Deborah Meehan's blog

This is a draft of the framing piece for the Leadership for a New Era (LNE) collaborative research initiative.  This piece is currently being collectively developed by a variety of LNE partners.

Current Leadership Thinking

Over the past 50 years our thinking about leadership, whether in communities or board rooms, has been heavily influenced by heroic models of leadership. We traditionally think of leadership as the skills, qualities and behavior of an individual who exerts influence over others to take action or achieves a goal using their position and authority. read more »

Over the years we have talked a lot about leadership program networks. In leadership program evaluations we often hear from program participants that relationships formed with others in the program are one of the most valuable and enduring parts of their experience. We have heard stories about these relationships fostering collaborations, providing an ongoing source of consultation and advice and as an information resource exchange network. It’s no wonder that leadership programs are eager to leverage the impact of these relationships by building sustainable networks of program graduates.

The network buzz over the last several years has inspired leadership programs to imagine new possibilities for vibrant networks of their program graduates. The good news is that we have an opportunity to learn from a growing field of network organizing strategies. The bad news is that this field of work does not support conventional thinking and approaches to building alumni networks. read more »

It’s important to learn about collective leadership from people who are doing it.  Over a year ago the Leadership Learning Community held a two day Learning Lab, “Learning about Collective Leadership” with 30 community activists who were part of the Kellogg Fellows for Community Change.  The KFCC program focused on building collective leadership capacity within communities. The group came from rural and urban regions all over the US.  We have attached the summary of work done by this group that describes lessons and questions that emerged over the two days and demonstrates the ways in which many of the tips that we have shared over the past several months were put to use to stimulate a high level of collective learning. read more »

Many years ago at Creating Space, we held a session called Xtreme Collaboration. We were trying to figure out how we might test the assumption that we were in competition with each other for limited financial resources. The implications of this prevalent thinking are huge, i.e. the more closely your mission work is aligned with another organization, the more you are competing for resources within a limited niche. When you get right down to it this is pretty paradoxical, and downright sad. This is why at LLC we often talk about the hazards of “organizational sustainability” and how things might change if we began to talk about the need for mission sustainability. Or better yet, we could talk about interdependence. john powell of the Kirwan Institute talks about the need for a new social justice paradigm based on a profound recognition of our interdependence.

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Several years ago at Creating Space, we invited Meg Wheatley to initiate a discussion around communities of practice. She described four key ways that young leaders in South Africa were being supported as a community of practice: naming, connecting, resourcing and illuminating. A young African American man immediately stood and expressed his concern that in this country, calling attention to your leadership as a person of color could put you in peril. I have thought about his comments repeatedly over the last year with the unprecedented number of threats against President Obama during his candidacy and then as president. The outrageous attacks on Van Jones by Glen Beck are another reminder of the perils of being African American and leading. Anyone who has attended a Farmer’s Market in the Bay Area has probably signed more than one petition in support of initiatives on any number of issues that could also be attacked as ‘un-American’. In fact, living in the Bay Area is probably un-American to the likes of Glen Beck, so it’s pretty disheartening that so few have seen or called out these racial attacks for what they are. read more »

Our leadership tips have focused on how to create a community of learning among leadership program cohorts.  Understandably, many programs want to offer their participants the benefits of skills building activities or exposure to field experts.  At the conclusion of the formal program it can be hard to shift participants from a primary role of recipient to one of contributor.  But when participants are engaged continuously as contributors, they are more likely to remain active and to experience the enduring benefits of peer learning and collaborative problem solving.  read more »

Getting The Basics Right

Establishing a clear sense of purpose is an essential first step when developing a community of learning and practice for participants of leadership programs. This seems like a no brainer but without this step, folks may be holding different assumptions about why they are participating in the community or what they hope to achieve together. read more »

Authors: Deborah Meehan and Natalia Castaneda

According to a recent report by Bridgespan, there have been over 20,000 leadership positions available in the nonprofit sector in 2009. For a year that has been hit by such a severe economic crisis, that statistic sounds rather promising – but for who? Who will benefit from this opportunity and have a chance to step up into a leadership role? We would like to think it’s a matter of equal opportunity but historical data suggests that may not be the case. read more »

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection.  From quiet reflection will come more effective action.”  Peter Drucker

Learning in community is a great way to maximize the impact of a leadership program long after the program has reached its end.  But finding the best way to learn in community and have truly productive discussions might be tricky.   read more »

Leadership programs have an opportunity to create a community of learning among participants. These relationships can extend well beyond the formal duration of a program to support ongoing learning and collaboration that will increase the impact of your program over time. The first series of our tips section focuses on the topic of developing and nurturing a peer learning community within a leadership program. read more »