1. Leadership for the Common Good Fieldbook
Tools for acting in a
shared-power world
Dick Senese
University of Minnesota
Extension Service

2. Leadership for the Common Good
Leading in a democracy not within business settings
Public leadership in a public arena with an engaged constituency
Specific tools to help communities engage in democratic decision-making and action

3. Leadership for the Common Good: Our Role
Communities ask Extension to help delineate their situation in light of the common good often due to our neutrality and content expertise
Assist with the formation, modification and/or implementation of some public policy
Recognize the shared power arrangement needed to address public issues

4. Leadership for the Common Good
Resources
Book - John Bryson and Barbara Crosby
New edition out this year
Fieldbook – Barbara Crosby, John Bryson & Sharon Anderson
Tools to help Extension help communities – CD ROM
A University of Minnesota partnership between the
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and Extension

5. Why a fieldbook and CD-ROM?
Research shows better impact when leadership is undertaken within a single framework – less likely to overlook key aspect
A set of tools to help turn public policy research into real community action

6. Leadership for the Common Good: Taking Action
Four Inter-related Constructs
Power Distribution
Policy Change Cycle
Locus of Control
Leadership Demands

7. Power Distribution
You can issue an order around here and if you can figure out what happens to it after that, you’re a better person than I am.
Harry S. Truman

8. In-Charge Organization
Boundary of organization contains the problem
Well-understood way to address the problem
Authority is seen as legitimate
Adequate resources
Goals are clear

9. Shared-Power World
Public problems spill beyond the boundary of any one organization
A network of actors is needed to address the problem
Power is referentially based

10. Shared Power World
Shared capabilities exercised in interaction between or among actors to further achievement of their separate and joint aims
Individuals, groups, organizations and/or institutions – coalition-like
Mixed-motive situation with right of exit

11. Policy Change Cycle

13. Policy Change Cycle
The policy change cycle is the general process by which leaders and followers tackle public problems in a shared-power, no-one-in-charge world.
The process is played out as a series of interconnected activities with shifting purposes in shifting contexts.
The process is a “structured anarchy” between and among various stakeholders

14. Stakeholder
A stakeholder in a policy change effort is any person, group or organization that is affected by the causes or consequences of the issue.
The key to success in policy change efforts is the inspiration and mobilization of enough key stakeholders to adopt policy changes and protect them during implementation.

15. Forums Locus of control Courts Arenas
Forums, arenas, and courts are the three typical settings we rely on to address messy problems in a shared-power world.
Leaders can have the greatest impact through the wise design and use of forums, arenas, and courts. They are the primary shared-power settings in which leaders and constituents work together to build regimes of mutual gain.

16. Forums, Arenas and Courts
Forums, arenas, and courts are the three typical settings we rely on to address messy problems in a shared-power world.
Leaders can have the greatest impact through the wise design and use of forums, arenas, and courts.
They are the primary shared-power settings in which leaders and constituents work together to build regimes of mutual gain.

17. The Use of Forums
Forums are where people frame and reframe public issues. Formal and informal forums link speakers and audiences to create and communicate shared meaning through discussion, debate, dialogue, and deliberation.

18. Forums Examples and Effects
Task forces, discussion groups, brainstorming sessions, public hearings, formal debates, newspapers, television, radio, plays, conferences, professional journals
Create a list of issues, conflicts, policy preferences, or decisions to be discussed or not discussed

19. The Use of Arenas
Arenas are where legislative, executive, or administrative decisions are made and implemented.
Leaders help others influence the making and implementing of decisions in formal and informal arenas.

20. Arenas Examples and Effects
Legislatures, city councils, boards of directors, cabinets, executive committees, and cartels
Create actual decisions and implementing actions as well as non- decisions

21. The Use of Courts
Courts are where decisions and conduct are judged or evaluated, usually to manage residual conflicts or settle residual disputes.
Leaders must be able to invoke the sanctions of formal and informal courts to enforce and reinforce ethical principles, laws and norms

22. Courts Examples and Effects
The “court of public opinion” (probably the most powerful court), formal courts or tribunals, professional licensing bodies, administrators settling disputes among subordinates
Determine which decisions and conduct are permitted or not permitted

25. Leadership Demands
Public leadership is the inspiration and mobilization of others to undertake collective action in pursuit of the common good.
Barbara Crosby

26. Key competencies for leaders
Leadership in Context - Understanding the context, including social, political, and economic “givens”
Personal Leadership - Understanding the people involved, especially oneself
Team Leadership - Building teams, identify and understand stakeholders, empower the team, manage group process issues
Organizational Leadership Nurturing effective and humane organizations, inter-organizational networks, and communities

27. Key competencies for leaders
Visionary Leadership - Creating and communicating meaning
Political Leadership - Making and implementing legislative, executive, and administrative policy decisions
Ethical Leadership - Sanctioning conduct – that is, enforcing or reinforcing ethical principles, laws, and norms, and resolving residual conflicts
Putting It All Together - Coordinating leadership tasks in policy change cycles

28. “It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find no one there.”
 Franklin Delano Roosevelt 49

29. Leading for the Common Good Outcomes and Impacts
Increase BRIDGING social capital
Increase in LEADERSHIP CAPACITY of a community
Increase likelihood of project success

30. Measuring Outcomes and Impacts
Our Community: Assessing our social capital
Measures nine factors of social capital in rural communities
Field testing instrument in three communities now (N = 800)
Zones of Leadership
Measures a community’s leadership capacity based on Bob Terry’s Zones of Leadership

31. Leadership for the Common Good Fieldbook
Tools for acting in a
shared-power world