principle shifts the focus away from the individual leader as the central figure. It reminds us that leadership is a shared responsibility, expressed through how we support one another, how we make decisions together, and how we stay connected to our purpose. When people feel they belong, they take initiative. When they take initiative, the whole community benefits.

Communityship is not a luxury or an idealistic vision. It is a practical response to the challenges we face. It helps us build organizations that are resilient, inclusive, and grounded in real human connection.

Isn’t it time to think of our organisations as communities of cooperation, and in so doing put leadership in its place: not gone, but alongside other important social processes.

What should be gone is this magic bullet of the individual as the solution to the world’s problems.

We are the solution to the world’s problems, you and me, all of us, working in concert.

This obsession with leadership is the cause of many of the world’s problems.

And with this, let us get rid of the cult of leadership, striking at least one blow at our increasing obsession with individuality.

Not to create a new cult around distributed leadership, but to recognize that the very use of the word leadership tilts thinking toward the individual and away from the community.

We don’t only need better leadership, we also need less leadership.

Credit: Henry Mintzberg

Conversational Leadership Practice Areas

1. Understand the Metacrisis A Conversational Leadership Practice Area
2. Take Responsibility A Conversational Leadership Practice Area
3. Rethink Change A Conversational Leadership Practice Area
4. Think Together A Conversational Leadership Practice Area
5. Embrace Complexity A Conversational Leadership Practice Area
6. Practice Leadership A Conversational Leadership Practice Area
7. Converse Better A Conversational Leadership Practice Area
8. Engage AI in Dialogue A Conversational Leadership Practice Area
9. Cultivate Communityship A Conversational Leadership Practice Area