Bev Smith wrote:
if the audience for business is society at large, there is a larger cultural
context for the way managers manage. it is the way society approves of:
authoritarian, hierarchical, intolerant of innovation. we aren't going to
get very far with the collaborative model until society becomes more
accepting of it.
Just to throw a little more Scout Juice (as we Boy Scouts refer to charcoal
lighter fluid) on the fire:
We are in the middle of a leadership seminar I am teaching here. I asked
participants if they would manage/lead volunteer organizations
differently than for-profit org's. They said yes...volunteers want to be there,
they have a higher purpose, etc. etc. So then I threw at
them (and it really has them thinking) this question: Tomorrow the organization
you manage becomes a volunteer organization...don't have
to worry about profits, payrolls, getting paid, etc. Everyone that works for
you is a volunteer. How would you manage/lead differently?
What'cha say folks: What would you do differently? And if you say yes to doing
things differently, I will ask, why? Why are you MANAGING
paid employees differently than you would LEAD volunteers? What might be the
result of LEADING paid employees the same way you would
volunteers?
George Ferguson
georgeferguson@hmri.com