Facilitative Leadership: Bridge Building for Divisive Times — Leadership for a Polarized Age

Facilitative Leadership: Bridge Building for Divisive Times, by Lori L. Britt and Lisa-Marie Napoli, presents facilitation as a core form of leadership for navigating polarization, exclusion, and fragmented public discourse. Drawing on a four-phase framework—self-awareness, intentionality, growth mindset, and responsive action—the book reframes facilitation from a technical skill into a leadership practice that enables groups to think, talk, and work together productively across differences. Twelve case studies from campus, community, and global contexts illustrate how facilitative leadership fosters trust, inclusion, reflective dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving, supported by discussion questions and reflective exercises. Aimed at educators, practitioners, and professionals engaged in civic life, community engagement, and leadership development, the volume fills a gap in leadership literature by emphasizing listening, respectful communication, and relationship-building as essential democratic capacities for addressing divisive issues constructively.

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Facilitative Leadership: Bridge Building for Divisive Times, edited by Lori L. Britt of James Madison University and Lisa-Marie Napoli of Indiana University Bloomington, offers a comprehensive framework for addressing contemporary divisiveness through intentional leadership practices that support constructive dialogue across differences. Britt, an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at JMU, also serves as Director of the Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue, where she trains students as public process facilitators and conducts applied research on public deliberation as a learning partner with the Kettering Foundation. She serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Deliberative Democracy and works with the Interactivity Foundation on pedagogical resources for dialogue. The book responds to environments marked by ideological polarization, information silos, and exclusionary hostility by positioning facilitation as a form of leadership rather than merely a technical skillset, introducing a four-phase framework encompassing self-awareness, intention-setting, growth mindset development, and responsive behavior enactment.

The book includes twelve contributed case studies spanning campus, community, and global contexts that demonstrate how facilitative leadership operates across varied settings and challenges. These cases provide practical lessons and inspiration alongside discussion questions and reflection opportunities designed to promote personal and professional development. Facilitation practice involves creating supportive environments, encouraging mindful reflection, respecting all voices, nurturing open dialogue, discerning the needs of multiple parties, promoting engagement, empowering individuals, and inspiring collaboration. The framework guides readers toward seeing themselves as facilitative leaders capable of transforming different perspectives and challenges into possibilities, building capacity for listening, respectful communication, and connection-making. This holistic approach addresses a gap in leadership literature by recognizing that helping groups think and talk together productively constitutes meaningful leadership essential to democratic participation.

The volume serves as a resource for educators teaching facilitation, leadership, public engagement, and civic advocacy, as well as facilitation practitioners and professionals whose roles require community engagement. For practitioners working to strengthen dialogue capacity, support collaborative problem-solving, or build inclusive civic infrastructure, this framework offers systematic guidance for developing facilitative leadership habits in themselves and others. The emphasis on building relationships of trust and collaborative learning through structured reflection and skill development provides pathways for addressing divisive topics constructively rather than avoiding them or allowing them to fracture communities. Available in print and e-book formats, the book supports efforts to ensure that people with different perspectives can explore individual and collective viewpoints while charting forward paths grounded in shared wisdom.

​Order Facilitative Leadership: Bridge Building for Divisive Times at https://waveland.com/browse.php?t=807&r=a|1112.