LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES

One of the most inexpensive research methods I employ is to look at lessons learned by universities and corporate America. Here’s one. Harvard Grad School of Education Prof. David Perkins heads the Learning Innovations Laboratory (LILA) looking at leadership strategies to determine what steps organizations should take to improve the effectiveness of their leadership development initiatives. At the crux of the matter are four things:

Thing 1 - Focusing on the development of leadership, not individual leaders;
Thing 2 - Distributing leadership responsibility throughout an organization;
Thing 3 - Embedding leadership development in the context of people's work;
Thing 4 - Assessing an organization's capacity for, and immunity to, leadership development.

Managing the people side of leadership, internally with staff and externally with donors, is crucial to organizational success. In his book, King Arthur's Round Table, Perkins identifies four different "archetypes" on which to plot the nuanced forms of leadership - Answer-Centered, Inquiry-Centered, Leadership by Leaving Alone (the sink or swim approach), or my favorite, Vision-Centered, which LILA describes as a strong energizing vision about the general direction of an organization, along with great personal commitment.

It is immensely helpful to have the right people on your bus, but, as a leader of the institution, the board or a department or project, you have a great deal to do with shaping the cultural infrastructure of your entity. Gain traction by knowing what kind of leader you are.

Five basic ingredients for transformational leadership, I believe, are:

- Developing a high-achieving culture
- Sharing vision with staff, board and colleagues
- Igniting your team's energies and abilities
- Fostering an innovative, experimental environment
- Creating influence and impact across the organization

With the proviso that every organization has unique needs and different colleagues may require a more directed or a more laissez-faire approach, in this recession, change is the prime responsibility of nonprofit leaders. When everyone wants to hunker down, overcoming resistance to change is difficult, but the struggle can bring success to your mission, to your organization and to your colleagues.