Self-leadership in non-profit: a specific issue

Self-leadership in non-profit organisations is the title of today’s article. It’s about a very specific issue that undermines a lot of noble efforts to improve our communities’ lives.

Leadership and self-leadership

In the previous article, I dealt with the subject of self-leadership. As you may have noticed, that and leadership proper are strongly intertwined. This intertwining contains both the maximum potential of an organisation and the maximum of its problems.

Although this situation is common to every human organisation, in non-profit organisations the problem manifests itself to the maximum degree. In these situations, each member has a duty to exercise effective self-leadership to ensure that the organisation can achieve its goals.

Even more so, as I have learnt through years of associative life at various levels directly or by observing other organisations, for the very survival of the collective subject. Let us see together why.

What is self-leadership

First, let’s see what I mean by self-leadership: it is a person’s ability to self-organise according to one or more objectives or projects. Up to this point, I could perhaps have spoken of self-organisation. But there is more. In self-leadership, in order to sustainably achieve objectives, there are at least an effectiveness and an efficiency components.

Indeed, it is not very attractive to organise oneself to achieve a goal in an inefficient or ineffective way. Then we would be wasting resources, time, mental and physical energy and so on. Let us stop on these aspects for now.

Indispensable efficiency

In the world of non-profit, the issue of effectiveness and efficiency is exacerbated by certain characteristic factors. The first is the constant limitation of resources. It is true that any organisation always has a limited amount of resources at its disposal. However, non-profit organisations are in this state of limitedness by their very nature: they are in fact mostly based on the voluntary contributions of private citizens, and carry out none or very limited activities capable of generating profit, i.e. new resources.

Effectiveness is in turn an indispensable element. The time that people working in the association can devote is usually scarce. Obviously, those working in these organisations ‘steal’ time from another job, family, other commitments and responsibilities in order to devote it to the association. This limited time must be used extremely effectively in the direction of the objectives. Unlike a business in which the human or material resources employed can be increased as the volume of business grows, in volunteering it is difficult to find new people, or more than their available time. A very scarce resource, such time must be honoured and used as effectively as possible, otherwise the objectives will not be achieved.

Effective ethics

In this regard, I would like to mention an indispensable work for any leader of a voluntary organisation or social commitment: the Manuale dell’etica efficace (alas only available in Italian so far), by Vincenzo Linarello. Vincenzo, its president, and the GOEL Social Consortium are an indispensable beacon in civil commitment and social entrepreneurship in Italy.

In this book, Vincenzo illustrates with a wealth of reflections and examples how and why ethics must become an effective tool for the desirable transformation of society. The author does not overlook the problem that many movements and associations have, even if born from noble ideals and with entirely shareable objectives: a total lack of concreteness and effectiveness.

In this, the GOEL cooperative movement, with the outline of so many enterprises, cooperatives and associations, perfectly represents the example of the Gandhian ‘Constructive Programme’. In other words, the most effective way to produce profound change in society. But let’s get back to the topic of leadership.

The lack of the principle of authority

In non-profit organisations, the principle of authority is typically absent in the way it exists in business, for example. More or less everyone is worth as much as every other member, and although there are governing bodies, these hardly exercise any real authority over individuals.

Sometimes a principle of authority manifests itself, especially at the beginning. In fact, there are often one or a few people with a great vision at the origin of such bodies. The vision and charisma of the founder(s) inspire the members and for a while draw them in, substituting authority with strong involvement. It is the allure of the visionary leader, his charisma, that replaces authority with an authoritativeness that can even border on authoritarianism for a while. Exactly, it can work for a while, if the leader does not overdo it, to hold vision and operability together.

But this drive runs out over time. It can do so either because the organisation is successful or because it is not. Founders get tired, visions must be translated into effective acts, results must be achieved. And, if organisations are successful, personalities… without self-leadership… can infiltrate their ganglia.

Dysfunctional members

In general, people in organisations of this type fill roles more or less randomly. By that I mean that there are no rigorous personnel selection processes based on competences and aptitudes, on skills and experience. More or less everyone does what they want. Or, responsibilities and roles are allocated on the basis of people’s availability, not so much on their specific qualities. Worse still when assignments are distributed by those in power on the basis of sympathy, personal knowledge, loyalty, even in good faith.

People unsuited to the role and responsibility they hold, if not endowed with self-leadership, become dysfunctional to the organisation. They tend to carve out niches of function or power in which what matters most is themselves. Not necessarily in bad faith. It may be the need for fulfilment, unsatisfied in other areas of life, as well as the inability to assess one’s own limits. A person totally unsuited to his role, in the absence of an authority that can dismiss him or move him to another role, even a marginal one, can destroy an entire organisation.

Never create organisations, a Master told me

Many years ago, one of my most relevant Masters, Robert Happé, recommended in his catchy seminars: if you want to change the world for the better, never create organisations. He was right, unfortunately.

An organisation, however born initially with noble aims, will sooner or later tend to prioritise its own survival over its original objectives. Especially when successful, an organisation will tend to attract people who wish to use it to create some form of gratification for themselves. A structure always involves areas of personal ‘power’, and access to these structures in voluntary work is fairly easy: one just has to put in the time and effort. No special qualities, aptitudes or skills are generally required.

Even in the simplest and least ‘prestigious’ (no offence intended) organisations, I have seen hostile ‘gang wars’ in the election of governing bodies. I have witnessed infighting worthy of Throne of Swords feuds. I have seen totally incompetent people, who were initially entrusted with a role because there were no others, clinging to that role and defending it in spite of all evidence, even if they were undermining the relevant function. In short, lacking a functional structure marked by efficiency, the functioning of the organisation easily makes it impossible to achieve objectives.

Self-leadership, the possible cure

One of the characteristics of the self-leadership equipped person is a correct perception of oneself, one’s limits and potential. He/she knows how to focus on the organisation’s objectives and put his best at the service of the whole. He/she also knows when it is necessary to take a step back, because someone else could do better in the role, and prioritises the collective result.

In fact, self-leadership allows one to control the elements necessary to achieve objectives with the least consumption of energy, resources and time. A member with such a skill will see himself or herself clearly as the piece in a jigsaw puzzle that aims to complete itself, not as a picture just looking for a frame to stand out on the wall.

At the same time, knowing one’s potential as well as one’s limits, he/she will know when it is appropriate to take a step forward, and to propose oneself in the best way to an activity that needs extra effort or a broader vision. But the reason will not be self-gratification, but the better effectiveness of the collective effort. This, in an organisation without command mechanisms and roles framed in a well-designed functional structure, is essential.

Fried dumplings and public relations

As a professional involved in voluntary work pointed out to me just this morning: at the village fair, the person who fries the “gnocco fritto” (a sort of dumpling typical of northern Italy) is just as necessary as the person who does PR and finds sponsors, and the person who talks to the authorities for authorisations. The concrete experience of the commentator in the field can be clearly seen in this comment.

As I said above, one element of self-leadership is the ability to correctly perceive oneself, one’s capabilities, one’s limits. It is also the ability to recognise the abilities and talents of others and to recognise their importance for the success of the organisation.

So, if we have, for example, one member who is a cook by trade and another who is the institutional relations manager of a large company by trade, it would be logical for the former to be in charge of fried dumplings and the latter of finding sponsors. On the other hand, it would be foolish, deeply selfish, if one felt superior to the other, or in an inferior role and bargained for the other’s. Probably, one would eat bad dumplings at the fair and not have the money for buying good wine.

The importance of clear and concrete objectives

Often a non-profit organisation, as mentioned, is born from one or a few people with high ideals and far-sighted visions. This is beautiful and noble. But visionary leaders are not always also great achievers. Moreover, sometimes these people tend to be satisfied with their visions, not caring so much for their realisation. It happens, for example, that they remain with their heads in the hyper-uranium of the vision level, but are disinterested in concrete projects. But many of those who join along the way need tangible goals, concrete projects, measurable intermediate impacts to have a sense of involvement.

Here the leader’s self-leadership is crucial. In what sense? The leader(s) must also be able to understand when it is appropriate to step back, remaining promoters of the vision but entrusting operational roles to more pragmatic and competent people. Excellent managerial skills are perhaps more indispensable in volunteering than in business. Precisely because of the lack of control and management tools typical of business, the manager here must sometimes be a true tightrope walker. Inventiveness, a genius for problem-solving, a highly pragmatic spirit, a quick eye for understanding people… These and other soft skills are indispensable for managing projects in contexts of ultra-scarce resources and staff who are not especially qualified and not always available.

The concreteness and effective conclusion of even minimal or intermediate, but completed and effectively shared projects are indispensable. They generate involvement and gratification among members of the organisation and attract new motivated members.

Delegating for self-leadership in non-profit

At the foundation of self-leadership in non-profit is an effective principle of delegation. If in family businesses the founder often finds it hard to let go of his creature, in non-profits it can be even worse. Always in good faith, generally speaking: someone who has founded an organisation, perhaps to address serious needs in times of crisis, has a very strong motivation. They feel involved in the issue the organisation is working on, sometimes for reasons of personal experience. Perhaps he/she has also envisioned so many projects functional to a design that only he/she seems to see. However, he/she must guard against conducting a one-man-show.

A fundamental element of self-leadership is at play here, we have already mentioned: the ability to step back. Or rather: the talent to send forward the right people to ground and realise one’s vision, sharing it. Also accepting to integrate it, or modify it, bringing it into sharper focus and adapting it to the context through confrontation and shared responsibility.

I know, thinking that someone might interfere with the vision to which we have perhaps dedicated our lives can be painful. But opening a space for dialogue and confrontation with capable people, as long as they share the underlying values, is indispensable. And it is good for the mission.

How to foster the development of self-leadership?

This is a good question for the leader of any organisation, or in any case a person who has a team of collaborators.

Self-leadership consists of a set of personal qualities that can be developed to some extent. An important means of doing this is certainly training. Better still would be to speak of ‘education‘. This concept evokes the ‘bringing out’ of people the best of what they have inside; it is much more than training.

Particularly in voluntary work, it is difficult to speak of real structured training. There is often neither the time nor the resources. Hence, education is important, which takes place first and foremost through the example of the organisation’s first leaders.

Educating means first of all being able to see in people what talents they possess, giving them confidence and the means to express it. A true leader is the one who makes people flourish, makes them express the talents they have, even to the point of surpassing him/her. But a true leader is also he or she who knows how to help people see their limits and calibrate their commitment and operational roles on their own capabilities, and not on ambitions or needs for fulfilment that replace something else. It is ultimately a mentor’s role. In this way, the person thus helped will be able to engage in activities at his or her own scale, harnessing his or her true talents effectively.

Leadership by example

That’s right: in order to have a team of self-leadership equipped elements, you need a leader who is also a great self-leader. Basically, a great example.

It is amazing to see how many so-called leaders in the world of voluntary organisations fall into very common pitfalls. For example, choosing key employees on the basis of friendship, loyalty, but without checking that they are also capable and effective. Or that they know how to be leaders of the people they are supposed to work with.

Voluntary organisations are not exempt from the malady of yes-people. It is initially easier to surround oneself with people who will follow the founder or leader without ever discussing an instruction. Having capable co-workers who make sensible and useful objections and suggestions to the mission can be more challenging. But it is good for the organisation and improves its success rate with respect to the set goals.

Yes-men and the like typically prevent active members from developing self-leadership themselves. Even when people would be innately gifted with it. I have experienced this first-hand both as an associate and as a consultant. At this point the organisation, which may have started off great, is bound to run out of steam very soon.

The leader’s self-leadership

The good leader must possess the quality of self-leadership to be able to demand, and get, the best from his team. This means that he must be able to see himself as on a map: the territory is represented by the situation or problem in front of him. Himself as the pawn in the centre, receiving stimuli and responding with emotions, thoughts, actions or reactions.

Unlike the leader of a company, who to a large extent can choose his team on the basis of competence and experience, in non-profit he must also know how to deal with what is there. He must be a true leadership artist.

Consequently, he must be able to read himself, understand his interactions with the context and manage them, be they emotional, mental or bodily. This strategic and tactical knowledge of oneself in relation to the context will allow one to act in the best way to achieve the desired goals.

Obviously, a leader endowed with this quality will be the one who manages to put people in the most appropriate place so that they make the best contribution to the team. He will also know how to motivate people who are unsuitable for a role to step aside and find other ways of committing to the common mission. Finally, he will know how to calibrate ‘ideal’ objectives in relation to the resources actually available. And so he will achieve them.

Practical effectiveness to involve

Apparently involving people in noble and valuable missions, such as typically in voluntary work, would seem easier than in a business organisation. This is partly true. At the same time, balancing an underlying value mission with concreteness and practicability is far from easy.

Some time ago I had an enlightening conversation with Prof. Francesco Traina, one of the founders of Orthopaedics, a foundation that has been working in the field in Africa for years. It was enlightening to understand how the organisation had found a very common sense balance to achieve the greatest impact with the limited resources available. Instead of practising the highly advanced, sometimes frontier surgery that these doctors practise in Europe and the rich world, they chose to make concrete interventions that could benefit a maximum of people, and above all could be supported locally.

By doing frontier surgery they could have helped a very limited number of people, with large investments in equipment and infrastructure. Perhaps they would have had more lustre. But they would also have had to set up an organisational machine that would have absorbed enormous resources. Instead, they opted for interventions on the most widespread pathologies on a continent without local and basic medicine. I was struck, for example, by the idea of training local orthopaedic technicians to turn common trainers into orthopaedic supports to correct the most widespread malformations.

All well and good with a lofty mission, all well and good with noble aims, but better to succeed in feeding the homeless in your city than to flounder in failure in tackling world hunger.

Please refer to the previous article

Given some specificities of the voluntary, or non-profit sector, I refer you to the previous article for the elements to be dealt with on the subject of self-leadership in non-profit that are not specific.

Topics such as, for example, the Basic Needs that move people, or the CASE® Method I have developed for leadership, you can refer to my book Sustainable Leadership.

Practical tips for the leader

To conclude, here are some practical tips that you can apply to make your voluntary organisation, social promotion organisation, foundation or other non-profit entity based on people’s voluntary work function well.

1. Clearly and unequivocally define the organisation’s mission and values
2. Also define some concrete objectives: remember to define them for the short, medium and long term. They should be pursued simultaneously, each by its appropriate means
   Among the values, include the principle of competence and that of effectiveness.
3. Remember that effectiveness must be measured, so establish indicators to assess progress on objectives.
4. Make the equivalence of value between all roles clear, demonstrate it and reinforce it with concrete gestures of appreciation
5. Monitor ego movements within yourself and among members of the organisation. Prevent situations of imbalance and niches of personal power from festering. It is your responsibility to eliminate any dysfunctional situations that could damage the organisation.
6. Use part of the available resources for education and personal development initiatives that help the expansion of members’ self-leadership
7. Supervise yourself: make sure you are objective in giving assignments, seeking advice, valuing the members of your organisation.
8. Be humble and grateful for the opportunity to serve the community through commitment to the organisation. Thus you will also be an example and inspiration in your daily behaviour
9. Always listen carefully and with discernment to every criticism, advice, suggestion. Practice, like Gandhi, the philosophy of the three monkeys: I hear no evil, I see no evil, I say no evil.
10. Act justly, and promptly when necessary. To decide what is right, cultivate your inner balance and discernment between heart, mind and ‘belly’, i.e. emotions.

If you feel like you need help…

The topic, as you have understood, is very broad and influenced by many factors. The CASE® Method can help you lead your organisation in the most effective, efficient and safe way towards achieving your goals.

If you would like to assess how I can help you, take advantage of a free initial listening session. Together we can assess your needs and potential for improvement.

Write to me at federico@federicofioretto.biz for an appointment.

Have a good life