Fluency and Fluidity
Image credit Digby Scott / Midjourney.com
If you’d prefer to listen to this, click here.
What do you see in leaders who operate well at the senior level?
A client asked me that question this week, and I had to stop and think before I responded.
I came back with “fluency and fluidity”.
Fluency is breadth. It’s the ability to move across different functions, different contexts, different rooms, and hold your own in all of them. They can talk operations, strategy, governance, communications, culture, change.
The fluent leader isn't a specialist in all of these, but they've seen enough to recognise the patterns, speak the language, and understand what's actually going on. They've built a kind of ‘organisational literacy’ that lets them see across the whole, not just their corner of it.
Most senior leaders have some version of fluency. It's usually what the career has given them.
Fluidity is different. And I reckon it's rarer.
Fluidity is range of style. That’s the ability to read what a moment actually needs and adapt. For example, a fluid leader is one whose default mode is ‘drive’ yet they know when to sit back and listen to serve the room better. The one who’s a natural challenger can choose to follow. The one who's been the solver can hold the space for others to solve it.
The most effective senior leaders I see know what their natural style is, and are comfortable and confident to choose to move beyond it.
The less effective ones rely on their default mode. It's the easy way to be. It feels natural, so it must be right. But it’s not always, right? The mode that works in one room won't work in every room. And the leaders who haven't done that inner work definitely show it, especially when they're out of their comfort zone.
How to be more fluid.
One practice my clients often find helpful is the Door Framing Exercise. Imagine you’re just about to walk into a meeting room through the doorway. The room can be physical or virtual (e.g. a phone call or Teams call). Before you ‘walk in’, stop and ask: who do I need to be in this? Not what to say, but who to be.
Most leaders skip that question entirely. They walk in as whoever they were in the last meeting.
What would happen if you stopped and asked that question more often?
Part of what makes fluidity visible to others is consistency over time. That’s not demonstrating the same behaviour every time, but demonstrating the same awareness every time. People around you start to notice that you're reading the room rather than running your natural pattern on autopilot.
When I hear the most compelling references for senior leaders, they don't speak only to what the person knows. They speak to who the person can be, across different situations.
Fluency builds over time. You get it by doing different things, being in different rooms, stretching beyond your comfort zone.
Fluidity takes different work. It comes from knowing your default well enough to step out of it deliberately. To choose because it serves the room, even if it’s uncomfortable.
What's your default mode? And what would it look like to step out of it?
If you’re looking to level up your leadership or your leadership team, drop me a line.