A handbook of practices, stories and reflections for public sector teams moving from hierarchies towards trust, participation and leading together.
Nina Božič Yams, Laura Gottlieb & Álvaro Aranda Muñoz
Why leading together, what is inside, and how to use this site.
Swedish public institutions name self-leadership and trust-based leadership as priorities, yet the gap between policy and daily work remains wide. This handbook grew out of four years of participatory research with municipalities and agencies, exploring how we can lead more together.
The transformation agent
Already driving, or wanting to drive, change in your organisation, whether or not a formal title gives you that mandate.
The decision maker
A politician, manager or anyone who designs the conditions people work in, and holds the power to enable change or prevent it.
The curious employee
Someone who feels that things could be different, and wants to understand what leading together looks like in practice.
Six chapters, from the cracks in today’s systems to designing your own transformation.
Where this handbook comes from, who it is for and how to use it
Why do we need to change the way we lead and organise our work?
Nurturing self-leadership for leading together
Transforming culture and the way we relate to each other
Changing roles and competencies for managers and employees
Embedding participatory structures and processes for leading together
Designing and navigating your own transformation journey
Read it start to finish, or follow a thread.
Practice library
Tried-and-tested exercises, from five-minute reflections to movement scores and consent-based decision-making.
Browse practices → 29Voices from the field
Excerpts from conversations with Mette Aagaard, Karin Tenelius, Nati Lombardo and choreographer Dejan Srhoj.
Listen in → 6Elena’s story
A fictional manager in elderly care, trying to lead differently inside a system full of barriers. Told across six chapters.
Follow Elena → 86Reflection journal
Questions for reflection from every chapter, with space to write. Your answers stay in your browser.
Start reflecting →Participatory action research with Lidingö, Umeå, Eskilstuna and Uppsala municipalities, the Swedish Police, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish National Grid, Formas and RISE. Workshops combined theory with choreography, Photovoice, poetry and design, in museums and galleries rather than conference rooms.