Five 'Must-Have's' for Today's Nonprofit Leader: It's Time to Take Charge
Friday, March 18, 2011 at 9:00AM The seemingly never-ending stream of natural disasters, environmental catastrophes, and human conflict these days has me thinking a lot about leadership...or in many cases, the lack of it.
In particular, I keep thinking about Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus' book called Leaders:Strategies for Taking Charge.
This book was originally written in the mid-80's but is eerily relevant, I think, to the world we live in 25 years later. If you haven't already, you should definitely put it on your reading list.
The main argument in this book is that leaders in today's world are dealing with complexity, change and crises at a far more intense rate than ever before. They argue that the world is in desperate need of transformative and adaptable leadership in order to deal with the mess we are in...
Unfortunately, truly effective leadership is not something we see very often. The reason for this, Bennis and Nanus argue is power. They argue that our society's increasing distrust of people with power (albeit in many cases, with good reason) has led power to be "conspicuous in its absence."
They write that the 'new' leader must work around society's power vacuum by taking charge:
" The new leader...is one that commits people to action, who converts followers into leaders, and who may convert leaders into agents of change."
In other words, leaders have to be transformative in order to be effective.
Take a look at Bennis and Nanus' five core competencies of leadership:
1. Taking Charge: This means taking responsibility for the success or failure of a strategy or initiative. It also means looking at a situation, seeing what needs to be done and motivating people to take action.
2. Strategic Visioning: This involves making sure there is a vision or focus for what needs to be accomplished and making sure that all of the work being done is aligned to that ultimate goal, despite all of the curveballs reality is bound to throw your way.
3. Communications: Effective communication is essential to rallying supporters, especially when the leader’s vision calls for great change or sacrifice. Being effective here means effectively packaging and selling the vision to different stakeholders and, even more difficult, getting buy-in needed to get everyone pulling on the same set of oars to accomplish the task at hand.
4. Teambuilding: Effective leadership means a lot of focus on getting everyone on board and excited about rolling up their sleeves to get the mission accomplished. It also means, as they so aptly explain, "getting the right people on and off the bus...and into the right seats" to make sure you have the best team on board to get the work done.
5. Integrity: This means being consistent in words, actions and symbols with the vision you are working to implement. It also means staying the course through life's many challenges and detours.
I'll be thinking a lot about these as the crises in Japan and the Middle East continue to unfold in the coming weeks...but here's a question for my not-for-profit leadership readers out there:
How do you think you measure up to Bennis and Nanus' leadership 'must-haves?' What can you do in your own organization to really step up and take charge?
Reader Comments (1)
Board limitations are for Directors who are "chicken". You need the right people to help you and your cause. You need friends, outreach, contacts and dollars - not peace and quiet! Leaders are leaders not dictators.Don't look for the easy way - look for the best way. Change is always painful and always necessary. I agree with the authors, but nowhere do I hear them say keep the size "comfortable".