The Leader’s Journey is the consistent pattern emerging from all of our most successful work with leader teams.

It presents strategy as a journey of discovery and lays out the 12 key stages and 5 flashpoints that make the difference between success and failure. The journey plays out in two different ‘worlds’- the everyday world and the special world of strategy-making.

The model uses vivid, engaging language to highlight the human, emotional side of strategy which most strategy processes ignore, and so it supports powerful narratives which help leaders ‘make sense of’ and communicate change. We’ve found it resonates strongly with clients because it reflects their experience of leading change.

The Leader’s Journey is very flexible. You can use it at every stage of the strategy process – planning, delivery or evaluation – to help people think differently and more creatively about change and how to make change happen.

Watch here to see Richard Brown, Managing Partner of Cognosis, explain more about The Leader’s Journey.

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1. Seeing the Gap

The leader becomes aware of a ‘gap’ in the strategy – a problem or opportunity – and knows it must be addressed.

2. Establishing Urgency

The leader decides to tackle the issue. He knows broadly how this might be done and holds a mental picture of what success might ‘look like’, but realises he needs the leader team’s help to succeed.

3. Surfacing Agendas

Diverse, conflicting views exist in and around the team; some members are reluctant to engage or cynical about the process, others are more enthusiastic and open-minded. Surfacing the ‘perspectives in play’ helps build the need for change.

4. Overcoming Reluctance

‘Active listening’ makes the team feel their views are heard and respected. This starts to build new engagement, encouraging openness and honesty, and creating psychological ‘safety’. People become less reluctant to address the issues, even though they sense it will take great effort and trigger new work.

5. Forging the Team

Through a process of powerful dialogue, team members get to know and understand one another better and build common cause. The leader empowers the team.

6. New Lenses, Insights, Skills

To better understand the issues, the team experiments with new tools and techniques. It begins to see its situation in a different light and starts to regard change as both desirable and feasible.

7. Testing Solutions

As the team works more closely together it becomes better at managing differences of opinion, it generates promising solutions or ‘easy wins’. Levels of collaboration, creativity and confidence rise.

 8. Crystallising the Vision

The team emerges with a powerful new insight or vision. This is exciting and powerfully aligning for them.

9. Re-purposing the Team

The team now sees a clear path to the future – a new strategy which makes sense to them collectively and individually. They feel driven to realise it and unite as a high-performance unit with a stronger sense of purpose, a clearer focus and renewed energy.

10. Staying True

Back in the ‘real’ world of the organisation, the team starts to communicate the new strategy.

11. Empowering Change

Inspired by the leader team’s new purpose, the organisation starts to sign up for change. A mix of quick wins and broader, bigger change initiatives starts to unfold, releasing a fresh surge of energy and enthusiasm in the business.

12. Making Change Stick

As success pays off, change gains traction and takes root. People find new ways to embed change. The ‘gap’ originally identified by the leader closes and a ‘new normal’ emerges.

Leader in the Everyday World

The journey starts with a leader at home in their organisation

Call to Adventure

The leader issues a Call to Adventure by proposing a way to engage with, explore and resolve the issue.

Crossing the Threshold

The leader team crosses the threshold, assembling in the ‘special world’ of strategy making.

Moment of Truth

The team experiences ‘deep challenge’ – a Moment of Truth in which firmly held views clash and threaten to damage team unity, but emerges with a powerful new insight or vision

Call to Action

At the point of re-entering the everyday world, the leader team clarifies its plan(s) and aligns around the ‘story’ of its new strategy - its Call to Action. People make personal commitments to act.

The Showdown

At some point the leader team must face and win a Showdown with the status quo.

Everyday world

The 'everyday' is the environment in which the leader and their team carry out their roles.

Special world

'Special world' is the particular zone where the strategy-making takes place. Typically this could be an off-site meeting or workshop. It's just not a physical place, but an emotional one too, where the leader team align and engage to tackle the issue at hand.