Abstract
In 1997, Peggy Dulany, in a seminal paper written for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Salzburg Seminar on “Non-Governmental Organizations: Leadership and Civil Society,” posited that “not enough focus had been placed in the leadership literature and research on a style of leadership that could bridge divides.” She argued that the new global environment is becoming more complex yet interdependent – full of conflicts and potential conflicts coming from inequities in structures and systems. This situation required a different leadership response that builds upon the “inherent quality of human behavior which can be conserving, reconciling, attuned to the connective forces in the universe that imply greater unity and continuity.”
Dulany went on to argue that civil society organization (CSO) leaders have the capacity to support “new initiatives that build equity and opportunity and at the same time change the structure and policies that have created the inequities in the first place.” She felt that a key component of the achievements of many of Synergos’ partner organizations was the “bridging individual,” a person who could bridge the gap between and among contending organizations and interests. Qualities of these bridging individuals included: the ability to engage different kinds of people; openness to compromise; credibility with his/her constituency; and an aptitude for learning to understand the language used by different sectors of society, including government and business.
Finally, she made a case for the importance of the bridging leader whose capacities to elicit trust from the community comes from competence, integrity, constancy and empathy (Bennis and Goldsmith, as cited by Dulany 2007). Similarly, she cites Lipman-Blumen (as cited by Dulany 1997) in identifying qualities of “connective leadership” relevant to bridging leaders: ability to deal with diverse views and ambiguities; capacity to orchestrate coalitions and build alliances; belief in a vision, but willing to amend it to include insights of others.
To further inquire about the phenomena of the bridging leader, Synergos launched its Bridging Leadership Program in 1999. The program had different components: (a) research to better understand the phenomenon of bridging leadership; (b) based on the research findings, development of a curriculum and learning materials; (c) training of leaders in bridging leadership skills; and (d) promotion of bridging leadership concepts and methods to other education and training organizations for wider acceptance and usage (Synergos 1999). This was done together with its partners from Africa, Asia and Latin America. “Peer learning” – the sharing and skills and information among peers – was to be a key component of these activities.