organizational behavior 101

[cellio]

cahwyguy wrote an interesting entry on some basic mistakes the leaders of his congregation are making. While he's talking specifically about a congregation, the principles apply to any voluntary association. And, sadly, the mistakes they're making are not new; I would have thought more people understood how to make organizations run well. "The current leaders (and the ones continuing into next year) like to talk about the strengths of a small congregation, and this one in particular. They like to emphasize the warmth and friendliness of its people, and how they value the contributions of everyone. It's a facade. [...] What they are forgetting is that volunteers need respect, and people remember how they are treated."

Failing to take care of your volunteers -- to thank them, to give them the resources they need, and to keep tabs on them to avert burn-out -- is fundamental. When you start taking people for granted, you send the "you owe us" message -- or worse yet, the "you don't really matter as a person" message. And that's when people start asking themselves if they really need this grief. Maybe it's time to drop back and let someone else organize the events, or do the scut-work, or reach out to new members, or whatever. And then you get into this downward spiral and it's very hard to recover.

I'm fortunate that my congregation doesn't have these issues. Some of that's luck, some of it's clues, and some of it's the fact that we're large (so it's hard to really drop below critical mass). But I've seen occasional presumptuousness on the part of some leaders, and I try to bring it up with them when it happens. Because I don't want us to end up with those kinds of problems. I've also seen it in other organizations, and sometimes I feel helpless to change it.

I thought some of my friends might be interested in discussing this (either here or in Daniel's journal), so rather than just commenting there I'm making an entry here. Besides, Daniel is new to LJ and not all that connected yet. So go say hi or something if you like; he won't mind.

Comments

[siderea]

I have come to see learning from others, especially in the sense of being respectful of one's elders to learn from them, to be a skill, as opposed to merely a moral choice. It seems to me that insofar as I have it, I learned how to do that, and I have observed people being better and worse at it.

I am particularly mindful of a friend of mine who, when in the presence of someone he thought was an expert in something he cared about, would become a terrible braggart about the topic. The moment that person wasn't there, he couldn't be too efflusive in his praise for the absent expert. But he just didn't know or understand to shut up, sit down, be humble, and ask questions, if he wanted to enjoy that person's respect and attention. So the experts in questions thought the exact opposite of the case: they thought he was dissing them! They thought he must have no respect for their competance, and no interest in receiving correction from them.