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LEADERSHIPIN COMPLEX TIMES

Mark Holmgren780 299 0780

www.markholmgren.com

Prepared for:FCSSAA “Leading the Way” conference

Edmonton AlbertaNovember 16-18 2011

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Tackling today’s global challenges will require radical thinking, creative solutions and collaborative action. -Tim Brown

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Unpredictable Order

OrderStructureRelationshipPurposeIndependenceInterdependenceBeautyFlexibilityVarianceCreationDestructionRenewalAdaptation

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BIG CHANGE TRENDS

BY 2031…• Last of the Boomers retire.• Age expectancy in the mid-80s.• Seniors increase by 120%. • Young people decrease by 16%.• Immigration drives population growth.• Employment Participation Declines (from 72%

to 63%)• Worker-Retiree ratio 2:1 (5:1 in 1981)

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FUNDING PICTURE• Funding from governments and major funders is

thin, flat, and at risk.• Government contracts generally do not cover all

costs.• How funding is delivered will likely change.• Corporate giving is not an answer. Corporations

primarily invest in large organizations.• Corporate Social Responsibility is creating more

complexity• Social Enterprise will not save the day.

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PHILANTHROPY• On-Line Giving – it is growing rapidly• Micro Giving – changing the nature of charity.

Anyone can be a philanthropist!

• Text Giving – the new version of writing a cheque?

• Leadership and Mega Gifts – how long will a minority of donors be able to support the community sector?

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PHILANTHROPYThe growing mindset: • Global Affinities, Local Action • Self-directed: the Demonstrable BANG “I” want

to have• Activism or Charity?• Unbranded /unorganized philanthropy

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TECHNOLOGY/INTERNET

• Social Networks• Crowdsourcing• Convergence & Dependence• Increased/Decreased Connectivity

• Impatience

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COMPLEXITY & LEADERSHIP

Recipe is essential

It is tested for replicability

No great skill required.

Standard results if recipe followed.

Easily KNOWN

Based on the work of Brenda Zimmerman

SIMPLE

BAKING A CAKE

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COMPLEXITY & LEADERSHIPFormulae are critical and necessary

High level of expertise

Can`t do it alone.

Sending one up increases assurance of the next.

Rockets are similar in critical ways

KNOWABLE

COMPLICATED

BUILDING A ROCKETBased on the work of Brenda Zimmerman

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COMPLEXITY & LEADERSHIP

Formulae have limited applicability

Raising one is no guarantee of the next.

Expertise helps but relationships are key

Can`t separate parts from the whole

UNKNOWABLE

COMPLEX

RAISING A CHILD

Based on the work of Brenda Zimmerman

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Time is too short and things are too bad for pessimism.- Dee Hock

Credit: CTV Edmonton

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RESOURCING THE COMMUNITY SECTOR:THE ADAPTIVE DILEMMA

Steadily Declining Revenues

Steadily Increasing Costs

Steadily Increasing Demand and Expectations

ADAPTIVE DILEMMA

- John Ott

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WHAT WE NEED MUST HAVEWe must have leadership that acknowledges the complexity and chaos of the world in which we live.

We must have leadership that is rooted in the sometimes grim reality of our day to day world, yet concurrently is able to fuel our highest aspirations and embolden us to great change.

From the Tamarack Community Collaboration Institute Conference 2010

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WHAT WE NEED MUST HAVEWe must have leadership that is authentically inclusive; recognizes multiple truths in the world; and taps into our shared wisdom.

We must have leadership that is adaptive and flexible and embraces risk-taking, change and failure as opportunities for learning.

From the Tamarack Community Collaboration Institute Conference 2010

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TYPES OF CHANGEIncrementalMinor adjustments to modestly improve an existing approach

ReformistMajor change to a current approach while maintaining the overall way of thinking about the challenge

Transformational (Big Change)Fundamental change to a system or approach based on new ways of thinking about the challenge and addressing it.

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FOUR ELEMENTS OF CHANGE

(John Ott)

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REASONS FOR RESISTANCE TO CHANGECognitive: Cognitive inertia due to availability bias (assessing change and challenges based on recent or current experiences)

Emotional: Motivated bias to defend one's identity. It is hard to change when what you are facing is a redefinition of yourself and/or your role.

Economic: Misleading price signals. Seeing non profits as a low cost provider will result in the dismantling of the sector

From the work of Dr. Homer-Dixon

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REASONS FOR RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Social: Vested interests pose barriers to making change that will alter what social position or benefits we experience.

Political: Short time horizons tend to define problems in small and often unrealistic chunks. Governments work in annual cycles and within the context of elections. Change that falls beyond the short term may not be sell-able to the public.

From the work of Dr. Homer-Dixon

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THEORY OF CHANGE

Changes in perception about community and our collective roles advance understanding and lead to changes in individual, collective, and cross-sectoral action that, over time, contribute to improving lives and social conditions.

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From To Toward

Experts Own and Decide

Experts Facilitate How Community Interacts

Community includes Experts

Simple Fixes Complicated Systems

Complex Solutions

Help By NumbersOf Activities

Help By NumbersBeing Changed

Changed People Improving Community Conditions

Clients are Needs and Problems

Clients with Needs and Problems

People with Assets and Aspirations

Exclusion Inclusion Belonging

CHANGE PROGRESSION

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CHANGE PROGRESSIONFrom To Toward

Selective Cooperation

Forced Collaboration Authentic Relationships

Need More Money Not Enough Money Rethinking Resources

Tweaking Reforming Transformation

Best Practice Evidence Based Innovation

Community Identified Aspirations

Need to Do More of the Same

Stop all the Duplication

Scaling up what works.

Logic Model SROI Learning our Way Together

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PERCEPTION SHIFT

Families and communities are in the best position to take primary responsibility for the health and well-being of their members. This responsibility is shared with helping professionals, governments, and funders.

- John Ott

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PERCEPTION SHIFTThis perception shift calls for helping professionals, governments, and funders to include in their mandates two key roles:(1)strengthening the ability of communities

to promote the health and well-being of their members, promoting interdependence in order to break the cycle of dependence on services; and

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PERCEPTION SHIFT(2) providing bridge services to people who do not have natural communities of support, or whose needs are beyond the capacity of their families or communities to meet, while helping to establish or strengthen their ties to natural communities of support.

- John Ott

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MUST-HAVE LEADERSHIP QUALITIES• Able to identify simple, complicated, and

complex problems.• Able to suspend certainty and have a high

tolerance for ambiguity.• Able to create conditions for

experimentation and for creative failure.• Able to work with data and their stories.• Able to foster and champion collective

wisdom and generative dialogue.• Able to ask and work with wicked or

upside down questions.

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MUST-HAVE LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

• Able to welcome all that arises.• Skilled at seeking diversity, paradoxes,

and contradictions.• Able to focus on what works and why

(appreciative inquiry)• Able to foster collaborative leadership

within a hierarchical framework.• Able to inspire people to make personal

change in order to effect community change.

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THANK YOU TO THESE SOURCES

• Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon• John Ott• Brenda Zimmerman• Stat Canada• Imagine Canada• Tamarack Institute

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Mark Holmgren has more than 25 years of experience working as a consultant or senior staff in the non profit sector. His consulting practice focuses on helping NPOs undertake strategic change. His work includes trends analysis, strategic design, facilitation services, social media strategy, and communications. He also teaches in the Non Profit Executive Leadership program at McEwan University and is assisting the university with curriculum review and redesign.

Current or recent clients include: Bissell Centre, United Way, The Family Centre, Partners for Kids, Head Start, The Food Bank, The Support Network, Return to Rural, and the NPVS Table of ANVSI.

Mark is the former executive director of Operation Friendship and worked for two United Ways as a vice president and as a COO for a software development company.

www.markholmgren.com

Mark Holmgren Consulting