The Vincentian Way
Introduction
No single discipline—philosophy, psychology,
history, political science—alone
can deal adequately with the phenomenon of
causation because the subject lies outside as
well as inside every discipline. A multidiscipline
is necessary to borrow from and synthesize
existing intellectual resources, and to generate
new ones in the process, a discipline using the
widest array of conceptual and empirical tools.
That discipline is leadership—the X factor in
historic causation
(James MacGregor Burns, 2003)
The poor are still with us;
the laborers are few.
Some Choices
• Go with the demographics and close down at
the nadir
• Trust in Providence to send replacements
• Work with Providence
• Succession Planning
What to do Before and During Succession
Planning
1. Determine which activities and agencies can and should
continue- assumes criteria
2. Find ways to shift responsibility to lay people without
losing the spirit, values, and charismas that have
guided our institutions for years,
even centuries
3. Develop new ways to develop Vincentian leaders,
evangelize the poor, recruit others to the cause, resist
and fight systems and gain financial support.
Three Working Assumptions
1. There is a “Vincentian Difference,” but it must be made more
explicit and relevant to the 21st century.
2. Not all organizations deserve to survive.
3. Vincentian institutions stand for quality—aspiring to be the
best hospital, university, or social agency. Vincentian is
not a substitute for excellence; it is the hallmark of
excellence.
Five Key Questions
1. What distinguishes Vincentian-inspired institutions
from others performing the same kinds of
services?
2. Assuming there is a Vincentian institutional
difference, is it substantive, that is capable of
making a positive difference in peoples’ lives,
especially the lives of the poor?
3. Is it worth studying, preserving, and reinterpreting
for different times, cultures, and institutional
types?
1. What should happen to an institution that fails to
live up to its Vincentian heritage?
2. How shall we attract and develop new
generations of servant leaders to the cause
of the poor?
Appreciative Inquiry
&
Tipping Point Theory
Two Leadership Tools Available to Us To Help
Before and During Succession Planning
“Appreciative Inquiry is a form of organizational study that
selectively seeks to locate, highlight, and illuminate the life
giving forces of a firm’s existence.” It is rooted in action
research, leadership theory, and OD.
Tipping Point is “that magic moment when an idea, trend or
social behavior crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like
wildfire.” It originates from psychology, epidemiology, sociology,
and business.
Appreciative Inquiry: complements and extends
action-research used in social sciences, community
action, educational reform, and organizational
change research.
AI connects organizations to what is good about
them—every strength, innovation, positive tradition,
passion and dream-- through systematic inquiry.
AI seeks to find what gives life to an organization.
The single most important thing a group can do if its
aims are to liberate the human spirit and consciously
construct a better future is to make the positive
change core the common explicit property of all.
The Vincentian Family seeks to make the Vincentian
Way the explicit property of all.
Insights into the Appreciative Inquiry
Process
AI is based on the premise that human systems
grow and construct their future realities in the
direction of what they most persistently, actively, and
collectively ask about.
Representative Questions
1. Think of time in your entire experience with, say, university,
hospital, or social agency when you felt most engaged and
most alive. What forces or factors made it a great or even
a peak experience?
2. What do you value most about yourself, your work, and your
organization?
3. What is the core factor that “gives life” to your organization?
Alternatively, what is the most productive partnership in
which you have been involved?
4. What are the three most important hopes and aspirations
you have for your organization’s future?
The question process cycles through four stages—the 4D
process: Discovery, Dream, Design, and Delivery
Tipping Point Theory
Basic Concept: Ideas and products and messages
and behaviors spread just like viruses do.
Three Rules Must be Followed
1. The Law of the Few
2. The Stickiness Factor
3. The Power of Context
The Law of the Few includes:
(Who)
CONNECTORS who know a lot of people
MAVENS who have a lot of information to share
unselfishly
SALESPERSONS who are talented at persuading
others. They are people persons with great nonverbal skills
The FEW are the people who translate ideas of
Innovators like Vincent, Louise, and Ozanam,
drop some details of the message, exaggerate
others to make the message meaningful,
something the rest of us understand.
The Stickiness Factor
(What)
There is a simple way to package information that
makes it more memorable and, under the right
circumstances, can make it almost irresistible.
The Power of Context I
The power of context is an environmental argument.
It says that behavior is often a function of social
context, and
That our so-called “inner states” are powerfully
influenced be subtle, seemingly inconsequential
personal influences of others.
The Power of Context II
Gladwell supports the notion that the maximum
number of individuals with whom we can have a
genuinely social relationship is 150
This ideal-sized groups serve as incubators for
contagious messages
Summary
The Law of the Few looks at the kinds of people who are
critical to spreading information. There is enormous power in
word of mouth messages.
The Stickiness Factor says that to spark an epidemic ideas
have to be memorable and move us to action.
The Power of Context says that epidemics are sensitive to
the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in
which they occur.
(Gladwell, p. 139)
What is the essence of the Vincentian Way?
How is it manifest in people and in Vincentian-inspired
organizations?
What is Vincentian Leadership? (Would Appreciative Inquiry
be helpful?)
How shall we understand and translate the Vincentian Way to
others in the hope of attracting them to the cause of the
poor?