Is the concept of a single, strong leader – or even a team of leaders – outdated? Nick Petrie of The Center for Creative Leadership thinks so. He published a white paper entitled “Future Trends in Leadership Development.” In it he identifies four trends, one of which is a shifting focus from the idea that “leadership resides in individual managers” to the idea that “collective leadership is spread throughout the network.”
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When I teach leadership one of the first discussions I have is about the differences between leadership and management. Warren Bennis says that management is about doing things right and leadership is about doing the right things. Stephen Covey said management is about climbing the ladder fast whereas leadership is concerned with whether the ladder is on the right wall. I would also add that management is often about maintaining the status quo (“keeping the trains running on time”) whereas leadership is fundamentally about changing the status quo. Leadership is about making something different happen. And because leadership is about change, it is inherently perilous.
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Last December, I was asked to take over the effort to launch my group’s new website, a project that had languished for the better part of three years. I will be honest: I didn’t think it would be very hard. However, I quickly realized that one of the reasons the project had been spiraling out of control was because no one understood what the true status of the project was. And it was not good.
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It has already begun. Candidates for municipal offices are telling the public how they will change your city or town. Some mayoral and city council candidates may be campaigning to fire the sheriff or eliminate funding for health services. A city manager or municipal employee may find such campaign promises amusing, that is, until the candidate gets elected and governing begins.
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The public sector is full of news about the “silver tsunami” and leadership gaps. We also speak of needing leaders who better reflect our communities, especially more women and more people of color.
Two different ideas expressed recently at a conference and on a blog might merge to generate one strategy to address this dual challenge of identifying and developing diverse talent.
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An organizational culture will be established or will occur… be proactive.
Elected leaders in Oceanboro promised voters that they would create greater efficiency in two operations, but they haven’t offered any specifics. The town has decided to restructure and create a Business Management office in which Finance and Human Resources are now combined into one department. The Director of this new department is about to convene the first staff meeting of the newly combined department, and she wants to make sure to set the right tone. As she prepares for the meeting, she recalls the management courses she attended while earning her MPA at the UNC School of Government, and in particular, the role of culture in organizations. The members of the department come from departments with very different cultures—each bringing a different set of assumptions and behaviors related to collaboration, communication, prioritizing strategies, and conflict resolution. Can she manage those different cultures, and how can she establish the right culture on the new department to ensure that its work proceeds as smoothly as possible?
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Summer along the North Carolina coast brings many soothing experiences. The calming roar of the waves. Warm sand scrunched between your toes. And a cool libation sipped at sunset.
But there’s a danger lurking just out of sight. It’s big enough to swallow an entire government manager and maybe a few chubby council members. And only the prepared will survive the attack.
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There are strong feelings and many ideas about what to do with Confederate flags and memorials in the aftermath of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church murders.
The Confederate battle flag and flagpole were removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds on July 10th, after emotional debate in the S.C. Legislature.
North Carolina Governor Patrick McCrory believes the state should stop issuing Sons of Confederate Veterans car license plates which feature the Confederate battle flag. One writer calls for taking down the NC Capitol Confederate Memorial. Some other local flashpoints have included the Salisbury Confederate Statue, the use of the Fayetteville Market House as a town symbol, and several reports of vandalism of Confederate statues and memorials. [Update – on July 23, 2015, Governor McCrory signed S.B. 22 into law ]
On the other hand, the N.C. Legislature seems to be moving to preserve a range of memorials and markers by restricting what state agencies and local governments can do about current statues, memorials or monuments on public property (S.B. 22 – Historic Artifact Mgt. and Patriotism Act)
Continue ReadingYou are meeting with members of your economic development board and trying to make decisions about infrastructure investment to promote growth. One member wants to focus the discussion on the need to construct a new shell building, while another member wants to talk about water and sewer infrastructure. The proponent of constructing a shell building just finishes a point about the need to have space available for new companies, when the water and the sewer proponent cuts in. “Yes, but….” Immediately the speaker knows that the water and sewer proponent is trying to take the conversation in a different direction and likely feels like they are not being heard. On the other hand if the water and sewer proponent had said “Yes, I hear your point about the need to have space available for new companies, and I am hoping we can also find a way to think about expanding the water and sewer infrastructure” there is a greater chance to build a mutual and productive conversation. This latter approach provides the start to creatively finding new strategies together that the “yes, but…” does not allow for.
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Sheryl Sandberg’s number one bestseller Lean In examines why women hold fewer than half of leadership positions despite graduating at higher rates from institutes of higher education. The book also sparked a nonprofit organization, leanin.org, to encourage and support women “leaning in” to their career goals. Sandberg also published Lean In: For Graduates, which includes new material intended for young people beginning their careers. With the one-year anniversary of our own MPA graduation fast approaching, thoughts are swirling about next steps, interviews, job hunting, and career tracks in public service leadership. Sandberg’s book focuses primarily on the private sector. Do “Lean In” issues affect women working in the public sector in the same way?
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