What is Bridging

Leadership
 Bridging leadership is the capacity to make
it possible for people to come together across
divides and work as partners.

 It aims to create and sustain effective working

relationships among stakeholders whose
collective input is needed to make progress
on a given social challenge.
 By “bridging” different perspectives and
opinions
 often found across the breadth of different
stakeholders,
 a common agenda can begin to be
developed and shared
 in order to find solutions to social and
economic problems.
 Bridging Leadership is the type of leadership
that is appropriate in promoting multi-
stakeholder processes to address societal
inequities.
 It is about leading collaborative action to bring
about social change.
 The leadership acts involves three main
segments:
 Building Ownership of the response,
 Developing Co-Ownership with other
stakeholders and together engaging in the
 Co-Creation of a new reality
Bridging Leadership Framework
 The concept behind the program is the
Bridging Leadership Framework, which is a
theory on leadership for attaining social
objectives and outcomes.
 Key to the leadership concept is the capacity
of the individual to move from a personal
understanding and ownership of a social issue
to a collective action to resolve the issue.
 There are three key elements in the act of
bridging leadership.
One segment of the process is focused on self-
awareness and involves developing a sense of
personal Ownership of a societal problem and
the response to it.
The bridging leader acknowledges the range of
his assets (i.e. values, education, experiences,
family background, etc.) which when
accumulated comprise his leadership capital.
Knowing his capital, the leader examines how
these assets are put to use to benefit the wider
society.
This brings the leader to a deeper
understanding of the societal problem, its
underlying causes and his possible contribution
to it.
The analysis brings to fore the need to take a
personal response, and commit one’s
resources to the resolution of this issue.
Without this personal commitment,
collaborative action with other stakeholders will
not prosper when confronted with immediate
challenges.
(Ownership)

 The bridging leader whose values and

principles compel him to make a personal
response
 to address inequities and societal divides
recognizes that the complexity of the problem
can only be solved
 by convening the stakeholders to the divide.
 Another aspect of bridging is moving from the self
to forging relationships with those who have a
stake on the problem.
 Building Co-Ownership involves getting
stakeholders together to deepen their
understanding of the issue, to recognize how they
are part of the problem and the solution, and to
acknowledge the need for collective response.
 This part involves convening various parties to the
issue (including those who are in conflict with
others), facilitating constructive dialogue to arrive at
a common understanding of the issue, managing
conflicts and coming up with a collaborative
response.
The process can be fraught with tension and
difficulties as interests compete with one
another.
But in building common ground, trust is built
among diverse stakeholders.
Giving due regard to this aspect enables the
leader to expand the ownership of the problem
from himself to a group, paving the way for
collective action.
(Co-ownership)

 Through a process of dialogue and

engagement,
 the stakeholders arrive at a common vision
and collective response to the situation.
A third part of bridging is Co-Creation, or the
actual work of collaboration.
Here, the commitment to work collaboratively is
translated into clear goals, outputs and targets
that will lead to the resolution of the problem.
Innovative plans and programs are drawn by
the collective, guided by the principles of
transparency, accountability, participation and
resource-sharing.
In pursuing the programs, the group tries to
attain their common vision through concrete
mechanisms and strategies.
Maintaining the commitment of the
stakeholders is important as resolving the
societal issue may take some time.
The sustainability of the initiative also
ultimately rests on the capacity of the leader
to nourish himself and renew his commitment
to his personal mission.
Each part described can be a starting point
for action.
The process is non-linear and iterative,
requiring the leader to constantly review each
segment to ensure sustainability of the
process.
(Co-creation)
 The stakeholders then adopt a social innovation
that leads to the societal outcome, and carries it
out through new institutional arrangements.
 The bridging leader and the coalition of
stakeholders ensure that these institutional
arrangements have clear and measurable goals
with the required capability and resources to
demonstrate results.
 They regularly review their progress vis-à-vis
the desired societal outcome and assess the
individual and collective roles and
accountabilities in the process.
 Over time, these arrangements become
formal processes that lead to a reform-
conducive policy environment and responsive
programs and services.
 Other stakeholders are invited to the coalition
regularly, and
 new bridging leaders are developed to
sustain the transformation process towards
societal equity.
A bridging leader:
 Has a formal/ informal mandate &
accountability to address a social cause
 Has necessary authority/ leadership to take
independent decisions and partner with other
stakeholders
 Has clearly articulated/ displayed passion
to address the social cause
 Can influence the system and implement
the desired interventions- upwards, side-
wards and downwards, with or without formal
authority
 Displays ‘participatory consciousness’ as
against ‘top-down’, ‘expert’ or ‘interventionist
approach’-
 i.e. believes in the fact that complex
social issues cannot be addressed by just
one best solution but by collaboration,
participation and ownership of community
& other stakeholders
What do bridging leaders need to BE?
 Self-Aware of Character and Values - Recognition of
one’s character and values and how strength and
inspiration can be drawn from these in facing the
challenges and uncertainty that come with complexity

 Strong Sense of Purpose - Clarity of what should be

done and how it can be done in order to be purposive
and strategic in addressing complex inequities

 Capacity to Transform - Willingness to work with

others, in a way that taps their greatest potential,
toward collaboratively finding and implementing
solutions to the inequities
What do bridging leaders need to KNOW?
 Systems Thinking - A new perspective, a specialized
language, and a set of tools that can be used to
understand reality as a whole – the relationships among
the parts of a system – rather than the parts themselves.

 Multi-Stakeholder Processes - Setting up and

facilitating dialogic processes that bring together diverse
stakeholders into constructive engagement, dialogue
and collective decision making

 Creativity - ‘Emergent processes’ i.e. tools and

capacities to discuss how one can sense the future as it
emerges or sense it from the pieces of the future held by
other stakeholders
What do bridging leaders need to DO?
 Strengthen will to lead through self-awareness -
Articulation of the leader’s set of values and capital as well
as the leader’s understanding of the inequities being faced
as input for verbalizing and concretizing the personal
response that the leader to commit.
 Convene a multi-stakeholder group that is built on
trust - Engaging diverse stakeholders and building trust
among them toward reaching a shared vision on how to
address the current reality of inequities
 Change institutional arrangements - Leading the
collaborative implementation of innovative programs that
will result to societal equity and that are based on new
institutional arrangements that make institutions
responsive and empower citizens
Characteristics of
Bridging Leaders
 Preliminary research suggests that some
people function especially comfortably and
effectively within bridging situations.

 These bridging leaders would appear to share

a somewhat common set of characteristics.
1. Bridging leaders seem to have very low ego
needs.

 They are generally much more interested in

bringing about change than garnering the
credit for it.
 This characteristic probably makes this type
of leader appear less threatening to other
leaders.
2. Bridging leaders are skilled listeners.

 This ability translates into a capacity to

understand and empathize with other points
of view.
 This, of course, requires that the bridger be
able to set aside or suspend his/her own
interests long enough to really penetrate the
interests of the rival or potential partner.
3. Bridging leaders appear to have a bankable
cache of credibility within their own groups or
sectors.

 Not only does this enable them to effectively

represent their constituencies, but it also allows
them a wide degree of latitude in bringing new
points of view home in the best possible light.
 Thus, if a bridging leader is able to develop
trust and working relationships with diverse
groups, he/she can connect the relationship to
the constituent group.
4. Bridging leaders tend to have well-developed
networks and solid reputations beyond their own
groups or organizations.

 These networks comprise valuable

relationship capital and represent the
currency bridgers draw upon to make things
happen.
 This process involves creating and linking
chains of trust throughout the
community/society.
 Learning from
the Experience
 Looking at the experience in the usage
of the Bridging Leadership Framework,
 insights address the issues of social
justice and poverty,
 local capacity, and
 systemic change.
 In Relation to Social Justice and Overcoming Poverty

 Looking at social justice means looking at the systems

and structures that bring about injustice.
 These systems are put into place, either knowingly or
unknowingly, by different stakeholders.
 Addressing injustice requires bringing the different
stakeholders together to understand their role in the
unjust system and to have them agree to begin changing
their system.
 This work, in essence, transforms the people who are
part of the problem to become part of the solution.
 In this context, bridging leadership becomes the relevant
leadership approach.
 Linked to social injustice is poverty.
 If poverty is defined as capability poverty, then it
requires that the person is provided access to assets,
participation and security.
 Poverty persists because existing institutional
arrangements do not provide access to assets,
participation, and security.
 Therefore, to address poverty one needs to transform
institutional arrangements so that these elements are
made available.
 Changing institutions to be more responsive to
complex societal issues require a different type of
leadership and bridging leadership becomes relevant.
 In Relation to Building Local Capacity

 There is great salience in addressing social justice

at the local level and in promoting local capacity to
address the inequities.
 There is evidence that leaders trained in the
bridging leadership approach acquire the capacity
to address more complex issues involving diverse
stakeholders looking for a new solution.
 Our experience has shown that leadership training
initiatives made available to organizational and
community leaders have made a difference.
 Local leaders can immediately apply the bridging process
in their own work.
 Participants in our course report immediate use of the
process and have reported good results.
 It is most useful for leaders in formal positions of authority
(such as mayors, military commanders and civil society
organization leaders) who have rich social capital in
assembling diverse stakeholders to address the issue or
challenge they face.
 When this works out, results can be seen much faster
than in less participatory approaches.
 It does not work as fast if the leader is just one with
influence.
 The bridging leadership seems to work at the local level.
One example is the story of Sonia Lorenzo. She was
elected as Mayor of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija in the
Philippines, and was later accepted into the Center’s
leadership development program.
She admits that, when she was elected, she had
neither the prior experience nor the training to
function as mayor of her town.
However, through the application of the BL
Framework, she was able to develop a multi-
stakeholder coalition of committed partners who
helped her pursue the collective programs of the
town.
She has since won many awards for her excellence
as a mayor and actively advocates to her co-mayors
for the adoption of the BL Framework.
Local institutions (academic, civil society, and
others) can also develop the capacity to provide
the bridging leadership training.
The Center is now in the process of developing
local capacities to do the training in Southern
Philippines.
In one case a BL workshop was organized for
Muslim religious leaders in Sulu with surprisingly
good results.
The content was “Islamized”, meaning that the
trainers used parallel BL concepts from the
Koran, to allow the participants to better
understand the concepts within their context.
In Relation to Effecting Systemic Change

 The Bridging Leadership Framework enjoins

the leader to effect systems change.
 The framework emphasizes the need for the
leader to begin with a systems understanding
of the issue.
 Necessarily, the response will also be
systemic.
 Bridging leaders then begin to form new
institutional arrangements to address the
causes of the issue.
 One implication of this insight is that
bridging leaders need a community of
practice that they can turn to for support
and learning.
 The work is long and can be arduous,
and bridging leaders need to be able to
turn to someone for mentoring, guidance
and renewal as they move along.
END
Movement Name Game

Hint: You may want to start the game with an active and
creative motion, as the first one will set the tone for the
group. If the first movement is an easy thumbs up, the energy
of the activity will be low.
Procedure: Ask the group to stand in a circle. The first person
says his or her name and adds a movement to go
with it. The entire group then says “Hi, _______!” and repeats
the motion. Continue around the circle until all
participants have had a chance to say their name and add a
movement.
Challenge: Speed up the game.
Reflection Questions: Who found this exercise easy? Why?
What does the game illustrate about learning that might
apply to working with your people and subordinates or those
with your children, elders, and with special needs?