LEADERSHIP

W HO ARE THE LEADERS IN THIS ROOM Everyone in this room is a leader. Not because of title, but by ownership of the union Never be afraid to meet with your boss, or politician You have a message, it’s your job to convey this.

W HO ARE THE LEADERS IN THIS ROOM You are there to educate, inform and seek support. The message should be clear, concise and brief. Don’t be intimidated, by there titles or position Your peers elected you because you are somebody they believe in and they feel you can make a difference, and YOU CAN!

W HAT DOES LEADERSHIP MEAN TO YOU ?

Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future. Edwin H. Friedman (Rabbi, Therapist, Author)

H OW DO I DEFINE LEADERSHIP ? Listening to what others want Taking those goals and formulating with the group a plan of action. Reaching out to everyone to ensure they have a say in the direction we are going.

W HAT LEADERSHIP ISN ’ T A dictatorship A hierarchy – you may be the chairman or the head of an organization but you should not dictate to others

You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership. Dwight D. Eisenhower

E FFECTIVE COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP Cultivate a shared vision right from the start... even if it's vague Take care to recruit the right mix to reach your stakeholders and decision-makers Become or ensure you've identified the institutionalized worry. This is the person who will pay unwavering attention to: sustaining the momentum and attending to the management details of the collaboration and engaging the perspectives and addressing the process needs of each individual partner in the work of the collaboration To the greatest extent possible, ensure that each partner's individual and institutional self- interests are served by both the process and products of the collaboration.

E FFECTIVE COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP Don't waste time. Develop clear roles and responsibilities for participants (even if these roles and responsibilities regularly shift among partners). Recognize that it is easier and much more popularly received to cancel a meeting or remove a responsibility than it is to add a meeting or responsibility to participants' lives. All collaboration is personal. Effective collaboration happens between people-one person at a time.

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." they don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. Peter Drucker (writer, management consultant)

W HAT SHOULD AN EFFECTIVE LEADER DO ? Get others to follow you by ensuring their needs are met. Get buy-in from members -- Ask members to do things for their union. Don’t talk all the time – listen to what people want. Develop win-win scenarios.

W HAT SHOULD AN EFFECTIVE LEADER DO ? Don’t be afraid to fail. Learn from failures and successes.

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. Kenneth Blanchard (author, management expert)

H OW DO YOU INFLUENCE MEMBERS ? Communication is the most effective means of influencing members. o Regular, two-way communications between union officers and members are keys to a successful partnership. o Typical modes of communication with your members: o o Newsletter o Website o Correspondence o Telephones o Face to Face

M EMBERSHIP I NVOLVEMENT T HROUGH C OMMUNICATION o Appeal to self-interest o Paint the larger “cause” o Remind the potential volunteer of his/her skills o Be honest about the work involved o Recruit from all subgroups o Start with easy, specific tasks o Provide needed training o Teach people to share the work o Make it fun to participate o Celebrate every small victory o Provide recognition and praise for volunteers o Check to see if people need help o Hold people accountable

B ARRIERS TO E FFECTIVE C OMMUNICATION o Language o Defensiveness, distorted perceptions, guilt, transference, distortions from the past. o Misreading of body language, tone and other non-verbal forms of communication. o Receiver distortion: selective hearing, ignoring non-verbal cues.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams

Attitude “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past … We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude … I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you … we are in charge of our Attitudes.

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