Integer Leadership Consulting

This past weekend, I was privileged to lead a retreat for twelve of our Senators and a few staff from Olympia, Washington. I was honored to be with these fine men and women who are a part of the great collaborative effort to lead the State of Washington! The topic was “Characteristics of Servant-Leadership which can transform Elected Leaders and Positively Impact their Constituents.” At one point in the presentation, I was discussing the importance of leaders who are willing to “step-up to the Servant-Leadership plate” to provide an alternative to the autocratic, dictatorial, and paternalistic leadership styles that are so prevalent today within many organizations. I stated that this is a critical time for leaders to exercise servant-leadership within their organizations. I made the following points to express this sense of urgency:

*Servant-leaders feel the urgent call to transform local, national and international communities and the global network of human relationships

*Servant-leaders understand that this leadership requires courage and trust in one’s belief that the power of serving out of love is what leads to transformation of people, institutions and governments

I also used these three excellent quotes to make the point about urgency. This first quote speaks to the tendency for leaders to choose power and leverage to accomplish their work:

“…is it better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when of the two, either must be dispensed with.”

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

These two quotes speak of the urgency to choose engagement as opposed to passivity with leader as a servant-leader (and the result of what happens with good leaders decide to NOT risk by utilizing an alternative leadership style such as servant-leadership):

“I have thought for a long time now that if, some day, the increasing efficiency for the technique of destruction finally causes our species to disappear from the earth, it will not be cruelty that will be responsible for our extinction and still less, of course, the indignation that cruelty awakens and the reprisals and vengeance that it brings upon itself…but the docility, the lack of responsibility of the modern man and woman, their base subservient acceptance of every common decree. The horrors that we have seen, the still greater horrors we shall presently see, are not signs that rebels, insubordinate, untamable men are increasing in number throughout the world, but rather that there is a constant increase in the number of obedient, docile men and women”

George Bernanos

And also this quote from Churchill:

“the malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous … the counsels of prudence and self restraint [became] the prime agents of mortal danger … the middle course adopted from desires for safety and a quiet life led direct to the bulls-eye of disaster.”

Winston Churchill’s description of the coming of the Second World War

My point is this: These are URGENT times for Servant-Leaders to, in fact, step up and lead. If leaders are not willing to lead as servant-leaders, others will step-up and continue to duplicate the toxic styles of leadership that has and continues to create organizational, professional and personal damage.

Greenleaf’s definition of Servant-Leadership is as follows:

“The true test of a servant-leader is this: do others around the servant-leader become wiser, freer, more autonomous, healthier, and better able themselves to become servants and will the least privileged of society be benefited or at least not further deprived?”

So, if you are a leader exploring leadership models, I can tell you that Greenleaf’s model of “Servant-Leadership” is critical for such a time as this not only for the sake of building thriving organizations but especially for building-up people as well as developing the next generation of men and women who will themselves embrace a life of Servant-Leadership.

Redemptive Leadership…I have always been drawn to this concept as it relates to organizational leadership. The word “redemptive” comes from the word “to redeem” and, according to Webster, means: a. to free from what distresses or harms; to free from captivity by payment of ransom; b. to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental; c. to release from blame or debt. Clearly, a redemptive act, as it relates to leadership, is a particularly relational word. It involves people. The taxonomy of the word fundamentally connects to actions of freedom, liberation, and release from that which hinders, binds, obstructs, confines, limits and which has the net effect, ultimately, of punishing or inflicting pain.

Organizations, I am convinced, are filled with people who, though they mask their pain and disappointment well, are nonetheless “carriers” of disappointment and hopelessness who easily infect their colleagues. Hopelessness and disappointment are the result of continually existing in dehumanizing, devaluing and thankless work cultures. The question I would ask is this: in what way can leaders lead redemptively in a manner that frees and liberates those who are bound and confined by their own pain and disappointment? Is it the leader’s responsibility to try to remediate this issue? My answer is unequivocally “yes!” If not the leader, then who?

I was reminded of this issue by this article appearing in the NYTs on 10-5 entitled, Serving Life, With No Chance of Redemption by Adam Liptak.

“Minutes after the United States Supreme Court threw out the juvenile death penalty in March, word reached death row here (Livingston, TX), setting off a pandemonium of banging, yelling and whoops of joy among many of the 28 men whose lives were spared by the decision. But the news devastated Randy Arroyo who was facing execution…

“This is hopeless,” he said

If you are a leader of people…I would strongly encourage you to read the article. My point here has nothing to do with the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of the death sentence. Rather, the issue is that these two words, hopelessness and redemption, are inextricably bound together when it comes to people who are in a place of oppression and discouragement…two words that would describe many work cultures.

I believe that leaders who are mature and responsible (that is, not “over-functioning” responsible) understand that they have a critical role to play with the people in their organizations who feel hopeless and insignificant within the environment in which their work occurs. When the meaning that employees attach (or that other leaders do not attach) to their work and work environments creates deleterious personal effects, leaders must step in. How do they do this? I suggest the following:

First: Think deeply about your role (your responsibility) as a leader in confronting and dealing with the esteem and worth of your staff…especially when their esteem and worth is negatively impacted by your organization. Again, I affirm that it IS the leader’s responsibility to decisively act here.

Second: Strategize, design and facilitate a mini-symposium and open forum to discuss the “climate” in the organization. This is a highly complex though by-no-means impossible piece of work. My advice, hire a competent and experienced organization development consultant who specializes in Appreciate Inquiry as a model to get at the issue.

Third: Identify the sources of the toxicity within the organization.

Fourth: Strategize and implement processes to intentionally eradicate/eliminate/reshape these forces (often systemic forces) within your organization. Again…use someone who understands how destructive organizational systems create organizational despair and hopelessness.

When leaders lead in such a way…no one in the organization becomes a “lifer”…trapped in their industrial or corporate despair with no hope of “redemption.” On the contrary, when leaders become Redemptive Leaders, there is a continual flow of hope within the culture of the organization. And in our hopeless culture today…the presence and infusion of HOPE is priceless!!!

Think about it….