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Module #4 – Building Leadership in the Community. Starter Definitions. Leadership … the act of leading; i.e., providing direction and motivation to others in order to collectively achieve some mutual objective.
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Starter Definitions • Leadership … the act of leading; i.e., providing direction and motivation to others in order to collectively achieve some mutual objective. • Leadership is important because community objectives cannot be accomplished by any one individual. • Ethics … the adherence to the values and norms of society overall • Ethics are important because they represent the broader values and rules of society with which each person is expected to comply. • Leaders have a greater responsibility to demonstrate ethical behavior because their actions and words have a greater influence on the actions of others.
A Typical Scenario? • “Loganville” appears to be progressive and thriving. It has made significant improvements in the past decade, including street/highway infrastructure, educational facilities, new youth after-school opportunities, a revitalized downtown retail district, … and so on. • This progress is primarily due to the same dedicated core group of community leaders. Because of their long list of successes, • The community has become complacent … expecting the core leadership group to always “come through”. • The core leadership group has become tired, and is approaching burn out. • The core community leadership group looks around for the next wave of community leaders … and finds no one. • What do they do now?
An Overview of this Module • Leadership • Community Leadership Development using the R.A.T.E. Model • Recruiting • Assessing • Teaching • Engaging • Unique Challenges for Community Leaders • Ethics • Conclusions Note: The companion document goes into more details for each of these topics, and also has a selected bibliography (books and publications as well as websites).
Leadership – A Comprehensive Definition • Leadership is … a process through which people (e.g., team members) are influenced in some way to accomplish goals, generally group goals. • People … provide the resources and talent necessary to achieve the goals. • Influence … the ability of one person to cause a change in the behavior of another person. • Goal … the expected end result of the leadership … the accomplishment the group hopes to achieve. • One way to sort through all of the opinions about leadership is to ask a couple of basic questions.
Leadership Question 1 – Is Leadership Based on Traits & Characteristics … or … Behaviors? (Answer … It’s both.)
Some Example Leader Traits • Resilience • Energy • Self confidence and esteem • Decisiveness • Personal integrity and honesty • Enthusiasm • Persistence and tenacity Note: This is not an exhaustive list!
Some Example Leader Behaviors • Communications skills (including listening) • Technical knowledge (i.e., does the leader know what he or she is talking about?) • Interpersonal skills (i.e., the ability to effectively interact with others) • Envisioning the future Note: This is not an exhaustive list, either!
Stop and Reflect • What additional leadership traits and behaviors should be added to the lists on the previous two pages? • How do you assess yourself for each of these traits and behaviors on a scale of 1 to 4? • Where 1 = an area of success for you where others can learn from you, and • Where 4 = an area of personal challenge to be further developed. • For your areas of personal challenge … what are some concrete actions you can take to begin your improvement process? Are there others you can enlist to help you?
Leadership Question 2 – Is Leadership Always the same … or … Variable?
Question 2 – There Are Arguments Both Ways! • There is value in changing leadership traits and behaviors to fit the situation at hand. • For example, a participative approach may work well for routine meetings, while a more autocratic decision process may be required for a crisis situation. • There is value in keeping some things consistent so that the leader’s actions are somewhat predictable • For example, followers may be able to say that “in this situation, our leader would approach it this way”. • This allows the group to continue to function in the absence of the leader. • Note that consistent doesn’t mean identical. In the first example, the autocratic decision making can still be preceded by an abbreviated discussion between leader and followers.
Stop and Reflect • What is your “usual” leadership style? • What are some examples of leadership situations what might indicate a need to change from your “usual” style? • What are some leader traits and behaviors that you should keep constant, regardless of the situation? What are the dangers of always behaving “the same way”?
Other Considerations • A Servant Leader (or Steward Leader) functions to serve others. • They tend to be more inclusive, and recognize the stewardship of resources and responsibilities • Leadership can be both “transactional” and “transformational”. • Transactional means there is an exchange … the leader provides something of value to a follower in exchange for work toward the goal. This “something of value” can be as simple as a “thank you”. • Transformational means the leader motivates individuals toward a higher cause without any expectations on their part of receiving something of value … even a “thank you”. • Effective volunteer leaders attempt to use both transactional and transformational behaviors.
The Role of Power in Leadership • Leadership relies on the leader’s influence to motivate people to achieve the group’s objectives. • Power is the influence that one person has over another person. • Therefore, leadership and power are connected. • The word “Power” can have some negative connotations. • However, power itself is neither good nor bad. The positive or negative connotations come from the context and manner in which the leader exerts the influence or power.
Some Sources of Power • There are several sources of power. Some of the more common sources are: • Reward power … where a follower’s actions are based on a belief that the leader will provide rewards if the expectations are met. • Legitimate power … where a follower’s actions are based on a belief that the leader has a legitimate right to influence (for example, the Chair of a Committee). • Referent power … where a follower’s actions are based on a desire to be associated or work with the leader. • Expert power … where a follower’s actions are based on a belief that the leader has special knowledge. • Leaders generally use more than one source of power at any one time.
Stop and Reflect • What other sources of power can be added to the list on the previous page? • What types of power do you use to influence others? • Recall a situation where different types of influence were required for members of the same group. What happened? • Is the description of a person as “a powerful leader” good or bad? Why?
The R.A.T.E. Model • Community leadership development has four basic steps: • Step 1 – Recruit leaders and potential leaders • Step 2 – Assess those leaders to determine how to best utilize their skills for both individual and community successes • Step 3 – Teach those leaders how to become even more effective • Step 4 – Engage those leaders in leadership assignments.
Recruiting Leaders • This involves identifying both established and potential community leaders – and asking them to step into leadership roles. • The places to look include the existing leaders and members of community committees, task forces, advisory groups, boards, commissions, etc. • Some potential leaders may not think of themselves as such. In this case, their mental image of “leaders” may need to be expanded. • Other potential leaders may not have stepped forward simply because they haven’t been asked. • Community leadership assignments should focus on both community and individual success.
Assessing Leaders • In community leadership development, leadership assessment is primarily an individual task. • The purpose is for the leader to understand his/her strengths and areas that need improvement. • Leverage the strengths and identify development activities to improve the rest. • The leader also benefits when others provide him/her feedback regarding their perspectives of the leader’s strengths and weaknesses. • This is sometimes called a “360° assessment”. • The assessment should be based on desired leadership attributes. The lists on slides 7 and 8 can be used as a starting point.
Teaching Leaders • There are four basic approaches to “teaching” leadership … where “teaching” is interpreted broadly. • Experience … probably the best way to learn. • People will make leadership mistakes. These should be learning experiences. But, no one should be set up for failure. • Self-Study … provides the most schedule flexibility. • One variation is for several individuals to periodically meet to discuss and exchange ideas about leadership. • Formal Study … includes dedicated community training programs, college classes, and workshops. • Mentoring … involves one-on-one relationships where a more experienced leader serves as a sounding board for the novice leader
Engaging Leaders • Get leaders involved in leading. Then provide feedback on their leadership performance so that they can improve. • Learning by doing is a common approach in adult training (as opposed to elementary and secondary education). • Adults generally respond better to training where they have an understanding of why the topic is being taught. • Individuals actually encountering leadership dilemmas are more attuned to absorbing leadership training.
Does the R.A.T.E. Model Need Another “R”? • In order to make the RATE model an ongoing process, consider one more verb … Renew. • Without a deliberate effort to ensure leaders renew themselves, they will eventually burn out. • This applies to community leaders as well as leaders in other settings. • This renewal process allows individuals to serve the community for a longer period of time and in a more effective manner. • The renewal actions will vary from individual to individual. • The R.A.T.E. model doesn’t have to be revised to add another “R”, as long as leader renewal is a consideration in the community leadership development process.
What Have Other Communities Done? • There are many, many community leadership development programs. • A scan of best practices that was published by The Alliance for Regional Stewardship highlighted a number of key program design considerations, like how and when to engage outside personnel. • Their scan included summaries of 10 regional leadership development programs. • There are many non-governmental organizations that focus on leadership development. Some examples include • Coro … also cited in The Alliance for Regional Stewardship publication. • The Community Leadership Association … affiliated with the University of Georgia
Unique Challenges for Community Leaders • Is there anything unique about leadership in a community and economic development setting? • No … and … Yes • The leadership basics are still involved … people, influence, and goals. • However, there are some unique challenges that community leaders encounter that don’t arise in many other leadership contexts. • Volunteers can “vote with their feet”, and may require more deliberate approaches to motivation. • The “fishbowl” environment associated with public and political venues can increase the “second guessing” of leadership decisions. • The community itself can have special challenges … e.g., high poverty, racial tensions, and declining populations.
Hypothetical Ethical Situation A • You’re a newly appointed leader of a community committee to prepare and host a community picnic to celebrate the retirement of some street improvement bonds. • The celebration is being paid for by private donations (mostly businesses). • You and a fellow committee member buy the food at several local grocery stores. • Afterwards, you discover one of the grocery stores made an error during the check-out process, and has significantly undercharged you for the food. • Unfortunately, you’ve already spent the unexpected additional funds on a special dessert. • What do you do? What if you were the only one who knew about the undercharge?
Hypothetical Ethical Situation B • You’re a newly appointed leader of a community committee to prepare and host a community picnic to celebrate the retirement of some street improvement bonds. • The celebration is being paid for by private donations (mostly businesses). • A fellow committee member buys the food at several local grocery stores. • Afterwards, you discover the total amount of food significantly exceeds the amount of money available. • The fellow committee member jokes that an opportunity arose to “bypass” the cashier, implying some form of shoplifting/stealing was involved. • What do you do?
General Questions for the Leader • Does it matter that Situation A involved an unintentional error and Situation B was a result of purposeful behavior? • What is the dollar threshold amount at which you cannot just “look the other way”? • Is that dollar threshold amount impacted by how well you know the other person involved? • What is “right” in each of these two situations? • Would others agree that your proposed actions are “right”?
Ethics • Ethics … a system of principles or rules that distinguish between right and wrong. • Two perspectives … macro and micro. • The macro view involves what the community or organization can do to establish and maintain an ethical culture. • The micro view involves whether an individual behaves in an ethical manner • One example of the macro view is the “Certified City of Ethics” Program established by the Georgia Municipal Association. • A good example of the micro view is discussed by the Ethics Resource Center (ERC). In particular, the ERC found that the behaviors of leaders have a direct impact on the ethics of others.
Conclusions • First, and maybe foremost, anyone can be a leader. Leadership is not a characteristic determined at birth. • Leadership skills involve both traits and behaviors. These skills can generally be acquired through practice. • The RATE model is a simple way to remember how to approach community leadership development • Recruit, Assess, Teach, Engage leaders and potential leaders. • The ethical behaviors of leaders have a direct impact on the ethical behaviors of others in the organization. • Actions speak louder than words. • Effective community leaders also see the development of additional community volunteers as a part of their overall responsibility.
What About “Loganville”? • Not surprisingly, “Loganville” is a composite of many different communities. • However, one large community that recognized there was no “next generation” of community leaders ready to step in took action to restore the community leader pipeline. The existing community leaders … • Identified a broad range of sources for potential new community leaders, including grassroots leaders and local entrepreneurs. • Included both old and new generations in a “big tent” approach.
Stop and Reflect • What are the top five things on your leadership development list for yourself? • What are the immediate next steps to get started on this list? • Who else do you need to help you with this personal leadership development list? • What are the top five things on your leadership development list for others in your community? • What are the immediate next steps to get started on this list? • Who else do you need to help you with this community leadership development list?
