Saturday, October 20, 2018

"You're not the boss of me; I can do it myself!"

Leadership is a curious thing not well understood by people walking on the path of the ego. The highest and best leader is often unrecognized. This leader is helping, facilitating, organizing, recruiting, deploying, coordinating all behind the scenes.

The second type of leadership is visible, out front, the PR person of the movement or organization. If charismatic, everyone loves him/her. Praises are sung and celbrity swells. Emulation, devotion, inspiration, and motivation are evident.

The third type of leadership instills compliance and insistence on involvment in tasks and coerces to get the job done. Followers are afraid of failure, of disappointment, of criticism, even shaming and guilt.

The fourth type of leadership is hated, despised, mocked, and thwarted either by attack or by resistence. Sabatoge is the effort and dethroning is the goal.

Leaders who do not trust, respect, and collaborate with followers will not be likewise trusted, respected, and collaborated with.

With the best type of leadership which is facilitative and nurturing, the followers will take pride and satisfaction in what they are accomplishing and think they are doing things all on their own.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within their congregations and in society at large. Democratic processes though require designing, cooperation, coordination, recruitment, implementation, and evaluation. Democratic processes are developed and implemented based on certain policies and values with activities, resources, and intentional direction. Developing, implementing, and evaluating democratic processes is challenging, at times difficult, and requires talented and competent leadership. Without the effort to create, maintain, sustain, and retain democratic processes it is very easy for some form of authoritarianism to emerge and take control of groups.

The only thing we have to fear are the people who tell us to be afraid

1 comment:

  1. This article is as succinct and informative as I have every read. I am sharing this with my students. Many thanks!

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