Leadership in a not-for-profit enterprise can differ from that in a for-profit venture. Without the motivation of market wages to entice cooperation people are motivated by another sense, often the altruism of helping accomplish the organization’s mission. However, recognizing that not-for-profit members respond to a different motivation isn’t all that’s required of leadership: the appeal for cooperation also has to be packaged differently. In other words, taking a “do as I say” approach may satisfy the drive for corporateness but if we're to retain members our involvement in their cause must be the medium of our communication.
Newer thought on the topic of Public Leadership can benefit those who lead not-for-profit enterprise. Although in a traditional sense Public Leadership has had more to do with elected leaders and those who work in government service, the term has expanded to include those entities oriented toward the common good within not-for-profit leadership, corporate leadership, and community leadership including religious, health, and social care. This broader definition moves Public Leadership from the nexus of politics and funding by taxation that once anchored it to the recognition that the common good may be interpreted by public entities chosen in forums not associated with political office. Consideration from two areas of human experience has enabled the expansion. These are the notion that leadership to be called such must be responsive to those it serves and that human emotion is intelligent. Both offer helpful insight.
The assertion that leadership must be responsive to those it serves is in some sense a refutation of the “great man” school of thought where leaders are seen as “be all” and “end all” beings. It recognizes that instead of located in a person called “leader,” leadership can be both specific to the context and co-created with members. What this new responsiveness entails is an understanding that we will not be “on point” in every situation, that other members are equally or more qualified to express the interests of the group and enable the achievement of its goal. It also holds that our leadership is a give and take of influence between leader and member and not by virtue of any title. These thoughts fix our service in irrevocable fashion to those we serve redefining it as “one among” and not merely as “one.”
The second consideration to influence Public Leadership is that emotions are intelligent and contrasts with the philosophy of Max Weber that public servants should maintain formal distance and in the execution of their duties be passionless. This emotional antiseptic came to be seen as a source of greater control and less initiative for some who work within and are served by public agencies, bureaucracy, and process: Its result was thought visible in a leadership concerned with the public more in name than fact. With the advent of New Public Management and its openness to modeling public service after the marketplace and recent thought calling for leaders “to take account of the complex processes of co-creation between producers and users” (John Benington, From Private Choice to Public Value?), the need for an intelligence beyond mental prowess has come to the fore.
The proponents of emotional intelligence present it as at least one possibility beyond what mental acuity can produce. They may be right. Robert Kramer (Beyond Max Weber: Emotional Intelligence and Public Leadership) begins with the premise that intelligence doesn’t cover all knowledge, that an entire world of knowing exists beyond the boundary of logic. He refers to this as our intelligent emotions and the source for building both group intelligence and social capital.
Without the intelligent guidance of emotions, human beings cannot respond to situations very flexibly, take advantage of the right time and right place, make sense of ambiguous or contradictory messages, recognize the importance of different elements of a situation, find similarities between situations despite differences that may separate them, draw distinctions between situations despite similarities that may link them, synthesize new concepts by taking old concepts and combining in new ways, or develop ideas that are novel. Without the guidance of emotions we cannot be intelligent. Without the guidance of emotions we cannot be rational. (p.5)
Central to the inquiry is if leaders will continue to see people as things to be directed or as potential to be discerned? Emotion in our leadership makes us vulnerable and sensing and instills a listening posture. Its lack robs us of the contribution of people and the good sense they could have made to the endeavor. While this is applicable for all forms of leadership even if not for all situations, not-for-profit leadership can especially benefit by the increased sensitivity to its members, their concerns, and cause available in emotional intelligence.
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