Things That Work / Generosity

 

Neil Thomas

Just in time for Christmas

Christmastime is a time of generosity. Giving is always way up at this time of year. Afterall the weeks leading up to Christmas are reminders of the Hope, Peace, Love and Joy promised by the prophets. 

Vocabulary.com defines generosity as a quality that's a lot like unselfishness. Someone showing generosity is happy to give time, money, food, or kindness to people in need. Generosity is a quality — like honesty and patience — that we all probably wish we had more of.

Generosityforlife.org points out generosity can be actualized through various forms of giving. Generous activities include: monetary donations, volunteering, political action, blood donation, estate giving, lending possessions, sustainability giving, [and] relational generosity.”

What are the characteristics that define a generous person? 

5 Qualities of Generous People

• Altruism. First and foremost, generous people are altruistic. ...
• Optimism. Generous people are idealists. ...
• Trust. Trust is a major quality amongst the most generous people. ...
• Energy. When you think of people being generous, energy is one of the first things that come to mind. ...
• Ability to lead.

The Ability to Lead

“The single most important attribute of leadership is generosity.” – Jack Welch

As a generous leader give of your time rather than just money, and seek out the opportunity to fuel the success of others. -johneads for learnloft.com

The other thing you should know, generosity is a year round thing, not just for the holidays. 

Generosity starts with our own generosity. Think about it. We cannot control the generosity of others. We have no control over what they do, but we can lead by example. 

I found this at restavekfreedom.org, generosity begets generosity, meaning that it is contagious and easily caught. Having generous friends and neighbors can rub off and inspire you to be more generous. Likewise, being a generous community member will impact not only those who receive, but increase the nature of generosity in your circles of influence.

It worked in all those radio fund drives I participated in. One call would lead to other calls, and at times, a cascade of calls. Those of us on the receiving end needed to make sure we showed our gratitude. And we were thankful for the first call and all the calls that followed. The acknowledgement of support, is as important as the act of giving.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

President Barack Obama

Bad Leadership

Adept Leadership

We've seen several major events since 2001 put new challenges in the path of Public Media. It's become clear leadership needs to be ready to adapt and change. 

Public Media is going through leadership churn. Retirements, demands for diversity, social media disruption, changing audience demands and usage are all putting pressure on leadership.  There's plenty of advice on good leadership skills.

Five Qualities of Effective Leaders

• They are self-aware and prioritize personal development. ...
• They focus on developing others. ...
• They encourage strategic thinking, innovation, and action. ...
• They are ethical and civic-minded. ...
• They practice effective cross-cultural communication. -northeastern.edu

The qualities above depend on inclusion and partnering with co-workers to have any chance at success. Listening skills and engagement are of paramount importance. Looks easy enough, right? Not so fast. I've found that I often trip over myself. There are certain traits that might stand in the way. I've observed them in myself and in others.

I read over a synopsis of  "Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters by Barbara Kellerman and thought, "Oh my God!" We've been living this for four years, but then I applied the brakes. The reason these seven traits register is we're all capable of displaying any or all of these characteristics. These traits are applicable to public leadership, but there are direct applications for public media leadership.

The good news is these are learned behaviors, we can teach ourselves to set them aside for better behaviors and become better leaders.

INCOMPETENT

The leader and at least some followers lack the will or skill (or both) to sustain effective action. With regard to at least one important leadership challenge, they do not create positive change. (40)” “Incompetent leaders are not necessarily incompetent in every aspect. Moreover, there are many ways of being incompetent. Some leaders lack practical, academic, or emotional intelligence. Others are careless, dense, distracted, slothful, or sloppy, or they are easily undone by uncertainty and stress, unable effectively to communicate, educate, or delegate, and so on.

RIGID

The leader and at least some of his followers are stiff and unyielding.
Although they may be competent, they are unable or unwilling to adapt to new ideas, new information or changing times

INTEMPERATE

The leader lacks self-control and is aided and abetted by followers who are
unwilling or unable effectively to intervene.

CALLOUS

The leader and at least some followers are uncaring or unkind. Ignored or
discounted are the needs, wants, and wishes of most members of the group
or organization, especially subordinates.

CORRUPT

The leader and at least some followers lie, cheat, or steal. To a degree
that exceeds the norm, they put self-interest ahead of the public
interest.

INSULAR

The leader and at last some followers minimize or disregard the health and
welfare of ‘the other’ – that is, those outside the group or organization
for which they are directly responsible.

EVIL

The leader and at least some followers commit atrocities. They use pain as
an instrument of power. The harm done to men, women, and children is
severe rather than slight. The harm can be physical, psychological, or
both.

from: http://www.theocentric.com/ecclesiology/leadership/bad_leadership.htm

Barbara Kellerman is an American professor of public leadership, currently at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. -wikipedia

Good Leadership

Leadership and Management

There's a difference. (I had to look this one up.)

This is what I found at the Harvard Business Review:

Management consists of controlling a group or a set of entities to accomplish a goal. Leadership refers to an individual's ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward organizational success. Influence and inspiration separate leaders from managers, not power and control.

I've worked for bad managers. They were all about power and control. They offered  monetary gain (greed), and followed with fear (retribution). In other words, do what I ask or face the consequences. The article by Vineet Nayar   in the Harvard Business Review points out the difference. Here's what he came up with.

Counting value vs Creating value. You’re probably counting value, not adding it, if you’re managing people. Only managers count value; some even reduce value by disabling those who add value. If a diamond cutter is asked to report every 15 minutes how many stones he has cut, by distracting him, his boss is subtracting value.

By contrast, leaders focuses on creating value, saying: “I’d like you to handle A while I deal with B.” He or she generates value over and above that which the team creates, and is as much a value-creator as his or her followers are. Leading by example and leading by enabling people are the hallmarks of action-based leadership.

Circles of influence vs Circles of power. Just as managers have subordinates and leaders have followers, managers create circles of power while leaders create circles of influence.

Leading people vs Managing work. Management consists of controlling a group or a set of entities to accomplish a goal. Leadership refers to an individual’s ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward organizational success. Influence and inspiration separate leaders from managers, not power and control.

Poor management is top down control. Good leadership enables. As a leader I strived for a democratic and hands-off approach: generally preferring to share the overall goal and let my reports determine exactly how to complete their work. I valued competence and decisiveness.

Did it always work? No. Perhaps, it was my weakness. At times I neglected to listen to differing opinions once my mind was made up. It's a humbling experience to take ownership of one's own mistakes. Mistakes are an opportunity for growth.


Good leadership qualities are all about:

• Integrity.
• Ability to delegate.
• Communication/Listening.
• Self-awareness.
• Gratitude.
• Learning agility.
• Influence.
• Empathy.
• Courage.
• Respect.

Try it. The transition to leadership won't happen overnight, and like most things in life, it will take a continuing effort to reapply the these ideals.

The past twenty years have seen a constant transitioning of challenges. Good leaders don't try to go it alone. They value the talents of those around them to help make the transition. In Public Media the challenge will be how to maintain listenership and engagement after the time of Trump.  

You can read more about this issue by clicking on this link.

Three Differences Between Managers and Leaders

A Change Is Gonna' Come

Once the change is made are you prepared? 

There's a whole lot that's involved in change. Just rushing in and making change for the sake of change can be challenging. The Republicans are in that spot right now. Benjamin Disraeli put it this way, The secret for success in life is for a person to be ready for their opportunity when it comes.

I've managed two changes in Public Radio. Both came with challenges.

Getting to Yes

Getting to yes requires more than the act of change. The follow through and clear direction after the change requires as much, if not more attention. The first change brought local control over the content. Unfortunately, there was no clear idea of the direction of the content. That lack of clarity brought dissension and confusion. Because leaders were not allowed to lead, it took about five years for the station to come about with a clear direction. To be sure, there was growth, The fits and stops stunted the growth as the majority of the staff each tried to assert their own vision. Those visions did not include the audience. They were all about personal agendas. On top of that, senior management was unprepared for the negative response from listeners. The atmosphere at the station became toxic until those elements were slowly weeded out.

The second change was more clearly planned. The direction of the programming and the content had the buy-in of the staff. There were clear estimates of the impact of the change among listeners and the supporters of the station.

Some will always resist change.

All of the staff was mobilized and ready for the impact, with the exception of top corporate management and the board. They were brought along every step of the process, but failed to clearly understand the negative impact the changes would have on certain sectors of the audience. They failed to understand the changes would not turn the audience on a dime.

Within six months the changes resulted in increased community service, significant audience changes, and increased funding within a year. That was forecast by the research. Those on top chose to ignore the findings of the research. The onslaught of phone calls by irritated members strained relationships within management. The negative feedback was also predicted and part of the preparations. The change agents paid the price, but the station thrives. A comprehensive approach to preparation led to a station that is thriving. We took the time to do it right. For those directly involved in the transition, the change went as expected.

The Republicans had seven years to prepare for their moment. For some reason, they weren't ready. True leadership is more than the act of the change. They did not invest in getting to yes.