2. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
The Leadership Crisis
• Competition for donors and
dollars
• Baby boomers reaching
retirement age
• CEOs struggling to unify boards
and staff
• Boards are confused about what
their roles are
• Decreased donor trust
Concord Leadership Group, Nonprofit Sector Leadership Report 2016
3. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Concord Leadership Group, Nonprofit Sector
Leadership Report 2016
•49% of nonprofits are operating without any knowledge of or access
to a strategic plan (and 62% of the ones that do, have plans that don’t
include any mention of fundraising)
•25% of nonprofits say they don’t have a vision compelling enough to
unify the board, staff and donors (and 62% of nonprofit leaders don’t
even know how to create a vision)
•77% of nonprofits report not having a leadership transition plan or
leadership training program
•42% of nonprofits don’t have any formal mechanisms in place to
measure performance
4. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
What is leadership?
Leadership is an
influence relationship
among leaders and
followers who intend
real changes and
outcomes that reflect
their shared purpose.
Leader
Influence
Intention
Personal
responsibility
and integrity
Change
Shared
purpose
Followers
5. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Management vs leadership
Management
• Planning and budgeting
• Organizing and staffing
• Creating boundaries
• Acting as a boss
• Emotional distance
• Expert mind
• Insight into organization
Leadership
• Creating vision and strategy
• Creating shared culture and values
• Reducing boundaries
• Acting as a coach, facilitator
• Emotional connections
• Open mind
• Insight into self
Adapted from “The Leadership Experience” by Richard L. Daft
8. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Who are authentic leaders?
“Authentic leaders have a deep sense of
purpose for their leadership and are true to
their core values. They are people of the
highest integrity who are committed to
building enduring organizations. Authentic
leaders see themselves as stewards of the
assets they inherit and servants of all their
stakeholders. They lead with their hearts,
not just their heads, yet they have the self
discipline to produce consistently strong
results.”
~ Bill George
19. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Self-discipline at Good Works
• Being open and honest, even when it’s
scary
• Holding true to our values, even when we
might be worried about the financial
impact
• Reminding ourselves it isn’t personal,
even if we’re being yelled at
Every day of the week
20. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Authentic Leadership Questionnaire
Take five minutes to fill out
the “Self” questionnaire
(you can bring the “Rater”
questionnaire home to give
to someone who reports to
or works with you)
21. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Scoring
Each scale consists of these item numbers. Average the
item value to get the raw score for the scale.
Transparency: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
Moral/Ethical: 6, 7, 8 & 9
Balanced Processing: 10, 11 & 12
Self Awareness: 13, 14, 15 & 16
22. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
What it means
• Self Awareness: To what degree are you aware of your strengths,
limitations, how others see you and how you impact others?
• Transparency: To what degree do you reinforce a level of openness
with others that provides them with an opportunity to be
forthcoming with their ideas, challenges and opinions?
• Ethical/Moral: To what degree do you set a high standard for moral
and ethical conduct?
• Balanced Processing: To what degree do you solicit sufficient
opinions and viewpoints prior to making important decisions in order
to be seen as fair and just?
25. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Find your sweet spot
“I get to do what I like to do
every single day of the year. I
tap-dance to work, and when I
get there, I think I’m supposed to
lie on my back and paint the
ceiling. It’s tremendous fun.
~ Warren Buffett, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
28. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Culture of philanthropy
“A culture of philanthropy exists when everyone in the
organization - staff, board members, volunteers --
understands, believes in, embraces and acts on his or
her roles and responsibilities in philanthropy in an
investor-focused and co-ownership manner.”
~ Karen Osborne
29. #CAGP16 @LeahEustace
Build a Passionate Organization
• Let people show their emotions. If you ask your people to check their
emotions at the door, you can’t tap into their passion.
• Hire passionate people. One way to get passionate people into your
organization is to incentivize current employees to refer people they want to
work with.
• Fan the flames. Find plenty of ways to celebrate joint accomplishments.
• Don’t stifle your rock stars. Give your people the autonomy to do the work
that interests them most.
• Share context. Connect job functions to the organization’s broader mission,
and remind people why they do what they do.
Source: Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2016/02/how-to-build-a-passionate-company
A few things that have prompted this session
Leadership crisis
Personal crises I’ve seen amongst colleagues and friends
Why talk about leadership?
Because we’re facing a huge leadership crisis that will have an immense impact on our planned giving programs
Because of all of this, nonprofits are focusing on short term crises instead of long-term viability
And, planned giving is by its very nature long-term:
Donors make a gift decision that won’t be fulfilled for years if not decades
They are persuaded to make those decisions in large part because they are inspired by a vision that they want to be a part of
So today we’re going to talk about a leadership style that can address these shocking statistics
We’ll do some personal learning and some organizational learning
Let’s start by talking about what leadership is
And here’s the difference between management and leadership
The concept of authentic leadership has been around for millennia, but really began being talked about in a business sense in 2003 when Bill George published “Authentic Leadership”
In it, he persuasively demonstrates that authentic leaders of mission-driven companies will create far greater shareholder value than financially oriented companies.
He wrote the book shortly after the corporate crises that Enron, Tyco and WorldCom faced
In 2007, he followed up with “True North”
Whereas Authentic leadership was based on his personal experiences, True North was built on field research
These are tested guides for character-based leaders and all those who have a stake in the integrity and success of our corporations.
The journey to authentic leadership
Preparing for leadership: when character forms and people act as individual contributors or lead teams for the first time
Gain valuable work experience
Change jobs every 18 to 24 months to diversity experience
Natural amount of self-absorption at this phase
Interested in what they can accomplish as an individual
Phase II: Leading
Rapid accumulation of leadership experience
As you take on greater responsibilities, you’ll likely face personal and professional setbacks that test you to your core (death of a loved one, divorce of parents, discrimination, failure)
These periods transform your understanding of what leadership is all about and can dramatically accelerate your development
Phase III: Generativity
Most rewarding phase of all
Sharing leadership and wisdom through service / mentorship / volunteering
Does this model ring true with you?
During his twelve year tenure as Chairman and CEO of Medtronic he grew market capitalization from $1.1 billion to $60 billion….more than 35% a year.
He did this focusing, not on financial performance alone, but rather on 5 key elements of self
Authentic leadership is built on your character, not your style
Leaders must understand their purpose
Have strong values
Build trusting relationships
Demonstrate self discipline
Act from the heart
Starting to sound familiar?
Many of the leadership qualities we see in the non-profit sector.
Here, they have been deconstructed for us in a model.
Walking our way through the model, the applicability to our sector is very clear.
Leaders and organizations must act with purpose
What is purpose? For our organizations it is our mission and vision.
For individuals it is often a little harder to define…. And many of us go our whole lives without finding our purpose
A useful, powerful vision or purpose is one that inspires as it unites, that focuses attention on what matters most while it guides action
It’s a compelling image of an achievable future
What’s your purpose at work…make a difference? feed your family? Please your boss? Connect donors to your organization?
Poll audience for ideas. Has anyone written down their mission/purpose in the work role?
If you lack purpose and direction in leading, why would anyone want to follow you?
Robert Greenleaf, in “Servant Leadership” advocates service to others as the leader’s primary purpose
At Good Works, our purpose is to build human connections between your donors and your cause
We purposefully focus on who we are and what we stand for, rather than the services or products we offer
The core values are the guiding principles that dictate behavior and action.
Core values can help people to know what is right from wrong; they can help companies to determine if they are on the right path and fulfilling their business goals; and they create an unwavering and unchanging guide.
Values of the authentic leader are shaped by personal beliefs, developed through study, introspection and consultation with others
If you don’t exercise complete integrity in your interactions, no one can trust you
If they can’t trust you, why would they follow you
Do not let your values be compromised
Take a few minutes to write down your four or five core values
Now write down your organization’s four or five core values
Put your hand up if they match?
Anyone not have any overlap at all?
This is the passion and compassion piece.
Over the last several decades, businesses have evolved from maximizing the physical output of their workers to engaging the minds of their employees
To excel, we need to go one step further and engage their hearts
Developing your heart means following your own path and being open to all of life’s experiences
It means being true to yourself
How can we be passionate about our cause or mission?
What are the tools and strategies we can use, and our organizations can use to demonstrate passion?
Poll audience for discussion both from the organization and the leadership perspective.
Examples: - involvement & participation in appropriate events
- general enthusiasm
- knowledge of the sector/space the organization is involved in
- ambition
The capacity to develop close and enduring relationships is one mark of a leader
Today’s employee’s demand more personal relationships with their leaders before they will give themselves fully to their jobs
People will entrust their hopes and dreams to another person only if they think the other person is a reliable vessel
We know trusting and transparent relationships are essential in planned giving, or any giving for that matter.
What are some of the tools and strategies you use to both build and maintain trust?
DEPENDING ON THE ANSWERRS THAT COME FORWARD, THIS COULD BE A GREAT TIME TO USE GOOD WORKS EXAMPLES OF LEGACY STEWARDSHIP, CULTIVATION ETC.
Great opportunity to talk about trust in general.
Go off on a tangent about the sector as whole and how each scandal hurts us all; call for examples.
When pressure mounts, relationships built on connectedness actually grow
What a great message!
Self-discipline is an essential quality of any successful leader
Without it you can’t gain the respect of your followers
You can’t let stress get in the way of your judgment
You must stay cool and calm under pressure
If we are tired, we still demonstrate our passion to our donors.
If our operating fund is short, we still follow the donor’s restrictions and wishes for their gifts.
Call for other examples from audience.
If you email them to me later, I will find the averages in the room so you know how you compare
Balance makes you a better leader
Balanced leaders develop healthier organizations
By appropriately delegating their work, balanced leaders are able to make thoughtful decisions and lead more effectively
Their employees make higher levels of commitment to the organization
Establish clear ground rules for your work-life balance and stick to them
Put your hand up if you feel you have great work-life balance
We’ve talked about ourselves as authentic leaders, but what about our organizations?
Being mission-driven is really the path to long-term stakeholder value
How do we apply this model to non-profits?
The authentic way to increase stakeholder value is with a mission that inspires employees to develop innovative solutions and provide superior service to beneficiaries and donors
Causes motivate, dollars don’t
Your mission should be everywhere
How do you reinforce your mission?
Beneficiary visits
Storytelling…
So, we’ve talked a lot about the points of Authentic Leadership and the elements involved for you, your organization, and ideally other leaders in your organization.
The question of course is what can we really do with this?
Much of what we need to do in the world of planned giving is to tell stories…specifically, we need to communicate.
Stories that describe the future we believe in
Stories that build trust
Stories that mobilize others and lead to action
Stories that support our world view and make our donors and beneficiaries part of that world view
I thought this model really summed things up nicely for this.
Walk audience through the elements.
Talk about specific GW examples and cases you’ve developed
Building a strong culture of philanthropy can also contribute to the authenticity of an organization
Time and again, studies and polls have shown that fundraising success directly correlates to a strong culture of philanthropy.
In other words, successful fundraising organizations live and breathe philanthropy, rather than relegate it to an isolated fundraising department.
Philanthropy and fundraising need to be seen as an integral part of your' story, a story that's shared and told constantly.
Successes and responsibility should be shared throughout the organization.
*Pass out Culture of philanthropy scorecard and walk through it
Source?
Hey, we’re in Alberta, Should we all live by the cowboy code?