|
|
|||||
|
|||||
| Path: Main Street : NewsWeek : Archive : Leadership in Focus : Article |
This is an archive of CharityVillage NewsWeek. To find a word on the page,
use your browser's "find" feature (CTRL-F or CMD-F). Please note: While we ensure that all links and e-mail addresses are accurate
at their publishing date, the quick-changing nature of the web means that some
links to other web sites and e-mail addresses may no longer be accurate.
To view other articles in the archive, use our Chronological Index.
Leadership in Focus: Lyn McDonell
By Elisa Birnbaum
September 4, 2007
This month in our Leadership in Focus series, we feature Lyn McDonell. Thirty hardworking and dedicated years in the nonprofit sector has allowed Lyn to weave a diverse and profound tapestry of experience. From community social services she moved to international development and then on to health charities, where she held various positions, including CEO of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and COO of the Canadian Diabetes Association. Currently working as a consultant, Lyn helps nonprofits with their governance, strategy and organizational effectiveness.
CharityVillage: What do you see as the main challenges facing the nonprofit sector today?
Lyn McDonell: I’ve worked inside organizations as a senior staff, sat on boards as a member, and still do, and now I consult with organizations and nonprofits. And each perspective has been valuable. In the latter, as a consultant, you see that organizations each have their own culture; it’s like visiting different countries. It’s great.
In terms of the challenges they face, nonprofits and charities, in particular, face a lot of competition. It has led, over time, to what I call “have” and “have-not” organizations. And even the “have” organizations have lots of needs they cannot fully address. Clearly, there are a lot of organizations that are struggling. We’ve seen the statistics about how many small organizations there are running purely on volunteer energy. And yet, they are doing fabulous work. So I think the challenge is really for nonprofit organizations to not only grow and flourish but, ideally, to find ways to help one another.
The other challenge is talent-related. There are not a lot of funds for training. Through the years, I’ve been blessed with opportunities for learning and exchange outside of the organizational environment with resource people and people facing and dealing with different things. And I realized that that whole learning side for managers and leaders and people coming through the ranks is so important. Talent development is a real issue, especially when we have a generation of leadership retiring and starting to think about doing other things. But who’s coming up through the ranks? And have we truly prepared them? Some organizations do better than others.
The third element that is really a passionate purpose for me is helping organizations demonstrate accountability. What I mean by that is there is a greater expectation for an organization to prove, in measurable ways, and in ways that can be evidenced, that they are achieving their purposes. And that they are doing good work and so forth. A real shift in expectations from the public puts more pressure on organizations to figure out how they know when progress is being made. It’s certainly fueling my practice because people are saying, “how do we demonstrate accountability, what is the scorecard, what is the dashboard we are looking at to know we are on track with our destination?” It’s more of a concern for governors on the board to make sure that they’re communicating or rendering account to those stakeholders.
CV: How has the sector evolved over the years?
LM: I’ve been working in the sector for thirty years, but because you grow up in the sector, when you first start out you don’t know the edges of the community that you’re dealing with. Then, over time, you start to realize that, through the past 30 years, the sector found its own edges and definition and realized that it was a force. So that’s the big difference.
And the professionalization of the sector has been profound toward better marketing, better fundraising. There is a more professional approach toward staffing and so forth. The piece that now needs to develop, that truly is the next wave, is that of accountability, program maximization and the ability to show outcomes. That’s the piece to which everyone says, “how do you do that?” And that’s the piece that is going to be the next professionalization.
CV: Do you think being a leader in the nonprofit sector differs from leading other sectors?
LM: Yes. I think leaders in this sector have to have the ability to mobilize support, particularly through the spoken word. It’s probably the only sector that really communicates cause and gets people to support something that does not personally benefit them. Therefore, true leaders have to be able to communicate well and to connect emotionally with people around gathering support. So, skills of networking and network leadership are much more sophisticated in the nonprofit sector than in the for-profit world. For reasons of concern about competitive intelligence in the for-profit world, there are a lot of discouragers. But for our sector, there are huge encouragers and, in fact, expectations. So, the skills of leadership have to be able to be applied within a network context.
The other piece that’s different is the balance to be struck between the inclusive, participative values that underlie the spirit and strength of the sector with volunteers and supporters and stakeholders. [This is] also balanced with results-orientation, getting things done, being decisive, being nimble, progressing the organization, and making tough decisions etc. So a leader has to do a keen balancing act to move the organization forward respecting both values.
CV: Statistics show that there is a high preponderance of woman in the sector. Why do you think that is?
LM: At risk of stereotyping, women have felt more comfortable choosing “caring” as a profession, and the whole notion of stewardship of values as a profession. More men have valued superior earning power in the business world. And although leaders in the for-profit business world are now coming over to the sector as a contribution to their community, women often have chosen that in the first place.
And, again, at risk of stereotyping, women have been more successful and more visible in the softer skills of empowerment, connecting emotionally and listening and integrating new points of view into the whole. They are weavers. So they have been able to be very effective in an environment that requires that kind of network that we mentioned above, and that requires that ability to connect emotionally, to listen and respond.
CV: What should individual organizations be doing to foster young leaders?
LM: The challenge for existing senior management is that they often get really busy running around and don’t have time. In that melee, I think what needs to happen for young leadership to be fostered and given opportunities is that management needs to figure out ways to give them challenges that senior management often don’t have time to figure out. For example, inviting them to sit in on meetings and contribute and write a report. It’s important to give young bright people an opportunity to apply themselves to an organizational issue, with very few boundaries.
In the past, when I’ve given those sorts of tasks to young people who have potential, I’m always amazed that it comes back 150% or 200% more than I expected because they look at it as an opportunity to not only apply themselves but to bring back something bright and shiny, creative, innovative. Whereas these things I assigned would have been another to-do on my list.
Of course mentoring is important but, if I would provide a practical idea, it would be to take things on your to-do list and give them in a speculative way to young people, seeing what they do with it. And, of course, providing them with support as needed.
CV: What traits do you think make a leader great?
LM: Dedication to building an organization and developing people. But also courage and clarity and communications, along with warmth. When you get that combination, people respond with, “Wow, I really want to support that person.” And, of course, you need to be able to ask for help and support from others; that gets back to connecting emotionally with others and drawing them in. You are saying, “We need you, you’re part of this, we want you to join our family of those who are supporting what it is we’re doing.” That is powerful leadership.
CV: What type of mentorship has provided you with the support you needed?
LM: It’s that process of climbing to the top of the hill with somebody and looking at the stars, looking at the problem and having those conversations. That, for me, is what mentoring has been over the years. When I think about how I’ve been mentored, it was the opportunity to share the dilemma, have them listen, ask questions. And I ask questions too. You come to a new understanding. Then there’s the other side of mentoring, when people have given me opportunities and said, “Organize this, take this project on.” And each time you climb to a new level of competency, saying, “I would not have done that if I didn’t have that challenge or project.” That’s why mentorship is a very practical thing too.
CV: What practical advice on leadership would you offer others?
LM: I think opportunities are everywhere. Seize them proactively; don’t wait to be asked. Offer to do stuff, follow your energy because that’s when you’re most effective and excited. And always be positive and upbeat. No one likes or promotes a complainer. One of the things I realized in my mid-thirties was that what was making me successful was keeping my repetition of problems in the organization to an absolute minimum. Instead, I’d always talk to and about solutions. It’s that constructive language that is what I think pulls people out of the pack and people start seeing them as a leader.
CV: What is your leadership style and philosophy?
LM: I hope mine is supportive of people, inspiring, being a good communicator and builder. I also recognize that I’m probably oriented to strategy and solution-finding as kind of an overall strength. So I think my leadership style reflects that. I’ve had the opportunity to do some leadership style inventories and what comes out is that I do have that orientation. But it’s best asked of others who have worked with me. After all, it’s others that judge it at the end of the day.
Lyn McDonell, CAE, has the C. Dir. designation in governance and provides consulting services to nonprofits doing governance education, strategic planning and creating organizational scorecards. She can be reached at lyn.mcdonell@rogers.com.
Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance print and broadcast journalist living in Toronto.
|
|||
