The YES! Leader as a Practitioner of Free Design

One of my favorite recent musical discoveries is a vocal group called the Free Design – four siblings (Chris, Sandy, Bruce, Ellen) from the Dedrick family who recorded seven outstanding albums between 1967 and 1972, and then regrouped in 2001 to record their eighth. They enjoyed little commercial success in their time, but their work continues to gain new fans even 40+ years later, mostly due to the pure craftsmanship and singular vision of their main songwriter and arranger Chris Dedrick and the impeccable execution of his compositions by Chris and his brother and sisters.

The Dedricks’ work and influence are well charted in a cover story in a recent edition of the UK music magazine Shindig, which features some wonderful anecdotes and recollections by Sandy Dedrick. In particular, I was struck by Sandy’s description of Chris’s compositions and arrangements as making frequent use of the “harmonic rub” – which she describes as “notes that are very close together and it sounds dissonant, and then it resolves into something harmonic and beautiful.”

This description of her late brother’s music (Chris died of cancer in 2010) echoes one of the recurring themes in The YES! Leader blog: The concept of the YES! Leader’s role as continually resolving “seeming contradictions” that collide in the world he encounters.

I can see this “harmonic rub” at work in the actions of the YES! Leader. The best YES! Leaders keep a loose rein on the actions of others, giving them enough leeway and freedom to experiment, take risks, and try out their ideas. And, whenever team members are struggling, the YES! Leader best serves them by letting them try to work through difficulties on their own, providing coaching and encouragement rather than immediately jumping in and taking over.

Allowing this autonomy and space often means living with some discomfort and uneasiness (or, as Sandy Dedrick says, a “dissonant” feeling) in the short term. However, within the dissonance lies the seeds of discovery, learning, and empowerment that (with patience and nurturing from the leader) can resolve into something harmonic and beautiful – and ultimately self-sustaining.

In many ways, I think the paradoxical name “Free Design” itself nicely describes the practice of YES! Leadership: Strategically crafting well-placed, well-timed actions in order to release the unique creative genius that lies within everyone in the organization.