ENGAGING THE LEADERS AROUND YOU
BIC SUSQUEHANNA CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP DAY
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
Emerson L. Lesher
Messiah Village
elesher@messiahvillage.org
OUTLINE

Taking the title apart
– “Engaging the Leaders Around You”:
What is leadership?
 What does it mean to engage?
 Who is around you?


Messiah Village
MESSIAH VILLAGE

A network of senior services:

Resident Communities
Messiah Village (Residential Living, Nursing Care, Enhanced Living)
 Mount Joy Country Homes (Cottages)


Community Based Services
Home Care
 Adult Day Services
 Rehab Services


Enrichment Experiences
Pathways Institute for Life Long Learning
 Wellness
 Mechanicsburg Senior Center

Serve 750 residents and 750 clients
 600 employees
 $32,000,000 operating budget
 Sponsored by Brethren In Christ Church

WHAT ARE SOME LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES WE HAVE
BEEN WORKING ON AT MESSIAH VILLAGE?
Oral to Written Tradition
 Good Person to Right Person Selection
 Individual to System Response
 Internal to External Benchmarking
 Fuzzy to Sharp Culture
 Centralize to Distributed Decision-making
 Institution to Community
 Campus Services to Community Based Services

----In short, we not are perfect and are on a journey!
WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?
Engaging the Leaders Around You
MAX DEPREE – LEADERSHIP JAZZ

The first responsibility of a
leader is to define reality.
The last is to say thank you.
In between the two, the
leader must become a
servant and a debtor.”
CHARLENE LI – OPEN LEADERSHIP

“Having the confidence and
humility to give up the need
to be in control while
inspiring commitment from
people to accomplish goals.”
PATRICIA M. HUGHES – GRACIOUS SPACE

“The single most important contribution
of a good leader could be to ask the right
questions of a diverse group of people – to
invite the ‘stranger’ and learn in public
– and lead the way to consider conflicting
opinions and find creative solutions.”
DIANA WHITNEY, ET AL. APPRECIATIVE LEADERSHIP
“The task of leadership is to
design values into structures so
they become living values and the
inevitable ways of doing things.”
 “Leadership is about design –
the design of meetings; the design
of marketing campaigns; the
design of products, services and
policies; the design of strategic
plans and partnerships; even the
design of markets, governance
systems, economies, and
currencies.”

PETER BLOCK – COMMUNITY: THE STRUCTURE OF BELONGING

“Leadership is about intention, convening,
valuing relatedness, and presenting
choices. It is not a personality
characteristic or a matter of style, and
therefore it requires nothing more than
what all of us already have.”
“The task of leadership is to provide context and
produce engagement, to tend to our social fabric. It is
to see the leader as one whose function is to engage
groups of people in a way that creates accountability
and commitment.”
 “If we want to change the community, all we have
to do is change the conversation.”

JESUS CHRIST – MARK 10:42-45

“You know that among the
Gentiles those whom they
recognize as their rulers lord it
over them, and their great ones
are tyrants over them. But it is
not so among you; but whoever
wishes to become great among
you must be your servant, and
whoever wishes to be first among
you must be slave of all. For the
Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve, and to give his life a
ransom for many.”
LEADERSHIP AS ROLE VS. CATALYST – OPEN LEADERSHIP
Leadership as Role
Leadership as Catalyst
Spends limited time thinking about
how to be authentic and
transparent
Actively manages authenticity and
transparency to form relationships
Sets a strategy and commands
control through the leadership
chain
Sets a strategy and engenders
commitment with a common
shared vision
Writes rules for conformity and
consistency
Writes rules for risk taking
Believes leadership is rare, precious
trait
Believes leadership potential resides
in every person
Engages primarily in the executive
suite
Engages at all levels, outside as well
as inside the organization
Develops trust with transactions
Inspires trust with engagement
Controls information tightly for fear Develops a culture of trusted
of leakage
information sharing
COMPARISON
Engaging Leadership
Open
Servant
Convening
Designing
Gracious
Traditional Leadership
Controlling
Warrior
Charismatic
Pronouncing
Decider
THEOLOGICAL THEMES AND LEADERSHIP
The model and words of Jesus
 The priesthood of believers
 Gifts of the Body

NEW METAPHORS – TERMS
OF LEADERSHIP
Convener
 Social Architect
 Designer
 Leading Servant – not servant leader
 Communicator
 Catalyst

- What metaphor or term would you add?
- Which ones fit you?
- How have they changed?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ENGAGE?
Engaging the Leaders Around You
WHAT IS ENGAGEMENT?
Trust
 Transparency
 Ownership
 Accountability
 Results

THOUGHTS ON ENGAGEMENT FROM OPEN LEADERSHIP

Respect that your customers and employees have
power


Share constantly to build trust


“Learn in public” & invite the stranger into the discussion
Hold openness accountable


Authentic openness builds strong relationships
Nurture curiosity and humility


Just think of the good or bad comments on Facebook
Clarify expectations and consequences
Forgive failure

Failure is not accepted but is acknowledged & understood
WHAT CAN A LEADER DO TO ENCOURAGE ENGAGEMENT

Create/Align the Culture


Set operational guidelines


Team Standards
Develop feedback loops


Journey Together, Inward and Outward
Satisfaction Surveys
Share information

Social media
“Define reality, say thank you and be a servant/debtor”
THOUGHTS ABOUT DECREASING CONTROL…

Do you think you have control now?
Larger forces at work (God, history, social, economic, etc)
 Can you really control if you will be someone’s pastor?


What type of ministry do you what?
Controlled by you or some larger purpose?
 Freedom vs. fear?


What is effective in engaging people?


What is leadership?


Respect, participation, values, service, co-creation
Until someone chooses to follow, you are not a leader
More about embracing chaos than controlling!
LETTING GO TO BUILD ENGAGEMENT
Important to let go at the right time, in the right
place and in the right amount
 Accepting that people have power can actually put
you in a position to influence the outcome
 Building in systems of accountability becomes
important – not a free for all!!!
 Letting go can be a relief!

HOW HAS MY LEADERSHIP CHANGED?
Meetings
 Intentional Two-Way Communication
 Organizational Design and Performance
 Keeper of Mission and Vision

EXAMPLES OF HOW MY LEADERSHIP HAS CHANGED

Meetings
Ask more questions
 Warm-ups and
“reflections”
 Shared moderation and
where I sit
 Facilitator


Intentional Two-Way
Communication







Weekly newsletter/blog
State of the Village
President’s Circle
Feedback/Dialogue
gatherings
Birthday lunches with
directors
Leadership Circles
Social media
MORE EXAMPLES OF HOW MY LEADERSHIP HAS CHANGED

Organizational Design
and Performance





Team Guidelines and
Standards
Decentralize structure
Deepen culture
Dashboards/Satisfaction/
Quality
Right people in right place

Keeper of Mission
and Vision





Less operational
Build culture
Create interest and energy
Brand
Co-creating future
DISCUSSION
How have you engaged persons in your team or
congregation?
 What has been most successful?
 How is your leadership style more like a choir than a
soloist?

WHO IS AROUND YOU?
Engaging the Leaders Around You
THOUGHTS ON LEADING THOSE AROUND US

Your view of people ---Your view of people – are you optimistic or pessimistic
about people’s intentions?
 Your view of success – is success primarily from your
efforts as an individual or stemming from the efforts of a
team?

Selecting leaders who can work in an engaging style
 Make sure the right people are in the room to make
the best decision – the stranger and end-user
 Leadership is frequently more a matrix network than
a strict linear process

LEADERS AROUND US

Leaders around us include those:






Above
Below
Beside
Outside
Those we serve
All relationships need to be engaged
WHO/WHAT DO I KEEP AROUND ME TO GIVE ME
ENERGY FOR THE JOURNEY?
Board and Executive Team
 Personal

Time with Spouse and Children
 Silent Retreats
 Books and Conferences
 Mentors


Connections with Other Organizations
Alliances with similar organizations
 External organizations we can learn from


WorldBlu
WORLDBLU PRINCIPLES
1. PURPOSE AND VISION
2. TRANSPARENCY
3. DIALOGUE + LISTENING
4. FAIRNESS + DIGNITY
5. ACCOUNTABILITY
6. INDIVIDUAL + COLLECTIVE
7. CHOICE
8. INTEGRITY
9. DECENTRALIZATION
10. REFLECTION + EVALUATION
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL DEMOCRACY?
Organizational Democracy is:
Organizational Democracy is not:
Business
Politics
Conversations
Consensus-only
Decentralized Networks
Being Flat
Leadership
Management
Universal Ideals
American-only ideals
Strategy
Size
Knowing when to be fast AND when to be slow
Being Slow
Giving up the delusion that you're in control
Giving up control
Profits and people
Ignoring profits
Creating meaningful work
Cosmetic office parks
Being a great workplace for those who can thrive in a
decentralized and dynamic environment
Being a great workplace for everyone
Making Decisions
Analyzing decision-making techniques
Ongoing participation in things that matter
Voting on everything
SUMMARY COMMENTS
This approach is not about endless process but better
process
 Open leadership requires more – not less – rigor and
effort than being in control
 The leader is a social architect who creates
experiences for others – experiences that are
examples of the desired future
 Leaders help shift conversations from the problems
of the community to the possibilities of the
community
 Leaders don’t need more information, but colleagues
who will be present with them for the journey

DISCUSSION
How might you give more power away rather than
hoard power?
 How can you support those around you more?
 How might you start a new conversation with those
around you?
 Who are the external colleagues helping you lead?
