{"id":346,"date":"2012-09-25T09:31:45","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T14:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/?p=346"},"modified":"2012-09-25T09:31:45","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T14:31:45","slug":"leadership-and-designing-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/25\/leadership-and-designing-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership and Designing Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I recently volunteered at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardsource.org\/BLF\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>2012 BoardSource Leadership Forum<\/strong><\/a> where more than 800 nonprofit leaders from across the United States had the opportunity to network, exchange ideas and participate in thought-provoking sessions. The name of the event was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardsource.org\/BLF\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Designing Change: Commit. Connect. Collaborate<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>My biggest takeaway was that in order to develop true innovation in governance, leaders need to move away from their comfort zones and dare to do something they&#8217;ve never done before. From personal experience, I know I&#8217;ve made the shift when my heart beats ten times faster, palms sweat and I simply couldn&#8217;t wipe the smile off my face. It&#8217;s a combined feeling of anxiety and triumph knowing in your gut that something great is about to happen. You just have to stay the course.<\/p>\n<p>We also must not lose sight of the other important part of the equation\u2013having the right partners in your journey. We&#8217;ve heard it before and it was repeated many times during the two-day forum: Collaboration is key. Work with individuals and groups who share your mission and can easily align with your efforts. No one organization should go it alone.<\/p>\n<p>During the closing plenary, Linda C. Crompton, President &amp; CEO of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boardsource.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>BoardSource<\/strong><\/a>, highlighted a three-part vision that started with the question &#8220;WHAT IF?&#8221; Following is an excerpt of Crompton&#8217;s remarks.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#993300;\"><strong>WHAT IF: We looked at our board recruitment in a whole new way?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Getting the right people, and the right mix of people, is both an art and a science. It means going outside your comfort zone and thinking about new ways to find board members.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Commitment:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Analyze your board&#8217;s skill sets and expertise and identify gaps.<\/li>\n<li>Be open to board candidates outside of your existing network.<\/li>\n<li>Prevent the composition of your board from becoming static by using term limits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color:#993300;\"><strong>WHAT IF: Every board lived a culture of inclusion?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Living a culture of inclusion means bringing together a diverse group of people, then ensuring that every member&#8217;s voice is heard and valued.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Commitment:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have an honest conversation about whether or not your board is inclusive.<\/li>\n<li>Commit to a written plan of action on how your board might need to change.<\/li>\n<li>Seek support if training or other resources are needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color:#993300;\"><strong>WHAT IF: Collaborative leadership took hold in the boardroom?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the best boards, members share leadership. Boards that share leadership and responsibility discover new sources of strength and intellect they never knew existed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Commitment:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Assess and discuss how well your board is sharing leadership.<\/li>\n<li>Provide meaningful leadership opportunities for all board members and rotate officer positions.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure that your executive committee is not marginalizing the rest of your board.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Crompton&#8217;s What IF&#8217;s can be summarized in what I believe to be an essential step to advance your cause with real impact: <span style=\"color:#993300;\"><em><strong>In order for change to happen, you first must change your story.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently volunteered at the 2012 BoardSource Leadership Forum where more than 800 nonprofit leaders from across the United States had the opportunity to network, exchange ideas and participate in thought-provoking sessions. The name of the event was Designing Change: Commit. Connect. Collaborate. My biggest takeaway was that in order to develop true innovation in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/25\/leadership-and-designing-change\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Leadership and Designing Change<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[20,52,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barkadacircle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}