VIDEO: What is Connective Change?

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The EYES Have it!

How well do you read people?  Are you good at interpreting group dynamics?  Being able to read your organization is an art as well as a science.  I have spent my adult life studying groups of people to understand where their levers for positive change might be.  Being able to understand the feelings and motives of groups starts with the practice of “reading” individuals.  Try this fun quiz to see how well you can read people when you can see only their eyes.  The results may be eye-opening. 

Mission in a Bottle

 What has inspired you lately?  Last week, I was fortunate enough to be included in the Press Club launch of Mission in a Bottle: The Honest Guide to Doing Business Differently—and Succeeding, presented by the co-founders of Honest Tea, Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff.  Also participating in the event was  their friend, Gary Hirshberg, founder and chairman of Stoneyfield Farm, Inc.  The conversation ranged from how to launch a socially responsible start-up to the health/food crisis in America, which made for an energizing and inspiring evening.  The presenters were informative, humorous, and filled with memorable anecdotes to illustrate their points, just like their book---a business book written in comic book format!

What made the evening uniquely inspiring was that it was equal parts entertaining and educational.   I was delighted to learn that the values upon which the author-entrepreneurs founded and built their company are in line with the core value of connectivity that I describe as the key to success in my recent book, HUM.  I also really appreciated Seth and Barry’s ability to laugh at themselves, the situations they created, and those in which they found themselves. I laughed out loud at their explanation of how the name ended up to be  “Honest Tea” because Nestea challenged their trademark application, claiming the name could be read, “Ho Nestea.” They went back and put a space between the words “Honest” and “Tea,” and received their trademark approval.  On a more serious note, though, they described their first hand experience of just how tough it is to go up against the big business forces in the food industry, including not only manufacturing, but bottling, distribution, pricing, etc.  

If you are in need some new inspiration of your own,  you should definitely check out the book.  I recommend it highly to anyone interested in social entrepreneurship, food and health policy in the US, balancing work and personal commitments and partnerships—or just in search of a great read that will expand their understanding and appreciation of what it takes to bring about large scale change (or even small scale change, for that matter).  It’s a great read for every member of your family old enough to read a comic book!

'Tis the Season

What’s your favorite season?  I’d love to conduct a survey of nonprofit leaders to discover their answer to that question.  I’d bet more would answer, “Autumn,” than any other season.  Just as bakeries and ballets are their busiest during the winter holiday season, nonprofit leaders seem to get into the spirit of strategic planning in the fall.  

Every autumn, I rejoice at the renewed attention nonprofits give to where they want to go and how they can best get there. I think the reason may be that nonprofit leaders still identify with and relate to the school year calendar.  We take time to reflect during the summer, while members of our staffs alternate time away for summer vacations.  We think about what worked and didn’t in the last year as well as what we want to do differently in the coming year. We think about our strong leaders and how we can use their strengths to advance the organization’s agenda. Of course, we also ruminate on those personnel problems we have left unaddressed, knowing in our guts that they never get better without attention.  Over the summer, we also notice trends and patterns in our external world that send signals about how we may have to adapt to how we serve our members or customers.  And we have experiences that cause us to look at our organizations, cultures, and leadership styles through fresh lenses.  If our organization was a boat, what kind would it be?  If we had to identify our culture as that of an animal in the zoo, which would it be?  If we treated our customers as we are being treated in this B+B, what would we do differently?

Children going back to school at the end of summer triggers an almost salmon-up-the-stream-to-spawn urge among nonprofit leaders to make improvements, start fresh, and tackle neglected issues—all through strategic planning initiatives.  Maybe this is why fall is my busiest and favorite season.  I love the energy nonprofit leaders invest in the interest of better serving their constituents, and am always grateful for the opportunity to be their guide, coach, and facilitator on that journey.  

If you are a nonprofit leader, give in to the spirit of the season and use these next few months to better align your culture, services, structures, and processes with your mission, vision, and core values.  You’ll find it’s like catching a wave and riding it to shore—exhilarating and satisfying.  When you begin the next calendar year, you will be doing so on a firmer foundation with clearer, measurable strategies to achieve the vision and goals to which you and your team have recommitted.

Culture, Culture, Culture

Someone asked me recently why I place so much emphasis on organizational culture.  The simple answer is that it is the most potent and yet most overlooked variable in organizational performance.  If you have a connective culture, you have organizational alignment of your programs, processes, and structures with your purpose.  Most organizational leaders cannot look in a mirror and see where their organizations are misaligned.  In order to be as productive as possible, you need alignment, but this is impossible without a constructive culture in which people can communicate openly with trust; where they all know their roles, and believe they have the tools, authority, and skills to excel; and where they respect their leaders for fairness and dedication.  

I don’t make a practice of sharing negative examples on my blog, but this past week I experienced such a powerful example of a non-constructive culture that I feel compelled to share it.  A dear friend moved to DC last year to work for a highly respected federal agency.  Having spent his career in the private sector, where his work won many awards, he was eager to bring his talents and experience to serve our country.  

Hired at a very low grade level, he was promised that he would be boosted up two grades as quickly as possible.  When this didn’t happen, and it was obvious to all that he was working at a much higher level than his pay grade, he was told to, “Work at grade, and not any better.”  

Devastated, he is now wondering how long he can remain in this agency, in spite of the accomplishments he’s achieved for them.  He was born and probably hard wired to “work above grade.”  He’s now recognizing that, in spite of his achievements and the guidance he’s provided many colleagues during the last year, he may decide to leave if his only choice is to fit into a passive defensive culture where people are punished for doing more than they are paid for—and where his salary doesn’t cover his monthly rent for a studio apartment.

Please look at the signals you may be sending to your family or work group about what you expect of them.  As a leader, you are creating a culture by what and how you communicate as well as what you do or don’t do.  Look at yourself through the eyes of others and discover ways you can promote a more connective culture—one that will benefit the group as well as every member.

Organizational Flowers and Gardeners

A friend’s analysis of relationships is that every relationship needs a gardener.  According to him, two gardeners can make it; a gardener and a flower can make it; but two flowers will never make it.  Gardeners can't help themselves--it is their nature to try to improve whatever is within their influence to do so.  His analysis came to mind this morning while I was walking my dog past the beautiful gardens of neighbors Val and Dottie Hawkins.  They have not only beautified their corner of Old Town, they have created and tended breathtaking borders of iris, roses, and peonies along an adjacent parking lot, shown in the photo.  Really, now, how many people would do that?  And their gardener ethos is visible in the many boards on which they serve in our community, the numerous people they have helped, and the wise leadership and vision they have generously given our city.

Just like relationships, organizations need gardeners—people who will till and plant and weed and water until the fruits of their labor materialize.  Gardeners are often not the highest profile individuals in their organizations, yet organizations could not thrive without them.  Imagine hiring and nurturing people who will find potential to be tapped and do whatever is necessary to bring that potential to bloom.

Identify the gardeners in your organization, connect them with one another, encourage them, and see what grows. Strive to be more of a gardener than a flower, looking for ways you can contribute, using untapped resources within and around you.  You will find personal satisfaction in knowing you have created something beautiful and useful out of very little, regardless of whether others recognize and praise your accomplishment.  Here’s a salute to the unsung heroes of every relationship, organization, and community—gardeners like Dottie and Val whose nature is to give more than they take.

Women Harnessing and Sharing Their Power

Yesterday I had the great fortune to work with 27 amazing women entrepreneurs from developing nations around the world through a Vital Voices partnership with Fortune and the U.S. State Department. Our session was the kick-off of an intense month in the U.S. for each of them as they work with high-powered mentors in their fields. One of the great strengths of the Vital Voices leadership model is that it emphasizes their responsibility to share what they learn when they return home and mentor other women in their own countries.

Each of these women has a unique and compelling story, whether she's from Kazakhstan, Bosnia, Burma, or Nigeria, and whether she's founded a nonprofit to help poor children, a mining company, or her own financial services organization. What was most striking, however, was how much these women, meeting one another for the first time, had in common. Each had strongly-held values about honesty, integrity, and helping others. Each felt called to "do more," had overcome extreme adversity, and yet remained enthusiastically optimistic.

These women are building a network among themselves and with the U.S. leaders they meet over the coming weeks that will expand their connections in unimaginable ways. Vital Voices has wisely applied the research on how "weak ties"--those we connect with beyond our immediate circle, are often the source of new ideas and opportunities.

These courageous women are the embodiment of connective change. In our opening session, they identified the traits of the best social systems they have experienced, and as you'd guess, in spite of their different backgrounds, they agreed on what makes a connective organization on any continent and in any industry--one characterized by trust, cooperation, encouragement, accountability, fairness, clear goals, and positive feedback.

I can hardly wait to see what impact each of them has as a result of her experiences in this program. Already successful, each will blossom in unexpected, positive ways. Thank you, Vital Voices, for again giving me the privilege of working with your amazing participants in this program.

The Alexandria Waterfront

For the last six months, I facilitated meetings of the City of Alexandria-appointed Waterfront Plan Work Group. Because there was so much controversy about a plan for the waterfront developed over the last few years by City staff with citizen input, the City appointed this seven member Work Group to identify areas of agreement and disagreement and offer recommendations they believed could strengthen the plan and unify the community.

This morning at a press conference at City Hall, the Work Group released its report, which can be found on the City of Alexandria's website (along with videos of all of our meetings) or at http://bit.ly/sxiqpt

In spite of very differing views among members of the group, the Work Group's report does highlight some important areas of agreement as well as offers the City Council some specific suggestions for focusing their deliberations when they meet next month to consider approval of the plan.

This certainly was an opportunity for me to witness connective change in my own backyard. Citizens appointed to the Work Group were all volunteers, and it was fascinating to see how they worked with one another as well as with City staff to produce a report that would be useful to Council. Sadly, I also had a front row seat to some of the most uncivil behavior I've seen anywhere in the world, leaving me wondering if this is a microcosm of what is going on in communities throughout our country and hoping it's not a foreshadowing of things to come.

The Empowering of Women Leaders in the Middle East

All of the elements of Connective Change that I teach and write about are evident among the women leaders I am working with here in Amman. Although they come from a wide variety of cultures in the Middle East and North Africa, they share a passion for creating opportunities to increase women's economic opportunities throughout the region. They have formed a region-wide businesswomen's network to build the next generation of women business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Thomas Friedman's latest book, That Used to Be Us, is an astute analysis of how the United States has fallen from its admired position in the world, and why today's youth--for the first time in our nation's history-- cannot expect a higher standard of living or longer lifespan than their parents. Sometimes I think I can feel the resignation to this decline among neighbors, colleagues, and clients. This sense in America that the good life is unfairly and unfailingly eluding us seems particularly noticeable to me today. The first reason is that it's Veteran's Day and I have been reflecting on my mom's service as a WAC during WWII, as well as the values that she and others in her "greatest generation" imbued in us, their children.

The second reason this sense of pessimism about America's future is on my mind today is that there is such a different feeling here in the Middle East, especially among the women leaders with whom I am working. They are full of hope, vision, enthusiasm, courage, creativity, anticipation, and a deep belief that anything is possible. Their view could be summarized as That's Going to Be Us, because they have a shared vision, seem to have found their own voices, and are set on participating fully and authentically in the economic, political, and social changes that are reshaping this region.

These leaders are not trying to mimic the US, or anyone else. Their approach, forged from their own histories and cultures, is truly connective--dedicated to being inclusive, transparent, ethical, entrepreneurial, and constructive. As these women leaders grow their regional network, the positive impact of their work will cascade throughout their families, communities and the entire region. I look forward to witnessing the results they create together.

Women Leading Connective Change in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) Region

Being back in Jordan to continue work with the MENA Businesswomen's Network, I am in awe of the intelligence and tenacity of these women. Business leaders and entrepreneurs from 10 countries, they are dedicated to helping more women become business leaders and entrepreneurs, contributing substantially to the economic vibrancy of their communities and the entire region.

As I am in the process of writing a book about Connective Change--choices that link people to one another in pursuit of shared, positive goals--it is so affirming to witness Connective Change as the natural style among these amazing women. With so many obstacles to overcome, they doggedly focus on the positive and the good--what CAN be done if they remain clever, collaborative and creative. It is a gift to be in their presence and drink in their enthusiasm for what is possible as well as their celebration of what has already been achieved.

Thank you, Vital Voices, for providing me the opportunity to share with and learn from these diverse and determined women. I was asked at lunch what makes me happy. Without hesitation, I replied that feeling relevant makes me happy. And being here, coaching these leaders, without a doubt makes me feel both useful and happy.

What Harmony Looks Like

We all know what harmony sounds like. But what does it look like? I recently witnessed a powerful example.

Over the last several months, I have had the opportunity to observe several Irish music sessions, where musicians gather to play music together for the sheer pleasure of it. Last week, I attended a session at a local pub, O'Connell's, where world-class fiddler Brendan Mulvihill, and guitarist Brian Gaffney were joined by six of their pals for a friendly session. It goes without saying that they sounded superb. But beyond that, watching them was a dramatic illustration of what harmony LOOKS like.

There was no official leader of the group, because none was needed. Leadership flowed from one musician to the next without a word being spoken. Nobody took more than his number of turns. When in the lead, each guided the group to a favorite tune. In the course of the evening, each musician had the chance to select tunes, to have his musical talents featured, and to support others who took the lead. Some switched instruments depending on what the song called for. Nobody hogged the spotlight, nor had a personal agenda. They spoke words of encouragement to one another and praised whatever tune had just been selected. There was joking and back-patting. They interacted warmly with the few of us who were there to listen. And the music they created was made sweeter by the fact that they were enjoying being with musicians of their own caliber, playing rare tunes they loved that may be too esoteric to play for paid performances.

Can you imagine creating this group dynamic in your own organization? Focusing on the creation of whatever it is you exist to create, for the pure joy of doing so? Developing a team that is devoid of hidden agendas and ego needs? Where leadership is shared, and members encourage one another?

If that seems like an impossible stretch, ask yourself what steps you could take to move in that direction. Does everyone agree on and support what the team exists to do? Who on your team can model shared leadership? How can you reward such behavior? Does every team member get to do what s/he is best at every day? Does someone know each team member well enough to offer encouragement regularly? Research shows these are some of the most important elements needed for a group and its members to achieve their greatest potential. It took a group of Irish musicians sitting around a table in a pub to remind me of what it really looks and feels like.

Thoughts on Women and Power

Riham Helmy, Vital Voices participant from Egypt, with Sherry Schiller

Last week I had the pleasure of working with two amazing groups of women through Vital Voices. One group is composed of 26 dynamic entrepreneurs from developing countries, in DC for a partnership of Vital Voices, the US State Department, and Fortune the Most Powerful Women.

I had the opportunity to lead seminars with these inspiring women for two days, including a session on shaping organizational cultures and leading change. It’s always so interesting how universally applicable my work is on organizational culture and leading change. The participants came from different continents and different industries. Their organizations ranged in size and age. And yet they all had experienced connective and disconnective cultures, and were grateful to learn a model to understand and shape culture. Similarly, our work around leading change was built on strategies to create greater purpose and harmony. They found these strategies practical and insightful, whether they were going to apply them in a manufacturing company in China or a micro-enterprise in Haiti.

All of these women are multi-talented, courageous, and dedicated to improving their communities and countries. One of our participants, Thembe Sachikonye, is engaged in the first independent news reporting and commentary in her country, Zimbabwe. I think you’ll be fascinated by the newspaper article she published about her experiences here last week. “Thoughts On Women and Power” by Thembe Sachikonye, News Day – Zimbabwe (excerpt). Click on the article title link for her complete story.

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Thoughts on Women and Power

At the beginning of this week I sat in Washington DC, in a room with 25 emerging women leaders between the ages of 25 and 45, from countries all across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, who are participating in the Vital Voices Global Partnership.

Without exception each woman appeared in some way to be a change agent, often going where others had not gone before, and taking risks that required courage and commitment to achieve uncommon goals.

Vital Voices Global Partnership is an NGO that identifies trains and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe, enabling them to make use of their potential to transform lives and accelerate peace and prosperity in their communities.

By equipping women with management, business development, marketing and communication skills, the partnership helps women to expand their enterprises, provide for their families and create jobs in their communities.

Thinking about it later, I realized that the leadership potential, the resolve and the intelligence and education I witnessed in that room were not unique to this space and this time.

In each of the countries represented by these women, there are 25 others, 250 others, 2 500 others and many more who, while they may not be in one room at the same time, are still as capable and effective as the ones congregated in Washington.

They too are agents of change, pioneers, trailblazers and icons of empowerment. What do all of these women have in common?

Let me know what you think about these issues.

Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong | Video on TED.com

I recommend the book "Being Wrong" by Kathryn Schultz. Her research on how we need to be "right," from the personal to the international level was really challenging. This book would make great reading for discussion groups of co-workers, business colleagues, or even family members. Hear the author talk about her premise in the following video, and let me know what you think.

Our need to be right colors our memories, our interactions, our decisions, and the filters through which we view the world. The ability to step back and understand this compelling need helps individuals and groups work with greater purpose and harmony--creating stronger connections with one another, with their shared purpose, and with their "best selves." Connective change depends on being able to recognize and acknowledge that others' views may be right--if only for them--or that occasionally you may be wrong.