Leadership for the Common Good

Fieldbook

Tools for acting in a shared-power world

Dick SeneseUniversity of Minnesota

Extension Service

Leadership for the Common Good

Leading in a democracy not within business settings

Public leadership in a public arena with an engaged constituency

Specific tools to help communities engage in democratic decision-making and action

Leadership for the Common Good: Our Role

Communities ask Extension to help delineate their situation in light of the common good often due to our neutrality and content expertise

Assist with the formation, modification and/or implementation of some public policy

Recognize the shared power arrangement needed to address public issues

Leadership for theCommon Good

Resources Book - John Bryson and Barbara Crosby

New edition out this year

Fieldbook – Barbara Crosby, John Bryson & Sharon Anderson

Tools to help Extension help communities – CD ROM

A University of Minnesota partnership between the

Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and Extension

Why a fieldbook and CD-ROM?

Research shows better impact when leadership is undertaken within a single framework – less likely to overlook key aspect

A set of tools to help turn public policy research into real community action

Leadership for the Common Good: Taking Action

Four Inter-related Constructs Power DistributionPolicy Change CycleLocus of ControlLeadership Demands

Power Distribution

You can issue an order around here and if you can figure out what happens to it after that, you’re a better person than I am.

Harry S. Truman

In-Charge Organization

1. Boundary of organization contains the problem

2. Well-understood way to address the problem

3. Authority is seen as legitimate

4. Adequate resources

5. Goals are clear

Shared-Power World

1. Public problems spill beyond the boundary of any one organization

2. A network of actors is needed to address the problem

3. Power is referentially based

Shared Power World

Shared capabilities exercised in interaction between or among actors to further achievement of their separate and joint aims

Individuals, groups, organizations and/or institutions – coalition-like

Mixed-motive situation with right of exit

Policy Change Cycle

Policy Change Cycle The policy change cycle is the general

process by which leaders and followers tackle public problems in a shared-power, no-one-in-charge world.

The process is played out as a series of interconnected activities with shifting purposes in shifting contexts.

The process is a “structured anarchy” between and among various stakeholders

Stakeholder A stakeholder in a policy change effort is any

person, group or organization that is affected by the causes or consequences of the issue.

The key to success in policy change efforts is the inspiration and mobilization of enough key stakeholders to adopt policy changes and protect them during implementation.

Locus of control

Forums, Arenas and Courts Forums, arenas, and courts are the three

typical settings we rely on to address messy problems in a shared-power world.

Leaders can have the greatest impact through the wise design and use of forums, arenas, and courts.

They are the primary shared-power settings in which leaders and constituents work together to build regimes of mutual gain.

The Use of Forums

Forums are where people frame and reframe public issues. Formal and informal forums link speakers and audiences to create and communicate shared meaning through discussion, debate, dialogue, and deliberation.

Task forces, discussion groups, brainstorming sessions, public hearings, formal debates, newspapers, television, radio, plays, conferences, professional journals

Create a list of issues, conflicts, policy preferences, or decisions to be discussed or not discussed

ForumsExamples and Effects

The Use of Arenas

Arenas are where legislative, executive, or administrative decisions are made and implemented.

Leaders help others influence the making and implementing of decisions in formal and informal arenas.

Legislatures, city councils, boards of directors, cabinets, executive committees, and cartels

Create actual decisions and implementing actions as well as non-decisions

ArenasExamples and Effects

The Use of Courts

Courts are where decisions and conduct are judged or evaluated, usually to manage residual conflicts or settle residual disputes.

Leaders must be able to invoke the sanctions of formal and informal courts to enforce and reinforce ethical principles, laws and norms

The “court of public opinion” (probably the most powerful court), formal courts or tribunals, professional licensing bodies, administrators settling disputes among subordinates

Determine which decisions and conduct are permitted or not permitted

CourtsExamples and Effects

Leadership Demands

Public leadership is the inspiration and mobilization of others to undertake collective action in pursuit of the common good.

Barbara Crosby

Key competencies for leaders

Leadership in Context - Understanding the context, including social, political, and economic “givens”

Personal Leadership - Understanding the people involved, especially oneself

Team Leadership - Building teams, identify and understand stakeholders, empower the team, manage group process issues

Organizational Leadership Nurturing effective and humane organizations, inter-organizational networks, and communities

Visionary Leadership - Creating and communicating meaning

Political Leadership - Making and implementing legislative, executive, and administrative policy decisions

Ethical Leadership - Sanctioning conduct – that is, enforcing or reinforcing ethical principles, laws, and norms, and resolving residual conflicts

Putting It All Together - Coordinating leadership tasks in policy change cycles

Key competencies for leaders

“It is a terrible thing to look over your

shoulder when you are trying to lead and

find no one there.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Leading for the Common GoodOutcomes and Impacts

Increase BRIDGING social capital

Increase in LEADERSHIP CAPACITY of a community

Increase likelihood of project success

Measuring Outcomes and Impacts

Our Community: Assessing our social capitalMeasures nine factors of social capital in rural

communities

Field testing instrument in three communities now (N = 800)

Zones of LeadershipMeasures a community’s leadership capacity based

on Bob Terry’s Zones of Leadership

Leadership for the Common Good

Fieldbook

Tools for acting in a

shared-power world