The Tree of Relational Leadership is a leadership development resource designed by CLI2 to help leaders at every level intentionally grow their relational leadership practice. Rather than prescribing a single leadership style, the tree offers a collection of practical tools and techniques that leaders can use to strengthen relationships, build trust, and live ACC’s values in their everyday work.
Like a healthy tree, relational leadership grows from a strong foundation. The roots represent the relationships that nourish our work and sustain our teams. The trunk represents trust, the strength that supports collaboration, accountability, and growth. From that foundation grow the four branches of our values: Courage, Compassion, Joy, and Yes. Each branch is filled with leaves that represent practical leadership tools, conversation techniques, habits, and practices that help leaders demonstrate that value in action. Each leaf is intentionally aligned with ACC’s Values-Based Behaviors framework, providing leaders with practical ways to strengthen the behaviors reflected in employee evaluations.
The Tree of Relational Leadership is intended to be used as a practical coaching resource. Whether reflecting on feedback, preparing for a challenging conversation, or developing a specific leadership behavior, leaders can explore the branch they want to strengthen and select one or two leaves to intentionally practice. By connecting everyday leadership practices to ACC’s Values-Based Behaviors, the Tree helps translate evaluation feedback into meaningful action and continuous growth. Over time, these small, consistent actions help leaders build stronger relationships, deepen trust, and create the conditions for people and teams to thrive, strengthening our collective ability to love our students and each other to success.
How to Use This Resource
The Tree of Relational Leadership is designed to be explored one branch at a time. The leaves on each branch represent practical leadership tools and techniques.