Leadership from Heart:
For Institutionalizing a Culture of
Heart in Society through S-L Team
Leadership
Dr. Ronald L. Burr
Goals
At the end of this session, participants will
have had an opportunity to:
1. Reflect on some Background Factors that
Facilitate Caring Team Leadership in S-L
2. Discuss some Achievement-Methods, and
Applications for these Background Factors
3. Review Learning; Project Applications
Easily Remembered Topics in
Developing S-L Team Leaders?
• Easy to remember because each starts
with a letter of HEART
• They are responses to needs we all have
when working together
• They spring from a HEART of Love often
expressed as Caring
• Caring is one of the Three Cs, along with
Competence and Confidence, that help
define good Team Leaders
Leadership from HEART
• Leaders inspired by Caring are sometimes
referred to as Stewards or Servant leaders.
• “Servant Leadership. . .nourishes subtle
emotional and spiritual needs, creating a
force for growth and change. . .
• Hyler Bracey, and others write that a servant
leader has extraordinary power because he
or she meets five unspoken. . .requests: ”
Richard L. Daft, Robert H. Lengel, Fusion Leadership: Unlocking the Subtle
Forces That Change People and Organizations (2000)
Caring Leadership
• Each 5 letters in the word HEART reminds
how to care
• Each Letter begins an often Unspoken
Request team members have
• Successful Team Leaders have empathy
about these requests and know how to
respond
From HEART
Hear and understand me
Even if you disagree, please don’t make me wrong
Acknowledge the greatness in me
Remember to look for my loving intentions
Tell me your feelings with compassion
Hear and Understand Me
Every team member is a team leader
Good team leaders are at least good listeners
They will show they understand what a person
says before they reply
They will listen for feelings and acknowledge them
when appropriate
Discussion Question
In a S-L program you are doing or
would like to do:
When and how would you provide
education in Listening?
Discussion Instructions:
1. Learn my Signal
2. Discuss your answer with one person
beside you or on either side of you. Not
more than 3 people are talking together.
3. Watch for my signal. When you see it
please get quiet and choose one point
you learned that you would share
Share
With one person beside you or on each side
of you. Not more than 3 people are talking
together
Review
Jot down what you have learned so far
about Team Leadership from HEART
Even if you disagree, please Don’t
Make Me Wrong
Fellow team members are best not equated with
disagreeable behavior
I-Statements are received better than statements
about another that can seem judgmental
Fellow team members have more freedom of choice to
accept First-Person Statements
They might even choose to be agreeable
Begin with "I" and end with feelings that if understood
stand to improve teamwork
Review
Please jot down answers to the following:
1. A teamwork situation wherein your feelings are
distracting you from doing your best _______________
2. How you could appropriately remove this distraction by
talking directly to the team member about whom you
have the feelings? _____________________________
3. Something you learned about the E in HEART _______
Please do this one quietly and alone, just 2 minutes, watch
for my signal and we will go on
Acknowledge the Greatness in Me
Our dreams depend on realizing our inherent potential
Team mates must learn to value their own
competencies and abilities to care
Instead of just their past, measurable performance
Intrinsically good S-L opportunities allow team
members to become intrinsically confident
Encourage them to reflect on accomplishments and
acknowledge strengths
Tell them and their peers what you value about them
Review
Please jot down answers to the following:
1. Some team member’s potential to be great you have not yet
acknowledged ____________________________________
2. A way appropriately to acknowledge your team member, and
to their peers, about their potential to be great ___________
3. Something you learned about the A in HEART ___________
Please do this one quietly and alone, just 2 minutes, watch for
my signal and we will go on
Prepare to Share
1. Look at what you wrote in review of E
and A in HEART
2. Pick the most important one you want to
share
3. Indicate it on your paper
Instructions for Sharing
1. Please remember to keep an eye out for
my Signal
2. Turn around and share with someone
new, not more than 3 people together
3. One minute per person
Remember to Look for My Loving
Intentions
With a caring environment, do you believe most
people grow up wanting to do well?
Yet many of our educational and social structures
reflect a different assumption.
Successful Team Leaders won't make a negative
assumption without first looking for good intentions.
Underlying peoples’ actions are feelings and
attitudes that might be quite different than we think
We all want to be trusted yet are suspicious of
others
Looking for good in others reinforces our own and
others loving intentions
Review
Please jot down answers to the following:
1. Some team member’s intentions of which you
have been suspicious ____________________
2. Some loving intentions they may have instead
_____________________________________
3. Something you learned about the R in HEART
_____________________________________
Please do this one quietly and alone, just 2 minutes, watch for my signal
and we will go on
Tell Me Your Feelings with
Compassion
Institutionalizing a Culture of HEART in Society doesn't mean no
conflict
It means successful Team Members together transform conflict into
cooperation
This transformation requires compassion in sharing our feelings
about behavior we believe blocks our common success
Compassion requires telling the other party respectfully and
directly about alternative behavior conducive to success--and not
telling other people
Compassion requires actively listening when they reply
No matter how much follow up is needed to transform this conflict,
each interaction requires the same level of compassion
Review
Please jot down answers to the following:
1. Some un-confronted team member’s behavior you think
is blocking team success ________________________
2. A plan for telling them about their behavior, and
alternatives, even if repetition is required ___________
3. Something you learned about the T in HEART _______
Please do this one quietly and alone, just 2 minutes, watch
for my signal and we will go on
Review of this Session
1. Look back at everything you learned
about H-E-A-R-T
2. Pick one of those you think will be
most effective if you put it into
practice
Share
With one or two people near you.
Not more than 3 people will be talking
together
Session Evaluation
Look back over the Goals of this Session:
1. Reflect on some Background Factors that
Facilitate Caring Team Leadership in S-L
2. Discuss some Achievement Methods, and
Applications for these Background Factors
3. Review Learning; Project Applications
On a scale of 1 – 10, 10 high, to what extent were you able
to meet each of the goals of this session?