Chapter 3: Concepts of Leadership: Difference between revisions

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In American culture, our first thought when we think about effective leaders are often associated with individuals at the tops of organizational hierarchies. Visualized as strong-willed and rugged, these people push themselves upward to command followers. Some highly collaborative leaders in history, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., may even be rewritten as powerful individuals without acknowledging the power that very leader vested in the people around them.

{{Quote|text=<big>'''''Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes.'''''|sign='' Margaret Wheatley''</big>}}

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Leaders have followers. In fact, you are a leader only if others follow. In NET, "follower" does not carry meanings of servility. Instead, followers are simply trained NET members and other volunteers with an assigned job or role other than leadership.

According to leadership scholars Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, followers need four basic things from leaders: '''trust, stability, hope,''' and '''compassion.''' We will explore them in the context of NET leadership.

Trust represents the basic currency between a leader and followers. Leaders build trust with followers through relationships, and trusted leaders follow through and do the things they say they will do (i.e. aligning actions with words). Leaders also build trust by facilitating cooperation between members of their team, impartially resolving conflict between others, giving honest feedback, being authentic, and checking in about concerns voiced by team members.

Leaders also build trust by demonstrating expertise and know-how. For a NET Team Leader, this does not mean knowing how all components of disaster response work (after all, that's a whole career's worth of knowledge!) A NET Team Leader does not need to claim expert proficiency in first aid, search and rescue, radio communications, and on and on. An expert NET Team Leader sees the big picture and understands how all those other parts fit together into community resilience and response readiness.

Trust bears on a leader's predictability, bringing us to stability. Trusted leaders avoid behaving wildly inconsistently. Stability also applies to managing team goals. Volunteers want to know where the team is headed and that the team will get stronger as time and work moves forward.

The [[PBEM Volunteer Code of Conduct]] sets an expectation of respect for all PBEM volunteers. Team Leaders can bolster values of respect and trust be defining and adhering to team governance structures. A NET Team Leader should make themselves emotionally available to listen to concerns but also make it clear that it is never acceptable for a team member to hijack team stability by expressing their point of view in a disruptive or offensive manner.

Next comes hope. Rath and Conchie remark that providing hope for the future can challenge leaders because hope may contradict stability. While stability acts as a foundation for the present, hope often suggests change as the team aspires towards a productive future. Therefore, leaders should use a foundation of stability to build hope up and strive to keep a balanced approach to both change and stability.<ref>The hope you create on your team is linked to your team's '''vision''', which this training will cover later. But it's a good idea to think ahead to: what will the team aspire to? What does the team wish to accomplish? A vision that creates hope can make volunteers enthusiastic for the future.</ref>

Finally, compassion. In the business world, this means caring for the individual needs of their employees. For example, creating programs to improve employees' health, allowing employees to put family first, or actively listening to employees concerns and suggestions.

Volunteer leaders should seek to understand the motivations of their team members. While PBEM's annual NET survey data provides a good starting point, it is not a replacement for sitting down with team members and hearing from them their motivations in their own words. In doing this, a Leader will uncover the compassion in team members that fuels their motivations.   

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NET Team Leaders (optimally) possess many skills, and '''''team management''''' is one skill among others. It is important to point out that "management” is not a type of leader or leadership. Similar to how leadership is a ''skill set'' that can be learned and practiced, we approach team management as an important skill volunteer leaders should cultivate.