Chapter 14. Core Functions in Leadership | Community Tool Box

 

What is a community leader? Are you one?

Community leaders take responsibility for the well-being and improvement of their communities. Are you a community leader? Are you interested in becoming one? Try answering the questions in this leadership quiz. Are you someone who:

• Wants to improve your community?
• Has something to contribute?
• Doesn't wait around for someone else to get the job done?

If you have answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you are most likely a community leader already, or on your way to becoming one. You don't have to run for office or be given a title to be a leader. All you need to do is decide to take responsibility for some corner (or bigger chunk) of your community.

Community leaders are often self-appointed. Even people who run for office first make a decision that they want to be a leader. You can probably take as much responsibility for your community as you are willing to.

Many community leaders learn by trial and error. That's not a bad way to go; people mostly learn from experience. Nonetheless, flying by the seat of your pants can be a bumpy ride. So why not get some help along the way?

Why should you be a community leader?

Why should you be a community leader? Leadership can be good for you. In fact, many people enjoy leading. You don't have to lead out of obligation. You can choose to lead and participate in ways that energize you and help you grow, instead of leading in ways that drain you. You can choose to work on issues that you care about. You can take on challenges that are fun, rewarding, or interesting. It's up to you.

Let's take a closer look at what you can gain from being a leader:

You can make a difference

Do you ever daydream that you are the one to save the day? Perhaps you are the passerby who dives into the water to rescue a drowning child. Maybe you are the person who deftly persuades the terrorist to put down the gun, just in the nick of time. It is human to want to make a significant difference in the world. And you can.

The day-to-day acts of community leadership are usually not as dramatic as described above, and they usually don't inspire a chorus of recognition. Still, as a community leader, you can make a profound contribution. Establishing a childcare center, increasing job opportunities in your community, getting rid of a toxic waste dump, or empowering others to lead are all activities that are heroic in their own way.

When Isis Johnson of New Orleans was four years old she saw a news report about starving children in Ethiopia which made her feel the need to act. At five, with her grandmother at her side, she went knocking on doors asking for food donations for people experiencing poverty in her community. When she was six she collected 1,600 items to give to people in need. The next year, she collected 4,000 items. When Hurricane Andrew hit she collected 1,648 pieces of clothing to send to people affected by the storm. Shortly after the hurricane, Isis's grandmother suggested she start a foundation. With the help of her grandmother and a lawyer she established the Isis Johnson Foundation. Isis was then eight years old. (from Karnes and Bean, Girls and Young Women Leading the Way, 1993.)

We may not all establish our own foundations by the time we are eight, but we can make a significant difference if we put our minds to it. Doing so can be infinitely satisfying.

You can grow

Often, people lead because it helps them grow and expand their lives. There is almost nothing as challenging as leading groups of people. As a leader, you may need to communicate to large numbers of people, negotiate, and handle dicey situations. You will become more confident in yourself and in your world if you take action to lead others around you.

Many successful leaders started without confidence or skills. Some people that are leaders today once had a hard time saying anything in a small group. If you are a shy person, take heart. You're not alone. You can figure out how to make your voice heard. It just takes some practice.

Leadership skills are built step-by-step. No matter what your skills are right now, you can become a better leader if you work at it. You may find yourself doing things you never imagined you would!

We need many community leaders

There is room in this world for more community leaders. The model of one leader at the top with everyone else at the bottom just doesn't work for communities. One or two leaders can't possibly solve all the complex problems that our communities face. With more community leaders, our communities will do better.

The more people become leaders, the more problems we will solve. We need community leaders to think about and organize around many issues: youth development, economic growth, substance use, crime, the environment, health care -- the list goes on and on. Each issue will require a troop of skilled leaders to handle them. We need leaders who are women, young people (we were all young once), people of color, people with lower incomes, immigrants, people with disabilities and many others that have been told that they should follow others, not lead. We need leadership from all walks of life in order for ours to be a truly democratic society.

How will all those leaders work together? That is a skill that community leaders need to learn. We all have to learn to cooperate. We all need to put aside longings for turf, status, and power in order to achieve goals that benefit everyone.

Here are some community leadership examples:

• A community member speaks up at the city council open meeting. Her words reveal the key issue regarding a local problem; the resulting discussion leads to a workable solution
• A few people in the neighborhood successfully organize to protest the cutting down of trees by the city
• A family member generates a plan to help a loved one to stop smoking, enlisting the support of other family members
• A young person organizes a kick-the-can game after dinner on the block

Of course, having a title can be useful, at times. The following are some examples of community leadership carried out by leaders who have formal positions or titles.

• A group of ministers creates an anti-drug initiative in the community
• A teacher periodically invites their students' parents to a potluck dinner to talk about school issues
• A member of the city council proposes a task force to provide services for people experiencing homelessness
• The president of the high school drama club organizes students to do a play that addresses racial conflict among adolescents

What is true about all of the examples above is simply this: One or more people took responsibility for their communities.

When should you lead?

You can always lead. As we've said earlier, you can "lead" whether you are the designated leader or not. You can always think and act like a leader.

For example, while you are sitting in a committee meeting you can think about what will help move the group forward. Does the designated leader need some encouragement? Do people need a nudge to follow through? Do you need to take an unpopular stand on an issue?

People are hungry for others to help. If you take initiative to improve a situation, you will almost always delight, relieve, and surprise people.

You don't have to take over someone's leadership role in order to help things go well. In fact, one way of helping a group function better is by supporting the official leader. You can do this by organizing others to help with the work, by listening to the leader, and by encouraging the leader when they feel discouraged.

How do people learn how to lead?

Do you have to be a "born leader" in order to lead?

No. People learn how to lead. Even the people who seem to do it naturally had to learn the skills of leadership. They might have learned by watching their parents, teachers, or clergy. They might have been given a lot of responsibility when they were young and might have been expected to take charge. They might even have taken classes in "leadership development."

The point is this: If you don't feel that you are a "born" leader, don't let that stop you. You can become a leader by:

• Jumping in and practicing
• Observing others lead
• Finding a mentor
• Taking a class or workshop
• Reading books about leaders and leadership
• Remembering that people who are now successful leaders, once weren't leaders at all

Below is a list of what community leaders do. You don't have to be able to do all of these things right now. But most likely you are already doing some of them. You can pick up other skills as you go.

Dream big to create your personal vision

Maybe you didn't think that day dreaming was part of being a leader. Well, it is ! In fact, day dreaming is one of the first things you need to do as a leader.

If you are going to be a leader, it is necessary to dream big for yourself and for what you want to accomplish.

Lili Fini Zanuck, a film director and producer, said, "Nothing happens without a dream. The daydreaming mind will wander to something greater than the conscious mind could ever have imagined. The more you visualize your dream, the more you understand it. That's how you begin. Soon you're on the road to realizing your dream."

Young people often have big hopes and dreams for what they can do to improve their worlds. If each one of us could remember our dreams as children, we might recall that we had some ideas too.

Try these exercises:

• Interview a young person. Ask them what they would do to change the world if they could. Ask them what they wish were different.
• Try to remember when you were an adolescent. What did you want to change in the world?
• Put aside practical considerations and fears. Brainstorm a list of dreams you would like to see come true.

So how do you take your dream and make it a reality?

You can start by creating your own personal vision statement. You put your dream into words that communicate to others a picture of what you want to do. Organizations have vision statements; and you, as a leader, can have your own vision statement, too.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Now that's a vision statement!

Now it's your turn. Write out a few sentences of how you want some part of your world to be. Your vision statement will remind you of where you want to be going. As you wade through the day-to-day tasks of community organizing, sometimes without recognition or encouragement, remember to, "keep your eyes on the prize."

Listen to people

Listen to what people have to say. You need their thoughts and input. They will grow in confidence and become more engaged if they know their opinions are valued.

Even the most difficult people have some important things to say. We just have to learn to listen well enough to find the kernels of truth among all the chaff.

Decide that you are the person to take responsibility for your community

You have to make a decision to lead and view yourself as a community leader. No one else can contribute what you can. You have a point of view that no one else has. You have a set of skills that is unique. Your corner of the world will be different if you decide to act on its behalf.

Set goals

Give your vision a sharper image. Turn up the focus. Set some long-term and short term goals. That is how you carve a real path to your vision.

For example, if your vision is: "To create a community where every person can enjoy city parks in safety," then you might set goals like these:

Long-term goals:

• Create more city parks
• Reduce crime in city parks

Short-term goals:

• Find out where the city parks are, who uses them, and what the crime levels are
• Establish good working relationships with community police officers and park officials
• Identify what actions might reduce park-related crime
• Decide whether it will be preferable to start a new organization or work through existing organizations

Think about the individuals in the group

As a leader, you need to think about how each individual is affecting the group. Are there individuals whose talents are not being well used? Is someone acting in a way that is divisive or is draining the group of its energy? Is there a person who needs some help learning how to work in a team?

Think about the group as a whole

Someone has to think about the group as a whole. Is the group cohesive? Do people in the group have a shared vision? Is there trust and a sense of mutual support? Does the group need some training to help it function better? Are there some policies the group needs to strengthen it?

Propose programs and policies

Groups need direction and policies to keep them moving towards their goals. You don't have to be a dictator to make proposals. You can make proposals, then listen to people's responses and then make appropriate changes. Someone needs to take responsibility for moving the whole group forward.

Get the work done

Someone has to wade through the mud and do whatever it takes. This includes getting others to help, and making sure that all the bases are covered so that the job gets done right; when need be, it also means printing out labels, cleaning up the kitchen, making those extra phone calls, staying up late, or getting up very early.

Recruit and teach others to become leaders

Last, but not least: One of the central and long-term jobs of a community leader is to develop other leaders. Developing leaders is how we build a strong community of individuals that can work together to achieve goals. It is the basis for how a democracy works.

Developing leadership is a way you can have a legacy behind you – people who will continue to advance your cause and your goals after you have left the scene.

Community leaders should spend a good chunk of their time recruiting, encouraging, training, mentoring, and supporting others to become leaders.

Here are some steps you can take:

• Find people who have leadership potential. There are people all around you who would love to be invited to lead something.
• Help people view themselves as leaders. You can do this by helping them notice the informal leadership they have already taken in their lives. Are they parents? – that is certainly a leadership position.
• Help people identify the reasons they want to lead. Listen to people talk about what is important to them and what they wish they could change.
• Assist people to choose leadership goals that are attainable and that will help them build their confidence. Nothing succeeds like success.
• Support people while they work to reach their goals. Listen to them talk about their successes and their feelings of discouragement; appreciate them and encourage them to keep going.
• Support people when they make mistakes. Everybody needs help when they make mistakes. Help them get on the right track and encourage them to stick with it.
• Challenge people to take the next step.

Leadership development is a long-term investment. Often community leaders have to put the development of other leaders ahead of achieving short-term goals. For example, it may be more important to take the risk of letting a relatively inexperienced person chair a small meeting and acquire new skills. If the meeting gets messy, perhaps that is not so bad. Leadership development is not a tidy endeavor.

So now we have a preliminary job description for a community leader. Does it seem overwhelming? Remember: You don't have to know how to do all these things when you start. You have the rest of your life to master them.

What are some qualities of successful community leaders?

You don't have to be a perfect human being to be a community leader, either. That's good, since none of us are. But it might be helpful for you to know a few of the characteristics that successful community leaders often have:

• Integrity: To trust you, people have to know that you say what you believe and act accordingly. If people trust you, they may follow you to the ends of the earth.
• Courage: It's okay to shake in your boots, but someone has to go slay that dragon, and it might as well be you. Leadership means that you show others the way through the dark, scary, forest. Go ahead and speak the truth--even when it's not popular.
• Commitment: You have to stick with a task through the good times and the bad. Your commitment will serve as a model.
• Ability to care about others: People will follow you if they know you care about them and about others. The greater your ability to care about all types of people, the more confidence they will have in you.
• Creativity and flexibility: Every situation will call for a different response. Be ready to change and come up with new solutions.

Those are a few qualities of successful leaders. What are other leadership characteristics that you think are important?

Getting and giving support as a leader

All leaders need support from others to help them keep growing and get through the fears and discouragement they face. Also, leaders sometimes feel isolated in their jobs; they need others to listen to their thinking, and they need to listen to others' ideas.

You can develop relationships with people for sharing your leadership successes, discouragement, and for processing the pile of information you are exposed to in your leadership role. You can set up a regular time where you and another person or group of people can talk about being a leader.

This process can be informal and unstructured. However, sometimes a little structure in a leadership group can be helpful.

Here are some suggestions for leadership groups:

• Start the meeting with each person having a chance to talk about what is going well – this starts you out with a positive tone.
• Give each person a chance to talk about their leadership without being interrupted and without being given advice. Five to ten minutes works well. (This provides people a period of time to follow their own train of thought from beginning to end.)
• At times you might use the following questions to help each person focus: (again, let each person answer them without being interrupted)
  • What have you accomplished in the last period of time? (week, month)
  • What is the state of your group or organization?
  • Where do you have difficulties as the leader?
  • What are your goals during the next period of time?

A word on emotions

All humans that live in the modern age get stressed out now and then. And the demands of leadership can pile on even more stress.

Leaders have to figure out how to handle emotions due to the stress of their jobs. You might feel crabby after a day of dealing with a myriad of problems. In fact, the more challenges you take on as a leader, the more emotional fallout you may experience, and it isn't surprising that it becomes harder to think straight.

Under stress, we may all become frozen or confused in our fears, worries, and discouragement. When that happens it is easy to react without thinking. Sometimes our feelings cause us to avoid taking actions when actions are called for. Sometimes our fears drive us to act in ways that are unworkable.

It is not unusual for people in leadership positions to deal with built-up emotions by hurting themselves. We all are familiar with people who take drugs or alcohol, overeat, smoke, get sick, etc., when stresses get too overwhelming. Most of us have struggled with these issues ourselves.

But you are too important to let bad feelings damage you. Your own well-being is at least as important as the causes and people you are fighting for. Don't wait until you are in trouble before you deal with your emotions.

So, what do you do when stresses build-up? One thing you can do is unload them. Find someone you can talk to about what is going on. Tell someone what gets hard for you. If you get some good attention, then you can cast off some of the weight that hangs on you. You may feel renewed in your commitment and more able to think afresh about those difficult problems.

Talking helps. So does crying and laughing. A good cry or hearty laugh with a coworker or friend can clear a space in your brain to sort out some of those knotty problems.

And chances are, if you can tell someone else what is going on for you, they will be more than happy to come to you when they need some help. In fact, when you ask for help you are modeling effective leadership.

Here is a more formal version of the listening exercise described above:

• Find a friend or coworker you trust.
• Ask your friend to listen to you without giving advice or interrupting. Ask them to not judge you for your feelings.
• Ask them to keep your conversation confidential.
• Take a specific amount of time to talk.
• Ask the listener if they would like a turn to talk when you are finished.

Setting up listening exchanges may feel awkward and embarrassing at first. Listening well to what people have to say is different from everyday conversation. The exercise above will take some practice, but it will definitely help you to think more clearly and feel more positive about the work you are doing.

In Summary

It's just possible that community leadership is a job that is made for you. Remember, you are the one, and the only one, who can decide what kind of responsibility you would like to take to make sure things go well in your corner of the world.

Go ahead and dare to take hold of your dreams and do the work that is meaningful to you. You have the ability to make significant changes in the lives of the people with whom you work, live, and play. Don't deny the universe your unique contribution.

Why do you want to be a community leader?

___To make a difference

___To grow

___To fill a large need for community leaders

How can you best learn to lead?

___By jumping right in and practicing

___By observing others

___By finding a mentor

___Through a class or workshop

___By reading books about leaders and leadership

How can you best lead?

___Dream big to create your personal vision

___Listen to people

___Decide that I am the person to take responsibility for my community

___Set goals

___Think about the individuals in the group

___Think about the group as a whole

___Propose programs and policies

___Get the work done

___Recruit and teach others to become leaders

What are some important characteristics of community leadership?

___Integrity

___Courage

___Commitment

___Ability to care about others

___Creativity and flexibility

___It's important for leaders to give and get support from one another

___Be sure to take care of your own well being, too

Example: Lawrence activist Mattie Bell’s environmental advocacy centers both the planet and people

 

When Mattie Bell advocates for a thriving environment, they simultaneously advocate for human rights. This fervent passion for social justice began at a young age.

“I don’t remember a time that I wasn’t aware of it. I remember being like 7 years old and arguing with my grandpa on whether climate change was real or not,” Bell said. “I believe social justice is an aspect of climate change because climate change exacerbates all social justice issues.”

Factors such as race and class are directly related to environmentalism, they said.

“One example in the history of the U.S. is that Black and Brown communities have been redlined into certain neighborhoods, and those neighborhoods have been either selected as where industrial infrastructure will go, like factories and stuff like that, or highways will be built through them,” Bell said.

Read more in the Lawrence Times article.

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

 

 

• What is a vision?

• Why do you need to communicate a vision to others?

• When do you need to communicate your vision?

• How do you create a vision?

• How do you communicate a vision to others?

 

In his 1961 Inaugural address, John F. Kennedy said,

"Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce."

Every leader has a vision. For Nelson Mandela, it was a South Africa without Apartheid. For Lech Walesa, it was a Poland run by workers and common people. For Susan B. Anthony, it was a United States in which women had the right to vote.

Even though these are examples of famous leaders, they are not much different from community leaders who have visions for their communities.

If you are a community leader, you probably already have some kind of vision. Perhaps you want older adults to be able to live decently and independently. Or maybe you want your school district to give children from all backgrounds an equal chance at academic achievement. Or perhaps you want a community that has the skills and commitment to discuss hard issues and solve tough problems cooperatively.

Whatever your vision of your community is, it is important. Why? Because nothing happens until it happens in someone's mind first.

In this section, you will learn how to take a dream and turn it into a vision. You will also learn how to use your vision to lead--to mobilize and inspire people so that others want to join you in making your vision a reality.

But first let's take a closer look at the different steps in developing and communicating a vision. There are three steps in the vision process:

1. Developing your own vision
2. Communicating your vision to others
3. Developing the group's vision, within the group

This section focuses on the first two steps: How, as a leader, you develop your own vision and communicate it to others. It also focuses on how to use your vision to move people toward a common goal.

The next section focuses on step three, developing the group's vision. Included in that section is an outline of how to develop a vision statement for your group or organization.

Now, we will look at you and your vision.

What is a vision?

A vision is your big picture of the way things ought to be. It is your billboard image of what you are working towards.

For example, you may have a picture of all the different ways you want your neighborhood to be better. You may want a neighborhood that has clean streets. You may want people to watch out for each other so that crime is less likely to take place. You may want a neighborhood in which people know each other well enough to be able to solve problems together.

Everyday, as you go about your life, you may find yourself thinking about all the ways things could be better. If you put together all the pieces of how things should be, you have an overall vision.

Once you put together all those pieces, your overall vision might be: A neighborhood that is friendly, safe, and clean; one in which neighbors know, like, support each other, and work out differences together.

Your overall vision is like a billboard: It is a picture of your ideal neighborhood or community that gets your ideas across powerfully, accurately, and quickly.

Once you have a vision, you tell people about it and use it to lead people.

Why do you need to communicate your vision to others?

Why communicate your vision to others? Because no one can decide to follow you until they know what direction you're headed in.

If your vision is one that touches a chord with many people and if you can communicate it well, people will join you in reaching towards your goals.

In the words of the Syracuse Cultural Workers, "No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that will turn the tides."

Sharing a vision is a central role of a leader--a vision gives people a bigger picture of what things can be like. It helps people raise their hopes and expectations; it inspires them. When people are inspired, they are more likely to work on something.

When do you need to communicate your vision?

All the time. Whenever you talk to people about your group or organization, tell people what you are working towards. The more you do it, the better you will get at it, and the more people will be willing to support you.

Even before you have formed a group or organization, it is important to talk about your vision. As you communicate it to others, you are creating a community of people who know about your idea and who potentially will support you.

How do you create a vision?

Dream big

Dreaming is the first step. Go ahead and dare to dream about what you can do and what is possible to accomplish. Don't be afraid to dream big. You can always scale down to meet the realities of the situation, but dreaming big allows you to think about ideas that may not seem likely, yet are in fact possible. Thinking big also forces you to think about the long term, always a useful thing to do.

You have nothing to lose; it doesn't cost a nickel.

Can you recall a time when you got a wild idea in your head and your heart started beating fast and you wondered what it would be like if you could make that idea happen?

Maybe you intermittently think, "Oh, that's impossible. How can I be so foolish as to think that!" However, often the ideas that feel foolish may have the most potential. They are often ideas that are new to the world. Learn to value and trust your hunches. If you get an idea that makes your heart sing, chances are good that others will come to sing along with you.

How to dream big:

We'll start with an imaginary example of how things are already in your community:

Imagine that you presently live in a neighborhood in which people are frightened of those different from themselves. Children are considered a nuisance. People come home from work and quickly run into their houses without saying hello to their neighbors. Some people struggle with alcohol and no one knows about it or helps them. In some homes there is domestic violence

Now here's a dream for how things can be different:

Imagine that you live in a neighborhood in which people from different cultures really know and like each other. In this neighborhood, people visit each other often. They eat dinner at each other's houses and know each other's children. People communicate often enough to know when one family is in trouble or need. When someone is in trouble, others come to their aid, sometimes without being asked.

If you have such a dream, don't let it go! Turn it into a vision and make it happen!

Lili Fini Zanuck, a film director and producer, said, "Nothing happens without a dream. The daydreaming mind will wander to something greater than the conscious mind could ever have imagined... The more you visualize your dream, the more you understand it. That's how you begin. Soon you're on the road to realizing your dream."

Develop your personal vision

How do you start developing a vision? Let's start with ourselves for practice.

Everyone has a personal vision. Everyone has a picture in their minds of what they want for themselves in the future. Perhaps you would like a better job, would like to have enough time in your life to think about what you want to do next, or become more influential in your community.

Exercise:

What do you envision for yourself in the next five years?

• How do you want to grow?
• What do you envision for your work?
• What do you envision for your family life or friendships?
• What do you envision for where you live?
• What do you envision for fun and recreation?
• What do you envision for yourself as a leader?

A vision for your own life is simply a picture of where you want to be in the future. And a vision for your community, group, or organization is simply your picture of where you want that group to be in the future.

Develop a vision for your community, group, or organization

So now that you've had some practice creating a vision for yourself, try creating and articulating a vision for your community, group, or organization.

How do you articulate your vision of how things should be? Jump in and try.

And remember, the way you see things is what matters in this first stage of developing a vision. Don't try to think like anyone else. Trust your vision of the way things should be. Even though you may be creating a vision for your community, a vision is your personal view.

The more a vision reflects what you really think and care about, the more powerful it will be. People will be more likely to respond to your message if they see you care about an issue, rather than seeing you as a political figure talking about an abstract issue.

So go ahead and picture what you would like your neighborhood, community, or group to be like in the future.

Exercise:

Imagine your community the way you would like it to be. Write out your ideas. Don't worry about how they sound. This is sort of like a personal brainstorming session--get everything in your head out on paper without judging it. You can clarify and focus later. Use some of the questions below to help you think or make up your own questions:

• What does your community look like physically? What kind of buildings are there? What kind of public spaces? Is it safe to walk around it during the day and at night?
• What kind of work do people do? Who has what kind of jobs? Do people like their work? Why?
• How do people get along with each other? Do people from different groups communicate and get along? Do younger and older people have contact and good relationships with each other?
• How do decisions get made? Are things fair for different groups? Does every group have a fair say? Are many people involved in sharing their ideas and solving problems?
• What do families look like? Do people within families get along? Are there places where women and men can get help if they need it? Is there childcare available? Do neighbors help each other? Do single people feel there is a place for them in the community?
• Where do people play? Do people in the community go to recreational events together? What possibilities are there for young people, older adults, and everybody in between?

Clarify your vision

Once you have lots of ideas down on paper you have a good start. Now, sift through everything you wrote down and pick out what is most important to you. (Don't throw away the details, though--they are important for later when you are communicating your vision.) Now, are there some general statements that express your most important ideas? Are there some powerful or compelling phrases or words that get to the heart of what you care about?

Let's go back to a previous example:

"Imagine a neighborhood in which people from different cultures really know and like each other. In this neighborhood, people visit each other often. They eat dinner at each other's houses and know each other's children. People communicate often enough to know when one family is in trouble or need. When someone is in trouble, others come to their aid, sometimes without being asked."

How can you boil this vision down to a few powerful phrases?

Here are some examples:

• A caring neighborhood where people from many cultures know their way around each other's kitchens.
• In this neighborhood, "a friend in need is a friend indeed."
• An extended family neighborhood--people talk, eat, and celebrate together. People help each other out when times are hard.
• A "guardian angel" neighborhood--people care and watch out for each other.
• Of course, everyone's vision for their community will be different. What phrases or words get to the core of what you care about?
• Do you want a neighborhood in which each person is secure, welcome, and involved?
• Do you want a child-friendly community?
• Do you want economic justice for all?
• The more you put your own heart into your words, the more other people will be able to relate to what you have to say. Then they will be more likely to follow your lead.

How do you communicate a vision to others?

Get feedback on your vision

Talk to people about your vision as much as you can. Tell them what you are thinking. Give them your big picture of things. Then listen. See if other people are concerned about the same things you are concerned about. See if people are interested in your picture of how things could be.

The more you talk to people and listen to them, the clearer your vision will become. First of all, you will get some practice speaking. Whenever a person talks, they have a chance to hear their thoughts out loud; as they listen to themselves, they get clearer on what they are trying to say.

Secondly, after listening to people respond to your ideas, your vision will probably change somewhat. You may want to incorporate some of their thinking into your own. Other people's ideas will help you make your vision stronger.

After talking to people about your vision for a period of time, you will get an idea of how strong your vision is. You will have a sense of whether other people get excited when you speak. Everyone doesn't necessarily have to agree with your vision for it to be a good one--but if people get animated and interested in talking with you about your vision, that is a sign that you are onto something.

Develop and communicate the details

After you test and reshape your big-picture vision, you should develop the details. You need to give people some specifics as to what your big picture will mean on a day-to-day level. You also have to tell people what steps you will take to get there, i.e., develop a plan. People may think your big picture is a meaningless mirage if you don't give them some ideas as to how you think things will actually change.

You don't have to have all the answers, but you need to have some ideas. If you have a vision of your neighborhood as one in which people from different cultural and racial backgrounds work together to prevent crime, what has to happen to get there? Do you need different church groups to set up a task force first? Do you need to set up some cultural sharing events? Do you, at some point, need to build a neighborhood group that can challenge city hall to provide better police protection for your neighborhood?

Write up some tentative ideas for how to get things done. The better your plan for reaching your vision, the more likely people will take you seriously and be willing to follow your lead.

Once you have some confidence that your vision is sound, begin to put it out as a way to gather support for your leadership and what you and your organization want to accomplish. Use your vision as a way to inspire people to act.

Help people take ownership of a vision

As a leader, you have to help people take your vision and make it their own. This is an important step in bringing people together to work toward a common goal. Members of a group need to have a shared vision and a sense of ownership in order to be committed to the group. That is key in helping people stay with a group for the long haul.

People don't need to agree with all the details of your vision in order to follow your lead. They will have different ideas about how to put a vision to use. That is fine and healthy. But in order to work together, people need to share an overall vision and some basic goals.

To help people take your vision and make it their own, you need to talk and listen. You shouldn't talk too much. You should mostly listen to people's thinking. If you really sit back and listen to people, they will tell you what is most important to them.

It may take people a long time to get to the point of telling you what is really important to them. They may have to tell you first about their children or a crummy experience they had with a politician. However, if you can listen long enough, people will tell you their thinking about how things should change.

A balancing act: Meet people where they are and challenge them at the same time

At times people may not be ready to hear your vision of how things can be. Some people may disagree. Some may have so much of their attention taken by surviving day-to-day that it is difficult for them to listen to how things can be better. Also, people sometimes feel mistrustful, hopeless, discouraged, and cynical. Some people depend on a narrow picture of the world in order to feel secure.

Communicating a vision to people through that obstacle course can be tough. You often have to meet people where they are in order to establish some trust. As we talked about earlier, listening is an important tool in doing that.

But you also have to communicate the parts of your vision that people can relate to. They may not be ready to think about an overall plan for transforming your neighborhood. However, they may be able to think about doing something about the potholes in the streets. If so, talk about potholes. Talk to people "where they're at." Speak to their conditions and their personal needs. This will help you build some trusting relationships. Later you can do more.

On the other hand, it is sometimes important to say things that people are not quite ready to hear. People need to think about new ideas over a period of time before they can make sense of them. New ideas are important to introduce, even if they engender initial resistance. Often the strongest and most important ideas meet with resistance.

A leader has to lead. And the most important aspect of leadership is winning over the thinking of people to a vision of what things can be like.

This can take time. You may need to be gentle, but also persistent.

Be courageous

In order to create and communicate a vision, you must be courageous. People who communicate a vision of what things should be like are often the people who are courageous enough to state what is obviously wrong and unjust. It can be difficult to say out loud that the prince has no clothes. However, once you say it, people will see that it is true.

If, for example, you see some clear problems in your community, be courageous and start talking about them to others. Ask people how they think things should be. You may find that you have more in common with people than you had thought.

You should also be prepared for people to attack you for what you are trying to do. Ideas that lead to fundamental changes are frightening to people. People may actively campaign against you. Often, these campaigns can get quite personal. People may try to make your personal problems or shortcomings the issue, rather than the issue you are trying to put forward.

If this happens, gather your close friends and allies around you. Together, come up with a plan to handle the attack and direct the discussion back to the real issues. Don't try to handle an attack by yourself. When an attack is being directed at you, you will need the perspective of friends. It will help if you can anticipate and plan for such attacks before they happen, but sometimes that is not possible.

Modify your vision

As you lead, you will modify your vision. The more you lead, the more you will learn about what needs to change. You will also learn from the people you lead.

Your vision should be flexible enough so that you can change it as circumstances change. That doesn't mean you give up your principles or your hopes about what is possible. But as you collect information and advance your thinking you should adjust your vision to keep it up to date.

Use your vision to act

Developing and communicating a vision is just the beginning. Once you have a workable vision, you need to use it to get where you want to go. You need to organize, draw up an action plan, and go!

In Summary

As you lead, you should be communicating your vision all the time. People look to leaders to inspire them and keep them on the right track. The more you are enthusiastic and clear about where you are going, the more likely it will be that people follow your lead.

Don't underestimate the power of your ideas and words. You, as much as anyone, have what is takes to lead others and to help them envision a better neighborhood, community, country, and world.

___Dream big in creating a vision

___Trust your hunches

___Think without limits

___Develop a vision for your community, group, or organization

___You have brainstormed many ideas without censoring them

___You have looked at many different aspects of your neighborhood or community

___You decided this is your view of the way things should be

___Your vision is a powerful and compelling statement

___It's at the heart of what you care about the most

___It's stated in a few phrases or sentences

___You have talked to many different people about your vision

___Other people are excited about the same things as you

___You used other people's ideas to strengthen your vision

___You have told people the specifics of your vision

___You have told people what steps need to take place to achieve your vision

___You have developed a plan for achieving your vision

___You have said what you think even if it unpopular

___You have prepared yourself for attacks

___You modify your vision as circumstances change

___You are ready to act to make your vision a reality

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• What is creativity for a community leader?

• How do you discover and create possibilities

• How can you use a group to discover and create possibilities?

• How do you choose among all the possibilities?

What is creativity for a community leader?

To be human is to be creative. And to be an effective leader you have to be creative.

What is creativity for a leader? It is thinking in ways that are new. It is imagining innovations and solutions that have never existed before. It is going beyond the paths that lead to known destinations and carving out uncharted paths to unknown destinations.

As a leader you may have specific goals about where you are going, but you also should be open to new possibilities. Why? Because we need new answers for our changing world. Let's face it, our world today is different from what it was 50, 20, and even 10 years ago. Our technology, culture, economics, and community life are significantly different than they used to be. And the changes are only accelerating.

Those changes present new challenges and often demand new solutions. If we know something that has worked before is likely to work again, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. But in order to find workable solutions to some new problems, we need to be open to possibilities that might not have been tried before.

Luckily for us, the possibilities are endless. As leaders, we can begin to think like inventors and artists do. Buckminster Fuller invented geodesic domes. Leonardo da Vinci drew up plans for airplanes. The impressionist painters helped us see color and light in entirely different ways.

And as a community leader you can think about things that no one has before: Could adolescents become neighborhood leaders instead of gang leaders? Could two groups with opposing views form a coalition? Can we turn a neighborhood experiencing high levels of crime into a model neighborhood? Can we eliminate poverty in our city?

Examples:

• An organization brought together people from highly charged opposing views to talk about what they have in common. Among the groups, pro-life and pro-choice activists met for discussions and found out that they cared deeply about many of the same issues.
• To illustrate the need for physically accessible buildings, 50 people in wheelchairs showed up for dinner on the same night at a famous restaurant. The lack of accessibility immediately became more apparent to the restaurant, the media, and the public.
• A grammar school principal wanted children and teachers to take risks in learning. He gave students coupons that said "I tried something new, and I made a mistake. This coupon is redeemable for one mistake without any bad grade."

You too can discover and create possibilities. And you don't have to wait for anyone to give you permission to think and act. You can do it now. You can take initiative and try things out. It doesn't have to resemble anything that has been tried before.

Go ahead and make mistakes. That is an essential step in the process of creativity. The more things you try, the more likely you will eventually hit upon something that works. The author Ellen Gilchrist said that successful writers are the ones who stand out in the rain all the time and eventually get hit by lightning.

The same is true for leaders -- the more you try, the more likely you will be to succeed.

How do you discover and create possibilities?

There are many steps you can take that will help you think in new ways about what is possible:

Start with yourself

You probably have millions of good ideas located right there in your head, already. You just have to get hold of them and pull them out. There are many different methods you can use to catch the good ideas that are zipping around in your brain.

Here are some techniques that you can try to generate creative ideas:

Keeping a journal

Writing down your ideas and experiences can help you get the thoughts out of your head and onto paper where you won't forget them. Also, when you are writing in a journal, you don't have to censor or judge your thoughts, so they often flow more freely. Later, you can go back and read your journal entries and pick out the ideas that have the greatest potential.

Keeping a dream diary

Nighttime dreams hold hidden treasures. Your unconscious mind is busy producing all kinds of new ideas. If you write down your dreams when you wake up, you can record your unconscious thoughts. Later you can read them over and cull out the treasures.

Getting someone to listen to you

One way to capture your creative ideas is to get people to listen to you, without interrupting, while you think out loud. Talking to a friend who knows how to listen can help you think courageously and creatively; it can clear a path to your best thinking.

Setting aside a regular time in the day to focus on creating new possibilities

In our busy lives, we often don't have time to think. If you make time to think new thoughts, you might be surprised at what ideas emerge. Being creative is a discipline - the more regularly you do it, the easier it will become.

Carrying a notebook or recorder most places you go

Ideas often come to us right in the middle of our busy lives - in a meeting, on the train, or while you are washing dishes. It is easy to forget those thoughts if you don't record them immediately. Carrying a notebook or even a recorder can allow you to hold onto these inspired thoughts.

Sketching or doodling

Drawing and doodling is one more entry way to our unconscious thoughts. Many ideas first come to us as images. Sketching those images is another way to record them. And remember, you don't have to be an artist to draw and doodle. Sketching can be a tool for thinking - not just a way to produce art.

Jogging, walking, or any other form of exercise

When going for a run or walk be yourself, those endorphins kick in and can get your mind moving. The solitude and scenery can also be a help in letting your thinking run free.

Taking a break

Einstein said that you can often find the answer to a difficult question in the bite of an apple. He would turn away from a difficult problem and take a break. As he would bite into his apple the answer he was looking for appeared in his mind.

Taking time to rest

You need time to rest, relax, and chill out. Once you get caught up with yourself, thoughts may more easily surface.

Other ways for generating ideas

You probably already have many of your own techniques for generating ideas. Some people do their best thinking in the shower. Other people have thoughts come to them while they pray. Whether you access your best ideas while you are gardening, singing in a choir, or doing your morning stretches, try to make sure you can make some time regularly to do the activity that works best for you.

Now that we've looked at different techniques to generate ideas, let's explore other tools to help you create and discover new possibilities.

Learn about your community

In order to discover and create possibilities as a community builder, it helps to find out what is going on in your community. You need to gather enough information to form an overall picture of people's interests, struggles, similarities, values, and differences. Once you have an overall picture of your community, creative ideas will naturally form in your head.

There are many different ways to collect information and some can be quite enjoyable. You can collect information by getting out and asking people what they think. If you really listen to people, they will be happy to fill your ear with what's on their minds.

You can also visit organizations, attend public meetings, go to cultural events, volunteer, and read the local paper. Don't be afraid to get to know people different from yourself. Most people are eager for someone to overcome barriers and get to know them.

The more information you collect, the more detailed a picture you will get about what is going on in your community. You may find out how people feel about the tax increase, or why there are so many more people experiencing homelessness in town. You may learn about the important issues among the different cultural communities, or how older adults spend their time.

As you put this information into a larger picture, you can begin to think about new possibilities. For example, you may consider whether the newer immigrant communities and the more established immigrant communities have something in common and can be brought together for a dialogue. You may talk to the city arts council to see if they are aware that the local youth organization is trying to get an art program going. You may think up an economic venture that could bring in funds from both government and businesses, while training local workers in technical skills.

Build relationships

Building relationships is an important step in creating possibilities. In fact, establishing a new relationship is often the catalyst in helping people to consider doing things they never did before.

Why? First, because people often give each other confidence and hope. With borrowed confidence and hope, we can become more daring in our thinking. If someone has confidence in you, it will help you have more confidence in yourself.

Second, because when people get to know each other they often think about the work they might do together. People love to work with friends on a project. Often the opportunity to work closely with a friend is their main reason for getting involved. The spirit of camaraderie is often what fuels many creative endeavors.

Think about the future

It's true that none of us has the crystal ball that can determine exactly what is going to happen in the future, but we can make some educated guesses. And those guesses may help us figure out next steps that work for our communities.

As a leader, you can get in the habit of anticipating changes and thinking about their implications for your community. For example, you can think about whether the industry in your town is likely to move to an overseas plant. If so, what will that mean for community members?

Considering the future can help view changes as opportunities. You can also prevent crises from taking place and help people see themselves as powerful in dealing with change.

Research resources inside your community

Find out what treasures your community already has. New possibilities might reveal themselves when you notice what people or organizations have to offer. Are there retired people who have skills or connections that could help your community or organization? Are there businesses who would like to contribute to the community where their employees are based? Is there a university nearby whose teachers might be able to lend their expertise, and whose students could participate in community service?

Research resources outside your community

For a community leader, researching outside resources is especially important, and especially cost-effective. This is because some of the best ideas often come from what other people are doing in communities other than your own, both near and far. You hear about an idea, and you say, "Whoa, that's really interesting. Maybe we could think about doing something like that right here."

Another point about those outside resources is that generally they are free. Community ideas are not patented. In other words, you can be an importer of innovative community ideas, without tariffs, or import duties. This is free trade.

All this means is that you need to be in a position where you can most easily find out about what other people are doing, and be able to import those ideas you like. How do you do this? There are several different ways.

It helps to:

• Subscribe to journals and newsletters in your field.
• Read or at least look at recent books in your field.
• Get on mailing lists of groups similar to yours.
• Check out Internet sites that feature new community ideas.
• Investigate and subscribe to list-servs in your field, using electronic mail.
• Go to conferences, both regionally and nationally, to meet new colleagues and learn more about what they are doing.
• Develop a network of professional contacts, who may both directly and indirectly send valuable ideas your way.

And when you do run across a new idea, it helps to write it down someplace, so that you won't lose track of it. It's frustrating if you've ever thought, "Gee, I remember hearing something about that sometime, but I don't know exactly where." You may not be able to do anything with that new idea right now. But maybe someday you will. And if you do ever need it, you'll be able to find and use it.

Test old assumptions

When discovering and creating new possibilities, it is helpful to reexamine your assumptions about a situation. You can sit down and take each assumption and see if you can find a crack in it that might reveal a new possibility.

Here are some assumptions that people or institutions sometimes make that can be reexamined in order to open up new possibilities:

• When people don't get involved, it is because they are apathetic.
• In health care, diagnosis and treatment are what is important, not prevention.
• There aren't the resources available to make this change.
• Some people just don't want to cooperate.
• Bigger is better.
• It's too complicated for people to understand.
• People from that ethnic group want to keep to themselves.
• We tried it before and it didn't work.
• In order to motivate people, you have to scare them about the consequences of inaction.

It's good to test any assumption you have in order to think in new ways. If you change some assumptions, you might be pleasantly surprised. Let's say, for example, that you question your assumption that people don't get involved because they are apathetic. Then you can explore the alternatives. Maybe they don't get involved because they don't feel welcome. If so, you can figure out ways to help people feel that they have something to contribute and that they are wanted and needed.

Get beyond hopelessness

Often, people have a difficult time being creative and thinking about new possibilities because they feel hopeless or discouraged. Sometimes we are not even aware on a conscious level that this feeling of hopelessness holds us back from thinking creatively. Instead, we just believe that we don't care, or that nothing is possible, so we conclude that we shouldn't invest our efforts in trying.

If you suspect that hopelessness is holding you back from thinking creatively try the following:

• Get a friend to listen to you while you brainstorm possibilities. When you are brainstorming let your brain think of different ideas quickly, so you don't censor your thoughts. Don't give those feelings of discouragement a chance to interrupt your thinking.
• Tell a friend why you feel hopeless. Were there particular events that clouded your thinking? Did something happen in your personal life that held you back from thinking of wild ideas? Was there something about society at large that made you feel passive? Whatever your experience was, if you can tell someone about what happened, you can heal from it, and develop a new outlook that will help you think afresh about possibilities.

Be courageous

In order to be creative you may have to be courageous. You may have to dare to think in ways that are different from others.

We all know what it was like to go to school and have to think and act within the bounds of what our teachers thought was appropriate. We all have had experiences, when we were children, of having our creative and wonderful ideas belittled by adults.

Having had those experiences, it is no surprise that we get in the habit of thinking in ways that others will find acceptable. Breaking those habits can be a challenge. Thinking beyond prescribed boundaries is a great act of courage. And thinking creatively is the first step to acting courageously.

Go ahead and think courageously. You may surprise yourself by what can happen.

So, now you have some methods to discover and create possibilities. In this next section, we will show you how a group can help you come up with possibilities even better and more quickly than you can on your own.

How can you use a group to discover and create possibilities?

The more people you have thinking together, the more possibilities you can unearth. When people come together they often inspire each other to think in new directions. People often come up with more and better ideas in a group than they do working by themselves.

There are lots of different methods of generating ideas in groups. Here are a few:

A discussion

What could be better than a good old-fashioned discussion or talk among friends, neighbors, or coworkers? Some of the best ideas are produced when people get together and talk.

Sometimes a little structure can help more ideas surface; sometimes people do better without much structure. What is your own group like? How much structure would work best for you?

One of the main challenges of a group discussion is getting the quieter people to talk and keeping others from dominating. There are different ways of structuring a discussion to help with this. One way is to have a guideline that everyone in the group should speak once before anyone speaks a second time.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a tried-and-true way to come up with ideas in a group. The method is simple. A problem is stated or a question is asked. The facilitator stands in front of a room with some newsprint or a blackboard. People in the group say whatever ideas pop into their minds. No idea is too outlandish. The facilitator writes all the ideas down. Nobody comments on how good or bad the ideas are and there is no discussion about them. People keep producing all kinds of ideas for a period of time.

Brainstorming works because one idea stimulates another and because no one judges the ideas that are generated. Discussion, analysis, and idea selection come later. This allows participants to think without the worry of being put down for their thinking. It helps people overcome their own censoring mechanisms so they can come up with new ideas.

Idea writing

Idea writing is especially helpful to people who like to write. It also helps many people generate and comment on ideas in a short amount of time.

Large groups should be divided into small groups of five or six. A problem is presented or a question is asked. Each person writes their response on their own pad of paper. Then each person puts their pad on a table in the middle of the group. Next, everyone takes someone else's pad and comments on the idea. People keep doing this until everyone in the group has commented on everyone else's idea. During or after the meeting, all the ideas are discussed or summarized into a report.

Support Groups

Bringing people together with common goals and interests can produce all kinds of possibilities. Together, people who face the same problems can gain perspective on understanding those problems. People can see that they are not the only ones facing a difficulty; then they can stop blaming themselves for the problem. This frees people up to look for solutions.

Example: Troubleshooting a town's funding problems

A group of grant writers in a small town started meeting for lunch on a monthly basis. At first they talked about their own experiences as grant writers in their own organizations. After some meetings, they noticed problems they had in common. They began to suspect that money from foundations was not being awarded to programs in their town as much as in other towns.

They decided to research foundation funding patterns for their town in comparison to others nearby. They found out their town's organizations received significantly less funding than other comparable communities. Using that information, they invited several foundations to learn more about the problems, strengths, and needs of their town. Their efforts improved relationships with foundations and resulted in more funding for the town's organizations.

Bringing people together

Just bringing together a new mix of people can reveal possibilities that were not previously apparent. People may find that by virtue of living in the same community they have a lot in common.

If people from different organizations and interests come together for a discussion or social event new relationships are formed. Those relationships become fertile ground for ideas to emerge.

How do you choose among all the possibilities?

Now that you have thought of all those possibilities, what do you do with them? How do you choose which possibility is the one to invest your precious time and resources into?

Choosing which path to follow is often a painful process. Picking one possibility often means you have to say goodbye to another. If you decide to expand the youth center this year, it may mean that the mentoring program will have to wait. However, once you make a clear decision you are free to pursue that goal wholeheartedly.

In order to make a decision about which possibility to choose, you have to consider many factors. For example, you may have to assess whether you can raise the funds to expand your youth center. You may have to decide if the timing is right. Thinking through all the factors carefully will improve your chances of success once you begin to work towards your goal.

Here are some criteria that might help you narrow down the possibilities and decide which ones to pursue. Some of these criteria may not apply to all projects. Use the ones that are helpful to you:

Which possibilities will bring about the most desired results?

• This may seem obvious, but you need to choose ideas that are going to accomplish your goals and get the results you want. Which possibility will do that for you and your group or organization?

Which possibilities are most likely to succeed?

• In choosing possibilities, you have to consider how likely it is that your effort will be successful and also how much you have to lose if it doesn't work. For some endeavors there will be nothing to lose by trying something. For others the loss can be great.
• Once you estimate how great your gains and how great your losses could be, you have to balance that with the importance of the initiative and all the other potential benefits. Then you can decide whether the risk is worth it.
• You should also consider the history of your organization. If your group does not have much of a track record, or if it needs a victory at this moment, then you might go the high-chance/lower-risk option this time. But if you have a strong group with a good history, and you can absorb a possible loss, that's an argument for going for the riskier/less safe option.
• Sometimes big risks are well worth it. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, thousands of African Americans and risked their jobs and sometimes their lives to secure their rights. After the boycott it was obvious that their work was well worth it, but before it began no one could predict what would happen.
• It's OK to risk and lose; however, if you know what risk you are facing you can prepare for that possibility. You can be ready with Plan B or have damage control lined up in case you need it.

Which possibilities are you and your group most interested in or passionate about?

• Without passion and interest, a great idea can go nowhere. In taking on a new project, there needs to be excitement to fuel the work that lies ahead.

Which possibilities have the greatest organizational commitment?

• Are people committed to this project? If not, can they be won over? Do they understand how long it will take and what they will need to contribute? Are they clearly ready to take on the challenge?

Which possibilities have the greatest potential of spin-off benefits?

• Sometimes the side benefits are as important as your main goal. For example, you can consider if the project will attract new supporters to your cause. Will the project give your group a more positive standing in the community? Could it open up some other doors? All the indirect but important extras should be considered in choosing an initiative.

Do you have the resources to carry out a possibility?

• You want to succeed, don't you? It is better to assess ahead of time whether your group or organization has the necessary people, money, time, political power, and other resources to successfully complete the initiative. If it doesn't, can the resources be rounded up? Assessing your resources ahead of time is important in deciding which possibilities to pursue.

Are the external factors favorable, outside of your own organization?

• Are people in the community concerned about the issue? Is there support outside your organization? Are the local politicians likely to help, at least in spirit, if not by giving funding? Is the timing right for this initiative?

Which possibilities will you learn the most from?

If you can learn while you are working on something, it will make your organization more skilled and powerful. Learning will make you all stronger for the next challenge.

In Summary

Now you have gone through the process of narrowing down and choosing the possibilities. Are you excited about what lies ahead? As you set forth on your adventure, more possibilities are likely to reveal themselves. Keep your eyes open. You never know what might turn up.

Human beings are amazing in what they can imagine and carry out. Our technological advances are just a small part of what we can create. What people can do as community leaders has at least as much potential for building the kind of society we all hope to live in.

Start with yourself:

___Write a day journal

___Write a dream journal

___Get someone to listen to you

___Set aside a regular time in the day to focus on creating new possibilities

___Carry a notebook or recorder to most places you go

___Sketch or doodle

___Jog, walk, or try any other form of exercise

___Take a break

___Take time to rest

Other steps in discovering and creating possibilities:

___Gather information about your community

___Listen to people

___Build relationships with people in your community

___Think about the future

___Research resources inside your community

___Research resources outside your community

___Test old assumptions

___Challenge feelings of hopelessness

___Be courageous in your thinking

Use a group to discover and create possibilities through:

___A group discussion

___A brainstorming session

___An idea-writing session

___A support group

___Bringing different people together

When choosing among all the possibilities, consider:

___Which possibilities will bring about the most desired results

___Which possibilities are most likely to succeed

___Which possibilities are you and your group most interested in or passionate about

___Which possibilities have the greatest organizational commitment

___Which possibilities have the greatest potential of spin-off benefits

___If you have the resources to carry out a possibility

___Are the external factors favorable, outside of your own organization

___Which possibilities will you learn the most from

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

 

• What kinds of needs do people have?

• Why should the leader try to understand people's needs?

• How can a leader best understand people's needs?

In earlier sections of this chapter, we discussed the leader's vision: how they develop it and how they will communicate it to followers. Certainly, sharing a vision is an important part of leadership. People follow people they can believe in, who they trust to help them achieve their goals.

But what are those goals? What do people want from a leader? What do they need, or what do they think they need?

Understanding the answers to these questions is another thread in the tapestry of effective leadership. This understanding is also inseparable from other qualities of leadership we discuss elsewhere in this chapter. For example, it will inform the leader's vision, and then it will show them the best way to inspire followers. Ultimately, a thoughtful understanding (and responsiveness to) followers' needs can result in strong relationships with a committed group of people, and final success, in more ways than the leader had originally imagined.

Because of the importance of this topic, this section will focus entirely on understanding what people need and want from the leader and the organization. The next few sections in this chapter will build on this knowledge, incorporating it as part of the base of a strong relationship between the leader and their followers.

More specifically, in this section we will look at some of the general types of needs that the leader should be aware of. We'll then discuss in a bit more depth why it's important for a leader in particular to be aware of people's needs. Finally, we'll look at some specific ways of how to best understand the needs of people the leader wishes to serve.

What kinds of needs do people have?

We all know what needs are--things that are necessary, that are required for some reason. They are similar to wants, and in fact, for those of us doing community work, there's quite a bit of overlap. If we want someone to do something for us, for example, they may say that they need something in return. A secretary might need extra cash if you want them to work overtime. A reporter might need your word that they will be given the "inside scoop" on future goings-on if they give you good press this week. And so, while this sections is properly titled "Understanding people's needs," it's important to realize that a good leader will understand what people just really want, too.

There are also a lot of different types of needs, both for the community as a whole and for individual members, that a conscientious leader should be aware of. These can be broken down into five general categories.

Large-scope community needs

What does the community need, overall, to promote its own well-being? For example, is there a need for affordable housing? Is ending youth violence what the community needs to see happen? Do many people in the community need jobs --or better jobs?

Sometimes, understanding what a community needs is obvious to everyone. If there has been an earthquake, for example, there is an immediate need for food, water, and housing for people whose homes were affected.

However, much of the time, the needs of a community aren't that clear. For example, there might be many competing needs, so that a community group doesn't know what it should try to do first. Or all too often, there is a lack of complete information available, and organizations and their leaders are left trying to understand what's necessary without having all the facts.

Root or causal needs

These are the "real needs" --the underlying causes of what more obvious needs might be. For example, if a child comes into the emergency room with whooping cough, their immediate need (and that of their community) is for medical attention, so they will get better and not spread the disease to others. But the root need might be their need to be immunized. Going back a step farther, public health officials might say there is a need for an immunization campaign in their community, if a larger number of the children there haven't been properly immunized.

For another example, take the case of a community with a high rate of pregnancies among adolescents. A coalition might say that there is a need to decrease that rate. But what needs to happen for that to occur? For example, is there a need for better access to contraceptives? Is there a need for young people to have more supervised activities, or to have better sexual education at school?

Obviously, these needs are harder to understand. They aren't always apparent, and often, it seems like there are several root causes a group might need to consider.

Informational needs

Here, we are just talking about the need for basic facts and knowledge. These are some of the simpler needs for a leader to understand and respond to. For example, do members know how to run a meeting? Write a newsletter? Do community members have enough information about the candidates to vote intelligently in the upcoming election?

Another reason that these needs are relatively easy to deal with is that they are easy for people to talk about. Some the other needs might be more difficult to bring up. For example, it's a very rare volunteer who will tell the organization's leader, "I don't feel appreciated. I need you to tell me how much I mean to this organization," even though many volunteers have felt that way at one time or another. It's much easier for a volunteer to say, "Sure, I'd be interested in counseling women at the shelter, but I've never done it before. Can you show me how?"

Physical needs

These are the needs that you can see; things that you can physically touch. Fulfilling these needs, because they are so concrete, can give a very tangible sense of accomplishment.

Some examples of these needs include:

• More money for the organization
• More staff or volunteers
• Better lighting for the community
• More safe homes for foster children

Personal needs

Finally, there is the need for appreciation, understanding, personal caring, etc. Most members of grassroots organizations are there (either as staff members or volunteers) for reasons that have little or nothing to do with money, including fellowship, personal fulfillment, and many other things. While less tangible than some of the other needs, it is equally important that these needs be fulfilled if the organization and its goals are to flourish.

Before we move on, it's important to remember that leaders have needs, too. We're just as human as any other member of our organization is. As leaders, however, we may not always have the freedom to lean on other members of the organization. We may have to find other places to fulfill some of our own needs. However we choose to do so, though, it's important that leaders do take care of themselves as well as the needs of others in the organization.

Why should the leader try to understand people's needs?

Many of the advantages to understanding what people need and want are probably already clear to you. To be complete, however, let's look here at the major advantages:

• Clear needs identification and response to those identified needs keep the group moving forward toward shared and desired goals. There is a sense of ownership among members--we all want the same thing, and we're working together to get it.
• Reaching these goals can create a sense of accomplishment among group members.
• This sense of accomplishment (and having a sense of being a real, necessary part of that success) will strengthen individuals' connections with the group and will increase the likelihood of the group being successful in future efforts.
• All of this will also serve to keep the morale of the group high.
• Finally, it will reinforce group members' belief in the leader. A leader who has shown they understand and try to meet the needs of the members of their group is more than likely to have a group that will try to meet their needs as well.

How can a leader best understand people's needs?

There are many methods that can be used for a leader to understand the needs of individuals, the organization, and the larger community. The general idea behind all of them, however, is for the leader to plan the best ways of collecting feedback, and then to make this a normal part of the everyday life of the organization. This might include occasional (for example, monthly) formal opportunities to obtain information, which are then supplemented by more informal feedback collected on a day-to-day basis.

Of course, the leader doesn't need to do all of this collection of information themself (although doing at least some of it is probably a good idea). Some of this "information collecting" can be formally or informally delegated to others.

A central idea here is that being able to learn what people think and need will depend on trust. People need to trust that they won't be criticized, yelled at, or in danger of losing their job if they speak up. We all know this happens. Even in fairly open organizations, a preferred strategy is often to keep one's mouth shut. This may be true for a variety of reasons, but one of them is certainly the risks involved in disclosure.

Even more than this, people need to feel there is a real possibility that some good will come out of their telling the leader what they need. If someone knows their needs are impossible to meet, or if they believe they will just be ignored anyway, there's a real fear that apathy will stand in the way of what could be a very helpful suggestion. Thoughts of "Why bother?" need to have the immediate answer, "Because if I open my mouth, I really can change things."

So for the leader to get the feedback they want and need, thoughtful and persistent effort is necessary. Trust once again is central to the process; the leader needs to establish and institutionalize a trusting organizational climate. Unless the leader is trusted, the informal methods won't work well, and the formal ones are less likely to work. But in a climate of trust, people are a whole lot more likely to tell you what's on their minds. They often do so spontaneously and at many noninstitutionalized times and places --whether you've asked for their feedback or not!

This chapter is centered around the idea of leadership, and so ideas about understanding the needs of other people are discussed here primarily from that perspective. However, we should mention here that it's not just the leader of an organization who can and should have an active role in identifying and understanding the needs of others. People who have much less formal roles may have a very good idea of what's going on, and may be the perfect people to speak up about what's really happening and what should occur. It may even be better that way, because then more people become "stakeholders" in the group's well-being.

So, not only should the effective leader have a good understanding of people's needs, they should also be open and encouraging of having others identify individual and group needs as well.

Let's look now at some specific ways leaders (and others!) can better understand what people need.

Ask people what they need

When you want to know something, there is simply no replacement for asking people --and then really, completely, listening to their answers, and not just to what you want to hear. There are many different ways to ask people things. Depending on what information you want, different ways are more or less appropriate. Some include:

• Needs assessment surveys are a particularly good way to find out the needs of large groups of people, such as residents of a large neighborhood.
• Focus groups are a good way to find out the needs of a specific group as they relate to a particular issue. For example, an organization might hold a focus group on educational needs with Hispanic/Latino adolescents, or a focus group with older women on their health needs.
• Formal interviews are another way to ask people about their needs.
• One-on-one conversations are often excellent ways to ask people in a less formal manner what they need. A casual conversation in the hallway or over coffee can give you an excellent idea of what's going on with others in the organization.
• A suggestion box or a wish list in an area that's easy for everyone to get to offers people the opportunity to make suggestions and requests in an anonymous manner. This may be particularly helpful in a very large organization, where people don't know each other as well, and so trust and comfort levels may not be as high as they are in smaller organizations.

Note that these different techniques for needs identification won't work equally well for each for the five needs listed at the beginning of this section. For example, you probably wouldn't expect a needs assessment survey to reveal too much about personal needs. By the same token, maintaining a good relationship with others in the organization might not tell you too much about root or causal needs, as this often requires a more thoughtful and formal type of analysis. And so for different situations, you will want to choose carefully the method that makes the most sense to get the information you want.

It can also be helpful to use more than one technique to obtain information. For example, your group might conduct a needs assessment survey to find out what members of your organization want, and use information you get from the survey in casual follow-up conversations with members.

Another important consideration is the number of people whose needs and concerns you are interested in learning about. If you have a very small group, you might be able to talk to everyone about their point of view. However, if you want to know what everyone in a community of 20,000 people thinks, that's not always going to be possible.

If you run into a situation like this, where you are unable to ask everyone their needs, try to decide the best people to ask. These might be "key informants" --people from whom you have gotten reliable information in the past --or other community or opinion leaders. Part of knowing who to go to simply comes with experience. Usually, after working with an organization for a long time, you know who to go to in order to find out what's happening --what the word is on the street or behind the camera.

However, if you don't know who usually has the inside scoop on what's going on, you can ask about people about that, too. It's especially important when you are an official group leader (the director or project manager, for example) or an outsider to the community to learn as quickly as you can who others see as unofficial leaders.

A word of caution: Be careful when you are choosing your "key informants" or other opinion leaders that you are getting an honest representation of what the majority of people you are interested in learning about need. Choosing certain people to listen to either primarily or completely can introduce bias --you may hear only what a few people think, instead of the majority of opinions.

Maintain good relationships

If people feel comfortable with a leader, they will come up and tell them what's needed (whether the leader wants to hear it or not!).

Some of the most important things a leader can do to build and maintain relationships are:

• Build relationships one at a time. Fortunately or unfortunately, there are no short cuts. Sending out a newsletter helps you keep in touch with lots of folks, but it's no substitute for getting to know the people you work with.
• Be friendly and make a connection. This may seem self-evident, but a friendly word or smile can make someone's day. Try to find something in common --all of us want to have close connections with our fellow humans.
• Ask people questions. People love to talk about themselves and about what they think. If you ask people about themselves and then take the time to listen attentively, they can become your fast friends.
• Tell people about yourself. People won't trust you unless you are willing to trust them. Tell them what you genuinely care about and what you think.
• Go to places and do things. When asked why he robbed banks, the robber replied, "Because that's where the money is." If you want to make friends, you have to go where the people are: picnics, conferences, events, fund raisers, parties, playgrounds, bowling alleys, Little League games, bake sales, etc.
• Accept people the way they are. You don't have to agree with them all the time in order to form a relationship with them. No one likes to be judged.
• Be persistent. People are often shy and suspicious. It takes a while to win trust. You can usually form a relationship if you stick with it.
• Invite people to get involved. People want to become part of something bigger than themselves. Many people are looking for an opportunity to meet other people who share common goals. At the worst, people will be flattered that you invited them to join.
• Enjoy people. If you genuinely enjoy people, others will be attracted to your attitude. People will more likely want to be around you.

Do your research

This is especially true if you are trying to identify community or causal needs. You will want to look up data, studies other people might have done in the community, and other information. You might also want to do a comparison: how closely are what people think are needs in the community supported by statistics? For example, community members might tell you in a needs assessment survey that they think there is a need for additional police officers to decrease the crime rate in the community. When you look at the hard data, however, you might find that other communities similar to yours actually have fewer police officers but a lower crime rate. The problem --the need -- in your community is different from what people perceive it to be.

While doing a lot of this research is very important for groups trying to find the needs of an entire community, it can certainly be scaled back and done on a more casual level to learn about the needs and wants of individual members of the group. For example, a boss can pay attention to what employees like and don't like, and take the time to learn about their interests and their families. While this isn't necessarily scientific research, it can help a lot in understanding what group members want. For example, if the leader of an organization knows that many of the volunteers have small children, they might consider setting up childcare when there are many volunteers working together.

Make connections between people, our work, and the larger community

This is important not only for understanding needs, but for filling them as well. As much as we might get caught up in it, our work and our relationships don't exist in a vacuum. They are touched and shaped by many different forces. A savvy leader will learn how to make connections between things they see and hear in different parts of their life: on the news, at their child's school, or at work. By looking at the community first in community problems, needs and solutions will occur when they are least expected.

For example, maybe your organization is interested in starting an after-school program to offer safe activities for children to do after school, but the program director is having a hard time coming up with activities. Then, you see a story on the news about Native American storytellers. It sparks your imagination to have storytellers from different cultures come in once a week, giving the students something fun to do that will teach them respect for other cultures.

Be accessible

It's essential for the leader to be available and accessible. The leader should be right on the scene, at least some of the time, not always at business meetings, or at out-of-state conferences, or hidden away in an office. The leader needs to walk the floor, pick up the phone, talk to people in the halls. By being available and accessible (and by showing some personal caring) members will develop trust in the leader. They are then likely to open up much more freely.

Institutionalize the process of getting feedback from group members

That is, find a way that works for your organization to get constant, honest feedback from people you want to hear from, and then develop a way to make sure that continues to happen.

How do you get this feedback? Some general ways to do this include:

• Regular informal checking-in with members
• Scheduling a formal feedback time at the end of meetings. How does everyone think it went? What did people think?
  • There are two basic variations of this you might consider using. The first is to use what is sometimes called a "plus-delta technique." At the end of a meeting, the facilitator asks members to list the things they liked about the meeting, and also the things that should be improved or changed. These are, respectively, the pluses and the deltas. They are written down, and presumably used as corrective feedback for the next meeting. A similar technique can be applied to events other than regular meetings.
  • You might also have written feedback forms that can be filled out at the end of the meeting. It doesn't have to be long, or complex; a few simple questions might do the trick. One advantage of these is that they can be anonymous; people are more likely to give their true opinions of what has happened, including negative or critical opinions that they might not have been comfortable saying aloud.
• Schedule an occasional-but-regular full meeting around feedback. A school in the Northeast, for example, held "general staff meetings." They were held monthly, and everyone was invited. The Superintendent made a few opening announcements; then the floor was open. Everyone who worked there, from top administrators down to custodians, could comment about whatever issue was on their mind, and many did just that. Not only did useful feedback get expressed, but these meetings were also general morale-builders for the organization. And not surprisingly, the Superintendent (the official leader here) gained respect for holding these meetings and opening up the process.
• In another variation that is best suited to larger organizations, it's possible for the leader to hold regular office hours that are open to anyone. For example, in Massachusetts, former Governor Weld used to have community office hours. Anyone, in theory, could call up and make an appointment, and spend a few minutes telling the government what was on their mind.
• Finally, the organization might consider the use of retreats, which give longer and more extensive ways to get more detailed feedback.

In Summary

One of your most important responsibilities as a leader is to understand the needs of those around you --both the people you work with and the community you serve. Understanding the needs of your staff and volunteers will help you build morale and reach shared goals, while understanding the community's needs is a crucial first step in addressing them. To understand people's needs, you usually need to ask what they are, and then be prepared to act on what they tell you. Your staff --and your community --deserve no less!

___You understand that needs are things that are required for some reason

You know what the different kinds of needs are:

___Large-scope community needs

___Root or causal needs

___Informational needs

___Physical needs

___Personal needs

You understand why the leader should try to understand people's needs:

___To keep the group moving forward towards shared and desired goals

___To create a sense of accomplishment among group members

___To strengthen individuals' connections with the group and increase the likelihood of success

___To keep morale high

___To reinforce group members' belief in the leader

You understand how a leader can best meet people's needs:

___You have asked people what they need

___You maintain good relationships

___You have done your research

___You are constantly making connections between people, your work, and the larger community

___You are accessible

___You have institutionalized the process of getting feedback from group members

Tool: Participant Feedback Form

At the end of the meeting, the facilitator or recorder can pass out the following sheets to be filled in anonymously by meeting participants in an effort to get honest thoughts and feelings from meeting participants.

Participant Feedback Form

 

Date of meeting:

Overall, how useful did you find the meeting?

What did you like best about the meeting?

What did you like least about the meeting?

Was the proper amount of time spent on each subject? If not, which subjects took too long? Which weren't given enough time?

What should be different about future meetings?

Additional comments:

We appreciate your help and feedback at and about today's meeting. The facilitator will address concerns brought up on these feedback sheets and send a letter to all participants in the next two weeks.

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• What is commitment?

• Why do you need to mobilize and sustain commitment?

• When is a good time to build and sustain commitment?

• How can you mobilize and sustain commitment?

What is commitment?

Commitment is dedication to a particular organization, cause, or belief, and a willingness to get involved.

People who are committed to an organization or effort truly believe that it is important, and they show up, follow through, and stick with it.

The more people who are committed to your organization, the greater the momentum you can generate to get the job done.

Why do you need to mobilize and sustain commitment?

Commitment is the backbone of a group or organization. It is what gives a group its strength.

Here are several reasons it is important:

• The more committed people there are, the more effective they are in influencing others. If a whole group acts with determination and commitment, great numbers of people will really pay attention.
• People who are committed are the ones who don't take discouragement seriously -- they don't give up. They set an example for those who don't have the confidence or experience to go through the hard times and hold out for the rewards of success.
• People cooperate at a higher level when they share commitment. Commitment fosters camaraderie, trust, and caring -- the stuff a group needs to keep it going for the long run.
• If people are committed to an effort for a period of time, they will learn what they need to know to be more effective. People need time to try things out, make mistakes, and then figure out a strategy that works.

When is a good time to build and sustain commitment?

All the time, any time. Commitment doesn't usually occur at one moment. It grows within people over time.

Commitment grows when people:

• Work together
• Feel successful at what they do
• Make decisions together
• Work through conflicts
• Support one another's leadership
• Have fun and play together
• Overcome obstacles
• Hold each other to high principles
• Appreciate and respect one another
• Challenge one another to take the next step
• Build relationships
• Experience a victory together
• Learn from mistakes and setbacks
• See their leaders model commitment

Commitment can decrease when people when the opposite is true – when they don’t communicate well, don’t build relationships and support one another, become embroiled in unresolved conflicts, don’t live their principles, and don’t see leaders demonstrating commitment.

Although commitment grows in a natural way, you, as a leader or group member, can foster commitment in your organization. You can build commitment into your organizational culture. Although it is invisible, commitment is a very real quality that you can do something about if you are willing to focus your attention on it.

How can you mobilize and sustain commitment?

How do you build and sustain commitment? How do you get your hands on that invisible quality and make it grow in your organization?

First, let's think about why people become involved in and committed to a group or organization. Start with yourself: Why are you are committed to your project or organization?

What is most important to you?

• The goals of your group?
• Your vision of what is possible?
• The people with whom you work?
• The length of time you've invested in this group?
• Your role in your group or organization?
• What you've learned in this group?
• The satisfaction you get from doing significant work?
• Other reasons?

People commit to a group or organization because they gain something important from their involvement. When you invite them to become involved, you are not only asking for their help, you are offering them an opportunity to:

• Work on an issue that is important to them
• Benefit the community
• Meet and spend time with like-minded people
• Expand their skills
• Be a part of a team
• Learn how to lead
• Rise to a challenge
• Meet high standards
• Accomplish something significant

You can be proud when you invite people to be committed to your organization. You’re not imposing on them; you’re offering them something of value.

Below are some specific ideas about how to build and sustain commitment, many of which will also strengthen your organization as a whole.

Welcome people into your organization

Sometimes, all people need in order to become involved is to feel genuinely welcome. If they don't feel welcome, they’ll soon leave. As a leader, you can set an example by personally welcoming whoever walks through the door or asks about joining your organization or initiative.  Ask them questions and get to know them, and make them feel valued.  That not only gives people a good feeling about the effort and encourages them to become involved, but it also provides the basis for developing a relationship that helps you function as a leader and acts to cement commitment in the future.

Example:

A new member of a community organization dropped by the director's office to say hello. The director took 45 minutes to find out about the member and get to know her. The new member felt welcome and quickly got involved in the program committee. She became an active, committed member, and a few years later she became President of the Board of Directors.

Teach everyone in your organization to welcome new people. Make it part of your organizational culture. You can also set up a Welcoming Committee for open meetings or special events, or you can set up a buddy system. People in your organization will understand that welcoming is a job to be taken seriously.

Be open and clear about the mission, principles, and goals of your organization

People have to know what they are committing to. They want to join an organization if they share similar principles and goals. Make sure that everyone in your organization is familiar with its mission, principles, and goals.

As a leader, talk openly about why you care about these principles and goals. For example, if you are working to develop a mentor program for adolescents in your community, talk about why that program is important to you. You might tell people how your life would have been different if an adult had not committed some time and attention to you when you were an adolescent.

Model commitment yourself

Everyone looks to the leader of a group or project to see they are committed. If you care about the work, it will show in your attitudes and actions. People will watch to see how you act, and they will follow your lead. If they can count on you, it is more likely that you will be able to count on them. If you stay late to send out a mailing, others will be willing to do so. Commitment is contagious.

On the other hand, if you are working so hard that you are burnt out and always unhappy, people will take note of that too and they will shy away from following your lead.  Try to strike a balance: don’t make commitment look like an impossible burden.

Give people work to do

If someone shows interest in becoming involved in your group, don't wait too long to give them something to do. People need to feel that they are making a significant contribution in order to feel committed. Find out what they are interested in doing and see if you can match their interests to some work that needs to be done.

Also, give new people a job that brings them in contact with other people in the organization. That will draw them into the group sooner and more easily.

Pick out the right level of challenge for people

People need to feel successful and they also need to stretch their abilities. Both are important. When you are first getting to know someone, try to match them with work in which you think they can achieve some success. This will help people to feel good about themselves and will encourage them to stay.

As you get to know them better, give them gradually increasing challenges. Being challenged keeps people excited about the work they are doing. Sometimes people will need encouragement to try things they have never before considered. Sit down and talk to people to find out what jobs they would like to try. It is a worthwhile investment of time, because they will know that you care about them and their development, not just about what they can produce for you.

Build an organizational culture in which staff, volunteers, and members appreciate and respect each other

People need to feel respected and appreciated in order to stay connected and committed to a group or organization. This is simple and important, but sometimes not easy to remember. Still, there are several steps you can take to build a group or organizational culture in which people treat each other well:

• Model appreciation and respect: Take the time to think about the people with whom you are working and openly appreciate them and their work. Although some people may be surprised when you do it, everyone likes to be appreciated.  Treat everyone the same way you would have others treat you – with respect and good humor.  You may be the leader, but that doesn’t mean you’re more important as a human being than the person who answers the phone or helps with a mailing.
• Teach people in your organization to notice what is going well, rather than just noticing what needs to be improved. For example, you can open meetings by having each person talk about what they have done well since the last time you met. You can also have people show appreciation to each other as a way to close meetings.
• In heated discussions or conflicts, make sure people continue to show respect for each other. Conflicts can be important growing periods. To ensure they are useful rather than destructive, do not let people personally attack each other. Keep discussions to the issues. If people have personal conflicts, mediate the conflict or bring in an outside person to do so.

Listen, listen, and listen

Listening is a powerful tool. Everyone could use someone to listen to them. When you listen to others with respect, they sense that you have confidence in them and are interested in what they think. In turn, your interest and confidence helps them to think clearly and creatively.

If you want young people, older adults, immigrants, people with lower incomes, people of color, or anybody else to be committed to your organization, listen to them. Try asking an adolescent or young person to share their thinking on a topic with you. How do you think we should design this community center? What is the key issue in this neighborhood? That adolescent may be surprised, at first, because adults so rarely care about what they think. However, if you can break through their "cool," adolescents will be delighted to tell you what they think.

Support people’s leadership

To help sustain commitment in your group or organization, think about each person as a potential leader and train them to lead. If people view themselves as a leader of a group, they will view the group as theirs. They will have a feeling of ownership, and will be more likely to take initiative to make sure things work well.

We traditionally think of leaders as the people who are the directors of the organization and make all the important decisions, but you can expand your definition of leadership. For example, you can view the event organizer as one of the key leaders, but the person who informally resolves conflicts is a leader, too. Even the person who gets everyone in the room laughing when the energy bogs down is performing an important leadership function.

Help people to recognize their leadership talents, and encourage them to try out more. Invite them to speak in public or chair a meeting. You don't have to give people leadership titles, but sometimes it helps them to take themselves seriously.

Even though people have different levels of leadership skills, everyone can contribute something of importance. Everyone has a point of view that is valuable. Everyone has talents to share.

Celebrate

Don't forget to celebrate. Any excuse will do: a victory, an organization's anniversary, a time to give out prizes or certificates to volunteers or workers, or a cultural sharing time are all good reasons for people to get to together, relax, and enjoy each others company.

A few extra tips

• Commitment grows steadily but often slowly. Be patient. It will come.
• Appreciate whatever level of commitment a person can make. People will vary greatly in their level of commitment and that's okay. Some people will have more time, more interest in the your goals and mission, and a greater understanding of the value of commitment than others.
• You can always invite and encourage people to do more. If they do, great. If they don't, appreciate them for what they can do.
• Don't guilt-trip people into commitment. It generally doesn't get the long-term results you want. People need to feel that their contribution matters, even if it is small. If they feel that they are a disappointment to the leader, they may not stick around.
• People are often yearning for meaning in their lives. When you ask people to commit to an effort, cause, or organization, you are offering them something of high value.

And remember: Commitment takes time!

In Summary

In the words of John Gardner, "Commitment requires hard work in the heat of the day; it requires faithful exertion in behalf of chosen purposes and the enhancement of chosen values."

___You know what commitment is

___You understand why you need to mobilize and sustain commitment

___You know when it is a good time to build and sustain commitment

___You know when commitment grows and when it decreases

___You know how you can mobilize and sustain commitment

___You know you should welcome people into your organization

___You are open and clear about your mission

___You model commitment yourself

___You give people work to do

___You pick out the right level of challenge for people

___You build an organization culture

___You understand the importance of listening

___You support people's leadership

___You understand the importance of celebrating

Example: The Montgomery Bus Boycott

In the book The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, Ms. Robinson talks about the sense of power that she and others felt when determined and committed Black people joined together for the bus boycott.

"Before Monday was half gone, Negroes had made history. Never before had they united in such a manner. There was open respect and admiration in the eyes of many whites who had looked on before, dubious and amused. Even clerks in dime stores, all white, were more cordial. They were heard to add, after a purchase by a black customer, "Y'all come back and see us," which was a very unusual occurrence. The black customers held their heads higher. They felt reborn, important for the first time.

A greater degree of race pride was exhibited. Many were themselves surprised at the response of the masses, and could not explain, if they had wanted to, what had changed them overnight into fearless, courageous, proud people, standing together for human dignity, civil rights, and, yes, self-respect! There was a stick-togetherness that drew them like a magnet. They showed a genuine fondness for one another. They were really free --free inside! They felt it! Acted it! Manifested it in their entire beings! They took great pride in being Black."

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

 

As leaders, we do a lot. We inspire. We mediate. We decide. We direct. And we do countless other things as part of a day's work. Along with all of this, however, we have another job--one that is sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle--that is always part of what we are doing. That job is influencing other people.

Influence is the ability to persuade someone to think or act in the way you want. This ability is an essential part of leadership. After all, someone who can't convince people of things isn't a leader--no one is following them. Therefore, it's important for an effective leader to understand influence. That way, they can use this understanding to become even more skilled at getting things done.

Influencing people is something leaders do on many levels with many different people. All of us try to influence almost everyone we meet in different ways--we try to convince people to like us or to leave us alone, to sign our petition or to think about the educational system. Here are some other things a leader might try to convince people to do:

• "Join our coalition"
• "Give us money"
• "Respect our group"
• "Work harder"
• "Stop smoking"
• "Support youth in the arts"

What other ideas or actions do you, as a leader, try to influence people to believe or do?

The influence a leader has extends far and wide--from "average community members" to other community leaders and possibly, even to other national leaders. It is especially strong within the organizations leaders head or are part of. Volunteers or staff members, for example, may be perfectly willing (or sometimes, grudgingly willing ) to do something simply because "the boss said to." While this may or may not be the ideal of most community leaders, it happens all of the time.

These questions of influence--how a leader can effectively and ethically influence others--is what this section is all about, and we'll look at these ideas at some length in the pages that follow.

We'll start with an understanding of the different elements of influence. Then, we'll discuss some general behavior that will leave you well poised to influence others. These are "preparatory steps" to do even when you don't want anything right now. Then, we'll look at different techniques to influence people that are sometimes useful, and we'll follow that up with a step-by-step list of how to go about influencing someone in a given situation. Finally, we'll end the section with some suggestions for influencing people in more challenging situations.

What are elements of influence?

At the simplest level, influence is simply the effective combination of three elements:

1. A communicator -- the person who wants to influence someone
2. A message -- what the communicator wants the audience to do or believe
3. An audience -- the recipient (or recipients) of the message. Throughout this section, we will refer to the person or people you want to influence as the audience, even if your audience is just one person.

The communicator has a message they want understood and accepted by the audience. It's pretty simple, and we see it happen all the time.

For example:

• A son (the communicator) wants his mother (the audience) to stop smoking (the message).
• A company (the communicator) wants adolescents (the audience) to buy a certain brand of soda pop (the message).
• A coalition chair (the communicator) wants community members (the audience) to become active members (the message).

So the different parts of influence are pretty simple. The harder question is, how do we make it work? What helps the message get through? What makes influence effective?

How might you influence people?

All three of those elements taken together will decide the overall effectiveness of an attempt to influence someone. The audience (who may or may not consider themselves followers) ultimately determines how well and easily they are going to be influenced. Even if you were born with a golden tongue and have the facts behind you, you probably still won't convince everyone of everything you would like. Remember: it took centuries before everyone came to accept the fact that the world was round.

However, that's not to say that the communicator and the message aren't very important as well. A strong communicator with an important message can win over most audiences. And since this section is written from the community leader's perspective, it will focus most specifically on the communicator and the message--the two parts of the puzzle over which the leader has most control.

Laying the groundwork

First, there are some general tips to work on even when you are not trying to influence a specific person to do (or believe) something right now. These suggestions help you form the groundwork for later influence, making future efforts easier and more likely to be successful.

Network

Always look for chances to form new relationships and to strengthen ones that already exist. There are at least two good reasons to do this. First, it gives you instant access to the people you want to influence, or whom you might want to influence in the future. If you don't know personally the person you want to influence, you still may be friends with a friend of theirs who would be willing to put in a good word or set up a meeting.

If you want to influence someone you don't have any connection to, you may be out of luck. You may not even be able to get a foot in the door to see them. And it's no small task to convince someone to do something without talking to them.

A second reason to network is that people are always more willing to listen to and help someone they consider a friend or an ally. Even if someone who doesn't know you is willing to talk, they probably won't listen as well as they would if you had a strong connection. There is less invested in the relationship.

Think about the following for a moment: you're walking down the street, and someone stops you and asks you to take a pamphlet--the city council is talking about razing a historic building to make room for a new parking garage. "Isn't that terrible," you might murmur, while trying to remember what it was you were supposed to pick up at the store. The activist, obviously very passionate on this issue, talks for a few moments about what needs to be done, and you more or less listen, politely, still trying to remember what you need. "Well, I'll see what I can do," you say in an attempt to escape, and you move on, relieved.

Sound familiar, or at least realistic? Then ask yourself this:

• How might it be different if the activist, instead of being a stranger, is the head of an organization you work with, and who has helped you out on numerous occasions?
• Our guess is the grocery store would have seemed a lot less important.

Understand that credibility counts

Unfortunately, you don't always have the luxury of knowing every person you want to influence. This is especially true when you are trying to influence a lot of people at the same time. The more people you need to convince of something, the less likely it is that you can know all of them.

When people don't know you, it becomes even more important that what they know about you is positive. Being credible, or believable, to your audience is very important. What gives someone credibility?

The following characteristics help:

• Appearing to know what you're talking about
• Having high status in the community
• Being trusted by the audience
• Being liked by the audience
• Being similar to the audience--for example, expressing opinions and/or values that are shared by the audience

As you can see, these points are interrelated; each of them affects the others. For example, it's much more likely the audience will like you if they feel they can trust you; it's also more likely if you are expressing opinions or values they share. Or, for another example: status and knowledge are sometimes seen as being interchangeable; if someone holds an important position in the community, other people are likely to believe they are knowledgeable, even if that's not the case.

Does this mean you can't appear credible without status or an advanced degree? Certainly not, although those things can help. Take a very famous, very old example: that of Joan of Arc. As a young French girl in the 1400s, she certainly had neither education nor status. But her ability to persuade others was tremendous --as a girl of 17, she successfully amassed and led an army against the English. And talk about influence! She became a saint!

Be trustworthy in your personal and professional affairs

This is related to our last point on credibility, but is important enough to be talked about explicitly as well. If you have a history of honesty and of following through with your part of the bargain, word will get around. People will be more easily influenced, because they can take what you say at face value. They won't be looking for a "hidden agenda."

Remember: the ability to influence others is not a one time event, or even something you work on occasionally. It's not separate from what you do in your "normal" life: how well and easily you will influence others is directly related to how you act all of the time.

Be open to suggestions and possibilities

Being flexible is always a good idea. It's certainly true for times when you are trying to convince people of a certain thing. If you go into a meeting with a hard-line, "we'll do it my way or no way at all" attitude, you may well find yourself leaving empty handed.

But beyond that, try and make it a habit. Make it a point to listen to people's ideas and thoughts and to consider what they have to say. In doing so, you'll become a better communicator, because you'll be able to make connections and specific points to persuade the person you're talking to from things that they have said. What's more, you may get some very good new ideas out of the bargain.

Speak up!

This point is especially important for people who want to influence others in group settings, such as at meetings and forums. To a large extent, how much you say in these settings is related to how much influence you have. You might even call it the "squeaky wheel syndrome." Being shy and retiring --or even quietly confident--simply doesn't work.

Research has shown that in groups (and especially in business meetings), women tend to talk much less than men, and so women should be particularly aware of this. But the point is important for both genders--while listening is very important, don't let it be all that you do.

Again, be careful that you do strike that balance between listening and talking. If all you can hear is the sound of your own voice, you've taken this point too far.

Remember that people hear what they want to hear

That is, they generally won't go out of their way to listen to an opposing opinion. For example, if you give a talk at the public library on how to keep big businesses from coming in and destroying local businesses, who do you think will be in the audience? That's right --local business owners, or people who want to preserve the unique flavor of the town. Other people, such as those who are excited about the possibility of a big department store, or people who simply don't much care, aren't likely to show up.

The lesson here? The people who you really want to reach, whose opinions and ideas are very different from your own--probably won't be knocking on your door. Rather, you will need to seek out them if you want your voice to be heard.

Don't expect overnight results

Things take time if they are going to be done well, whether we like it or not. Author Stephen Covey writes, "I see people trying to do it all over a weekend--trying to rebuild their marriage on a weekend, trying to rebuild an alienated relationship with their son on a weekend, trying to change a company culture on a weekend. But some things just can't be done on a weekend."

Opinions may take a long time to change. That makes sense--people may have had a lifetime to form them; they usually won't change after a single conversation. Influencing people to change their actions can take even longer. Even if someone knows they should do something, it's not always that easy. Ask any smoker who is trying to quit--change takes time.

Leaders need to remember this, especially leaders in the fields of community health and development work. It takes time. Some things it may take a lifetime--or longer--to change. Think of creating world peace, ending hunger, or having a clean environment. None of these will happen overnight. The important thing for community leaders to remember is to keep working at it, and to take pleasure in the small successes we win along the way.

Tactics for influencing others

In the last few paragraphs, we've looked at some everyday things you can do to be ready to influence people when the need arises. Now, let's jump briefly to some simple tactics that can be used when that moment does come up. Although it's always helpful to have "primed the pump" as we discussed above, the following tactics are very simple. Many of these can be used even if you've never seen the person you want to influence before--they are simple "street corner" tactics that can stand on their own.

Use comparison.

If everyone else were doing something, would you do it, too? Well, according to the laws of persuasion, you very well might. People like to do what everybody else is doing. If everyone else is signing your petition, passersby will be drawn to it as well. If half the people in town are sporting bumper stickers for your organization, the other half will probably want to know where they can pick up one as well. And so on.

Give something away.

As a small child, you learn that when someone gives you something, you should give something back. If someone smiles at you, you smile back. If someone gives you a Christmas present and you don't have anything for them, you feel bad.

This idea of reciprocity can be very powerful for people trying to persuade others to do something, especially if you want them to donate to your work. By giving people something small, they may feel required to respond, and then think, "Oh, it's something good to support, anyway," and make a nice-sized contribution.

For example, a group trying to raise money for breast cancer research developed a list of potential donors. Then, they sent each of those people 100 personalized return address labels with a pink ribbon. In a cover letter, they thanked donors for past support, asked them to use the labels to support awareness, and (by the way!) if they felt it was worth it, please send a small contribution--whatever they felt the labels were worth. As you might imagine, this campaign was quite successful.

Get people in the habit of saying yes.

Then, make whatever you want to convince people of agree with what they have been saying. Generally, when people take a stand, they want to be consistent. So, if you can get someone to agree on several points related to what you want them to do or believe, it's harder for them to turn you down when you come in for the punch.

Make sense? Steve Booth-Butterfield, an expert on persuasion, explains this idea with the following example:

Earnest Salesperson: "Excuse me, but do you think that a good education is important for your children?"
You: "Yes, of course."
ES: "And do you think that children who do their homework will get better grades?"
You: "Yes, I'm sure of that."
ES: "And reference books would help children do better on their homework, don't you think?"
You: "I'd have to say yes to that."
ES: "Well, I sell reference books. May I come in and help improve your child's health education?"
You: "Ahhh, wait a minute"

Influencing someone: The general approach

The tactics above give you some simple ways to influence people, especially for small or short term ends. But when the stakes are higher, or you are looking for long-term changes, how do you bring that about? One possibility is an approach similar to the one given on the next few pages. As you consider the following points, however, remember that every person and every situation are different. Take these points as suggestions, and modify them to fit your situation.

Decide what you want

This includes deciding what is essential--what you absolutely, positively want to see happen. It also includes what you might be willing to give up. Consider possible compromises that might be acceptable.

Your situation might not have any of this middle ground. For example, you might want people to believe your organization is very important--period, end of discussion. That's probably not something you are willing to compromise on. But in situations where you want people to do something, and not just believe something, the art of compromise can be very important. For example, you might be fund raising for your organization with a goal of obtaining at least $100 from each donor. However, you would be happy to get a smaller donation as well, or a gift in-kind instead of cash.

Decide whom you want to influence directly and indirectly

This may be obvious--for example, you may want to convince a member of your staff to work harder, and can best do so by speaking with them personally. However, sometimes the people whose behavior or attitudes you want to see changed may not be the ones you are best suited to talk to. Sometimes, it is best to influence people indirectly.

For example, a new pregnancy prevention project in the town of Quinnsville wants adolescents in town to abstain from having sex, and to protect themselves if they do become sexually active. In this instance, however, the project leader may not be the best person to walk into each classroom and talk to the students. It would take too much of her time, and the students don't know her--she lacks credibility with them.

Instead, she might try to convince the teachers and school administrators to enhance the sexuality curriculum. In that way, teachers, who already have a relationship with the students, can teach them necessary information. More work with the students can occur than the director could have ever done on her own--and it can continue well after she and the project are gone.

Start in a friendly manner

By putting people at ease, they are much more likely to listen to your point of view. There are a number of ways to do this, including:

• Praise. Everyone likes to be appreciated. Also, by verbally assuming the best about the other person, you give them something to live up to. You're appealing to their nobler motives. Try starting a conversation by saying, "I've been looking forward to this discussion. You have a reputation as being excellent to work with, (or very fair, or an excellent negotiator, or so on) and I'm sure we can come to an agreement we are both happy with." Chances are the other person will be flattered, and will work hard to live up to the compliment.

Compare that way of starting the conversation with someone who says, "We have to do things my way. I really don't know why I agreed to talk with you -- we've got nothing in common, and I'm certainly not going to change my mind." Whom would you rather work with?

• Be interested in their interests. People love to talk about things they enjoy, and rarely get to talk about them enough. By spending a few moments on what your audience enjoys, you will have captured their interest as well as their good will, giving you an excellent atmosphere in which to continue.
• Call people by name. Everyone loves to hear their name--it's most people's favorite word. By using their name, you show people you are aware of them as an individual-- it shows respect for the person. Also, remembering the names of people you don't know well can be very flattering.
• Be careful of criticism. Generally, it's not going to do any good, and it can do a lot of harm. For example, criticism caused the author Thomas Hardy to give up writing novels. If you must criticize, do so gently, and in a constructive manner. You might even try calling attention to your own mistakes first--that way, you're saying, "Hey! We're all human--we're in this together."

Learn what your audience wants and believes

That is, try to understand where they are coming from before you start. Do your research before you meet with them, and ask questions when you are together. Otherwise, your suggestions and ideas might be ignored or understood for reasons you aren't even aware of.

For example, an American health educator working in Sub-Saharan Africa was trying to convince young people to use condoms to protect themselves against the raging AIDS epidemic in their country. Early efforts were politely listened to, but without much success. By chatting with the teens, she slowly understood that ideas of family and of having children before you die were very important to them, and that they were a major block to condom usage. Additionally, a sense of hopelessness came out. "God will take me when He wants me, and that's that," she heard.

After understanding that these ideas were much more a cause of the problem than was simple ignorance, she was able to adjust what she said to address these issues. When she started speaking to them on their terms, her efforts found much greater success.

Emphasize points in common

Try to get the other person in a habit of saying "yes." There will always be differences in opinion on subjects between any communicator and their audience. But by focusing on points that are similar, the wall between "us" and "them" becomes lower, and your audience is more likely to see that you are all working together for the same thing.

If you're wrong, admit it

This goes back to what we said above about being trustworthy. If you are discussing an issue with someone and they bring up new information, or a point of view you hadn't considered, don't be afraid to say, "I didn't know that," or, "Well, that certainly changes things." Admitting it when you're wrong gives you greater credibility. You're not a fanatic--you are a reasonable person with whom smart agreements can be made. Even if you lose the day's battle, you've probably created a strong ally for future wars.

Inoculate your audience against counterarguments, if they are likely to hear them

When someone gets a flu shot, or vaccinated against a given disease, what really happens is they are given a weakened version of that illness. That way, their body will be ready to attack the real disease if they are exposed to it.

If you are trying to convince your audience of something that is particularly controversial, it's likely that they will hear arguments to the contrary. Like a nurse giving a shot, you can immunize your audience against that point of view. Simply say, "Other people will tell you X, but this is why that's not true/not the best thing to do/just plain wrong." You have acknowledged other points of view, pointed out their weaknesses, and brought people back to what you believe.

Speak logically and with emotion

Some people will respond best to statistics; others to an emotional appeal. By using both, you will appeal to the largest number of people possible.

Also, using them together is a powerful combination--a one-two knockout that will convince most people. For example, think of an advertisement trying to raise awareness of child maltreatment. Showing a picture of a child who has experienced maltreatment, or telling their story will bring about an emotional response in most people. Following that up with statistics--for example, "there are X children in our community who experience the same maltreatment," --can be enough to motivate many people to action.

Tell people what they'll get out of it

Explain clearly the benefits of doing what you ask, or alternatively, the disadvantages of not doing it. Most people when asked to do something want to know, "What's in it for me?" That may seem somewhat self-centered, but it's a natural question. If you think about it, all of us do things for a reason. There's always something in it for us, or we don't do it.

This doesn't mean we (or our audience) need to get money or prestige out of doing or believing something. What we get might be feeling good because we are helping out. Or, we might be avoiding something we don't want to happen. But as simple as it might be, there is always an answer to "what's in it for me?" And it's an answer that you should give before this question is asked.

Use repetition and redundancy

This is what advertisers do; that's why you see the same advertisements over and over again. The more often you say something, and the more ways in which you say it, the more likely people will begin to believe it.

What's the difference between these two terms? Well, repetition is saying or showing the exact same thing over and over. If you see the same advertisement for McDonalds so many times that you have it memorized, that's repetition. Repetition is helpful because it allows people to see or understand new and different things about the message. The audience can pick up details they didn't catch the first time.

However, too much repetition just becomes annoying. We've all had the experience of really liking an ad or a song, and then having it played so often on the radio or television that we want to scream. There's definitely a point of diminishing returns with repetition that you need to be careful not to cross.

Redundancy can take care of some of this problem. In redundancy, you want to get the same message across, but you are doing so in different ways. For example, if McDonalds is having a sale on hamburgers, they might develop ten different advertisements for that sale. Seeing the same ad over and over is repetitive; seeing different ads for the same things is redundant.

Both of these techniques can be used effectively by community leaders when trying to influence people. For example, if you are giving a talk, you might make your main point at least three times--at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of your talk. And you might make it in different ways throughout the speech. But in almost any situation, remember--repetition and redundancy can be very powerful tools of influence.

Don't argue, if at all possible

Generally speaking, you can't win an argument. Even if you win, you may lose. People don't like to be wrong. By arguing, you're telling other people just that--they are wrong. This could seriously harm the relationship, especially if you don't know the person very well.

Sometimes, of course, you will disagree. It's human nature--we won't always see things eye to eye. When this happens, first decide if the disagreement is worth pursuing. Is it really necessary to show the other person they are wrong? If you feel it is, always try to do it calmly and simply, and without making personal attacks.

Make the idea seem simple

The more you ask people to do, or the more drastic the change in opinion you are asking for, the less likely it is people are going to do it. Try to make what you want people to do seem simple and logical. Explain how they can do what you ask with very little change or effort beyond what usually occurs in their lives.

If the change of opinion or action you are working for is complicated, or very long term, break it into pieces you ask people to do. For example, if you want more neighborhood children to go to college, you might concentrate first on getting them to go to class. Then, they might think about graduating from high school. And as that looks more likely, they might be willing to consider college more seriously. But telling a seventh grader that they can finish college and earn a fantastic salary as an engineer or a doctor may not seem very realistic. Take big ideas one step at a time.

Thank your audience

This is something you should never fail to do. Even if it didn't work; even if you felt like it was a waste of time. It's very important that people feel acknowledged and appreciated. Thanking them is a way to keep the lines of communication open for the next time you want to influence your audience.

In difficult situations

Just trying to influence an open, friendly audience to do something they aren't strongly opposed to takes time and work. Undertaking the logistics of finding the person, deciding how to present your case, figuring out exactly what to ask, and having enough time together to accomplish your goals is already a large task.

Everything becomes much more difficult, however, when you are trying to influence people under more trying circumstances. For example, if you and your audience don't know each other, or (worse yet!) you don't especially like each other; or if you are asking people to do something that will be particularly difficult, or that you know they don't want to do.

When the going gets rough and the stakes are high, it's easy to get frustrated, angry, and in the end, do more damage than you thought possible to a relationship. Is it time to give up? Absolutely not! Rather, it's time to step back, take a deep breath, and remember all of the great tricks you learned about influence. In particular, try to do the following:

Try to keep things in perspective

It's easy to lose sight of the big picture, especially when the situation becomes tense or even explosive.

A young American was traveling in North Africa, and found herself in a bazaar in Casablanca. Having found a pair of sandals to replace the pair she was wearing, she started bartering with the salesman. Considering herself a master bargainer, she took it as a point of pride to get the lowest price possible. But after a few moments, it became clear the shop assistant wasn't going to go any lower, despite her repeated pleas, and she began to get very angry. Just then, she took a moment and thought about the price. She realized that, when she converted the amount from Moroccan Dirhams to U.S. dollars, they had been arguing for ten minutes about the difference between $3.00 and $3.50.

Keep your emotions in check

Getting angry, frustrated, or upset won't do either of you any good. The other person will probably just get angry or frustrated as well, or annoyed with the entire situation. Also, and just as importantly, you don't think as clearly when you're upset, and may say things or make decisions that you will later regret. In short--getting upset won't do anyone any good.

If you feel yourself in danger of losing your cool, try one of the following techniques to help yourself calm down:

• Ask if you can take a quick break to collect your thoughts. Or go to the bathroom, or pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee. But if you're afraid of what will come out of your mouth the next time you speak, make sure that you don't talk for a few minutes.
• Switch topics. If you are really getting nowhere in your conversation, talk about something else for a few moments. You might go back to something you do agree with, or talk about something completely unrelated for a few moments--the weather, lunch plans, or anything else.
• If you are in a meeting with a group of people, let someone else from your group talk for a few moments while you cool off.

Don't personalize the situation

It's very difficult for people to hear personal attacks without taking them personally. And when people are offended are upset, or feel their back is up against the wall, they will be less likely to hear the points you have to make, even if they are completely valid. If you must be critical, be critical of a program or an action, not your audience.

For example, consider these two statements, both given in response to the same problem:

"I disagree with the statement that the corporation isn't really hurting our local environment. Studies show that fish no longer live downstream from where waste from the company is being dumped."

"You are just a bunch of greedy old men who don't care at all about what your stinking company does to our river!"

The second statement riles up your audience, and gives members of the audience the perfect chance to say, "we can't discuss anything with you." Then, they can leave superior--because the communicator, in this instance, was reduced to name calling.

The first statement, on the other hand, gives clear facts that are not so easily ignored, and requires a response from members of the organization.

Understand why people are behaving as they are

A person may be acting in a way that is perfectly ridiculous to you. Remember, though: it's probably not to them. The more you can understand their motives, the better you can change your tactics to meet them--and eventually, get what you want.

Change your tactics

If what you are trying isn't working, try something different. Think about magnets--if they are facing each other the wrong way, they repel each other, and you can't put them together for anything. However, if you turn them around, you can't keep them apart.

The lesson here? Know when to change tactics and try something from a completely different angle. If you have been using carefully gathered statistics on child maltreatment to convince people to donate to your Children's Safe House, try some pictures and stories of children who have come through your doors. If local restaurants are against a ban on smoking sections, despite all of your pleas for better health, show them statistics on restaurants whose business increased when they went smoke-free. Whatever you are doing, try to have many different perspectives in mind when you get together with your audience.

Take a break

Take a few moments to regain composure, or even break for the day. This can help a lot when tension gets too high or discussion has gone on for too long. Both the communicator and the audience can use the opportunity to reassess the situation.

Come back to a point of disagreement

Sometimes, if someone says no to something you find critical, the best thing to do is to go back to some points you have in common, discuss them for a while, and come back to it later. Sometimes, people will change their minds during the course of a conversation; new thoughts will come up, ideas sink in. If it's important enough to you to have agreement on this issue, this tactic can also work to simply wear them down. In the general tips above, we talked about the importance of repetition. This is another way that might occur.

Try to find other people who might be able to influence the person

If you find yourself unable to make any headway, who do you know who might have more luck? Sometimes, as we discussed above, you won't be the best person to get the message across. Unfortunately, you might not know that until you are in the thick of conversation with your audience. However, other people will have more weight with the person or people you are trying to influence. Find out who the person respects or will listen to, and ask them to try to convince the person.

Consider the use of a trained mediator

If your message simply isn't being accepted and it's very important that you come to an agreement, you might consider the use of a trained mediator. This is a person who's not from your group or the other party's group, but whom you both trust to be fair. They can help both sides agree upon a standard by which you'll judge your resolution. Standards are a way to measure your agreement. They include expert opinions, law, precedent (the way things have been done in the past), and accepted principles.

For example, let's say you're building a new playground for your town's elementary school. You disagree with the superintendent about what kinds of materials you'll use to build the playground. The superintendent wants to use chemical treated wood, but you feel it's unsafe. A mediator might read the current guidelines of the lumber industry and tell you which kinds of wood are considered safe for children. Maybe you and the superintendent will agree to follow the lumber industry's advice--in other words, to use that as the standard.

Of course, there are often many kinds of standards. There may also be a national parent group that suggests certain safety guidelines for playgrounds. A mediator might help you and the superintendent negotiate about whose standard you'll use.

Your mediator could also, for example, run your brainstorming session. Here are some other possible jobs for a mediator:

• Setting ground rules for you and the other party to agree upon (for example, you might both agree not to publicly discuss the dispute)
• Creating an appropriate setting for meetings
• Suggesting possible ways to compromise
• Being an "ear" for both side's anger and fear
• Listening to both sides and explaining their positions to one another
• Finding the interests behind each side's positions
• Looking out for win-win alternatives
• Keeping both parties focused, reasonable, and respectful
• Preventing any party from feeling that it's "losing face"
• Writing the draft of your agreement with the opposition

Many trained mediators are also lawyers. A list of people with training in mediation can be found in your local yellow pages.

Know when it's time to give up or temporarily retreat

Whatever you are trying to convince your audience to do or believe, there are times when even the most effective leader won't be able to convince them to accept the message. Or, you may be able to convince them, eventually, to do what you want, but at a price tag (in time, energy, or lost goodwill) that is just too high. When trying to influence someone, then, know when to bow out gracefully, and to save your armor for another day.

In Summary

The ability to influence someone successfully is one of the most important and challenging jobs any leader will face. This section gives an overview of some general ideas behind this science of persuasion. By fully understanding this information, a leader can become very effective in their work. We encourage you to think carefully about your use of influence, and to use it wisely and ethically as you pursue your goals.

___You understand the purpose of influence and the role it can play in your organization

___You can define and identify the three basic elements of influence, and the role each plays

___You understand the role the audience plays in your attempts to influence

You understand your daily activities can the lay the groundwork for being able to X influence others effectively:

___You have a "network" of relationships with people that you continue to expand

___You understand the importance of credibility

___You are honest and trustworthy in your private and professional affairs

___You make it a point to listen to the ideas of others and remain flexible in your options, while also speaking out when you need to

___You make an effort to "seek out" people with different viewpoints

___You understand that most large-scale changes take years to complete, and continuously recognize and relish smaller-scale accomplishments

You understand various tactics you can use to influence others, such as:

___Using comparison

___Giving something away

___Getting people in the habit of saying yes

You understand the general approach to influencing others:

___You have decided what exactly you want, as well as what you can give up

___You have decided who you want to influence directly and indirectly

___Praise and interest have been employed while non-constructive criticism has been avoided

___Your audience's wants and beliefs have been defined

___You have found and emphasized common ground with your audience

___When you've been wrong, you've admitted it

___You have inoculated your audience against pertinent counter-arguments

___Logic and emotion have both been utilized in your persuasive attempts

___You have explained to your audience "what's in it for them"

___You've stated your main point at least three times

___Argument has been avoided whenever possible

___Your ideas have been simplified

___You have thanked your audience

When situations have become difficult, you have handled them appropriately by:

___Keeping things in perspective

___Keeping your emotions in check

___Attempting to understand why your audience is behaving as it is

___Changing your tactics after they have failed

___When necessary, taking a break to regain your composure

___Coming back to points of disagreement

___Attempting to find other people to influence those people on whom your efforts did not succeed

___Considering the usage of a trained mediator

___Knowing when it is time to give up or temporarily retreat

Example: President Obama reunites with Edith Childs, who inspired ‘Fired Up, Ready to Go’ Chant during 2008 campaign

President Obama shared this message, reflecting on his meeting with Edith Childs:

I met Edith in 2007, at a small get-together in Greenwood, South Carolina. It was the early days of my campaign for president, and I was still finding my way as a candidate.

I walked into the event in Greenwood after an hour and a half in the car. It was raining that day and there were only 20 people.

But as I went around the room to shake people’s hands and thank them for coming, I suddenly heard this voice cry out, “Fired up!”

And people shouted back, “Fired up!”

Then I heard, “Ready to go!”

And everyone shouted, “Ready to go!”

I looked to see where the voice had come from, and there was Edith. I later learned that she had been active in the local NAACP and served on the Greenwood County Council. She was known in the community for raising people’s spirits.

Read more.

 

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

What is relationship building all about?

Relationships are the building blocks for all community organizing activities. Whether you want to organize a volleyball game or get rid of unfair housing practices in your town, you will need lots of good relationships. Why? Because the relationships we have with our coworkers, the communities we serve, and even our adversaries are the means for achieving our goals. People don't work in isolation: we need to be working together! It is our relationships all added together that are the foundation of an organized effort for change. We need lots of people to contribute their ideas, take a stand, and get the work done.

It is also the people who motivate us to reach our goals. As community builders, we care deeply about people and caring is part of our work. It is our caring for others that motivates us to work as hard as we do. It is often the health and happiness of our children, neighbors, and coworkers that we hold fixed in our minds as we push ourselves to overcome obstacles and take on challenges that can feel overwhelming.

If you are the official leader, or an active community member without an official title, you will be most effective if you establish many strong relationships around yourself in the community.

In this section, we will talk about building and sustaining relationships and give you some practical tips and general guidelines.

And remember: ordinary people learn the skills of establishing and maintaining relationships all the time. You don't need to be particularly charming, witty, or talented. However, if you are charming, witty, or talented, these guidelines may help you, too!

Why do we need to build and sustain relationships?

Let's look at this example:

Organizing a block party

Suppose you want to organize a block party. What kind of relationships do you need to make it happen?

Who will help you plan the block party?

You don't want to do all the planning and legwork by yourself, do you? It would be much more fun, not to mention easier, to work with a few neighbors to make this block party happen.

How do you get local approval and cooperation?

In many towns, you need the city council or government groups to approve block party permits. Having a friend or two in local government might help you figure out how to work your way through the bureaucratic hoops to get your permit. If you don't know anyone, you can build some relationships along the way.

Who else might lend a hand?

If you already have a relationship with your corner grocery store owner, she might donate some watermelon or drinks for the block party. If you know your neighborhood firefighters, they may be willing to bring over a fire engine for the children to climb on. Do you have a friend who is a clown?

Who will come to the block party?

Last, but not least, in order to have a successful block party, you want as many people from your block to come as you can get. If your neighbors know you or anyone else on the planning committee, they will be much more willing to overcome their shyness and show up.

Overall, the more people you know, the easier it will be to organize a block party and the more fun it will be for everyone.

Fundamental reasons to build relationships:

• Community building occurs one-to-one. You need to build relationships with people one-to-one if you want them to become involved in your group or organization. Some people become involved in organizations because they believe in the cause. However, many people become involved in a community group or organization, just because they have a relationship with another person who is already involved.
• We need relationships in order to win allies to our cause. In order to get support from people outside our organizations, we need to build relationships in which people know and trust us.
• Our relationships give meaning and richness to our work and to our lives. We all need a community of people to share the joys and the struggles of organizing and making community change. A little bit of camaraderie goes a long way.

What kinds of relationships are we talking about?

Every relationship is different, but they all matter. If you smile and say hello to the school crossing guard on your way to work every day, you have formed a relationship. That crossing guard may be the one who will be watching out for your children or grandchildren when they are old enough to walk to school by themselves. The guard will remember you and your warm smile when escorting your child across the street. And maybe the crossing guard will be the one you eventually recruit to head up the community traffic safety committee.

Your relationship with the crossing guard may be quite different from the relationships you have with people involved in your neighborhood park-cleaning committee. The relationships you have with the mayor's aide, with your staff, with members of your board of directors, and with your spouse will all be different but they all play an important role in community organizing.

The more relationships you have, the better. You never know when they will come in handy. A local gang member might be just the person you need to help you organize a group to build a new playground in your neighborhood. Whether they are government officials, school teachers, business people, older adults, gardeners, children, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness or whoever else--building friendships will pay off in ways you may never have anticipated.

You are at the center

Imagine a wheel in which you are at the hub or center and each spoke represents a relationship with another person. Does that sound egotistical? It doesn't need to be. It takes a lot of spokes to hold the wheel together and the wheel is what helps move the initiative along. There is enough room in the group for everyone to create their own wheel of strong relationships.

The point is that you have to take the time to set up and sustain relationships. If you wait for others to establish relationships with you first, you may spend a lot of time waiting.

One reminder: It doesn't make sense to form relationships just to get people to do work for you. That won't work because people will feel used. Community builders approach relationships with integrity. We form relationships because we genuinely like someone, because we have something to offer that person, or because we share some common goal.

When do you build and sustain relationships?

You do it all the time. If you take an extra five minutes to ask the person who is stuffing envelopes how they think the baseball team is doing this year, you will have built a stronger relationship.

Some relationships require more time than others. You may want to meet for lunch once a month with all the other directors of youth organizations in your town. You may need to meet twice this week with a staff member who has some built up resentment about the job. You may want to call your school committee representative every now and then to check in about issues of common concern.

As community organizers with few resources, we are often under enormous pressures that distract us from paying attention to relationships. We feel the urgency of achieving important goals. We mistakenly feel that spending time on relationships is the fluffy stuff that makes a person feel good, but doesn't get the job done. Often, however, relationships are the key to solving a problem or getting the job done. Building and sustaining many solid, strong relationships is central to our work as community leaders.

Relationships are the groundwork

Often building relationships is the groundwork that must be laid before anything else gets done on a project. The bigger the project, the more relationships you will usually need as a foundation.

For example, if you are organizing a coalition of community groups that will work to create a multicultural arts center, it would be a good idea to get to know people in each organization before trying to get them together to work on the project.

Ask yourself: "Would you be more persuaded by someone you know, or by a complete stranger?" Then be guided by your own answer.

When you plan a project, you need to include the time it takes to build relationships into your plan. People need time to build trust. Whenever people work together, they need to have trusting relationships. When trust is missing, people usually have a difficult time functioning cooperatively. They worry about risking too much. Disagreements seem to erupt over no important reason. Investing time, resources, and one's organizational reputation can be risky. At the least people want some return for their investment. They have to feel like you know them as a person, understand their interests, and will not let them down.

Back to the multicultural arts center example--if creating one will involve several community groups, and if you don't know them well (and they don't know each other), start working together on a smaller project first. For example, you can jointly sponsor an evening of cultural sharing. If the evening is successful, you will have gained some shared trust and confidence on which to build. You can plan several similar events that will build trust over a period of time.

If things are not going well, back up and try an easier challenge. If you begin to hold discussions on the multicultural arts center and people show signs of apprehension rather than excitement, slow down the process. Take on an easier challenge until strong relationships are better established.

Establish relationships before you need them

It's always better to build relationships before you need them or before a conflict arises. If you already have a good relationship with the grocery store owner in your neighborhood, you will be in a better position to help solve a dicey conflict between him and some neighborhood adolescents. If you have already established a relationship with your school committee representative, she might be more willing to respond to your opinions about special education funding.

Establishing relationships in a crisis

It is not impossible to establish relationships during a crisis, and often a crisis can bring people together. While it may seem unusual, make the most of your organization's crises. Call for help and people will rise to the call. You can build relationships when you are in need, because people often want to help.

How do you build relationships? An 11-step program

Here are some tips for getting your relationships off the ground. Some of these ideas we learned in the first grade but, as adults, we sometimes forget.

1. Build relationships one at a time. Fortunately or unfortunately, there are no short cuts. Sending out a newsletter helps you keep in touch with lots of folks, but it's no substitute for getting to know a real person.
2. Be friendly and make a connection. This may seem self-evident, but a friendly word or smile can make someone's day. Try to find something in common: all of us want to have close connections with our fellow humans.
3. Ask people questions. People love to talk about themselves and about what they think. If you ask people about themselves and then take the time to listen attentively, they can become your fast friend.
4. Tell people about yourself. People won't trust you unless you are willing to trust them. Tell them what you genuinely care about and what you think.
5. Go places and do things. When asked why he robbed banks, the robber replied, "Because that's where the money is." If you want to make friends, you have to go where the people are: picnics, conferences, events, fundraisers, parties, playgrounds, bowling alleys, little league games, bake sales, etc..
6. Accept people the way they are. You don't have to agree with them all the time in order to form a relationship with them. No one likes to be judged.
7. Assume other people want to form relationships, too. Underneath the crabbiest looking person is often a lonely soul hoping someone will make a crack in their shell.
8. Overcome your fear of rejection. Most of us suffer from a fear of rejection, and there's only one thing to do about that: get over it. If you want to form relationships, plan on being rejected some of the time. You will be richly rewarded the rest of the time with the new relationships you have made.
9. Be persistent. People are often shy and suspicious. It takes a while to win trust. You can almost always form a relationship if you stick with it.
10. Invite people to get involved. People want to become part of something bigger than themselves. Many people are looking for an opportunity to meet other people who share common goals. At the worst, people will be flattered that you invited them to join.
11. Enjoy people. If you genuinely enjoy people, others will be attracted to your attitude. People will more likely want to be around you.

How do you build relationships with people of different cultural backgrounds than your own?

Here are some common-sense guidelines:

• Learn about the person's culture. Any effort will go a long way in showing that you care enough to find out about the reality of another person's life.
• Put yourself at the center of another person's culture. Especially if you are getting to know someone who is not a part of majority culture, try going to their cultural events where you are the minority. If you are willing to take risks and put yourself in a situation in which you might feel uncomfortable, people will be more inclined to want to get to know you.
• Actively challenge discriminatory practices or barriers affecting the person. Actions speak louder than words. People who experience oppression need allies to speak out against injustice. Strong relationships are forged when people act courageously on behalf of each other.
• It's okay to make mistakes. You may have to make mistakes as you build relationships with people who have different cultural backgrounds than your own, but people are generally forgiving, especially if your intentions are good. Remember, hang in there even if you feel rejected.

How do you build relationships with people who hold positions of political power?

Here are some guidelines for forming relationships with elected officials, business leaders, and heads of large organizations.

• Don't be intimidated. People who hold titles or positions of political power are humans, too. They like to form relationships just like everyone else does.
• Listen and withhold judgment. People with titles rarely get a chance to be listened to. They rarely get a chance to think through an issue without someone pressuring them to vote one way or another. One way to befriend such a person is to take the time to listen to them. See what you can offer them, not just in a political context but as a sympathetic human being.

How do you sustain relationships?

Okay, now you've built some relationships. Relationships, like any other living thing, need care to keep them alive and healthy. So what do you do with them to keep them going?

• Pay attention to people. Check in with people when you need to. This may take only a few minutes a week, but those few minutes can make the difference in helping your friend or co-worker remember the importance of the work you are doing together.
• Communicate openly. People need to communicate. It's a good idea to set aside some time just to talk about the way things are going. When people don't have a chance to talk about important issues, misunderstandings can occur and tensions often build up. Communication is a discipline that has to be practiced regularly; it's like taking vitamins or doing push-ups.
• Appreciate each other. Everyone needs to be appreciated in order to keep relationships going. If you notice that someone did a stellar job of collecting the necessary data for the committee, say so. If you enjoy working with someone, let them know. We are all human beings and appreciation helps us thrive.
• Extend yourself. Go a little out of your way, at least once in a while. If your co-worker needs to spend some extra time with their daughter, you might tell them to go home early and you'll finish up the grant proposal.
• Volunteer to do some work for their organization (if they are not already in yours). If you lend them a hand, they are likely to think well of you and give something back in return.
• Challenge each other to do better. We all need a buddy to help us stretch ourselves beyond what we think we can do. We can also build stronger relationships by challenging our work partners to take on bigger challenges.
• Back each other when things get tough. Loyalty is essential to keeping relationships healthy. We may not agree with a co-worker or friend, but we can stand by them when they are in a jam.

When relationships get messy

Many relationships get messy sooner or later and that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, sometimes people need a good fight or a clearing of the air in order to get a relationship back on track. A conflict doesn't mean the relationship has to come to an end. Remember: we often fight with the people we care about the most and with whom we share our greatest hopes.

Here are some ideas that might come in handy when things get hard:

• Take time to listen to each other. This is not always easy. Each person should take time some time to listen without interrupting, while the other person talks.
• Put yourself in the other person's shoes. Everyone in a conflict has distinctly different views of a situation. In the thick of a fight, people are usually convinced they are absolutely right. Try to see why the other person sees things the way they do. Just your attempt to do so will help the other person see that you are trying.
• Look at what is true about what the other person is saying. See if you can correct the situation. If you need to apologize, go ahead. It may feel horrible, but an apology can often help a relationship get back on the right track.
• Separate emotions from reality. Everyone has emotions that surface intermittently. People often say things they don't mean when they are in the middle of an emotional upset. Allow time and space for people to feel their emotions before you try to work things out.
• Continue to appreciate and respect each other. Even though it may be difficult, focus on the positive aspects of the relationship. If you model appreciation, the other person will often follow.
• Speak from your heart. As you try to unravel the difficulty, keep focused on what you and the other person care about most: the goals of the project, each other, the community, etc.
• Don't give up your principles. Don't sacrifice what you believe in just to make a relationship work. If you give up on your principles, you won't be effective and the relationship won't work anyway.
• Hang in there when things get hard. You can take some breathing room, but try not to give up on the relationship altogether. When things are the toughest, there are important lessons to be learned. It's best to keep a relationship that you've invested your time and caring into?
• You can act independently to improve any relationship. Even if the other person or group of people is acting rotten, you can act in a way that is positive, respectful, constructive, and thoughtful. This may surprise people, and they may follow your lead.

Is all this easier said than done? Yes. Managing relationships may be hard, but it is not impossible. Think of yourself as an explorer, charting your course through the mysterious and murky waters of relationships. Treasure lies ahead!

Relationships with adversaries

Yes, you can even have relationships with the people who disagree with you and who may even be working against you and the goals of your organization. You can use the same guidelines listed in the "When relationships get messy" section above, with these additions:

• You can disagree and still build relationships with individuals who are working against your goals. If you do so, members of the other camp will begin to see you as human rather than viewing you as the enemy. In turn you will get a picture of their humanity as well. You might try inviting someone from the "other" camp to lunch and find out what you have in common.
• You can set up a dialogue group to hear why adversaries view the issues the way they do. You can hire a neutral facilitator to come in and lead a discussion about the areas of disagreement. With a skilled facilitator, people may start to understand the values and caring that others bring to their opinions, and find areas of common interest.

In Summary

Building and sustaining relationships are at the heart of organizing communities. The strength of community lies in the strength of the connections that we have with each other. With strong connections, people have the power to make real change. Building these connections takes time; but it is worth it.

Relationships are the often the source of our greatest joys and greatest challenges. Understanding relationships is no simple task. People are so unique and complex that there is no easy formula.

Central to almost every religion is the idea that we should treat our neighbors the way we would like to be treated. If you keep that in mind, you will most likely succeed in building relationships that you can depend on.

Whether you are a "leader" or a follower, you have the ability to build a community of friends, colleagues, associates, allies, partners, and buddies around you. Together, there is no telling what you can do.

You know who you need to have relationships with in order to reach your community building goal:

___Potential members

___Members

___Potential board members

___Volunteers

___Community members

___Leaders of community organizations

___Members of other community organizations

___Members of diverse communities

___Elected government officials

___People in Media

___People who work for foundations

___Others

___You have built time into your schedule to meet with them

___You have identified small, short-term projects of mutual interest

___You know and practice the 12 step techniques for building relationships

___You know and practice techniques for cross-cultural relationships building and for powerful people

You know who to sustain relationships with in order to reach your community building goal:

___Potential members

___Members

___Board members

___Staff

___Volunteers

___Community members

___Leaders of community organizations

___Members of other community organizations

___Members of diverse communities

___Elected government officials

___People in Media

___People who work for foundations

___Others

___You know and practice techniques for sustaining relationships

___You know how to handle problems in relationships when they arise

___You know how to develop relationships with your adversaries

Example: Tireless 'Ms. Jessie' Cultivates Next Generation of Neighborhood Leaders

Jessie Jefferson, 79, is developing a new generation of neighborhood leaders as a consultant and community organizer for a host of neighborhoods: Town Fork Creek, Oak Park, Vineyard, South Roundtop, Seven Oaks, Blue Valley, McCoy, Washington Wheatley, and Independence Plaza.

And she fights for them, arguing for commitments from city department heads and council members to carve out financial support for these neighborhood associations so they can do the work of preserving and growing community power. Read more.

Tool: Tips for Building and Sustaining Relationships

Building and sustaining relationships is the key to successfully mobilizing your community. There are no shortcuts, but the ideas that follow might help you get off to a solid start.

Think strategically

Remember relationships are an investment of both time and energy. You cannot build and sustain effective relationships with the entire community. Choose your potential allies wisely!

Make time, ask questions, and listen

Build time in your schedule to meet individually with potential allies. Ask them questions about themselves, and listen to what they tell you! In other words, really get to know the people that you hope will eventually be avid supporters.

Be persistent

Relationships are not built overnight. Building and sustaining effective relationships will take time over many months-or even years! If you do not connect with someone the first time, be persistent! Prioritize time the following month to pay them another visit.

Communicate regularly

Building relationships can be challenging, but it's nothing compared to sustaining them. Don't let potential allies slip away from you-keep in touch! Prioritize time to make a telephone call to solicit feedback, drop-in occasionally, and/or find time to "do lunch." Receiving a monthly newsletter, in addition to personal contact, will also support the relationships you have built.

Identify small, short-term projects of mutual interest

Planning is an important part of every initiative. However, the sustained involvement of community members will depend heavily on your ability to offer opportunities for action and small wins! Keep individuals that you have developed strong relationships with in mind as project needs arise that might interest them.

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• The role of the leader

• The role of constituents

• Working together

Leadership is a transaction between leaders and followers. Neither could exist without the other. Leaders pay attention as well as catch it. Even though they are commanding figures, the interaction between leader and led is far more complicated than the simple command: they each bring out the best in the other. The new style of leadership is not arbitrary or unilateral, but rather an impressive and subtle sweeping back and forth of energy, whether between maestro and musicians or CEO and staff. The transaction creates unity. Conductor and orchestra are one....That unified focus flows from the communication of a vision.

-Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith, Learning to Lead

A lot has been written about leaders: growing them, grooming them, maintaining them, ousting them. But leadership doesn't occur in a vacuum. Presidents preside over people; speeches are given to spectators, else they remain unknown. And in many ways, it is the strength and actions of the people they lead that pave a leader's path to greatness.

In short, leadership is a two-way street. In the best of worlds, leaders and their constituents work together to get things done. By constituents, we mean those who follow the leader; the term includes both those who may work for or under the leader (for example, the staff of an organization) and also the priority population the leader is trying to help. Together, the leader and their constituents create a synergistic whole; the one providing inspiration and guidance, the other the energy and power to accomplish things. And those qualities go both ways – sometimes the followers provide the inspiration. Different types of power might be provided by leaders and constituents in the same situation.

Also, the roles of leader and follower aren't set in stone. Instead, they follow a more fluid continuum. They change from situation to situation and from day to day. For example, the executive director of an organization may be a follower to the communications director when discussing the new newsletter, the leader at an organization-wide meeting discussing the group's action plan, and a follower in the cooking course she is taking at night.

In this section we will look closely at this relationship, and discuss ways to smooth out the wrinkles that will naturally occur. The relationship between a leader and their constituents has its peaks and valleys, its opportunities and challenges, as does any personal relationship. To better understand these, we'll look specifically at the leader's role in working with constituents, and we'll touch on the part those constituents play as well. Then, we'll round the section out with a discussion of how they can work together most effectively.

The role of the leader

As we've seen throughout this chapter, leadership is a complex phenomenon. It occurs on many levels, and involves many things. Many of the attributes of leadership are talked about in other sections of this chapter. For example, communicating a vision, identifying needs, and making decisions are all things that an effective leader does continuously.

Of course, a leader doesn't do all of this alone. By definition, a leader is someone who is followed by others. The leader needs someone to communicate the vision to; to identify the needs of people or of groups of people; and to make decisions that will affect their constituents.

As such, the leader is inexorably linked with the people who follow them. But how does that (or, perhaps more important, how should that) play out in day-to-day contact between individuals? What is the role of the leader when looked at in the context of working with their constituents? There are four things that we believe are central to the leader's work with their constituents:

• Listening to constituents
• Responding to their hopes and concerns
• Inspiring constituents to thought and action with their own vision or ideals
• Delegating work

How does a leader do these things? Let's look in some depth at each of them.

Listening to constituents

To lead, you need to first understand the people who will be led. And so learning to listen--and listen well – is a critically important attribute for a leader to have. As President Woodrow Wilson once said, "The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people."

Two techniques a leader can use to become a better listener are active listening and nonverbal communication.

Active listening

Most people can hear fairly well. Fewer, however, really know how to listen. Listening is simply a more active phase of hearing. It makes good communication and understanding possible. By active listening, we mean paying full attention to what a person is saying, thinking about their comments, and asking questions or making comments that reflect the thought you are putting into what they are saying. It's both an art and a skill, and it takes practice to do it effectively.

Tips for active listening:

• Maintain eye contact. This is simple but very important; it's one of the most basic ways of showing attention.
• Pay attention to your facial expressions and body language. They might be sending a message very different from the one you intend.
• Try to start sentences with "I" instead of "You." This is less threatening to the listener.

Importance of using "I"

It is usually a good idea to start sentences with "I" instead of "You" when you want to get a point across. It offers a soft way for confrontation and correction. That's because "I" is perceived as being gentler than "you." For example, compare the following two statements:

You really aren't making any sense at all.
I'm having a very hard time understanding what you are talking about.

The second statement is easier for the listener to respond to, because it doesn't attack them directly. Of course, there are exceptions – for example, "I think you are stupid" probably will put the listener directly on the defensive. So be sure to watch your language in general, too.

• Using disclosure. Sometimes, it can be helpful to show the listener that you understand where they are coming from. For example, if they are describing a problem in their office, it can be helpful to explain how you have worked through the same difficulties.
• Use statements that validate and support what the person is talking about. Comments such as "I can tell you have put a lot of thought into this proposal," or "It sounds like you are doing a good job in a very difficult situation," can help people feel more comfortable in talking about what's on their minds.
• Be quiet. It seems obvious, but remember – you can't talk and listen at the same time.
• Remove distractions – don't doodle, tap your pen, or shuffle papers.
• Try to put yourself in the other person's place. How would you feel in the same situation? Try to understand their point of view.
• Be patient. Some people talk very quickly; others will open up more slowly. Allow people the time to say what they need to say, and try not to interrupt.
• Hold your temper. By arguing or criticizing people, you will most likely just put the talker on the defensive.
• Ask questions. This encourages the talker to continue, helps you get a better grasp of what they think, and, of course, it will demonstrate that you are really listening and trying to understand what you have heard.
• Summarize what you have heard. Again, this very simple technique can result in a huge payoff. Sometimes, just repeating back the gist of what someone has said can help them to clarify what they are thinking.
• Use "minimal encouragers." These are small comments that let the listener know you are "with them" without interrupting the flow of what you are saying. Examples are "Aha," "I see," "Go on," and, "Mm-hhmm."

Nonverbal communication

Another important part of listening is hearing what people don't say – that is, what their body language tells you. Nonverbal communication is always present – we're always telling people things with our expressions, how we move our arms, et cetera, even if we don't realize what we are doing. And even if it's not done consciously, people pay attention. Some research suggests that 70, 80, even up to 90 percent of what we communicate to others is said without words. And so, by paying attention to the basics of nonverbal communication, leaders can listen to their followers much more thoroughly than if they just hear the words.

What are some of the characteristics of nonverbal communication? First of all, it's important to remember that much of it is culturally derived – what people do varies in meaning from culture to culture. For example, in American culture, we find people "suspicious" or think that they are hiding something if they don't look us in the eye. However, in some Asian cultures, direct eye contact when you are speaking with someone is considered to be very rude.

It's also almost impossible not to use nonverbal communication. (Have you ever tried to quit blushing?) Whether we like it or not, it's an everyday part of the way we "talk" as well as "listen."

One of the challenges with nonverbal communication is that there isn't a dictionary. You can't look something up to see what it means, and it may be difficult to ask for clarification. It can also be embarrassing, because you can't always control it. For example, we may start to sweat when we're nervous – certainly not something we're trying to do!

Responding to constituents' hopes and concerns

Once the leader has listened and tried to understand what followers think and want, the next step is to respond to these hopes and concerns. A couple of points are particularly important here.

First, leaders need to be very careful to wield their influence wisely and honorably. The power a leader has gives the capability to do a lot of harm as well as good. They will make decisions that affect many people, for better or worse. Therefore, they will need to be thoughtful and careful in their actions, making sure they help people for the right reasons, and that they understand as well as possible the side effects their actions will have.

Second, a leader will often be in the position of needing to chose between competing wants and desires. For example, in a group with a limited amount of money (and very few community groups don't fall under that umbrella), the group's leader may need to decide between different equipment needed by different staff members. How can they best make this decision?

Part of this, of course, is using influence carefully, as we discussed above. Another partial answer might be to try to make the decision in a group, with all of the people involved discussing what would be best for the organization. The leader might also ask what sacrifices the would-be winner might be willing to make in exchange for obtaining this resource.

These are, of course, only part of the story. Responding to hopes and concerns is one of the challenges of leadership. It is sometimes pretty easy (and enjoyable, if you can give people what they want!), and sometimes more difficult. Unfortunately, however, there aren't any set guidelines or easy answers as to how to do it. By working justly with constituents and through good old-fashioned practice, though, it should start to come together for you.

Inspiring constituents to thought and action with his or her own vision or ideals

Another part of the leader's role with their constituents is inspiring them to thought and action. How can a leader inspire others – get the fire going under them and convince them to do the hard work necessary to achieve success?

One way is through personal modeling of the behavior that you would like to see constituents undertake. It's the old idea of leading by example. For example, if you really want people to come in on Saturdays, you probably should do it yourself. If you really want to organize the neighborhood, you might want to be out on the streets mixing it up with people.

A good example is the story of Herb Kelleher, the CEO of Southwest Airlines. It's said that he will work the baggage claim for the airline on Thanksgiving and Christmas. More local examples are a volunteer crisis clinic where the director works hard -to-fill shifts on holidays, or the head of an organization who is the first to sign up to give blood in a local drive.

The leader should also be an ethical model for the people they are working with. The leader might make independent moral choices, even very courageous ones, and stick with them. For example, he might choose to support a very unpopular candidate for city government because he believes that candidate will do the best job, even if that support could harm his own reputation. Or she might go out of her way for someone, doing things that are above and beyond the call of duty. For example, if a trusted volunteer has applied for a job where the leader knows people, she might independently call friends at that organization to recommend hiring that volunteer.

Delegating work

Delegation – the sharing of work among people at the organization – is at the very heart of working with constituents. But by delegate, we don't just mean the leader says, "do this," or, "do that." Rather, the idea that we want to get across is that when you apportion the work, you want to do so in a way that strengthens and empowers the person who will be doing the task to the full extent that is possible. A good leader uses opportunities to share work to strengthen their team, and to help members grow in their work without unduly pressuring them with tasks they can't handle.

It's not easy. There's a fine line between "too much" and "not enough" work and responsibility. The leader needs to walk a careful tightrope here. However, by following the step-by-step method outlined below, it's more likely that the process will be successful.

Find out what needs to be done

For example, perhaps the organization wants to become financially sustainable. The leader knows that this will include developing a strategic plan that will help the group generate a constant flow of revenue.

Divide work into manageable tasks

The leader doesn't need to do this alone; instead, it makes sense that they might discuss with others what makes most sense. The first step is very broad; but how does the organization actually want to become financially sustainable? Through grants? By offering some services on a fee-for -service basis? Through investments?

In this case, the organization's leader might work together with members of their board or financial sustainability committee to decide on the best strategies for the organization, and what specifically needs to be done to carry them out.

Decide who would be the best person to tackle each task

This, too, is often done together with others, as part of a work group; the leader doesn't have to go it alone here. You might identify several people who would be a good fit for each job before you ask them to help. That way, you're ready with a back-up plan if your first choice doesn't work out. It also allows some breathing room – if the person can't or doesn't want to do the job, there is less pressure on them to do it anyway.

When deciding whom to ask, consider people with some experience, but who would be "stretched" by the opportunity as well. That allows growth, and keeps people from getting bored with their work and the organization.

Communicate that decision to the chosen person(s), using all of your infinite tact and charm

Depending on the organization this may be an order or, more often, it will take the form of request. In either case, reciprocity may be an important part of it.

Explain completely what you are asking the person to do

Here, the leader should be specific and give a lot of details. This will include what you want them to do, by when they should do it, what support is available, and why you want them to do it.

Help the person(s) best do the job possible

If you are asking someone to do something that will be challenging to them, there is certainly a chance that they will fail. And that failure can lead to discouragement, which could lead to future failures as well. By giving appropriate support, you minimize the chances of that happening. Not only will that help your group in the short term, you are also effectively increasing the capacity of your organization to do more and better things in the future. You are enabling that person, and by extension your organization, to move towards even greater success.

How can you best support the person in their work? The following four suggestions can help:

• Make sure that the original instructions you give are clear, easily followed, and complete.
• Stay in touch with that person, in a friendly and supportive way. An effective leader doesn't simply delegate work and disappear – they stick around and help the person throughout the entire process.
• Ensure or create the right conditions for optimal task performance. For example, make sure people have a pleasant work space, plenty of supplies, enough time, flexibility, accessibility to you or others who can be helpful, and that they are allowed some individual decision-making.
• Monitor performance, and adjust your instructions as necessary. But be careful not to overdo this, so that you become heavy-handed; nor to under-do it, so that things get sloppy. It's finding and maintaining the right balance that is the mark of a leader who is skilled at working with constituents, an accomplishment that requires finely-honed sensitivity, as well as grace.

How else can you, as a leader, support your followers in their work?

Thank them!

Everyone likes to be appreciated. When someone has done a good job or really put a lot of effort into their work, be sure to let them know how much their work means to the organization. You can thank people in many ways--by saying thanks, by giving them a small gift, or taking them out to lunch, to give three examples.

Spread out the work

Don't ask the same people over and over again. Instead, try to offer different opportunities to a variety of individuals. Again, this keeps work interesting for people, and enhances the capacity of the organization as a whole.

The role of constituents

In community and organizational settings, people often focus on the role of leaders. However, effective change depends just as much on the contributions of constituents, members, volunteers, collaborators, and other participants. While the terms constituents or followers are sometimes associated with passivity or unquestioning acceptance, meaningful participation is quite the opposite.

Author Ira Chaleff describes the concept of the "courageous follower" as someone who actively supports a shared purpose while also thinking independently and constructively challenging decisions when needed. Most of us move between leadership and participant roles throughout our lives. Each role offers important opportunities to contribute to positive change.

Some ways to be an engaged and courageous participant include:

• Show initiative. Effective groups rely on members who identify opportunities, contribute ideas, and take action. Rather than waiting for direction, engaged participants help advance shared goals and address emerging challenges.
• Take responsibility. This includes fulfilling commitments, following through on tasks, and contributing to the success of the group. Participants share responsibility for creating a healthy, effective, and accountable organization.
• Hold leaders accountable. Respectfully question decisions, policies, or behaviors that may undermine the group's mission, values, or well-being. Constructive feedback and honest dialogue help organizations remain responsive, ethical, and effective.
• Recognize the humanity of leaders. Leaders, like all people, are imperfect and will make mistakes. While accountability is important, so are empathy, understanding, and a willingness to learn together.
• Step into leadership when needed. Leadership is not limited to formal titles. When a situation requires action and you have the capacity, expertise, or perspective to help, consider taking the initiative to guide efforts forward.
• Know when it is time to move on. There may be times when an organization's direction no longer aligns with your values or principles. Before leaving, it is often important to share concerns and seek constructive solutions. However, when differences cannot be reconciled, stepping away may be the most responsible course of action.

Working together

When an organization is effective, there exists a type of symbiosis between the leader and their followers. But even more that that, when the leader listens, responds, inspires, and delegates well, there's a kind of synergy that occurs. Leader and follower can each bring out the best in the other; they can elevate each other – both in terms of spirit and in terms of the work they do. Leadership of this kind can elevate us behaviorally, in terms of our moral and spiritual development, too. It becomes leadership of the highest order.

When looking at our common work, several things are apparently very important in understanding the duality of this relationship:

• An understanding that each role shapes the other. That is, what the leader does will affect followers’ thoughts and actions, and vice versa. The two roles aren't independent; as in a marriage, each individual will feed and grow off what the other does.
• The importance of seeing the other as a human being, not simply in respect to their role. It's important that we understand there is a person behind the "boss" or the "disgruntled employee." By looking at the whole person, we have a better view of what's really going on when they say or do something.
• The importance of working together in a climate of mutual respect. Although one person may have some control or authority over the other, it's important that respect goes both ways. If the leader doesn't hold followers in high regard, two things are lost. First, chances are good that the followers will hold the leader in less high esteem, too. Also, the leader is depriving themself of followers’ gifts and skills that they will never know about.
• An appropriate level of decision making. How much structure should there be in the relationship? How much autonomy should followers have? There are no easy answers to these questions; individual situations will call for different responses from both leaders and constituents.

Leaders might do well to remember, however, that Americans, in particular, tend to be distrustful of authority; in many cases, a lighter hand and/or more group decision making are often effective choices.

• An understanding of the common purpose that draws them together. As the saying goes, "keep your eyes on the prize." By remembering our goals – what we are working together to achieve – we can find it easier to get beyond the everyday frustrations that naturally occur as we work with other people.

In Summary

Working with constituents is one of the most challenging tasks of leadership. It is also, however, one of the most rewarding. A leader who understands how to effectively work with constituents is able to create something magical--something greater than what individuals working alone could have thought possible.

You understand the four central elements of the leader's work with his constituents:

• Listening
• Responding to hopes and concerns
• Inspiring constituents
• Delegating work

___You understand that active listening means paying full attention to what a person is saying, thinking about their comments, and asking questions or making comments that reflect the thought you are putting into what they are saying

___You understand the importance of nonverbal communication

___You understand how to respond to constituents' hopes and concerns

___You understand how to inspire constituents to thought and action

___You know how to delegate work

___You understand the role of constituents

___You understand how leaders and constituents can best work together

Example: She gets things done! The art of delegation

The following piece is reprinted from The Neighborhood Network. Thanks go out to the organization for allowing its use here.

Emily Erdman is the mother of friends that I grew up with in my home town. Everyone knew her because she was active in her church, the school, and the community. People said, "When Emily is in charge, things get done!" Some said, "When you work with Emily, she does all the delegating, and you do all the work." Others responded, "Yes, but when Emily is our chair person, things get done. And frequently more things get done than when Emily is not involved." The people in my home town knew Emily's dominant leadership style. She is a delegator, and she does it well. She accomplishes things with and through the efforts of other people.

I was often one of those recruited by Emily. Maybe I was asked because I was around or because she and Mom are friends. Or maybe it was because I did what I agreed to do. I did the tasks because I was asked and because she never asked me anything unreasonable. I never thought much about it at the time, but Emily taught me a lot about delegation that has helped me – “Get things done!"

Emily began by defining what needed to be done, divided what needed to be done into manageable tasks, and identified several people who might be able to do each task. If the first person said no, she would have someone else in mind to call.

When she asked me to do something, she would say, "Dave, I need your help." and then explain what the project was, what she needed me to do, and the date that she needed it. I could always say no. She never made me feel guilty for doing that but made it clear that when she needed help in the future, she would call on me because I could get things done.

At first she asked me to do small tasks like helping clean up after a community dinner. It grew from there. As I learned more, she told me less and less about how to do what was needed and left that up to me. Sometimes I had to find others to help. One the last tasks that Emily asked me to do was to have 100 tables in the park for the barbecue at the annual Harvest Festival. I couldn't do it by myself, but I knew that each church in town had folding tables. I also had classmates who were members of each church that lived on farms. Farmers have pick up trucks. It was a breeze and I didn't have to lift a table. I had learned how to delegate from Emily.

Emily Erdman is in her 80's now. She doesn't chair as many projects as in the past. People in my home town frequently say, "You know, we need someone like Emily Erdman to chair this project. We need someone who will get things done." Fortunately, others learned delegation skills from Emily because there are people there to take her place. She delegated herself out of business. And "things are still getting done!"

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• Importance of decision making

• Styles of decision making: Who gets to decide?

• How do you make decisions?

• Changing the scale of the process

• A last word: Deciding not to decide

Making decisions, and supervising those who make decisions beneath you, are two basic tasks of leadership. A well-crafted decision helps your organization move in the right direction and systematizing how these decisions are made can ensure that the choices made are the best ones for your group. This section provides a guide for crafting a systematic, fair way of making decisions within your organization.

Importance of decision making

What are the implications of the decisions we make? The direct consequences of our decisions may be obvious, but additionally, it's important to remember:

• Our decisions affect people. Nearly every decision we make will affect different people in one way or another. It's important to be aware of the influence our decisions will have, and understand what the "human cost" will be.
• The decisions we make demonstrate our values. Our actions testify more powerfully than our words what we believe in. For example, if a senator speaks in favor of "family values" but has a history of well-documented extramarital affairs, we'll be pretty skeptical of his stated values.
• Our decisions will set an example for those who follow us. As leaders, we must understand that what we say and do will be looked up to by our followers; that our actions will be copied and modified by those who respect us. For example, whether or not you serve alcohol at a fundraiser sends a powerful message to those who attend, and it may be copied by others as they hold fundraisers. In a very real sense, "follow the leader" is a game many people continue to play all their lives.
• It demonstrates a desire to lead. By making decisions, we prove to our followers that we are willing to take the reins, direct the action, and get things done. We have shown that we are willing to put our necks on the line and accept the consequences of our actions.
• Not deciding is a decision in itself.

Because decision making is an important part of leadership, as well as being something we can't avoid, it's a good idea to know the best way to go about it. The first step in doing so is to understand what the possibilities are.

Styles of decision making: Who gets to decide?

When there's a decision to be made, who gets to make it? Should decisions be made by a single person, by a committee, or by the entire group? Each of these methods is valid, and each may be appropriate for your group under different circumstances. In general, when determining who will make decisions for your organization, consider the following:

• The perceived importance of the decision to the group
• The time available to make the decision
• The number of other decisions that have to be made
• The degree to which the decision requires specialized expertise
• The interest and time others have in making the decision

When the decision is important, when there's plenty of time, when other matters are not pressing, when less specialized expertise is involved, and when others express their interest in making the decision -- these are all situations in which decentralized decision-making or a group decision may be appropriate. But when opposite conditions hold -- in an emergency, for example, or when expert information must be processed, or when no one cares very much -- the decision might be better made by a smaller group, or even just one person.

There are three basic decision-making paradigms your group may follow, each of which has its own variations, and each of which may be appropriate for your organization under different circumstances:

A single person decides

When a single person has responsibility for making a decision, the decision can be made either with or without input from other members of the group. Decisions made without input are most often made by a leader or an expert, or simply by the person most involved in the issue. For example, an administrative assistant who is writing the organization's newsletter may not ask for opinions on what font to use; she'll simply pick one.

Although this choice may sound a little dictatorial, and remind you of that boss you really hated, sometimes, it's the one that makes most sense. Every organization functions because of the thousands of tiny decisions made by members every day. Some are so small, even the person making them barely notices them--how the phone is answered, how a letter is signed, what colors of construction paper to buy for the supply closet. Given all of the decisions that occur, it's simply not realistic to think that we will discuss every decision with every person in the group.

A person deciding with input may ask the entire group for their thoughts; ask a small group (such as the advisory board) for their recommendation; or tap a few individuals with expertise on the issue.

Finally, it's important for leaders to know when it's most appropriate to leave decisions up to others. If a leader doesn't know when to delegate, her time (and potentially, that of many other people) will be taken up by many details that could better be handled by others. For example, the Executive Director may decide what the letters to members of the advisory board should say, but leave such decisions as to who buys the stationery, at what store, etc., to the office manager.

Additionally, if other members of the organization feel they have some power or "say" in the group, they will be more likely to invest their time and energy into what they are doing. A leader who makes all of the decisions is robbing herself of the expertise of her staff, and she is robbing staff of their ability to grow and make meaningful contributions to the organization.

How does a leader avoid the phenomenon of "micromanaging" that can be so harmful? Several things can be helpful:

• Open communication with others in the organization. There is simply no substitute for talking with people and learning their strengths, weaknesses, and the level of responsibility with which they feel comfortable. Communicating with followers is very important: there is absolutely no substitute for clear, open communication between a leader and their followers.
• Recognize expertise. If a member of your coalition works full time as a graphic artist, you might ask them to design a logo for the group. The intelligent leader knows that sometimes, the best decision they can make is to hand the decision over to someone better equipped than they are. Remember: we're all followers in some things.
• Make opportunities equal to experience. Start by giving followers a small amount of freedom and power in making decisions, and as they grow and become ready for increased responsibility, give it to them. You didn't begin reading with Shakespeare; you started with alphabet books and Dr. Seuss. Decision making skills take time to develop, too; over time, the intelligent leader gives more and more decision making power to a follower who shows they are ready for it. Not only does this allow the follower to build their skills slowly and carefully, it allows them to do so in a manner that doesn't put an overwhelming amount of pressure on them (or too much worry on the leader!)

A group decides by consensus

In a consensus, the entire group will agree upon a certain course of action. There are different variations on this as well. For instance, there is "hard consensus," in which everyone has to overtly agree; that is, every member will say or write, "Yes, I am in agreement that we should do that." We also see "soft" consensus, where everyone may not agree, but at least they don't vocally object. "Soft" consensus is quite common, especially when groups have a lot to do. It says, "Okay, we can all live with this, so that we can move on to the next item."

But even "soft" consensus may be difficult to achieve as groups get larger. Sometimes, it's hard enough to get two people to agree on something, let alone two hundred. And for this reason, many groups move on to the third possibility:

A group decides by voting

When people vote, there are several ways to determine the minimum vote necessary. The minimum vote might be:

• A plurality -- that is, the greatest number of votes carries the decision, even if that number is less than half of the total votes. Pluralities are used in cases where there are three or more possibilities to choose among.
• A simple majority -- more than half the votes are cast for the same thing.
• Two-thirds or more of the vote in favor of a certain choice.

A fourth possibility, worth mentioning briefly, is that a decision can be achieved using more than one of these styles. For example, a group might first want to aim for consensus. If that cannot be achieved, then it might vote -- or it might choose to study the issue some more before even taking a vote.

How do you make decisions?

So, how does the leader go about making decisions? Although each leader will have a distinct style, the following steps are helpful in most circumstances, especially for larger or more important decisions.

Decide who will decide

This choice is one that is usually made by the leader. They might consider the list of characteristics listed in "Who should decide?" above to help them with this initial decision.

See to people's comfort

If the decision will be made by a group of people, it is the job of the group leader to make sure that the level of comfort is high among members of the group. It's difficult for many people to speak openly in a group, especially if they do not know other members well. Remember: the silence of group members is an automatic loss to your organization.

Once you have set the stage, so to speak, you're ready to start looking at the situation in front of you. The decision maker(s) should:

Look at the decision as part of the big picture

It's easy to get caught up in the moment. However, it's important to look at the place the decision has in the "grand scheme" of what you are doing. Quite simply, the decision makers should have a basic understanding of how this decision will affect the issue you are working on, as well as your organization as a whole.

Example: Looking at the big picture

Let's say your group is considering whether or not members of the coalition should give skills training presentations at local schools on ways to reduce violence. You have the resources to give the presentation, and you know it could only mean good press for the group.

So, an easy decision, right? There is, however, a catch -- your group sees itself as a catalyst for change--members have worked very hard for years to get other members of the community motivated, and not do all the work themselves. They have tried to keep the organization from falling into what they see as the "trap" of becoming a service organization. Giving these presentations would definitely put you in the category of a service provider, at least for the present. In the long run, is giving these presentations really best for the organization?

Gather information

Information can come from a wide variety of sources--from the press, from people who are affected by the problem, from people who have a lot of influence in the community, from statistics, and from many other sources. The important thing to remember is that whatever you do, don't skip too quickly over this step. An uninformed (or underinformed) decision is most likely one you will come to regret. Try to find out everything you can about the decision and its consequences, including:

• The likely outcome
• Possible outcomes
• Side effects
• Possible solutions
• The opinions of others on the decision and its possible solutions
• The ideas of others who have gone through similar experiences

Although we do suggest gathering as much information as possible, understand that you probably won't have all of the information you would like when you make a decision. Frankly, there may never be a time when all of the information is in, and waiting too long turns into stalling, and isn't helpful for anyone. So when you have all of the information you deem essential, or that is readily available, you are probably ready to move on to the next step.

Consider all of the possible solutions

Using all of the information you have gathered, make a list of all of the decisions imaginable.

If the decision requires a yes/no or either/or response, this step is less necessary, but even then, it shouldn't be completely overlooked. A decision that appears to be a simple this-or-that choice may actually have other possibilities lurking underneath the surface.

Considering all possible solutions

For example, if the decision is whether Jim or Chris should be elected to the Board, it sounds like there are only two possibilities, right? But actually, those deciding might do any one of at least six different things:

• Elect Jim
• Elect Chris
• Elect Jim and Chris, even if that means changing the traditional number of Board members
• Elect neither Jim nor Chris
• Put off the decision
• Decide that Jim and Chris should share a seat

And so on.

The lesson here? When weighing your options, don't be shortsighted.

If there are many possibilities, this point is even more important. And if you, the leader, have decided to make this decision on your own, we suggest that you consult with others at this point, to see what other suggestions they may have. You might even consider a brainstorming session where several of you come together and try to think up as many possibilities as you can.

Evaluate the possibilities

When you have prepared your list of possible choices, you should sit down and evaluate which ones make most sense for your organization at this time. Questions the decision maker should ask include:

• How much time and effort will each of these options take?
• What can we afford to do, financially?
• What can we afford to do, politically?
• What options do we absolutely NOT want to pursue?
• What information are we still missing that could change our decision?
• What are the likely reactions of other members of our group?
• What are the likely reactions of people outside of our group?
• What looks like the best option for our group at this time?

It's a good idea to write down your answers to these questions; sometimes, a decision is easier when you have all of your thoughts organized in front of you in black and white.

Decide

After the information is in and you've evaluated the possibilities, it's finally time to decide. If you have followed the steps outlined in this chapter closely, the decision should be fairly clear -- even if it's not always easy, and even if regrets remain. Let's face it, choices rarely are easy in any aspect of our lives; unfortunately, our work for our communities is no different.

Follow through on the decision

Finally, it is the responsibility of those deciding to make sure the decision is carried out, and all your hard work is not lost.

Changing the scale of the process

The decision making process, as outlined above, is focused mainly on larger, more difficult decisions, with consequences that lay more heavily on leaders and have a large effect on the organization as a whole. But the process can be used on a smaller scale as well, using the parts that are most necessary in a more casual day-to-day manner.

Using the decision-making process for a smaller project

Tom, the head of a student leadership project, wants to make T-shirts for the participants, but is unsure of what the design should be. Let's look at how the steps of this process might be useful to him:

• Decide who will decide -- Tom has decided that, as head of the project, he is the best person to decide. However, he's not a fantastic artist, so he knows he will need to get input from others, such as a graphic designer and possibly some of the students.
• See to people's comfort -- Since Tom will decide alone, this step is less necessary.
• Look at the decision as part of the big picture -- The T-shirts will give some publicity to the group, so it's important that any message they carry is in keeping with the group. They are also a "thank you" to the students, so it's important that the shirt is one they will like.
• Gather information -- Tom can talk to the students about what they like and dislike in T-shirts ("I'm sick to death of white T-shirts"); find out if other members of his organization have suggestions as to what to do and how to do it; find out how much money the organization has for shirts; and identify someone who might be willing to design the shirts at a reduced cost.
• Consider all of the possible solutions -- Tom can work with a friend with artistic talent to design several possibilities.
• Evaluate the possibilities -- Taking into account financial considerations and what people like (he might ask several of the students), he can determine which design makes most sense for the student leaders' T-shirts.
• Decide -- At this point, Tom's decision should be clear.
• Follow through on the decision -- The choice has been made, but Tom still has to work with the T-shirt shop to design the shirts, pay them, get the shirts, and distribute them to the students.

A last word: Deciding not to decide

Through this section, we have discussed the importance of a good decision. However, there are times when you may want to put off a decision, or avoid it entirely. Why is that?

Well, when faced with a difficult choice, you don't want to be so "decisive" that you decide too soon, and close off input and discussion too early. This can be seen as being more "impulsive" than decisive, and can have negative consequences for your group. You could decide before you have all of the important information, for example; or you might decide before everyone has had a chance to fully explain their views or come to terms with a decision they disagree with.

So sometimes, a conscious decision "not to decide" can be the way to go. After careful deliberation, the decision maker(s) involved might decide it's better to wait until there is more information; or until members have had a chance to "cool off" if an intense debate has been waged on the topic.

In Summary

Making decisions, and supervising those who make decisions beneath you, are two basic tasks of leadership. By systematizing the way you make decisions, you can ensure that each decision will be the best one possible. Members of your organization will appreciate a systematic, fair way of making decisions, and your organization will benefit more thoroughly from their expertise.

___You understand why decision making is important

___You understand the three styles of decision making:

• A single person decides
• A group decides by consensus
• A group decides by voting

___You understand the decision making process

___You have decided who will decide

___You have seen to people's comfort

___You are looking at the decision as part of the big picture

___You have gathered information

___You have considered all of the possible solutions

___You have evaluated the possibilities

___You have decided

___You have followed through on the decision

___You understand how to use this process for smaller decisions

___You understand that sometimes not deciding is the better alternative

Tool 1: Brainstorming Techniques

Brainstorming is a tried-and-true way to come up with ideas in a group. The method is simple. The problem is stated, and the recorder stands in front of a room with some newsprint or a blackboard. People in the group say whatever ideas pop into their minds. The recorder writes down all of the comments made.

Helpful hints to keep in mind when brainstorming:

• Watch out for assumptions; every unnecessary assumption reduces the number of potential solutions. If your group is looking for entertainment for an upcoming celebration, for example, don't assume that there isn't talent within the group. You might have an outstanding singer who is just too shy to bring his talents up unasked.
• Simply giving instructions that people can or should be creative in the brainstorming session may help raise the number and quality of solutions created.
• No idea is too outlandish. The meeting recorder writes all the ideas down. Why? An idea that seems ridiculous on first hearing it might turn out to be possible, even desirable. Or it might be modified by other members of the group, and end up being the perfect solution to the problem.
• Nobody should comment on how good or bad the ideas are; there should be no discussion about them at this time. People keep producing all kinds of ideas until everyone runs out of steam.
• Ideas can be "piggybacked" or combined as people see connections during the process.
• The facilitator should keep the energy high, and constantly ask for more and different ideas. This might even be done in the manner of an auctioneer, with constant chatter and a fast-paced discussion.
• If the group gets off the subject, the facilitator or recorder can gently remind them of why they are there.
• Discussion, analysis, and idea selection come later.

Variations on brainstorming:

• A period of individual brainstorming can precede the group activity. Each person generates his/her own ideas privately and later shares them with the group.
• If idea generating is done on a day after you defined and analyzed the problem, group members can be asked to generate solutions as "homework" between the two sessions.

Tool 2: Worksheet: Evaluating the Possibilities

You can use the following worksheet to try and decide which possibilities make most sense for your organization at this time. If you are deciding in a group, there are different ways you can use this sheet.

• Everyone can fill out the sheet individually and discuss the answers as a group.
• Questions can be written on poster paper before the meeting begins (one question per page), and the facilitator or recorder can list people's responses on the page as they are brought up.

Evaluating the Possibilities
How much time and effort will each of these take?
What can we afford to do, financially?
What can we afford to do, politically?
What options do we absolutely NOT want to pursue?
What information are we still missing the could change our decision?
What are the likely reactions of other members of our group?
What are the likely reactions of people outside our group?
What looks like the best option for our group at this time?

Tool 3: Tamarack Institute's Gradients of Agreement

The Gradients of Agreement tool, by Tamarack Institute, helps groups make decisions by offering a range of responses, not just a simple "yes" or "no." Participants indicate how strongly they support or oppose an idea, revealing areas of consensus and points requiring further discussion. This approach encourages inclusive dialogue, reduces pressure to conform, and builds trust, making it ideal for community engagement and collaborative planning.

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• What do we mean by setbacks and adversity?

• Why is it important to focus on overcoming setbacks and adversity?

• When should you work to overcome setbacks and adversity?

• How do you, as a leader, overcome setbacks and adversity?

Leaders must provide real leadership by communicating well, and keeping the organization and its staff and volunteers focused on the future. However, the true measure of a leader depends on how they handle setbacks and adversity. This section provides a guide to help you and other leaders within your organization work to overcome setbacks.

What do we mean by setbacks and adversity?

For the purposes of this section, we’ll consider setbacks and adversity as distinct from each other. Each demands something slightly different from a leader, as we’ll explore in the rest of the section.

Setbacks

A setback is a single event or specific series of events that impedes your forward progress as an organization. Perhaps the city knocked down a historic building you were trying to protect. The Legislature slashed the budget of your major funder, despite your advocacy efforts.  After two years, evaluation of your adolescent pregnancy prevention program shows an increase in pregnancy among adolescents among members of the population you’re working with. The local TV station inaccurately accuses your organization of misusing public money.

These are all setbacks. They’re one-time, one-of-a-kind occurrences that may leave you wondering why you’re doing health or community work at all. They haven’t exactly defeated you, but they’ve caused you to pull back and regroup. Even in the last of the examples above, where the news story is inaccurate, you’ll have to deal with people’s memories of the story and their assumptions that it was true, at least for a while.      

Adversity

Adversity, rather than a distinct occurrence, is more likely to be an ongoing unfavorable condition. It may or may not set you back, but it often makes it harder to move forward.  You might, for instance, have ongoing difficulty reaching the population you’re concerned with, or your organization might never have quite enough money. The community, or a particular group, might oppose your work. (Think of trying to establish shelters for people experiencing homelessness or transitional housing for people recently released from incarceration in residential neighborhoods.) Unlike setbacks, which are often single events, adversity can last a long time, and encompass many events and changes in circumstances.

One human service program struggled for the first several years of its existence with inadequate funding.  Staff members were paid so little that many were eligible for some form of public assistance.  There were no insurance benefits, and the Executive Director worked full time for several years for 80% of their official salary.  Paying the rent was always a struggle, and the Director sometimes had to negotiate payment plans with the phone company and others in order to make sure that payroll checks would clear.  It took nearly ten years before finances were reasonably stable.

As you might expect, setbacks and adversity require different responses from leaders.  A setback often needs a quick and specific response. It’s as if you’re driving children to school, and come to a tree fallen across the road. You’ll have to stop quickly, so as not to hit it, and then either turn around and find another route, or move the tree so you can go on. Either way, the children will be restless and excited, and they’ll probably be late for school.  If the obstruction is large, it may take some concerted effort over a period of time, and perhaps a lot of interpersonal skill, to keep the organization on an even keel while you absorb and move beyond whatever has fallen in your path. The effects of many setbacks, however, are limited in time: once you’ve dealt with them, you can move on.

Adversity is more like a long family trip on a bad road in bad weather: you’ll need a steady hand on the wheel and a steady focus on the road, the traffic, and the conditions until the trip is over.  Your concentration has to be on getting your family safely to the end of the journey. That’s more like a leader’s role in adversity: they have to keep moving steadily forward through difficulty, bringing the rest of the organization with them.

Setbacks and adversity can also be internal to an organization or movement.  When a respected and competent leader leaves or – worse – dies, there is often confusion and uncertainty for a period of time: that’s a setback.  When staff members don’t communicate, insist on protecting their turf, and continually try to undermine the leader and one another, that’s an adverse situation that can poison an organization for a long time.

Why is it important to focus on overcoming setbacks and adversity?

Just about any health or community service organization experiences setbacks and adversity from time to time. It comes with the territory. Why worry about it specifically? The answer is that these can be critical situations in the life of an organization, and how a leader handles them can make or break it. There are several reasons why coping well with and overcoming setbacks and adversity are important.

To keep the organization moving forward

Organizations, like individuals, have to keep learning and changing for the better if they’re to remain healthy. Setbacks and adversity, if they’re not handled properly, can stop an organization from moving forward, and even throw it into reverse. Regardless of how difficult life may be at a given time, the organization has to keep moving toward its goals, and trying to improve its work and functioning every day, in small ways and large. In hard times, a leader can set a tone that ensures progress, even while everyone’s picking themself up off the floor.

To avoid discouragement and despair

When things go wrong, it can be easy to start feeling as if there’s no point to your work. Furthermore, when one person – particularly a leader – gets discouraged, their attitude can quickly spread to others. When an organization, like a person, gets depressed, it becomes much harder to work, to see small successes, and to put up with everyday problems and frustrations. When the going is rough, leaders can bolster people’s spirits, and help them believe that troubles will end and things will get better.

To keep staff and volunteer morale high

It isn’t enough just to keep an organization from despair. If you are to continue to do high-quality work, staff members and volunteers have to retain their passion and dedication. A leader can set the tone by demonstrating their own passion for the work, and by encouraging everyone to do their best, despite any difficulties that might be plaguing the organization.

To maintain standing in the community

Overcoming setbacks or adversity can help your reputation in two ways. First, by maintaining a high standard of service, performance, or advocacy, you establish yourself as an effective organization. Second, if the community is aware of your difficulties, your ability to overcome them can demonstrate your organizational competence, your dedication to your work, and your determination to continue to serve the community through bad times as well as good.

To add to your and the organization’s store of knowledge

Setbacks and adversity often present the best opportunities for learning. Just as children learn by experimenting and making mistakes, organizations do, too. When you’ve run into trouble, whether through your own doing or because of outside forces, you’ve learned something valuable, and can usually figure out how to avoid that trouble in the future. Finding a way out of your present trouble also leads to learning that will strengthen your organization over the long term. Many management consultants and business experts see setbacks and adversity as potential advantages rather than drawbacks, because of what you can learn from them and the opportunities for growth they represent.

To enhance your development as a person and as a leader

Facing setbacks and adversity is a character- and leadership-building experience that all leaders – in fact, all humans – go through. Each time you have to deal with difficulties, you gain new knowledge and new skills, personal as well as professional. Being tested in this way is how great leaders become great leaders, and it’s how you can begin to realize your leadership potential.

To maintain the organization’s faith in its leadership

Here’s where true leadership shows itself. If you can handle a difficult situation or condition and keep things on an even keel, your organization will be more likely to follow you anywhere.  If you fall apart when things don’t go smoothly, you’ll have less credibility as a leader in the future.

To keep the focus on your mission, and continue to serve or work for those at whom the effort is aimed

The purpose of your organization is to serve the community, whether as a health or other service provider, an advocate, a watchdog, or in some other capacity. When faced with setbacks or adversity, it’s vital that you not forget or ignore your mission, and continue to pursue your vision for the organization and for social change.

When should you work to overcome setbacks and adversity?

The question here is one of time, rather than timing. Setbacks and adversity each require a different kind of time sense from a leader.

Setbacks

In the case of a setback, action should usually be immediate, and geared specifically to removing the obstacle or reversing the situation, whatever it is. What can you do to turn things around and find yourself in the positive column again?

If something you’ve worked for simply isn’t going to happen – that historic building has already been demolished – you have to find a new goal that’s related to the one that just got away, and use what you’ve learned in the current situation to make sure you reach it.  Work to preserve other historic buildings in the same neighborhood, for instance, and find a lawyer who has experience in this area to help you pro bono (i.e., for no fee, as a community service).

When the situation is reversible, you should quickly make an effort to turn it around. If an evaluation reveals that your approach to an issue isn’t working, determine what’s at fault – the approach itself, the way you’re implementing it, cultural differences between staff and participants, etc. – and fix it as quickly as possible. That may mean anything from a minor change in method to a complete overhaul of a program. Whatever it entails, it usually needs to be done as soon as possible, before the organization’s ineffectiveness causes it permanent damage.

If you act quickly and decisively enough, you can turn a setback into a victory. At the very least, you can keep it from paralyzing your organization and seriously harming those your organization seeks to benefit.

Adversity

With adversity, your action may be longer term and ongoing.  You’re working to overcome not a single event, but a condition: it may take a while, and call for various kinds and levels of action.  The important factor here is perseverance – you have to keep at it until things get better.  Sometimes an adverse situation can call for quick action to keep it from getting worse, but generally it requires steadiness and a commitment to moving forward regardless of the difficulty.

Sometimes, there are obvious ways to forge ahead.  If your organization is in debt or financially strapped, you shouldn’t be operating out of a high-rent office full of new furniture, unless both the space and the furnishings are donated. You’ll have to be thrifty for as long as it takes to pay off any debts and put the organization back on firm financial footing.

Slow and steady generally wins the race here. Your actions as a leader don’t have to be quick or flashy – unless the situation calls for it, as it might in the case of an emergency, or a grant possibility or other opportunity – but they do have to keep the organization moving toward with both its long-term goals and the goal of overcoming its adverse circumstances.

Sometimes, on the other hand, even in the case of a setback, the best course is to take the time you need to understand the situation before you take specific action to counter it.  It’s important, as we’ll see, to take action, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be directly related to resolving the immediate problem in order to have a positive effect on the organization.

Delaying too long isn’t a good idea, but taking enough time to ensure that you’re going in the right direction might be, if the circumstances call for it.  If you don’t quite know yet what the best course of action is, it may be wise to step back and analyze your options before you commit yourself.

How do you, as a leader, overcome setbacks and adversity?

As a leader, you have special responsibilities in difficult times. No matter what style of leader you are – even, or perhaps especially, if you’re highly collaborative – people will look to you to see how they should react to the situation, and to find out what to do. They’ll expect you to have some ideas, and to guide them through what may be a frightening period.  (After all, staff members may be faced with the possibility of losing their jobs.) If you fall apart, or make it clear you have no idea what to do, the organization can easily fall into despair or worse, and your reputation as a leader will erode, perhaps never to return.

On the other hand, if you approach setbacks and adversity as opportunities for growth, you can not only keep your organization steady, but move it forward. Even if you make mistakes – perhaps especially if you do – the experience can lead to a greater understanding of your situation and your work, and help to advance the organization. Remember that the Chinese symbol for “crisis” is made up of the symbols for “danger” and “opportunity.” You may not be in crisis, but any setback or adverse situation presents both danger and opportunity. If you keep opportunity in the foreground, the chances are good that you’ll easily overcome or skirt the danger by moving the organization to another level.

Although setbacks and adversity may call for slightly different approaches, there are some general guidelines that should prove useful in dealing with both. We’ll discuss these, and look at how you might respond differently in different situations. Remember that we’re talking about you as a leader here – although these are not bad rules for organizations in general, they’re particularly relevant for those in leadership positions.

The first eight of the guidelines below refer to how a leader should present themself and behave in difficult circumstances. The rest suggest ways in which they might change the situation.

Stay calm

It’s essential that you maintain a calm and confident manner, no matter how difficult or bleak the situation may seem. Everyone else will key on you: if you stay calm and seem to be in control, the rest of the organization will as well. If you panic, or seem harried, the rest of the organization will imitate that, too. Then you’ll have two adverse situations to deal with: the original one, and the mood of panic in the organization.

The other obvious reason for staying calm is that it will allow you to assess the situation and decide what to do about it. If you're panicking or thrown off by the seriousness of whatever you have to cope with, you’re not likely to be able to think clearly and make good decisions.

This rule works for both setbacks and adversity.  In the case of a setback, panic, while it might be appropriate, is exactly the wrong reaction. It will disrupt the organization’s work, cause staff members and/or volunteers to lose heart, and make it that much more difficult to reverse, manage, or prevent whatever damage the original event might cause.

In a long-term adverse situation – opposition from another group, a chronic lack of funding – calmness on the part of a leader makes everyone feel that someone’s in control and knows how to get through the difficulty.

Communicate

Let everyone know exactly what’s going on, and keep them informed as the situation develops. If you don’t, rumors will take the place of real information, and panic may set in. The stories that people make up are usually much worse than the reality. Even if they’re not, not knowing what’s going on is generally far more frightening than knowing the truth, even when the truth is unpleasant.

Take action

Do something – it’s crucial that people see that someone is taking charge and addressing the situation. The action may not be an immediate solution to the problem at hand, but it should at least convey the impression that you’re working on it. It might involve setting up a planning committee (see below) or a communication system so that everyone keeps informed. Whatever steps you take, take them as soon as possible.

When your organization has just experienced a setback, it’s important to establish the fact that both you, as a leader, and the organization will be active – you won’t wait for something positive to happen, you’ll make something positive happen to offset the blow you’ve just received. In adversity, the goal is the same – to both appear and be active – but the kind of action needed may be somewhat different. Adversity may call for determining and doggedly pursuing a goal over time, taking action along the way as necessary. In both cases, it’s important that both you and the organization choose your course and follow it, rather than letting events or external forces choose it for you.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in as President of the U.S. in 1933, the country was in the depths of the Great Depression.  25% of the workforce was unemployed, every city was filled with people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, and the nation was on the verge of social chaos.  Roosevelt was unfailingly upbeat in the face of the worst financial conditions the U.S. has ever faced, giving people hope in such speeches as his Inaugural, when he promised that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” But he did more than give speeches.

On his second day as President, FDR acted to save the nation’s banks, which were besieged by depositors demanding their money in the fear that if they didn’t withdraw it immediately, it would all be lost.  By declaring a “bank holiday,” closing the banks for eight days until the money situation could be brought under control, he established himself as a decisive and able leader and a man of action.

In his first 100 days as President, Roosevelt started much of the New Deal, a complex of agencies and projects that pumped federal money into addressing unemployment and poverty.  By the end of that three-month period, the U.S. had already decided that it had the leader it needed to pull it back from the brink of disaster.  Roosevelt continued to take action in the face of adversity throughout his presidency.  At least partially as a result, he became the only President elected to four terms, and is considered by most historians to be, along with Washington and Lincoln, one of the three greatest and most inspirational of American presidents.

Determine what went wrong, and use your analysis to fix the problem if it’s within your control, or to cope with it, if it’s not

Were you or the organization responsible for the situation? If you, as leader, take care of finances, and you overspent your budget, that’s your responsibility. If your program proved ineffective, that’s the organization’s responsibility. Whatever the case, you have to be fearlessly honest in assessing the situation, so that you can understand how to fix things.

If the situation is beyond your control – the state fiscal crisis resulted in a cut in funds; the transit authority rerouted the bus so that it now stops six blocks away instead of at your front door; there’s a new drug on the street that’s resulted in a huge increase in both violence and overdoses – what seems to have caused it?  Are there ways around it? Are there things you could do that would affect it?  Try to analyze the situation so you can understand how to deal with it.

The other result of understanding how you got into this situation should be a strategy for not getting into it again.  That may be a matter of installing better controls on your finances, communicating better with the community, creating a new program structure or method – whatever addresses a way of preventing this problem in the future.  In some cases, that may require a whole new way of thinking about your work, your funding, or your organization.  Remember that the purpose of the organization is to fulfill its mission.  You should do whatever is necessary to make sure that the organization can continue to accomplish that purpose, as long as it’s ethical and doesn’t violate the principles on which the organization was founded.

The one exception to this last rule occurs when the organization is founded on principles that are flawed to begin with.  Many organizations originally served only white people, for example, often as a result of conditions written into a will or deed.  In a case like that, violating the original principles of the organization may be an ethical and moral duty.

Develop a strategic plan for coping with the situation

This plan should cover the whole organization, even if the setback or adverse circumstances only affect part of it, and should include a way to keep the current situation from recurring. If it’s caused by something beyond your control, look for a way to take over control of that area of your work. If it’s a funding issue, for instance, perhaps you can diversify your funding (i.e., find a variety of funding sources instead of depending on only one or a small number) so that a cut from any one source won’t affect you seriously.

Involve everyone in the organization in planning your strategy

If you’re a small group, you might all plan the course of the organization together. If you’re large, with many employees and volunteers, or a number of departments, you could either draft an overall plan with representatives of the various areas of the organization, or the staff and/or volunteers in each department or site might draft plans for their own area, with representatives coming together regularly to blend these plans into a larger plan for the organization as a whole.

Involving all staff and/or volunteers brings many minds to the planning process, often resulting in better ideas and more information. If staff members and volunteers collaborate in planning the organization’s future, they’ll take ownership of the plan and the organization, and work hard to make both succeed. More important, people feel a great deal less helpless when they can be part of the solution to a problem. It’s far more likely that the work of the organization will maintain, and even increase, its quality if staff and volunteers are part of the solution to whatever problems are plaguing them.  In many cases, it may make sense to enlist program participants in planning as well, both because they can bring a valuable perspective to the task, and because they, too, can benefit from feeling that they have some control over their situation.

Involving staff members and volunteers in difficult situations also gives you the opportunity to encourage them to take responsibility and develop leadership skills.  Developing new leadership within the organization (or the community) is part of the job of a good leader, and adverse situations offer a great chance to do it.

Ask for help from outside the organization if you need it . . . and sometimes even if you don’t

If there isn’t the expertise or knowledge within the organization to address the situation, there are others out there who can help. Other leaders of nonprofits who’ve been through something similar, funders, academics, business people – all may have ideas and strategies to offer, depending on the situation you’re grappling with. The advantage of bringing in outside help is that, in addition to providing what the organization lacks, it can gain you greater community understanding of your work and your needs, and thus greater community support.

Emphasize moving the organization forward

Set a goal to replace one that wasn’t fulfilled, or to advance the organization. It should be reachable, so the organization can have some success, but not so easy that achieving it doesn’t feel like an accomplishment.

Any organization, whether it’s struggling or highly successful, has to keep developing and striving to improve if it’s to become or remain effective. You may have been pushed back, or you may be stalled by adverse circumstances, but your thrust should always be forward, rather than just to retain or regain ground. Everyone in the organization should be concentrating on the future and on moving ahead, as well as on coping with current troubles. That will both keep everyone focused on the organization’s real goal – fulfilling its mission – and put it in a better position to overcome present problems and prevent future ones.

Accentuate the positive

Keep things upbeat and focused on what’s going right, not what’s going wrong. You can’t ignore the problem or the difficult situation, but you can emphasize that that’s not all that’s happening.  If you’re having fiscal problems, but participants are receiving good services, for instance, praise staff members for the good job they’re doing, and encourage them to keep up the quality of their work.  It’s much easier to face and address setbacks and adversity if all in the organization are convinced of the value of what they’re doing and are receiving positive reinforcement for it.  Emphasizing the positive will strengthen staff and/or volunteer morale, and keep the organization heading in the right direction.

A related step you can take here is to build on individuals’ and the organization’s strengths, rather than expending all your energy trying to correct their weaknesses.  This will help morale, as well as build on what you already do well.  It may be that you’re trying to do the wrong things.  If you can discover that in the course of dealing with a difficult situation, you’ve been given a huge gift, and you have a chance to change the approach of the organization for the better.

As leader, share the hardships of the situation with the rest of the organization

In that example of adversity mentioned earlier, the Executive Director – who didn’t make much more than the rest of the staff – took a pay cut to keep the organization solvent. Military commanders in the field often take pains to live under the same conditions as their troops, in order to emphasize that they’re all in it together, and that they wouldn’t ask anyone to endure hardship without enduring the same hardship themselves. This kind of action and attitude strengthens your credibility as a leader, and increases the dedication with which staff members and volunteers will work to improve the situation.

Use the situation to build solidarity within the organization

None of you will be able to overcome setbacks and adversity unless you all work together and support one another.  You may actually be able to increase staff and volunteer morale and dedication to one another and the organization by emphasizing that fact. The more you back up your words by involving everyone in finding solutions to problems and in helping one another, the more likely it is that the organization will come out the other side of the current difficulty stronger and more able than before.

Despite the seriousness of what you’re going through, make sure to make time to socialize and have fun together occasionally. You might schedule a weekly staff brown bag lunch, go out for pizza, have a volunteer appreciation party, or just gather late in the day to talk over coffee. Do whatever you can to build a sense of shared commitment; it will pay huge dividends in the long run, and will make work more pleasant for everyone, including you.

Make sure everyone in the organization – including you – gets the emotional and other support that is needed

Either as part of the process of building solidarity described just above, or through other mechanisms, give staff, volunteers, participants, and board members a chance to talk about the current situation, and to work through feelings of frustration or powerlessness. They need to know that you support them and appreciate what they do, and they need to support one another, so that no one feels that they’re trying to cope with a trying situation all alone.

That includes you, as a leader. You don’t have to – and shouldn’t – bear the whole weight of the organization on your shoulders. Find a source of support for yourself – a counselor, a fellow director, a spiritual advisor, a close friend – who can listen to and empathize with your frustrations and exhaustion, and remind you of what you’re doing right. It can make a world of difference both for you and for the organization.

Don’t be too serious

Humor is often the best response to tough times. It helps people understand that this isn’t the end of the world, but only a temporary condition that you can overcome and move on from. It also keeps everyone from dwelling on the negative, and gives staff and volunteers leave to vent their frustrations in humor as well. It’s a good outlet, and a good morale booster.

Point out the learning that came out of the situation

What you’ve learned about the organization as a result of this process can be a valuable tool for the future. This isn’t the last time you’ll face a setback or an adversity. You’ve used what you learned in the past to approach the current situation, and you can use what you’ve learned from this one to address situations that arise in the future.Try to ensure that everyone in the organization understands the lessons of the current situation, and record it in some way if you can, so it will be accessible to the organization after you and many of the others involved have left.

Always keep the big picture in mind

Remember that this situation is probably only temporary. Don’t allow it to cloud your vision or derail your mission. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to keep the organization focused on its main goals.You can do that by always steering the organization toward problem-solving strategies and actions that are consistent with its larger vision and mission, and constantly checking that any steps you take are aimed at those ends. If you weather a setback by violating the basic principles of the organization, you haven’t succeeded in overcoming an obstacle. Rather, you’ve let adversity mold your organization into something it wasn’t meant to be.

Don’t let up

Even after the situation has changed for the better, continue working to ensure that you don’t fall into the same circumstances again. Many of the guidelines above are just as valuable when things are going well as they are when you’re facing setbacks or adversity: staying calm, communicating within the organization, moving forward, accentuating the positive, being honest about mistakes, planning – all of these are highly desirable traits in a leader, and highly desirable characteristics in an organization. They can not only help you overcome setbacks and adversity, but can help you reach and maintain excellence when times are good.

In Summary

The real measure of a leader comes when things aren’t going well. How they handle setbacks and adversity determines both how good a leader they are, and how people will view their leadership.

Setbacks – generally a one-time occurrences that may be serious, but not ongoing – and adversity – a longer-term difficult condition – are different and make different demands on leaders.  The first often responds to quick and decisive action, the second to a steady style of leadership that keeps long-term goals in view.

In either case, leaders must provide real leadership by projecting calmness and competence, keeping the organization and its staff and volunteers focused on the future, communicating well, providing emotional support, and involving people in resolving the problems that have led to the current situation. As with most leadership tasks, overcoming setbacks and adversity also requires continuing effort, even after the immediate difficulty is left behind, to make sure a similar situation doesn’t place the organization in jeopardy again.

What do we mean by setbacks and adversity?

___A setback is a single event or specific series of events that impedes your forward progress as an organization

___Adversity, rather than a distinct occurrence, is more likely to be an ongoing unfavorable condition

___Setbacks and adversity each make different demands on a leader

Why is it important to focus on overcoming setbacks and adversity?

___To keep the organization moving forward

___To avoid discouragement and despair

___To keep staff/volunteer morale high

___To maintain standing in the community

___To add to your and the organization’s store of knowledge

___To enhance your development as a person and as a leader

___To maintain the organization’s faith in its leadership

___To keep the focus on your mission, and continue to serve or work for those at whom the effort is aimed

When should you work to overcome setbacks and adversity?

___In the case of a setback, action should usually be immediate, and geared specifically to reversing the situation, whatever it is

___In adversity, you have to move forward steadily, both to get the organization through difficulties and in order to overcome them

How do you, as a leader, overcome setbacks and adversity?

___Stay calm

___Communicate

___Take action

___Determine what went wrong, and use your analysis to fix the problem, if it’s within your control, or to get around or cope with it, if it’s not

___Develop a strategic plan for coping with the situation

___Involve everyone in the organization in planning your coping strategy

___Ask for help from outside the organization if you need it . . . and sometimes even if you don’t

___Emphasize moving the organization forward

___Accentuate the positive

___As a leader, share the hardships of the situation with the rest of the organization

___Use the situation to build solidarity within the organization

___Make sure everyone in the organization, including you, gets the emotional and other support he needs

___Don’t be too serious

___Point out the learning that came out of the situation

___Always keep the big picture in mind

___Don’t let up

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.