[Sh'liach K'hilah] leadership

[cellio]

One of the classes covered synagogue leadership -- really, leadership styles, how to plug into it, and how to understand (some of) the conflicts and politics that emerge. (Hey, it was only a two-hour class; it couldn't cover all of this in real depth.) Some of what follows I already knew at some level, but making more of it explicit was helpful to me.

We began by talking about stakeholders, the people in any organization who have claims on that institution's resources. Which resources? Human beings, money, physical resources, and time. Politics is all about dividing resources up among stakeholders.

Even in a small organization, the network of stakeholders can be complex. He had us do an exercise: take a piece of paper, draw a symbol representing the rabbi in the center, and, for your own congregation, add in all the connections. Mine looked like this:

(Arrows represent demands, e.g. the education director makes demands on teachers but not vice-versa.) This is where my drawing stood when the alloted five minutes were up; it is neither complete nor wholly accurate. (The rabbi suggested that we go home and do it for real, including placing ourselves on the diagram. I haven't done that yet.)

Part of the point of the exercise was to show how inter-connected the stakeholders are. Mess up one node in the graph and you'll see ripples in unrelated areas. I've certainly seen some of that in my own congregation (rare so far) and in other organizations (not necessarily rare).

And, of course, the more connections there are, the more potential there is for conflict. Yup, yup.

We looked at some characteristics of the broader American culture in which we live, because these factors also affect the Jewish community. The broader culture is multi-cultural, including with respect to religion; this leads to borrowing and to spiritual seekers. There's a fair bit of what the rabbi called "metaphysical homelessness" out there; maybe that's where things like Madonna's following come from. (That's my suggestion, not the rabbi's.) Further, people born after World War II see the world differently from those born before it. To kids and young adults today, instability is the norm -- in the family, in the workplace, in peer relationships. Finally, he commented that there is a rise in the separation of religion from everything else, with people believing they're "not religious but spiritual" and improvising more.

This impacts the Jewish world: we're at probably the most diverse point in our history (at least, diversity among people who have contact with each other -- there's always been diversity, but the communities weren't interconnected). Older people remember the fight for gender equality; younger people take that equality for granted, which impacts views on egalitarianism within worship. We're full-fledged members of the broader community, not living in isolation. There's a lot of religious personalism, with demands to include personal desires in rituals. (The rabbi told a story of a bar-mitzvah family that wanted to include a bassoon piece during the service because the kid was a good bassoonist; that sort of thing would have been nigh unto unthinkable a generation ago.) Related to that is a loss of institutional authority; we're more willing than we used to be to just tell the {rabbi, president, whatever} to shove it if we don't like what they say and do. There is an increased sense of entitlement, in the broader community and within our religious community. We have become consumers, not members of communities. (I wrote about this last point a few months ago.)

What's the point of all this? That good leaders have to be cultural anthropologists; you have to understand who the people are, what makes them tick, and why why why.

People, the rabbi asserts, look at the world through four "frames"; all are equally important, but we tend to be stronger in some and weaker in others. (This should sound familiar to the Jungians out there.) In order to be effective leaders we need to see the world through all four.

This is the point where he handed out a quick little quiz -- six questions with four answers each, rank the answers, and don't spend time thinking about it. This led to scores in four areas (the four frames). Highest possible score in an area was 24, lowest 6. I'll bet you can predict some of my scores. :-) The areas are:

• Structural: emphasize rationality, analysis, logic, facts, data; tend to believe in clear structure and well-developed management systems. Metaphor for organization: factory or machine. (24 -- did you need to ask? :-) )
• Human-resource: emphasize people -- coaching, participation, motivation, teamwork, interpersonal relations. Believe that the central task of management is to develop a good fit between people and the organization. Metaphor for organization: family. (No, not actually a 6 -- I scored 11.)
• Political: believe that managers and leaders live in a world of conflict and scarce resources; the goal is to mobilize the resources needed to advocate for the organization's goals. Emphasize building a power base. Metaphor for organization: jungle. (13)
• Symbolic: emphasize vision and inspiration; rely on personal charisma and flair for drama to get people excited and committed to the mission. Metaphor for organization: Carnival, temple, or theatre. (12)

Knowing that we can't be strong in all of these, we have to keep asking ourselves what we're not seeing because we're not looking through all the frames. Sure, this is a long-winded way of saying "put yourself in the other guy's shoes", but it's helpful to know what kinds of shoes he might be wearing, too.

(There's more on this in a handout that I don't have time to address right now. Later!)

Comments

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

draw a symbol representing the rabbi in the center

The rabbi, as a hired employee, is often far from the centers of power.

[lyev.livejournal.com]

Sure, this is a long-winded way of saying "put yourself in the other guy's shoes", but it's helpful to know what kinds of shoes he might be wearing, too.

Just wanted to say thanks again for passing along your tidbits on leadership in groups, I've been enjoying reading your take on it.

[cellio]

Agreed. I believe he suggested the rabbi because the rabbi tends to be entwined in the power structure, even when not the center of it (and because most of us have them). It's a starting point for a quick exercise. One of these days I probably will attempt to graph the real connections in my own congregation, as an aid to understanding potential ripples, but not today. :-)

[cellio]

Thanks!

(Hey, why aren't you at Pennsic? Or are you, you net addict? :-) )

[lyev.livejournal.com]

;-) Pick any 3 on the menu:
* Sewing
* Pennsic
* Work
* Hot Showers

I'm trying to finagle all four by doing the back-and-forth thing for a bit, and also pretending that I'm making progress on my new doublet. The net access is an incidental perk.

Really. (click) I can stop anytime (click). Maybe someone (click) sent me something (click) important (click) (click) (click)

[lyev.livejournal.com]

Oh heck, keep meaning to ask about your crossbow. I like it a whole lot (especially when I swapped out the bits that were worn). I'd like to make you an offer for it, either that or I should start to pay rent on it I've borrowed it for so long ;-) Think it over, no rush to decide if you want to sell it.

[cellio]

Heh. Ok. I'm heading up this afternoon, so maybe I'll see you there. :-)

[cellio]

Now you're forcing me to confront the question "am I ever going to go back to shooting archery again?". Please feel free to use it liberally while I figure out the answer to that question. (Rent seems kind of silly to me, though -- better that it be getting some use than sitting in the basement, yes?)

[jducoeur]

Very, very useful food for thought -- thanks. I probably ought to try drawing up that chart for Carolingia, although I suspect it will come out dauntingly large.

And I'd be rather curious to see that quiz...

[cellio]

I expect that for both Carolingia and my synagogue, the result of doing it right is a large and thoroughly-intertwined network. In fact, in thinking about my congregation I find myself wanting to color-code lines for stronger and weaker dependencies...

Quiz: ok, here you go. In each group rank the answers (4 = highest), and do it quickly. It's trying to get a rough cut and doesn't stand up to analysis.

1. My strongest skills are:
a. analytic skills
b. interpersonal skills
c. political skills
d. flair for drama

2. The best way to describe me is:
a. technical expert
b. good listener
c. skilled negotiator
d. inspirational leader

3. What has helped me the most to be successful is my ability to:
a. make good decisions
b. coach and develop people
c. build strong alliances and a power base
d. inspire and excite others

4. What people are most likely to notice about me is my:
a. attention to detail
b. concern for people
c. ability to succeed, in the face of conflict and opposition
d. charisma

5. My most important leadership trait is:
a. clear, logical thinking
b. caring and support for others
c. toughness and aggressiveness
d. imagination and creativity

6. I am best described as:
a. an analyst
b. a humanist
c. a politician
d. a visionary

Tally up all the scores for each letter (max 24, min 6); A = structural, B = human resource, C = political, D = symbolic.