Who Are Leaders?
Who is a leader? Many of us call to mind historic figures like Dr. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Jane Addams, Robert Kennedy or President Reagan. In reality, we find leaders everywhere - linking together networks through which we work to achieve common purposes. In every community, church, classroom, and organization hundreds of people are doing the work of leadership without which these efforts would not survive.
Although we associate leaders with certain kinds of attributes (like power), a more useful way to look at leadership is as a kind of relationship. James McGregor Burns argues leadership can be understood as a relationship that emerges from repeated "exchanges" or "transactions" between leaders and followers or constituents. Leaders can provide resources constituents need to address their interests and constituents can provide resources leaders need to address theirs.
What do we exchange in this kind of relationship? Constituents may get help solving a problem, a sense of empowerment, access to resources, etc. Leaders may get the same things - and something else too, something that makes us willing to accept the responsibilities that go with leadership. Dr. King describes this as the "drum major instinct" - a desire to be first, to be recognized, even to be praised. As much as we may not want to admit it, this might sound familiar. Rather than condemn it - it is, after all, part of us - Dr. King argues it can be a good thing, depending on what we do to earn the recognition we seek.
Based on this view of leadership, then, who makes leaders? Can they be self-anointed? Can I decide one day that I am a leader? Or do I earn leadership by entering into relationship with those who can make me a leader by entering into relationship with me - my constituents? This makes it easy to recognize leaders. There is one simple test. Do they have followers? Fine speeches, a wonderful appearance, lovely awards and excellent work aside - no constituency, no leaders. You may not agree with this, but consider it.
How Does Leadership Work?
Many of us may not want to think of ourselves as followers or as leaders, for that matter. Leadership is highly praised, but no one says anything about being a good constituent...or citizen. I argue voluntary associations only work when people are willing to accept roles of leadership and followership. Leading and following are not expressions of who we "are" but of what we "do" - in a specific meeting, committee, project, organization, or institution. We may play a leadership role with respect to one project and a followership role with respect to another.
Another important distinction is that between leadership and domination. Effective leaders facilitate the interdependence or collaboration that can create more "power to" -- based on the interests of all parties. Domination is the exercise of "power over" --a relationship that meets interests of the "power wielder" at the expense of everyone else. Leadership can turn into domination if we fail to hold it accountable.
We are also wise to distinguish "authority" from "leadership." Authority is a "legitimacy" of command usually attached to specific social positions, offices, or roles - legitimacy supported by cultural beliefs as well as coercive resources. An organization is a way to formalize authority relations among the participants - people's rights and their obligations. Bureaucracies structure authority as a set of rules according to which managers direct subordinates. Markets structure authority as a set of rules according to which entrepreneurs can design incentives for persons to make enforceable choices based on their individual economic resources. Civic associations usually structure authority democratically in that leaders are accountable to the constituents whom they serve. Exercising leadership in a civic context can require more skill than the other settings because it depends more on persuasion than on command.
Most of us have been in situations in which those with authority have not earned their leadership, but try to compel cooperation based solely on their legitimacy or "power over". In these circumstances, to what extent do we think our interests are acknowledged and addressed? How does this affect our motivation and performance?
Finally, leaders can be distinguished from "activists." Hard working activists show up every day to staff the phone bank, pass out leaflets, and put up posters, and make critical contributions to the work of any volunteer organization. This is not the same, however, as engaging others in doing the work of the organization. Leadership is exercised through relational work.
What Do Leaders Do?
We've said a great deal about what leadership is and isn't, but what is it exactly that leaders do to earn their leadership? What is the organizational work they do? And why is it so important?
Most of us have had lots of experience in "disorganizations." What are they like?
- They are divided. Factions and divisions fragment the organization and sap it of its resources.
- They are confused. Each person has a different story about what's going on. There is a lot of gossip, but not very much good information.
- They are passive. Most "members" do very little so one or two people do most of the work.
- They are reactive. They are always trying to respond to some unanticipated new development.
- They are inactive. No one comes to meetings. No one shows up for activities.
- And they drift. There is little purposefulness to meetings, actions, or decisions as things "drift" from one meeting to the next.
Being part of a disorganization can be pretty discouraging, demotivating, and makes us ask ourselves why we're involved at all.
On the other hand, some of us may have had experience with organizations that really work.
- They are united. They have learned to manage their differences well enough that they can unite to accomplish the purposes for which they were formed. Differences are openly debated, discussed, and resolved.
- They share understanding. There is a widely shared understanding of what's going on, what the challenges are, what the program is and why what is being done had to be done.
- People participate. Lots of people in the organization are active - not just going to meetings, but getting the work of the organization done.
- They take initiative. Rather than reacting to whatever happens in their environment, they are proactive, and act upon their environment.
- They act. People do the work they must to make things happen.
- They share a sense of purpose. There is purposefulness about meetings, actions, and decisions and sense of forward momentum as work gets done.
So what makes the difference? Why are some groups disorganizations and other groups organizations? It is the quality of the work leaders do within them that makes groups work.
• Leaders turn division into solidarity by building, maintaining, and developing relationships among those who form the organization.
• Leaders turns confusion into understanding by facilitating interpretation of what is going on with the work of the organization.
• Leaders turn passivity into participation by motivation - inspiring people to commit to the action required if the group's goals are to be accomplished.
• Leaders turn reaction into initiative by strategizing - thinking through how the organization can use its resources to achieve its goals.
• Leaders turns inaction into action by mobilizing people to turn their resources into specific actions by means which they can achieve their goals.
• Leaders transforms drift into purpose by accepting responsibility
for doing the leadership work which must be done if the group is to
succeed and challenging others to accept their responsibility as well.
Leadership Development
Developing a leadership rich organization not only requires learning to delegate. It requires a conscious strategy for identifying leaders (opportunities for leaders to emerge), recruiting leaders (opportunities for leadership to be earned), and developing leaders (opportunities for leaders to grow).
Identifying leaders requires looking for them. Who are people with followers? Who
brings others to the meetings? Who encourages others to participate?
Who attracts others to working with them? Whom do other people tell you
to "look for?" [Saul] Alinsky writes about community networks knit
together by "native" leaders - people who take the responsibility for
helping a community do its work out of their homes, small businesses,
neighborhood hangouts, etc. They can be found coaching athletic teams,
organizing little leagues, serving in their churches, and surfacing in
other informal "schools" of leadership. Where would you look for these kinds of leaders around here?
Although
leading is a matter of "doing" and not "being," there are some ways of
being that can help you lead. It is hard for a person who has not
learned to be a good listener to become an effective
leader - you have to understand the interests of your constituency if
you are to help them act on those interests. Listening means learning to attend to feelings - empathy - as well as to ideas because the way we feel about things affects our actions more than what we think about them. Curiosity
helps us see the novel as interesting rather than threatening, enabling
us to learn how to face new challenges that are always a part of
organizational life. A good imagination helps because strategizing is a matter of imagining different futures and possible ways to get to them. A sense of humor helps you from taking yourself and your troubles too seriously and helps keep things in perspective. A healthy ego
is very important - arrogance and a wish to dominate others are usually
the sign of a weak ego constantly in need of reassurance. Leadership
also requires courage - the willingness to take risks, make choices, and accept the consequences.
Recruiting leaders requires giving people an opportunity to earn leadership. Since followers create leaders, they can't appoint themselves and you can't appoint them. What you can do is create opportunities for people to accept the responsibilities of leadership and support them in learning how to fulfill these responsibilities. If you have to get the word out for a meeting, you can get three of your friends to help you pass out leaflets in the Yard one day or you can find one or two people in each House who will take responsibility for recruiting 5 people from their House to attend. They earn their leadership by bringing the people to the meeting. What other ways can you think of that you can give people the opportunity to earn leadership?
Developing leaders requires structuring the work of the organization so it affords as many people as possible the opportunity to learn to lead - delegation. Distributing the leaflets through House Committees, for example, shares the responsibility for engaging others with many people. It is true organizing the work in this way can be risky. You may delegate to the wrong people; they may let you down, etc. But as Moses learned from Jethro, if you fear delegating, the strength of the community is stifled and can never grow. But you can do things to increase the chances of success. Leadership training sessions help clarify what is expected of leaders in your organization, give people the confidence to accept leadership responsibilities, and express the value your organization places on leadership development.
Leadership Team or "Lone Ranger"
The
most successful organizers are those who form a leadership team with
whom to work early on in their campaign. Although it can be a mistake
to recruit people to act as an "organizing committee" too early -
especially if you are not careful to recruit people drawn from the
constituency whom that community views as leaders or, at least,
potential leaders - organizers more often err in delaying too long. The
sooner you have a team of people with whom to work, the sooner the "I"
of the organizer becomes the "we" of the new organization. One you have
formed a leadership team you can more easily establish a rhythm of
regular meetings, clear decisions, and visible accountability that will
help make things actually happen. You don't build an organization of
500 people by recruiting them all yourself. You build it by finding
people willing and able to commit to help building it with you. If you
don't have a leadership team working with you by midterm, it's time to
look very closely at why.
Conclusion
Although identifying, recruiting and developing leaders is critical to the capacity - or power - of most organizations, it is the particular focus of organizers whose work is to be leaders of leaders. The primary responsibility of an organizer is to develop the leadership capacities of others and, in this way, of the organizations through which their constituents act on their common interests.