What does dysfunction look like? How do we fix it? What characteristics are necessary in a good leader?

All of these questions were explored on a rainy Sunday morning not too long ago when I had the rare opportunity to discuss this with a group of passionate and talented volunteer leaders and staff of a major nonprofit organization where the focus was leadership. Here are the questions we explored, and here is what they had to say.

What does dysfunction look like?

It was fairly easy to get a lot of input on this question. Dysfunction is all around us in one way or another — the degree of dysfunction and how it limits us determines when it is recognized.

During the session, we came up with a list that both the volunteer leaders and staff members agreed upon that explored what could limit the potentials of our organizations and ultimately put it out of business.

  • Lack of training, diversity, flexibility, recognition, preparation, participation, purpose and alignment
  • "Group think" leading to paralysis when the group doesn't allagree (consensus is a foreign topic)
  • Too many objectives, leaving the board unfocused and frustrated
  • Clashing personnel that impacts the work of the organization
  • Alpha personalities controlling the board and micromanaging staff
  • Board size — either too small or too large
  • Board's inability to make a decision
  • Poorly structured agendas not focused on the strategic plan, but on tasks and committee work
  • Everyone is just too nice and doesn't want to disagree with each other

How do we fix dysfunction?

It was a bit harder to think of ways to fix the dysfunction, but there was a "blinding flash of the obvious" (or BFO) in the room where one person said, "You need a plan, and you need to stick to it."

The cornerstone of a strategic plan is the first step in what binds an organization together and exposes dysfunction in order to fix it. This BFO helped us all focus on the real benefit of a strategic board driving the vision of the organization.

  • Creating a strategic plan with performance measures and targets that are realistic and achievable
  • Setting a board agenda that is focused solely on the goals set in the strategic plan
  • Conducting board training with staff focused on addressing the symbiotic role of the board and staff working in unison
  • Empowering staff to do their job after the board has set the strategic roadmap through its plan along with the budget
  • Committing to communicating on a regular basis and making it the foundation of the relationships in the organization
  • Evaluating constantly to make sure that progress is being made and changes are adopted to keep the organization on course

What characteristics are necessary in a good leader?

Finally, after much discussion around dysfunction and the fixes, we asked the question: What are the characteristics of someone serving in a leadership position?

Most of these characteristics are important in both a volunteer leader and staff leader, but the group distinguished the most necessary ones in each group even though they might apply to both. As you can see, many of these are not unique to each group and are necessary for strong leadership.

Shared characteristics:
  • Visionary
  • Risk Taker
  • Communicator
  • Good character
  • Trustworthy
  • Authentic
  • Passionate
  • Caring

Volunteer leader characteristics:

  • Empowering
  • Courageous follower
  • Open to ideas
  • Flexible
  • Consensus builder
  • Resource conscious

Staff leader characteristics:

  • Supporter
  • Continuity/historical knowledge keeper
  • Organized
  • Priority driven
  • Balanced
  • Facilitator

Overall, the group agreed that someone in a leadership position needs to employ "situational leadership" even though we all have a tendency to naturally lead either in a team, authoritative or hands-off style. It is important to understand your leadership style to not only leverage that style effectively but also be the "chameleon" to utilize other leadership styles to adapt to changes in your organization and to different people with different viewpoints that may not align with yours.

Good leaders are ones who turn around and have followers behind them without asking anyone to follow them. Dysfunction should never be the function of the organization in the long term. It becomes ingrained in the culture and is difficult to remove.

But recognizing that dysfunction exists and taking painful steps to fix it are necessary to make change happen. What does dysfunction look like to your organization, how does it get fixed, and what type of leaders do you need to make change happen?