Many companies have spent large sums of money bringing in consulting companies to address structural improvements, only to discover after years have passed and millions of dollars spent, the same problems exist.

It’s valuable to shift leader attention from actions and structure to identity, the inner feature of the “flame model.” This model is used in Dialogos’ Leadership for Collective Intelligence program and is a variant of their Dynamics for System Intervention model.

Action: What people are doing and why the organization exists

Structure: Hierarchy of employees + certain procedures and processes an organization has

Tone: Quality of the energy in an organization, the atmosphere, the mood

Identity: Core of the flame. When leaders focus on the core vision, mission and how they identify themselves, they can then set the desired tone, through authentic communications and actions. From here, creating structures and associated actions flow easily.

For leaders seeking change, it is helpful to go down the flame to diagnose the current problems, then up the flame to introduce the desired future state.

This new model for leadership calls upon leaders to embrace their true identity, motivate teams to think together, and inspire individuals to participate more fully in a shared process for generative change.