Welcome to the community

Coaching Buttons is an open community about leadership. At Coaching Buttons, we advocate for leadership at all levels of an organization, because we believe that anyone can lead from within. You don't need a job title of "manager" or "director" to step into a leadership role. Staff can step forward into a leadership role to lead a project, or provide focus for a work effort, or help shape the vision of their team, unit, or organization. That's all leadership.

That's also a core principle of an Open Organization. In the first chapter of the book The Open Organization by Red Hat Software's then-CEO Jim Whitehurst, an open organization is defined as "an organization that engages participative communities both inside and out—responds to opportunities more quickly, has access to resources and talent outside the organization, and inspires, motivates, and empowers people at all levels to act with accountability."

According to The Open Organization definition, anyone in an organization can step forward into a leadership role: "Fundamentally, a leader is anyone in a group, team, department, or enterprise who performs one or more critical leadership functions" including defining a vision, establishing connections, and mentoring others. We embrace this definition at Coaching Buttons.

We welcome anyone to share their story about how they lead. Join our community by following us and reading our articles. We also encourage you to write an article to share your leadership story, your journey in leadership, or your leadership lessons.

Here are a few ways you can share your story with our readers:

Tell us about a time when you led a project. Was it your first project? What did you learn about leading this project and providing the end-goal vision?

Describe your leadership journey. Everyone has a different journey into their first leadership role. Did you "climb the ladder" from staff roles to supervisor to manager to director? Or were you "volunteered" to take on a leadership role?

Share your story about when you helped shape a strategic vision for your organization. What were the circumstances around it? What problem were you trying to solve? How did you get others on board to support that vision?

Tell us about what your open organization is like. How did your organization become open? How do you encourage that community of open leadership, where anyone can lead from where they are?

Describe a project you worked on recently, and how you helped lead that project. What was the project, and what issue were you tackling? How did you help others to organize the work?

Everyone can lead, no matter where you are in the organization. Anyone can lead from within and across the organization, from CIOs to IT Directors, managers and supervisors, and line staff. You don't need to have a traditional "leader" title to contribute to Coaching Buttons. If you forged a path and led the way, you are a leader. And we want to share your story.