Using your lemons to make lemonade.
Effective resource management in relation to leadership is not just a theoretical concept, but a practical necessity. Whether you are part of a non-profit board, the alpha of your friend group, or part of a team at your day job, recognizing and responding to your and your people’s emotional cues is a crucial step towards stewarding sustainable leadership. Palmer said, “When I give something I do not possess, I give a false and dangerous gift, a gift that looks like love but is, in reality, loveless- a gift given more from my need to prove myself than from the other’s need to be cared for” (2000, p. 48). There are many hints that leaders are burning out or yearning for a greater responsibility.
I will share a few examples. One, when your leaders are becoming overwhelmed, tired, negative, and out of innovative ideas, it is time to work with them on productive rest practices. Two, if your leaders are also leading in many other settings, it is time to have a conversation with them about living their values instead of serving their ego. Third, if you notice a change in their demeanor or tone, this may indicate that leaders need a change. Between Palmer’s writings on living your passion and Brene Brown’s research on vulnerability in leadership (Brown, 2018), I am convinced that leadership is not just showing up. This contrasts with something I wrote earlier in this course, but I believe I am correct in saying that leaders must be passionate about their commitments, or they are doing the cause a disservice.
An example of this is when leaders become overly involved in a community or board. The notion of “if I don't do it, no one will” has been the downfall of many leaders. Palmer extensively discussed in Let Your Life Speak about the significance of focusing on one’s passions and investing time in those areas. He stated, “Community cuts both ways: when we reach the limits of our own capacity to love, community means trusting that someone else will be available to the person in need” (Palmer, 2000, p. 49). If we are fostering a culture of trust and vulnerability where our people can openly express their exhaustion and emptiness, then we are also cultivating a culture where these individuals trust their teams. Conversely, if we glorify overwork and overcommitment, we are fostering a culture of shame for admitting that things are becoming too much for too long.
My adaptive change project has focused on solving the rural housing crisis in Charles City. We have had the same 19 members of our task force and four core members of our Iowa Thriving Communities (ITC) team since its inception in July of 2022. I would argue that the individuals on the ITC team are also the individuals leading the charge on the larger task force. This group is working tirelessly to progress housing changes in Charles City, and they are getting tired. A recent example is the result of a planning and zoning commission vote on rezoning land for development. We spent months courting developers and providing resources to ensure we had a robust application portfolio for the first round of ITC awards. This included multiple calls, visits, data-finding missions, and motivation of city and area resources to receive the information favorably. The effort culminated with a planning and zoning commission meeting to properly zone the parcels for redevelopment. Five days before the application deadline, a hoard of citizens came to that meeting to protest two developer locations and voice emphatic concerns about the type of citizen that would move to town if we were to build an affordable housing apartment unit. Only one of the three developers (all of whom were slated to submit funding applications) turned in their application. Woosh; sucker punch to the gut for all the work that went into that.
Brene Brown said, “Stay on the lookout for resentment in your life when you’re into hour three on Facebook, when you are to finish off the entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s, or when you have just spent most of your paycheck online shopping” (Brown, 2018, p. 87). My cue is when I speak negatively about my community or work. After last week’s planning and zoning meeting, I was overwhelmed with disappointment and frustration around citizens’ inability to embrace change. Resident Bonnie Tegtmeier said, “This neighborhood has been good for 53 years. We don’t want it to be any different” (Fischer, 2024). Mary Tumilson added, “I, for one, like to watch the deer” (Fischer, 2024). How do we combat the fact that many people believe our community peaked in 1980 (when Oliver Tractor was the primary employer) and do not believe that we have an actual need for housing?
The answer is fresh perspectives. As previously mentioned, just 21% of our task force is taking an active leadership role in both the ITC and other housing task force initiatives. To succeed, we must actively engage the other 80% of the task force and reinvigorate our messaging. Heifetz et al. wrote, “You need patience and persistence to lead adaptive change. You also have to anticipate and counteract tactics that people will use to lower the heat to more comfortable levels. This work avoidance can take numerous forms, such as creating a new committee with no authority or finding a scapegoat” (2009, p. 31). Our core four have been patient and persistent; now, we need to call out to those not stepping up to help lead.
The final step in this process (for now) is helping our team to rediscover their why. Sinek said, “Finding WHY is a process of discovery, not invention” (2009, p. 214). We cannot continue relying on solving a housing crisis our community does not believe in for our motivation and communication. Instead, we need to put humans behind our drive and belief that all people deserve stable housing. We cannot respond to complaints that we will bring unproductive members of society to town (due to affordable housing) without referring to plentiful studies on the importance of a stable home life in developing upward mobility. We must remind these citizens that the very apartments they are voting down are the same ones that likely housed them at a more vulnerable time in life. We must make this a human problem instead of a logistical one. To spread this message and reinvigorate the task force effectively, we need to rotate fresh leadership into our ITC and task force teams. We must utilize the human resources provided to us.
References:
Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work, tough conversations, whole hearts. Random House.
Fischer, T. (2024, April 5). P&Z recommends one housing project rezoning. Charles City Press. https://charlescitypress-ia.newsmemory.com/
Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard Business Press.
Palmer, P. J. (2000). Let your life speak: Listening for the voice of vocation. John Wiley & Sons.
Sinek, S. (2009). Start with why: how great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Penguin.