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Learning LEADERSHIP skills: Not as hard as you might think?

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Fnord
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17 Sep 2019, 2:50 pm

Mona Pereth wrote:
Fnord wrote:
It's a little Machiavellian, but it seems to be based on sound business and military leadership principles.
And indeed is suitable mainly in business (especially large corporations) and the military. Not quite so suitable in support groups, networking groups, educational groups, or recreational/hobby groups. My intended focus in this thread is on leadership primarily in groups in these latter categories.
Ahh ... support groups ... not for problem-solving or production, but for making people feel good about themselves.

Then what you need is a Facilitator, not a Leader. You need someone whose primary goal is to give each person a chance to speak about what is on his or her mind, someone who can paraphrase and repeat what was just said, and someone who knows when to call a break to let the hot-heads cool down and the traumatized a chance to compose themselves -- a manager, not a boss.


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blazingstar
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17 Sep 2019, 7:56 pm

Fnord wrote:
[The best systems I've seen so far are those where the leaders lead for a pre-defined period of time, then they revert back to ordinary citizenship while another person takes over. The Presbyterian church is a good example of this: An elder is elected to serve on the ruling council for three years, and then goes back to being an ordinary congregant. All the elder does is hear reports from other elders, give his or her own report, and then votes on various motions and proposals -- a Representative Democracy. People rarely seek out the position, but are nominated and elected to it.

Those who see leadership as more of a duty than a privilege seem to be more effective than those who go on a narcissistic power-trip.[/color]


Very similar to Quakers. I didn't know that about Presbyterian churches. Only Quakers have no pastor. The clerk fills the role of the Elder.

I am the leader of a small agency. It has been a challenge for me. I do have respect, but inside I can still feel the ...I'm not good enough... set in. I make sure the topics are covered, everyone gets a chance to speak, and conclusions are generally agreed to by all.


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Mona Pereth
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19 Sep 2019, 9:53 pm

Fnord wrote:
Ahh ... support groups ... not for problem-solving or production, but for making people feel good about themselves.

"Problem-solving" and "making people feel good about themselves" are not necessarily mutually exclusive aims. In any group whose members are more akin to customers than to employees, contractors, or draftees, pleasing the members (or, at least, the vast majority of members) does need to be one of the goals, though hopefully not the only goal.

Fnord wrote:
Then what you need is a Facilitator, not a Leader. You need someone whose primary goal is to give each person a chance to speak about what is on his or her mind, someone who can paraphrase and repeat what was just said, and someone who knows when to call a break to let the hot-heads cool down and the traumatized a chance to compose themselves -- a manager, not a boss.

"Facilitator" is indeed the most commonly-used term for the person who runs a support group. However, that term is not so commonly used in the other kinds of groups I mentioned (educational, recreational, networking) as some types of groups that I think some of us should consider founding and leading.

I was using "leader" in a generic sense to refer to the person who leads/manages/coordinates/facilitates/whatever a group of any kind.


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Fnord
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20 Sep 2019, 10:50 am

Mona Pereth wrote:
... I was using "leader" in a generic sense to refer to the person who leads/manages/coordinates/facilitates/whatever a group of any kind.
Ah!

I tend to follow the dictionary definition of each word separately, the differences of which may be subtle -- or even non-existent to some -- but they are significant to me.

:D Cheers!


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