OBLIQUE LEADERSHIP

Increase the likelihood of emergent success.


Design environments.

Develop people.

Perform effectively.

Obliquity, in business, is the principle that outcomes are best achieved through indirect actions in complex environments.

This is due to the challenges of complex environments that come from constant change, ripple effects, circular feedback loops, & unknowable outcomes. And our human organizations operating in a global, hyper-connected, socio-economic landscape is just such an environment.

Oblique Leadership amplifies obliquity by providing leaders the tools to shift from a directive style of leadership that is addicted to control and certainty, towards a leadership style that focuses on environment design, developing people, and improving emergent outcomes.

Connect with others interested in Oblique Leadership, virtually and in-person!

WHAT IS OBLIQUE LEADERSHIP?

Oblique Leadership's indirect approach to influence primarily focuses on environment design. Acknowledging the non-deterministic nature of complex environments, the goal is to increase likelihoods that desired outcomes emerge by applying adaptive learning to evolve the environment's fit-to-purpose.

However, environment design alone is insufficient. So Oblique Leadership also has a focus on developing ourselves and others to adjust to, and thrive in the new environment. All while appreciating the humanity and honoring the history of the individuals involved in our organization designs and socio-economic environment. 

Finally, leaders often need decisions to be made. Continuing in the theme of working effectively in complex environments, a paradigm shift in how decisions are made is also necessary. Oblique Leadership adds a focus on democratizing decisions, growing healthy accountability, and leveraging optionality.

NOTE ON LEADERSHIP:

Leadership is a journey. It's both an ever-evolving field of research, study, and application as well as a personal trek of continuous learning, practice, and reflection. Oblique Leadership hopes to be a useful part of that journey, but encourages you to keep learning!

OBLIQUE LEADERSHIP OVERVIEW

OBLIQUE LEADERSHIP CONSISTS OF THREE THEMES

The three themes provide an indication of how to approach the practices implemented in any given practice area.

EACH THEME HAS TWO PRACTICE AREAS

There are numerous existing and future practices that will be applicable in each practice area. Ultimately, a practice needs to be a good fit with the practitioner, the impacted people, the situation, and the stated objective to be successful.

Develop People

Design The Environment

Perform Effectively

OBLIQUE LEADERSHIP IN DETAIL

DEVELOP PEOPLE

Develop is the theme of helping people (including yourself!) grow and be successful in their environment. There are many fields to draw from for development such as sociology, communications, psychology, motivation, change, learning theory, and more. 


The ability to know yourself, be authentic, act with intention and integrity, and reflect on how you effect yourself and others.
  • Know your biases, boundaries, limitations, & strengths
  • Act with informed intention, confident humility, & curiosity
  • Ask for feedback and respectfully receive it; reflect often

The ability to establish a meaningful relationship and help match people's abilities to opportunities.
  • Create a personal connection & attend to people’s needs
  • Appreciate strengths, motivations, & past experiences
  • Ensure support, growth, & find appropriate opportunities

DESIGN THE ENVIRONMENT

Design is the theme of creating and shaping something with a specific purpose or outcome in mind. The areas of design most applicable to Oblique Leadership are social systems design, organization design, and experience design. Adjacent areas are psychology of change, motivation, and goal setting and neuroscience of information processing.


The ability to shift what people believe about the actions and behaviors that will be needed to achieve desired outcomes.
  • Alter key inflection points to reshape beliefs and behaviors
  • Create new narratives & norms with targeted interactions
  • Connect people to purpose through identity and community

The ability to see the organization’s connections and emergent properties and evolve those to increase the likelihood of success.
  • Evaluate the organization as an interconnected system
  • Use adaptive learning to evolve the org design’s fit-to-purpose
  • Employ a people-centered approach to change management

PERFORM EFFECTIVELY

Perform is the domain of choosing options and making tradeoffs. Areas to go deeper on are decision theory, behavioral economics, information value, risk & uncertainty. Adjacent areas are widening ways of thinking both individual in groups as well as responsibility and accountability patterns and anti-patterns.


The ability to improve performance by diffusing power, increasing autonomy and broadening operational responsibility for others.
  • Distribute power and decision-making broadly
  • Create equitable, meaningful ownership opportunities
  • Require accountability, advice, debate, and transparency

The ability to develop a rationale, make tradeoffs, and defer judgement in complex environments & ambiguous situations.
  • Separate decision processes from results
  • Leverage narrative as well as probabilistic thinking
  • Be prepared, create options, & trade off for the long run

OBLIQUE LEADERSHIP MODEL