Oy.
That title makes even me want to gag.
But really- It makes sense with the topic of the post: Leadership is everyone's business.
The new school of thought on leadership seems to take an unrelenting stance on this "everyone is capable of leadership" and "leaders are made not born". I've bought in. I get it- we all are given natural gifts (or STRENGTHS) and how we use them effectively when working with others allows us to contribute to the process of leadership. Everyone provides something different to add to the group dynamic. As the article on power mentioned: "people... will bypass their manager and their organization's formal hierarchy and structure to seek help from those with the expertise they need." Everyone has the capability of being an expert and everyone has an ability to influence others.
It is important to foster a culture of inclusivity and empowerment to ensure that people are able to maximize their skills. As the article states, "The more equal the power distribution is throughout the organization, the higher the performance of the organization". Power shared by all, and involving all, increases productivity.
But that's only one aspect of "leadership is everyone's business". Above- I talked about the idea of EVERYONE and how maximizing the potential and skills of all members of the group maximizes and effort of leadership towards those group goals. But what about BUSINESS? People have an obligation to maximize their potential to contribute to the group, but I believe their "business" is more important.
Accountability is perhaps the most important reason why leadership must be everyone's BUSINESS. The article reads, "what is tolerated, accepted, encouraged, and rewarded determines whether a destructive leaders can survive". By acting as a leader, the group can monitor all of these aspects to ensure that a destructive member will not take the group into the power-corruption cycle. Every member has a responsibility to contribute to a healthy culture that will keep all members accountable. So, while maximizing their potential is important, more important is creating a positive group culture to ensure that their group is not thrown off track.
SO. Everyone get your tickets ready- because everyone is a valued guest here on the leadership. Because without every single one of you, the experience just wouldn't be the same.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Social Change Through Soccer
So first and foremost- those First year students were so lucky to have this book chosen for them- Outcasts United was a great read- long, but I enjoyed it much better than Three Cups of Tea
Enough with the opinion: on to the stuff that matters... the SOCIAL CHANGE MODEL OF LEADERSHIP!
For the blog- I want to take each component one at a time and examine it within the book... but first I wanted to talk about the purpose of the model itself, the core component: Change.
Change is really the purpose of leadership. Bringing about change shows an active engagement in all three parts of the model (Group Values, Society/Community Values, and Individual Values). Luma was able to bring Change to her team in several facets: She provided them with purpose, gave them a sense of confidence, and provided them with relationships with people of differing backgrounds from all over the world. She fostered a community, a little subsection of society, comprised of many different types of young boys from many different parts of the world which were conflicted, and was able to get them to work together while appreciating the differences within the group but also emphasizing commonality in goals and purpose.
Society/Community Values were displayed through citizenship. I like how we see a lot of the action through the lens of the families themselves, rather than just the team exclusively. I think the most blatant act of citizenship was displayed through her "hair cut" rule. The community that many of these young men came from did NOT appreciate the long hair worn by their american counterparts. Luma even admits that she enacted this rule partially because she felt responsible to the parents of the young men in helping with adaptation to their new environment but without losing their identity of their native countries. Luma was faced with the challenge of creating dual citizens: well adjusted and educated young americans that appreciated the culture of their homelands.
Group Values were displayed most prominently throughout the book when focusing on the team. Luma was creating a strong group dynamic, a team where everyone was valued and collaborated as a team towards a common purpose: winning the game. I noticed that Luma brought a lot of controversy with civility in frequently dismissing her players after breaking one of her rules (be it swearing, arriving late, disobeying her). She remained congruent and fair with all of her players (as I'll discuss later in individual values). The fact that she was able to dismiss her players, even those she cared about so much (thinking specifically of Mendela- who she had the most difficulty dismissing due to how close she was to his family) brought a realization that the group HAD to develop. They HAD to listen to coach's rules and be diligent workers or else they would be dismissed. She never did this in a harsh way, maintaining the civility aspect of the controversy and always did so without emotion or attack against the boy. She just simply dismissed them.
Individual Values were perhaps the most strongly presented throughout the book when focusing on Luma. Especially congruence as discussed above. Luma was SO consistent throughout the book- unemotional, withdrawn (on her "balcony" if you will), strategic about everything she said or did so as not to show bias to her competitive players (who often vied for her attention). Luma's commitment to the cause was best displayed through this quote:
"The last third (of her team) would be marginal cases, those with behavioral problems and unstable families. These were the boys who could be counted on to demand the bulk of Luma's energy and who would most likely threaten the cohesion of her teams. They were also the boys who needed the Fugees the most."
The most difficult kids to work with, the ones that would cause the most difficulty and would be the most detrimental for the group, were the ones that needed this experience the most. It would be so much easier to just focus on the other two-thirds of the team: those who "get it" or at least get most of it. But Luma chose instead to remain committed to ALL of her players. The book even says:
"for her teams to work, Luma realized everyone would have to feel they were treated fairly"
a concept that connects both her commitment and congruence. Last, but certainly not least was the consciousness of self, which Luma used to create situations that she knew would bring out the best in her team. She knew how to best say something, do something, or respond to something to create the effect that would be most effective for others to realize their potential. This development started at a young age. Luma's sister admits:
"I always remember that my sister pushed me and I found out I was able to do it"
All of Luma's actions were intentional and were created to best maximize the results from others.
Completely unrelated but I thought this quote was cool:
"They need to figure it out so they can fix it" (speaking specifically of the time that the boys would walk behind her during their laps around the field).
Sounds really similar to the facilitation model huh? Not TELLING them they needed to run and not walk, but rather hoping that they would "police themselves" or figure it out on their own. Luma knew that to be a good facilitator- the boys would have to figure out what they did wrong for themselves, rather than her telling them. They had to work to learn, rather than simply listen to her opinion. I thought that was pretty cool.
Maybe we can ask Luma if she wants to join SLA? She's certainly one of the best facilitators and social change leaders I have ever learned about.
Enough with the opinion: on to the stuff that matters... the SOCIAL CHANGE MODEL OF LEADERSHIP!
For the blog- I want to take each component one at a time and examine it within the book... but first I wanted to talk about the purpose of the model itself, the core component: Change.
Change is really the purpose of leadership. Bringing about change shows an active engagement in all three parts of the model (Group Values, Society/Community Values, and Individual Values). Luma was able to bring Change to her team in several facets: She provided them with purpose, gave them a sense of confidence, and provided them with relationships with people of differing backgrounds from all over the world. She fostered a community, a little subsection of society, comprised of many different types of young boys from many different parts of the world which were conflicted, and was able to get them to work together while appreciating the differences within the group but also emphasizing commonality in goals and purpose.
Society/Community Values were displayed through citizenship. I like how we see a lot of the action through the lens of the families themselves, rather than just the team exclusively. I think the most blatant act of citizenship was displayed through her "hair cut" rule. The community that many of these young men came from did NOT appreciate the long hair worn by their american counterparts. Luma even admits that she enacted this rule partially because she felt responsible to the parents of the young men in helping with adaptation to their new environment but without losing their identity of their native countries. Luma was faced with the challenge of creating dual citizens: well adjusted and educated young americans that appreciated the culture of their homelands.
Group Values were displayed most prominently throughout the book when focusing on the team. Luma was creating a strong group dynamic, a team where everyone was valued and collaborated as a team towards a common purpose: winning the game. I noticed that Luma brought a lot of controversy with civility in frequently dismissing her players after breaking one of her rules (be it swearing, arriving late, disobeying her). She remained congruent and fair with all of her players (as I'll discuss later in individual values). The fact that she was able to dismiss her players, even those she cared about so much (thinking specifically of Mendela- who she had the most difficulty dismissing due to how close she was to his family) brought a realization that the group HAD to develop. They HAD to listen to coach's rules and be diligent workers or else they would be dismissed. She never did this in a harsh way, maintaining the civility aspect of the controversy and always did so without emotion or attack against the boy. She just simply dismissed them.
Individual Values were perhaps the most strongly presented throughout the book when focusing on Luma. Especially congruence as discussed above. Luma was SO consistent throughout the book- unemotional, withdrawn (on her "balcony" if you will), strategic about everything she said or did so as not to show bias to her competitive players (who often vied for her attention). Luma's commitment to the cause was best displayed through this quote:
"The last third (of her team) would be marginal cases, those with behavioral problems and unstable families. These were the boys who could be counted on to demand the bulk of Luma's energy and who would most likely threaten the cohesion of her teams. They were also the boys who needed the Fugees the most."
The most difficult kids to work with, the ones that would cause the most difficulty and would be the most detrimental for the group, were the ones that needed this experience the most. It would be so much easier to just focus on the other two-thirds of the team: those who "get it" or at least get most of it. But Luma chose instead to remain committed to ALL of her players. The book even says:
"for her teams to work, Luma realized everyone would have to feel they were treated fairly"
a concept that connects both her commitment and congruence. Last, but certainly not least was the consciousness of self, which Luma used to create situations that she knew would bring out the best in her team. She knew how to best say something, do something, or respond to something to create the effect that would be most effective for others to realize their potential. This development started at a young age. Luma's sister admits:
"I always remember that my sister pushed me and I found out I was able to do it"
All of Luma's actions were intentional and were created to best maximize the results from others.
Completely unrelated but I thought this quote was cool:
"They need to figure it out so they can fix it" (speaking specifically of the time that the boys would walk behind her during their laps around the field).
Sounds really similar to the facilitation model huh? Not TELLING them they needed to run and not walk, but rather hoping that they would "police themselves" or figure it out on their own. Luma knew that to be a good facilitator- the boys would have to figure out what they did wrong for themselves, rather than her telling them. They had to work to learn, rather than simply listen to her opinion. I thought that was pretty cool.
Maybe we can ask Luma if she wants to join SLA? She's certainly one of the best facilitators and social change leaders I have ever learned about.
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