The 5 C's of Leading Social Change

What does it take to lead the kind of change that effects lots of other people?

I've had the privilege to be with two leaders doing just that this month.

The first is my colleague Mike Perls head of one of the North West's leading marketing & communications agencies, MC2, and fellow member of the Institute of Director's Regional Board. So fired-up was Mike by the UK's dire economic situation that he created RAW2010, to kick-start a new wave of entrepreneurial activity. Take look here for more information www.mcmc.co.uk

The second is Chris Pratt currently a fellow board member at Trafford Healthcare and soon to become Director of Children's Services in Doncaster. Chris has transformed the services provided for children and young people in Trafford and is well-placed to do the same for Doncaster, currently one of the 11 worst-performing councils in the country.

Here's what I think it takes to lead this kind of change that has a huge impact on other people's lives:

1. Conscience
To be open, aware and compassionate enough to feel the needs of "the greater good".
In my coaching experience it's actually very rare for someone to not have this type of conscience. But it's easy to get overwhelmed by the needs of the world around us and a natural strategy is to start tuning-out those needs, otherwise we'd find it hard to get though the day looking after ourselves, let alone others. What people like Mike and Chris have managed to do though is to unlearn the habit of tuning-out that conscience - and to combine that with...

2. Commitment
The will to take sustained action in service of your beliefs.
I've noticed a lot of variety in the way that commitment shows up for people and the kind of underlying thought-structures and behaviours that sustain it. But I've no doubt that, in whatever way works for the individual, it can be learned, sustained and developed.

3. Connection
To be emotionally grounded enough to connect easily and meaningfully with others.
For a lucky few, this happens naturally but for most of us it takes work to stay healthy, grounded and balanced enough ourselves to deal with the swings and roundabouts of life without losing connection with others.

4. Capability
The skills and attributes that boost your chances of success
Mike and Chris are both people with fantastic skill sets and the ability to choose their behaviours to suit their situation. I've always believed that this kind of capability comes from BOTH an innate set of natural intelligences AND a willingness to develop. Recent research in the field of Emotional Intelligence supports this - although our capabilities will at some stage be limited by the cards that nature dealt us, most of us have a long, long way to go before we reach that limit.

5. Circumstances
Choosing in to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right people around us
Circumstances are important because they shape the range of successful options and ways of doing things. However, it seems to me that people who are able to lead change are not limited by their circumstances. They operate choice about where, when and with who they expend their efforts. And when they get it wrong, they try again, often changing the where, when or with who to create a different set of circumstances.