Sanctus1 is a very transient community. I think that people stay around, on average, for about 4 years. Then due to jobs, partners, age profile etc. people tend to move on. There seems to be a big change every three years or so, with the pattern being the following:
1 - Grow to about 50-60 people. Transition begins.
2 - People leave numbers drop to 30 people. Crisis of Identity.
3 - Conversations, reflections etc. on who we are as a community. Decisions made.
4 - Sanctus1 stabilizes and grows again...
Strangely this has happened three times since I've been part of Sanctus1 - the third one is happening now. There were a number of factors that triggered it, one being children and another was my announcing that I was leaving. I have been leading Sanctus1 since it started, and so as I move in it is not surprising that this is a significant change for S1. This is the case when many pioneers move on.
The past six months, since I announced my leaving, has felt like I am walking a church through an interregnum period. A time where people reflect on where they are going and where they want to be. Due to this there are different agenda's and view points put forward. These viewpoints were there before, but as I move it creates a vacuum for those views and aspirations to move into. In the past I have occupied that vacuum, directing, encouraging and shaping where we are going, holding and trying to encompass those viewpoints and agendas.
This is an interesting reflection on leadership, many would rather that vacuum were left empty, a leaderless group. The pioneer who hold and tells the story of the community, knows more than anyone else about the community - they hold the narrative - and so when the pioneer moves on, the community must seek to know and owns the story. It means that community holds the narrative and becomes the story teller. The new leader then becomes a person within a bigger story, rather than the person who carries the story. It seems to me that this is healthy.
Sanctus is now moving from Stage 2-3 in this process of transition. Some people are at stage 3, others at 2, but encouragingly there have been signs of stage 4 in the past few weeks. The new paid leader has started, he'll shape Sanctus1 in a different way to me, again this is positive as the community becomes bigger than the original pioneer.
I'm aware that I've used language of leadership and pioneering in this post that many will recoil against. My take on this is that leadership is far more dangerous when it is not owned and accountable. I hear of leaderless groups and on further investigation I see that there is leadership, however, this leadership is not named and often unaccountable, creating a rather dangerous environment...
Tags: BenEdson, Sanctus1, Transition
