DAC Framework for Effective Leadership

Effective Leadership Is a Social Process

Our simple, classic DAC framework can help reveal where leadership is — and isn’t — happening in your team or organization.

How do you define leadership?

Leadership isn’t actually all about individual leaders and their capabilities. Leadership happens in the interactions and exchanges among people with shared work.

It’s a social process that enables individuals to collaborate and work toward results that they could never achieve working alone.

Our research has found that for effective leadership to happen, the interactions and exchanges among people have to create the following 3 outcomes: Direction, Alignment, and Commitment. These are what we call the DAC framework. But what exactly do we mean by these terms?

  • Direction: Agreement on what the group is trying to achieve together.
  • Alignment: Effective coordination and integration of the different aspects of the work so that it fits together in service of the shared direction.
  • Commitment: People who are making the success of the collective (not just their individual success) a personal priority.

These 3 outcomes of effective leadership allow individuals to effectively collaborate and achieve organizational goals. Learn more about how to evaluate your team or organization’s levels of each of the elements of DAC by reading a summary of our research on how Direction + Alignment + Commitment (DAC) = Leadership.

Upskill Your Team With an Effective Leadership Program

Achieve Better Results Through Leadership

Give your leaders the skills to work together as a cohesive group so they:

  • Understand leadership as a social process.
  • Apply an effective approach to enhance leadership outcomes: Direction, Alignment, Commitment.
  • Assess how well leadership is happening in their group.
  • Identify actions they can take to improve leadership outcomes.
  • Create an action plan for improving leadership effectiveness.

Start improving outcomes at your organization by equipping your team with these effective leadership skills. We can deliver our world-class content and pioneering research on the DAC framework for collective leadership — or you can.

You Can Deliver Our Effective Leadership Training Programs Based on the DAC Framework, or We Can

You Deliver

We can equip your facilitators to deliver a workshop or internal effective leadership program based on the DAC framework, either online or in person, whichever you prefer:

Access everything your internal HR or team leaders need to upskill your people by holding a leadership workshop on the DAC framework

Let’s talk about how you can leverage our DAC framework in effective leadership programs for customized development initiatives

We Deliver

Or, we can incorporate our DAC framework as part of a larger leadership development initiative for your organization:

Combine the DAC framework and other topic modules with interactive experiences into a customized learning journey for your leaders

Our leadership programs develop leaders who understand the DAC framework and can build effective collective leadership

What Our Clients Are Saying

Organizations who have partnered with us to educate their teams about the DAC framework so they better understand what effective leadership looks like consistently tell us the same thing: their experience with CCL made a significant impact on their culture — and their bottom line.

But don’t just take our word for it — take theirs.

“CCL’s Leadership Development Program helped me build up my vision and competency about leadership. Based on the models shared: DAC (Direction, Alignment, and Commitment), SBI (Situation, Behavior, and Impact) and other practices, I am able to find the most effective way to communicate with my staff and my manager. The training also helped me gain a better understanding on my organization’s health and the long-term development of employees.”

Alan Bai

Chief Representative, China
Institute of Management Accountants

“Future Generali Life partnered with CCL for Leadership Development of our C-suite in a unique and flagship program to discover ways of being simpler, smarter, faster. The tone was set through a detailed pre-work and assessment which set the context and expectations effectively towards Direction-Alignment-Commitment (DAC). The pre-work captured…the challenges faced by the leadership team well. The leadership team felt a sense of enthusiasm, made personal commitments, and had a higher level of understanding that interdependencies go a long way in establishing alignment within the teams.”

Ruchira Bhardwaja

Chief HR Officer
Future Generali India Life Insurance

Let’s Discuss Effective Leadership Programs at Your Organization

Our experts are here to help. Let’s have a conversation about direction, alignment, and commitment at your organization and how proven development based our world-famous DAC framework for effective leadership could help grow your leaders.

Our Research-Based Perspective on Effective Leadership With the DAC Framework

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This introduction to our leadership philosophy explains how direction, alignment, and commitment (the elements of our DAC framework) are key in how leadership works, connecting exponential potential with collective progress.

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You need direction, alignment, and commitment (DAC) to make leadership happen in your group or organization. Learn more about our DAC framework and how leadership is a social process to foster more of it in your group or organization.

Other Topics Related to Our DAC Framework for Effective Leadership

Package our pioneering research-based content on the DAC framework with other proven leadership development topics and solutions for a customized, scalable solution perfect for your organization’s unique needs, context, and culture. Related topics include: