Process
The Refinery Leadership Framework
The definition of leadership is being turned on its head. We can help make everything look right side up again.
Over our years of experience developing great organizations, we've refined a leadership model that guides our work. While Refinery services are often customized to specific situations, this model provides a solid and proven foundation for designing the right course of action.
The Refinery Leadership Model has four unique yet interrelated areas of focus, each building on the others before it:
Me: Who am I as a leader?
All leadership development starts with a focus on self as the base on which everything else is supported. Leaders who are aware of who they are and what they stand for consistently do better at their jobs than those who are out of touch with their inner workings. "Me" is the "Aha!" place where clarity begins.
My Team: How do I relate to others?
Without relationships, there is no leadership. Once a leader is on the way to self-awareness, he or she is ready to explore the connection between self and others. Self-actualizing leaders are ready to move from understanding how they see themselves to understanding how others see them. They are ready to ask the critical question, "Why should people want to be led by me?"
My Organization: How can I lead an organization?
Leaders are keepers of the big picture. An organization's vision may be one or five or ten years in the making, and a great leader understands his or her role in that vision at every step in the journey. In many cases, this means unlearning old leadership behaviours, recognizing the false security of hierarchies, and letting go of the image of the heroic leader. In this stage of the model, leaders learn to use power effectively to galvanize and inspire; how to harness individual strengths and remove unhelpful agendas; and, most importantly, to value brave thinking and bold ideas—wherever they come from.
My Community: How should I operate in a global world?
This final stage in the leadership model asks leaders to look beyond their own environments and organizations to identify a greater sense of purpose. Focus is on understanding relationships with other organizations; recognizing the impact the organization has on the world as a whole; and embracing the responsibilities of leadership in a global context.
Ideally all individuals would attain competency in all four focus areas. In reality this is unlikely. But experience tells us that an organization can confidently define itself as high performing if everyone is competent in the "Me" focus area, all managers are competent in "My Team," and all senior managers are competent in "My Organization."