Working with Leadership Epistemological Frameworks from the Global South in Inclusive Leadership Development
This summer, I began a consultancy project commissioned by Cochrane and the Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative (ESIC) of the Wellcome Trust. It is an immense privilege to collaborate with fifteen colleagues in influential roles — mostly from Global South organisations — whose vision for the future of the evidence community is anchored in equity and power-shifting.
The task was to enhance their capacity to negotiate with colleagues from the Global North and to enable them to shape the evidence ecosystem according to the values they identified above.
Together, we co-designed a six-month Inclusive Leadership and Coaching Programme, blending team and individual coaching. Over the years, I have designed and delivered bespoke Inclusive Leadership Programmes for many organisations — including the European Parliament and the Friedrich Miescher Institute — and each journey brings fresh insight and transformation.
What made this Cochrane/ESIC programme game-changing was the deliberate use of leadership epistemological frameworks from the Global South. This approach sparked animated discussions during our workshops. I could see and hear participants think aloud as they examined the limitations of dominant frameworks handed down to them — and the impact of trying to fit round pegs into square holes, both personally and professionally. And then came the excitement.
There is a moment in Inclusive Leadership Development and coaching when a veil lifts — when new possibilities, visions, and tools become accessible. Participants begin to see how the emerging version of themselves can, in turn, enable a new version of their worlds to emerge.
It is a priceless and elevating moment of agency. It fills me with hope. It is the fire in my belly.
The next step is to support the participants in amplifying their roles as agents of change, creating ripple effects in power-shifting across their respective evidence ecosystems.