Leadership is Influence
Lois Wright Morton, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
Iowa State University
February 2nd 2010
How can citizen-farmer involvement help solve
the problem of water degradation, particularly agricultural
non-point source pollution?
How can we
move landowners
beyond the
status quo to more
active engagement
and willingness to act
to protect local waters?
Leadership [people]
connecting, encouraging, keeping the vision
Management [things]
making the “to do” list; doing;
evaluating outcomes; adapting
What are the traits you admire most in a leader?
Leadership is the ability to
influence others and obtain followers
Identify farmer-useable performance-based measures
e.g. indicators for tracking on-farm changing conditions such as
Influence
risk of excess phosphorus, nitrogen, and soil losses to their watershed
Goal is
move beyondindividual
BMP [activities]
to measuring
Even
antointroverted
will influence
10,000 other
changes/trends
based on management
people
in his lifetime…each
of uspractices…allowing
influence and arefarmers
to see changes in their world related to their actions and natural
influenced…leading in some areas and being led in other.
occurring events
So
the issue
is notinwhether
influence someone
Although
grounded
science, you
thesewill
measures
but
kind
of an
you
will be? feedback…
needwhat
not be
precise
butinfluence
should offer
directionality
Criteria for selection of these indicators
1. Farmer-friendly tests: Easy, routine, low cost & understandable
2. Information from tests lends itself to adaptive management
3. Serve as educational tools and participatory discovery mechanisms
of Best Management Practices (BMP)
J.C. Maxwell 1993 Developing the leader within you
Community of Practice
Personal Connections
Beta
P value
How many
friends/neighbors that farm
do you talk with at least
weekly?
0.303
0.001
How many
friends/neighbors that don’t
-0.200
farm do you talk with at least
weekly?
Social
Connections
Influence
Thinking and
Decisions
0.032
Civic Connections
Social organization index
-0.197
0.022
Media index
0.049
0.573
University information
index
-0.062
0.534
Technical support index
[NRCS, SWCD, DC]
-0.154
0.095
Expert Connections
Kinds of leadership
1. Position: comes with a title
2. Permission: trust relationships permit one to lead
Getting together for a reason
3. Production: people come together to
accomplish a purpose; results oriented
4. People development: empowers others
5. Personhood: lifetime of proven leadership
J.C. Maxwell
If you try to move to the production level without
building trust relationships and caring about people,
the people in your watershed will feel used rather
than partners in addressing water concerns
Linking leadership to performance management
What leadership traits do you think are needed to produce
better water quality in your watershed? If you are missing
some of them, which ones can you learn?
Is there someone you’d like to share leadership with?
How can you inspire & motivate others
toward a common purpose?
What skills do we need to build a cohesive & spirited
watershed team?
How can we put joy & celebration into our efforts?
Commitments of Leadership
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Challenge the process
Inspire a shared vision
Enable others to act
Model the way
Encourage the heart
Kouzes & Posner 1995