The beginnings of the DAC leadership framework emerged more than 15 years ago as CCL explored new directions in the understanding and development of leadership. Historically, CCL recognized leadership as essentially an interpersonal influence process. Leadership was about individuals (called leaders) influencing other people (called followers) to engage in the pursuit of shared goals. This asymmetrical influence relationship is at the heart of most traditional leadership theories.
The DAC framework was influenced by a constructivist and relational view of leadership (Drath & Palus, 1994; Drath, 2001) and a leadership development practice that was broadening beyond CCL’s original focus on individuals to include the development of leadership systems in organizations (O’Connor & Quinn, 2004). A core question was “What does it take for individuals to willingly and effectively combine their efforts to produce collective results?” Knowledge gleaned from research, theory, and experience pointed to three key ingredients: a shared direction, alignment of work, and commitment to the collective. This outcome-focused perspective on the essential elements of leadership represented a departure from traditional conceptualizations (Drath, McCauley, Palus, Van Velsor, O’Connor, & McGuire, 2008) and became a foundational element of CCL’s leadership development practice (Van Velsor, McCauley, & Ruderman, 2010).
We use the DAC framework in many different contexts—in the classroom, as we coach teams, when we work with organizations on change initiatives, as we help communities build collaborative networks, and in our leadership research. We use it with diverse people across sectors and around the world. As people try on this way of thinking about leadership and share their experiences with us, we continue to refine and deepen our understanding of what it takes to make leadership happen.