CDR Fundraising Group gives you permission to make a single copy of this material for your own perso

1
CDR Fundraising Group gives you permission to
make a single copy of this material for your own
personal use. Additional copies of this material
may be made only with expressed and prior
authorization from CDR Fundraising Group.
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Leading from Below

• September 2007
• Presented by
• Joel Zimmerman

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Leading from Below

• Young WonderAt 15, Zach Hunter of Atlanta,
  Georgia, looks like an average teenager, but he
  has personally raised more than 20,000 to help
  free slaves around the world. His campaign, Loose
  Change to Loosen Chains, encourages students to
  donate spare change to groups working to end
  worldwide oppression. More than 30 schools now
  support his cause. Zachs goal to end modern-day
  slavery in his lifetime. http//www.cnn.com/SPECIA
  LS/2007/cnn.heroes/interactive/gallery.heroes/fram
  eset.6.exclude.html

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Leading from Below

• Fighting for JusticeForced into prostitution at
  age 14, Tina Frundt now dedicates her life to
  assisting victims of sex trafficking. She helps
  them rebuild their lives through the Polaris
  Project, a victim assistance program in
  Washington. Her moving testimony before Congress
  in 2005 is credited with helping pass stronger
  antitrafficking laws that now protect not only
  foreign nationals but U.S. citizens as well.
• http//www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/cnn.heroes/intera
  ctive/gallery.heroes/frameset.1c.exclude.html

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Leading from Below

• Community CrusaderLast year, Queen Brown's
  youngest son was killed on the streets of Miami,
  Florida, a victim of gun violence. Determined to
  turn her loss into a message, Brown has become an
  antiviolence crusader. She hosts a radio talk
  show -- paid for out of her own pocket -- where
  listeners can share their experiences with urban
  violence.
• http//www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/cnn.heroes/intera
  ctive/gallery.heroes/frameset.1c.exclude.html

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Thoughts for Today

• What is leadership?
• Focusing on nonprofit organizations
• What is leadership from below?
• Whats required from you if youre below?
• Whats required from you if youre above?

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The Essence of Leadership

• Leader presumes follower. Follower presumes
  choice. A true leader cannot be bound to lead.
  A true follower cannot be bound to follow.
  Induced behavior is the essence of
  leader/follower.
• A leader inspires you to follow. Leading and
  following are both acts of choice

Dee Hock Founder and CEO emeritus of VISA USA
and VISA International. Founder and director of
the Chaordic Alliance
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Leadership in a Hierarchy

• Top-down leadership
• People in a hierarchy of authority
  (job, family, military, religion)
  choose to follow someone (a leader) higher in the
  hierarchy
• Bottom-up leadership (from below)
• People choose to follow someone in an equal or
  lower position in the hierarchy
• Regardless of directionality, the essence of
  leadership is choice

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As Opposed to

• Leadership is all about inspiration, influence,
  and choice (charisma)
• Influence resulting directly or indirectly from
  power, coercion, or position of hierarchical
  authority is not leadership
• It is management (or dominance, or tyranny)

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So, Why Distinguish Leadership from Below?

• Leadership from above
  is much easier,
  because you
• Can get peoples attention
• Do not have to battle with contentious,
  restrictive authority from above
• Have more resources at your disposal
• Have the authority to over-ride standard policies
  and procedures

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Why We Need Leadership from Below
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The Leadership Paradigm of Command-and-Control is
Obsolete

• We used to believe
• leaders know everything
• they are the only ones
  who can make decisions
• and the organizations
  success depends on
  everyone else following
  orders
• But now

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We Have Valuable People All Through Our
Organizations

• People are highly educated
• Computers and other tools give
  the ordinary person enormous power
• Modern communications make it possible for
  everyone to talk to everyone
• Leaders dont have all the answers
• But the Internet does!

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When Leadership Comes Only from Above

• We leave too many of our valuable resources idle
• People throughout the organization do not feel
  ownership or accountability for their actions
• We cannot be competitive with organizations that
  are exploiting full value from all their resources

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Promoting Leadership from Below

• A Primer for Those Who Are Below, and Those Who
  Are Above

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What Defines Leading from Below?

• Influencing people in equal or higher positions
  in a hierarchy
• Contributing to strategic decisions that will
  affect others throughout an organization
• Setting a groups agenda rather than following
  someone elses agenda

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What Does It Take from Below?

• COURAGE
• Exert influence and
  inspiration where you have
  no authority
• Think evolution, not
  revolution
• You are not upsetting the basic power structure

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Obstacles

• Fear
• The risks are real Its not easy to be a hero!
• Dont expect your superiors to change just
  because YOU think you
  have a good idea
• No one will believe in you,
  if YOU dont believe in you

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What Does It Take from Below?

• CREDIBILITY
• Visibility
• People can choose to follow
  you only if they can see you
• Communicate via a network, not a hierarchy
• Lead by example Walk the talk
• Create a track record of successes
• Be patient and persistent

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Obstacles

• It needs to start at the top
• For people in the part of the
  organization you manage, you ARE the top
• The stuff that started at the top is probably
  what got you in the mess you are in today
• History shows that real innovation comes from
  grassroots skunk works, upstart companies
• This is mainly an excuse you are trying to give
  yourself to duck out

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What Does It Take from Below?

• ESCAPE FROM MANAGEMENT
• Managers job is to enforce
  the status quo via standards and
  procedures Leaders promote
  improvements, via change
• Management is all about control
  Leadership is all about
  influence

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Obstacles

• This isnt the right time
• Its never the right time
• When things are going well, people
  are not motivated to change
• When things are not going well, people
  are frightened and cautious they
  seek comfort in familiar things and
  are especially afraid of change

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What Does It Take from Above?

• EMPOWERMENT
• CEOs cant change companies
  on their own
• If change is going to come about it will be
  because managers below the CEO take the
  initiatives and risk to drive the company in a
  different direction

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Empowerment

• is a gift that people who have authority give
  to people who do not
• is not abandoning responsibility, but sharing
  responsibility
• Contrary to what many managers
  think, people cannot empower
  themselves

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Is Your Staff Empowered?

• Sometimes, managers think so, staff dont
• Are they empowered ONLY to follow rules
• If so, they are not empowered
• Are they asking your permission
  before making
  decisions and
  taking actions
• If so, they are not empowered

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em-POWER-ment

• As a manager, only you can put the POWER into
  empowerment
• Give people the authority to do their jobs and
  give them the authority to stretch
• Give them direction and guidance so they can do
  the job correctly
• Hold people accountable for WHAT they accomplish,
  but not HOW they do it

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Main Lesson

• If you are above,
  put POWER into your
  staffs empowerment
• If you are below,
  prepare to go boldly
  where other people
  fear to tread
• We need both

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Questions and Comments