LEADERSHIP
INSTITUTE
Leaders-for-Others
An Ateneo de Manila University Leadership Framework
The framework was developed with representatives of groups involved in leadership development. It was approved for dissemination by the President’s Council on 17 December 2018.
Leadership and organizational development do not exist in a vacuum; prime movers of society have the ability and the responsibility to improve the economic, social, political, and cultural conditions of our country. Organizations and its leaders are, therefore, challenged to subscribe to a shared vision of building the nation through its core businesses and processes, while being sensitive to the needs and conditions of the community in which they are embedded. Leaders-for-Others need to have a sense of the Other as well as self-awareness, self-mastery, and the strength and resilience of character.
The Leaders-for-Others framework is inspired by Ignatian spirituality, in which “self-awareness and responsiveness to inner movements of the Spirit provide the interior compass of Ignatius’s decision-making and execution of leadership tasks” (Moreno, 2018, #10, #1). Thus, at the heart of this framework is reflective leadership, which is founded on the self-awareness of the leader. This self-awareness is not only about understanding one’s self, but also a continuous process of understanding the mission. Part of the reflection is striving, as far as possible (tantum quantum), to pursue the mission while remaining true to one’s self. In terms of leadership development, it means focusing on the process of introspection in order to attain a higher level of self-knowledge and self-mastery.
A second aspect of this framework is adaptive leadership. Leaders and their organizations must always bear sensitivity to the needs and conditions of the community in which they are embedded. Thus, prudence is a necessary characteristic of this brand of leadership, i.e., the adaption of values to concrete situations. Adaptive leadership also involves a deeper participation of the group/organization in looking for adaptive solutions. The leader “discerns and collaborates with others” and leads “by bridging with others” (Moreno, 2018, #3/#9).
This is leadership that promotes human dignity, because it is “person-oriented” in that it considers the individual person and the person’s context (Moreno, 2018, #4, #7).
A Leader-for-Others promotes the common good. Beyond individual goals and accomplishments, this kind of leadership places the common good, i.e., the good of the community, as its priority. Common good involves a process: it is arrived at through consensus building. To arrive at the common good, leaders need humility to listen to followers and stakeholders and to give way, when needed. Collaboration and networks are often necessary to implement measures that promote the common good, because most wicked/adaptive problems require multi-disciplinary perspectives and solutions. (Moreno, 2018, #6, #3).
Finally, this kind of leadership cares for the margins, the nation, and creation, because it is inspired by a mission rooted in the leader’s core values (Moreno, 2018, #7).
