The Connect area of the McLean Loop of Leadership Agility is all about bringing people together to learn as one. It’s about empowering a group of people, giving them a licence to lead. It’s agility in action - quick, short, fast action and simple, safe experimentation.

A drawing of the loop with two characters standing at 'Connect'

The Connect area of the McLean Loop of Leadership Agility

Tools

Here, you bring together all the people you were curious with. Some tools to help that group connect with each other and work through some solutions together might be:

  • Superordinate goals

  • Psychological Safety/connection tools

  • Continuous improvement tools

    • Retrospectives

  • Equal voice tools

  • Design Thinking tools

    • How might we’s

  • Enabling constraints

Questions

Some questions to ask yourself during this area might include:

  • Have I shown vulnerability?

  • Have I shown trust?

  • Have I framed the problem as an opportunity?

  • Have I created a space where agendas can be left at the door?

  • Do I see openness?

  • Are there any missing points of view?

  • Are all voices being heard?

Learning should be fast here, progress should easily be made if the group is autonomous and has a clear goal.

Relearn

This is an area in which the group will start to relearn. By trying new things, it can give you a new perspective on old problems and a chance to take on new practices.

Moving on

You may come up against some impediments or blockers, which will lead us into the Evolve area of the loop.

Key References

So many amazing reads in this space. Some of my favourite books and papers are:

The Dawn of System Leadership - Peter Serge, Hal Hamilton, John Kania, 2015

Teaming: How Organisations Learn, Innovate and Compete in the Knowledge Economy - Amy Edmondson

A Beautiful Constraint: How To Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and why It's Everyone's Business - Mark Barden, Adam Morgan, 2015