Over the past several months, we have discussed the weeklong training I experienced through the Kansas Leadership Center in the fall of 2008. This intensive training program focuses on four primary elements necessary for competent civic leadership. The four competencies are: 1. Diagnose the situation, 2. Facilitate Intervention, 3. Manage Self and 4. Energize Others.
These competencies must all be present for individuals and organizations to engage in effective civic leadership. This article focuses on the final competency: Energize Others.
Even though this is competency number four, it is vital that this competency is present through all stages of exercising facilitative leadership. If we're not discovering what people care about and need when we're "diagnosing the situation;" there will be no energy to do the work. If we are "facilitating an intervention" by simply selling our idea rather than empowering participants to help design the intervention, there will be nobody passionate enough to engage in the work. Finally, when we "manage self," we must understand and believe that we cannot change people's values; only they can change them and that the work of creating long-lasting change can only be accomplished when these conditions exist.
The How
So if we take these statements at face value and begin to forge ahead, what are the principles that we must include to ensure that we are energizing others? Here are some principles to check your process against:
1. Start where they are, not where you are: This is where the rubber really meets the road. So often, we jump directly into selling rather than listening. Unless you listen, you will really only know what the "like-minded" people think and you'll learn nothing about why somebody might oppose your idea or view of the situation. The objective is to build consensus, which most likely means that the group will either work and improve your idea or throw it out completely. That makes people who are dubbed as leaders or are in a position of leadership nervous. I know it does me. Some of my most fearful meetings are my board meetings when I have an idea that I'm already attached too. Will they like the idea? Will they kill the idea? Looking back, I'm so thankful that our board has said no to me on a number of occasions or tweaked an idea that made it so much better that my original plan.
2. Empower them to help design the intervention: There is no tool more effective than empowerment. That word gets a lot of play nowadays but what does it really mean? It means the group actually does the work and makes important decisions. A phrase that also gets a lot of play nowadays is "lip service." I define "lip service" as those times when somebody says they're empowering you when they're really not. My high school football coach was notorious for that. He would tell the team it was our decision but you knew good and well what your decision had better be! That's the opposite of empowerment and drains the life and energy out of any situation. True empowerment has the opportunity to provide long lasting solutions and long term change.
3. Orient towards purpose: Once an intervention is initiated under a collective purpose, it is important to continue to reorient towards that purpose. This allows for disagreement about details but enables diverse groups who may not agree on everything to stay engaged. That's why politicians often focus on broad themes rather than finite details. It enables them to build a broader coalition to move important issues forward.
4. Speak to loss: When significant change must occur, it is inevitable that there will be loss. It is vital that any perceived or real loss is acknowledged. As I travel around the state, I well up with pride at the dialogue that is going on in rural communities across Kansas about tough issues like school consolidation, government consolidation, population loss, and other really tough issues that are not being suppressed but rather, are being openly discussed. Solutions can only come from dialogue and the communities that openly speak about these issues are energized to work on them. They are, in essence, empowering themselves and exercising significant leadership that gives them the best chance to survive.
5. Pace the work: One of my favorite quotes is from the great football coach Vince Lombardi, who said that "fatigue makes cowards of us all." This is true for both people and communities, therefore, it is important that the enormous job ahead be paced. One of the things we've learned through our Entrepreneurship (E) Community partnership is that each community moves forward with change at a different pace. It's important for us to understand that we cannot force change on a community too quickly. On the other hand, we must also ask more of the communities that are ready and willing.
6. Speak from the heart: I have visited communities all across Kansas during the past several years. I can promise you this: When you hear a local person speak from the heart with passion about their community, you cannot help but be moved towards action. In the end, the picture that they paint is the most effective. It is their attitude that will energize others to do the work of leadership and engage others to do the same.
Now I'm excited again and ready to go to work! That's what energizing others does. It allows you to be in the work but, in some ways, live vicariously out of it by focusing on the big picture, the cause that gives hope to what you are engaged in. It also provides another benefit; it energizes those who are exercising leadership and builds a system of sustainable support. After all, facilitative leadership means we're in it for the long haul so the system must be in it for the long haul, too.
The Art and Science of it All
As I review this entire process, I cannot help but think back to my days trying to break into the movie business (a long, long time ago). I was at a conference called the Squaw Valley Community of Writers Workshop where I was listening to Frank Pierson speak to our group. Pierson was an accomplished screenwriter (Dog Day Afternoon, Presumed Innocent) and he was talking about assisting young screenwriters "diagnose" issues with their screenplay. He made the following comment:
"When veteran screenwriters read somebody's screenplay, they will always agree on what the issues and/or problems are with a screenplay - that's the science of screenwriting. But when asked how to change or fix the issues, those same screenwriters will have completely different approaches - that's the art of screenwriting."
The same is true with the utilization of these four competencies in exercising facilitative leadership. There's a science to it. The four competencies provide a framework and a roadmap that allow each of us to take steps towards leadership. But there's an art to it as well. Almost every situation will be different and if there ARE two situations that are similar, the diagnosis may be different and the intervention may work one way for one community and another way for another community. Then there's us! We're all different and will bring different personalities, emotions, and values into any situation. We must recognize all of these elements in order to exercise competent civic leadership.