Art of Enlightened Followership

There are increasing numbers of inquiries and reviews into the nature of collusion and conspiracy in the corporate workplace, the military, prison and police forces. The level of trust in social institutions is dwindling and the mistrust of the followers toward their leaders is causing paralysis and stasis across sectors.

Group Relations Conferences – live, real-time leadership laboratories, offer the learning we need to encounter and deal with, and understand, how to live in these contexts of mis-leading and distrust. The finding of authority in the complex context of change and turbulence that pulls the follower into collusion and perversity – equips us to understand “why good people do bad things”.

It seems that we cannot legislate our way into peace, but do we have to slug it out in the battlefields of offices, boardrooms, classrooms factories and clinics?

The workplace is, for many people, a place of terror and antagonism, with corporate failure and disaster often revealing a catalogue of corruption and perversity that incrementally erodes the sense of humanity and sanity in the workforce.

This is not a call for apology and falling on swords, but a call to the followers and leaders who are willing to lead in a new way, that seeks to centre the complicity and collusive tendencies in leadership – and bring forth a new realm of possibility and support for quality of life in organisations.

Perhaps we may have to witness more military and corporate leaders making announcements like the Basque separatist military group, Eta. In a public announcement, reported in the Financial Times (22 April 2018) apologising for the vast numbers of innocent people killed during the freedom fighting regime, Eta said, “We are aware that during this long period of armed struggle we have created a lot of pain, including much damage for which there is no solution, we want to show respect for the dead, those injured and the victims that were caused by the actions of Eta….we truly apologise”.

We are open for a new cadre of leaders and followers from all sectors and disciplines and the range of positions in the hierarchy. What matters most, is your willingness to find and own your part in the world we live in – come and join us, those of us wanting the world to be more sane and humane.

We will learn together, in the Leicester Conference tradition from 3 – 17 August at College Court, University of Leicester.

You can read more here about the Leicester Conference.

Apply online and receive £500 Early Bird discount at the moment or if you have any questions contact Rachel Kelly, Pre-conference administrator: r.kelly@tavistinstitute.org