Leadership as Collaboration

Today’s Washington Post contained an piece by David Rothkopf bemoaning the need for real leadership to get us out of the current economic near-collapse of world markets. My attention was caught by the end of the article when he said that leadership required collaboration.

His point was that leaders do not operate in a vacuum. The very nature of leadership is to lead others. The many definitions and types of leadership require followers. Leadership is by nature a collaborative venture.

To lead requires a deep understanding of the situation in which the potential followers find themselves. Leaders are not born of isolation. Leaders cannot live in a bubble, which President Obama is so clearly trying to escape. Ideas for moving forward must be based on an understanding of where we are now, more importantly, how people experience where we are now.

The conditions that got us in this economic mess existed over a period of time, the warning signs were there. While he did not prevent the current problems, former Fed chair Alan Greenspan sounded a warning when he pointed out our “irrational exuberance.”

There may have been those who could have been leaders, who were aware of and prepared to lead us away from the problems that have since occurred. However, because the problems had not manifested themselves they were not part of our common experience. It was not until the economic world came tumbling down that our collective story became one of recession, with fears of worse. It was only then that leaders could connect our story to their solutions. President Obama won the election because he connected with people and inspired hope. His background allowed him to understand people’s deepest fears and uncertainties, and to harness the spark of hope that exists within our collective conscience.

Once a potential leader deeply understands the situation as experienced by the people, the next step in leadership is the framing of the problem. Wise people may have seen the situation the way the people experience it but, if they define the problem in terms that the people cannot relate, the connection between leader and people is broken.

It is probably at this point that leadership is born, of commonly understood experience and an agreed upon identification of the problem. That is where leadership can first live, but can eventually die. Like a rosebud that never opens, those who are mired in the problem do not become leaders. True leaders have to take their followers beyond the problem into solutions. The solutions must be tailored to the authentic experience of the followers and take them in places they are willing to go. Part of leadership is opening the eyes, hearts, and spirits of followers to be willing to go to new places of possibility, upon roads not yet imagined, or feared.

So Rothkopf is correct, leadership is truly collaboration, a serious, deep sharing of experience, problem definition, solution and fortitude. It is up to us to connect with our leaders, help them understand the world we see, help them refine the definition of the problem, and then help them get the solutions right. At that point, collaboration does not end, but continues to through the arduous work of implementation of the solutions. A true leader will sustain followers through implementation, helping them see the wisdom of their common choices and encouraging cooperation and mutual support. Leaders and followers shape each other each step of the way, which is perhaps yet another definition of collaboration.

It is easy to see how situations go from bad to worse when people wear blinders and cannot see the problems to come, when potential leaders cannot agree with or share the collective story.

Leadership is clearly not limited to the political or economic systems. Leaders in all fields must connect with their audience’s story, frame mutually understood problem statements, create a shared vision for a proposed solution, help followers feel that together they can implement the solution, withstand the turbulence and arrive together with the problem resolved or at least adequately addressed.

The role of the people, whether an electorate, shareholders, employees or any other kind of stakeholder is to engage with potential leaders at every step of the way. For without us there cannot be leaders.

Flood fighting efforts

I received this in this morning's email, from a dear friend still working at Concordia College, my alma mater, and where I was a dean for 13 years. She lives in Moorhead, MN, just two blocks north of the college, and about seven blocks from the Red River, across the road from Fargo, ND.

My friend Peggy lost her house to the flood today. I'm sitting here listening to the news. It's not good. I'm not even sure what to say, except I'm scared and I'm feeling compelled to write our family and friends. Somehow, it makes me feel better to connect with you all. We've had rain, ice snow. Today it snowed 7 inches and it's still snowing.

Today, they evacuated people from Oxbow (just south of Fargo. Airboats are the only way in and out now since the ice, snow and and water are everywhere. Tomorrow, they are evacuating Eventide Nursing Home and it's assisted living facilities (just 7 blocks from us). The town of Georgetown(just north of Moorhead) is being evacuated since they are building a circle dike around the town. They haven't issued an evacuation notice to us yet but Chip is emptying the basement as I write this.

We are grateful for all the help that is coming to town and all the positive thoughts that you have shared. The energy that people are bringing to the effort helps us feel hopeful that we're going to beat this. The mayor says he is "skeptically optimistic". Not sure what that means. The volunteer effort does inspire hope in humanity. Watch the news and keep us in your thoughts. I'm not sure if I'll get to update you all again. I just felt the need to take a moment out to write but now it's back to the shuttle vans and sandbags. Thanks.

My friend directs the leadership and service program at this small liberal arts college. One of the hallmarks of this college has been the strong sense of community and an ethic of service. I trust that the college will not mind me reprinting the information from Concordia's website:

Concordia students were the first to join the volunteer effort, while NDSU and MSUM were on spring break. Our students stepped in Friday, March 20 as preparations began. Volunteers started coming in waves that weekend and have continued daily.

Hundreds of Cobbers reported to Nemzek Monday and Tuesday, contributing to the more than 4,000 volunteers dispatched by FirstLink each day. They were at the ready Wednesday when the call went out again. The college canceled classes all week, urging students, faculty and staff to help with the flood preparation. Dining Services prepared more than 600 sandwiches Tuesday and about 950 sandwiches Wednesday for volunteers. One thousand bottles of water, chips and cookies were also supplied. Many of our athletic teams were quick to participate. The football team built dikes for one house after another on River Drive in South Moorhead and both soccer teams helped protect an entire neighborhood against a flooding coulee.

Alumni from hundreds of miles away returned to their Cobber home to help community members save their properties. Students hauled furniture from several home basements to help homeowners. Concordia will be housing AmeriCorp volunteers on campus for four to six weeks. The college is running a dozen shuttles more than 12 hours a day, transporting Concordia volunteers as well as partnering with the city to drive other community members. More than 45 faculty, staff and students are volunteering to drive the shuttles. Several faculty have served as site supervisors, coordinating sandbaggers.

In reading these postings I am reminded where I learned the values basic to collaboration; the sense of responsibility and service to community; the importance of doing whatever one can in concert with the efforts of others to meet common goals; perseverance beyond self, beyond ability, beyond capacity - a willingness to do whatever the situation takes. I value what I learned at Concordia every single day, but today, from a half a continent away, the most I can do is pray and ask for thoughts and prayers for Fargo-Moorhead and the many other communities in the region that are fighting the floodwaters determinedly united.

Aging in America

My second project with the National Council on Aging (NCOA) means a second opportunity to be a part of the Aging in America Conference. Last year it was in DC, two Metro stops from my home, but this year it is in Las Vegas. Not surprisingly, elements of the preparation are easier when the venue is two miles from the office than when it is three quarters of a continent away. However, in both cases it is impressive to see the degree of collaboration and spirit of cooperation needed to plan and implement a conference with 3500 attendees from every corner of the vast aging services network.

The conference is a joint effort of NCOA and the American Society on Aging. For the past nine years these two distinct organizations have aligned their identities, interests, financial resources, members and staff to co-sponsor this annual conference. There may be as many reasons not to work together on this as there are to continue, but the partnership adapts and coalesces each year to put on what is truly a first-rate conference.

It takes an equally incredible commitment to collaboration within NCOA (and surely ASA) to carry out its responsibilities. As the conference draws nearer boundaries fall and people do whatever it takes to get done, pitching in to meet deadlines and working together to ensure the quality of the conference experience. Rather than sliding toward irritability, as time grows short and demands heighten, NCOA staff becomes more helpful, more collegial. In some organizations, it would require coaching and reminders, but at NCOA, the cooperation seems organic and natural and is seemingly consistently good-natured.

In addition to NCOA and ASA and their respective staffs needing to work together so positively and productively, many other organizations are involved and invested in the success of the conference. Many aging interest groups and organizations come together at the conference and negotiate time and space for their own meetings and programs. It cannot be easy but it all seems to work.

One of the reasons it works is the tremendous shared commitment people and organizations have for improving the lives of older adults. Whether the goal is to better understand issues and needs, improve advocacy or programs, or rally and inspire support, this is the place to be this week if you care about aging in America and beyond our shores.

Given that we are all aging and all have older adults in our lives, it is inspiring to see this degree of collective commitment and collaboration. Hopefully all this collaborative effort will result in improved outcomes for older adults in general as well as those we care about individually.

The view from 35,000 feet

Flying is a good way to appreciate the community of effort needed for success. I am not a nervous flyer, but I do appreciate the act of faith expressed in boarding an airplane for a cross country flight.

Today I am on my first Southwest Airlines flight. I have long heard the buzz about Southwest, its customer-friendly policies, smart business model, happy crew, and, less positively, its boarding procedures. However, since National is so convenient and easy to navigate it has my loyalty and I always look for flights leaving DCA. It took a free ticket to get me to be willing to go out of Dulles – it would take more to get me to consider BWI.

From the beginning (the donated ticket), Southwest was easy to work with. By the time I arrived at Dulles I had changed my return three times just based on emerging opportunities, something I would never have considered on another airline. You can’t change a free flight on line but each time I called I was talking to an agent after less than a minute on hold, greeted warmly, helped efficiently, and reassured that changing my flight was no problem – and would have incurred no additional cost had I been paying.

The Dulles based crew was no exception, Everyone was great, from the guys at the ticket counter who kidded around with me, to the gate agent with the up-beat attitude who complimented me for arriving so early and told me all I needed to know about the flight, to the two sets of flight attendants who were wisecracking, polite and acted as if by flying Southwest I had done them a personal favor. Collectively they had me hooked.

Another perk was the complete lack of what have become all-too-typical service fees, even for two checked bags. I was also surprised to see a full array of free snacks offered in three courses. Even the Spirit Magazine was a fun read.

Since I was able to check in online 24 hours before my flight the infamous cattle call boarding process was actually painless, eliminating the normal jockeying for position to board. On a 737 there were more than enough good seats to be had so I got my normal isle seat in a row over the wing. Of course I didn’t know that would happen, so I was slightly anxious.

The only downside that I have seen so far is that the easygoing, friendly staff seem to be part of a culture that attracts easy going friendly fliers. It may be a stretch to call that a downside, but I like peace and quiet and definitely don’t like to be assaulted by others conversation in flight (or anywhere else). I have never been on one flight, let alone two, where people talked so freely and loudly – really loudly. Having only had five hours of sleep last night, I was really hoping for a good nap, but that was not possible with the noise level. Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with the Southwest culture. Perhaps the low fares and the Las Vegas destination attracted a distinct clientele. This is certainly true of most any flight on any airline to Orlando from November through April – or later. I am not sure if I prefer an airplane full of overly excited children and checked-out parents, or one full of people taking advantage of a cheap vacation to a city of fantasies.

Aside from the loud conversations, my first Southwest experience has been a good one. Of course I haven’t landed yet, but if this gets posted, it is safe to assume I landed safely. I don’t even know who all contributed to the positive experience, but I know that it was truly a group effort. Even if it means flying out of Dulles, I am sure I will fly Southwest again soon. Mostly it will be because of the airline’s many attributes, but I am also interested to see if passengers talk loudly en route to destinations other than Las Vegas. Just in case, next time I will be sure to pack my noise cancelling headphones.

The power of story

Today in church I was reminded of the power of story and the need for people to know they are in the story. Dr. Cain Hope Felder, professor of New Testament Language and Literature at the Howard University School of Divinity, talked about how people who have traditionally been at the margins can be brought into the community by discovering themselves in the story and by the opportunity to tell their own story. As I listened, I realized how true I have found this to be in my work with collaboratives.

I have learned that one of the important tasks of collaborative enterprises is to harness the power of the story. In sharing and hearing each other’s stories partners can come to understand what is important to each other and why.

All too often collaborative ventures are trying to hard to be efficient partners barely take the time to begin to get to know each other even superficially. Taking time to share stories is too often seen a luxury. However, taking that time near the beginning can save a great deal of time later. Time spent on hearing each other’s stories can move the collaborative process forward based on understanding rather than assumptions. Through listening to stories partners can learn to understand each other's motives and values, which can help minimize faulty judgments and misdirection of effort.

Telling one’s story has benefits the tellers as well as the listeners. The process of telling one’s story helps clarify what is really important and can help prioritize what is needed from the partnership. It helps differentiate between personal from organizational stories. The process of listening is as important as the telling. The opportunity to tell your story is of limited value if you do not feel you are being heard.

Telling stories takes time, space and focus. It also takes preparation. Without preparing groups to share and listen to each other’s stories people the time taken can be wasted. Groups need coaching and structure to ensure that the time spent has positive outcomes. The environment has to be safe and people need to tell their stories within time guidelines and without interruption.

The results of all this effort will be partners that are clear about what their organizations need from the partnership and partners that know and trust each other more than they would without the stories. Time will ultimately be saved - the time that is otherwise spent taking three steps forward and one – or two – back.

If the work of the partnership is worth doing, if the goals are worth pursuing, let along achieving, it is well worth investing the time in storytelling and story listening.