The Leadership
My hope is that many of the people in your organization will understand the concept of mission and will learn the process of good governance. Once you have articulated the mission, leadership needs to communicate throughout the organization the vision, values, and ways the world is going to be changed by your organization. Good governance ensures all of the contributors will be aligned, motivated, and accountable in the process of accomplishing that change. Leadership needs to set the tone at the top.
The leadership is composed of those people who
- know the values of the organization,
- have a clear vision of what must be achieved, and
- communicate the concepts.
Because of your interest in this chapter, likely you either are now, or intend to be soon, among the leadership of your organization. Throughout The Worthy Organization I refer to the term leadership. Leadership generally describes the people who instruct or control the destiny of the organization. Surprisingly, leadership is not just the people who have the titles or statutory responsibility for running things.
The leadership is composed of those people who know the values of the organization and have a clear vision of what must be achieved. In established organizations, these leaders may no longer hold any office or even be members. But people talk to them and ask advice. These leaders have acquired a wisdom that may be so important to the success of your enterprise that you will want to ensure that they remain close enough to the operation to provide some guidance. Informal leaders can be quite valuable.
Informal leaders are people who guide and direct an organization without holding any titles. This is also called leading from behind. You may not have any official authority, but you are reading this book because you know that things have to improve. If you can convince people to change their direction, you are leading from behind. This is a wonderful way to contribute your wisdom as long as you are not creating factions and unnecessary dissension.
Because of the importance of formal and informal leadership, you should deliberately foster the skills of leadership among all participants. While society tends to admire natural leaders, leadership can be learned. Cultivating skilled leaders is vital to the success of your organization.
A leader’s role is more than knowing the values and having a vision. Leaders must communicate vision and values and model desired behaviors. Disagreement about vision, and among the leadership, or a lack of clarity about what the values look like in practice, may cause the organization to flounder. For board leaders, the process of establishing good governance should require the whole board to learn and practice responsible leadership.
For your society to succeed you will need people who are willing to practice followship and management as well as leadership. At some time everyone should have the opportunity to serve in each of these roles. You are probably clear about the concept of followship. This is the role for most of us as we do the work to transform the dream of achievement into a reality. It is called followship because we must fulfill our responsibilities in concert with others and accept someone’s coordination and direction.
The distinction between leadership and management is more confusing.
Managers are those folks who are skilled at organizing people and resources to get things done. They become the committee chairs for fundraising events or the volunteer coordinator. We need our managers. Management is a desirable skill in the business world and most of us are familiar with business management. You may even have work experience as a mid-level or high-level manager. Often managers are elected or promoted to the high offices of our community organizations. Usually, these are positions on the board of directors, governors, or trustees. What managers must understand is governance is not management. The role of the board is not to manage the organization. The role of articulating and qualifying the mission, and holding the organization accountable for achieving the mission is called governance. Governing is the official business of leadership. The distinction between management and governance is often difficult for managers (and others) to grasp.
When managers (or anyone) hold a position on the board these people should become proficient with the skills of governance and leadership. Managers who can combine their business skills with governance skills can be truly inspirational. However, board members who attempt to make the board into a form of senior management committee are actually meddling in the affairs of those whom they should be holding accountable for the actions of the organization. Board members who are acting as managers are not providing the leadership required. Unfortunately, this is what many boards believe their job is (See Evolving from Startup to Good Governance.)
As a volunteer, you can serve your organization well if you can learn to function effectively in each of the three roles: as a follower, as a manager, and as a leader. Your whole organization will serve your mission and the community well if it fosters a culture of people who are skilled in performing these roles. You also need to know when you are in one role or the other. For example, if you are meeting as a board and taking action as a whole, you are in the role of leader. If you are a board member who is running the annual fundraising event, you are a volunteer manager (who may also be a board member, but is not acting in that role). If you are a board member who is making the table decorations for the annual gala, you are a follower. Understanding what role you are in is important to ensure you are doing the right job at the right time. It cannot happen by accident—skill building and learning about role distinctions must be an intentional part of your program.