The Three Intentional Spaces Needed by All Leaders

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

We all aspire to be good leaders, supportive of our teams & companies and also at home. The core of this aspiration is that leadership starts with ourselves. We must believe in these qualities and model them for others. One physical instantiation of leadership is the ability to create intentional spaces, or experiences for our coworkers, team and ourselves. The three intentional spaces that all leaders need are 1. External spaces of service, 2. Internal strategic / introspective space, and 3. the Liminal spaces in between.

1. External Spaces of Service

Many leaders I work with believe in a philosophy of servant leadership, where unlike a traditional command-and-control style, a leader’s job is to be in service to the people on their teams and to the organization as a whole. People come first, and that priority is additive to the company’s overall performance and success.

As part of this model, leaders create spaces of service for their teams. This can be an intimate space such as a 1–1 meeting with a report or a skip level, a staff meeting of your direct reports, or as expansive as a company all-hands. Most leaders will immediately focus on the agenda—the nuts and bolts of details to be covered including key messaging, long-term strategic plans, short-term updates, and interactive…