Servant Leadership - Robert K. Greenleaf

Robert K. Greenleaf advanced the servant leadership through his writings, his life, and his work.  Greenleaf espoused his ideology about servant leadership through his work The Servant as Leader.  Robert Greenleaf‘s (1904-1990) introduction of servant leadership came through his work at AT&T.  Greenleaf initially started at AT&T as a lineman digging postholes and retired in 1964 as Director of Management Research.  Greenleaf confirmed in his writings the observation of a decrease in creative and critical thinking at work.  People were separating themselves from their work.

In his work on management, Greenleaf noted that people desired to align personal growth with his or her work.  This was not a comfortably embraced concept by the workplace or education at the time.  Therefore, after his retirement, Greenleaf began a second career, which lasted 25 years, as a consultant educating institutions, churches, and businesses.  Greenleaf served as a consultant to major organizations, such as the American Foundation for Management Research, and Lilly Endowment Incorporation.  Greenleaf gained valuable insight into management practices, challenges, and practitioner insight while working as a consultant.  Because of these insights, Greenleaf started the Center for Applied Ethics in 1964, (renamed the Center for Servant Leadership in Indianapolis, Indiana).

Greenleaf said his servant leadership theory was crystallized by the novel, Journey to the East, a work that deeply moved Greenleaf.  In the story, the servant, Leo, was the caring leader.  Leo’s leadership style was that of a caring spirit such that the people claimed that they did everything themselves.  On the journey, Leo disappeared.  The group fell apart and abandoned the spiritual quest.  The group realized they needed Leo.  Years later, the narrator found Leo and learned Leo was accepted as the head of the noble order.  The narrator had only known Leo as a servant.  Indeed, Leo was a great and noble leader. 

 A leader who exemplifies servant leadership, such as Leo, can see the effect of his or her leadership through the growth of the people.  Greenleaf defined servant leaders as passing a test if the people are wiser, freer, and healthier.  If the people served by the leader become servant leaders, the leader is a practitioner of servant leadership.

This story provided the foundation for Greenleaf’s servant leadership theory.  Greenleaf’s interpretation of the story was the key to the servant leader’s greatness, which is the willingness to serve first.  Other of Greenleaf’s writings highlighted his commitment to grassroots organizations that worked on issues of social injustices of that time.  Apparent in his writings was his commitment to the Judeo Christian and Quaker faith.  Greenleaf was a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1935 and wrote an unpublished manuscript related to his faith.

What Nonprofit Organizations need to know about the Affordable Care Act

By Crystal J. Davis, CJD Consulting Solutions, LLC

For nonprofit organizations, The Affordable Care Act, will impact how these agencies deliver health care services in the community and the people the organizations serve. The National Council of Nonprofits shared important information that I would like to pass along.

HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGES 

• Every state will have an Affordable Insurance Exchange or‘Marketplace,’ where individuals and small employers can look for and purchase affordable private health insurance. Enrollment through the Exchanges begins October 1, 2013 for coverage effective January 1, 2014. Nonprofits are not requiredto buy insurance for employees through the Exchanges; they can continue with their existing plan. Initially, Exchanges will be open to individuals buying their own coverage and employees of firms with 100 or less workers (50 or less in some states).
• Most U.S. residents will continue receiving their health insurance through their employer, not through Exchanges. For those purchasing through Exchanges, plans are arranged into four categories based on level of coverage/benefits: bronze, silver, gold and platinum; there will also be a young adults’ plan. Costs will vary by type of plan and location. Most people purchasing through the Exchange will be eligible for subsidies; insurers cannot charge more based on gender or health status.

THE SHOP PROGRAM

• For smaller nonprofits: if your organization has less than 50 full-time employees it’s considered a ‘small employer’ and will be eligible to purchase health insurance through state-specific SHOP programs (Small Business Health Options Program) making it easier to secure affordable health plans. 

Advantages of SHOP:

• Agencies can offer a single plan for all employees.
• Nonprofits can decide how much they want to contribute towards premiums.
• Nonprofits can collect employees’ share of premiums through payroll deduction.
• Premium contributions can be made with pre-tax dollars.
• Agencies can receive one monthly invoice and make one monthly payment.

INFORMING EMPLOYEES 

Employees can begin shopping on October 1. The National Council of Nonprofits suggests the following;

• All plans must cover doctor visits, hospitalizations, maternity/emergency room care, and prescriptions.
• Some employees will be eligible for subsidies to help pay for a health insurance plan.
• Insurance plans cannot deny coverage for employees with pre-existing conditions.
• All plans have to show costs and what’s covered in plain language (no fine print).
• Policies will be sold by private insurance companies that must follow rules and provide high-quality plans.

For more information, call 1-800-706-7893 (Health Insurance Marketplace Small Employer Contact Center). Happy Shopping!

Sacred Service: Volunteers Create Value

Volunteers in nonprofit organizations need to be heard and valued. Here are five things you can do to inspire and support your sacred servers:

1. Succession leadership is necessary for your lead volunteers. Volunteers who are in leadership positions must not be so important to the organization that if they leave, the organization is at a loss. Lead volunteers should assist the organization with grooming the next leader. Succession planning is a must!

2. Volunteers should not be overused so that they become burned out. New volunteers bring a fresh sort of excitement and commitment to the organization. This commitment should be used justly and evenly. Coordinating volunteers and staff is critical for the organizational responsibilities – and to sustain the momentum of your volunteer base.

3. Nonprofit organizations should have job descriptions for their volunteers. In my organization, I wrote my own volunteer job description. Who better knows the volunteer job they do? As always, job descriptions should align with the organization’s mission, and be simple and clear.

4. Create value around sacred service. The current rate for a volunteer is $22.00 per hour. Indeed, volunteers bring a wealth of assistance to organizations that it would not have otherwise. Organizations should take stock in the immense value of volunteers and continually create and acknowledge the value of their volunteers.

5. Leaders in organization can create training manuals for volunteers based on the various roles available within an organization. But, training can also be created from the questions that volunteers ask on a daily or weekly basis. A great way to create a training manual for volunteers is to collect their questions and use them as a foundation for the volunteer manual.

Sacred service is a value creating, empowering act. It creates long-term sustainable wealth for nonprofit organizations. Happy volunteering!

Theory U: What is Presencing?

Class Post. Enjoy!

What is presencing? How might presencing help leaders operate from the future seeking to emerge, instead of learning from the past?

Presencing is the act of connecting to the source of inspiration and will. It allows for the individual or group to go to the place of silence and allow the inner knowing to emerge. Leaders who practice the art of presencing are creating the proper mental environment conducive to creativity and profound insight while sensing the hidden sources of idea generation (MIT Sloan School of Management, 2005).

Scharmer (2009) defined presencing as,

Requires the tuning of three instruments: the open mind, the open heart, and the open will. This opening process is not passive but an active “sensing” together as a group. While an open heart allows us to see a situation from the whole, the open will enables us to begin to act from the emerging whole. Presencing is the capacity to connect to the deepest source of self and will allows the future to emerge from the whole rather than from a smaller part or special interest group (p. 62).

Presencing may help leaders operate from the future that is seeking to emerge, instead of learning from the past through the shifting structure of attention (Scharmer, 2009). That is, for leaders to shift from the inner place from which they operate. This shift can be done individually or collectively (Scharmer, 2009). Listening is a big part of the presencing dynamic. The four types of listening include downloading, factual listening, empathetic listening, and generative listening (Scharmer, 2009). At the presencing level, generative listening involves focus on getting the old self out of the way through clearing an open space for the emerging, authentic self (Scharmer, 2009). This process creates a subtle yet powerful change in the individual. Scharmer (2009) calls it “grace or communing” (p. 13) with the inner (deeper) source in the expereince called Source dimension (Scharmer, 2009).

Barely Civilized (2012) posited that presencing is sort of a mash-up of the Buddhist be here now practice of being present and a Bohmian-dialog-thinking-together kind of awareness that is broader than oneself and is sensing the future as it is emerging in the ‘space’ between us. In Theory U, the three levels of organizational change arev structure, process, and thought. If one can change the structure of the organization without changing the processes, the change will not be effective. If one can help to change the processes without changing thinking, and it will only be moderately effective. But if you can change thinking, and look to the future instead of the past, change can be profound (Barely Civilized, 2012). This teaching is similar to the Religious Science philosophy which says that “one’s thought creates one’s world” (Holmes, 1966).

References

Brown, E. (2005). Otto Scharmer:Theory-U: Presencing emerging futures.

           Retrieved from http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/newsbriefs-0605-

           scharmer.php 

Barely Civilized. (2012). What is Presencing? Retrieved from

           http://barelycivilized.net/2012/what-is-presencing/

Holmes, E. (1966). Science of mind: A philosophy, a faith, a way of life.

           New York, New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc.

Scharmer, O. (2009). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges. 

           San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

The Stakeholder Management Model

Question:  Which topic or competency do you feel is your greatest strength and challenge?

The stakeholder management model is a great strength for me as I embraced this theory for my work at Center for Spiritual Living (CSL). Bourne (2008) argued that stakeholder theory takes center stage as a valuable model to adopt for an innovation project.  Moreover, the stakeholder model is useful for nonprofit organizations in general. Pioneering work in stakeholder management has become increasingly important since the seminal work of Freeman (1984).  Since then, several researchers (Botan & Hazelton, 1989; Grunig, 1992) have acknowledged the significance of communication inviting stakeholder input.

The stakeholder management design system manages stakeholders’ expectations for the project and its end results (Project Smart, 2013). The project design team must manage the relationships with stakeholders and their perceptions and influences for the benefit of the project (Bourne, 2008).  The performance of any business on a social level is dependent, to a large extent; on the way stakeholders input is received in the negotiating of its projects (King, 1998).  The five steps of the stakeholder management model as described by Bourne (2008) will “identify, prioritize, visualize, engage, and monitor” (Bourne, 2008, p. 4-6). By using the stakeholder management model, CSL promotes creativity and leverages growth to thrust the organization into innovative activities.  By aligning stakeholder management initiatives with technological advancements, CSL can implement future innovative projects with success.

References

Botan, C., & Hazleton V. (1989).  Public relations theory. Mahwah, NJ: 

            Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Bourne, L. M. (2008). Stakeholder relationship management. Retrieved from

            http://www.stakeholder-management.com/all the information/keep going.

Freeman, R. E. (1984).  Strategic management: A stakeholder approach.  Boston. MA:

           Pitman.

Grunig, J. (1992). Excellence in public relations and communication management.

            Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

King, A. (1998). The social performance uncertainty principle. Corporate Reputation Review,

            1(3), 43-46.

Project Smart. (2013). Stakeholder management; Managing expectations. Retrieved from

            http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/stakeholder-management.html

Centers for Spiritual Living Global Services

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders, Supervisors, and Managers

Class Post. Enjoy!

Steinwall (2013) lecture provided an in-depth review of several constructs that are important to leaders, managers, and supervisors. The constructs of optimism, coping, hardiness, hope and helplessness, locus of control, empowerment, emotional intelligence, happiness, and core self-evaluation are important for people who lead, manage, or supervise other people to understand. Leaders, managers, and supervisors, who develop these constructs and infuse them into their everyday life, as well as their work life, are positioned to succeed.

At first, emotional intelligence was studied in relationship to social intelligence by Thorndike (1920). Emotional intelligence did not become a hot topic in organizations or corporations until Goleman’s (1995) research. Today, emotional intelligence should be considered at every level of an organization; from the leaders (CEO’s), to front line supervisors, managers, and employees. Goleman (1995) suggested a model of emotional intelligence that includes awareness of self, management of self, awareness of social environment, and management of one’s relationships (Goleman, 1995).

Awareness of self and management of self are personal emotional intelligence domains. Self-awareness applies to a person’s ability to understand emotions, areas of strengths and areas for improvement, as well as the ability to assess self from an accurate and authentic awareness (Goleman, 1995). Self-management relates to a person’s capacity to manage and regulate emotions and the ability to stay calm, cool, and collected during times of chaos. Moreover, self-managed people are self-motivated and take initiative (Goleman, 1995). The second two aspects of emotional intelligence are social in nature. The social aspects of emotional intelligence are concerned with a person's relationship management skills (Goleman, 1995).

Managing one’s relationships at work is about the skills of communication, influence, collaboration, and working with employees and other colleagues (Goleman, 1995). Leaders who have the ability to take employees and group members’ feelings’ into consideration when making decisions is a socially aware leader. (Goleman, 1995) Taken together, awareness of self , management of self, awareness of social environment, and management of one’s relationships self-awareness are critical domains of emotional intelligence that once understood and applied in the workplace, can support and increase in organizational productivity, wealth creation, and organizational sustainability (Steinwall, 2013).

Reference

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence; Why it can matter more than IQ.

          New York, NY: Random House Publishers.

Steinwall, M. (2013). Psychological instruments to measure the human

          element. MGT/736 Contemporary Management Systems. University of

          Phoenix website.

Thorndike, E. L. (1920). Intelligence and its use. Harper's Magazine, 140, 227-

          235.