Leadership = Commitment

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”

~~William Hutchinson Murray

The following is a summary of “Commitment” by Ashlee M.  Kerkhoff and Daniel T. Ostick, a chapter in Leadership for a Better World.  The full citation is below.

As you know if you’ve been reading this entire series, the Social Change Model (SCM) of leadership development is all about change.  Commitment, the final “C” in the model, is one of the determining factors in leadership and is necessary to facilitate change. Because leadership is not a one-off, momentary thing but is accomplished on a daily basis, it requires persistence.  There are many factors working against change, no matter what setting it’s accomplished in. The strength of your commitment is usually the deciding factor between persisting (and accomplishing change) or giving up.

Supportive Environment

Commitment is closely related to passion, motivation and the self-efficacy.  External motivators like money certainly exist, but their effects are usually short-lived.  Almost all sustainable motivation is intrinsic.  Although it can’t be provided to you, motivation (and commitment) can be fostered by a supportive environment.  Have you ever been very committed to something but became worn down by the environment in which you had to enact that commitment?  If so, you probably left and found a better place to engage with the subject of your commitment (or you plan to at the first opportunity).  Much talent is lost in this way.  It is crucial, therefore, that leaders provide a supportive environment that feeds their team members’ commitment.  There are many ways to accomplish this, but recognition for good work is one.

Avoiding Burnout

Even the most committed individual or group in the most supportive environment can burn out.  Stephen Covey talked about “sharpening the saw” (Covey, 2004) and he was right.  If you don’t take time for self-care and renewal, you will eventually find yourself without the energy and commitment to go on.  Busy people often forego this, but it’s a short term gain in progress on the “to do” list at a much larger, long-term loss in fuel for commitment.  You may go an extra mile or two on those fumes in your tank, but in the end, you’ll be stranded on the interstate…at night…with no cell phone. 

Connection to the Other Cs

If you review the other factors (or “Cs”) in this model, it’s easy to see how Commitment relates to them.  Can you persevere through Controversy with Civility, or find Common Purpose, or have Congruence between your values and actions without Commitment? It’s highly unlikely.  Commitment is, therefore, an integral part of the SCM.

References

Covey, S.R. (2004).  The seven habits of highly effective people:  Powerful lessons in personal change.  New York City: Simon & Schuster.

Kerkhhoff, A. M. & Ostick, D. T.  (2009). Commitment.  In Komives, S. R., Wagner, W. & Associates (Eds.), Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development (pp. 365-391). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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Leadership = Congruence

The following is a summary of “Congruence” by Tricia R. Shalka, a chapter in Leadership for a Better World.  The full citation is below.

The sixth value, and the second individual value, in the Social Change Model  (SCM) of leadership development is Congruence.  Congruence is defined behaving in a way in which your values and your actions match.  It has also been called authenticity and integrity and at the core of all these words is honesty. 

A life lived in Congruence has a certain look to it, and it isn’t always easy to do.  Acting in congruence means you give time and energy to the things you say are important.  If you say your family is most important but you choose to work 80 hour weeks and, via technology, are never truly with your family 100%, is that congruent with saying your family is most important?  Probably not.

Not having congruence leaves you with two choices:  You either need to change your actions to bring them in line with your espoused values, or you need to be more honest with yourself and others about what your values really are.  Honesty is, therefore, the core of congruence.  Without honesty with yourself, you can’t be truly honest with others, nor can you fault them for being less than honest with you.

This congruence between values and actions applies not just to what you do, but how you do it.  One of the most well-known examples of this is Gandhi.  It was important to him that India obtain independence from Great Britain but the way that independence was gained – non-violently – was as important to him.  He knew that his values must be applied not only to the ends they attained but the means they used to do it.

While most of us are not faced with dire situations like Gandhi, it’s easy to see that living in congruence takes another C, and that’s courage.  If you’ve ever said to someone, “I don’t really think that joke is funny” or “Is this really fair?” or otherwise stood up when others were sitting down on an issue, you know that it isn’t easy to live your values.  It can make you unpopular and it can be awkward but it is necessary to take congruent positions in order to facilitate change.  Leadership, as we’ve discussed in this blog, is about change and change cannot happen without occasionally changing something that others may want left alone. 

One of the major challenges to congruence is how you balance your values with those of others.  You may believe you are taking a principled stand on something that someone else opposes equally as strongly, and you both may be congruent with your values.    That’s when the espoused values of the group should be invoked in dealing with conflicts – including Controversy with Civility --  so that a solution can be devised that corresponds with the group’s values. 

Congruence is strongly connected to the other “Cs” in the SCM.  Congruence requires courage and Consciousness of Self to enact regularly, but it inspires the respect of others and is fundamental to leadership of all kinds.

Reference

Shalka, T. R.  (2009).  Congruence.  In Komives, S. R., Wagner, W. & Associates (Eds.), Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development (pp. 335 – 364)). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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Leadership = Consciousness of Self

The following is a summary of “Consciousness  of Self” by Justin Fincher, a chapter in Leadership for a Better World.  The full citation is below.

The next chapter in our exploration of the Social Change Model (SCM) of leadership development is Consciousness of Self.  The previous aspects I’ve summarized have all been “group values,” or aspects of leadership that pertain to the group in which the leadership happens.  The next three values will all be “individual values,” or aspects of the leader as an individual that impact her or his effectiveness. 

As conceived in the SCM, Consciousness of Self can be equated with self-awareness.   It refers to how aware you are of your “personality traits, values and strengths” as well as your ability to observe your “action[s], feelings and beliefs” (Fincher, 2009).  Without this self-knowledge, you cannot have an (accurate, useful) idea of your strengths and weaknesses, which in turn probably means you can’t intentionally improve on your weaknesses, hire others in your organization who can make up for your weakness, play to your or others’ strengths, and so on.  If you are not very self-aware, chances are you are also not very culturally competent, as a sense of your own culture and history is important in understanding cultural differences and clashes.  For example, if you are a typical American, you are future oriented but if you work with a key team member who is from a culture where the past is venerated, you may have some clashes and not work as effectively as you could if you understood yourself a little better.  Self-awareness is a critical leadership skill.

Consciousness of Self is more important the further up the hierarchical ladder you climb.   There is a large body of research that supports what Dr. Robert Sutton (2010) calls – and please excuse the term --  “asshole poisoning.”  This extensive research has found that even a small amount of power leads most people to care less about what others think, think the rules don’t apply to them, pursue their own wishes without regard to others, and so on.  Basically, when many (most?) people obtain any amount of power, the controls that make them behave and play nice begin to fall away.  Thankfully, not everyone in power gets poisoned (and those who don’t apparently lead more effective organizations) but because of the prevalence of this phenomenon, understanding the importance of Consciousness of Self is particularly important.

So how do you increase your Consciousness of Self?  Fincher (2009) notes three ways: taking time to practice reflection, being open to feedback from others, and learning about yourself through various types of assessments.

Reflection simply means cultivating the habit of looking back on an experience – whether it’s the day, the month, a particular interaction, and so on – noting what happened and what you learned from it.  Journaling is a time-tested method of doing this and technology now makes this easier, with voice memo aps on smart phones.  Other methods include discussion with a trusted other, as many people do with a spouse or mentor.  Retreats, in which you go away from your daily life (and, gasp, your gadgets) for a day or longer to think and reflect, are also powerful reflective tools.

Seeking feedback from others is helpful as well.  To do this, you must do more than just ask.  You must build a reputation for being able to handle compliments gracefully, by saying, “thank you” instead of discounting them, and receiving negative feedback non-defensively.  You must also ask for specifics, when appropriate.   This does not mean you have to believe every piece of negative feedback (or positive feedback, for that matter) given to you.  Feedback can occasionally be more about the other person than you, so it’s important to listen, think about it, ask others about it and reject it if the consensus is that it isn’t accurate.

Using existing assessments for self-knowledge can be helpful as well and there are a wide variety, such as StrengthsQuest and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Increased Consciousness of Self often leads to greater mindfulness, or awareness in the moment of the actions and mental states of you and others.  Such mindfulness helps you, as a leader, see what’s really going on in a given interaction and react to it less.  It slows that knee from jerking and allows more intentional, thoughtful responses.

Consciousness of Self is critical for leadership because it’s almost impossible to understand others without some knowledge of yourself.  An on-going, ever-developing awareness of yourself and others is where leadership begins.

Questions:

I have found that mindful, curious travel has dramatically influenced my self-awareness.  What other experiences have you had that made you more self-aware?

What tools have you used (or do you use now) to reflect on your life and work? 

What tips have you learned to decrease defensiveness when faced with negative feedback from others?

References:

Fincher, J.  (2009).  Consciousness of self.  In Komives, S. R., Wagner, W. & Associates (Eds.), Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development (pp. 299 - 334). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Sutton, R. (2010).  It isn’t just a myth, power turns people into assholes.  Work Matters.  Retrieved from http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/it_isnt_just_a_.html

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