It's that time of year – when folks are making New Year's resolutions and organizations are looking forward to the successes they want to achieve in the next 12 months.  There isn't a self-improvement resolution, business strategy, or potential success story that won't benefit from outstanding communication.  And, great leaders know it.  Here are five communication habits that successful leaders use…and you should too! 

1. Focus 100%:  When you're listening to someone, be all in.  Don't surf your news feed on your phone, check your email, or even let your mind drift.  Give the person you're speaking with all your attention.   We all know this to be true but few of us really do it.  Here's a true story on why it matters so much: 

Years ago, I was working on a complex international policy issue and had been trying to get some time with a congressman who sat on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.  I finally got some time — walking him to another meeting.  He said to me, "you've got 5 minutes, what do you need me to know."  It was only 5 minutes but he was laser focused. He gave me his undivided attention, and asked great questions.  A week later one of his aides contacted me to work on a policy statement.

Success didn't come for months — that's how the wheels of government work.  But it came because I got this congressman's whole participation even if the conversation was only 5 minutes.

2. Build relationships: I've worked in African for decades, where it is customary to start a business meeting first talking about health or family for a moment.  But in the U.S., we tend to dive right in to talking shop.  Take a breath, slow down, and take a few moments to ask about the person you're talking to — start to develop a relationship.  Not only is it just a nice thing to do, it's a smart thing to do.  Trust and true partnerships grow from relationships.  Relationships grow from engaging on a more personal level.

3. Listen!  Many of us do what I call "reactive listening."  Yes we're listening, but we're listening to respond.  We're thinking about how to counter a comment or add a relevant antidote.  Stop.  Just listen.  Don't be so worried about what you're going to say.  Instead, stop simply hearing people and work on listening and understanding. 

A great exercise to get better at listening is to tell yourself that you're going to tell someone about the conversation later.  It will cue your mind to focus on the person and what is being said.

4. Be open:  The Dalai Lama once said, "When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know.  But if you listen, you may learn something new."  This is great advice and successful leaders do listen to learn.  But they also take it a step further, they listen with an open mind.  Great leaders actively learn through their conversations, and are confident enough to have their opinions and world view challenged.

And, most importantly, leaders don't shut down when challenged.  They lean in.  They are engaged in the conversation and ask questions, and are open to new information that may change their mind.

5. Provide honest feedback: This one is hard, and it's why so many of us will skate past a difficult conversation, or worse, tell a white lie rather than the truth.  We are in an environment lately that suffers from "untruths" as a norm and it needs to stop.  We can be part of the solution if we commit to having truthful, authentic conversations.

Practice giving tough feedback with small issues and work up to bigger ones.  Be clear and kind, but most importantly, be honest.  Address things immediately – if allowed to linger, the problems will only get worse. Don't make it personal.  And sandwich your criticism with positive (but true) statements.  

I know, I know – some of you are going to think how’s the M*A*S*H star going to help me be a better communicator?  Well, for those of you who don’t know, Alan Alda has a long history in  communication.  He was the host of PBS’ American Scientific Frontiers and went on to help found the Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University. Mr. Alda is an extremely knowledgeable communicator and his book is a great read for those of us in the field.

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? is a charming and fun read.  It is full of great reminders and new ways of looking at communication based on Mr. Alda’s impressive career working both as an actor and a communicator.  For me, there were three big takeaways, all revolving around a core concept: communication is really about listening.

1. Communication is about listening and learning.

Professional communicators spend a lot of time on key messages and talking points.  Yes, it’s important for us to clearly and concisely get our message across.  But it’s just as important, if not more important, to hear what our audience has to say.  The first chapter of Mr. Alda book is about relating.  I’m sure that was no accident.  Mr. Alda writes about responsive and contagious listening and being willing to be changed by listening.  This concept really struck me.  In health communication, we talk about participatory communication – making sure our audience has a voice.  But someone having a voice isn’t the same as being heard.  

Takeaway 1: Treat your participatory communication as a listening exercise. We need to start thinking about participatory communication both making sure our audience has a chance to speak up, and making sure we listen.  And perhaps more importantly, that  we are willing to be influenced by what we hear.

2. A great communicator needs IQ and EQ.   

An empathetic listener understands the experiences of her audience.  Often times, particularly when communicating about science, we stick solely to the facts.  Unfortunately, we often do it a way that, while accurate, is totally uninteresting and unclear to our audiences. It’s no wonder we are having a “facts backlash” today. People don’t understand what we’re saying and may feel like language is being used to divide the “more learned” from the “less learned”.

Communication should be a bridge, not a divider.  Mr. Alda writes about understanding the person you are speaking with, including emotionally.  We should understand how a person feels about an issue and why does it matters (or not) to them.

Takeaway 2:  Don’t be afraid to inject emotion into communication.  Most people understand and make their decisions about how they feel, not about the facts presented.  While facts are very important, what those facts mean to someone is far more important.

3. Communication is about more than words.  

Mr. Alda spends time in the book on improvisation acting techniques.  Improv is sort of a brilliant way of thinking about communication. It’s brilliant because communication is so much more than words.  Communication is also about body language, inflection, facial expressions.  Improv uses  these cues to help the actor understand the “scene”.   This way, an actor can do more than just react – he can be a part of the scene.  As communicators, we should be doing the same, working to be a part of a conversation rather than talking at each other.

Takeaway 3:  Make sure you communicate with all your senses.  We need to be aware and present when communicating.  By listening with our eyes and not just our ears we will hear much more.

This year has been tough, and communication has been turned upside down with alternative facts, fake news and the like.  This is a great book to end the year on – its entertaining, but also a great reminder of the importance of what we do, why it matters to do it well, and how to do it better.

#AlanAlda #communication #aldacenter

You spend a lot of time developing trainings, but how much time have you spent on developing yourself as a trainer?  A well thought out training may fall flat without the right trainer.  It’s worth spending a little time understanding the “why” and “how” of your training style, not just the “what”.  

Before you start creating your training, it’s important to give some thought to the “why” you are training.   What are the goals and objectives? Those will help you tailor the “how” – which is the method(s) you will use to build your training.

Types of Training

There are many training methods but we’ll focus on five common ones for adult learning since that is the most common age demographic for training.  You may see them called different names but for our purposes they are:

• Liberal
• Behaviorist
• Progressive
• Humanistic
• Radical

Each of these methods have theoretical underpinnings and volumes of published work about them but for simplicity, we’ve developed a very high level chart to understand the major characteristics of each.  

It’s important to understand your learners and why they are coming to a training so you can tailor your teaching style.  For example, I am generally a “progressive” trainer. I like the style because it teaches through a very practical lens, fosters problem solving skills, and creates a learning environment that is very democratic.  It is a natural style for my worldview, but depending on the training, I may consciously try to adopt a different style.  For very technical job skills that must be performed exactly, I incorporate more of a behavioral method.  For empowerment training, I try to use more humanistic methods.

Not sure what type of trainer you are?  Here’s a quiz that will evaluate your teaching style.  It’s a great starting point for thinking through how to tailor your adult learning efforts.

The first thing to know about planning in an emergency is that emergencies are not the time to plan – they are the time to implement.  Even if organizations know this, they may be caught unprepared when disaster strikes.  A study in 2011 conducted by FEMA and the Ad Council found that 62% of smaller organizations did not have an emergency plan in place, and that 40% of small businesses and organizations affected by a disaster shuttered their doors and did not reopen.  

Why are so many organizations unprepared?  It could be an organization doesn’t have the bandwidth or resources to conduct planning or not thinking they are at risk.

A disaster can happen anywhere, at any time.  In order for your organization to not only weather a disaster but also be part of the solution, you need a plan before an emergency.   The only thing you can count on in an emergency is that the situation will emerge quickly and evolve as information becomes available.   Organizations need to be able to scale up response activities quickly and efficiently.

Here are 5 recommendations to help make the planning process effective and efficient.

1. Be organized.  

Your organization doesn’t need to spend a lot of time or resources on planning.   Create a cross-functional team to work on the plan, include operations, communications, and IT at the very least.  Create an outline of what the plan must have before sitting down to draft it.  Identify types of emergencies your organization may face and make sure the outline would address the different scenarios.

2. Create teams.

A flat reporting structure does not work in emergencies.  There is too much to do for any one leader to manage everything.  Instead, there needs to be a management structure so everyone knows which team they are on, the activities of that team, and who they report to.  A team structure will help an organization stand up its response activities very quickly and reduce redundancies.  If you model your team structure on the Incident Command System (the example below is from FEMA),  it will help your organization fit into the overarching response structure, and assist in sector collaboration across organizations and government agencies that is critical for response assistance.

3. Base responsibilities on roles, not individuals.

A roles-based org chart will be evergreen even as team members change.  But even with a focus on roles – take the time to identify who will currently fill those roles.   Always have a primary and secondary person identified for team lead roles and make sure that refreshing people who would be on their team is built into their regular work responsibilities.

4. Develop clear, simple processes and tools.

Have easy to use checklists and detailed but simple processes so people can easily step into roles and successfully implement the plan.  Remember, often emergencies give no notice and extend over days, weeks or even months.  It’s crucial you have an easy plan so as people cycle in and out of the response they can easily understand what is expected of them.

5. Share the plan.

Don’t put it on a shelf and forget it.  Share it with everyone in your organization.  Find ways to refresh staff on the plan.  For example, incorporate it as a key point of discussion once a quarter in staff meetings or have a cross organization preparedness working group that meets regularly and presents to teams annually.

Here are some great online resources that can help your organization be prepared:

• FEMA National Preparedness Training
• Preparedness Planning Tools for Businesses
• Crisis and Emergency Risk Communications
• Community and Workplace Preparedness Tools

A small investment in planning can protect your organization and those it serves in times of crisis. Be part of the solution – have a plan!

We all know the story of Goldilocks — she tries porridge that is too hot and too cold, sleeps in a bed too soft and too hard, until finding both the porridge and bed that is just right.  Turns out that we can take a lesson from Goldilocks when it comes to strategic planning — no, it’s not her odd B&E tendencies but her search for the “sweet spot.”  That’s the key to successful strategic planning.  Unfortunately, a lot of us are making 3 mistakes that make it hard to find that sweet spot:

1. Not seeing the big picture…or seeing only the big picture.  In planning it’s important to see the big picture in order to ensure planning is mission-centric, appropriate to the current climate, etc.  But by only focusing on a “landscape” view, a plan lacks the details to ensure success.  Conversely, by focusing solely on a “portrait” view, a plan is created in a vacuum with no integration to the mission, realities, organizational culture or ability to support and get support from other existing efforts.  
   
   Ensure your planning has its foundation in important big picture issues like mission and organizational goals, but once those are laid out — focus on the details, making sure they directly correlate to the big picture.
   
   
2. Not thinking big enough…or thinking too big.  Often clients will start a strategic planning exercise with their list of limitations and start from there. They think that if they focus on what realistically can be done the plan will be successful.  Well, yes…and no.  Yes, the plan will likely be achievable but it will also likely not push for growth or identify opportunities.  However, pie-in-the-sky thinking isn’t helpful either.  It’s one thing to envision what your organization could do with a substantial increase in funding but creating a plan is contingent on a lottery-size windfall is an exercise in writing fiction, not planning.
   
   Be aspirational enough to identify areas of growth and then build the strategy so you have a blueprint to achieve your goals.  Let your limitations inform your planning, not define it.  Don’t let creativity morph into scope creep — Keep your mission and programs in mind!
3. Not including stakeholders…or including everyone.  A strategy can’t succeed if the right people aren’t at the table.  Identify your stakeholders and make sure they part of the process.  But, often in the spirit of “buy in,” many organizations make strategic planning akin to a team sport.  Success depends on the right people being at the table, not all the people being at the table.  Without the stakeholders, it will be hard to get the organizational support to implementation a strategy.  With everyone at the table, it will be hard to sift through so many voices to hear organizational priorities.
   
   Identify who your stakeholders are and engage them early in the process.  Tailor your planning schedule to make sure they can be actively involved.  Find ways to solicit information from others to get “on the ground” realities and make them feel included.

Work to find your organization’s sweet spot  – identify realistic growth, achievable aspiration and critical stakeholders as you move forward — it will go a long way to making sure your strategic planning “just right.”

This August celebrates National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM).  NIAM has been instrumental in helping state and local organizations increase awareness of the importance of immunization. It’s a great moment to look at the landscape – where we started, where we are, and where we need to be going.

Where we started

We’ve come a long way – immunization is the public health success story in our lifetimes.  In the United States, vaccines have made once common diseases all but disappear. The 1950’s is often thought of as a “golden” time in the United States.  But it wasn’t all good news.  The 1952 polio outbreak in the US saw 57,628 reported cases. More than 3,000 people died and more than 21,000 were disabled from the disease [1].  In the 1950’s an average of 150,000 measles patients had respiratory complications and 4,000 patients had encephalitis each year resulting in 48,000 hospitalization annually [2].

But beginning in the second half of the 20th century, things changed. Numerous vaccines were licensed for use in the US:

1953:  Tetanus and diphtheria (adult use)
1962:  Oral polio vaccine (OPV) type 3
1963:  Inactivated measles vaccine  
           Trivalent OPV
1971:  MMR vaccine  

In all, more than two dozen vaccines have been licensed to prevent diseases ranging from anthrax to yellow fever.  But it wasn’t simply the ability to prevent once-deadly diseases that was a game changer, it was the community built to support awareness and improve access to vaccines that made the difference.

1963 saw the establishment of The Federal Immunization Grant Program, which provided funds for states to purchase vaccines and support immunization services. In 1993, Vaccines for Children program was established.  These programs, and others, paved the way for the U.S. to significantly reduce the cases of many serious diseases.

Where we are

Today, diseases like diphtheria, polio and smallpox are unheard of in the U.S.  Other diseases, like H. Influenzae, measles, mumps, rubella and tetanus are rare.  

It’s a tremendous success story and we should all take a moment to reflect on that.  The collective effort from scientists, public health advisors, and community organizers have all played a role is this success story.  Organizations like the Rotary Club and National Foundation for Infectious Diseases have galvanized support that has changed the face of public health.  Coalitions like the Immunization Action Coalition have provided support and resources to immunization advocates.  State and local health departments have manned the front line for decades.  

These partnerships have created a new reality in the U.S. – one where we no longer fear once dreaded diseases.  And that’s amazing.  But there is a darker side to this success.  We now have generations that have never seen many of these diseases.  And as result, doubt has started to creep in.  Today, despite the evidence, despite the successes, there is an increase in vaccine safety concerns.  While it continues to be a minority view, there is a troubling trend of questioning vaccine confidence.  

So, as we celebrate the success of vaccines during NIAM, we should also be taking this moment to look forward.  

Where we need to be going

Here are five issues that we need to focus on to ensure that immunization remains a public health success story:

1.Improving vaccination across the lifespan

We’ve done an outstanding job with childhood vaccines, but many adults are not getting the vaccines they need. For example, only about 50% of adults get their flu vaccine each year, and only 20% of those 19-64 years at higher risk for complications from pneumococcal disease have received vaccination to protect against it [3]. The health and economic cost of vaccine-preventable diseases among adults is over $26 billion per year [4]. This will only increase as the U.S population continues to age [5].  

While older adults understand the importance of vaccines and there is coverage for them under Medicare, there is room for improvement in vaccination rates. For example, only 61.3% of adults 65 and older had received a pneumococcal vaccine in 2014 [6].  There are even more challenges in vaccination of adults under 65, who may not have health insurance, a regular source of health care, or realize they need vaccines.

Help adults understand what vaccines they need and address access / cost issues they may be facing.

2. Keeping an Eye on Global

Diseases don’t respect boundaries.  Other countries are working  hard on immunization, and their coverage continues to grow, but they are not where the U.S. is yet.  Some diseases that are rare in the U.S. are still common in other places.  A more global world means diseases travel with people.

A 2014 measles outbreak infected hundreds in Ohio after two unvaccinated Amish men had returned from the Philippines, which was in the midst of an outbreak with more than 58,000 infections and 110 deaths. While this example shows the ease with which diseases can migrate, it also shows the power of partnership. A rapid and respectful response from the local health department, with support from CDC, saw a number of Amish families vaccinated in what had been a traditionally vaccine-reticent community.

Global doesn’t just mean disease travels…so do cultures and perceptions.  Minnesota had more cases of measles in 2016 than all other states combined.  The measles outbreak first occurred in the large Somali refugee population where vaccination rates are low (42% for Somali descent vs 89% for non-Somali descent). The low vaccination rates in the community were due to vaccine confidence issues.  The State Department of Health has done a great job of engaging religious leaders and other trusted sources of information in the community.  It has translated education materials into Somali and started a dialogue with the community around their concerns about Autism Spectrum Disorder [7].  It’s this thoughtful and culturally appropriate outreach that will help bolster confidence in unsure communities.

Keep an eye on global epidemics and have preparedness plans in place (including identifying vulnerable populations) should travel-imported cases come to your doorstep.  Identify refugee / immigrant populations who may have specific information needs to make informed decisions.

3. Engaging the “Gray” Audience

Vaccines are often viewed as a black and white issue – you’re either for them or against them.  But the truth is, there is a lot of shades of gray when it comes to vaccines.  Recent studies suggest that up to 1 in 5 people have questions about the benefits and risks.  

These people are not against vaccines; they are unsure.  This is the “gray audience” –  individuals, groups or communities that are searching for trusted information in order to make an informed decision.

Gray audiences have many reasons for varying levels of confidence:  religious, cultural, past experiences with health providers, etc. Each audience is likely to have slightly different motivators and barriers so take the time to 1) know who your gray audience is and 2) what their concerns are.  Understand what they want to know and where they go for answers.  Take an anthropological approach to understand how their perceptions are being shaped and socio-cultural issues you should be aware of when engaging them.  And then make sure your messages respond to their concerns directly.  

Take the time to understand your gray audiences, so you can help them to better understand vaccination benefits and risk to make independent, informed decisions.  

4. Understanding the Role of Social Media

Social media is a great platform for engagement but can also be a double edge sword. Almost 70% of Americans use at least one social media site.  While users skew younger, 60% of adults 50 – 64 and more than a third ≥65 do use social media [8].   According to the Pew Research Center, “personal contacts are also a common source of news and can play an amplified role online.” Stanford University and Pew Research Center have done research that shows both young and old have trouble identifying fact from fiction or identifying bias [9].Because social media is immediate, with the ability to amplify a message among personal contacts, this trend is very troubling.  This presents a unique challenge to vaccine champions who can sometimes struggle to counteract “fake news.”  Addressing this issue can seem like a lot of effort for already stretched thin advocates.   But it’s an important issue and will only become more important as younger generations age, given social media is a mainstay of their information gathering.

Ensure you have a solid social media monitoring plan in place to identify trends and have a strategy ready so you can quickly and effectively address issues.

5. Building & Strengthening Partnerships

In real estate, the name of the game is location, location, location.  In the world of immunization, it’s partnerships, partnerships, partnerships.   Partnerships are what created the vaccine success story in the first place, and they are critical to its continuation.  Build and grow them.  Strong partnerships can share lessons learned, amplify messages, and provide access to hard to reach populations.  But strong partnerships require a strong strategy and committed members to make them effective.  

Get creative. Develop strong partnerships that can help you reach your priority audiences and strengthen focus areas. Invest in those partnerships to ensure they are effective and valuable to members.  

This NIAM, let’s take time not only to celebrate our good work, but also to plan for success in the years to come.  

Devi Partners has decades of immunization experience, working across the lifespan and around the world at local and national levels. For more information, visit www.devipartners.com.

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References:

1. Melnick J (1 July 1996). “Current status of poliovirus infections”. Clin Microbiol Rev. 9 (3): 293–300. PMC 172894 . PMID 8809461.
2. Walter A. Orenstein, Mark J. Papania, Melinda E. Wharton; Measles Elimination in the United States. J Infect Dis 2004; 189 (Supplement_1): S1-S3. doi: 10.1086/377693
3. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vaxview/index.html
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4486398/
5. https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p25-1140.pdf
6. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/ss/ss6501a1.htm
7. http://rtc.umn.edu/autism/
8. http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/
9. https://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/V3LessonPlans/Executive%20Summary%2011.21.16.pdf, http://www.journalism.org/2016/12/15/many-americans-believe-fake-news-is-sowing-confusion/

I’m going to dispel a commonly communicated falsehood: there are no born leaders.  Leadership is a skill and good leaders continually hone that skill.  Unfortunately leadership training doesn’t always accompany the rise to leadership.  As a result, there are extremely smart, committed people in leadership positions who don’t necessarily understand how to position their team for greatest success.

Good leadership should inspire a team, organize work for greatest impact, promote positive team dynamics, and groom the next generation of leaders. Less skilled leaders often do the exact opposite, creating rather than solving problems.

Leadership skills take more than a blog to impart. However, as a start, here are five strategies that can make immediate improvements in your leadership style.

Reframe decision making to avoid “group think”

Leadership is not a co-op. Less skilled leaders often confuse “gathering input” with “group decision making.” Strive for the former, not the latter. Engage your team and make them feel they can bring ideas and input to you. But do not create an environment of Freirian leadership where your team feels it’s their right to weigh in on everything and decisions are collectively determined. This is such a common issue, we’ve taken a deeper dive on it in our blog article: A Frearian Fiasco: the problem with Freirian approaches in leadership. There’s a time and a place…and most importantly a productive way to be participatory. If you don’t hone your leadership skills in this area you risk becoming a facilitator rather than a leader.

Create a pyramid organization

When I’m brought in to work with a team, the first thing I’ll ask to see is the org chart. And it often looks something like this:

There is no possible way a leader can effectively manage a team that is structured this way. It forces the leader to be too in the weeds, with too many direct reports. It creates a team dynamic that is unstructured and inefficient. But many less skilled leaders like this model because they “have their finger on everything.”  But that isn’t the job of a leader – this model creates a “Jack of All Trades and Master of Nothing” leader. You don’t need to know everything – you need trusted, skilled “deputies” who collectively know everything and help you focus your energies where most needed to drive success.  For that happen, your org chart should look more like this:

This structure allows you effectively manage a team by investing in and working closely with “deputies” who are responsible for defined areas. Their teams report to them and they report to you.  This way you can focus on just the issues that need senior leadership rather than the management and administration of everything.  A word of caution when you switch to this model – stick to it.  Do not undermine your new deputies’ abilities to build their teams by letting staff circumvent them and come directly to you.

Avoid a focus on “fairness”

I know, that sounds like the opposite what you should do but when you focus on being “fair” to individuals the team loses. When I ask leaders why they are focused on “fair” I often hear that they want people to be happy and feel valued. I agree, but a focus on “fairness” won’t deliver that result. That’s because many leaders equate fairness with equality and kindness. Let’s look at each individually:

• Equality: In order to build a productive team and a positive work dynamic, you need to recognize that not all things are equal. Instead, focus on building the skills of the individuals that make up your team – different team members will need different things to be at their best. Recognizing those differences and investing in improving skills is what makes team members happy and valued. Put it together and it looks something like recognizing the differences in your team members – finding ways to encourage the high performers and ways to guide others so they can grow into working at their highest potential. This is what fairness looks like when you’re focused on the team and not the individuals. It will result in a team that delivers great results and is happy to do be doing so.
• Kindness: Kindness and fairness are not synonymous. While I don’t advocate for a “fairness” centered leadership style, I do advocate for kindness. You do want to create a positive work culture. But you can do those things while recognizing the differences in skills in your team.

Be a master communicator

Communication is what you say for sure, but it’s also how you say something, and how your actions support or undermine your words. Think through your plans before you communicate them – are your actions in line with what you want to say? Are you avoiding certain conversations because they are difficult? As the leader, people take their cues from you. And what you do says far more than what you say.

Say the same thing to everyone all at once

Say what you mean, mean what you say and say it to everyone. The easiest way to create confusion and division is to have separate conversations. It allows team members to interpret individualistically rather than understand something as a team. This is particularly true when it’s a tough conversation like a change in direction or roles. You don’t want to blind-side someone with information that will personally affect them – so talk to them first to give them a heads up. But then have a team wide meeting where you communicate the new direction to everyone at the same time. Be sure to invite questions for clarification and let the team know that you are open to hearing their concerns but do not open the conversation up for debate. If you do, you will give the impression that the meeting about about discussing the pros and cons but that the decision hasn’t really been made one way or another just yet. It will delay your ability to move forward and impede your team’s ability to be successful.

There’s no faster way to tank a project than not to have strong leadership. Spend the time to hone your skills and you will be helping your team deliver successes.  If you’d like help in developing the leadership skills within your organization, we can help.  Contact Amy at amy@devipartners.com

Paulo Freire changed adult learning.  His participatory approach was revolutionary and continues to shape adult education. It is a collaborative approach centered on dialogue and problem-posing, in which teacher and student are “knowledgeable equals in a situation of genuine two-way communication” (Freire, 1973, p. 52). It is powerful and effective when done correctly in the right context.  I’m a big advocate and use Freirian approaches when I train.

However, it’s not the best approach for leadership…and a lot of leaders are employing it, even if they don’t realize it.

The schematic at the top of the article shows how participatory the Freirian model is – it’s obvious why it’s such a successful learning approach. But, it’s also obvious why it’s a terrible approach for leadership.

8 Hints You May Be a Freirian Leader

1. All team members are welcome at all meetings.
2. You want to develop an egalitarian team culture of equals.
3. All team members are invited to provide strategic input even in areas that are in not their areas of expertise.
4. You use the word “fair” a lot.
5. You think in order for the team to have a positive culture it has to have a “flat” non-hierarchical organization.
6. You hesitate to position yourself as the leader because you believe everyone has areas of expertise and leadership.
7. You want the entire team to engage in dialogue about any issue.
8. You allow, and even encourage, collaborative decision making with the team.

Why Freirian Leadership Isn’t Effective

There are so many positive words in that list – welcome, egalitarian, equals, fair, positive, collaboration – using a Freirian approach to leadership has got to be a good thing, right? Wrong!  And here’s why:

• It’s chaotic: This approach works in education because dynamic environments encourage learning. But the goal of a team is to produce results and this unstructured model inhibits productivity. Decisions can turn into debates. There’s no clear process or path. It’s so “evolutionary,” allowing for a flow of ideas, that any new idea can drive the team in a new direction.
• It’s Inefficient: It’s not streamlined. Different people may be doing similar things creating, at best redundancies, at worst total confusion. Most importantly, it makes is hard for experts on your team to do what they do best. Instead everyone weighs in when you already have someone who knows the best and most efficient way to do something.
• It doesn’t manage expectations: Because everyone has a seat at every table team, members may form unrealistic expectations about their role. There’s often scope creep into areas that are more interesting to a person, leaving core activities unstaffed.
• It hampers mentoring and growth: Because there’s a level playing field, junior staff are denied the opportunity to work under an experienced member of the team and hone their skills through mentorship.
• It’s ineffective: A team with a Freirian approach often lacks strategic direction and measurable goals. The organic nature of the Frierian approach makes structured planning a challenge. Because this approach is so dynamic, it often lacks the ability to monitor progress towards goals. The direction of the team is constantly shifting so there is no measureable impact.
• It lacks a captain: Frierian approach creates a leaderless team – much like a boat without a captain, it’s likely to flounder. Leadership sets the vision, plots the course and helps team members understand their roles and what they are working toward. Without that leadership the team will lack a shared vision of success and the plan to get there.

Breaking the Freirian Cycle

So if you identified with any of the 8 hints it may be time to take a look at your leadership style. You can create a collaborative, positive culture without letting everyone participate in everything.  Except for team meetings, meetings should involve only those on a particular project.  And speaking of those team meetings, use them for updates, not decision making as that gets into group think rather than collaboration.  Collaboration comes from working together to implement projects, not from collective decision-making.  Formalizing a chain of command provides structure and mentorship to younger staff – something far more valuable than being everyone’s “equal” when you have no experience.  Having a strategic plan rather than an organic evolution of ideas provides the team opportunities to deliver big wins – boosting team morale and feelings of value.

So next time you start using Freirian buzz words and you’re not in a learning setting, stop yourself. What is it that you really want to accomplish?  How can you do that in an organized structure and as a strong leader?  Devi has decades of leadership training and project management.  We’d be happy to help you think through your own leadership style and how to build a positive team that delivers positive results.

Part of any planning process is determining objectives. In order to develop strong objectives, it’s important to understand what they are and where they fit into the plan.

 Objectives will drive your activities and will be what you use to determine your success so they need to be developed carefully.  SMART objectives are the best way to go.

Objectives determine what success looks like – they are developed after and informed by your goals.

So, let’s say that an NGO, we’ll call it Green Queen, is brand new and developing its strategy.  It creates an aspirational mission “to bring fresh flowers to all elderly people who are housebound New York City.”  From there, it builds on the mission to create an inspirational vision “to bring the beauty of the outdoors to those who are confined inside.”

So far so good, most organizations are able to get this far.  But Green Queen, like many organizations struggled with the difference between a goal and an objective.

Goals are what needs to happen to succeed. Objectives are the measurable steps that need to happen in order to achieve that success.  There are usually several objectives for each goal.  Based on that guidance, Green Queen developed the following goal:  to increase the number of elderly who receive cut flowers in New York City.  

Here’s where objectives come in, what will it take for this goal to be successful?  Objectives will drive your activities and will be what you use to evaluate your success so they need to be developed carefully.  SMART objectives are the best way to go.

Green Queen decided that one objective to meet their goal would to reach folks in nursing homes.  But that’s pretty broad, and pretty tough to measure.  A SMART version might look like:

Develop partnerships with 20% of nursing homes in Manhattan and Brooklyn by January 2018.  

• It’s specific – the objective is about partnership development in two boroughs.
• It’s measureable – 20% of nursing homes.
• It’s achievable – rather than all the boroughs, Green Queen selected the two they had the most contacts in and given their all-volunteer nature, they selected a low percentage (20%) for their first year.
• It’s relevant – it marries up to the goal.
• Its time bound – the objective should be met by January 2018.

Why Objectives Matter

Well, let’s look at why it mattered to Green Queen.  Their SMART objectives created a road map for them. Green Queen was able to determine exactly what activities were needed and could properly allocate their time, energy and resources to support those specific activities that would bring success.

Throughout the year, Green Queen was able to look at its progress against the objectives to determine if it was on track.  If Green Queen wasn’t, it was able to reassess what it would take to meet the goals.  For instance, if Green Queen found that by mid-year they had only reached 5% of nursing homes in Manhattan but 18% of the nursing homes in Brooklyn, they could reallocate efforts.  By course correcting, they could get back on track to meeting this objective.

Using SMART objectives, at the end of the year Green Queen would have very likely met their goals and be able to prove success.  Here’s an important take away:  success isn’t simply checking the box next to an objective.  It also shows donors your organization is able to successfully plan. It inspires confidence in your organization’s ability to deliver on promises and grow.

Objections to Objectives

Despite the value of SMART objectives, a lot of organizations are reticent to develop them.  “They too specific.”  “They box us in.”  “What if we don’t meet them?”

Well, yes, they are specific and do box you in – and that’s a good thing.  SMART objectives prevent scope creep and getting side tracked.  This specificity doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of emerging opportunities but it allows you to be laser focused on what’s going to bring you success.  SMART objectives also help you plan and properly allocate your resources.  And, if you build your objectives realistically you won’t fail.  This is an important point.  You want to encourage your organization to grow but don’t get so aspirational with your objectives that you have no chance of meeting them.  Green Queen was realistic – they were a young, all volunteer organization.  While some day they plan to reach all elderly housebound (their mission), they needed to develop objectives based on what they could do now.  Next year’s objectives can build on this year’s success, getting them closer to their vision.

While Green Queen is a fictitious organization, the realities it was working in are probably true for most social sector organizations.  It is also true for all organizations that developing SMART objectives can drive and prove success.  We’ve worked with organizations, from small NGOs just like Green Queen to large international multilaterals, to help them think through their planning process and develop strong objectives.  We’d love to help your organization develop a blueprint for success.  To learn more contact Amy at amy@devipartners.com.

Training 101 is the first article in our training series, Avoiding Training Traps . This overview article sets the stage for our best practice, evidence-based training approach.  

Most of us working in the social sector have conducted training, but few of us are truly trainers.   Often times, we’ve inherited a presentation and stand in front of a room reciting the slides. When I talk with professionals in the social sector, most can identify what isn’t good training but when I ask what is good training, folks often fall silent.  

A good place to start is understanding where training fits in the education continuum.  And what that means.  

Classroom Learning vs Training

All types of learning are education – whether teaching yourself a skill, enrolling in college or attending a job-related training.  But what we learn and how we learn it is very differently in each one.

We often emulate lecturers whose classes we sat in during college.  But there’s a big difference between classroom learning and training.   

• Classroom learning is formal education taught by an instructor.  It is broad to develop expertise in all aspects of a topic.
• Training is more informal education facilitated by a trainer. It is focused on mastering a particular task or skill.  

Devi has a great deal of experience in training so to help you think through differences between classroom learning and training take a look at our chart below — these differences should drive how you train and how you engage participants.   It’s important to note that these are generalities and exceptions abound.  For instance, graduate school for professional degrees use group work quite a bit and highly technical training for things like computer programming can be much less participatory. 

Principles of Adult Learning

Training, more than classroom learning, tends to have more adults as participants.  And adults learn differently than younger students.  Adults have a lot of competing priorities on their time and focus.  They retain information that is interesting, applicable to their daily lives and reinforced with interactive exercises. Make sure the information is realistic, practical and useful. 

When training adults, it’s also important to remember adults are far less homogenous than younger students.  They have a lifetime of different experiences, different ways of understanding and learning, and different ways of interpreting what you’re saying.

Principles of Facilitation & Training

Your job is to facilitate a learning experience with your participants.  In order for training to be really effective, you need to be a really effective facilitator. Keep in mind the key principles of facilitation and training.

Key Principles of Facilitation:  

• Interaction:  There is a lot of participation and engagement
• Equality:  Trainers and participants work together as part of the learning process
• Shared Responsibility:   Participants share in the learning success.

Key Principles of Training:

• Set expectations at the beginning
• Create a safe space
• Keep it simple
• Stick to the script
• Keep an eye on the time
• Train individuals, not groups

Taking the time to understand the basic of training will make your training stronger and your participants will retain what they learned – which can improve outcomes.  Facilitated training is designed, it doesn’t just happen.  It harder than it looks but we’re here to help.  Future articles will go in-depth to each of the Key Principles and Training as well as provide insight on effective interactive activities and how to neutralize negativity.  

For more information on a tailored “train-the-trainer” or other training needs, contact Amy at amy@devipartners.com.