Launched in 2003, the Research Center for Leadership in Action's mission is to support leadership that listens to many voices and serves as a resource for making systems and organizations effective, transparent, inclusive and fair. RCLA challenges the assumptions underlying traditional leadership research, while building on prevailing efforts to advance the field.
All of our work begins with the idea that leadership, whether
individual or shared, depends upon collective, cooperative
processes that help communities of practice make sense of their
challenges and act effectively to bring about change.
We build
fresh insights about leadership "from the ground up." Cultivating new
knowledge begins with practitioners sharing their work experiences.
Their descriptions often suggest the solutions that participating
organizations and groups need to resolve their own leadership
challenges.
We also invite the practitioner community to engage
in facilitated inquiries and discussions with social scientists, where
together they can search for new ideas and approaches to leadership.
Because of our belief in the collective aspects of successful
leadership, we encourage participants to explore and glean new knowledge
from the tensions and mediating processes that often occur naturally
within these discussions.
RCLA produces a variety of Products for
Practice to share what we have learned, from formal published papers
to briefs intended help leaders in government, nonprofits, and
communities improve the effectiveness of their work.
Click here
to learn more about RCLA's Methodologies.
