Leadership Enabling Groups to Make Progress in Complex Conditions

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Leadership Enabling Groups to Make Progress in
Complex Conditions

MAQ Exchange
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Great Leaders
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Everyday Leaders
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Defining Leadership

• Leadership Enabling groups to make progress in
  complex conditions
• Leadership is an activity that takes place at all
  levels, not a position of authority

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Study Leadership As a Set of Values and Practices

• Study not about leadership as a personality
  trait...
• But rather about values and practices of those
  who were effective at leading others to achieve
  results in complex conditions

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Learning from High Performing Health Managers
Around the World
Africa 7
Latin America 9
Asia 4
Eastern
Europe 3
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Findings Effective Leaders

• Achieve significant results despite complex work
  environments
• Are seen as valuing integrity, relationships,
  risk-taking, and learning
• Practice Scanning, Focusing, Aligning/Mobilizing,
  and Inspiring

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Leaders Are Respected for Their Values

• Integrity
• She is honest. She leads by moral example. She
  is fiscally honest which is very important. She
  is always very clear--there is no question what
  you are expected to do. There are clear
  expectations and she is honest about what she
  wants.

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ValuesRelationships of Trust and Mutual Respect

• He had high expectations and trust that his
  staff would do what they were supposed to do. He
  would give people deadlines, and people
  responded. He did not micro-manage. He trusted
  peoples work.
• The biggest part is respect. She trusts and
  respects her group.

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Courage and Risk Taking

• He helps them to push the envelope a little bit,
  not exactly according to the rules, but not
  really wrong. He encourages people to think
  outside the box. He understands where the line is
  and stepping over that line. He encourages them
  to put one foot over, maybe two

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Value Learning for Themselves and Others

• She recognizes that she doesnt know it all, and
  is always looking for information and advice.
•  
• He listens a lot, he has patience to listen
  instead of jumping in with his own expertise.
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• He doesnt sit on information. He processes it
  instantly and sends it on.

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What do good leaders do?

• SCAN their environment for challenges and
  opportunities
• FOCUS their attention around the critical
  challenges
• ALIGN and MOBILIZE their organizations to make
  progress
• INSPIRE those around them to learn and create
  effective solutions

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Scan
He is like radar. His head turns all the
time, beaming different ways.
He always has the informationhe always knows
more than I do. He always has all the elements
and threads.
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What is SCANNING?

• Seeking to understand the patterns and
  systems--getting an overview of the situations
  on the balcony
• She is always willing to look for connections to
  seemingly isolated problems and ask how they
  impact on other things in the organization. She
  sees the overview.

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How do leaders SCAN?

• Go to the field
• Talk to stakeholders
• Network - both formal and personal
• Use what they know from past experiences
• Read to stay updated
• Engage staff in problem solving

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Focus
The leader focuses the organization on its
adaptive challenges She is a good spokesperson
she takes the importance of the mission and
puts it into the context of helping poor women
take control of their livesshe is able to
connect what people are doing so that they
understand the importance of it. She reminds
people of womens issues, couples problems and
the importance of the organization. She
emphasizes how the organizations work can and
does have an impact on society.
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What is FOCUSING?

• COMMUNICATING the challenges and helping people
  to focus on goals and priorities
• EMPHASIZING PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES which
  encourage people to think independently, to act
  on what they believe in, and to take
  responsibility for their actions.

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Mobilize/Align
  He knows how to ask people to do things well,
or things they dont know how they can do, he
gives support for them to do it. He throws people
into something they think they cannot do, but he
never throws people into something they would
fail at this gives them the confidence to
try. He holds people responsible. When they
take initiatives they have the means, the time,
money that helps them to get things done.
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What is Aligning and Mobilizing?
MOTIVATING individuals and workgroups to meet the
challenges of the organization giving them the
appropriate resources and alignment with the rest
of the organization
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Mobilizing Practices
From the beginning, she visited every health
center and hospital, traveling around the state,
visiting by surprise. Some of the health centers
were rural and were never visited by past
ministers of health. She made rounds all the time
and went to every service to see what was going
on and to organize meetings to talk. She would
remember names of people and invite them to the
meeting.
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Inspire
It is not authority that he has it is power,
because he has spiritual leadership. He creates
an atmosphere of trust, transparency and hard
work, and sacrifices himself first and foremost.
People dont perform because they have to, but
because they want to perform as well as he does.
He is a very positive person, loving, friendly
and created a community/family spirit in which
everyone counts and is important.
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What is INSPIRING?
Serving as a ROLE MODEL. Setting an example
through their own attitudes, demeanor, and
behavior. He creates an atmosphere of trust,
transparency, and hard work, and sacrifices
himself first and foremost. People dont perform
because they have to, but because they want to
perform as well as he does
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Some behaviors of a positive role model...

• Talks with clients
• Visits sites
• Welcomes feedback and suggestions for improvement
• Treats staff and clients with respect

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Integrating Leadership
Leading and Managing at All Levels
Sustainable Performance

• Leading
• SCANNING
• Outcome - Awareness of conditions
• FOCUSING
• Outcome - Clarity of direction
• ALIGNING/MOBILIZING
• Outcome - The whole is greater than the sum of
  the parts synergy and complementarity
• INSPIRING
• Outcome - A culture that encourages commitment
  and creativity

• Managing
• PLANNING
• Outcome - Organization results defined and
  resources assigned
• ORGANIZING
• Outcome - Functional structures, systems, and
  processes for efficient operations
• IMPLEMENTING
• Outcome - Individuals at all levels are able to
  carry out the organizational direction
• MONITORING EVALUATING
• Outcome - Improved information and knowledge

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Optional Slides
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Your Leadership Challenges

• How do you as leaders impact quality services to
  clients?
• How do you as leaders balance government guidance
  with voluntary choice -- both with clients and
  with employees?
• How do you treat employees with respect and
  education so that they will treat clients with
  respect and education

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The Garden Story

• Nonhlanhla, a district health manager in the
  Umzumkulu district of South Africa, in the former
  native homelands, tells a story of how she
  mobilized others in her health clinic to take up
  the challenge of building a garden.

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The Garden Story continued

• Nonhlanhla looked around and saw that growing a
  garden would help her rural clinic serve the
  health needs of its clients. She communicated to
  her staff her vision of the value of this
  garden to the community. But the staff was
  reluctant to take it up. It looked like too much
  work.

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The Garden Story continued

• Nonhlanhla repeated her vision, and then she let
  people voice their objections. Each time they
  raised an objection she gave them homework (she
  is the daughter of two teachers). The homework
  was
• Go home and think about how you would solve
  that problem if you were me.
• She did this because, as she says, the garden
  was to be all of ours, not just mine.

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The Garden Story continued

• After many days one old auntie came up with a
  solution. One of the neighbors had a tractor and
  would be willing to plow up the garden land for
  free.
• Nonhlanhla praised the auntie for her
  initiative. After that others came forward with
  solutions, and the garden became a reality.

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The Garden Story continued

• Now the community benefits from fresh vegetables
  to support their health, and the clinic workers
  are proud of their accomplishment they did it
  themselves.

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Lessons from the Garden Story

• What can we learn from Nonhlanhla?
• Look outside to find new solutions
• Allow people to voice their objections
• Give the problems to the people to solve
• Be a good teacher
• -Dont give easy answers, enable others to learn
  for themselves

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What was the challenge that Nonhlanhla faced?

• Was it building a garden, or
• Was it mobilizing others to take up the challenge
  themselves?

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What is your challenge?

• Take 5 minutes and talk with the person next to
  you
• What is the challenge that your organization
  needs to face?
• Which challenge does your staff think is most
  important?